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Monday, June 17, 2013
 
It's never happened to me, but I get a sick feeling when I see a reporter break a big story, then discover he or she has it wrong. More »
 
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille says fellow Justice Seamus McCaffery should reconsider his position on the court after reports surfaced that the FBI is investigating McCaffery's conduct. More »
 
Are we right to be constantly vigilant, lest our civil liberties be abused by the government? Of course. Have the American people been abused by the government's surveillance program which, whether you like it or not, has been More »
 
Within two hours of play on Thursday morning, severe thunderstorms and heavy rain halted the first round at the U.S. Open in Ardmore, Pa. The weather sent golfers and spectators scurrying for cover, reports the Associated More »
 
The corporate-funded conservative movement, which lost big in the 2012 presidential election, is nonetheless thriving at the local level — most notably in the swing state of North Carolina, where ascendent right-wingers More »
 
  The Syrian civil war has long bedeviled Barack Obama - American non-intervention has arguably made it worse; American intervention could arguably make it worse - but now he has finally made a decision, sort of. He's More »
Thursday, June 13, 2013
 
As Father's Day approaches, my thoughts turn not to the fathers who are a constant presence in their children's lives. Rather, I find myself thinking of fathers who want to be there, but can't. More »
 
For years I've worked in schools, both as a volunteer and an instructor. I've worked with students and teachers, parents and administrators, and I've discovered that despite the negative stereotypes, there are many caring More »
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
 
Philadelphia's most produced playwright this season is eloquent and groundbreaking and his themes are universal. More »
 
In Terrence McNally's "Mothers and Sons," a taut, terrific new play getting the world-premiere it deserves at Bucks County Playhouse, values and perspectives clash for the entire 80 minutes and the tension constantly More »
 
Artists from the United States and around the world, from as far as Singapore and India, came to Atlantic City, N.J., to compete in the 2013 World Championship of Sand Sculpting. Pieces were designed and executed by sculptors, More »
 
On Mud Island, planes arriving and departing Philadelphia International airport whizz overhead, a former Revolutionary War fort sits nearly abandoned, and driftwood and garbage wash up along the banks of the Delaware More »
 
"You have zero privacy. Get over it." That's not me talking. That was Scott McNealy, chief executive of Sun Microsystems, speaking in 1999. More »
 
I'm not sure how much of this I can take. It's so painful to see so much well-meaning energy so misdirected through naivete and misconception. I speak, of course, again and ever more sadly, of the Philadelphia schools. More »
 
Since its earliest days, the United States of America has been a great experiment testing whether a free people are capable of governing themselves through law without a king or dictator. King George III of England was the More »
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
 
Paul Krugman is a Nobel-prize winning economist and a prolific writer, both on economic theory and as a public intellectual. Through his regular column in the New York Times and in his blog which he calls "The Conscience of a More »
 
With the doomsday budget here, we have heard a lot about the sorry state of our schools and our government's inability to find stable and adequate funds for them. However, it is important to recognize the achievements of More »
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
 
In 1907, Mark Twain published a scathing attack on Christian Science, which held that all illness lay in the mind. In his trademark satirical style, Twain congratulated the religion for providing "life-long immunity from More »
 
Here are two questions I would have gotten wrong before the release of a new Institute of Medicine report on sodium intake and health: 1. True or False: The American Heart Association's recommendation of 1,500 mg/day is still More »
 
Some are baffled and others saddened by the fact that humans put footprints on the moon more than 40 years ago and have not ventured a fraction of that distance from home since. Have we lost our spirit of exploration? More »
 
Americans and U.S. companies donated $316 billion last year. It's the third straight year of modest gains in giving, on track with the nation's slow recovery from the depths of recession. More »
 
Brittany Cozzens is 20 years old. She will be a sophomore at Temple next year. She's from York, Pa. She's working this summer as a camp counselor. She also has twice as many followers on Pinterest as there are people in the More »
 
You know it's truly summer (if not officially summer) when the concerts are back in Pastorius Park! This year marks the 65th season of this community favorite for all ages, and the line-up consists of many crowd pleasers: June More »
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
 
  When the summer days of childhood are full of spray grounds and popsicles, school ends and other kinds of schedules begin, and the ripe tomatoes are in full blossom, something else could be blossoming too. More »
 
Last in our series of discussions on beloved garden insects that perhaps don't belong and may be of dubious benefit is the environmental ambassador the honeybee. Much has been made in recent years about our dependence on More »
 
In my last post I wrote about the debatable merits of praying mantids, most of which aren't native insects and are indiscriminate eaters of other bugs. Since then I've been doing some digging on the other insects we most More »