Brief #52 – Economic Policy
By Caroline Howard
The United States is currently heading toward the path of a debt default, for the first time in the nation’s history. This could have catastrophic effects not only on the American economy but on the entire world economic order. The country already went past its debt ceiling in January, going over the 31.4 trillion dollar limit it set for itself in December 2021.
Brief #152 – Environment Policy
By Todd J. Broadman
Just over a third of what remains as forested land in America is classified as “old-growth forest,” equivalent to 167 million acres. By definition, old-growth is at least 80 years old, and just 24% of old-growth forest is fully protected – the balance exposed to the risk of logging. 58 million acres of this old-growth forest are on federal lands under management by either the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management.
Brief #51 – Elections & Politics
By Ian Milden
After Democrat Mary Peltola (D-AK) won a special election for a U.S. House seat and the subsequent general election, Republicans in the Alaska state legislature are attempting to abolish the all-party primary system that was established by a voter referendum before the special election.
Brief #168 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
A new series to catch you up on the top stories that occurred around the world last week.
Brazil indigenous genocide | US secretary of state Anthony Bliken visits the Middle East | France protests against raising the retirement age
Brief #156 – Health and Gender Policy
By Caroline Howard
A new law introduced in North Dakota will make it a class-b misdemeanor for librarians in public libraries to have any books on display that are deemed “sexually explicit”. Within this list of topics that meet the definition of sexually explicit, are the classifications of sexual identity, and gender identity.
Brief #167 – Foreign Policy
By Reilly Fitzgerald
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, more famously known as FIFA, is the global face of football (or soccer, for Americans). They make the rules of the sport, they can sanction players and teams for misconduct on the pitch, they decide the when and where of major tournaments, they decide the TV rights for tournaments, and they also decide where to take bribes from.
Corruption and global sports have always been entwined; just as sports and politics have been. In regards to the most recent world cups in Qatar (2022), Russia (2018), and Brazil (2014), there has been a consistent documented pattern of corruption in which individual executives and corporations have been banned, imprisoned, sanctioned.
Brief #154 – Health and Gender
By Geoffrey Small
During December, 2022, citizens of China took to the streets and sparked a mass protest against the government’s “zero-COVID” policies that had been in place for over two years.
According to Human Rights Watch, prolonged lockdowns, administered unpredictably, by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) have hampered accessibility to necessities like food and proper healthcare.
Brief #52 – Technology Policy
By Inijah Quadri
Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate, access information, and engage with politics and society. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok have become an integral part of our daily lives, connecting us with friends and family, news, and entertainment.
Brief #51 – Technology Policy
By Steve Piazza
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that all pilots receive NOTAMs (Notice To Airmen, or Notice to Air Missions in the United States) prior to takeoff. The purpose of these notifications is to provide pilots with information regarding obstacles they may encounter along the way.
Brief #166 – Yelena Korshunov
By Yelena Korshunov
On January 14th a Russian missile hit a residential high-rise building in Dnipro – a big industrial Ukrainian city. According to the head of the Ukrainian regional military administration, Valentin Reznichenko, on January 17th the removal of rubble had been going on for more than 60 hours. At that moment, 90% of the wreckage of the destroyed nine-story building had been dismantled.