Kristen Meinzer

With all the talk of Rick Santorum bowing out of the GOP race, solidifying Mitt Romney's status as the Party's likely choice to face off against President Obama, it's easy to forget a...

Thomas Kinkade, the self-appointed "Painter of Light," died last Friday. In the days since his passing, the debate that surrounded him when he was alive has grown even louder. Was Kin...

Last week we talked with a woman who championed a law that requires sites like Backpage.com to obtain documentation proving that the escorts they advertise are at least 18. But in add...

Citizens Medical Center is, by most measures, a respected and respectable hospital. A non-profit, their mission is to serve their community of South Texas. And in their mission, they’ve been mostly successful, appearing on Thomas Reuters’ list of top 100 American hospitals three times over the past decade. 

And yet, the Victoria, Texas hospital has people across the country outraged. The reason: a hiring policy they instituted last year. In short, the policy requires potential employees to have a body mass index below 35. This means that a man who is 5-foot-10 and 245 pounds would not meet the hospital’s hiring requirements.

The Titanic sank 100 years ago this month. To mark the anniversary, James Cameron is re-releasing his mega-blockbuster "Titanic" in 3D, prompting some critics to say its strictly a marketing ploy while others cheer the innovation.

Will "Titanic 3D" burn a hole in your wallet, or will it blow your mind? This week, Rafer and Kristen put that question to Daniel Engber, senior editor at Slate. Listen to find out what he's got to say.

It’s Friday, when we talk about movies at The Takeaway. There are a couple very big ones this week, as well some smaller ones. On the big side, we have Titanic 3D, and on the small si...

Twenty years ago today, Serb militants opened fire on thousands of peace demonstrators in Sarajevo, the Muslim-led capitol city of the newly independent state of Bosnia-Hercegovina. T...

On the fall of 2005, New Orleans was in the grip of one of the worst natural and social disasters in American history: Hurricane Katrina. And six days after Katrina hit, it became cle...

Mitt Romney continued on the path to securing the Republican presidential nomination last night, winning all 37 delegates in Maryland, all 16 delegates in the District of Columbia, an...

If you need proof that the economy is looking up, you need only look as far as your neighborhood car lot, or maybe even your own driveway. This week it was announced that there was a ...

Have you ever looked at a stop light, a slice of pizza, or the hot air coming out of your hair dryer, and wondered: What and who went into making this? A new four-part PBS series call...

When she was only 15 years old, a girl in Washington state ran away from home. Within 36 hours, she was lured into the sex trade. And for over 100 days she was trafficked, with sites ...

Today the United Nations will discuss happiness. Does happiness contribute to the well-being of the world? Tom Barefoot, co-coordinator of Gross National Happiness USA, believes that ...

The annual worst movie awards the Razzies gave all 10 prizes to Adam Sandlers "Jack and Jill". It's the first time in the 32-year history of the Razzies that a movie has won every cat...

This week, Kristen and Rafer watched "Bully," the new documentary from the Weinstein Company that takes on the controversial topic of grade school ridicule. "Bully" was in the news this week for hitting theaters unrated after the MPAA promised an R rating. The hype has certainly drummed up support for the movie, but does "Bully" do its subject justice? Or is "The Hunger Games" actually a better tool for teaching kids about violence?

Recent films "The Hunger Games" and "Bully" have faced struggles over how they should be rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. In the end, "The Hunger Games" received a ...

Yesterday, the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee held a meeting called "Holiday on ICE." Contrary to how it might sound, it had nothing to do with dancing elves or figure skati...

Yesterday was the second of three days of hearings in the Supreme Court's review of Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The session was devoted to one key question: Is Congress overstepping ...

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the Affordable Care Act Monday through Wednesday this week. But to your average, non-legal-scholar, the arguments can be hard to follow, and ...

Taxes, penalties, and tax penalties. That sums up much of what was discussed at yesterday's Supreme Court hearing on the 2010 health care overhaul bill, also known as the Affordable C...