Journalism lost one of its greats last week. Jonathan Schell, a best-selling nonfiction author, columnist and correspondent for The New Yorker, Newsday and The Nation, died . . . more

Many, if not most, Americans grow up with a long-held narrative: The United States is the richest country in the world . . . more

Marijuana legalization is all the rage these days, much to my chagrin. I oppose it. Always have. Always will. more

The Working Families Party is working overtime to bring “socialized medicine” to New York, arguing that we need a single-payer insurance system in which the government pays medical claims through “progressive taxes.” more

Scott Brinton, senior editor at Herald Community Newspapers and an adjunct journalism professor in the Hofstra University Herbert School of Communication, was named to the inaugural class of the Press Club of Long Island’s Journalism Hall of Fame on Feb. 12. All winners of PCLI’s Outstanding Journalist Award, the group’s highest individual honor, were included in the first class of Hall of Fame inductees. Brinton received the accolade in 2006. more

Poverty is hard to define, I learned during a “Covering Suburban Poverty” conference sponsored by the Hofstra University Herbert School of Communications and the Poynter Institute last Sept. 26 and 27. more

It was a simple but profound thought that struck me as I recently read Anna Lappé’s “Diet for a Hot Planet” (Bloomsbury Press, 2010): Where and how we shop for our food –– and for everything else, for that matter –– is directly tied to the health of our planet. more

New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a report on Jan. 14 titled “School District Revenue Growth Slows.” Before I get to it, a quick primer on education funding. more

President Obama was officially sworn in for his second term on Sunday, and the inauguration festivities got under way early on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. more

The eight students and one teacher shuffled into the center of what was left of the dining room of a red-brick ranch home on a canal in Long Beach’s East End last Friday. more