News and Issues

Bills Introduced: Reimbursements for the child care operational emergency costs of certain institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic; provide states and Indian tribes with flexibility in administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; emergency grants to states and Indian tribes to provide financial support for low-income individuals; bill to increase the age of eligibility for children to receive benefits under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)   Weekly Legislative Update May 11… more »

School choice sounds good, but is it really? Suitts says that understanding its racist roots illuminates its monochrome consequences. The Court eventually ruled that it was not permissible to create racially specific schools, even though they were technically private, not public. The schools switched to virtual segregation, which is another name for token integration. A few non-whites (not always black) were allowed in. Private schools remained overwhelmingly white, and not just in the South. Suitts concludes that shifting more resources from public to private schools, by whatever rationale, won’t result in a better education for those who need it most. To find out more about what happened and why, read this book. more »

Can we really tell male and female dinosaurs apart? Scientists worldwide have long debated our ability to identify male and female dinosaurs. Researchers analysed skulls from modern-day gharials, an endangered and giant crocodilian species, to see how easy it is to distinguish between males and females using only fossil records. Male gharials are larger in size than females and possess a fleshy growth on the end of their snout, known as a ghara. The research teamstudied 106 gharial specimens in museums across the world. They found that aside from the presence of the narial fossa in males, it was still very hard to tell the sexes apart. more »

Rose Madeline Mula writes: I have thought about whom I would like to be isolated with if given the chance. Obviously, my first choice would be those I love — especially any of them who can cook. Other than that, who? No, not George Clooney. There would be way too much pressure to try to look good 24/7. Instead, it would be very handy to have a tech support guy or gal ensconced in the guest room to solve my inevitable computer glitches ... a plumber (clogged toilets are my nightmare, second only to a shortage of toilet paper) ... an electrician (in case of a repeat of my recent smoke detector catastrophe when all three failed simultaneously on a Saturday night and each screamed “EVACUATE!” every five seconds) ... And if one of these guys or gals knows how to fold a fitted sheet, that would be a big plus. more »