Ryan pick presents new challenges for Biden

(Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post)

Unlike four years ago, when he squared off against a largely untested Sarah Palin, the vice president is competing against a longtime congressman known for being a quick-minded policy expert.

On Faith

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 22: Marchers walk down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, DC.  Thousands gathered near the Washington Monument for the 'Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS' Rally and March on Washington Sunday July 22, 2012.  The event occurred on the opening day of the International AIDS Conference.  (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Franklin Graham: Jesus is a model on how the church should respond to HIV/AIDS

We have to warn those who are putting themselves at risk and have compassion for those who are infected.

U.S. President Barack Obama demonstrates a story of survival by placing his fingers over an artery and using a cell phone while speaking at the University of Colorado Hospital after he met with families bereaved after a gunman went on a shooting rampage at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado July 22, 2012. Obama headed to Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday to meet families grieving their losses Friday's mass shooting that has stunned the nation and rekindled debate about guns and violence in America. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW)

Aurora’s dark night and the promise of a new dawn

Obama’s visit helps start the healing process in Colorado.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 28: Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Obama's health care law, on June 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. Today the high court upheld the whole healthcare law of the Obama Administration.  (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Michele Bachmann vs. Huma Abedin: ‘The Ramadan Conspiracy’

For over a billion people worldwide, Ramadan serves as a time for self-reflection, gratitude, charity and atonement. Sounds suspicious, right?

The Chick-fil-A sandwich comes with a lot of sodium -- and a side of marketing pitches.

Chick-fil-A president reiterates stance against gay marriage

Same-sex marriage supporters are “inviting God’s judgment on our nation,” Cathy says.

Higher Education

U-Va. board expected to explain closed-door meeting

For about two hours on Wednesday, the U-Va. governing board met behind closed doors, renewing anxiety.

U-Va. board retreat opens

University rector reiterates apology for her role in recent controversies.

Board members meet Wednesday in Richmond.

U-Va. 101, after the crisis

Orientation in Richmond for new U-Va. governing board members

Health & Science

Study foresees decades of droughts

: The drought of 2012: It has been more than a half-century since a drought this extensive hit the United States, NOAA reported July 16. The effects are growing and may cost the U.S. economy $50 billion.

Improved climate models confirm predictions about further droughts, but the news is dire.

Cal Ripken addresses growing older

Cal Ripken reacts as he answers a question during an interview Wednesday, Jan 3, 2007 in Baltimore.(AP Photo/Gail Burton)

Iron Man Cal Ripken Jr. is nearly 52 now and recently spoke about growing older and staying on top of his new game.

Circumcision may get a boost

David Lane of Fairfax, Calif., holds up a sign against circumcision as state Assemblyman Mike Gatto of Los Angeles speaks outside a medical clinic during a news conference in San Francisco, Thursday, July 21, 2011. Two state Assembly members plan to introduce a bill that would preempt local governments from enacting laws regarding male circumcision and reserve such legislation for the state level. Assemblyman Gatto says the bill is in response to recent efforts at the local level, including a November ballot measure to ban circumcision in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Circumcision of baby boys, long declining in the U.S., is likely to get a boost from a pediatric group.

National Education

A new way to evaluate teachers — by teachers

Teacher educators across the country are stepping up to create new, valid tools to hold themselves and their colleagues accountable in an era when teachers have become punching bags for reformers intent on using student test scores to evaluate the worth of a teacher, Linda Darling-Hammond writes.

Why hasn’t U-Va.’s governing board been replaced?

All you need to know about why the University of Virginia governing board needs a serious shakeup can be found in an interview that my colleagues did with the school’s president, Teresa Sullivan.

Shark Week’s gift to teachers

It’s the middle of August, which means it is Shark Week, and to mark the 25th anniversary of the popular show, the education arm of the Discovery Channel has a gift for teachers.

Innovations

A screenshot of the mobile app Lift.

Lift goes beta

Q&A | The habit-tracker app is released to a handful of first-time users.

A soldier cuts open an opium poppy capsule at a poppy field, during eradication supervised by the Mexican Army on the outskirts of Morelia, Mexico, Thursday, March 4, 2010. Mexico is one of the world's major drug-producing nations and a major supplier of heroin to the US market. (AP Photo/Carlos Jasso)

Heroin, morphine addictions can be blocked, study shows

Scientists in Colorado, Australia collaborate on a non-addictive ‘super morphine.’

On Leadership

Mitt Romney and his wife Ann attend the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 27, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A leadership question on Romney’s tax returns

As a rule, most people expect more from their leaders than just doing “what’s legally required.”

University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan weaves through supporters and media after being reinstated by the Board of Visitors at the Rotunda at U.Va. in Charlottesville, Va., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. The 15-member Board of Visitors voted unanimously to give Sullivan her job back during a brief meeting at the university's historic Rotunda. Afterward, Sullivan thanked the board for its renewed confidence in her leadership of the prestigious public university founded by Thomas Jefferson.  (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Preston Gannaway)

What we have here is failure to communicate

The recent crisis at the University of Virginia brings to mind the movie “Cool Hand Luke.”

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, and vice presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, greet the crowd during a campaign event at the Waukesha County Expo Center, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012, in Waukesha, Wis. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Ryan, Romney and the risk of getting upstaged

It takes a certain kind of leader to pick a No. 2 who outshines him in star wattage.

Activity lead Bobak Ferdowsi, who cuts his hair differently for each mission, works inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. The Curiosity robot is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and potentially paving the way for human exploration. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Brian van der Brug, Pool)

Three lessons from the Mars landing

What if we could all experience a “seven minutes of terror” at work?

FILE - In this June 7, 2010, file photo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs smiles with a new iPhone at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. In the white-hot competition for tech talent, some workers are alleging Silicon Valley's top companies conspired to keep employees from switching teams. A federal class-action suit claims that senior executives at Google, Intel, Adobe, Intuit, Lucasfilm, Pixar and Apple entered into secret anti-poaching agreements not to hire each other's best workers. And plaintiffs say e-mails uncovered during a U.S. Justice Department investigation put Steve Jobs at the center of the alleged conspiracy of so-called 'gentlemen's agreements.' The defendants say there was no conspiring, just one-to-one pacts between individual companies in the course of doing business and collaborating on innovative products. Apple is seeking to have the case thrown out. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Seven habits of highly effective people

A look at Stephen Covey’s “habits” through the prism of seven successful leaders.

National Blogs & Columns

Vivek Wadhwa

Smashing Silicon Valley’s biases

COLUMN | Silicon Valley has a problem with bias, but new programs seek to change that.

Read Full Article

Vivek Wadhwa

Al Kamen

In the Loop: Hello, kitty!

A Guantanamo inmate’s lawyer says an al-Qaeda member who agreed to testify against a top planner of the Sept. 11 attacks is getting a perk for his cooperation: a cat.

Read Full Article

Soccer Insider by Steven Goff

Soccer Outsider: United-K.C. match diary, player ratings

Soccer Outsider Jeff Maurer cursed the Injury Gods, who have wreaked havoc with D.C. United.

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Steven Goff

The Federal Eye

Federal government’s largest union elects new president

Jeffrey David Cox, Sr. is a nurse who worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Read Full Article

The Checkup by Jennifer Huget and Rob Stein

What do egg yolks and cigarettes have in common?

Is eating egg yolks -- which are full of cholesterol -- as bad for your cardiovascular system as smoking? New research says "almost."

Read Full Article

Featured Videos

Paul Ryan: First week on the campaign trail

Paul Ryan: First week on the campaign trail

GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan is wrapping up his first week on the campaign trail. Here are some of the highlights from his rigorous first week campaigning for presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Raw video: South African police open fire on miners

Raw video: South African police open fire on miners

Warning: Graphic content. South African police opened fire on a crowd of striking miners when they charged a line of officers trying to disperse them.
Raw video: Family Research Council shooting suspect arrested

Raw video: Family Research Council shooting suspect arrested

On Wednesday, shots were fired at the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C. Authorities arrested Floyd Lee Corkins II, a 28-year-old Hernondon, Va., resident for the shootings that resulted in wounding a security guard. Video courtesy of WJLA.
‘Nothing to do with WikiLeaks’

‘Nothing to do with WikiLeaks’

‘Nothing to do with WikiLeaks’
D.C. brewers work together in the name of beer

D.C. brewers work together in the name of beer

District Chophouse, D.C. Brau and five other local breweries collaborate to showcase the area’s craft beer scene with a Beer Week blend.
Facebook shares hit new all-time lows

Facebook shares hit new all-time lows

Facebook stock fell below twenty dollars per share Thursday, marking another low point in the continuing feed of bad news since its highly touted stock market debut.
U.S. troops die in Afghanistan helicopter crash

U.S. troops die in Afghanistan helicopter crash

The international military force in Afghanistan says seven American troops are among the 11 people who died in a Blackhawk helicopter crash in the country's south. A Taliban spokesman says the insurgents shot down the aircraft.
Julian Assange stuck in England despite asylum decision

Julian Assange stuck in England despite asylum decision

Julian Assange still can't depart Ecuador's embassy in London despite the announcement from Quito granting him political asylum. Foreign Secretary William Hague says Britain won't let him leave the country.
Iraq insurgent bombings leave at least 22 dead

Iraq insurgent bombings leave at least 22 dead

At least 22 people have died and dozens have been wounded in the latest wave of insurgent attacks in Iraq aimed at undermining the government's authority.
Fire crews battle Kentucky tire fire at recycling facility

Fire crews battle Kentucky tire fire at recycling facility

Kentucky officials says fire crews have been working for several hours, trying to put out a blaze at a recycling facility where tens of thousands of tires were burning.
Boy gets head stuck in stone railing in China

Boy gets head stuck in stone railing in China

Boy gets head stuck in stone railing
Ecuador grants Julian Assange asylum

Ecuador grants Julian Assange asylum

Ecuador grants Julian Assange asylum
Fans remember Elvis 35 years later

Fans remember Elvis 35 years later

Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie unexpectedly appeared at Graceland Wednesday night, and greeted the thousands of fans who had gathered to mark the 35th anniversary of the singer's death.
The Medicare debate on the campaign trail

The Medicare debate on the campaign trail

The Medicare debate on the campaign trail
Tensions between Japan, neighbors over islands

Tensions between Japan, neighbors over islands

Tensions have been flaring between Japan and its neighbors over different sets of disputed islands. Japanese authorities arrested activists from Hong Kong and China who landed on one of them.
Wisconsin missing girl found dead

Wisconsin missing girl found dead

The body of a missing 3-year-old was found in a canal, just 25 yards from her home in Northwest Wisconsin. Renna Williams went missing Tuesday evening.

Editor's Choice

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

The 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place in Cleveland.

Santa’s Big Brown helper

You’ve got to be moving at double time or better if you’re driving Cyber Friday for UPS.

Critics target cost of Guard troops on border

President Obama’s decision last year to send 1,200 National Guard troops to U.S.-Mexico border may have been smart politics, but a growing number of skeptics say the deployment is an expensive and inefficient mission.

The Occupy movement’s art

As the online gallery at occuprint.org reveals, the Occupy movement has more than a few skilled graphic designers in its informal ranks.

Wizards’ Wall eager to play

After learning firsthand during the lockout about the business of basketball, John Wall is ready to get back on the court and have some fun.

Gathering meteorites and congressional foes

For the 35th year, the U.S. is gathering space rocks from the wind-hammered icefields of Antarctica, a program attacked as wasteful by Sens. John McCain and Tom Coburn.

Special Reports

Faces of the Fallen

Service members who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom.

Civil War 150

News and views from the Washington Post about the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.

Outlook’s 5 myths

Writers break down what you think you know about gas prices, the suburbs, Lincoln and more.

The Age of 9/11

How old were you? Reflections presented as a multimedia report broken down by age.