Rishawn Biddle

You wouldn’t think that Erie County, Pa., epitomizes the least visible yet most insidious aspect of the nation’s pension crisis. With just 280,566 residents, the county is better known for its once-grand status as being the hub between the Rust…

Malcolm X: A Life of ReinventionBy Manning Marable (Viking, 608 pages, $30) FOR ALL BUT the last two years of his adult life, Malcolm X held America in utter disdain. On one hand, he was utterly (and understandably) disgusted with…

School reform was one of the few prominent successes of former President George W. Bush — and one that has actually been embraced by his successor, Barack Obama. But you wouldn’t know it from last week’s GOP presidential debate. Certainly…

The move last week by Barack Obama and congressional Republicans to increase the federal debt ceiling certainly helped both sides avoid what has been a public relations and political nightmare. As Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney declared in one of…

The defenders of traditional public education participating in Saturday’s Save Our Schools rally in D.C. want everyone to believe in a little narrative: that they’re saving America’s public schools from heedless reformers and cost-cutting Republican governors. The march’s organizers also…

The move earlier this month by D.C. Public Schools to fire 200 of their worst-performing teachers certainly got attention from school reformers and teachers union bosses alike. After all, the move to get rid of five percent of the district’s…

These days, the American Federation of Teachers must be relieved that it has avoided at least some of the wrath faced by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for the suit it filed last month against New…

During its century of existence, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has rightfully and successfully tangled with Jim Crow segregationists, school districts opposed to racial integration, even famed (or notorious) Hollywood director D.W. Griffith and his film,…

When Tom Harkin became chairman of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in 2009, he declared that he would “carry on the legacy of Sen. Ted Kennedy,” who managed to wheel and deal his liberal politics into…

There’s no better known or infamous teachers union boss — or leader among America’s public sector unions — than Randi Weingarten, the cunning, charming, and oft-quotable president of the American Federation of Teachers. A frequent guest on shows such as…