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Columns

Gerrymander for me but not for thee

Let's take a tour of the 13th congressional district in Illinois. It starts in East St. Louis and then moves steadily north. By the time it gets to Springfield, home of Abraham Lincoln, about 90 miles away, it takes a sharp turn to the east, reaching Decatur and finally Champaign, itself ...

What to know about mRNA vaccines

WASHINGTON (AP) — So-called mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic — and now scientists are using that Nobel Prize-winning technology to try to develop vaccines and treatments against a long list of diseases including cancer and cystic fibrosis. But this week, ...

Almanac for Aug. 7, 2025

Today is Thursday, Aug. 7, the 219th day of 2025. There are 146 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1974, French highwire artist Philippe Petit performed an unapproved tightrope walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York, over 1,300 feet above the ground; the ...

Why fixate on 2028?

August is usually downtime in Washington. Congress is in recess, the heat and humidity contribute to the desire to escape town for cooler weather, the president is normally somewhere else and cable news is focused on shark attacks. Not this August. Cable news, especially, along with some ...

Almanac for Aug. 6, 2025

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 6, the 218th day of 2025. There are 147 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. Also on this date: In 1806, ...