As icons of bureaucracy go, 110 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, was among the most powerful in the country. The labyrinthine building housed the New York City Board of Education for so long that the address itself became synonymous with cronyism and entrenched interests. So when the state granted the mayor direct control over New York City’s more than 1.1 million students and 1,450-plus schools in 2002, the Livingston Street building was among the first to go. Read the rest of this entry »

A poll released today says that the seat vacated by Democrat Ted Strickland in Ohio is likely to remain in Democratic hands come November 8. Charlie Wilson holds a commanding 64 percent to 32 percent lead over Republican Chuck Blasdel, according to a poll from SurveyUSA. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I mentioned some of the essay topics that college admissions officers say they are sick of reading. It was a hot topic of discussion at the annual convention of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors earlier this month. Read the rest of this entry »

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY-Mihaly Nagy is doing his best to impersonate Joseph Stalin-or, more precisely, a statue of the tyrannical Soviet leader. “It was tremendously tall-10 meters, at least,” Nagy says, gesticulating excitedly. “There was an arm out. … Some of us tried to cut it off at the legs.” But the gargantuan effigy that had watched over City Park in Budapest for five years as a symbol of Soviet might proved almost as indomitable as the dictator himself. So the revolutionaries turned to oxyacetylene torches. “The whole thing came down and bounced,” Nagy says, pitching forward. “And only those metal boots were left.” Read the rest of this entry »

By:Alex Kingsbury; Lindsey Galloway

The basic introductory physics textbook for college students has remained largely the same for the past century, perhaps longer. So why then, wondered Northeastern University student Jason Turgeon, did his freshman physics course require him to buy a brand-new textbook for about $160, even though he’d used one with similar material in high school? Then, one semester, he shared books, found stuff online, and got the cost for all classes that term down to $35, recalls Turgeon, now a senior. That book bill otherwise would have been $500. After hearing other students echo his frustration, Turgeon in January 2005 started textbookrevolution.org, which links visitors to a variety of free college-level, digital textbooks on the Web. Read the rest of this entry »