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Chicago Economist Argues for Social Intervention on Gun Violence
In his new book, University of Chicago’s Jens Ludwig makes the case for a pragmatic approach. Instead of waiting for the U.S. to solve gun violence by addressing its social problems, incarcerating people, and reducing the number of guns in circulation, he argues for a short-term solution: social intervention in places most affected by interpersonal violence.
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Apprentices Needed: Construction Shortages Threaten American Growth
U.S. plans for new factories, new tech hubs—even new homes—are about to crash into one very inconvenient fact: Not enough people work in construction to turn those plans into actual, hammer-and-nail reality. Not even close.
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Mass Layoffs, Sweeping Funding Cuts Threaten U.S. Public Health
The first 100 days of the Trump administration saw more than 20,000 jobs in the public health field terminated and billions of dollars in funding axed. The proposed 2026 budged calls for additional cuts of $40 billion to HHS budget.
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Trump’s NIH Axed Research Grants Even After a Judge Blocked the Cuts, Internal Records Show
Many of the canceled grants appear to have focused on subjects that the administration claims are unscientific or that the agency should no longer focus on under new priorities, such as gender identity, vaccine hesitancy and diversity, equity and inclusion.
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The DEA Once Touted Body Cameras for Their “Enhanced Transparency.” Now the Agency Is Abandoning Them.
An internal email obtained by ProPublica said the agency made the change to be “consistent” with a Trump executive order. But at least two other federal law enforcement agencies are still requiring body cameras.
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Texas May Put Restraints on New Big Businesses Hoping to Tap into the Energy Grid
Texas will need a lot more energy in the future. According to ERCOT, the state’s energy demand may double in six years.
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Iranian Breakout Timelines Under JCPOA-Type Limits
The 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) made it impossible for Iran, if it withdrew from the deal, to produce enough weapon-grade uranium (WGU) for a nuclear weapon in less than 12 months. The U.S unilateral withdrawal from JCPOA in 2018 has changed the situation so fundamentally in favor of Iran and its nuclear weapons program, that new limits are needed, the most important of which is that Iran destroy centrifuges and related equipment, rather than store them. A focus on only limiting enriched uranium stocks will not provide sufficient breakout timelines.
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States Push to Combat Human Trafficking Amid Federal Funding Cuts
States are moving to strengthen protections against human trafficking, but some advocates warn that some programs might not have the resources to help survivors.
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The Battle for Pentagon Acquisition Policy: Tradition Versus New-and-Cheaper
The weapons that get bought in larger or smaller quantities, or are launched or cancelled, will indicate whether US President Donald Trump’s administration will strengthen long-range deterrent forces, order a retreat under his Golden Dome missile-defense system, or spend four years trying to blend incompatible visions of industrial and technological strategy.
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U.S. Senate Committee Advances Kelly's Critical Minerals Bill
A bill seeking to improve America’s mineral supply chain is heading to the U.S. Senate floor. The Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2025, introduced by Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, would remove disparities between separate critical materials lists from the Department of Energy and Department of Interior. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the bill last week.
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How California’s Farmers Can Recharge the Aquifers They’ve Drained
Agriculture requires a lot of water. In the drought-stricken Central Valley, researchers have found a win-win for growers.
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U.S. declares military zone around El Paso, allowing soldiers to arrest migrants
It’s the second military zone the Trump administration has created at the border, following one on the New Mexico-Mexico border, where a group of migrants were arrested on Monday.
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Trump Pick to Run DEA Could Challenge America’s Already Tense Relations with Mexico
In 22 years at the agency, Terry Cole never rose to its top ranks, but he is a vocal supporter of the president’s goal of going after Mexican officials who are complicit with drug cartels.
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Washington Silences Its Own Voice
The Trump administration’s decision to close the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s (USAGM) aids authoritarian propaganda and interference efforts. In many countries, USAGM outlets are among the few sources presenting uncensored, fact-based reporting hampered neither by authoritarian government nor oligarchic censorship or influence. They serve US interests by challenging authoritarians and by giving the people these leaders seek to oppress or influence access to unbiased news and other information.
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Why Do People Continue to Support Politicians Who Attack Their Democracies? Expert Q&A
Most people in most countries say it is important to them that they live in a democracy. Yet, many people who claim to care about democracy also support political leaders and movements that have attacked democratic institutions and values. Even when people agree about the fundamental definition of democracy, they may disagree over how democracy is implemented in practice. Anti-democratic political leaders can take advantage of these disagreements to argue that their actions defend rather than disrupt democracy.
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The long view
Kinetic Operations Bring Authoritarian Violence to Democratic Streets
Foreign interference in democracies has a multifaceted toolkit. In addition to information manipulation, the tactical tools authoritarian actors use to undermine democracy include cyber operations, economic coercion, malign finance, and civil society subversion.
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles
To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”