The Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale didn’t exist in 1935. But if it had, the storm that devastated the Florida Keys 70 years ago would have earned a Category 5 designation. The Labor Day Hurricane killed hundreds and was the most powerful hurricane on record ever to make landfall in the United States. Author Phil Scott chronicles the storm’s sprint across the Sunshine State archipelagos in Hemingway’s Hurricane: The Great Florida Keys Storm of 1935. As this year’s hurricane season–one of the most destructive on record–came to an official close, Scott spoke with U.S. News about the Depression-era disaster. Excerpts follow. Read the rest of this entry »

Lots of little anecdotes were bogus. The story goes that Brian Epstein (the group’s manager) first heard about the Beatles inadvertently from folk hero Raymond James. Legend had it that James met Epstein in a record store and asked for a copy of “My Bonnie,” one of the early Beatle records. In fact, Epstein had known about the group for months from reading the Mersey Beat, a popular newsletter about Liverpool bands. But the mythological version made nicer copy. Read the rest of this entry »

As hard as it might seem to persuade law students to forgo fat-paying private-sector jobs to become military lawyers, it has to get harder still when students and professors start picketing you, right? But Maj. Joseph Dene, who heads law school recruiting efforts for the Air Force’s Judge Advocate General, or JAG, Corps, says he isn’t fazed. Those protesting the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy aimed at gay enlistees are generally respectful, he says, and his interview slots are always booked solid: “Sometimes there is so much interest that we have to bring along a second officer to meet with all the students. Read the rest of this entry »

When they look around at Ivy-bound classmates with perfect 4.0s, students with respectable but less than stellar grades sometimes assume that their only choice will be an open-door State U. But that common misperception drives college counselors nuts. Students with B averages, they say, stand a good chance of getting into a wide range of fine colleges if they present themselves in the right way. Read the rest of this entry »

The Supreme Court had tough questions earlier this week for law schools seeking to ban military recruiters because the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays conflicts with their campus nondiscrimination rules. Read the rest of this entry »