Sweetness And Light
10:03 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Title IX At 40: What Has Changed, And What's Next

Credit Gerry Broome / AP
The adoption of Title IX has spurred growth in women's collegiate sports, including soccer. But a women's pro league has struggled, cutting its season short this year. Here, Notre Dame celebrates winning the NCAA College Cup in 2010.

Originally published on Wed June 20, 2012 8:08 am

Saturday is the 40th anniversary of Title IX, which, although almost nobody anticipated it then, resulted in women's gaining the right to participate in sports commensurate with their numbers attending college.

Title IX not only had a huge effect on women's participation in sports, but also, culturally, it influenced the way both men and women view the idea of women and athletics. It's mattered greatly in our American society.

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U.S.
6:54 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Senators Get Time In Solitary Confinement

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 6:59 pm

At any given moment, about 15,000 men and women are living in solitary confinement in the federal prison system, housed in tiny cells not much larger than a king-sized bed.

"It is hard to describe in words what such a small space begins to look like, feel like and smell like when someone is required to live virtually their entire life in it," says Craig Haney, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

But Tuesday, Haney, who has studied life inside prisons for three decades, had an opportunity to paint that picture.

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The Salt
6:44 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Surviving A Food Festival Without Getting A Tummyache

Credit Embajada del Ecuador en Estados Unidos / Flickr.com
The Fancy Food Show floor in 2011.

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 8:07 pm

I've never in my life desired a low-sodium biscuit, but I let the well-groomed woman at the Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C. this week goad me into eating one.

"They're soooo good, I swear," she says.

It's perfectly fluffy and edible, this low-sodium biscuit, but seconds after it's gone I'm regretting having just wolfed down the whole thing. That's precious space in my stomach that I've just forfeited for an unremarkable food I'd never be interested in eating again.

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Energy
6:22 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Shell Faces Pushback As Alaska Drilling Nears

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 6:59 pm

The federal government could soon give the final go-ahead for Royal Dutch Shell to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. Shell has spent $4 billion since 2007 to prepare for this work, and is hoping to tap into vast new deposits of oil.

But the plan to drill exploratory wells is controversial — opposed by environmental groups and some indigenous people as well.

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Shots - Health Blog
6:15 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

How Opponents Won The Health Care Messaging War

OK, so it's not exactly news that the Obama administration hasn't done the best job in the world selling the Affordable Care Act to the American public.

But now the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has some statistics to demonstrate just how sorry that job has been. And it suggests that the media gets at least some of the blame.

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Europe
5:28 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Germany Resists Concessions To Greek Bailout Terms

Credit Yuri Cortez / Getty Images
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with members of her delegation before the first plenary session of the G-20 Leaders' Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Monday.

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 8:18 pm

The party that won Greece's parliamentary elections on Sunday has accepted the tough conditions international lenders imposed to bail out the ailing nation. But there's been talk that the party wants to seek some concessions on the terms of the rescue package.

At the G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her tough line that bailout terms for Greece are not negotiable. After the summit, Merkel returns to a German electorate that is now fed up with a debt crisis that only seems to grow and worsen.

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It's All Politics
5:23 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

With Polka Band And Pie, Romney Wraps Up Small-Town Tour In Michigan

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney makes a pie shell with store owner Linda Hundt during a campaign stop Tuesday in DeWitt, Mich.

Originally published on Fri June 29, 2012 4:00 pm

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney wrapped up a five-day, six-state tour in Michigan on Tuesday.

Each of the states he visited was won by President Obama in the 2008 election. Each is also shaping up as a potential battleground this year.

In Michigan, the state where Romney was born, he avoided big cities and stayed in places friendly to the GOP. As he traveled east to west across central Michigan by bus, there were some pockets of protesters, but mostly at a distance.

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Environment
5:20 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

The Hidden Dangers Of Tsunami Debris

Credit Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation / AP
A nearly 70-foot dock that was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami washed ashore on Agate Beach in Oregon. Marine scientists have found potentially invasive species among the 100 tons of marine life that traveled aboard the dock.

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 6:59 pm

Beaches on the West Coast are getting a regular dose of debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan. The first few items were curiosities — a boat here, a soccer ball there — but as the litter accumulates, officials such as Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire have acknowledged the scale of the problem.

"We are in for a steady dribble of tsunami debris over the next few years, so any response by us must be well-planned — and it will be," she said.

Beyond the obvious problem of litter, officials are on the lookout for hidden dangers.

Debris 'Everywhere'

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Shots - Health Blog
5:07 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Regardless Of High Court, No Return To Old Days For Parts Of Health System

Credit Carolyn Kaster / AP
Attorney Paul Clement argued against the heath care overhaul at the Supreme Court in March. The decision on the law's constitutionality is expected any day.

Will recent changes to the way health care is delivered and paid for last even if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Health Act?

It's far from unanimous, but many believe Newton's law of inertia will kick in even if the statute that launched the changes drops away.

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Technology
4:55 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Failure: The F-Word Silicon Valley Loves And Hates

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 8:18 pm

In Silicon Valley, there's an "F word" that entrepreneurs say in polite company all the time: failure.

For every high-tech business success, there are countless failures in this California cradle of Internet startups. Here failure is accepted, or even welcomed, as a guide for future success.

In fact, failure is dissected in San Francisco at FailCon, an annual one-day conference where tech entrepreneurs and investors spill their guts and share lessons learned.

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