TWIST ON FLAVOR I've always been a bit dubious about flavored waters. It's bottled water. How much more can you improve on it? Plus, too many flavored waters, in an effort to mimic sugary sodas, consider sickly sweetness an actual flavor. Which explains why we were more than a little pleased to have enjoyed samples of Twist's lemon- and mango acai-flavored waters. (Don't worry, we had to look up acai, too. It's a palm that produces tasty berries.) Twist has all the requisite buzzwords these days: certified organic, less than 10 calories, artesian. Bottom line: It doesn't make you feel like you're drinking medicine. The lemon flavor, one of six in the product line, was downright refreshing. Go figure. Available at Whole Foods, Albertsons, Circle K, 7 Eleven, Publix. Cost. $1.29 to $1.49 for 19 ounces. ...more

June 18, 2008

Now that the Iowa caucuses are over, the Hawkeye State will, at least for another four years, not have to hear the criticism of its outsized, make-or-break influence in presidential elections. ...more

January 6, 2008

Now that the Iowa caucuses are over, the Hawkeye State will, at least for another four years, not have to hear the criticism of its outsized, make-or-break influence in presidential elections. ...more

January 6, 2008

Oliver Brown was angry. His daughter, Linda, had been denied admission to Sumner Elementary, an all-white school four blocks from his house in Topeka, Kan., because she was black. The board of education ordered her to Monroe Elementary, an all-black school two miles away. Worse still, she didn't get bused and had to walk. ...more

December 9, 2007