Abortion rate falls to new low
The U.S. abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, according to a new study by the Guttmacher Institute. The 1.1 million abortions performed in 2011 represented a rate of 16.9 per 1,000 women of childbearing age, continuing a decline from a peak of 29.3 in 1980. The institute’s researchers attributed most of the decline to more widespread use of birth control methods such as the pill and the IUD.
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Participation in team sports drops
Youth participation in the four most-popular U.S. team sports—basketball, soccer, baseball, and football—dropped by 4 percent from 2008 to 2012. The lure of social networks and technology may be drawing some kids and teens away from sports.
The Wall Street Journal
The Winter Olympic Games, then and now
In the first Winter Olympic Games, in 1924, women could compete in only one sport—figure skating—because the other sports were considered too dangerous. In Sochi, women will compete in 14 of 15 sports.
USA Today
WHO predicts increase in cancer
The number of cancer cases worldwide is expected to rise by 70 percent over the next 20 years, from a current rate of 14 million new cases per year to 25 million a year. The World Health Organization blamed the predicted increase on the increasing use of tobacco, alcohol, and “highly processed foods” in countries with growing middle classes.
TheGuardian.com
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Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly TuttleFeature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
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Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
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Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitionsFeature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
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State prison admissions fall, and morefeature With states decriminalizing marijuana and scaling back 1970s-era drug laws, admissions to state prisons have declined.
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The Roberts court, and more
feature The John Roberts–led U.S. Supreme Court is actually less activist than any Supreme Court in the last 60 years.
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Health-care law tug of war, and more
feature Every vote to repeal or dismantle the health-care law in the House has predictably died upon or before reaching the Democratic-controlled Senate.
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Largest campaign in history, Abstinence sex-ed, 390-foot yacht
feature Barack Obama's campaign has already hired 1,400 part- and full-time workers, triple the number of John McCain’s, and is hiring more.
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Legally blind, Spitzer's room, Friday the 13th
feature There are some 10 million visually impaired people in the U.S., including about 1.3 million who, like David Paterson, the new governor of New York, are legally blind. Despite laws making it illegal to discriminate against the blind. . .