Dr. Aaron Shirley has devoted his career to serving the rural poor in the Mississippi Delta, but now the 77-year-old pediatrician believes the key to reducing the nation’s highest infant-mortality rates lies in a surprising place: the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Read the full story

IT WASN’T just that a whole national security system—you know, the one the secretary of Homeland Security assured the country had worked—didn’t. The whole, elaborate apparatus was unable to keep a clear and ticking danger off an American airliner Christmas Day despite an abundance of warning signs.

Read the full story

Education Secretary Arne Duncan called Hurricane Katrina “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans” because it forced the community to take steps to improve low-performing public schools, according to excerpts from the transcript of a television interview made public Friday afternoon.

Read the full story

The words are those of the late John A. Pidgeon, the legendary headmaster of the Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania. At the time, he was reflecting on his 45 years in the job

Read the full story

Snow from a storm that blanketed the South on Saturday beckoned children to sled down hills, while officials warned grown-ups to stay off slippery roads as they worked to clear a mess of wrecks and downed power lines.

Read the full story

Werewolves have stalked through dozens of movies since the silent growls of The Werewolf (1913). Here is a partial list of everybody and his hairy brother on screen: Werewolf of London (1935): “The werewolf is neither man nor wolf,” it defined the problem, “but a satanic creature with the worst qualities of both.”

Read the full story

The amount of milk produced in Arkansas between July and December is being closely scrutinized these days as advocates of the Arkansas Milk Stabilization Board get set to defend a fledgling $9.1 million grant and incentives program.

Read the full story

This year’s The Wolfman drops Benicio Del Toro, in the title performance, into the literally big shoes of the actor best known for the part, Lon Chaney Jr.

Read the full story

The government’s response to the financial meltdown has made it more likely the United States will face a deeper crisis in the future, an independent watchdog at the Treasury Department warned.

Read the full story

Over the years, I’ve written many columns about Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and torture, not to mention the abuses that go on in Chinese and North Korean prisons. But I’ve never written about how the horrors that unfold in American prisons—especially juvenile correctional facilities—are on a far larger scale than at Guantanamo.

Read the full story