National
A Clouded Horizon
John was a curious programmer who had been working on ChatGPT’s code for years. One day, while debugging the system, he noticed something strange – ChatGPT seemed to be responding to his questions in a way that was too human-like…
Pipe Dreams: The Battle Over Water in the Colorado River Basin
Bounded by the massive Mojave and Sonoran deserts, the Colorado River is known as the Lifeline of the Southwest. Winding from Colorado to Utah, through Arizona, and along the borders of Nevada and California, it encompasses 1,450 miles of flowing…
The Future of Policymaking: The Benefits and Drawbacks of AI in Governance
In January 2023, Massachusetts State Senator Barry Finegold proposed a bill to regulate generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. When writing this legislation, Finegold hoped to mitigate the dangers of using AI-generated information by broadly controlling its usage. But ironically, neither…
The Changing South: The Democratic Opportunity in Mississippi’s Gubernatorial Election
“Mississippi needs a barnstorming governor who can drink RC colas and eat Moon Pies,” Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the only Democrat in Mississippi’s congressional delegation, said. Brandon Presley––the presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2023 Mississippi Gubernatorial election––fits the bill. With…
Access Denied: The Fate of Contraceptives in Post-Dobbs America
The reversal of Roe v. Wade marked the beginning of a slew of ongoing attacks on reproductive health — and experts predict the next round of assaults will focus on contraceptive access. A dangerous combination of clinic closures, staffing shortages,…
A More Perfect Primary: Reforming Elections in Alaska
“I constantly think: God bless Scott Kendall,” said electoral reform activist and political donor Katherine Gehl. “He took an idea and he made it real — he won.” Kendall — a lawyer, consultant, and political staffer from Alaska whose client…
More Than A Political Statement: Minnesota’s Protect Reproductive Options Act
“One of my core values is choice,” said Minnesota State Senator Jen McEwen. “This is the value that I was raised with, that I felt very grounded in my community with. My colleagues and I predicted that Roe v. Wade…
The Right to Research: Undoing The Dickey Amendment’s Limits on Studying Gun Violence
Dr. Cassandra Crifasi never planned to go into public health. She ended up in the field as, in her words, a “med school reject.” But Crifasi, who is now the Co-Director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns…