The Nation is excited to announce that our March 8th issue (which goes live at TheNation.com next Thursday) marks the debut of Melissa Harris-Lacewell’s new column, Sister Citizen. Harris-Lacewell has been a regular blogger here at TheNation.com for the last year, writing on topics ranging from President Obama’s Nobel prize and racial profiling to healthcare reform and the death of Michael Jackson. One of the nation’s foremost scholars on politics and race, Harris-Lacewell will now be one of The Nation‘s regular print columnists.

Harris-Lacewell’s column shares its title with her forthcoming book, Sister Citizen: A Text For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn’t Enough, and will explore the changing meanings of race, gender, faith and citizenship in the 21st century. Harris-Lacewell is a regular at TheNation.com and also on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, The Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

For a preview of her work, here’s an archive of Harris-Lacewell’s past work in The Nation, and here are her recent posts for The Notion.

 Also this week:

 The Breakdown … Did the Stimulus Work?

It’s been a year. Did it do any good? Chris Hayes, and guest Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute, assess the winners, losers and future for The Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in this week’s installment of The Breakdown.

 A Special Documentary from the BBC …

In his column this week, The Nation‘s Gary Younge reported on the President’s critics in the heartland. Younge spent ten days in Arkansas and Kentucky, talking to anti-tax protesters, fundamentalist Christians and libertarians, country club members and local politicians to find out how they view the last year under Barack Obama. In this two-part radio documentary from the BBC World Service, follow Gary on his travels through the South and here more about his conversations with the President’s loyal opposition. It’s a great feature–thank you to the BBC for offering it. Listen here.

Updates from New Orleans …

We’ll have more on this story at TheNation.com, but The New Orleans Times-Picayune is reporting this weekend that a police office is now under formal investigation in the death of Henry Glover, a story broken in The Nation (by Pro Publica reporter A.C. Thompson, with support from The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute) last January. The death, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, has been under investigation by a grand jury since August.

 A New Website for the I-Fund …

The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute is the motor that powers many of The Nation‘s biggest stories. We want to congratulate them and encourage you to take a look at their new website, which aggregates information about their investigations, news on and from reporters like Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill, and more. Check it out.

Fix Congress First: Sign the Petition …

Professor Lawrence Lessig’s essay, How to Get Our Democracy Back, struck a nerve. The story drew (23) letters to the editor, is our most trafficked piece in six months and was discussed widely, from progressive politics blogs to conservative radio. Here’s Professor Lessig discussing his essay on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

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 In our renewed push to offer solutions and not just criticism, this is one article with a clear ask and an advocacy component. We need to ignite the campaign to reform what Lessig calls "The Fundraising Congress." If you were moved by Lessig’s argument and haven’t already, I hope you’ll sign on to the Change Congress petition, which advocates a series to smart reforms that could help un-stick our intractable democracy.

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 Finally this week, Sebastian Jones has an important article up about TV talking heads who are also paid lobbyists–but don’t disclose it. This isn’t a left or right thing: MSNBC, CNN, Fox News–all are misleading their viewers, and failing to disclose critical information that are influencing the views of their pundits. Here’s a great slide show from The Nation‘s web team with some of the cable-news double agents.

Thanks for reading.