The lovesick antics of diapered astronaut Lisa Nowak are some combination of funny and sad but seemingly not revealing of anything larger, until you realize that her tragic, tabloidy breakdown says everything you need to know about NASA’s many troubles.

A generation after he crossed the border to work for my family, Vicente Martinez is the foreman of a ranch in the Hill Country, not far from his kids and grandkids. And yes, they all have their papers. This is an immigration story with a happy ending.

What I’ve learned from Moe, Oscar, Flannery, George, Odette, and Roscoe.

My best friend from high school is no longer the uncool, baseball-card-collecting goofball he once was. He’s a Navy surgeon and commander, and for two horrific weeks I got to watch him calmly and bravely save lives in wartime—not just Americans’ and not just soldiers’—in one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq.

There are plenty of people to blame for the latest shock-inducing juvenile corrections scandal, beginning with the so-called reformers who didn’t heed the lessons of the last one.

Bill Zedler’s plan to keep me married—forever.

Ruth. Gehrig. Mantle. Jeter. Ohlendorf? All of Austin, and Texas, is waiting to see if one of the newest New York Yankees earns his ’stripes.

Mary Alice Cisneros loved, honored, and cherished Henry’s political career. Now it’s her turn.

The argument in favor of vitamins goes like this: “Don’t ask us why or how they work. We know. Have faith.” Well, I don’t.

If the alpargata fits …

A pro at helping cons.

William Martin reviews our places of worship.

Send in the clones.

In with the old.

A slasher flick to die for.

The weather report.

Desirée Ficker on training for an Ironman.

Impressions of the session.

“We’ve got roads to build and agencies to fix and health care to be dispensed and cancers to cure. And that’s what I’m focusing on.”

Jeff Minton. Antonya Nelson, and Robert Draper