TECHNOLOGY

Kiosk offers high-tech way to visit mom in jail

A Miami company has invented an ATM-like device that lets loved-ones virtually visit the incarcerated. Florida's prisons aren't into it yet.

Jon, Kate -- and care that's not so great

True, the price of health care reform is high, but had we had it before we might have been spared the Jon and Kate saga.

THE NATION

Here comes a backlash against `big government'

Unlike the New Deal, today's expansion of government is more evolutionary than revolutionary. In part because everyone dreads `big government.'

Looking back at the warning signs of financial disaster

One of the pivotal questions from the recent financial swindles, including the mammoth case that led to Bernard Madoff's 150-year sentence last week, is whether regulators could have done more to prevent them.

Here's how to transform education

Like Amazon.com revolutionized the retail industry and iTunes modernized the music industry, technology has the potential to transform education in America.

TO OUR READERS

Our writers learning new ways to cover Iran's difficult story

At one point, while correspondent Warren Strobel was interviewing a group of young voters in Tehran, government guards dressed in riot gear muscled into the discussion, broke up the interview and forced the youths to flee.

HEALTHCARE

Say, doc: I'll trade (fill in blank) for a root canal

Doctors who for years have accepted small fractions of their business in barter say they have seen a spike in the number of consumers opting for alternative forms of payment.

LEGISLATURE | SANSOM CASE

Sansom case exposes lawmakers' culture of secrecy

The reluctance of legislators to pass reforms following the Ray Sansom scandal highlights long-standing flaws in the culture of the capital and the Legislature.

SPORTS

Hall of Fame exhibit 'Viva Baseball' focuses on Hispanics in baseball

Sports writers no longer fixate on the temperament or accent of Hispanic players. But other, newer stereotypes are taking hold.

TO OUR READERS

Our writers learning new ways to cover Iran's difficult story

At one point, while correspondent Warren Strobel was interviewing a group of young voters in Tehran, government guards dressed in riot gear muscled into the discussion, broke up the interview and forced the youths to flee.

HEALTHCARE

Say, doc: I'll trade (fill in blank) for a root canal

Doctors who for years have accepted small fractions of their business in barter say they have seen a spike in the number of consumers opting for alternative forms of payment.

LEGISLATURE | SANSOM CASE

Sansom case exposes lawmakers' culture of secrecy

The reluctance of legislators to pass reforms following the Ray Sansom scandal highlights long-standing flaws in the culture of the capital and the Legislature.

SPORTS

Hall of Fame exhibit 'Viva Baseball' focuses on Hispanics in baseball

Sports writers no longer fixate on the temperament or accent of Hispanic players. But other, newer stereotypes are taking hold.

KILLING AT HOLOCAUST MUSEUM

Lessons of anti-Semitism

With anti-Semitism coming back to light in America, Europe and the Middle East, it's time to resist all threats against the Jews and protect their land of haven.

One way to help failing car industry: Junk gibberish in names

What exactly is a Cadillac DTS or a CTS and how is a Mercedes CLK different from an SLK? More to the point, why do today's carmakers name so many of their products with gibberish seemingly plucked from secure passwords?

GOP blind to its race problem

The modern GOP was created in 1965 with a stroke of Lyndon Johnson's pen. If that is an exaggeration, it is not much of one. When Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, he made a prediction: In committing the unpardonable sin of guaranteeing the ballot to all citizens regardless of race, he said, he would cause his party to lose the South ``for a generation.''

TO OUR READERS

With a new webcast, Andres Oppenheimer expanding his reach

You'll notice a new feature on The Miami Herald's website each Monday: Andres Oppenheimer, the region's premiere Latin American observer, will draw on his print and television commentary to create a weekly video report on MiamiHerald.com.

MIAMI HERALD OMBUDSMAN

Why the local focus? It's what folks want

Readers often complain to me that The Herald in its coverage is interested in selling newspapers. I often scratch my head. So? Within ethical limits, a motivation to sell newspapers is good. It's a free-market incentive that makes reporters, editors and everyone in the paper work hard, work well and respond to what we as readers want. The ethical limits include prohibitions on slanting stories with opinion or misinformation.

MIAMI HERALD OMBUDSMAN

Why the local focus? It's what folks want

Readers often complain to me that The Herald in its coverage is interested in selling newspapers. I often scratch my head. So? Within ethical limits, a motivation to sell newspapers is good. It's a free-market incentive that makes reporters, editors and everyone in the paper work hard, work well and respond to what we as readers want. The ethical limits include prohibitions on slanting stories with opinion or misinformation.