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Two key federal agencies have recommended that the Interior Department reject a controversial coal lease proposed for an area near Bryce Canyon National Park, arguing it could impair visibility at the park and harm imperiled animals living in the region.

An unexpectedly rosy jobs report set off a chain reaction Friday, upending economists’ gloomy predictions for the coming year, leading to a surge on Wall Street and potentially boggling the political calculus of the 2012 presidential campaigns.

Update: D.C. schools strengthening hiring process, more details D.C. school officials have now fired a principal they had recently hired without knowing that she had been accused of “unethical” behavior when she was a principal in Dallas, a district spokeswoman said Friday.

Corning, the makers of Gorilla Glass, have entered into the movie-making business...sort of.

In their latest attempt at viral-video advertising, Corning released a nearly six-minute follow-up to their highly successful “A Day Made of Glass” Web video on Feb. 3. ”A Day Made of Glass 2” features a world where car dashboards, tablets, blackboards and tables are replaced with interactive display glass. Imagine a more interactive, streamlined iPad transposed on nearly every surface you interact with.

In recent days, we have heard President Obama lecture college presidents about cost control, and we have seen a vaunted Stanford professor quit to pursue teaching students by the millions online — at minimal cost.

Nearly two years ago, the University of Virginia mourned and tried to comprehend the death of Yeardley Love, a fourth-year student from the Baltimore area who played on the lacrosse team. On Monday a trial is set to start for her ex-boyfriend George Huguely V, who also played lacrosse at U-Va. and is charged with her murder.

This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including The Schools Our Children Deserve, The Homework Myth, and Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling. He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.org.

Before undertaking any venture, one needs a purpose.

In the case of Jeremy Heimans, Purpose is everything, including the name of the organization he co-founded and for which he currently serves as CEO.

Executives of the Susan G. Komen Foundation gave a new explanation Thursday of their decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, but their contradictory statements failed to quell a rising controversy that led several of the organization’s affiliates to openly rebel.

The number of people who die annually of malaria is roughly double the current estimate, with a huge overlooked death toll in adults who, according to conventional teaching, rarely die of the tropical disease. That’s the conclusion of a new study that, if widely accepted, could affect billions of dollars of charitable spending and foreign aid in the developing world. The new estimate is likely to spur increased competition for global health spending, which has stalled in the economic downturn.

“ Academically Adrift,” a 2010 book, shook the Ivory Tower to its foundations with evidence that a substantial share of college students show no significant learning gains between their freshman and senior years.

Correction: Money given by Ellen from J.C. Penney

Ellen DeGeneres just hosted on her television show a teacher from a Pennsylvania public school district that ran out of money — prompting unionized teachers to vote to work without pay — and handed her a $100,000 check for her school donated by J.C. Penney.

My wife and I are on a health kick. We go to the local gym. We eat fish, lean meat and vegetables. I resist cheese, a life-long favorite. I astonish our children by consuming only one milkshake a week.

This piece is part of a “faceoff” between Tom Brady’s and Eli Manning’s leadership, written by two leadership experts (and football fan rivals) for the Washington Post’s On Leadership section. Read the piece on Tom Brady here.

This was written by David B. Cohen, who has been a teacher since 1993 and is in his 13th year of teaching in California public high schools. He is National Board Certified, and is associate director of the Accomplished California Teachers group.

James H. Quigley is the former CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and currently a senior partner in its U.S. member firm. He is also co-author of As One: Individual Action, Collective Power.

America’s students deserve better.

The Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating a complaint that Harvard and Princeton universities discriminates against Asian-Americans, according to a report filed today by veteran higher-ed reporter Daniel Golden at Bloomberg.

The most surprising aspect of this week’s White House Google+ Hangout with President Obama had nothing to do with YouTube or video chat technology. Instead, it was President Obama’s public acknowledgment and defense of the Administration’s use of military drone attacks in combatant zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq.