Nobody is talking about schools resuming completely to normal this fall, but the economic problems caused by the pandemic would not be solved even if they did. In an analysis that we authored and that was discussed last weekend by education ministers of the G-20, we find the cohort of K-12 students hit by the spring closures has been seriously harmed and already faces a loss of lifetime income of 3 percent or more. The nation also faces a bleaker future. The school closures had highly variable impacts on student learning. Some schools found ways to pivot to home-based learning. Some parents found ways to substitute…

Earlier this month, I wrote about a bill including marijuana legalization that United States House of Representatives Democratic leadership had planned to bring to the House floor for a vote this month. The bill — the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884), I noted, appears to have no chance of being approved in the Republican majority US Senate or of receiving a signature from President Donald Trump. This is because the virtually “Democrats only” bill includes race-based provisions and marijuana business subsidies that are anathema to many Republicans, including those who favor legalization.Indeed, I wrote in my article about…

When he moved to Medford, Oregon, in 2016, a rented trailer was the best that Monty Potter could afford. The $950 per month he paid for the two-bedroom mobile home didn’t leave much room for error on his wages as a grocery store supervisor, but he could manage it for himself and his two school-aged sons. Then came the Almeda fire. Starting in Ashland on September 8, flames ripped northward up the 18-mile greenway that connects a string of communities in Jackson County, all but wiping out the smallest two, Talent and Phoenix. Two people died and at least 2,350 homes were destroyed, including Potter’s, which stood near…

(Beirut) – Qatari authorities’ efforts to protect migrant workers’ right to accurate and timely wages have largely proven unsuccessful, Human Rights Watch said in a report and an accompanying video released today. Despite a handful of reforms in recent years, withheld and unpaid salaries, as well as other wage abuses, are persistent and widespread across at least 60 employers and companies in Qatar.The 78-page report, “‘How Can We Work Without Wages?’: Salary Abuses Facing Migrant Workers Ahead of Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022” shows that employers across Qatar frequently violate workers’ right to wages and that Qatar has failed to meet its…

Students are facing particular challenges during the corona crisis: switching from study groups and campus life to a laptop and online courses makes it even more difficult for many students to organise their own programme of learning, which is hard enough in any case. Students now rarely come into direct contact with their tutors, so they have no chance to ask quick questions or get assignments adjusted to their learning level. Though universities have been highly dedicated in their response to the corona crisis and have declared this a digital semester, learning in the virtual sphere remains a challenge. Interactive digital tools could help. They provide…