A Health Care Reality Check Slows Congress

Whether or not health care reform actually passes in the end, this may be remembered as the week that the reality of the challenge such a massive overhaul poses finally dawned on lawmakers. And that reality is this: It’s all about the dollars. Coming up with a bill that doesn’t add to the deficit is turning out to be even harder than members of Congress thought it would be

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Businesses find it pays to consult students

With top consultancy firms charging thousands of dollars for a day’s work, employing their services is a luxury most companies simply can’t afford. But some business schools offer student consultancies for a fraction of the price, making their expertise available to a whole range of organizations. Student consultancy groups are a feature of many MBA programs, letting companies hire teams of MBA students to solve their business problems and giving the students a chance to put their education into practice.

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As Congress Starts Writing Health Reform, Kennedy’s Absence is Felt

It’s been a decade and a half since anyone in Congress has attempted to put together a major overhaul of the health care system, and no one on Capitol Hill or the White House these days is under any illusions that it will come easy. But as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday becomes the first to begin the process of formally drafting a bill — one that members will call the Affordable Health Choices Act — it’s already clear that the task will be that much tougher because of the absence of the committee’s, and the issue’s, driving force

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Why Are So Many Female Florida Teachers Sleeping With Male Students?

If you’re the parent of a teen-aged boy in Florida, you probably muttered “not again” while reading your morning newspaper this week. There on the front page was yet another case of an adult female teacher being arrested for admitting to having had sex with an underage male student

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Comment: Why the world will be watching Zuma

There is a quiet if somewhat skeptical reappraisal taking place in the middle-class suburbs of South Africa. More and more people are expressing their support for newly-elected President Jacob Zuma. It’s an important development because it was many in the middle-class, regardless of race, who were most opposed to Zuma becoming president of South Africa

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The story of Yaojin: Rebuilding a quake village

The two-story buildings in Yaojin are tall and straight – they look well built and solid. People now live an incredibly normal life here, just 17 miles from the epicenter of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that had flattened their village and left nearly 90,000 dead or missing one year ago this week. All across the quake zone, reconstruction appears to be moving at a quick pace, though many survivors still live in shacks and prefabricated homes

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