News and Issues

Julia Sneden wrote: Pronouns, pronouns, pronouns: does no one these days teach youngsters how to use them? The other day a bemused friend quoted from a sweet letter she had received: "Just seeing your face at Mike and I's wedding..." Unbelievable, you say? Even more unbelievable is the fact that the writer is a graduate student at a major university. The child obviously doesn’t lack brains;what she lacks is proper training in the use of her native tongue. And, perhaps, an introduction to the word "our," which would have been a quick rescue as well as referencing what the ceremony had been all about. more »

An increasing number of states are striving to connect released prisoners to health care programs on the outside. Frequently, that means enrolling them in Medicaid and scheduling appointments for medical services before they are released. Some state programs — in Massachusetts and Connecticut, for example — provide help to all outgoing prisoners. Programs in some other states are more targeted. Those in Rhode Island and New York, for instance, focus on ex-offenders with HIV or AIDS. more »

Editor's Note: We missed this program when originally presented, but wish to highlight it now when there is reported a review of hostage policy is nearing completion: Diane Foley, mother of executed US journalist James Foley, and Debra Tice, mother of missing freelance journalist Austin Tice, talked with Judy Woodruff, co-anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour, about new threats to journalism and press freedom during a program at the Newseum. more »

Because of its universal nature, the droplet computer can theoretically perform any operation that a conventional electronic computer can crunch, although at significantly slower rates. Stanford Engineers, however, have a more ambitious application in mind. "Our goal is to build a completely new class of computers that can precisely control and manipulate physical matter." more »