Puerto Rico needs Lincoln

Yesterday the US Senate authorized a vote in Puerto Rico: for the first time in the island's history, residents will be asked what they ...

Puerto Rico statehood in Congress this week

In the next few days, the U.S. Congress will vote on a bill that would mandate a referendum in Puerto Rico on the island's status. Congr...

Statehood for Iceland

Everyone's been thinking about Iceland the last week or so, but why hasn't the news media been reporting on proposals to make Icelan...

Oops! Now? Writing for the Wall Street Journal

Writing an article for the Wall Street Journal (the top-selling paper in the country) was a fun challenge... WAY different from writing a b...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

YES, IT'S ALL CAPS, BECAUSE I AM SHOUTING! GET A COPY OF TODAY'S (SATURDAY APRIL 17TH) WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Lower your tax bill... form a new state

Sure it sounds silly, but it's a time-honored tradition in American life. if you don't like how your state is spending your tax doll...

Don't confuse secession with secession

It's one thing to secede from your state and form a new state. It's a VERY different thing to secede from the country! Eagle eye Rya...

A Superior review

"Superior" is the very first lost state I ever came across... I read about the proposal in a Newsweek article in the 1970s--when I...

Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel review

Lots of nice reviews have been coming in, but it's especially nifty when one's hometown paper chimes in. I appreciate that the Milwa...

Response to the Mormons

Wow, a number of Mormons have written some rather nasty things about me on the NPR site; I feel compelled to offer a bit of a response. Fir...

Biggest geographic goof ever

You may have already seen Rep. Hank Johnson's now-infamous statement... the most bizarre geographic fact ever spoken by anyone in the U....

Yahoo home page

Forgive a bit of self-indulgence. Yesterday's Yahoo home page featured Tiger Woods, the iPad, and Lost States. Now if I could just get T...

All Things Considered

Today was the day for my interview... You can listen here.

Bobby Brown, Kevin Federline: map "geniuses"

Did you see this on Leno last night? In "Battle of the Stars" Jay posed a series of questions to Bobby Brown, Kevin Federline, and...

Google and Topeka

Did you see Google's home page this morning. That's it--unretouched--above. It's a reference to Topeka's attempt to curry fa...