Michael Regan

Americans who identify themselves as Democrats strongly support the debt-ceiling bill, which was opposed by half the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, while Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the measure backed by most GOP Congressmen, a new Gallup poll says. The poll finds that 58 percent of Democrats approve of the measure, with 28 percent […]

The deal to raise the debt ceiling reached by President Obama and Congressional leaders averts the immediate crisis, John Gramlich and Melissa Maynard report at Stateline.org, but it leaves governors wondering exactly what kind of pain their states will face over the next decade. While the deal calls for $917 billion in deficit reduction through […]

To combat the nation’s obesity problem, officials in some jurisdictions have considered requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on their menus, saying that would help consumers make better decisions. Critics, on the other hand, say nobody orders a Big Mac thinking it’s a low-cal snack, and posting the numbers won’t help. A new study […]

Americans overwhelmingly want their legislators to reach agreement on the federal debt deadlock, even if that means a compromise they don’t like, a new survey says. Overall, 68 percent agreed with the statement that lawmakers should “be willing to compromise, even if that means they strike a deal you disagree with.” Majorities of Republicans (53 […]

As the federal debt ceiling debate approaches the Aug. 2 deadline–or not, for default crisis doubters–ProPublica has put together a list of stories, charts and blogs to help you understand how we got her and where we’re going. Among the references is a link to Slate’s chart of how much cash is left in the […]

More than 2 1/2 years into his presidency, Barack Obama gets a lukewarm assessment from a group of environmentalists and energy experts, Yale Environment 360 reports. Most of the respondents to Environment 360’s inquiry faulted the president for failing to push climate legislation through Congress and for not taking a stronger stand against global warming. […]

It wasn’t that long ago that state officials were leery of using social media to connect with the public, Mary Mahling reports at Stateline.org, but those days are over, at least in governors’ offices. A survey of gubernatorial websites indicates that all 50 state chief executives–or, to be precise, their staffs–use at least one social […]

As part of its effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, the federal government a few years ago assigned a “social cost” to carbon, estimating the economic damage done by 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions at $21. Australia came up with a similar figure last year. But new research suggests the real cost may be […]

As traditional newsrooms have declined in recent years, a new kind of news-gathering organization has emerged: non-profit operations that report on the state or national levels, most of them primarily on-line. Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism examined 39 such organizations–including The Connecticut Mirror–and found they vary widely in terms of transparency and […]

Nearly 60 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents can’t or won’t name a favorite for the GOP 2012 presidential nomination when asked an open-ended question, with no candidates’ names read, a new Gallup survey says. Among those who do express a preference, Mitt Romney is the only one in double digits, with 13 percent. Michele […]

Several key members of the Bancroft family, which sold the respected Wall Street Journal to global news mogul Rupert Murdoch in 2007, are having second thoughts in light of the phone hacking scandal engulfing Murdoch’s News International in Britain, Richard Tofel reports at ProPublica. “If I had known what I know now, I would have […]

Adults are as likely as teens and pre-teens to share personal information on Facebook, a new Canadian study says–and they also crave popularity just as much. “The online environment influences people of all ages. Both parents and teens share and show more about themselves than they might in other social settings, and the same psychological […]