When you think of pollution from coal-fired power plants, you may envision dark soot puffing out of tall smokestacks, peppering the air and making it harder for people to breathe. But since technology has eliminated much of this airborne pollution, what’s worse for the environment now is coal ash, a sludge that pours from US power plants at the rate …

With the release of their new “framework” for tax reform, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have once again succeeded in avoiding an actual plan. At best, it’s the start of a process that might conceivably lead somewhere. The framework has some commendable principles—calling for simpler, lower taxes for businesses and the middle class; a broader tax base with fewer …

“We have to get massive border security,” President Donald Trump declared 10 days ago. There has to be “100 percent operational control” of America’s border with Mexico, Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, likes to say. This is good stuff for the conservative base, evoking the specter of hordes of lowlife immigrants storming across the border and threatening US security …