Bowling has seen better days. Lucky Strike Entertainment Corp., the dominant player in the business, has lost nearly half of its market value in the past year and had the rating on its debt cut further into junk territory.

Higher borrowing costs and iffy consumer sentiment are factors, but Americans also just don’t seem to want to bowl that ...Read more

Iranian leaders arguably overplayed their hand over the summer, attacking oil tankers even after signing a memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. If the U.S. hopes to end the conflict in the Persian Gulf, it should be wary of its own bout of hubris.

Iran acted because it feared losing leverage after the U.S. pressed ships ...Read more

The tragic deaths of four beluga whales at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, three of which were transferred as rescues from Canada’s Marineland and one that was a longtime resident, call attention to the injustice and suffering these intelligent, social animals face when taken from their natural homes and confined to small aquarium spaces.

Beluga ...Read more

For decades, communities across America have fought to address the problem of homelessness. Yet the crisis keeps growing, in large part because rents have soared while affordable housing has become even more scarce.

A common tool for addressing the housing crisis is rental assistance vouchers, issued monthly by local, state and federal ...Read more

The Common Application for this college admissions cycle is now open, and roughly 1.5 million students will likely use it to apply. Many will aim for the “best” college, usually defined by some mix of U.S. News & World Report ranking, prestige and admit rate. They are not alone. Our culture focuses more on admissions than any other part of ...Read more

President Donald Trump has never met a dictator he didn’t envy — and he is not shy about behaving like one, either.

American journalists were still fighting his White House ban as he gushed over the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who rules the world’s largest police state.

No other president in our history has ever banished ...Read more

For 250 years and counting, Americans have celebrated Independence Day on July 4 through fireworks, concerts, parades, barbecues, and more. By contrast, Constitution Day arrives soon after, on September 17, with far less fanfare.

It is not a time to hear patriotic medleys on the radio, enjoy 20% off a new air-conditioner, watch a hot-dog-...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Look, Xavier Becerra could cruise to a South Pacific island and bask on the beach until election day and Californians would still choose him as their next governor.

So, last week’s televised CNN debate between Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton really had no election significance, although it was important for the ...Read more

It sounds like an admonition from a senior detective to a junior colleague: Assume nothing.

Right now, across America, a lot of political assuming is going on, mostly among Democrats. The first assumption is that the Democrats will win the midterms. It is dangerous to assume the winner of any race until the winning post has clearly been passed....Read more

This page has long supported home ownership as a proven way to build wealth and security.

Alas, for an increasing share of the population, stretching to buy a home is a perilous financial move. Far from throwing money away, renting is looking better by the day. Public officials can help by avoiding poorly conceived new rules that would only ...Read more

The power to name implies the power to possess, to control, even to dominate.

Thus, in Genesis, shortly after the Almighty breathes life into the newly created Adam, nearly the first thing He does is parade before The First Man every beast of the field and every fowl of the air to see what Adam would name them. And whatever Adam called them, ...Read more

There are few people, if any, who've tracked U.S. elections for longer or in greater depth than Charlie Cook.

Ever since 1984, when he started his eponymous political newsletter, Cook and his stellar crew of nonpartisan analysts have plumbed many thousands of races — for president, Congress, governor — following the money, sussing out the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- My dad howled with laughter when I told him we were going to eat tacos with Steve Hilton.

"Isn't he with Trump?" he said in Spanish.

Indeed! But the former Fox News host has also staked his chances of becoming California's next governor on courting Latinos with a gospel of affordability, lower taxes and the California Dream. He ...Read more

Diligent news consumers might have noticed a story recently about a MAGA Missouri senator who humiliated himself before the nation by spinning a slanderous and easily debunked lie against a prosecutor.

No, we’re not talking about Sen. Eric Schmitt — though the description definitely applies there as well. The whole country has been laughing...Read more

Responsible management of data centers and the resources they consume is among the most important and contentious national debates, and no place is that more consequential than in Virginia. The commonwealth has more of the facilities than any other state, with about 400 in operation and another 280 or so under construction or in the planning ...Read more

For students, alumni and fans, there’s nothing quite like college football on an autumn afternoon. The thrill of the action, the roar of the crowd and the beauty of a packed stadium all combine to make the sport one of the most popular in the nation in the 157 years since collegiate players first took the field for a game.

The experience has ...Read more

New research using a strand of hair from Thomas Jefferson has effectively settled a longstanding, acrimonious debate: He almost certainly fathered children with Sally Hemings, a young Black woman he enslaved.

The latest scientific discovery, announced last month, is the result of a collaboration between the Smithsonian and researchers at the ...Read more

Covering the recent round of AI apocalypse warnings, I’ve tried to reject this cult-like deference toward all-powerful computer systems and the inevitability rhetoric: If Silicon Valley doesn’t build them first, someone else — likely China — will.

Yet a recent spate of incidents in the U.S. has spurred a fresh, heated debate on the ...Read more

Ideally, the screams of infancy and the insolence of toddlerhood fade as a person grows and the scalpel of life begins sculpting away. Yes, problems still persist, but part of maturing is understanding that "he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." As the Bible story goes, King Solomon ...Read more