Public uproar over lead poisoning in children due to the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has dominated the news cycle this winter. The deck was already stacked against kids growing up in Flint. And due to a decision by the city’s emergency manager to start using the Flint River as a municipal water source in April 2014, there has...

Since its inception in 1990, the H-1B guestworker program that allows employers to bring in high-skilled foreign workers on six-year visas has been steeped in controversy.

The program has been the subject of dozens of congressional hearings, including one just last week in which I participated, frequent op-eds from pundits and technology moguls, exp...

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is the most sought-after endorsement in the raucous Democratic presidential primary contest.

It’s all bit odd for a senator who has been in office only since 2012 and who beat incumbent Senator Scott Brown by just 10 points as Massachusetts went for Barack Obama over its own former Republican governor,...

The University of California at Berkeley recently announced a financial restructuring due to mounting structural deficits, including a US$150 million shortfall in the current budget year. All areas of university’s operations – academic, administrative and athletic...

Despite progress in recent decades, women remain underrepresented (or not represented at all) in many aspects of political and civic life.

In the United States, the current Congress is about 20 percent female; there has not (yet) been a female president (out of 44 in total);...

When any American enters the voting booth, he (or she) is free to cast his private ballot for any candidate he favors. On the surface, this seems rather obvious, and easy. We each privately vote for the candidate we wish to support. We choose based on our...

Our team of more than two dozen students and research scientists at Virginia Tech has spent much of the past year analyzing and publicizing unsafe drinking water in Flint, Michigan.

Our “open science” research collaboration with Flint residents revealed high levels of lead, Legionella and damage to potable water infrastructure due to a...

The buzz leading up to this year’s Academy Awards was tempered with protests against an institution that has remained too white and too male for too long. How would host Chris Rock handle the issue of race? Would a theme emerge among the winners? Our panel of experts break down some of the night’s biggest questions, surprises and...

As the Democratic nominating contest speeds up, African-American voters – especially women – have some tough, and influential, choices to make.

South Carolina is the first primary where African Americans are the majority of Democratic voters, controlling 55 percent of the vote. That makes South Carolina a battleground for black votes,...

A federal magistrate judge in California has issued a warrant ordering Apple to assist the FBI in accessing data on an iPhone used by a suspect in the December 2015 San Bernardino mass shooting.

Apple’s public refusal to comply with the order – and...