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Over the past few weeks, the Taliban has quickly taken control of major cities throughout Afghanistan, unraveling 20 years of efforts under United States occupation. Fear and uncertainty only intensified after the Taliban installed themselves in the presidential palace in Kabul on Aug. 15.William Nomikos, assistant professor of political science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St.

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Many employers have already begun transitioning employees back to the office, while others plan to resume in-office work in the coming months. But after more than a year of working from home, is returning to business as usual even possible? Or desirable?Employees have changed amid this pandemic. The more a company can match employee preferences and the optimal work conditions required for a given role, the better off they’ll be in terms of hiring and employee retention, according to Peter Boumgarden, an organizational behavior expert at Washington University in St.

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Democrats have called for a permanent expansion of the monthly child tax credit, which will continue through the end of the year. In making the expanded credit permanent, lawmakers can leverage the power of child development accounts to build assets for all children in the United States, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on asset building.

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The new CDC guidelines may help businesses – especially restaurants and bars – if customers feel safer with the new recommendations, according to Olin Business School's Raphael Thomadsen and Song Yao.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposed ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes and all flavored cigars could be particularly beneficial for Black and young people, says an expert on tobacco control at Washington University in St. Louis.“Around 80% of adult Black smokers and more than half of people age 18-34 use menthol brands,” said Todd Combs, research assistant professor at the Brown School who works on the Advancing Science & Practice in the Retail Environment (ASPiRE) project, which uses agent-based modeling to test the potential impact of retail tobacco policies.

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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted April 20 on three charges in the death of George Floyd. Collectively, people across the country breathed a sigh of relief because far too often, the story has been police killing people of color with impunity, says an expert on race and the law at Washington University in St.

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On March 16, a man went on a shooting rampage at three Atlanta spas, killing eight people, including six Asian women. The killings have sparked outrage and fear in the Asian American community, but the suspect has denied that the killings were racially motivated.The suspect’s claims and subsequent claims made by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office have set off a debate about anti-Asian racism in America.

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Your pay depends on your productivity and occupation. If you earn roughly the same as others in your job, with the precise level determined by your performance, then you're paid market value. And who can question something as objective and impersonal as the market? That, at least, is how many of us tend to think. But, we need to think again, according Jake Rosenfeld, associate professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Anniversaries are an opportunity to recognize important events in our lives — both good and bad — and reflect on how they have shaped us. There will be no shortage of anniversaries this month.There are the big anniversaries, like the March 11 anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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President Biden signed four new executive orders collectively aimed at addressing racial inequality and justice. Washington University's John Robinson III, says it’s because of ongoing political engagement and pressure that Biden feels it necessary to pursue these aims, and we have this historic opportunity before us.

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President Joe Biden has expressed support for raising the minimum wage for federal contractors and employees to $15 per hour. On Jan. 26, House and Senate Democrats took it a step further - introducing legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025, more than doubling the current minimum wage of $7.25.

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Obamacare will get retooled, not repealed. A national mask mandate will boost consumer spending, research shows (though don't expect much from homeowners, they're strapped). The $300 billion for R&D should go to D, not R. So forecasts an array of WashU experts.

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As Donald Trump prepares to leave the presidency Jan. 20 in the wake of being accused of fomenting the riot at the U.S. Capitol, he is reportedly considering an unprecedented move: a self-pardon.While no president has ever pardoned himself, the act might be more trouble than it’s worth for Trump, notes a criminal law and Supreme Court expert at Washington University in St.

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In light of the Jan. 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol building, many Democrats, and even some Republicans, have called for the use of the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to relieve President Trump of his duties.What is that amendment and how does it work?Greg Magarian, the Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law and Constitutional law expert at Washington University in St.

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The Democrats’ dual victories in Georgia’s runoff election on Jan. 5, created a rare 50-50 split in the U.S. Senate and will give majority power to the Democrats once Vice President-elect Kamala Harris — potentially, the deciding vote — is sworn into office on Jan. 20.Given how divided politics in America has become, will the tied Senate be in constant gridlock?Not necessarily.

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As part of the new $900 billion federal stimulus package, the moratorium on evictions for renters will be extended by one month, through the end of January. The help could not come soon enough, said an expert on social and economic development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.However, without more intentional, long-term solutions and investments, this aid will only postpone an inevitable housing crisis, she said a new survey shows.

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After months of failed negotiations that left many Americans, businesses and a further weakening economy in the lurch, lawmakers are scrambling the week before Christmas 2020 to reach a deal on an economic stimulus plan that could top $900 billion. If Congress passes the deal, will it do enough to help struggling Americans and businesses stay afloat?To answer that question, three business and economics experts at Washington University in St.

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Chemist Meredith Jackrel studies protein misfolding and how it leads to disease. She is collaborating engineers to develop amyloid-inspired vaccine technologies specifically tailored for seniors. The approach could be relevant to COVID-19 as the elderly are particularly susceptible to its severe complications.

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Ning Zhang, assistant professor of engineering The U.S. presidential election is only weeks away. Hackers are hard at work. What exactly are they doing?We often think of hacking as a shadow form of computer engineering – a matter of ones and zeros, of clever coding and hijacked hardware, of software vulnerabilities and brute force attacks.

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President Donald Trump has consistently touted the economy’s pre-COVID-19 success and recent rebound as one of his greatest successes as president, if not one of the greatest economies in U.S. history. But how strong is the economy really? And how much of that success can be attributed to the president? Three experts from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St.

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For decades, evangelical Christian voters — specifically white evangelicals — have been an essential voting bloc for Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump. While evangelical support for Trump remains strong in 2020, there is evidence that their support is waning. Most notably, more than 1,600 U.

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Two people, facing each other, talking — let’s call it “excitedly” — are probably the most important ingredients for a debate. They are also a recipe for disaster if one of those two people has a highly contagious virus that has been shown time and again to be transmitted through the air.Taking a cue perhaps from South Carolina Sen.

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Questions about Amy Coney Barrett’s religious affiliation and beliefs have dominated public discourse since President Donald Trump announced that she was his pick to fill the U.S. Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing. While her faith is considered controversial by some, should it impact her confirmation?John Inazu, the Sally D.

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The U.S. Department of Justice Sept. 21 issued a list of “anarchist jurisdictions,” pursuant to an order from President Donald Trump to review federal funding for cities where violence or vandalism has occurred adjacent to protests.If the Trump administration withholds federal funds from these jurisdictions based on the “anarchist” designation, that withholding of funds would violate the Constitution in at least two ways, says a Constitutional law expert at Washington University in St.

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Even before they cast their votes, partisans of different stripes are poised to question the legitimacy of the election outcome, but for different reasons. According to The American Social Survey, sponsored by the Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis, nine out of 10 Trump supporters are very or somewhat concerned about fraud in mail-in voting.

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In light of President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on the United States Postal Service, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act should be revised to prohibit racial discrimination in voting by the federal government, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on voting rights.“As currently written, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — a nationwide and permanent prohibition against racial discrimination in voting — applies solely to states and their political subdivisions,” said Travis Crum, associate professor of law and an expert on voting rights, race and federalism.

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There have been more than 3.5 million requests for assistance to 2-1-1 help lines around the United States since the coronavirus pandemic hit this spring. The impact was immediate and dramatic, said a Brown School researcher who tracks calls to 2-1-1 help lines across the U.S.During COVID-19, the volume of requests to 2-1-1s has increased exponentially, said Matthew Kreuter, the Kahn Family Professor of Public Health at Washington University in St.

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President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to suspend U.S. funding to, and withdraw from, the World Health Organization is “counter to our interests in addressing our needs to save the lives and further the health of Americans, as well as an abandonment of America’s position as a global leader,” says the director of Washington University in St.

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President Donald Trump announced July 7 that the United States has officially begun to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). Trump may or may not have the authority to do so, says an expert on health law at Washington University in St. Louis.“It’s not clear that the president can unilaterally withdraw the United States from membership in the WHO,” said Rachel Sachs, associate professor of law and a renowned expert on health policy and drug law.

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On Monday, more than 230 scientists from around the world declared “It’s time to address airborne transmission of COVID-19.”In a letter signed by Washington University in St. Louis faculty and published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, directed toward “Most public health organizations, including the World Health Organization,” the scientists urged that public health organizations need to make recommendations beyond hand washing and mask-wearing.

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Millions of tenants are at risk of eviction as protections in the CARES Act are set to expire. While the U.S. Congress and Senate are proposing plans to extend the federal moratorium on evictions, a finance expert at Washington University in St. Louis warns that is just one piece of the puzzle.

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While the Supreme Court decision limits independence of electors and prevents potential uncertainty in 2020 election, it contradicts the Constitution framers’ intentions for the Electoral College, according to a political science expert at Washington University in St. Louis. 

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The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are at a stalemate over enacting sweeping police reforms in the wake of the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans. The gulf between the Democratic and Republican proposed solutions is wide and neither side seems willing to bend, says a law expert on criminal reform at Washington University in St.

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