ELIZABETH WARREN: YES SHE CAN. She was the outspoken, tireless consumer advocate who inspired and fought for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She was the chair of the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the bank bailout. Progressives adore her. Conservatives despise her. But it’s Massachusetts’ independents who’ll decide her high-stakes Senate seat showdown with Scott Brown in November. Nation contributor E.J. Graff takes us inside Warren’s Senate campaign in this week’s cover story, "Elizabeth Warren: Yes She Can." If she wins, she’ll be the first woman in Massachusetts’ history to be elected to the Senate. In an accompanying video interview, E.J. Graff explains the hurdles Warren will have to overcome if she is to win over independents in November. Watch that here.

JOHN NICHOLS WINS ARONSON AWARD. Congratulations to John Nichols, The Nation‘s Washington correspondent and political writer, for his career achievement award recognizing his work as a journalist, blogger and book author tracking the intersection of politics, media and social change. In a year marked by a ruthless assault on labor unions and public workers, Nichols—a seventh generation Wisconsinite—provided indispensable on-the-ground coverage from Madison, Wisconsin, “ground zero” in the war for labor rights. From breaking news at TheNation.com to reporting live on local and national TV and radio, Nichols brought us to the front lines of Wisconsin’s labor struggle, and in turn helped propel worker’s struggle everywhere into the national headlines. In a career that spans decades, Nichols has wielded his pen in defense of the common good. Whether his subject is the political horserace, the pernicious influence of money in politics or corporate overreach into American democratic traditions, Nichols challenges us with an unwillingness to accept conventional dogmas and compels us to take part in the enduring quest for meaningful change. The social justice journalism award honors James Aronson, longtime member of the Hunter faculty and pioneering media critic. Read some of John”s award-winning work here.

SARAH STILLMAN WINS HILLMAN; NOMINATED FOR NMA. We were thrilled to see Sarah Stillman honored this week with both a Sidney Hillman Award and a National Magazine Award nomination for her remarkable New Yorker report, "The Invisible Army," detailing the plight of foreign workers on US bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sarah’s first national award came in 2006 when she won the first-ever The Nation Student Writing Contest for her essay, "Project Corpus Callosum," which used the metaphor of the portion of our brain that connects our left and right hemispheres to describe a fundamental challenge: How can our knowledge of injustice be effectively wed to our passion to change it? We’re delighted to have been able to help launch the career of an extremely valuable new voice and we commend the the Hillman and NMA judges who recognized her recent outstanding work. 

PORT HURON STATEMENT AT FIFTY. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the Port Huron Statement, one of the signal documents of American radicalism, which helped shape the American Left and transform student politics in the United States in the 1960s. Tom Hayden, one of the Port Huron Statement’s primary authors and former Students for a Democractic Society (SDS) member, powerfully explains in our recent issue that the founding declaration of SDS continues to echo today in democracy movements around the world. Read and watch Hayden reflecting on the PHS statement and how it is currently echoing around the world. In two weeks, New York University will host Tom Hayden, and fellow veterans of the movement, young activists and thinkers from around the world in an historic effort to explore the legacy of the New Left. Speakers include Marilyn Young, Todd Gitlin, Frances Fox Piven, Linda Gordon, Occupy Wall Street organizers and many others. The conference, free and open to the public, takes place on Thursday and Friday, April 12 and 13. The schedule, and for more information, or to register, is available here.

WELCOME: JESSICA VALENTI AND ALLISON KILKENNY. We’re delighted to welcome two new bloggers to TheNation.com. Jessica Valenti, author of three books, founder of Feministing.com and a 2011 Hillman Journalism Prize recipient, will be writing about feminism, online activism, cultural and social justice issues. Her blog is available here and you can connect with her on Twitter–@JessicaValenti. And we’re proud to welcome back Allison Kilkenny, who’ll be covering social uprisings with an emphasis on the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement. "I believe we’re witnessing a cultural shift in America where young people — previously dismissed as being part of a wasted, apathetic generation — are organizing to push back against the injustices of austerity and corrupt governance," she says. Her blog is available here, and you can also connect with her on Twitter–@AllisonKilkenny.

As always, thanks for reading. I’m on Twitter–@KatrinaNation. Please leave your comments below.