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Who Won and Who Lost at the Minsk Talks on Ukraine

Alexander Mercouris Russia Insider
Already there is debate about who "won" and who "lost" in the agreement on the crisis in the Ukraine reached in Minsk, the capital of Belarus this week. The big difference between the so-called Minsk II agreement, announced February 12 and the previous agreements is the Europeans are now formally involved. But any progress in implementing the accords will depend on whether the European governments can convince the government in Kiev to abide by the agreements.

Crime Falls Along With Imprisonment

The Pew Charitable Trusts
The latest findings from the FBI provide further evidence that states can reduce incarceration rates without compromising public safety.

No More Late Nights With Jon Stewart

Emily Nussbaum The New Yorker
The truth is that Stewart was often at his most exciting when he got down in the dirt, instead of remaining decent and high-minded, your twinkly-eyed smartest friend. That kind of digging, of disrespecting authority, was a model for reinventing journalism, not comedy.

Simmering Labor Fight Brings Crippling Delays to West Coast Seaports

Erik Eckholm The New York Times
"...owners said they would suspend the unloading of container and other cargo ships on Thursday, Monday and the weekend because of what they called "a strike with pay." The move followed a similar two-day limit on work last weekend that angered many port workers. They saw it as a ploy to punish them and increase pressure to settle on a new labor contract after nine months of negotiations, which continue with the aid of a federal mediator."

Europe: What Is To Be Done?

Conn M. Hallinan Dispatches From the Edge
The Greek election was a warning that, while wealth and political power may be related, they are not the same thing: Governments can be overturned. Europe needs answers. The Greek crisis is a crisis of the entire EU. To one extent or other, every country - even Germany, the EU's engine - is characterized by falling or anemic wage growth, increasing economic inequality, spreading deflation, and an overall decline in living standards.

Ranking Colleges - Truth Behind the Scoop - US News & World Report vs. Washington Monthly vs the U.S. Dept of Education

By Ellen Dannin, with Richard Lempert Employment Policy Research Network (EPRN)
The Department of Education is creating its own college ranking system based on access, affordability and performance. US News and World Report has long been aware that it uses a deeply flawed system for assessing colleges' educational quality. In 1997, the National Opinion Research Center. The NORC study found, '...the current approach is that the weights used to combine the various measures into an overall rating lack any defensible empirical or theoretical basis.'