The Two-Way
11:50 am
Mon December 5, 2011

Crippled Japanese Nuclear Plant Continues To Leak Radioactive Water

Credit TEPCO / AFP/Getty Images
This handout picture, taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) shows radioactive water on the floor inside the building of a water treatment facility at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Over the weekend, the company that runs the Japanese nuclear plant crippled by the earthquake and tsunami in March said they had detected another leak of radioactive water. This time, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) said, 45 tons of contaminated water had been found outside the cooling system and about 300 liters of it had leaked into the Pacific Ocean.

Read more
Education
11:47 am
Mon December 5, 2011

A Carrot for College Performance: More Money

Credit By Brian Stansberry / Wikimedia Commons
The Volpe Library at TTU.

For a long time, most public colleges and universities have gotten their funding based on how many students they enroll. More students mean more money.

But economic pressures have convinced states they should only reward results that help students, and the state's economy.

Tennessee is a leader among states trying to peg funding to the number of students who actually graduate with a degree.

GETTING EDUCATION TO DO MORE FOR THE STATE

Read more
Newt Gingrich
11:27 am
Mon December 5, 2011

Gingrich's Health Care Consultancy: Is It Lobbying?

Credit Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, shown at an event on health care on Capitol Hill this March, founded the Center for Health Transformation.

Originally published on Mon December 5, 2011 5:27 pm

In between his speakership and his presidential candidacy, Newt Gingrich built a network of organizations to promote his causes — and himself.

Informally known as Newt Gingrich Inc., those entities have flourished. But questions linger, especially about two of them: the Gingrich Group, a for-profit consulting firm; and a unit of the Gingrich Group called the Center for Health Transformation.

Read more
Humans
11:21 am
Mon December 5, 2011

For Creative People, Cheating Comes Easier

Credit iStockphoto.com
New research suggests that people who are more creative are more likely to cheat.

Five months after the implosion of Enron, Feb. 12, 2002, Enron's chief executive, Ken Lay, finally stood in front of Congress and the world and placed his hand on a bible.

At that point everyone had questions for Lay. It was clear by then that Enron was the product of a spectacular ethical failure, that there had been massive cheating and lying. The real question was, how many people had been dishonest? Who was in on it?

Read more
The Two-Way
11:08 am
Mon December 5, 2011

Queen Elizabeth's 'Pay' Has Been Frozen

Credit Cris Jackson/pool / AFP/Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II in November.

She'll still get about $50 million a year in taxpayers' money to run her palaces and travel the world, but there's word from the U.K. that Queen Elizabeth II has had her "pay" frozen until at least 2015.

Hard times, after all, require sacrifices.

Read more
Shots - Health Blog
10:47 am
Mon December 5, 2011

Teens Aren't the Rampant Sexting Maniacs We Thought

Credit Mark Rose / iStockphoto.com
They're probably just texting their moms.

Teens sharing totally inappropriate naked photos on their phones: Sexting sounded so plausible, it just had to be true.

But now it turns out that's the vast majority of teenagers aren't sexting at all.

Read more
The Two-Way
10:37 am
Mon December 5, 2011

Who Are The 1 Percent? Gallup Finds They're A Lot Like The 99 Percent

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A protestor carries a sign as she marches down Market Street during a day of action in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement on Dec. 2 in San Francisco.

The Occupy movement has refocused the national conversation to income inequality. As we've reported in the past, this Tumbler blog puts a face on who the 99 percent are.

But who are the 1 percent?

Today, Gallup released analysis that looked at households who earned more than $500,000 annually and found that in many cases they were a "mirror image" of the 99 percent.

Among the findings:

Read more
Around the Nation
10:34 am
Mon December 5, 2011

Drone Technology Finding Its Way To American Skies

Credit Ross D. Franklin / AP
A Predator drone unmanned aerial vehicle takes off on a U.S. Customs Border Protection mission from Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

Unmanned aircraft — or drones — are playing a large role in U.S. military operations in Afghanistan but they're starting to show up in increasing numbers in U.S. as well. Drones are already used to patrol the border with Mexico and now they may soon be coming to a police department near you.

Read more
The Salt
10:05 am
Mon December 5, 2011

How Hot Chocolate Became More American Than Apple Pie

Credit Melissa Forsyth / NPR
A Mars Inc. employee demonstrates how cacao beans are ground into cocoa powder at a chocolate-making demonstration at the National Archives.

As the temperature starts to drop, it may be comforting to know that hot chocolate could be more American than apple pie.

Read more
The Two-Way
9:17 am
Mon December 5, 2011

Post Office Lays Out More Details On Service Changes, Closings

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Scott Schechter, a United States Postal Service employee, collected mail from the boxes in front of a mail processing center on Sept. 16, 2011 in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Pages