The Right to a Good Night’s Sleep

| Mar 29, 2019 | Editors Picks|Environment / Health|Rights / DemocracyI barely slept during the full two years I was homeless. One night, at around 3 a.m., after hours of searching for a spot, I curled up on a portion of soft, thick grass. An hour later, automatic sprinklers drenched me. I sloshed to the edges of a wilderness park in...

Russia Was Never the Real Scandal

| Mar 26, 2019 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|Peace / Security|Rights / DemocracyRobert Mueller won’t be filing any more indictments related to the “Russiagate” investigation. Though the search unearthed ample evidence that Russia wanted Trump to become president — and hints that some members of Trump World were perhaps aware of this — the recent...

Rural America Needs Medicare for All, and Fast

| Mar 25, 2019 | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|HP Featured|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyWe’ve got a rural health care emergency on the horizon. Rural hospitals are closing or teetering on the brink of closure at an alarming rate. More than a hundred have closed since 2005 and hundreds more are on life support. Long-term care facilities are vanishing...

What Health Care Means for Families Like Mine

| | Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyAs a young mother doing it on my own, Medicaid has become a necessity. After giving birth at 17, I re-enrolled in high school in my hometown of Austin, Texas. But I felt lost. I didn’t know how I could take care of my son — an experience that was entirely new...

Paper Receipts Could Be the Next Plastic Straws

| Mar 19, 2019 | Economy / Business|Environment / HealthPaper receipts are a habitual end to retail transactions. But their usefulness is questionable — they can be tossed out within minutes of being printed, or go on to line the bottoms of our bags and wallets. In an increasingly digital world, it may seem that...

Politicians Are Finally Catching Up on Marijuana

| Mar 13, 2019 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|Rights / DemocracyUsually I don’t look to sitcoms for wisdom, but the new season of One Day at a Time has a real gem (or many, actually, but here is one). The family lives in California, where marijuana is legal, both recreationally and medicinally. The mother catches the teenage son...