To the Point

Global Warming, Science and Environmental Politics

Outgoing Environmental Protection Agency head Christie Todd Whitman says that America-s air, land and water are healthier now than they were 30 years ago. Yet even before it was issued, the EPA report was controversial-more for what it left out than for what it contained. Last week, the New York Times reported that the Bush White House held up the study until a long section on global warming was whittled down to what the paper called -a few noncommittal paragraphs.- How valid are recent predictions of environmental catastrophe? How much does politics get in the way of scientific investigation? We hear from the environmental reporter who wrote the Times article, another researching a book on climate change, a Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer and the head of a scientific alliance that advises the United Nations. Making News: Supreme Court Splits over Affirmative Action The United States Supreme Court today issued a pair of split decisions on affirmative action, upholding one such program at the University of Michigan while disapproving another. Newsweek-s Debra Rosenberg reports that the Court approved the use of race for promoting diversity but struck down a point-system that considered race as a factor for violating the equal protection clause of the Constitution. Reporter's Notebook: Disappearing Jets A commercial jetliner is a seemingly impossible thing to hide, yet a Boeing 727 has been missing since it took off May 25 from Luanda, the capital of Angola. With many theories but no answers, the CIA and State Department have launched a massive, international effort to find the 153-foot, 200,000-pound aircraft. John Mintz of the Washington Post says it just might never be found.