Students are taught in civics class that, under the American justice system, a defendant may be convicted of a crime only if a jury finds him or her guilty of the charged offense “beyond a reasonable doubt.” What’s rarely mentioned, however, is that federal law allows judges to ignore a not guilty verdict and sentence men and women to prison for illegal activity of which they were acquitted.

With the death of singer-songwriter Eric Carmen last month and Earth Day coming up, I got to thinking about Carmen’s song “All By Myself” and how deeper forms of activism are both essential to making change and a powerful antidote to our growing epidemic of loneliness.

Asna Tabassum has a GPA of at least 3.98, with a major in the challenging field of biomedical engineering, and a record sterling enough to be picked as USC’s valedictorian from about 100 qualified candidates. For that accomplishment, this is her “reward”: having the traditional valedictory speech canceled at the May 10 commencement over concerns about maintaining “security and safety.”

Joe Biden famously ran a basement campaign during his successful 2020 presidential bid. But he emerged to participate in two debates with his opponent, Donald Trump. Will he agree to share the stage this fall? He’d better.

The 49 Senate Republicans spent Wednesday afternoon furiously sputtering that they weren’t allowed to debate if Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, duly and formally impeached by the House, should be tried in the upper chamber.

The phrase, “Don’t waste a crisis,” has almost become a cliche, and we use it in reference to many things, especially economic crises. Indeed, when we experience a crisis, we should always learn what we can from it in the hopes of not experiencing it again. Experiencing a medical crisis often leads us to pay greater attention to our health. An economic crisis may lead us to make better decisions about spending and saving.

A bill recently passed by the West Virginia House of Delegates is one of the latest attempts to censor educational materials. If the measure becomes law, it would make librarians and other educators criminally liable for showing obscene materials to children who are not accompanied by an adult. Librarians and teachers could then face felony penalties, up to $25,000 in fines, and even up to five years in jail.

Californians have had weekend after weekend of cool, stormy weather and the Sierra Nevada has been blessed with a healthy snowpack. But the reality is that even the last few months have been more than 2 degrees hotter than average.

Joe Biden started the week off on a high note, well, high for him.

Operation True Promise, Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, a blatant act of war and the first-ever direct assault by Tehran on the Jewish state, was the most monumental flop in the history of combat, more embarrassing than the Spanish Armada or the Charge of the Light Brigade or Custer’s Last Stand.

Uri Berliner, a journalist of a certain age, has been feeling some heartburn over what has been transpiring at his longtime employer, National Public Radio.

Though largely thwarted by Israel and its allies, the assault launched by Iran against the Jewish state over the weekend was a powerful reminder that the Tehran regime remains the biggest threat to peace in the Middle East. Israel’s security would be best served now through resolve and restraint, rather than military escalation. Iranian leaders tried to portray Saturday’s attack as a proportional response to a presumed Israeli strike that killed a top Iranian commander and several advisers in Damascus, Syria, on April 1. The operation involved more than 300 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, with Iran attacking Israel from its own territory for the first time. The assault dramatically increased the risk of a regionwide war, even if Iran hoped the matter was now “concluded.”

Studies show that young children and social media can be a bad combination. Florida is doing something about it.

President Joe Biden’s botched rollout of a revamped financial aid form reveals a stunning lack of managerial competence. It has left colleges unable to tell millions of students how much they’ll have to pay, causing some to delay enrolling and others to drop the idea altogether. This easily avoidable failure threatens to deprive low-income Americans of a college education. And Biden, the country’s chief executive, needs to hold to account the officials who are directly responsible.

O.J. Simpson’s death reminds us that the 134 days of wall-to-wall TV coverage of his 1995 criminal trial allowed Americans to see every aspect of a celebrity case play out in a Los Angeles courtroom. Millions watched and millions of others didn’t, but the choice was theirs.

In a video address yesterday, former President Donald Trump reiterated the reality that states are currently in charge of determining abortion restrictions, a statement that was widely misinterpreted as his support for a state-based approach. That’s just how he wanted it, winking to his anti-choice supporters while muddying the waters on whether he will seek nationwide abortion restrictions that he knows are hugely unpopular.

Lawmakers around the world are proposing legislation that would spare dogs “torture breeding” — reckless practices that intentionally produce deformities such as dangerously flattened faces or abnormally elongated spines. Germany began cracking down on torture breeding back in 1986, and a new bill would strengthen the country’s existing regulations. Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland have enacted similar laws — for good reason.