Support for same-sex marriage seems to have been increasing at an accelerated pace over the past few years, Nate Silver says at the NY Time’s FiveThirtyEight.com, with opponents now in the minority. Tracking dozens of polls going back to 1988–when less than 15 percent said they supported gay marriage–Silver estimates that 50 percent of Americans […]

With his 50th birthday coming up fast (Aug. 4, according to his Hawaiian birth certificate) President Barack Obama has taken to musing on middle age, Amie Parnes reports at Politico. “We’ve been governing for 2½ years,” Obama told supporters on a conference call this month. “I don’t look that young anymore. I’m grayer, I have […]

Note to criminal defendants: Get to court early, and bring the judge a sandwich. That could be the conclusion of a new study of judges’ behavior, reported by Michael Haederle at Miller-McCune. Researchers studying the rulings of Israeli parole board judges found that prisoners were far more likely to get a favorable ruling at the […]

Just in time for tax day, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter, author and lecturer David Cay Johnston takes on what he calls nine “media-perpetuated tax myths” that prop up the theory of supply-side economics–the notion that lower tax rates promote investment, which creates jobs, which raises tax revenue. No. 1 on his list: The widespread notion that […]

Despite major increases in state spending on corrections, recidivism rates were largely unchanged nationwide between 1999 and 204, a new study by the Pew Center on the States says: More than four in 10 offenders returned to prison within three years of release. The rate varies significantly among states, however, ranging from 61.2 percent in […]

The federal health care reform law includes a $100 million program to reward Medicaid recipients for making healthy choices–but experts aren’t sure the incentives will work, Aimee Miles reports in Kaiser Health News. The program is intended to reduce Medicaid costs by rewarding patients for such things as quitting smoking, losing weight or keeping their […]

A century and a half after the start of the Civil War, some historians say Americans are still fighting over many of the same issues, John Blake writes at CNN. “When you hear charges today that the federal government is overreaching, and the idea that the Constitution recognized us as a league of sovereign states […]

Mark Twain is credited with saying, “Climate lasts all the time, weather only a few days.” A new study finds that the day’s weather can influence people’s belief that global climate change is real, Jeanna Bryner reports at LiveScience.” Researchers at Columbia Business School’s Center for Decision Sciences surveyed participants in the United States and […]

Political scientists say there are three main functions of political speech, David Fahrenthold says at the Washington Post: claiming credit for something, taking a position on an issue, or simply advertising, as when an elected official congratulates the local basketball team. To these, Harvard Prof. Gary King adds a fourth: taunting the opposition. King, an […]

Planning a flight? Bradley International Airport might not be the most economical choice for your departure point, Nate Silver says at his New York Times Blog, FiveThirtyEight. Silver, best known for his political commentary and analysis, is expanding to provide guidance to consumers using statistical date-crunching. (His debut column: “How to beat the salad bar“.) […]

As financially-strapped states cut spending on higher education, well-paid public university presidents face a tough balancing act, Jack Stripling and Andrea Fuller say at The Chronicle of Higher Education. They must argue that their institutions’ budget have been cut to the bone, while enjoying salaries and perks the far outstrip those of typical taxpayers or […]

Several recent polls illustrate one of the paradoxes of polling, Humphrey Taylor writes at Huffington Post’s Pollster blog. On issue after issue, large proportions of Americans say they are opposed to something taken as a whole, but majorities or pluralities are in favor of the component parts. Take government spending: Several polls say large majorities […]

A UC Berkeley physicist who has questioned previous studies showing a warming of the earth’s climate told a Congressional committee his own research has confirmed the trend, Andrew Revkin reports at the Dot Earth blog in the New York Times. Some critics of previous climate change findings have questioned the quality of historical data collected […]

Americans want to know more about their local schools, a new Brookings report says, and the No. 1 item on their list is teacher performance. The report, based on a national telephone survey, says the most common source of information about schools is family and friends, followed by daily newspapers, school publications and local television. […]

Leadership on clean energy issues is often thought to be a bicoastal affair, with states in the West and Northeast in the forefront, Oakley Brooks reports at Miller-McCune. But a new report says some Midwestern states are stepping up. Seven of the top 10 states cited for clean energy leadership still are on the East […]