Barack Obama, who raised $52 million in June, will need every penny. His campaign has already hired 1,400 part- and full-time workers, triple the number of John McCain’s, and is hiring more. With the help of more than 2 million volunteers, the Obama campaign is creating what will easily be the largest field operation in American political history.
The Boston Globe
Texas spends $17 million a year—more than any other state—on abstinence-only sex education programs. The rate of Texas high school students having sexual intercourse, according to federal statistics, stands at 52.9 percent, compared with 47.8 percent nationally.
The Week
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A 36-year-old Russian billionaire has launched a new 390-foot yacht that looks like a futuristic warship. The ship, named “A” after its owner, banker and industrialist Andrey Melnichenko, is equipped with two swimming pools, a helicopter, and a master bedroom that rotates on a giant turntable. “A” burns 700 gallons of fuel per hour.
The Wall Street Journal
A record number of babies were born in the U.S. last year, the federal government reported. Demographers say the estimated 4,315,000 births in 2007 signals the onset of a “baby boomlet.”
USA Today
As digital video recorders allow more television viewers to skip commercials, advertisers are turning to product placement in TV shows and films. Advertisers spent a record $2.9 billion on product placement in 2007, a 33.7 percent increase over the previous year.
Los Angeles Times
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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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Abortion rate falls to new low, and more
feature The U.S. abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
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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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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. . .