The total cost of K-12 educational cutbacks in recent years is about equal to the amount of state taxes left unpaid by these companies.

Companies have long utilized "incentives" to encourage employees to participate in health-promoting programs - that is, they provide rewards to employees who meet certain health-related goals. As health care costs have begun to rise in the United States, however, such incentives have taken what some call a troubling turn.

They're also ignorant about how long-term isolation is affecting prisoners, and what it costs, says a new GAO report.

America may benefit from following Canada's lead and moving civil servants to the West Wing.

The Internal Revenue Service isn't the only federal bureaucracy to be recently taken to task by its Office of the Inspector General.

While there has been plenty to find fault with in the revelation that the IRS targeted some tea party groups seeking tax exempt status, some of the Republican rhetoric has been an overreach.

This weekend, people in 250 cities on 6 continents will march against meddling in the global food supply by Monsanto—the company that brought us Agent Orange, Dioxin, PCBs, and the bovine growth hormone.

There's evidence that the Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press phone records is far from unprecedented.

"Business freedom" in America increasingly means the God-given right to exploit the vulnerability of the public.

Scary stories of kidnappings and explosions lead our news feeds, but it's the good news that helps break down the myth of our own powerlessness.

There is no point at which those who accumulate money become satisfied.

This ain't science.

Thousands of jobless Americans could see their unemployment checks shrink by as much as one-fourth because their states have been slow to implement across-the-board federal spending cuts.

A number of Republicans are using misleading numbers when they say the Federal Aviation Administration should cut consultants and travel before resorting to furloughs that are causing airport delays.

Not much. The truth is it doesn’t appear that greater powers would have helped the authorities stop the Boston bombing.

Two recipients of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize are working to abolish the practice of sending trash to landfills and incinerators. And the idea is catching on.

State lotteries do far more harm than good, especially at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Most people think that sustainability is a pretty good idea. Others think it is a code word for the United Nations taking our freedom away.

Obama's plan would be economically irresponsible, socially disruptive and morally repugnant.

A $2 billion cosmic ray detector on the International Space Station has found the footprint of something that could be dark matter, the mysterious substance that is believed to hold the cosmos together but has never been directly observed, scientists say.

David Stockman, ex-Reagan budget director, says the destruction of fiscal rectitude under Reagan created a template for the Republicans’ utter abandonment of the balanced-budget policies of Calvin Coolidge and allowed George W. Bush to dive into the deep end, bankrupting the nation through two misbegotten and unfinanced wars, a giant expansion of Medicare and a tax-cutting spree for the wealthy that turned K Street lobbyists into the de facto office of national tax policy. In effect, the G.O.P. embraced Keynesianism — for the wealthy.

In Bowman v. Monsanto, the US Supreme Court will soon decide who has rights to Genetically Modified (GM) seeds' power to self-replicate.

Rep. Michele Bachmann claims that “vulnerable women, vulnerable children, vulnerable senior citizens” will all “pay more” under the federal health care law and get “less” in return. The law actually provides free preventive services for women, increases prescription drug coverage for seniors and extends funding for the children’s health program for two more years. (This is unusual, since she has been so accurate in everything else. -B)

In the fall of 2007, Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU), the coal-mining giant, spun off all its unionized mines into a new company, Patriot Coal Corp. (PCXCQ) In the process, it got rid of the promises it had made over generations to coal miners and their families.

In Sen. Ted Cruz’s twisted vision of economic history, Ronald Reagan cured double-digit unemployment by cutting spending and reducing the federal debt, and Jimmy Carter was guilty of “out-of-control regulation.”

Those who questioned the case for war have won the fight over history. But that won’t bring back the tens of thousands of lives lost.

How the pharmaceutical industry bribes medical professionals.

Mitch Seavey comes in first for second time in famed, grueling, 1,000-mile Anchorage-Nome. Alaska dog sled race.

It's that time of year again. On Sunday (March 10), most Americans will wake up only to realize they've lost an hour of their weekend to daylight saving time — the price we pay for eight months of well-lit evenings.

You: doing more with less. Corporate profits: going strong. The dirty secret of the jobless recovery.

The GOP only cares about tax reduction.

There’s a chance we’re living in end times.

Sean Recchi diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 42. Total cost, in advance, for Sean’s treatment plan and initial doses of chemotherapy: $83,900. Charges for blood and lab tests amounted to more than $15,000; with Medicare, they would have cost a few hundred dollars. (American exceptionalism at work. -B)

The Obama administration reportedly backs Monsanto, and urged the court to stay out of this case because it could have implications for patenting other products that can reproduce in fields like nanotechnology and genetics.

Can we build sustainable housing that's affordable, too? The city of Buffalo did, and created a community jobs pipeline in the process. Here's what can happen when neighborhoods take the lead.

The president spins his accomplishments on jobs, health care and deficit reduction in annual address.

In two recent statements, Sen. Rand Paul made the unsubstantiated claim that the U.S. government once “armed” and “funded” Osama bin Laden. The CIA and several of its top officials deny that the U.S. ever recruited, trained, armed or funded bin Laden during the Afghan war over Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Bin Laden himself has denied it.

After running a gauntlet of legal and political opposition, the Affordable Care Act is poised to bring the United States closer than it has ever been to universal health insurance. But just how close it gets will be up to individual states.

Having an energy-efficient home saves the owners money, but they often procrastinate on improvements. When energy companies in Kansas and Kentucky figured out a way to sweeten the deal, the results brought good news for homeowners, contractors, and for the planet.

Opponents of a bipartisan Senate immigration plan say it includes “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, but that label is not strictly accurate. Although the Senate plan includes a “path to citizenship,” it also requires illegal immigrants to pay a fine, pay back taxes, learn English and then get in line for permanent legal status behind other immigrants already in the system.

A divestment campaign led by students is changing the national conversation about energy, creating a market for sustainable stocks, and linking up students with communities facing off against the fossil fuel industry.

The Boy Scouts council in charge of overseeing scout programs in the Washington, DC-area is threatening to kick out a Maryland troop for posting a statement on its website declaring it won't discriminate against gay scouts.

While it's always encouraging to hear stories of aquatic creatures saved from ocean debris, especially discarded fishing nets, lines and hooks -- for every one heartwarming rescue, there are countless sad endings for marine life.

Think NOLA is a lost cause? Think again.

A quick hit way to slow the pace of global warming may be to tackle soot emissions from things such as diesel cars and coal-burning cookstoves, according to a new study that finds the black carbon these devices emit is the second-biggest contributor to global climate change.

The Final Frontier... Here on Earth

Less lead. It’s ridiculous -– until you see the evidence.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell twisted some fiscal facts in his appearances on the Sunday talk show circuit.

It’s not a fight, like education reform or abortion or gay marriage, between conflicting groups with conflicting opinions. It couldn’t be more different at a fundamental level.