A Missouri judge has blocked a law from taking effect Sunday that would have prohibited teachers from using social networking sites such as Facebook to carry on private conversations with students. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem issued a preliminary injunction against the law today while declaring that it “would…
Continue reading …Florida’s controversial new program to drug test welfare recipients isn’t exactly catching droves of addicts. So far only 2% of those tests have come up positive, the Tampa Tribune reports, with 96% testing clean and 2% declining to complete the application process. That rate of failure may still be enough…
Continue reading …If Hurricane Irene rolls into New York City—the nation’s most densely populated area—it could threaten millions of lives, but also cost tens of billions of dollars and “tangibly increase the chance of a recession,” Nate Silver writes on the New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog. “The good news is…
Continue reading …Our Idiot Brother is the story of a sweet-natured fool who depends on his three sisters to get his life back on track. It’s good for a smile, if not big laughs: In the New York Times , AO Scott calls it a “thin, unconvincing movie made likable by the charm…
Continue reading …Some 52 people are dead after gunmen burst into a casino in Monterrey yesterday—and some of that blood is on US hands, says Mexico’s president. “We’re neighbors, we’re allies, we’re friends, but you are also responsible,” said Felipe Calderone in a televised address today, complaining that the US isn’t…
Continue reading …In a move that some are calling bizarre, the surgeon general has set her sights on … women’s hair. While visiting a hair trade show this month, Dr. Regina Benjamin spoke about what Anahad O’Connor, writing for the New York Times , calls “something of a pet cause”: Her belief that women…
Continue reading …The adopted daughter that Moammar Gadhafi has always claimed died in a US bombing in 1986 appears to have lived, grown up, and become a doctor. The Irish Times found documents that seem to prove as much in Gadhafi’s Bab Azizia compound in Tripoli. In a room that appears to…
Continue reading …Economic woes couldn’t keep Barack Obama from taking his 10-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard—but it looks like Hurricane Irene can. The president will cut his trip short, announced the White House. He’s packing his bags today and returning home tonight, rather than sticking with his planned Saturday afternoon departure,…
Continue reading …From the chapel to the clink? A Pennsylvania couple is accused of stealing $1,049.26 of food and other goods from a grocery store on Saturday afternoon—with the intention of serving said food to guests at their 5:30pm wedding reception. Arthur Phillips, 32, and Brittany Lurch, 22,…
Continue reading …Once again, a panel of experts has determined that a vaccine isn’t to blame for autism—but the latest findings aren’t likely to sway those who disagree, notes the New York Times. The measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, at the center of the debate, “doesn’t cause autism, and the evidence…
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