Are we winning in Iraq? Ask Bechtel

Bechtel Corp. went to Iraq three years ago to help rebuild a nation torn
by war. Since then, 52 of its people have been killed and much of its work
sabotaged as Iraq dissolved into insurgency and sectarian violence.

Now Bechtel is leaving.

"Did Iraq come out the way you hoped it would?" asked Cliff Mumm,
Bechtel's president for infrastructure work. "I would say, emphatically,
no. And it's heartbreaking."—David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle

Waco as "clinical trial" mecca could attract new businesses

The way to grow Waco’s health care industry is to identify diseases that have a large impact, then entice companies that play a role in treating them to offer services here, a consultant told local officials Tuesday.

For example, the Waco area could be marketed as a good place for clinical trials of new health care products.

The presentation was made at a luncheon hosted by a newly formed group called the Greater Waco Health Care Alliance. It is a product of a master plan unveiled by the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce a year ago that aims to improve everything from the area’s business climate to race relations.—by Cindy V. Culp, Waco Tribune-Herald

As inner cities transform, so do suburbs

On issues from housing to mass transit to education, it's important to recognize that the problems we think of as urban aren't getting solved; they're just sprawling along with everything else.—by Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Changing perceptions

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Libraries unbound: Cities redefining spaces beyond books

Buy a snack, hear a lecture; lively new spaces invite interaction.

"Libraries are social institutions," says Loriene Roy, professor of library science at the University of Texas and president-elect of the American Library Association. "And they simply reflect what's going on in our society. People are looking for public interaction just as much as they are looking for information. Libraries today have to be the living room for their community."—by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Arts Writer, Austin American-Statesman

Budgets falling in race to fight global warming

"We’ve got a $12 trillion capital investment in the world energy economy and a turnover time of 30 to 40 years,” said John P. Holdren, a physicist and climate expert at Harvard University and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “If you want it to look different in 30 or 40 years, you’d better start now.”—by Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times