Blog Posts by U. S. News & World Report

By Jessica Harper

In the wake of the latest study that seems to bring the hammer down on red meat-daily consumption may inflate your risk of premature death, especially from cancer and heart disease-there actually is some hope out there for meat-lovers. It's not all or nothing. Cutting back to just a couple of servings per week can make a difference, especially if you stick to unprocessed varieties (the study pegged processed products, such as bacon and hotdogs, as the most dangerous). But what seems to really lower the risk is to replace red meat with healthier proteins, like poultry or fish, the Harvard School of Public Health team found.

[See: Red Meat Shortens Life? What to Do]

If you like hamburgers, why not consider a turkey patty instead? It can be just as flavorful with far less fat. Even if red meat is your first love, you can fall for healthier proteins. There's no shortage of ideas online or in cookbooks. (Turkey or tofu bacon BLTs, perhaps?) Unpersuaded? Robyn

By Angela Haupt

If you want to be skinny, surround yourself with skinny. A Gallup-Healthways poll released last week reveals that, overall, our nation's cities are getting fatter. But the 10 least-obese areas are bucking that trend, with an average obesity rate of 15.9 percent, well below the national average of 26.1, and half that of the country's fattest areas.

So what are places like San Francisco and Naples, Fla., doing right? They offer easy access to fresh fruits and veggies, as well as safe places to exercise, say experts. And their residents have health insurance and make enough money to buy wholesome food for themselves and for their families. What's more, says cardiologist James Pope, chief science officer of Healthways, a Tennessee-based provider of health and wellness programs offered through health insurers, "people are less likely to become obese if their friends and acquaintances are not obese." In other words, healthful living can be contagious.

[See: In

Which MBA programs help you earn more than enough to pay off your student loans?By Laura McMullen

Ideally, prospective M.B.A. students will know a good business deal when they see one. In a stale economy, they need to figure out if a school's M.B.A. program, which could cost roughly $100,000 at some schools, will be worth it. While some business schools yield little debt but often a low average starting salary for grads, other schools' graduates leave school with high salaries and large debt loads. Some business schools hit the sweet spot, and at those schools, recent grads tend to earn a lot compared to what they owe, as shown by their high salary-to-debt ratios.

[This video includes tips for choosing an M.B.A. program.]

Of the 136 ranked business schools surveyed by U.S. News in 2011, 132 submitted starting salary data for their 2011 graduates who accepted jobs within three months of graduation. Among those 10,524 graduates, the average starting salary reported was $77,132.

Conversely, 94 ranked business schools submitted indebtedness data for

By Mary Kate Cary

The GOP is hemorrhaging the women's vote: a New York Times/CBS poll taken in mid-February showed that women now approve of the job President Obama is doing by a margin of 53 to 38 percent; in January, it was 48 to 46 percent. A Wall Street Journal/ NBC News poll this month shows that the president has opened an 18 point lead among women over former Gov. Mitt Romney. Unless the Republican leadership steps forward to turn things around quickly, it's going to get a whole lot worse. By "quickly," I mean now. This week.

That's because the New York Times reported on Sunday that starting Monday, the Obama campaign is launching an "intensified effort" to win women back, after narrowly losing the women's vote in the 2010 midterms. Monday, mailings go out to a million women in a dozen battleground states, targeted at mothers, young women, and older women. On Wednesday, "Nurses for Obama" will launch, with a nationwide network of healthcare reform "advocates," a new

By Jamie Stiehm

Disaffected women are packing up to flee the Republican Party in the wake of the War on Women, The Washington Post reported on its front page. Meanwhile, President Obama's re-election campaign is sending out a massive signal to energize pro-choice women and welcome them into the Democratic Party, The New York Times said on its Sunday front page.

Good, good. Women are clearly the critical constituency to choose the next president. That's just what the Republican Party deserves for its hostile challenge to women and girls making their own decisions about their own lives. Sometimes you wonder if Republican candidates know that women actually have the right to vote. Let's face it, neither Mitt, Rick, nor Newt is exactly a woman's man. They are out-and-out men's men.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the Catholic contraception controversy.]

Has former Gov. Mitt Romney or former Sen. Rick Santorum or former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ever read

There are ways to persuade grad schools to give you more financial aid.By Katy Hopkins

You've received financial aid packages from the graduate schools you're considering-and they might not be what you expected. Your aid awards might include grants, fellowships and assistantships, work-study opportunities, and even scholarships, but still could require you to load up on student loans.

[Find out more about paying for graduate school.]

If you feel the aid packages at your top choice schools pose too heavy a financial burden for you to carry, consider a step many students may overlook: negotiating.

"I think the problem is with most applicants, they feel so fortunate to get into these schools-and they should-[but] they feel like ... 'If I start negotiating, they'll think I'm ungrateful, and they'll pull my offer,'" explains Afam Onyema, a graduate of Stanford Law School and chief operating officer of the nonprofit GEANCO Foundation.

But, particularly at schools with low acceptance rates, "You're desired; you're wanted; and applicants just don't realize

Harvard and Stanford top the list for the best business schools as determined by U.S. News & World Report.By Ryan Lytle

For the third time in five years, Harvard Business School and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business have tied for the top spot in U.S. News's rankings of Best Business Schools. Stanford had sole possession of the top spot in last year's rankings after Harvard's overall score slipped from 100 to 98, placing the Cambridge, Mass., institution in second place.

Although Stanford and Harvard staking claim to the top spot has been commonplace in recent years, some business programs moved up in this year's rankings considerably. The Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business jumped nine spots from a tie for 34th to a tie for 25th; the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business climbed 12 spots from a tie for 37th to a tie for 25th; and the University of Rochester William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration leaped from a tie for 45th to a tie for 37th in the 2013 edition of the rankings.

[Learn how to successfully finance