Brief #136 – Foreign Policy
By Reilly Fitzgerald
The intersection of sports and politics have largely focused on this winter’s Olympic Games in China, and also the banning of Russian athletes globally. However, one gargantuan sport competition is set to take place this fall, and the controversy surrounding it has been to a large degree overshadowed by other parts of the world.
Brief #143 – Environmental Policy
By Jacob Morton
The Biden administration replaces corrupt policy and outdated technology to save consumers money and help fight climate change. Reintroducing new energy efficiency standards for light bulbs previously initiated in 2007, but shot down by the Trump administration in 2019, Biden’s Department of Energy says goodbye to the inefficient and outdated incandescent light bulb.
Brief #125 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
On May 8, 2022, it was reported by the governor of the Luhansk region in Ukraine that a Russian missile killed 60 people sheltering inside a school. The Luhansk region has seen fierce combat as Russian troops and separatist fighters seek to surround government forces in their eastward offensive.
Brief #142 – Environmental Policy
By Stephen Thomas
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced in Washington May 5, 2022, a multifaceted program in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency to protect and improve the environment and address climate change.
The effort is consistent with an executive order that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. issued Jan. 27, 2021.
Brief #141 – Environment
By Todd J. Broadman
The Interior Department will put up for auction 144,000 acres of federal land to oil and gas companies. The Department says that this lease sale is actually scaled back by 80 percent of the original acreage slated for potential drilling. 90 percent of the land to be leased is located in Wyoming. In tandem with the sale, royalties paid to the federal government on any revenue that result from new drilling will go up from 12.5 percent to 18.75 percent.
Brief #187 – Civil Rights
By Rodney A. Maggay
On April 25, 2022 Governor Ron De Santis of Florida signed Senate Bill 524 which, among a number of things, creates a new Office of Election Crimes and Security as a new unit in Florida’s Department of State. The new office will be charged with overseeing elections but more specifically will review fraud allegations and conduct preliminary investigations into those allegations.
Brief #34 – Elections and Politics
By Abran C
Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been making headlines once again for a series of controversial bills that have been signed into law in the sunshine state. Policies ranging from House Bill 1557 or as opponents call it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a ban on abortion after 15 weeks, the “Stop Woke Act”, and a new Florida election police force, demonstrate that DeSantis has sped up his increasingly authoritarian style of governing.
Brief #58 – Technology
By JA Angelo
With the discovery of the internet, the illegal sale of wildlife became even more popular around the world. Some of the more popular animals and animal parts poachers sold included elephant ivory, tiger cubs, rhino horns, and pangolin scales.
Brief #153 – Foreign Policy
By Yelena Korshunov
I see yapping about those who left – Alla, Maxim, Chulpan, Zemfira … It’s Russia that left you. Because Russia is them, not you,” Andrey Makarevich, the legendary Russian singer, said on his personal blog. After February 24th, 2022, when Putin’s army invaded Ukraine with a bloody violent war, a number of top Russia’s celebrities left the country. Their destination is the USA, Israel, Latvia, Germany, and the other places where they feel safe to speak about their disagreement with the war and call for peace.
Brief #140 – Environmental Policy
By Stephen Thomas
The administration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President Kamala D. Harris is attempting to hold public corporations accountable for their impacts on global warming, ensuring in the process that investors know whether the firms in which they have a financial stake are taking climate change seriously.