Etc.

I think it is safe to say I am in the ranks of the "underemployed." In Oregon, the unemployment rate would be 17 percent if people like me were included.
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Here's another garbage article about parents from a wealthier school wanting to try and improve the "rankings" of the lowest-ranking school.

It won't work, of course, because poverty and transience are national issues. Both of those have a giant effect on "test scores," which don't measure anything anyway. The schools have nothing to do with it and cannot do anything about it.
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The situation for education in Tennessee is a mess and an outrage.

Michelle Rhee's ex-husband is up to his eyeballs there.

Speaking of Rhee, she "suffered" a legal setback on a wrongful termination lawsuit:

However, in what may be a turning of that tide, US District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras has denied Rhee’s motion to dismiss claims by a music teacher that his firing was concocted by using a misapplied or non-existent job title to enable his poor evaluation and subsequent firing.

The suit involves Willie J. Brewer Jr., a 53-year-old teacher who worked for DCPS for 28 years before being terminated in October of 2009 due to “budgetary constraints” under a RIF (Reduction in Force). Under this circumstance, the pecking order of teachers to be terminated as determined by Rhee, were first those with poor performance evaluations. However, Brewer claims he was an instrumental music teacher and that his RIF competitive standing was erroneously governed by the standards for a vocal music teacher, a position that required a skill set different from his own. As a result, Brewer claims he scored a poor evaluation and was terminated.

Brewer has set out to prove that his circumstance was not the result of mere error but an illegal systematic effort by Rhee to replace teachers en masse- perhaps supported by Rhee’s own public statements regarding her ideology to aggressively fire, en masse, teachers she deems as failing.

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When it comes to ed "reform," just follow the money.
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I have been getting some visits from Reno readers who have been looking under the name "Karrasch," but I couldn't figure out why since former governor Jim Gibbons has been out of office for a few years. Apparently a daughter of one of Gibbons's friends noted on this site is becoming a big star on reality television, and I believe she even posted here one time in defense of her mother, so I thought I'd go ahead and make note of it.
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I missed this obituary from last summer of the great equine photographer Tony Leonard. I have a number of his lithographs of famous thoroughbreds:

Leonard spent 50 years taking pictures of racing's greatest stars and developed an outstanding reputation. His photos graced many magazine covers; his style one that many protégés sought to master.

"Tony set the standard that all equine photographers strive to achieve," photographer Matt Goins remarked. "Knowing and working around him was one of the great pleasures of my life."

Leonard was also known for developing the conformation shot, now widely used within the industry.

"My goal in taking a conformation pose is to present each stallion exactly alike," he said of his groundbreaking concept. "That way, breeders could see exactly what they were looking for physically-strong shoulder, correct legs, hind quarters, pastern length, a compact or lengthy body-qualities that would match well with their mare."