Archive
50 Years after the Civil Rights Act, Discrimination Persists
July 2 marks the 50th anniversary of the day President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The landmark legislation outlawed discrimination and segregation based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. First introduced by President John...
Walker’s Money Mess
Scott Walker can't seem to run a clean campaign. He first won the governorship of Wisconsin in 2010 from his position as Milwaukee County executive. It turns out that some of his aides at the county job were doing campaign work for him on the taxpayers' dime. A total...
This Week in OtherWords: June 25, 2014
This week in OtherWords, Bob Lord reflects on the information gleaned when he helped expose an Arizona official who moonlighted as a crude Internet troll while Jill Richardson and I weigh in on Brazil's soccer madness, climate record, and economic dynamism. Do you...
Water Refugees
Like most Americans, I always took the clean water running out of my tap for granted. That changed in January, when West Virginia American Water (WVAW) sent out an all points alert to stop drinking, cooking, washing, or doing anything else with the H₂O flowing into my...
The Next Steps for the EPA’s Clean Power Plan
On the heels of the Environmental Protection Agency unveiling its proposed carbon pollution standard for existing power plants, clean-energy supporters from coast to coast are digging into the details. As we work to understand how the plan will help us tackle climate...
Highway Funding Runs out of Gas
Lawmakers writing the transportation spending bill have a problem. Actually they have 89 billion problems, because that's how many dollars they are short between what they want to spend over the next six years and the revenue bean counters expect. Considering the...
When Public Servants Demonize the Poor
For years I'd wondered about the identity of a gaggle of anonymous commenters on Blog for Arizona, the website to which I frequently contribute. These guys weighed in a lot and were very eager to burnish the reputation of Arizona School Superintendent, John...
Brazilian Order and Progress
Every four years, Brazilians wrap themselves in their cheerful green, yellow, and blue flag emblazoned with the Portuguese words "ordem e progresso." The slogan, which translates as "order and progress," stretches across a puddle of stars. It's not just the people,...
A Climate of Extra Credit
Naturally, the World Cup is drawing attention to Brazil, the host nation and the tournament's leading contender. But shortly before the soccer tournament began, two studies highlighted by National Geographic also called attention to South America's biggest country....
Bracing for an Attack by Veterans
From 1776 forward, Americans have opposed having soldiers do police work on our soil. But in recent years, Pentagon chiefs have teamed up with police chiefs to circumvent that prohibition. How? By militarizing police departments. Through the little-known "military...
