Tightrope

The CHIME Institute charter school of Woodland Hills would be hard pressed to make ends meet without the help of a program sponsored by the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a New York nonprofit active in underprivileged communities across the nation. So why would everybody be happy if this LISC program went away? The answer has much to do with the insane way California has been financing all its public schools, and charter schools in particular, for more than a decade. Since the financial crisis of 2001, the state has balanced its books in part by deferring money due to public schools by months at a time.

It was only natural for Angel Wallenda to take to the high wire when she married into the famous Flying Wallenda family. It took her a month to perfect the moves. When she relearned those skills, it took four months. But this time, she did it with an artificial leg. In an effort to battle her spreading cancer, doctors amputated her right leg and portions of both lungs.

A man with a vision has no time to picture defeat. "Is it possible this system won't work in the NBA?" Paul Westhead paused, repeating the question as though this were the first time he had ever considered it. "Maybe. I'm not going to say categorically 'No.' But that is something that will be proven to me," he added, "only after I'm satisfied that the system is in place."

It's unnerving to see "Lust, Caution" as the title of Ang Lee's provocative new film because these states, each capable of obliterating the other, exist at the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. They can never be reconciled, and characters who are forced by circumstance to live on the knife's edge between them not only endure unbearable tension but risk savage emotional destruction as well.

The door bursts open and Andrea Seastrand blows from the bitter cold into a Washington office that smells of pine needles. She is wearing a red wool scarf, a pair of blue jeans and loafers with socks. It is not exactly congressional attire, but there will be no business conducted in the House this afternoon, it being just three days after Christmas.

Jim: Buy Mike: Buy Vans (VANS) Jim: Mike, do the names Tony Hawk, Andy MacDonald and Bucky Lasek mean anything to you? Mike: Let's see . . . those are the actual names of Moe, Larry and Curly, right? Jim: I'm not laughing. Mike: OK, since Tony Hawk's name is emblazoned on all the kids' sweatshirts in my house, I'll venture a wild guess that they're skateboarding stars.

In the debate over online piracy and consumer rights, Sony Corp. has a unique vantage point. Not only does it own a major Hollywood studio and record company, but it also builds computers, CD burners, DVD recorders and portable media players that millions of consumers use to make unauthorized copies of movies and music. As a result, the Tokyo company aims to strike a delicate balance: to protect copyrights while building gear that lets consumers use digital media more freely.

As President Obama struggles over a new military strategy for Afghanistan, his advisors are trying to satisfy sharply divergent demands: assuring Americans that any military buildup will be limited while convincing Pakistan and other wary allies that the U.S. presence is substantial and not about to end. The difficulty in determining a strategy that can mollify both these conflicting constituencies helps to explain why the administration's months-long...

As he campaigned in New Hampshire's North Country on Tuesday - Mitt Romney got a taste of the difficult balancing act that he will face over the next six months in New Hampshire. Within the same hour, he found himself defending the '"tea party",' which a voter had described as the “right wing fringe,” just moments after promising that if elected he would work “with good Democrats and good Republicans to get America on track.” While Romney's two chief rivals, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, have shown strong appeal to "tea party" groups over the past few years, many of the voters who flock to Romney's events here in New Hampshire are of the more moderate sort.

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Marissa Mayer is attempting a bold - and risky - strategy to turn around the struggling Internet giant with the $1.1-billion acquisition of Tumblr, a trendy social blogging service popular with teens and young adults. Though Yahoo still has a massive online audience, it's losing its grip on young people and how they consume the Internet on mobile devices. Tumblr, a 6-year-old company with 100 million users who share links, photos and blog posts, represents the new guard of the Internet.