By PRISCILLA CHAVEZ, Scripps Howard News Service

Imagine disappearing green spaces, empty playgrounds and children genetically capable of outsmarting the natural world.
Hundreds of organizations and lawmakers across the country want to reverse what they see as a trend towards the virtual world becoming more popular for children than the natural one.

States need to provide more support to non-traditional teaching programs by offering more flexible certification, a new report says.
The study by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think thank based in Washington, calls for state policymakers to consider reforms in non-traditional certification programs in order to increase the pool of talented teachers.

Last month, for a much-anticipated visit to my mother's house in Juarez, Mexico, I finally had the courage to drive there myself. As I drove through the Juarez streets, I realized how scared I was to even turn to look at the windows of other cars next to me. I had realized how even in the broadest of daylight, the city was empty.

Will the American men's bobsled team be able to end their 62-year Olympic gold-medal drought at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics?
We won't know until next February. But a good clue will come at this year's World Championships, which begin Friday in Lake Placid, N.Y.

For many Americans, the choice is this: 99-cent cheeseburgers, or $4.99 for a salad and fresh veggies.
That's the dilemma facing families trying to stretch their food dollars during this economic recession.

Six award winning architecture teams will compete to design a national black history museum, which could be the last new museum centered on the Washington Mall.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture will chronicle everything from slavery and the Civil War, to the Harlem Renaissance.