This is a reflective time of year for me. My father, Ronald Reagan, died in June 2004, and each year I let myself drift into whatever realm my thoughts and memories lead me to. Sometimes it’s about who he was as a father — magical when I was a small child, but elusive and a bit awkward as I grew up.

This year I have found myself reflecting ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Winning elections — or achieving any success — often is about being in the right spot at the right moment. Getting lucky and capitalizing. Xavier Becerra is a textbook example.

Becerra’s moribund campaign for California governor was flatlining in early April when he got a shocking break. Five women publicly accused...Read more

Upon returning home from his time as a volunteer ambulance driver in World War I, naturalist Henry Beston famously described wild animals as “other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”

Fast-forward to today, as Arabian humpback whales navigate between sea ...Read more

Since 2016, when Donald Trump shattered the Democrats’ blue wall by winning working-class voters across the Midwest, a cottage industry has sprung up on the left dedicated to answering a single question: How can Democrats win back the working class?

The answers come in different forms. Sometimes it is veteran Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders— ...Read more

Former Vice President Mike Pence is not merely promoting a new book. He is making a final argument for a vision of conservatism that he believes is slipping away.

In “What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience,” Pence argues that the Republican Party must choose between enduring conservative principles and what...Read more

When I was 14, I read my first union contract. It was the spring of 1972, a few months before I was to graduate from eighth grade, and the contract was between the United Steelworkers of America and Republic Steel.

The contract was the result of a long and contentious negotiation process between the union and Republic, and it was some time ...Read more

The first rule of a primary election is: Don't make too much of the results.

The intrepid folks who bother to cast a ballot in these first-round races are largely a group of engaged voters, and drawing conclusions from such a narrow minority is a losing game.

So however the final June results tally out, the lessons learned won't easily ...Read more

It began with the president asking Texas to redraw its congressional map to give Republicans additional House seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

This prompted California to redraw its map, giving Democrats a comparable number of additional seats to balance the Texas gains. Virginians voted for a redraw, which would have given Democrats ...Read more

From John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev navigating the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 to Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai’s meetings that laid the groundwork for China’s opening up in 1971 — modern history is full of examples of human judgment shaping great diplomatic moments.

But what if artificial intelligence could help us face some of ...Read more

Donald Trump may pretend that he finds the quagmire he caused in the Middle East “very boring.” But even accounting for his notoriously short attention span, I find it more plausible that the president is starting to panic, as three realities start to sink in. First, he’s losing the ability to declare victory and walk away from his war ...Read more

The votes are still being tallied but the result of Tuesday’s top-two primary election in California seems pretty clear.

Despite an uptick in his performance, hopes for third-place finisher Tom Steyer are fading along with the number of uncounted ballots, suggesting Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton will face off in November...Read more

Modern societies depend on continuity.

Electric grids are built over decades. Infrastructure systems require long investment cycles. Defense planning depends on sustained procurement and strategic consistency. Climate adaptation, energy systems, artificial intelligence governance, public health preparedness, and fiscal stability all require ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Some students at a racially diverse Twin Cities high school are getting much too used to seeing swastikas.

Since February, someone at Hopkins Senior High School has scrawled slurs and hateful imagery in restrooms, including those designated as gender-neutral, which by their very nature are intended to be safe spaces.

...Read more

Until recently, the main threats to kelp and coral reefs were overfishing and pollution. Now it’s our warming seas.

A study carried out by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and 30 other institutions around the world reports that the ocean absorbed more heat last year than ever before. Now the agency is...Read more

California is in the middle of a quiet but high-stakes argument about what it would mean to fix our water system in a hotter, drier century, especially in the age of AI.

Echoes of this argument will resonate in everyone’s lives. One side focuses on efficiency: building more conveyance, freeing up markets and moving water to its highest-value...Read more

The drastic demolition of cities and counties sought by the Legislature is the most irresponsible enactment by Tallahassee since 1861, when an elected convention made Florida the third state to secede from the Union.

How did that turn out?

Then, as now, the people gambling recklessly with Florida’s future had not thought out the consequences...Read more

Two decades after the first casino opened in Pennsylvania — paving the way for many older residents to get hooked on slot machines — gambling interests have moved on to kids.

The explosion of online gambling, sports betting apps, and prediction markets has tapped into younger and younger gamblers, especially young men and teenage boys.

A ...Read more

I still remember the excitement rippling through my elementary school classroom when Mrs. Kaiser walked in with a stack of linen cloths and colorful thread.

It was late spring 1976. It felt like the entire nation was celebrating the nation’s 200th birthday. Billboards, bumper stickers and T-shirts proclaimed the “Spirit of 76.” Kids ...Read more

As technology developers and researchers rush to develop autonomous AI research tools (i.e., systems that independently perform tasks by designing their workflows and utilizing available tools) an urgent but rarely discussed question is: Do we really need such tools at all?

Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold (an AI tool that visualizes the 3D ...Read more

Recently, close to 600 leaders from across the country — representing some of the nation’s largest grant makers, community foundations, and grassroots groups — gathered in Seattle. They joined forces to strategize on how to do the difficult work of bringing Americans together in an era of intense polarization that threatens to pull us ...Read more