‘Tis the season of municipal misery, with cities from New York to Los Angeles struggling to cover burgeoning demands for service with ever-diminishing revenues. However, in this recession-struck atmosphere, Atlanta is one of the rare major U.S. cities notable for hiring, not firing, essential public-safety employees and for expanding, not shutting down, programs for young…

In his senior year of high school, Rashad Robinson organized a protest. It was, says this veteran connoisseur of protest, a “very successful” one. A drugstore in his hometown of Riverhead, N.Y., had decided that it would not serve high school students during school hours. The policy, Robinson says now, was a clear example of…

The 2011 honorees of The Root 100 were celebrated Saturday night at an elegant, upbeat dinner and dance party at Washington, D.C.’s Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. Gathered were elected officials, activists, entertainers, media professionals and authors, all renewing acquaintances, comparing notes, telling stories and basking in the momentary recognition of being America’s most influential young…