Each year the American Society for Environmental History awards the George Perkins Marsh Prize for the best book in environmental history. This year’s recipient is UCR’s Professor of History David Biggs for his 2011 book published by University of Washington Press, Quagmire: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta.

Professor Biggs’ interest in the Mekong Delta began just after completing his BA at the University of North Carolina in 1992 when he began work as a volunteer teacher for the California-based non-profit Volunteers in Asia. A self-described “water person,” Biggs traded in youthful excursions in the swamps and coastal marshes around his hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina for field trips out of Saigon to the Mekong Delta. He fell i

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It’s Tuesday. No, it’s Thursday. But think back to Tuesday, or even as late as Wednesday morning. Call it P.D.O.B.: Pre-Danny O’Brien. His arrival drastically alters Wisconsin’s fortunes heading into 2011, helping the Badgers avoid what could have been a painful situation at quarterback. Wisconsin’s gain is the rest of the Big Ten’s loss, to one Legends division rival in particular. Again, think back to Tuesday: How would you have projected the division to play out if the Badgers had gone into the fall with either Joe Brennan or Jon Budmayr starting at quarterback?

Any projection most likely still had the Badgers winning the Leaders. But it would have been far from a sure pick, unlike a season ago, when Wisconsin was the division’s overwhelming favorite. Even with qua

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Thank you for taking the time to submit questions using the hashtag #AskSUMed or the comment section on Scope. Here are my answers.

Max asks: You mentioned your support of the individual mandate. Is this a legal or personal view or both?

Both. As a legal matter, I think the Courts precedents are most easily read as finding this within the Commerce Clause. After all, just a few years ago the Court, with the glowing agreement of Justice Scalia, held that growing marijuana in California, with California materials, for sale and use in California, involved interstate commerce. The idea that this is requiring people to participate in commerce is a little different, so there is no direct precedent, but I think the Court would have to make more new law to find it unconstitutional than to find it constitutional.

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It’s that time of year again. The project-that-shall-not-be-named is about a month and change away — remember, there are 123 teams this year — which means it’s time for a break. It’ll last one week, like last year’s vacation. Itll begin tomorrow and run through next Sunday. It’ll be at an undisclosed location on the West Coast. As a slight hint, I’ll be within 150 miles of three F.B.S. programs. It won’t be one of those extreme vacations: it’ll be calm, and sleepy, and calm, and relative tasteful. I like to think of it as a glimpse of retirement life, should that ever come to pass. Let’s discuss that

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With money on the mind, Lake Local Schools will cut jobs and close a school to decrease its growing deficit.

Superintendent Jim Witt confirmed the district will lay off 22 employees and close Walbridge Elementary School at the end of this school year.

After voters rejected a levy request last November and the state cut $2 million in funding, the district has few options moving forward. Lake Local’s deficit could approach $900,000 by the end of the year without the cuts.

Medical students gather at Rush’s Sessions House for Match Day.

Anxious fourth-year medical students from Rush Medical College are set to gather together at the Rush University president’s house on Friday, March 16, to learn where they will begin their residency training.

Known as Match Day, medical students across the U.S. simultaneously open envelopes containing information about their future in medicine. It is the culmination of a process that begins in the fall, when senior medical students apply to residency programs through a nationally computerized system. A

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