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“This weapon system is a game changer for the American warfighter."

"The man known as the "architect" of Common Core has used his new job running the College Board to deal a devastating blow to critics of the national education standards. The SAT was revamped to align with the Common Core Standards Initiative, the broad language and math standards adopted by 45 states despite growing complaints that it will result in nationalized control of K-12 curriculum. The announcement on Tuesday was made by College Board President David Coleman, who before taking the post in 2012, played a key role in designing Common Core...

My report for this Friday... "The United Nations’ peacekeeping forces may have boots on the ground in the war-torn region of the Congo, but they also have eyes in the sky. The UN’s stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has employed a pair surveillance drones since the end of last year to monitor the eastern border of the country, using its cameras, heat signature and night vision technology to cover ground that the peacekeeping forces cannot reach. It marks the first time any such program with unmanned aircraft has been used by the UN..."

My latest report concerning the #EuroMaidan protests... "They stand defiant before shield-wielding riot police, clutching gilded crosses and inspiring the freedom-seeking masses in Kiev’s Independence Square. But the clergy of the Ukraine are more than leaders of the protest that threatens to split the nation's troubled alliance with Russia. They are a link to the Ukraine's historical independence, before the Russian Revolution led to the Soviet occupation that lasted until 1991 but still hovers above like a dark cloud. Amid the escalating violence, priests have been seen defying police, leading civilians safely past them and performing last rites on those killed in the clashes..."

It might take more than a name change to quell parental anger at Common Core, the controversial national education standards adopted by all but four states. With angry parents protesting the standards, and curriculum they say is tailored to it by writers of textbooks and lesson plans, several states have decided the solution is all in the name.

My latest report on this ongoing saga... "Twenty-two teachers at an upstate New York public school wrote letters to a judge supporting a colleague who sexually assaulted an 8-year-old boy, and parents of students in the Rochester district want those teachers' names. The letters, some on school district stationery, were written to a judge on behalf of gym teacher Matthew LoMaglio, 37, who was convicted in November of second-degree sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child. LoMaglio is serving four years in prison for the assaults, which took place in 2006 and 2007 and only came to light after the boy came forward as a teen..."

My new report on the latest tactics used by the Sudan Gov't on their own people... "The people of war-torn Sudan learned long ago to take cover when planes roared overhead, but the latest tactic being used on them -- parachute bombs -- is raining silent death down on innocent villagers, say alarmed activists..."

States are learning the cost of Common Core is uncommonly high. The federally-backed standards initiative, first proposed by the nation's governors and an educators' association, seeks to impose a national standard for achievement among K-12 students. So far, 45 states plus the District of Columbia have signed on, with some implementing curriculum designed for the Common Core Standards Initiative during the current school year and the rest set to take part in the next school year. But several states are reconsidering their participation, and one big reason is the cost... Click through for my full report.

Super Bowl XLVIII's hometown has a rude guest... The sports world is converging on East Rutherford (pop. 8.978) for Sunday's game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, and all the town wanted to do was have a little block party for locals not rich or lucky enough to have tickets.

My contribution to the endless #SuperBowl coverage this week... "When the world tunes in to the Super Bowl Sunday night, aerial shots of MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands might afford a glimpse of a strangely colored structure the governor once dubbed "the ugliest damn building in New Jersey."

...Teachers in schools across the country have been depending more and more on supplementing homework assignments with videos and other material that is publicly and easily available to anyone with a basic Internet connection...But with the end of net neutrality, Internet service providers could charge more for use of particular web sites like YouTube, and that could become costly for the families of students who need unfettered access to Internet for their studies...

From my latest report..."An Afghan interpreter who earned a hard-fought visa after saving the life of a U.S. soldier who took up his cause is now helping others settle in America under a program critics say falls short of repaying foreign linguists who risk their lives to help the military."

Dirty Dozen Brass Band (at Highline Ballroom)

My latest report...A North Carolina sheriff has pulled off a deal that should make everyone but the bad guys happy.

My latest report...When the tsunami struck Japan in 2011, US Navy sailors serving aboard the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Essex went to work helping with recovery efforts for months near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, a task which 51 sailors now say in a lawsuit caused cancer and other grave illnesses.

My latest report on the "Garbage People" of Cairo....

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