Rose Madeline Mula writes: Did you ever stop to think about how certain words reveal a great deal about us? I'm not talking about designations that others may use to desctibe our physical appearance (attractive, stocky, tall, graceful...) or characteristics (sweet, generous, funny...) but, rather, words that tickle our fancy; phrases that turn us on — or off.

Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to seriously consider a federal health insurance program. As Congress churned out New Deal legislation, Roosevelt advocated inclusion of a federal health insurance component in his Social Security Act of 1935, before dropping it to avoid jeopardizing the bill's passage. Fourteen years later, Harry Truman sent the House a bill that would offer health insurance to those age sixty-five and older, but it was blocked by an intractable Ways and Means Committee. Kennedy tried, too, sending a comparable bill to Capitol Hill in 1962, where it missed passage in the Senate by a few votes.

Doris O'Brien writes: Picture yourself shaking hands with Hillary, Bernie, Martin, Jeb, Chris, Scott, Marco, Rand, Dr. Ben, The Donald, and all the other celebratory hopefuls. Can't you almost smell the slow-burning spare ribs and taste the tangy apple cider on a frosty Iowa evening? But more to the point: it's not my stomach but my political soul that makes me envy Hawkeyes. That's why I'm hankering to be in their number when the wannabes come marching in.

The idea of using outcomes — not enrollments — to guide public funding of higher education has so much bipartisan backing that both President Barack Obama and Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott support it. Just last week, the Florida Board of Education approved a performance-funding system for state colleges, adding to its existing system for state universities.

"Caillebotte grew up in the destruction/construction zone of the 8th arrondissement in Paris, one of the new neighborhoods built during Napoleon III's massive urban renewal project of the 1850s and 1860s. His response to the modern city was quite personal and there is something in his aesthetic that speaks directly to 21st-century urban dwellers."

The Obama administration is asking state insurance regulators to take a closer look at rate requests before granting them. Under the Affordable Care Act, state agencies largely retain the right to regulate premiums in their states. In a letter sent to insurance commissioners in every state and DC the CEO of healthcare.gov said recent data suggest that rates should not go up as much as some insurers are proposing for plans sold to individuals on the health exchanges.  

Julia Sneden writes and rhymes about bathing suit shopping: It's an annual chore for most people, this business of buying a bathing suit. For me, it comes around every six months or so. With older women and men doing water aerobics and swimming laps, wouldn't you think the bathing suit manufacturers would twig to the idea that there’s a huge market out here? We buy suits more often than teenagers do, because we're harder on them

From fiscal years 2009 through 2014, DHS apprehended more than 200,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children, and the number of UAC apprehended in fiscal year 2014 (about 74,000) was more than four times larger than that for fiscal year 2011 (about 17,000). On the journey to the United States, many UAC have traveled thousands of miles under dangerous conditions. Developing and implementing processes to help ensure agents and officers record UAC care actions would provide greater assurance that DHS is meeting its care and custody requirements.

Elaine Soloway writes: I won't change my appearance or wardrobe to hook a guy. In my earlier single stage, I wore 3-inch heels, clothing I deemed alluring, and shopped at Victoria's Secret for the 'just in case' dates. Now, I refuse to dye my grey hair, get Botox or plastic surgery, or don anything that doesn't stretch.

A handful of states have passed piecemeal measures to support families owning heirs' property, but the law-writing group is urging legislatures to adopt its draft bill. The proposal would allow a co-owner to buy out another who wants to push the property to sale and establish a thorough review process for courts to determine whether the property should be sold or divided among the owners. It also would require courts to order open market sales to ensure properties are not sold below market value. 

Alice Bowman has learned a lot about making the most of the daily twists and turns of the missions she manages. One of the most important lessons translates easily to daily life: "You just can't overreact when things happen, you have to stay calm," says Bowman. The dozens of women who are powering New Horizons to a history-making July 14 flyby of Pluto look forward to the day when the conversation about gender becomes irrelevant.

Take a forest stroll at the National Reserve System's Sagehen Creek Field Station, and you will encounter an Invisible Barn. The structure's edges fade into the open air, until angled glimpses of tree trunks reveal a roof or wall. Surprise, then amusement tickle your brain as it wrestles with the sight of a building disappearing into the forest.

25 Years of Hubble Space Telescope; finding and using health statistics has become requisite for a number of careers; biographies of women who have made contributions to fields as diverse as chemistry, primatology, biophysics, and astronomy; distinctive literary titles with expert book lovers from around the country; retracted papers in a wide variety of fields, some due to fraud, others just to mistakes in experiments or the publishing process; "Start Your Family Research" section; 1940s knitting patterns and other interesting sites.

Joan L. Cannon writes: It's not a cop-out to look ahead and try not to be obsessed by what has gone and can't be recalled; it's a way to make a day worth living. Not many can claim to know when the last of those days will be for them. There seems something foolish about trying to move through even a day without looking ahead. I'd be afraid of running straight (perhaps fatally) into an avoidable stone wall (I live in New England) or over a cliff and losing tomorrows I don't yet want to miss.

European Americans prefer positive feelings over negative ones while Chinese tend to experience a balance between the two, new Stanford research shows. a number of studies by other researchers have shown that people from Chinese and other East Asian cultures are more likely to feel both negative and positive – or "mixed emotions" – during good events, such as doing well on an exam. On the other hand, Americans of European descent are more likely to just feel positive during good events.  

Alice became a publishing sensation, as the combination of text and illustration brought to life a story that has endured for 150 years. Lewis Carroll's pseudonym is derived from the author's real name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, by way of Latin: Charles >Carolus>Carroll; Lutwidge>Ludovicus>Lewis. The show includes the original manuscript of Alice as well as original correspondence, unique drawings, handcolored proofs, rare editions, vintage photographs, and important objects associated with the story — some never before exhibited.

President Obama announced that the Department of Labor will propose extending overtime pay to nearly 5 million workers. The proposal would guarantee overtime pay to most salaried workers earning less than an estimated $50,440 next year. The number of workers in each state who would be affected by this proposal can be found here.

Historically, about 17 percent of families move in a given year, but the recession knocked that number down as low as 11 percent, said Kimball Brace, president of Virginia-based Election Data Services. After two straight years of improvement, the number of moving families has partially recovered to about 15 percent. "The recession kept people at home. They couldn't sell their home, they couldn't find a job," Brace said. "We're starting to see bigger numbers. We're not all the way back."

Although the overwhelming majority of couples (72 percent) say they communicate exceptionally or very well when it comes to financial matters, more than four in 10 (43 percent, up from 27 percent in 2013) couldn't correctly identify how much their partner makes — and of that, 10 percent were off by $25,000 or more. Which begs the question: if so many couples can't get this most basic item in their financial lives correct, what other disconnects exist that are unknowingly causing cracks in their financial foundation?

Even today, in our hurried, abbreviated attention to a printed page, we still value distinguished diction, carefully guarded and guided irony, and especially meticulous observation. It's worth the effort to enjoy this kind of writing once again. Economy of events substitutes for economy of explanation and description. The book isn't very long, but its shadow is. Not a lot happens, but what does pierces through to a layer below everyday intercourse.

Today the Supreme Court has affirmed what Americans already believe; that same-sex couples deserve the right to marry and marriage equality should be the law of the land. Since the introduction of the Equality Act in 1974, only 17 states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws protecting all LGBT residents in employment, housing, and public accommodations — meaning that a majority of the states and the federal government still lack the basic protections for LGBT Americans that are afforded other populations.

Eighty-five percent of those who bought insurance through healthcare.gov qualified for subsidies averaging $272 per month. The Department of Health and Human Services predicted 6.4 million people would have lost subsidies if the court ruled for the plaintiffs. The health law faces other legal cases, including objections from religious institutions to their role in providing birth control coverage and a suit by the House of Representatives contending that Obama's delay in requiring employers to offer coverage was illegal.

Roberta McReynolds writes: What every citizen of California does to conserve even a drop of water that can be allocated where it is needed most benefits everyone in the country. I'm certain you'll be pleased to know that many of us currently live in houses with buckets tucked under every faucet, and it's making a difference. It's given an entirely new meaning to having a 'bucket list', but I'll get back to that shortly.