Brief #133 – Environmental Policy
By Timothy T. Loftus
The race to electrify the transportation sector, now the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, will entail controversial decisions and tradeoffs involving the use and management of America’s public lands.
Brief #141 – Foreign Policy
By Reilly Fitzgerald
Ukraine poses a threat in some ways to the stability of the borders around Russia as they have long sought entrance to the European Union and have also sought NATO membership. Russia sees these actions as threatening because it would bring Russia closer to the military alliances of the West that they have rejected since the days of the USSR.
Brief #140 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
On January 10, 2022, US, its NATO allies and Russian officials began a week of talks in Vienna and other European cities in an attempt to de-escalate the rising tensions on the Ukrainian border. The meetings ended without any breakthrough and did not succeed in their key objective: removing the immediate threat of tens of thousands of Russian troops stationed at the Ukrainian border.
Brief #180 – Civil Rights
By Rodney A. Maggay
On January 11, 2022 Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has decided to create a new specialized domestic terrorism unit “to augment our existing approach” and “to ensure that these cases are properly handled and effectively coordinated” across the country. Previously, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Security Division (NSD) did not have a group or unit dedicated to only domestic terrorism cases.
Brief #64 – Education Policy
By Yelena Korshunov
“Is my child safe in school?” This is a question that millions of parents ask themselves today. Remote learning vs. in-person. In-person vs. remote. Multiple pros and cons, dipped in wordy discussions without being resolved, challenge students and their parents to solve this dilemma on their own. On Monday, January 10th, the New York City Department of Education reported 11,825 students and 2,298 staff COVID cases.
Brief #139 – Foreign Policy
By Brandon Mooney
With the War in Afghanistan having come to an end and the neoliberal experiment of nation-building being tossed on the metaphorical scrap heap, the U.S. confronts a radically changing world in which traditional conceptions of warfare are both antiquated and ultimately disastrous.
Brief #63 – Education Policy
By Stephen Thomas
Years ago, segregationists relied on the states to pass laws to exclude black students from their children’s schools. Today, their objective is to exclude blacks from the social studies curriculum. Either way, it is a movement centered on the debate about a crucial campaign issue that arose in the Virginia governor’s race and will rise again in the congressional mid-term elections and in state-level elections in 2022.
Brief #126 – Health Policy
By April Straughters
The conversation about nondiscrimination laws protecting the LGBTQ community in public spaces recently became more complicated after a transgender woman was charged with five felony counts for indecent exposure after reportedly exposing herself at a popular Korean spa in Los Angeles.
Brief #144 – Health & Gender Policy
By Rosalind Gottfried
The aging of the baby boom generation will continue to change the shape of the American labor force. Curremtly,16.5% of the US population of 328 million, or 54 million, are over the age of 65. By 2030, the figure will be 74 million and the fastest growing group are those over 85.
Brief #179 – Civil Rights
By Rodney A. Maggay
On December 11, 2001 investigative journalist Jana Winter published an explosive article on Yahoo News that exposed a secret unit within the Counter Network Division of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency. At the heart of the disturbing story is that a CBP employee staffed to the secret unit was authorized to investigate a national security journalist named Ali Watkins with regards to her confidential sources for the source of her work.