Jon Krakauer's 1996 book Into the Wild delved into the riveting story of Chris McCandless, a 24-year-old man from an affluent family outside Washington, D.C., who graduated with honors from Emory, then gave away the bulk of his money, burned...
To the Editor: Re “Homeless, Because They Are Abused at Home” (front page, Nov. 11): As the shelter population rises to accommodate abused women, so do needless financial costs to the city and locations around the country because of...
Author Nell Bernstein ("All Alone in the World," "Burning Down The House") proposes the end of the juvenile prison while on a panel at the American Justice Summit on Nov. 10 in New York: "Technically there's no such thing as a juvenile prison....
I first met Mariah two years ago, when I worked as a youth advocate in the Harris County Advocate Program (H-CAP) in Houston. Mariah, 14, was on probation for breaking a classmate’s nose. She was a thin girl whose clothing often reflected the...
Ruben Rodriguez walked into the Robert N. Daveron Complex (RNDC), the main adolescent house on Rikers Island, in a faded stone-colored jumpsuit on April 25. A number of inmates whom he recognized from his previous sentence, bristled with fear,...
After two Colorado lawmakers who supported strict new gun-control laws were voted out of office in a special recall election last year, the National Rifle Association and its allies celebrated their huge win in the battle over gun laws in state...
To the Editor: “New York Needs a Stronger School Plan” (editorial, Nov. 7) questions Mayor Bill de Blasio’s investment in the community school strategy to improve the city’s most struggling schools, but it’s time...
While running for office, Bill de Blasio promised that as mayor he would amend the practice of singling out young black and Latino men for unfair and, in some cases, illegal arrests for possessing minuscule amounts of marijuana. Though...
Gabriela Ochoa is a vivacious woman who buses tables at the Landings Restaurant at the Holiday Inn near Los Angeles International Airport, a job she has held since 2001. This year has been a good year for Ochoa, 45, and her husband, who is a...
It's late afternoon and the day has just ended at a Los Angeles school. Students are making their way toward the parking lot, where a dusty 2001 Ford Taurus stands out among the shiny SUVs filled with waiting parents. Kids walk by and stare. In...
The iPhone may cause broken bones and concussions. Yes, I’m leaving out a few in-between steps there. So let me start over: Craig Palsson, a graduate student in the Yale economics department, argues in a new paper that the expansion of...
They've been fighting to maintain government spending for social services during a tough economy. In January, they'll face an all-Republican Congress, and the likelihood of steeper cuts has increased. [Listen to the story at http://www.npr.org/2014/11/12/...es-with-new-congress ]
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths for both men and women in the U.S. It used to be that wealthy, white northerners had the highest death rates. But in the past few decades the trend has shifted, and now the people...
For those on the front lines of fighting hunger in America, the past half-decade has been like running on empty. The Great Recession that began in 2007 left millions of families struggling with tough choices, like whether to pay for housing or...
S tate of Opportunity will air a documentary on foster care on Thursday, October 30th. In the lead up to Thursday we're publishing a series of articles that explore specific aspects of the foster care system or challenges kids within that...