A moral panic over the sanctity of children has bubbled up to the highest levels of U.S. politics. From schoolboards to state legislatures, conservative leaders and activists are mobilizing against anything they see as imperiling a sufficiently wholesome upbri... More »
Six months after a gunman legally purchased a semiautomatic rifle and killed seven people in Highland Park, a northern Chicago suburb, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act into law, banning the sale and delivery of assaul... More »
In March 2022, China released a set of opinions to push green infrastructure development in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a trillion-dollar strategy to fund infrastructure projects across 100 countries. Under its “Opinions on Jointly Promoting Green Deve... More »
“Today is the day you die. Our orders are to finish off all of you.” These were the words of a FARC rebel as he viciously killed a youth in a manner too grizzly to print.The killing and mutilation continued for decades.A slow-burning asymmetric war, known simp... More »
In December 2022, China abandoned its draconian Zero-COVID policy (also called Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy), a move that was one of the most dramatic shifts in its coronavirus prevention measures. As the world belatedly welcomes China back, it is important to lo... More »
Illinois voters have spoken: 2022 was the year of the organized worker. Adding to a mountain of evidence that workplace issues are on Americans’ minds, the 2022 general election saw the passage of a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers the right... More »
The opioid crisis has become a severe problem in the United States, largely due to the high levels of synthetic opioids introduced in the drug market. Fentanyl is a specific synthetic opioid that can be 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than... More »
The Chicago Bears are likely leaving Chicago for Arlington Heights.In June of 2021, the Chicago Bears — a founding member-team of the National Football League (NFL) — purchased Arlington International Racecourse for $197.2 million. The final sale is expected t... More »
Electric vehicle (EV) sales in the United States grew by 85% between 2020 and 2021 – the largest increase to date. To continue this growth and promote additional investment in EV production, Democratic lawmakers passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA)... More »
In 2018, Climate Outreach, a leading climate-communications non-profit, released a handbook for scientists working under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on how to effectively communicate climate change to the public. The handbook suggests ... More »
Latinos are roaring into political relevance in the United States, with a population growth of 23% over the last decade, compared to the national rate of 7%. This includes significant dispersion beyond traditional Southwestern states. Yet, the United States’ c... More »
No longer relegated to the world of science fiction, artificial intelligence (AI) has penetrated the mainstream. From Isaac Asimov’s influential 1950 literary work I, Robot to modern-day algorithmic decision-making, the rise in AI systems has been fueled by ad... More »