Monica Potts

During a House hearing on the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act yesterday, Rep. Yvette D. Clarke noted how all of these programs to encourage healthy eating and increased physical activity to fight childhood obesity ignore the simple problem many children have, especially in cities: no safe places to play. While it might seem to […]

On Tuesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner advocated the idea of upping the retirement age to 70 for people due to retire in 20 years as a way to reduce the federal deficit. It’s an idea that’s floated pretty often because it’s generally assumed people will live longer in the future and will thus have […]

In conjunction with Michelle Obama’s campaign against childhood obesity, the House began hearings today on a bill called “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children.” For Top Chef fans, Tom Colicchio is involved. (The show recently had an episode in which the contestants were charged with providing a healthy and tasty school lunch for a D.C. school, […]

The Houston Chronicle followed a couple of community college students who were able to make the transition to a four-year institution and have earned — or are on their way to earning — degrees. Community colleges have received renewed attention during the recession as rising college costs burden families with little disposable income to spare, […]

After the Supreme Court’s ruling that expanded gun rights, striking down Chicago’s gun ban, it’s pretty clear that nothing involving gun regulation at the state level is settled. In fact, it’s decidedly unsettled. The Court’s decision was vaguely worded so what exactly constitutes too much regulation is unclear. Gun-rights groups are already preparing to file […]

Last night, I went on an English-language Russian television show to talk about abortion. The excuse to have a renewed abortion debate was a new study from the British Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concluding that fetuses can’t feel pain before 24 weeks. After that, according to the study, they’re probably in a “sleeplike […]

Few things make me as cranky as bottled water. We’re one of the privileged few nations that can, for the most part, count on clean drinking water. Or at least we have the ability to seek recourse when our water is not as clean and safe as it should be. Yet from office buildings to […]

The Dartmouth Atlas Project has released a report today that hospital stays in the last six months of life are up, and treating chronic illnesses in the last two months of life uses up about one-third of all Medicare dollars. Despite that, most Americans say they don’t want to be hospitalized while they are dying. […]

There are plenty of eulogies for Sen. Robert Byrd, the 92-year-old West Virginian who died early this morning. There is plenty of speculation about what will happen with his Senate seat, including the prospect that the state’s governor, Joe Manchin III, will appoint himself. And there are plenty of explanations on how Byrd was a […]

As my colleage Ann Friedman pointed out on Twitter, we see some version of this story every year. But the quest for male birth control is slow-moving and seems to not have the backing of men that would finally bring it to the United States. Encouraging men to think more actively about fertility would enroll […]