Jessica Bennett

Credit-card debt has nearly tripled in the last two decades, leaving many Americans stuck in a sinkhole of fees and penalties. Who's to blame, irresponsible spenders or predatory lenders?

It's hard to picture genocide, gangsta rap and Las Vegas sharing the pages of the same foreign-policy book. What could they possibly have in common? But add a chapter on SUVs, Halliburton and George W.

Research groups indicate that identity theft affected more than 9 million Americans last year. But despite those numbers, the revelation this week that the personal information of 26.5 million veterans had been stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee came as a shock.

They marched in big cities and small towns. They boycotted work and businesses, and withdrew their children from school. Some walked out of their jobs. And as hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants took to the streets yesterday, they hoped for a dramatic impact: to prove to America that their work was significant to the successful function of the U.S. economy.In certain industries, they made their case.

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska republican senator: These standards haven't been updated in almost 30 years. When I was in school, you either brought your lunch from home or you had the hot lunch the lunch lady made.

Americans are buying with plastic at a staggering rate. From lattes to vacation packages, car payments to home-equity loans, our reliance on credit is increasing.

Dale Baker, son of recently deceased Robert Baker: Because he was [a poultry scientist] at a land-grant institution [Cornell University], all of the products he developed became property of the institution.

You're allowed to buy soap, bread, cat food. Prohibited: ice cream, tissue, soda. Haircuts are OK, but focaccia bread is not. What about hair gel? Organic French-roast coffee?For Judith Levine, the idea of cutting ice cream out of her diet for an entire year was not easy.

For the seven children of the late unsung poultry pioneer Robert Baker, it was summer jobs at the family chicken concession that raised money for their college funds.

In a world of fear, American cities and corporations are spending billions on high-tech surveillance equipment. A look at the economic engine and privacy concerns surrounding 'smart cameras' and other devices.

For college-bound students—and their parents—it was ghastly news. An estimated 4,000 students who took their SATs last October received reduced scores because of what the College Board, which administers the test, described as technical problems.

Not since the Rubik's Cube of 1980 has a puzzle been this hot. From its mind-teasers have sprung clubs, competitions, computer-games and a cult-like following.

Delisea Holloway didn't speak with her family for three months after she fled Hurricane Katrina. During that period she traveled by car, helicopter and plane from the Louisiana Superdome to a shelter in Washington, D.C., to Sulphur, La., and finally back home.

Television is all about the images, but don't forget the sound--especially music. Joel Beckerman has built a career on figuring out how music plays on emotions and hooks television audiences.

Everyone has a good secret. And, as it turns out, there are a heckuva lot of people who like to share theirs with Frank Warren. For the past year, Warren has operated a surprisingly successful Web site, post secret.blogspot.com, where he has solicited, and published, anonymous postcards that people send to him confessing something.

The postcard is an abstract black-and-white image of the twin towers, smoke rising from the gaping holes. "Everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I'm dead," it reads.

Maj. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Army National Guard, was piloting a Black Hawk helicopter over Iraq when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in November 2004.

Former Army major Tammy Duckworth lost both her legs in Iraq. The helicopter pilot--a major in the Illinois Army National Guard--was flying a Black Hawk over hostile territory when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her aircraft.

Ariel Sharon always attracted controversy. From his early years as a hawkish commander of the Israeli army to a centrist-leaning prime minister who forced right-wing Jewish settlers to withdraw from Gaza last summer, he drew criticism and praise both in Israel and abroad.