Around the Nation

Big Sunday Encourages Baby Steps To Volunteerism

12:07pm May 16, 2014

by Alex Schmidt

A Hollywood writer was fed up with endless rounds of script revisions so he channeled his frustration into a day of volunteerism. From simple roots, his action grew into a nonprofit called Big Sunday.

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Couch Produces More Than Loose Change

12:07pm May 16, 2014

Three roommates bought an old couch at Salvation Army, and in between the cushions found envelopes filled with cash. They tracked down the original owner and gave back $40,000.

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S.C. Lawmakers Reconsider Old-School Cursive Writing

12:07pm May 16, 2014

Many schools dropped cursive writing as computer use spread, and South Carolina hasn't required it since 2008. A state Senate panel approved a requirement to bring it back but the cost is $27 million.

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Student Mack Godbee and mentor Natasha Santana-Viera go over Godbee's report card. Godbee's performance has improved since a data monitoring program identified him as a dropout risk.

Putting Student Data To The Test To Identify Struggling Kids

11:14am May 16, 2014

by Sammy Mack

Schools collect a trove of student information, like attendance and grades. Now, more schools are mining that data to flag kids at risk of dropping out — often before anyone realizes they need help.

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Shartara Wallace picks up her son James, 4, from preschool in Tulsa, Okla.

In Tulsa, Combining Preschool With Help For Parents

11:00am May 16, 2014

by Eric Westervelt

One nonprofit in Tulsa has flipped the script on preschool. The Community Action Project says its premise simple: To help kids, it says, you often have to help their parents.

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Bonauto celebrates on May 17, 2005, the one-year anniversary of legal same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. Bonauto argued the case that benefited couples like Hillary and Julie Goodridge (at right), here with their daughter Annie.

National

Lawyer Reflects On Nation's First Gay Marriages: 'The Cage Had Been Lifted'

7:20am May 16, 2014

by Tovia Smith

Ten years ago this week, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. Attorney Mary Bonauto, one of the key drivers of the change, is a quiet, unassuming mother of two from Maine.

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Online Gambling In The Garden State Gets Off To A Slow Start

8:18pm May 15, 2014

by Jessica Gould

New Jersey legalized online gambling in 2013, expecting a big windfall in tax revenue, but it has earned less than $8 million so far. What's gone wrong with New Jersey's big bet?

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Protesters rally outside the Department of Children and Families in Hartford, Conn., in April. The state's decision to send a transgender teen to adult prison has galvanized juvenile justice and LGBT advocates.

When States Can't Control Violent Youth, Is Prison The Answer?

8:18pm May 15, 2014

by Lucy Nalpathanchil

A Connecticut judge has approved a rare request from the state's child welfare agency: to move a transgender teen to adult prison, even though she has not been charged with a crime.

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National

The Difficult Choices Behind Bringing Sept. 11 Museum To Life

8:18pm May 15, 2014

Alice Greenwald, the director of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, talks to Melissa Block about the museum's opening.

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700,000 Jobs Are At Stake If The Highway Trust Fund Goes Broke

10:55am May 15, 2014

by Brian Naylor

The federal gas tax that's supposed to pay for the nation's highways doesn't bring in enough money. But Congress hasn't raised the tax in more than 20 years and isn't likely to do so now.

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