Sightings

In the course of greeting thousands of visitors a year, Rangers on National Wildlife Refuges find that natural—world denizens invariably make some people flinch or go EWWW. Whether it's because today’s visitors tend to live more indoor lives than past generations or watch too many TV survival shows, fears of nature are flourishing — in all ages. "The older they are, the harder it is," says one ranger. "I have had the most trouble with adult chaperones." more »

The US Supreme Court decision allowing for-profit businesses to opt out of the contraceptive mandate in the new health care law has raised questions about what the ruling might mean for businesses, for future challenges to the contraception mandate, and even for the future of church-state law. The Pew Fact Tank posed these questions to Robert Tuttle, one of the nation’s experts on church-state issues such as: Are there other aspects of the Affordable Care Act that are likely to face religious-liberty challenges? more »

"We’re seeing the demographic impact of two booms," Census Bureau Director John Thompson said. "The population in the Great Plains energy boom states is becoming younger and more male as workers move in seeking employment in the oil and gas industry, while the US as a whole continues to age as the youngest of the baby boom generation enters their 50s." The nation’s 65-and-older population surged to 44.7 million in 2013, up 3.6 percent from 2012. By comparison, the population younger than 65 grew by only 0.3 percent. more »

"When universities fail to respond adequately to campus sexual assault, they may be forcing the affected students to attend school in a sexually hostile environment. This environment deprives them of their freedom to go to class without being re-traumatized by a perpetrator sitting a few seats away, walk on campus without being harassed by a perpetrator’s friends, attend a party on-campus, or even feel safe in their own dorm rooms." more »