Portside

On Aug. 15, teachers in the Del Valle Independent School District return to the classroom, but most of us will go back earlier. We love our students, and we cannot wait to prepare for their arrival. As we return to our classrooms, we always notice those who do not: experienced teachers who have left, whose loss is a loss for our students.

World Cup, world drama; Congress spooks IRS; Industries by race and gender; Lib/con breakdown; Immigration crisis transforms SC evangelicals; Sensitive men betray women, and themselves - again

Thousands of businesses across the country join strike in protest over the Israeli offensive on Gaza.

Southern Democrats, meet your future: No more Republican Lite.

Cattle need 28 times more land than other livestock, according to a new study.

Meet five women who are bearing the burden of conflict in Syria and persevering in spite of it.

Detroit has suspended water shutoffs for 15 days, but it's a temporary reprieve.

A new political action committee has formed to influence the outcome of Los Angeles school board races, filling a gap created when a group of civic leaders, which includes former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, decided to sit out next month's key upcoming election. The new organization, Great Public Schools Los Angeles Political Action Committee, joins other outside groups involved in the campaign to replace Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, who died in December.

There will be a mail-in vote for union representation from July 21 to Aug. 4 for teachers at the "I Can" charter school in Northeastern Ohio. The American Federation of Teachers plans to file Unfair Labor Practice Charges for alleged retaliation against nine teachers whose contracts were not renewed. Teachers are concerned over class sizes as large as 40, and special needs students not having their needs met. Click the link at the bottom to watch the video.

How Chicago's school choice system is tracking kids into separate high schools based on achievement (and race).