Community Picks: Top Stories

Last week, instead of focusing on a specific topic we turned to our community to decide what great journalism to feature on our site, in our second round of Community Picks. In total, we rated 74 stories -- 49 news and 25 opinion. We pulled from a balance of mainstream and independent sources, and reviewed on topics ranging from Afghanistan to the social change to the global economy.

Top Stories

Below is a sampling of our top rated news and opinion of the week, as reviewed by five or more members of our community:

News

• The solution to end chronic homelessness is simple: Housing
In our top rated news story of the week, Miller-McCune profiled the efforts of three social entrepreneurs to end chronic homelessness in America. This special report, which drew 19 reviews, was nearly exhaustive in its look at former and current programs to address this issue.

• Afghaniscrewed: How I spent my fall vacation
The Village Voice's imbedded reporter gave an edgy first-person narrative of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, focusing on relations between Coalition troops and the Afghan populace.

• Madoff's world
Vanity Fair's extensive interviews with the people closest to Bernie Madoff gave insight into the personality behind one of the biggest acts of financial fraud in history.

Opinion

• Reporting from the front lines of the Texas evolution debate
Our top rated opinion was this piece of citizen journalism from Wired. Here, a science textbook writer recounts her testimony before the Texas School Board in the recent debate over whether creationist theory should be taught alongside evolution in public schools. Kristin Gorski called it "insightful" and was impressed by the authors "interesting distinctions about the debate, and about the separation of church of state in public education."

Top rated news (full listing)
Top rated opinion (full listing)

Featured Members
Here are some of our most trusted members' recent picks:

This Week: Afghanistan
Our featured topic this week is Afghanistan. To combat Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgent forces, the Obama Administration plans to send tens of thousands of U.S. troops to the region this year -- in coordination with NATO and Europe. How are the news media covering this troop increase and conflict escalation? We're looking for good journalism that shows the big picture on Afghanistan -- from Western foreign policy to its effects on the Afghan population. Join this News Hunt by reviewing (or submitting) a story on our Afghanistan topic page.

-- Derek Hawkins, with Fabrice Florin and Kaizar Campwala