K
    Katy Hall

    Katy Hall

    Managing Features Editor, Huffington Post

  • How J.Crew Colors Get Their Wild Names

    Looking through the J.Crew website this season may give you ideas for a holiday party menu. "People really respond to food," said Tom Mora, head of women's design at the company. Food is just one of many things that inspire the names of the more than 100 colors J.Crew invents every season.

  • Why Many Americans Still Don't Have Internet Access, In 4 Charts

    In some American cities, up to 40 percent of households don't have an Internet connection, according to a new analysis based on census data. Bill Callahan, director of the digital access advocacy group?Connect Your Community 2.0, crunched numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau to find the best- and worst-connected major American cities. More than a quarter of households in the U.S. don’t have a computer with an Internet connection, according to the 2013 American Community Survey?released by the Census Bureau?in September.

  • Fashion Keeps Embracing Guns, While Guns Keep Killing Women

    October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and prominent women such as Giffords,?Hillary Clinton?and Atlanta "Real Housewife"?NeNe Leakes?have used their platforms to bring attention to the epidemic that killed about 1,500 American women in 2012, according to the most recent analysis by the?Violence Policy Center. Just last week, one dramatic style icon, Rihanna -- who is also no stranger to domestic abuse --?toted two gun-inspired handbags?to dinner in Los Angeles, making headlines for her predictably?“controversial” choice. Rihanna carried two gun-inspired handbags last week.

  • Why Medical Conspiracy Theories Are Here To Stay

    Nearly half of Americans embrace some type of medical conspiracy theory, according to?a study published this year?by the University of Chicago. Rush Limbaugh, for example, has suggested that liberal politicians believe that the U.S. is culpable for Ebola patients in Liberia, where some freed American slaves settled in the 19th century, and that belief is keeping them from imposing travel bans. Others, based a bizarre misreading of?a patent?for a specific strain of the virus filed several years ago by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,?believe?the government is teaming up with the pharmaceutical industry to profit from a possible vaccine.

  • Here Come The Ebola Hoaxes

    As Ebola hysteria?takes over cable news, a growing number of liars have taken to crowded public spaces to announce that they have the deadly virus. On Monday afternoon,?a man in a surgical mask boarded a Los Angeles bus, leaned into the driver and said, “Don’t mess with me, I have Ebola.” He and his female companion got off the bus a few minutes later, and authorities are still searching for them. The next day, three high school girls yelled, “We have Ebola!” as they got off an L.A. bus and ran away giggling, said L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Paul Gonzales.

  • The One Answer You Should Never Give In An Interview

    "People who say perfectionism is their problem tend to not be perfectionists, rather people who are trying to do the whole 'positive as a negative' trick," said Suzanne Lucas, who writes the popular blog?Evil HR Lady. “Real perfectionists have a degree of self-awareness that enables them to understand who they are and what they’re trying to improve,” said Josh Budway, vice president of talent acquisition at Medallia, a technology company focused on customer experience management.

  • The Biggest Mistake You're Making In The Bathroom

    Handwashing can protect against both, says the?Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). When researchers hid in a public restroom in a Michigan college town,?they reported?that 10 percent of people didn't wash their hands after using the bathroom, and nearly one in four just rinsed with water. Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

  • All 74 School Shootings Since Newtown, In One Depressing Map

    After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, President Obama promised?"meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this." His gun reform push, focused on a background check measure that had overwhelming public support,?failed in the Senate?last year, and Congress hasn't passed any other gun legislation. At least 74 school shootings happened during those 18 months, according to a tally by?Everytown for Gun Safety, a group fighting to pass gun control laws. Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

  • This Map Shows Just How Quickly America Has Embraced Marijuana

    Earlier this week, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law a bill that revamps the state's previously-stalled medical marijuana program. Even though officials say patients may not be able to legally buy the drug for more than a year, the legislation makes Maryland the nation's 21st state to officially embrace medical marijuana. Meanwhile in Colorado, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2000, state regulators are moving to shut down four medical marijuana business that were raided by the federal government.

  • Here's Why Every Pot Smoker Should Move To Massachusetts Right Now

    Smoking marijuana is many, many times more likely to get you arrested in some states than in others,?according to a new study by the information resource and community Addiction Treatment. Researchers combined state-level 2012?marijuana arrest data from the FBI with the?2012 survey?from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which measured the percent of people in each state who reported using marijuana within the past month, to estimate the rate at which users in each state were arrested that year. Significant advancements in decriminalization laws?have been made since 2012, the most recent year comprehensive arrest and prevalence data is available — causing marijuana arrests to?plummet in some states, such as Colorado.

  • These States Still Ban Cohabitation, Sex Toys... And Gay Marriage

    Bans on harmless fun like sex toy sales and free happy hour drinks may be silly, but they're not going to change anyone's life. Here are some unnecessary bans still on the books in the U.S. The only one widely enforced by a majority of states is the one that prevents gay people from marrying. Infographic by Troy Dunham for The Huffington Post.

  • Overdose Victims Are More Likely To Die In These States

    Drug overdoses?kill more people than car accidents in most states, but nearly two-thirds of states don't have laws that can help people survive an overdose. In Maine, where fatal heroin overdoses?quadrupled?between 2011 and 2012, Gov. Paul LePage (R)?appears set on shooting down?a new bill that would increase the availability of naloxone, a prescription drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose. Only 17 states and the District of Columbia have laws expanding prescription regulations around naloxone.

  • Here's Where Your Living Will Can Be Ignored When You're A Pregnant Woman

    Marlise Munoz, a 33-year-old Texas woman, was left brain-dead after she collapsed in November and her family planned to honor her living will and have her removed from life support, according to a recent?New York Times story. Today she remains kept alive by machines in the hospital because when she collapsed she was 14 weeks pregnant — not far enough along to have prevented her from getting an abortion under different circumstances, but putting her in a category where doctors must keep her alive until they decide whether she might be able to carry the fetus to term. Texas is one of a dozen states where any stage of pregnancy automatically invalidates advance directives, including living wills.

  • Here's Where You Can Get Arrested For DUI Weeks After Smoking Marijuana

    Driving while stoned?isn't a good idea, and it's a crime?in all 50 states, some of which have set blood-test limits for marijuana. Cannabis metabolites remain in fat cells after you stop smoking and can be detected for?as long as three months?in frequent pot smokers -- including many medical marijuana patients, who regularly have elevated THC blood levels. People taking advantage of the state-legal marijuana sales that begin Jan. 1 in Colorado should be aware of another new law there -- a?measure passed last spring?that creates a "permissive inference" of intoxication when a driver tests above five nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.

  • These Charts Show Just How Good Congress Was At Being Terrible In 2013

    Congress did very, very little in 2013 — setting all-time records for both most unproductive and most unpopular Congress ever. Both the House and Senate?have passed dozens of bills that the other chamber ignored, leaving only 65 bills to make their way to the White House and be enacted into law. This count is the latest as of Monday, Dec. 23, and includes?the most recent eight bills?signed into law by President Obama on Friday, Dec. 20.

  • The Surprising Truth About How Much Americans Drink On Thanksgiving

    Some may enjoy washing down turkey and family conflict with wine or?fall cocktails, but most Americans don't drink at all on Thanksgiving, according to?a new HuffPost/YouGov poll. Education was the biggest predictor of Thanksgiving drinking, with post-graduate respondents most likely to imbibe. Democrats were slightly more likely than Republicans to include alcohol as part of Thanksgiving festivities, and the Northeast was the least sober region of the country.

  • Why Legalizing Weed Just Makes Sense, In 12 Charts

    Most Americans live in states?that have rejected the federal government's marijuana prohibition policy, and if you're not one of them you may be soon. Voters in Portland, Me., and three Michigan cities just?passed measures legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults —?small but notable wins in a movement that has taken on the federal government at the state and local levels. In Colorado, where recreational marijuana is legal, voters approved a?25 percent pot sales tax, which will generate millions of dollars to regulate marijuana sales and help build schools.

  • In 29 States, Here's One Way To Announce Your Anti-Abortion Views

    Most of the states in the country — plus,?most recently, Washington, D.C.?—?issue license plates promoting an anti-abortion message: "Choose Life." Revenue from the speciality plates goes to organizations whose missions?tend to align?with the message. The state argues that this sort of balancing act would?force it to offer “Kill the Sea Turtles" plates. Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

  • LOOK: Congress' Christmas Gift To Unemployed America Makes Lumps Of Coal Look Good

    Millions of long-term jobless Americans will see their federal unemployment insurance disappear between Christmas and the end of March, according to the National Employment Law Project. Congress has extended benefits for the long-term jobless in past years, but recent deep cuts to food stamp programs could predict a less generous holiday season this year. Infographic by Alissa Scheller for the Huffington Post.

  • Bigfoot, Aliens Show Just How Absurd It Is To Oppose Protections For Gay Workers

    Most Americans think that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against someone on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, is a good idea. Earlier this week the bill cleared its first hurdle in the Senate, where it's expected to pass. But it's unlikely that the measure will even come up for a vote in the House, thanks to House Speaker John Boehner's opposition.