Ranked choice voting is gaining ground across America. In August, Alaska ran its first election using the method, joining Maine, New York City and many smaller communities.

RCV is a voting method grounded in common sense with a time-proven track record. It empowers individual voters to send a clearer message about whom they want to represent ...Read more

The world of abstract art is a mystery to me, as I imagine it is for most people.

When you're talking about colorful splotches on a canvas, what invisible committee decides that one person's talent towers above another's?

Who sets the seemingly crazy prices that collectors are willing to pay? It's all very opaque.

But one thing I do know: ...Read more

You might come across the remnants of a tramway or a pile of mine tailings or a rusted tank — if you know where to look in Death Valley National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias Park and Preserve in Alaska, Glacier Peak Wilderness in Washington’s Cascade Mountains or Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

It can be startling to discover the ...Read more

On Wednesday, Hurricane Ian bore down on Florida’s Gulf Coast, closing schools and airports, prompting evacuations and adding to the problems of the hardworking people of the Sunshine State.

At the same time, a different kind of hurricane was engulfing Britain, this one with a cone of impact that stretched all around the world. And entirely ...Read more

Four years after voters set a modern record for turnout in a midterm election, they seem poised to do so again.

Or at least come close.

The most recent NBC News poll, consistent with other surveys, found 64% of those responding had a high interest in voting in the Nov. 8 election, registering a "9" or "10" on a 10-point scale. That's more than...Read more

The horrific murder of a reporter in the line of duty brings home the importance of the First Amendment. The judicial system must not use this tragedy to undermine press freedom.

Review-Journal reporter Jeff German was stabbed to death outside his home on Sept. 3. He had recently written reports highlighting dysfunction in the Clark County ...Read more

With a one-two punch, the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have tossed tens of millions of Americans at high risk of death and disability from COVID-19 into a sea of contagion without any clear guidance for infection prevention and control.

After President Joe Biden’s thoughtless remark that “the ...Read more

What police seem to know 24 hours after America's latest firearms outrage is that five shooters and the driver of their SUV targeted at least one of the teenage Roxborough High School football players. One of the players, a 14-year-old named Nicholas Elizalde, of Havertown, died, the 23rd kid killed in Philadelphia this year.

Three remained ...Read more

As if to boost the brand of the League of Unrepentant Evildoers, Infowars founder Alex Jones has tried to join the likes of Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and the National Rifle Association in declaring bankruptcy as a way to evade multimillion-dollar court judgments against him. Jones is in the middle of multiple lawsuits over his assertions ...Read more

After 19 children and two teachers were gunned down in their fourth grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, all of America was in an uproar over gun violence and screaming that something must be done to protect children from mass shootings in schools.

I, and a lot of people in this country, certainly every parent of school-age children, thought then ...Read more

A common sound bite today is that the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hike is pushing the nation toward recession. But that’s like beginning a book on page 813. The origin of today’s economic malaise is prolonged and massive federal budget deficits, combined with a Fed willing to finance those deficits. That’s precisely what we’...Read more

Mahsa Amini. Could this be the one? Could hers be the name that leads to seismic change?

As an Iranian American watching the dramatic events unfold in Iran, I’m afraid to hold my breath. For I have seen this narrative play out before. The Green Movement protests of Iran in 2009 due to election fraud claims. The protests of 2019 in Iran due to...Read more

Ranked choice voting (RCV) is having its biggest year ever. It’s growing in red, blue and purple states. It’s a nonpartisan reform that gives voters more choice and more voice and gives candidates incentives to run better campaigns. In short, it’s a better way to vote.

That’s why RCV is recommended by parliamentary guides like Robert’...Read more

A colleague noted recently how we, the people, collectively, seem to think in more black and white terms, disallowing nuance and complexity. Is this true? Have we lost the capacity to see shades of gray? Especially in politics?

Yes. But this state of polarized thinking is not permanent.

One of the primary causes of dichotomous, i.e. black and ...Read more

Ranked choice voting is gaining ground across America. In August, Alaska ran its first election using the method, joining Maine, New York City and many smaller communities.

RCV is a voting method grounded in common sense with a time-proven track record. It empowers individual voters to send a clearer message about whom they want to represent ...Read more

September is National Preparedness Month, but we hardly need the reminder to be prepared for natural disasters this year. Droughts, fires, floods, scorching heat and scouring rain — and along with them property damage, lost crops and rising energy insecurity — are just a few of this summer’s unrelenting reminders that we need to strengthen...Read more

Amid the stir caused by President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debts, far too little attention has been paid to another far-reaching reform: the administration’s change to a lending program known as income-driven repayment (or IDR). If widely applied, Biden’s proposal would provide additional relief to millions of borrowers — ...Read more

The new U.S. COVID booster campaign needs a dose of clarity about its goals and limitations. The latest “bivalent” vaccine — retooled to protect against the currently circulating BA.5 variant — will benefit some more than others. The oldest and most vulnerable citizens are likely to benefit most. Public health officials should aim to ...Read more

Very few people will confess to being such loyal followers of their political party that they automatically adopt whatever positions it takes. Most voters like to think of themselves as independent: They have their own opinions on the issues, and they support candidates, not parties.

People are not necessarily wrong to think like this — as ...Read more