Feature Channels: Government/Law

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Washington, DC (February 25, 2021) —The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is spearheading efforts to secure direct federal allocation of COVID-19 vaccines to dialysis patients and frontline dialysis workers. This allocation would improve access for a vulnerable patient population, more than half of whom are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders (NHPIs).

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In many cases, unions in Europe have helped nonunionized workers whose jobs are precarious, according to new Cornell University research.

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Climate services are vital tools for decision makers addressing climate change in developing countries. Science-based seasonal forecasts and accompanying materials can support climate risk management in agriculture, health, water management, energy, and disaster risk reduction. But in East Africa, natural resource managers have been slow to use climate information services, partly because they are difficult to understand and may not feel relevant for their local planning purposes. A new study published by the journal Risk Analysis suggests that one way to encourage policymakers in East Africa to use climate services more often is to appeal to the motivational factors that influence their professional actions on climate change.

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Insurance policy premiums from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) allow policyholders to maintain a lower, grandfathered rate even when the risk escalates. But as coastal flooding increases due to rising sea level and more intense storms, new research published in the journal Risk Analysis suggests this grandfathered policy could lead to big losses for the NFIP. A team of experts led by Carolyn Kousky, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, studied the effect of sea level rise on a New York City neighborhood to illustrate how grandfathered rates could impact both policyholder premiums and program revenue for the NFIP over the next 30 years. Their results project losses to the NFIP as flood risk grows in the coming decades.

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The panel of experts will discuss recent trials that have demonstrated efficacy for the vaccine, despite an early release in August 2020 which was met with skepticism by the international community.

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If Affordable Care Act protections for pre-existing condition coverage are no longer available, the coronavirus pandemic would leave many Americans - a disproportionate number of whom are people of color - without health insurance, a new Oregon Health & Science University study indicates.

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Lewis Nelson, chair of the department of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and Diane Calello, executive medical director of New Jersey Poison Control Center, based at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, is available to discuss the health considerations of the legalization of marijuana in New Jersey.

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Research from Queen’s University Belfast suggests that largescale antibody testing could lower social activity and thus contagion of COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

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DHS S&T and CISA are jointly announcing the inaugural research and development (R&D) awards for the newly-launched Secure and Resilient Mobile Network Infrastructure (SRMNI) project.

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Using laws governing human rights may be the best way of harnessing international legislation and tribunals to protect the Amazon, a new study shows.

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S&T released today the ASF Master Question List (MQL), a comprehensive resource that provides an up-to-date authoritative summary of publicly available information about the virus to promote coordinated research and improved emergency response preparedness.

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DHS S&T SVIP announces $199,950 in Phase 1 funding to Lauretta AI, LLC, a start-up based in Arlington, Massachusetts, to adapt their video analytic solution to meet TSA’s needs.

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On Tuesday in an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Texas Governor Greg Abbott blamed the outages on wind turbines and on the "Green New Deal." Rolling blackouts have ravaged Texas after a winter storm created a sudden spike in energy demand and hamstrung production of natural gas, coal, nuclear, and wind energy.

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Maryland Smith tax expert Samuel Handwerger starts with Elon Musk’s stake in virtual currency and explores the implications for the future of finance – and the IRS.

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Law enforcement and those in the military, rather than doctors and celebrities, are the most preferred messengers on firearm safety, a Rutgers study found.

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A new report from the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes against Children Research Center (CCRC) showed a mixed trend in child matreatment in 2019 highlighting a marked increase in child abuse fatalities but also declines in physical abuse and neglect.

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DHS S&T recently conducted a virtual training on its Team Awareness Kit (TAK) that provides such features as video sharing, location tracking of fire equipment, fire perimeters from aircraft, and fire model forecasts.

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IU study finds unintended and negative consequences of policies designed to reduce the supply of opioids in the population for overdose.

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A report released today by the Center for State Policy Analysis (cSPA) at Tufts University’s Tisch College describes a range of evidence-based options for fixing Massachusetts’ troubled unemployment insurance (UI) system.

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Though Ohio never formally enacted a so-called “heartbeat bill” banning abortions after six weeks of gestation, legislative and legal actions appear to have fueled beliefs that abortion is illegal in the state, a new study has found.

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Following a terrorist bombing, can the bomb maker be identified by skin proteins left on the bomb components they handled? To address this question, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) personnel from Weapons Complex Integration and Global Security Forensic Science and Biosecurity Centers subjected notional bomb components handled by LLNL volunteers to contained precision explosions. A small team of biology and explosives subject matter experts combined their knowledge and experience to successfully carry out a series of 26 confined detonations over a three-day period.

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A pioneering study of U.S nitrogen use in agriculture has identified 20 places across the country where farmers, government, and citizens should target nitrogen reduction efforts. The 20 nitrogen "hotspots of opportunity"--which appear on a striking map--represent a whopping 63% of the total surplus nitrogen balance in U.S. croplands, but only 24% of U.S. cropland area. Nitrogen inputs are so high in these areas that farmers can most likely reduce nitrogen use without hurting crop yields.

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DHS S&T has partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City to study how simulated coronavirus aerosols travel through buses and train cars to inform disinfection and other virus mitigation methods.

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A new first-of-its-kind study has questioned whether pub operators can effectively and consistently prevent COVID-19 transmission - after researchers observed risks arising in licensed premises last summer.

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Rich nations should not engage in “vaccine nationalism” and keep the COVID-19 vaccine to themselves when poorer nations need them, according to Nicole Hassoun, professor of philosophy at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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President Biden selected Milwaukee as the site of his first official trip since taking office. The city missed the chance to host candidate Biden last summer after the DNC was scaled back because of COVID. A Milwaukee political scientist weighs in on the reasons behind Biden’s milestone visit.

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Alzheimer's advocacy groups taint their credibility by not revealing conflicts when they lobby FDA for drug approval

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Political polarization is having far-reaching impacts on American life, harming consumer welfare and creating challenges for elected officials and policymakers to corporate executives and marketers, according to a new scholarly paper by researchers from six universities across the country.

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New research is exposing how — with little oversight or accountability — lenders prioritized PPP loan applications from businesses with prior lending relationships or personal connections to bank executives in the early stages of the program.

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What if the idealized image of American society — a land of opportunity that will reward hard work with economic success — is completely wrong?“Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty,” a new book from Mark Rank, a leading academic expert on poverty, explores this concept.It is the first book to systematically address and confront many of the most widespread myths pertaining to poverty.

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In a new study, Case Western Reserve University researchers identified some of the primary gaps in the connective tissue of the criminal justice system—among them failures to test rape kit DNA samples to unjustified doubts of victims’ statements.

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Larry Flynt, the founder and publisher of Hustler magazine who died Wednesday, was particularly prominent in his assertion of First Amendment rights. From the very beginning of his career as a pornographer, Flynt enlisted legal support to stay in business. Over time, he became highly knowledgeable about the First Amendment and took a groundbreaking case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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The American Chiropractic Association is encouraged by news that the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) will offer chiropractic services at six U.S. locations beginning this year. The development could signal positive changes to come in respect to coverage of chiropractic services for military families and retirees.

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For many of Mexico’s Indigenous people, poor and ignored by state and federal governments, the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is one that rests primarily with themselves.

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Despite a Mexican government initiative launched in 2015 to improve access to prescription opioids among palliative care patients, the country has seen only a marginal increase in dispensing levels, and inequities in dispensing have left many of the nation’s poorest residents without comfort in their final days

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Joe Biden is the new president of the United States, although half of the country's Republicans believe he stole the election.

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