hitting

(Newser) - In Scotland, adults are more protected against assault than children are, as parents and caregivers are allowed to use "reasonable" physical force for disciplinary purposes. That's about to change: On Thursday, the country's Parliament voted 84-29 to ban all physical punishment for kids, including spanking, slapping, smacking,...

(Newser) - Education Secretary John King has a message for states where physical discipline is permitted in schools, per USA Today : Quit it. In a letter to governors and state school chiefs, King says 22 states—mostly in the South and West—still allow corporal punishment or don't forbid it. He...

(Newser) - Mark McGwire speaks! Just not about steroids. The former home-run king granted a rare interview to the New York Times to talk about his reemergence in baseball—as a volunteer hitting instructor. “I’m such an easygoing guy,” he said in a brief reference to his steroids scandal....

(Newser) - The New Yorker's Ben McGrath finagled an astounding nine minutes with Manny Ramirez, the notoriously fractious and endlessly fascinating Red Sox slugger. In the interview the reclusive Ramirez embodies all the myths about him: He's deeply personal, funny, petulant, and cryptic—besides being, arguably, "the greatest hitter of his...