The UK now has two regional mayors representing the Reform party, following English local elections on May 1. This is the first time anyone from the party has held a government position at any level.
Andrea Jenkyns, formerly a Conservative government minister, is now the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire following an election win on May 1. She becomes the first Reform and Luke Campbell is now mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire. Both are new mayoralities, created as part of the government’s developing devolution plans.
The creation of more mayoralties meant that, perhaps inevitably, the near-monopoly that Labour held on mayors after the 2024 local elections has ended. But with an unproven track record, it’s reasonable to ask what we might expect from the new reform mayors as they take office.
Since the first devolution deals were signed back in 2014, English devolution has always been about the ability of local governments to convince Westminster to let go of power. The result has been that devolution deals have varied in strength across the country.
In broad terms, city regions have tended to get more powers, while others get slightly less. This means that not every new regional (also known as metro) mayor will be a budding Andy Burnham – though in practice most can expect to have core powers of housing, transport and education. Over time we have seen how the existing mayors have sought to inhabit those powers in their own way, and bring about their own priorities.
So, we now wait to see what that means for the new mayors as they take power. We already know that Jenkyns’ election manifesto touched upon the key powers the mayor will hold (transport, education and the economy) but her agenda on these was painted only in the broadest of brush strokes.
For example, there were promises to upgrade major roads, and to secure more funding for transport – although achieving both would require a willing Labour government to play nice. More realistic promises include more frequent buses which better serve parts of what is a large rural area, and creating skills bodies to work with local employers.
Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.
Elsewhere, however, the manifesto delved into the realm of memes and bogeymen. For example, Jenkyns has proposed creating “DOGE Lincolnshire”, mirroring Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in the US.
This promises to cut government waste and “ensure efficiency”. Yet, given the combined authority she heads was only constituted in February, it’s not quite clear what inefficiencies Jenkyns is referring to.
Another pledge is to push back against net zero – something that Reform seems to be using as their protest lodestar now that Brexit is no longer fertile feeding ground. Here, the policies seem to be to fight against national government policy on net-zero rather than anything really specific.
Playing nicely with central government
A regional mayor’s fate often hinges on their ability to interact effectively with central government – either by trying to secure concessions from it, or resisting it. Here, it will be very interesting to watch how Jenkyns, Campbell and the new Conservative mayor of Cambridge and Peterborough, Paul Bristow, assimilate.
They are now members of the Council of the Regions – which for the last 12 months has been largely a cosy cabal of Labour mayors (and Tory Ben Houchen).
How will Reform mayors – and Jenkyns in particular do business with the others? She is known as a disruptor so it could change the dynamic significantly.
English local government is littered with examples of national government visiting retribution on local authorities for perceived transgressions. For example, most famously, Margaret Thatcher’s government abolished the Metropolitan Councils in 1986 for getting a bit too big for their boots. While there is no suggestion that will happen this time, current devolution deals are heavily premised on trust and ability to work with government.
The other issue will be how what started as a protest party deals with the minutiae of governing. Mario Cuomo, a former governor of New York, once famously said that you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Sometimes, however, local government can be about the grammar – dealing with those minor details.
I remember interviewing a local councillor who once told me most of the time people want to talk about dog poo and bins. Equally, things like potholes are shown to be what residents want to see fixed.
From now on, Jenkyns and other reform-led councils will have a record that they will have to defend. Ultimately, while a manifesto that is half-built on memes might grab attention on election day, it probably isn’t going to make the buses run on time.
MONTREAL, May 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amex Exploration Inc. ((TSXV: AMX) (FSE: MX0) (OTCQX: AMXEF)), based in Quebec, Canada, focused on the development and expansion of their high-grade gold Perron Project, today announced that Victor Cantore, President and CEO, will present live at the Metals & Mining Virtual Investor Conference hosted by VirtualInvestorConferences.com, on May 6th
DATE: May 6th TIME: 11:30 am ET LINK:REGISTER HERE Available for 1×1 meetings: May 6 to 9th
This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.
It is recommended that online investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.
Amex Awards Environmental Baseline Study Contract to Norda Stelo
Amex Exploration Completes Acquisition of Perron West Project
Amex Expands Central Polymetallic Zone – Drills 39.06 g/t Au, 331.92 g/t Ag, 1.14% Cu, 3.38% Zn, and 2.35% Pb over 1.30 m
Amex to Acquire Strategic Perron West Property – Forms District Scale Land Package at Perron
Amex Hunts for More High-Grade Gold at Perron – Outlines 2025 Expansion and Regional Drill Programs
About Amex
Amex Exploration Inc. has made significant high-grade gold discoveries, along with copper-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) zones, at its 100%-owned Perron Gold Project, located approximately 110 kilometres north of Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. The project comprises 117 contiguous claims (45.18 km²) and hosts both bulk-tonnage and high-grade gold mineralization styles.
When combined with the adjacent Perron West Project-which includes 48 claims (17.37 km²) in Quebec and 35 claims (134.55 km²) in Ontario-the consolidated land package spans a district-scale 197.52 km². This extensive property lies within highly prospective geology favourable for both high-grade gold and VMS mineralization.
The project benefits from excellent infrastructure: it is accessible by a year-round road, located just 20 minutes from an airport, and approximately 8 km from the town of Normétal. It is also in close proximity to several milling operations owned by major gold producers.
About Virtual Investor Conferences® Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.
Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.
CONTACTS: Virtual Investor Conferences John M. Viglotti SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access OTC Markets Group (212) 220-2221 johnv@otcmarkets.com
SANDY, Utah, May 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mountain America Credit Union is proud to announce Margaret Mathis, director of talent acquisition, has been named a 2025 Utah Business HR Achievement Award recipient. Her exceptional leadership and significant impact in the field of human resources have earned her recognition as one of Utah’s top HR professionals.
The Utah Business HR Achievement Award program honors the human resources professionals who have gone beyond the call of duty to make their companies great places to work. Mathis was featured in the April issue of Utah Business and honored at an awards ceremony on April 30 at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.
“Margaret consistently exceeds expectations when it comes to her role in HR,” said Trent Savage, senior vice president of human resources. “This achievement and recognition is a testament to her unwavering commitment to excellence, leadership and the people she serves every day.”
With over 20 years of experience in human resources, Mathis has excelled in various roles across industries such as staffing, call centers, and automotive. She has been a key contributor at Mountain America Credit Union for nearly a decade, where her leadership has been instrumental in driving the success of our talent acquisition team.
Mathis’ outstanding achievements have been recognized with multiple awards, including the OnCon Top 50 Talent Acquisition Professionals in North America Award in 2021 and the OnCon Top 100 Talent Acquisition Professionals in North America Award in 2023. Under her leadership, Mountain America’s talent acquisition team received the OnCon Top 100 Talent Acquisition Team in North America Award in 2023.
About Mountain America Credit Union With more than 1 million members and $20 billion in assets, Mountain America Credit Union helps its members define and achieve their financial dreams. Mountain America provides consumers and businesses with a variety of convenient, flexible products and services, as well as sound, timely advice. Members enjoy access to secure, cutting-edge mobile banking technology, over 100 branches across multiple states, and more than 50,000 surcharge-free ATMs. Mountain America—guiding you forward. Learn more at macu.com.
Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
Murray: “This is a proposal to raise costs and make life harder—and worse—for working people in every part of the country.”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 preliminary budget request, which proposes slashing critical investments in non-defense programs that matter immensely to families and our country’s competitiveness and future.
The Trump administration says this proposal will cut domestic funding by $163 billion (-23%); however, the real cut may be far worse—potentially exceeding a 30%, or more than $200 billion, cut to non-defense discretionary (NDD) spending. This preliminary request is very light on details. It fails to delineate funding levels for thousands of key programs, including programs like Head Start, which Trump reportedly wants to eliminate—and it is critical that this administration promptly provide its full budget request.
“President Trump has made his priorities clear as day: he wants to outright defund programs that help working Americans while he shovels massive tax breaks at billionaires like himself and raises taxes on middle-class Americans with his reckless tariffs.
“This budget proposal would set our country back decades by decimating investments to help families afford the basics, to keep communities safe, and to ensure America remains the world leader in innovation and lifesaving research. Donald Trump wants to slash funding for research into treatments and cures for cancer and other devastating diseases that have saved millions of patients’ lives, and he wants to kick hundreds of thousands of Americans out of their homes. He’s proposing to divest from America’s small businesses, ax funding for families to afford their energy bills, and rip resources away from students and teachers. Trump wants to rip away funding to safeguard Americans’ health, protect our environment, and to help rural communities and our farmers thrive. This president wants to turn our country’s back on Tribes—and let trash pile up at our national parks. Trump is even proposing to cut investments to prevent violent crime, go after drug traffickers, and tackle the opioids and mental health crises.
“This is a proposal to raise costs and make life harder—and worse—for working people in every part of the country, and it is a proposal to fundamentally make America less safe, healthy, and strong. China’s President Xi Jinping is no doubt thrilled at Trump’s proposal to halve our investments in scientific and biomedical research—and abandon America’s global leadership role.
“This president believes we should shred at least $163 billion in investments here at home that make all the difference for families and have been essential to America’s success—but that we should hand billionaires and the biggest corporations trillions in new tax breaks. That is outrageous—and it should offend every hardworking American who wants their tax dollars to help them live a good life, not pad the pockets of billionaires.
“This preliminary budget proposal is exceptionally light on details we desperately need—but this much is clear: Trump wants to eviscerate programs that matter most to working families.
“I will work with my colleagues in Congress to firmly reject Trump’s draconian proposal to slash investments in families and America’s future. But that alone is not enough because, at this very moment, Trump is brazenly ignoring our laws and blocking hundreds of billions of dollars owed to the American people—and we need Republicans in Congress to finally join us to force Trump to put an end to his devastating funding freeze.”
More specifics on President Trump’s budget request will be available HERE later today.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Levin (CA-49)
April 30, 2025
Amanda Reuther and her family
Encinitas, CA – Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) announced that Amanda Reuther – an Encinitas resident, a passionate advocate for children with disabilities, and a community leader – has been named his April 2025 Constituent of the Month.
Amanda’s journey fighting for better policies to help children with disabilities began in 2016 when her daughter, Paeyton, was diagnosed with HNRNPU-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder. Since then, Amanda has become a driving force for inclusion and support for families navigating the challenges of special needs education and rare diseases.
See below for Rep. Levin’s statement recognizing Michelle Gonzalez in the Congressional Record:
“M. Speaker, I am proud to recognize Amanda Reuther as my April 2025 Constituent of the Month. Amanda exemplifies what it means to be a champion for your family and your community.
“I recently spoke with Amanda about how cuts to Medicaid and the Department of Education threaten the well-being of children with disabilities. Amanda is speaking out and leading with compassion and strength. I’m honored to recognize her advocacy and grateful for her voice in our district.
“Amanda’s drive has no limits. In addition to her advocacy, she also serves as board president of the Special Education Parent Council for Encinitas Union School District and is the Special Education Site Representative for the Encinitas Education Foundation. She also directs community relations for the HRNP Family Foundation and leads an international support network for caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
“In addition to her advocacy work, Amanda is a professional hairstylist and longtime small business owner in Del Mar. I am honored to celebrate her as my Constituent of the Month.”
ABOUT THE CONSTITUENT OF THE MONTH PROGRAM:
Rep. Levin’s Constituent of the Month program recognizes outstanding North County San Diego and South Orange County residents who have gone above and beyond to help their neighbors, give back to their community, and represent the best of our country. Rep Levin’s March Constituent of the Month was Michelle Gonzalez, and his February 2025 Constituent of the Month was John Harms.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
May 02, 2025
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. – Today, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.), sent a letter to the Acting Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), Heather Hill, demanding that she open an investigation into alarming reports that the Trump Administration is pressuring the IRS to consider revoking the non-profit status of Harvard University.
In a Truth Social post, the President stated that “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax-Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness.’” Furthermore, according to reports, the President is also targeting Harvard’s tax-exempt status because he disapproves of the university’s diversity and inclusion programs and claims that it has not sufficiently addressed antisemitism on campus.
“The President is targeting the non-profit status of Harvard University for blatantly political purposes,” the senators wrote.
It is illegal and unconstitutional for the IRS to use politically motivated reasons to revoke the tax-exempt status of schools, hospitals, churches, or any other tax-exempt entities. The senators are demanding an investigation into potential criminal activity related to this decision and into whether or not the Trump Administration is using the IRS to take other politically motivated actions.
“The president’s call for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status raises troubling constitutional questions, including whether the president is trying to squelch Harvard’s free speech rights and whether the revocation of its tax-exempt status will deprive the university of its due process rights,” the senators continued.
The lawmakers also note that while Harvard University could potentially have the resources to fight this particular legal battle, it sets a dangerous precedent for President Trump to attack his perceived political enemies.
“Churches and synagogues, non-profit hospitals and clinics, charter and private schools, and any others that land on the President’s target list will be forced to relinquish their free speech rights in order to remain in existence, or otherwise face this organizational death sentence,” the senators wrote.
The full letter can be seen here.
The Government of Jersey has published an independent hydrogeological report on the current state of PFAS in surface water and groundwater around Jersey Airport.
The report by Arcadis, a world leading environmental consultancy, assessed PFAS across the St Ouen’s Bay and Upper Pont Marquet areas, potential risks and possible clean up options.
There is no immediate risk to the health of the broader population, as the report confirms that Jersey Water do not draw water from these impacted catchment areas for public water supply.
Assessing a broad range of PFAS, the report found that the extent of affected groundwater near the airport, the “plume area”, is larger than previously understood.
PFAS is a global issue. PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a large group of over 12,000 man-made chemicals that have been used since the 1940s in everyday products. These chemicals don’t break down easily, so they can build up over time in the environment. Some types of PFAS have been linked to health risks.
In Jersey, the historic use of firefighting foam at the Airport has created a PFAS “hot spot”. To better understand this, the Government of Jersey commissioned an independent study and risk assessment by Arcadis.
Arcadis considered PFAS levels in the groundwater, water which lies below the surface, and the surface water, water which lies on the surface, such as in ponds and streams. The report evaluates and shortlists a wide range of remediation options for the affected soil, groundwater and surface water.
The Minister for the Environment will review the report’s findings over the next six weeks and produce a full response by 12 June, including details of how the Government will move remediation options forward.
The Minister for the Environment, Deputy Steve Luce said: “I want to thank Arcadis for this detailed and thorough report, which will help us chart the best way forward.
“PFAS is not just in Jersey, it’s everywhere. But we’re coming up with scientific, evidence-based solutions to deal with it. There are only a few other jurisdictions around the world who are doing as much as we are.
“We are following the evolving science. We commissioned this report to give us a better understanding of where PFAS is and what we can do about it. It is a detailed report on a complex matter and its findings deserve proper consideration. I will carefully review it and respond more fully, with details of how we plan to move forwards, on 12 June.”
The Arcadis Hydrogeological Study and other PFAS information is available at Gov.je.
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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ATLANTA (May 2, 2025) — Today, Sen. RaShaun Kemp (D–Atlanta) proudly announced that his first piece of legislation, Senate Bill 93, has officially been signed into law by Governor Brian P. Kemp. The law tasks the Georgia Professional Standards Commission with establishing rules requiring evidence-based reading instruction aligned with the science of reading.
“I am incredibly honored to see my first bill signed into law,” said Sen. Kemp. “From day one, I’ve been laser-focused on addressing our state’s literacy crisis. With this law, we are taking meaningful steps to ensure our educators are equipped to teach every child to read, especially those who are English language learners or have learning disabilities. I want to thank Gov. Kemp for his support and for recognizing the urgency of ensuring our educator prep programs align with the state’s focus on the science of reading. Literacy is the foundation of all learning, and this law guarantees we are doing everything we can to give our students the strongest start possible.”
Senate Bill 93 requires the Professional Standards Commission to adopt rules supporting effective and research-based reading instruction in teacher preparation programs. These new standards will help educators identify reading deficiencies earlier and use instructional approaches tailored to students’ diverse learning needs.
More information on SB 93 can be found here.
# # # #
Sen. RaShaun Kemp represents the 38th Senate District, which includes a portion of Fulton County. He may be reached by phone at (404) 656-0105 or by email atrashaun.kemp@senate.ga.gov.
For all media inquiries, please reach out toSenatePressInquiries@senate.ga.gov.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides benefits that help eligible low-income households purchase food. Most enrolled households supplement SNAP benefits with personal funds (Tiehen, Newman, and Kirlin 2017). The Congressional Budget Office estimates that in 2025, an average of 42.5 million people will receive SNAP benefits each month, with an average monthly benefit of $188 per recipient (CBO 2025).
SNAP benefits can be used to buy many foods, although some items, such as hot prepared meals, are excluded. Lawmakers have asked CBO how adding nutritional standards to SNAP might affect the federal budget. Such standards would restrict purchases of foods linked to poor health outcomes, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, using SNAP benefits. New research would help the agency assess their budgetary effects.
How Would Nutritional Standards in SNAP Affect the Federal Budget?
To assess the budgetary effects of adding nutritional standards to SNAP, CBO would estimate:
The costs of implementing the policy,
Any offsetting savings resulting from the improved health of SNAP recipients, and
Any savings from reduced participation in the program.
Estimating savings from improved health requires evidence about changes in food purchases and consumption and how those changes affect diet quality, health outcomes, and spending on health care. The federal budgetary effects would depend on SNAP recipients’ health insurance coverage and federal subsidies for that coverage. Although CBO’s cost estimates focus on a 10-year period, the agency would, if practicable, assess longer-term budgetary effects.
To gather that evidence, the agency examined two main types of research: randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and simulation models specific to the SNAP population. In CBO’s assessment, that research literature has limitations stemming from the relatively small number of existing studies and from differences in conclusions among studies that have used different methodological approaches.
CBO also reviewed the literature on how taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages affect food consumption, health, and health care spending. If restrictions on SNAP purchases effectively raise the prices of targeted items, people may respond much as they do to those taxes. Although other interventions also aim to reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods, CBO focused on sugar-sweetened beverage taxes because of the strength and depth of the evidence in that area.
What Have RCTs Found About the Effects of Nutritional Standards in SNAP or Similar Programs on Diet Quality?
In CBO’s assessment, the evidence on how SNAP beneficiaries would respond to restrictions on items that are eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits is unclear. Two RCTs found that restrictions on sugary foods alone did not improve the diets of low-income households receiving SNAP-like benefits (Harnack and others 2024; Harnack and others 2016). The lack of an effect may have been due to recipients’ use of their own funds to buy restricted items or their substitution of similar foods.
Those studies also examined the combined effects of restrictions and incentives (that is, additional funds for the purchase of healthier foods), with mixed results. The 2016 study showed improved diet quality, but the 2024 study found no improvement. Methodological differences could explain those inconsistent findings.
Direct evidence that incentives can improve food consumption among SNAP recipients has come from the Healthy Incentives Pilot, a 2011 RCT involving a large group of SNAP recipients. In that study, participants who received an additional 30 cents for every SNAP dollar spent on certain fruits and vegetables consumed about 25 percent more of those items daily than participants who received standard SNAP benefits (Bartlett and others 2014).
What Do Simulation Models Suggest About the Effects of Nutritional Standards in SNAP on Health and Health Care Spending?
Diet quality can affect health. For certain populations, such as people with diet-related chronic diseases, dietary improvements can have clear benefits in the near term (see, for example, Estruch and others 2018; Appel and others 1997). For other populations, such as children, some evidence suggests that improvements in diet quality, including lower exposure to sugar, can improve health over the longer term (Gracner, Boone, and Gertler 2024; Gertler and Gracner 2022).
Three simulation studies have estimated how nutritional restrictions in SNAP would affect health and health care spending (Choi, Wright, and Bleich 2021; Mozaffarian and others 2018; Basu and others 2014). Those studies modeled how SNAP recipients would change their consumption behavior in response to changes in program rules, accounting for the fact that recipients often shift some spending between SNAP benefits and personal funds when SNAP policies change. The studies linked the projected changes in consumption to expected health outcomes and health care costs, using evidence from prior research.
Findings from those simulation studies suggest that restricting purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages with SNAP dollars would improve health outcomes. One study found that restrictions would lead to lower obesity rates and lower incidence of type 2 diabetes (Basu and others 2014). Another suggested that restrictions would reduce cases of cardiovascular disease and health care spending (Mozaffarian and others 2018). The third study found that restricting purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages would reduce dental cavities among children, but the effects on obesity would vary depending on food substitutions (Choi, Wright, and Bleich 2021).
Two of those three studies also modeled the effects of incentives alone, with mixed results: One found that incentives on their own would not change health outcomes (Basu and others 2014), whereas the other found that incentives would lead to improvements in health and reductions in health care spending (Mozaffarian and others 2018).
What Have Research Studies Found About the Effects of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes on Health?
Eight cities or areas in the United States have imposed taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (World Bank 2023). There is substantial evidence showing that taxes reduce sales of such beverages but limited evidence linking those reductions in sales to improvements in health (Hoffer and Macumber-Rosin 2025; Cawley and Frisvold 2023). Improvements in health may be limited because people substitute the taxed beverages with other high-calorie products or travel to areas without such taxes to purchase them (Hoffer and Macumber-Rosin 2025; Cawley and others 2019).
SNAP participants may respond to restrictions on unhealthy food purchases similarly to how consumers react to sugar-sweetened beverage taxes—by reducing consumption—if they perceive those restrictions as price increases. That perception depends on whether participants view SNAP benefits as equivalent to cash. If they do, they may simply use cash to buy restricted items. But people often treat SNAP benefits and cash differently (Hastings and Shapiro 2018). In that case, restrictions may effectively raise the perceived cost of targeted products, decreasing their consumption.
What New Research Would Be Especially Useful?
Additional research on how nutritional standards affect SNAP recipients’ food choices, health outcomes, and health care spending would help CBO provide more complete information to the Congress. Key areas that would benefit the agency’s analysis include the effects of the consumption of specific foods on overall diet quality; the extent to which changes in diet alone affect health, when many factors influence health; differences in policy effects among subgroups of people (based on age or prevalence of chronic conditions); and the near- and long-term implications of nutritional standards for health and health care spending. Research on how SNAP enrollment changes in response to nutritional standards is also needed. Restrictions could make the program less desirable, potentially reducing enrollment. Evidence on such changes in enrollment would help CBO estimate the effects on the program’s costs. And additional evidence on how participants substitute between SNAP benefits and cash would further inform the agency’s projections of the likely effects of nutritional standards in the program.
Different study designs could help fill those gaps:
New RCTs would be valuable. Ideally, studies would randomly assign SNAP benefits with and without nutritional standards to large numbers of recipients across geographic areas, track purchases of food with SNAP benefits and with personal funds, and collect information on consumption. Linking that information to health metrics, health care spending, disability claims, and employment records would allow CBO to examine a wide range of near- and long-term outcomes.
Studies using simulation models could illustrate the sensitivity of results to different inputs and assumptions. CBO would also benefit from reviewing the code underlying those models.
Natural experiments, in which policy changes subject some people to an intervention but not others, would also be useful. Those studies would compare outcomes in areas where nutritional standards are adopted with outcomes in similar areas where they are not adopted.
Because each design has strengths and limitations, those different designs are complementary. For example, RCTs are considered ideal for isolating the effects of an intervention, but their relevance can be limited by small sample sizes, short time frames, and high attrition rates. Simulation models can use survey data to assess larger samples over longer time frames, but they require simplification of complex behavioral and physiological mechanisms and are dependent on the quality of inputs and assumptions. A mix of designs would therefore strengthen the evidence base.
Noelia Duchovny is an analyst in CBO’s Health Analysis Division. This blog post includes contributions from the following CBO staff: Susan Yeh Beyer, Elizabeth Cove Delisle, Jennifer Gray, Tamara Hayford, Rebecca Heller, Jeffrey Kling, Aditi Sen, Emily Stern, Julie Topoleski, Chapin White, and Heidi Williams (a consultant to CBO).
As part of the legislative process, CBO supplies the Congress with cost estimates for legislation, economic and budget projections, and other economic assessments. Information from the research community is an important element of CBO’s analyses. This is the 11th in a series of blog posts discussing research that would enhance the quality of the information that CBO uses in its work. (Earlier posts in the series discussed the need for new research in the areas ofenergy and the environment,finance,health,hepatitis C,labor,macroeconomics,national security,new drug development,obesity, andtaxes and transfers.) Please send comments to communications@cbo.gov.
Headline: NCDHHS and Hazel Health Kick-Off Partnership to Provide More Than 400,000 North Carolina K-12 Students with Virtual Mental Health Services
NCDHHS and Hazel Health Kick-Off Partnership to Provide More Than 400,000 North Carolina K-12 Students with Virtual Mental Health Services hejones1
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), Harnett County Schools and Hazel Health are gathering on Wednesday, May 7, to officially kick off their partnership that will bring virtual mental health care services to over 400,000 of North Carolina’s K-12 student population.
Any student who is enrolled within participating districts can access one of Hazel’s on-staff, licensed therapists before, during and after the school day. Hazel services are also available to students throughout the summer break.
Services are live at Harnett County Schools and Durham Public Schools, with more districts to be added in the coming weeks.
This initiative, supported through an investment by UnitedHealthcare, is part of a broader effort announced last year to provide virtual school-centered mental health care for up to one million students across select states nationwide. Read more about the official partnership in NCDHHS’ news release.
More than 1 in 3 high school students in North Carolina have reported feeling sad or hopeless, along with almost 1 in 3 middle school students. While there are early signs signaling improvement, the numbers still paint a grim picture of the health and well-being of our nation’s youngest generation.
Speakers include: Dr. Dev Sangvai, Secretary, NCDHHS Stacie Forrest, Child Behavioral Health Unit Manager, Division of Child and Family Well-Being (DCFW), NCDHHS W. Brooks Matthews, Superintendent, Harnett County Schools Jermaine H. White, III, Ed.S., Assistant Superintendent, Student Support Services, Harnett County Schools Anita Bachmann, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of North Carolina Kevin Winters, VP of Strategic Growth, Hazel Health
Date: Wednesday, May 7 2 – 3 p.m.
Location: Lillington – Shawtown Elementary School 855 Old US Hwy 421 Lillington, NC 27546 (Google Map)
Members of the Hazel team will be on site to provide a walk through of how students are able to access Hazel services through the end of the 2024-25 school year and throughout the summer.
To learn more or to request b-roll or photos of the event, please reach out to Liz Austin at elizabethaustin@hazel.co or call (203) 339-2992.
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About Hazel Health: Hazel Health is the nation’s largest and most trusted provider of school-based telehealth. By partnering with districts and health plans across the country, Hazel transforms schools into the most accessible front door to pediatric healthcare. Today, Hazel’s licensed providers deliver teletherapy and virtual care (in school or at home) to over five million K-12 students, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Hazel aims to remove all barriers to the mental and physical health care that children need to thrive: in school, at home, and in life.
Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and a bipartisan group of her colleagues introduced the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (SHIPS) for America Act, comprehensive legislation to revitalize the United States shipbuilding and commercial maritime industries.
“When it comes to shipbuilding, China has been eating our lunch. While Wisconsin workers and shipbuilding companies produce world-class vessels, we have failed to invest in this industry and set these workers up for success,” said Senator Baldwin. “I am proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to revitalize our shipbuilding industry because this will not only keep our country safe, but it will create good paying jobs and support American workers and businesses.”
There are currently 80 U.S.-flagged vessels in international commerce while China has 5,500. The SHIPS for America Act aims to close this gap and boost the U.S. Merchant Marine by establishing national oversight and consistent funding for U.S. maritime policy, making U.S.-flagged vessels commercially competitive in international commerce by cutting red tape, rebuilding the U.S. shipyard industrial base, and expanding and strengthening mariner and shipyard worker recruitment, training, and retention.
Specifically, the SHIPS for America Act would:
Coordinate U.S. maritime policy by establishing the position of Maritime Security Advisor within the White House, who would lead an interagency Maritime Security Board tasked with making whole-of-government strategic decisions for how to implement a National Maritime Strategy. The bill also establishes a Maritime Security Trust Fund that would reinvest duties and fees paid by the maritime industry into maritime security programs and infrastructure supporting maritime commerce.
Establish a national goal of expanding the U.S.-flag international fleet by 250 ships in 10 years by creating the Strategic Commercial Fleet Program, which would facilitate the development of a fleet of commercially operated, U.S.-flagged, American crewed, and domestically built merchant vessels that can operate competitively in international commerce.
Enhance the competitiveness of U.S.-flagged vessels in international commerce by establishing a Rulemaking Committee on Commercial Maritime Regulations and Standards to cut through the U.S. Coast Guard’s bureaucracy and red tape that limits the international competitiveness of U.S.-flagged vessels, modify duties to make cargo on U.S.-flagged vessels more competitive, requiring that government-funded cargo move aboard U.S.-flagged vessels, and requiring a portion of commercial goods imported from China to move aboard U.S.-flagged vessels starting in 2030.
Expand the U.S. shipyard industrial base, for both military and commercial oceangoing vessels, by establishing a 25 percent investment tax credit for shipyard investments, transforming the Title XI Federal Ship Financing Program into a revolving fund, and establishing a Shipbuilding Financial Incentives program to support innovative approaches to domestic ship building and ship repair.
Accelerate U.S. leadership in next-generation ship design, manufacturing processes, and ship energy systems by establishing the U.S. Center for Maritime Innovation, and supporting regional hubs for maritime innovation across the country by establishing a Maritime Prosperity Zone program.
Make historic investments in maritime workforce by supporting a Maritime Workforce Promotion and Recruitment Campaign, allowing mariners to retain their credentials through a newly established Merchant Marine Career Retention Program, investing in long-overdue infrastructure needs for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and supporting State Maritime Academies and Centers for Excellence for Domestic Maritime Workforce Training and Education. The bill also makes long-overdue changes to streamline and modernize the U.S. Coast Guard’s Merchant Mariner Credentialing system.
Senator Baldwin has been a leading voice in revitalizing the shipbuilding industry and leveling the playing field for American workers. Last March, Senator Baldwin joined United Steelworkers and other labor leaders in support of the American shipbuilding industry and to call on the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to conduct a full investigation. In April 2024, the USTR announced they were heeding that call and launching an investigation into China, concluding in a report that China’s targeted dominance in these sectors was unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce, and is therefore “actionable” under Section 301. This report laid the groundwork for the Trump Administration to impose appropriate penalties on China to support American workers. In January, Senator Baldwin applauded this USTR report outlining China’s unfair trade practices to undercut American shipbuilding and called on the President to act. In February, Baldwin led a group of her colleagues in calling on the Trump Administration to act on the results of the investigation and take immediate action to level the playing field for American workers, businesses, and national security.
The bill is led by Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Todd Young (R-IN) and co-sponsored by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and John Fetterman (D-PA).
Full text of this legislation is available here.
A section by section of this legislation is available here.
LEICESTER’S Central Library is celebrating its 120th birthday with a week of free activities for people of all ages.
From Tuesday (6 May), the Bishop Street library is inviting local families to step back in time and experience the library as it might have been in 1905, with the help of Edwardian toys, writing implements and archive materials loaned by Leicester Museums.
The exhibition of Edwardian artefacts will continue throughout the summer, so people can pop in any time when the library is open.
At 5pm on Tuesday (6 May), the library will host a discussion on the ‘Magic of Libraries’, with poetry, performance and a panel of local authors and library enthusiasts. Admission is free of charge and no booking is required.
On Wednesday (7 May), children from Hazel Community Primary School will join assistant city mayor Cllr Elaine Pantling at the library to cut a 120th birthday cake, with crafts, games and storytelling helping to take the Year 5 class back to 1905.
Also on Wednesday, there’s a lunchtime talk by crime writer John Connolly – bestselling author of the Charlie Parker Mysteries – who will read from his latest book, The Children of Eve. Please contact the library to reserve your free place.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day on Thursday (8 May), the Media Archive for Central England (MACE) is bringing some rare archive footage to the library that captures life in Leicester and Leicestershire during the Second World War.
The screening of Leicester on Film: 1939-45 starts at 7pm. Admission is free of charge, but places must be reserved in advance by contacting the library.
On Friday (9 May), there’s a Toddler Time birthday party at the library at 10am and a guided walk that starts in neighbouring Town Hall Square at 12.30pm, while on Saturday (10 May) there’s a free craft session in the children’s library from 1pm-3pm.
Assistant city mayor Cllr Vi Dempster said: “Leicester’s Central Library started life as the municipal reference library in 1905, at a time when many people had no other way of accessing information.
“Today, 120 years later, it’s still a source of inspiration and information for the people of Leicester, who pop in to borrow a book, read the daily papers, use the computers to apply for jobs, or join our regular events and author talks
“I hope that the activities we’ve arranged to mark the library’s 120th birthday will bring people together, showing that the central library continues to be an important meeting place that provides a valued public service in the heart of Leicester.”
Designed by the architect Edward Burgess (1850-1929) and supported by a generous donation of £12,000 from the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), the Bishop Street reference library played a vital role in the cultural and intellectual life of Edwardian Leicester.
When it opened on 8 May 1905, it offered room for up to 100 readers in its ground floor reading room, with a separate lending library for ‘juveniles’ in the basement and a reading room exclusively for ladies on the first floor.
With the population of Leicester growing rapidly in the late 19th century, and a growing number of them able to read and write, the new library was intended to be an inspiration to all – but it also hoped to encourage Leicester’s factory workers and labourers to use their leisure time for self-improvement.
On its opening in 1905, the Leicester Daily Post wrote that it was better “that the average shoe operative, factory worker or shop assistant should spend his leisure hours with Dickens, Thackeray, Scott or George Eliot” rather than “soak in a pub” or “hang around street corners”.
Picture caption: Leicester’s municipal library in 1908, three years after it opened to the public.
. Pillen Announces Chief Bryan Waugh to Lead Nebraska State Patrol
LINCOLN, NE – Today, Governor Jim Pillen announced his appointment of Chief Bryan Waugh as the next superintendent for the Nebraska State Patrol. He will assume his duties on June 2. Waugh replaces Colonel John Bolduc, who is retiring on May 4.
Wauch is the 19th superintendent to oversee the agency, consisting of more than 700 public servants, of which over 400 are sworn officers. For the past six years, he has been the police chief in Kearney.
“Chief Waugh brings over 30 years of law enforcement experience, marked by innovation, collaboration, and a public servant’s heart,” said Gov. Pillen. “As Kearney’s chief for six years, he has led a growing department, managed a $13 million budget, achieved accreditation, and launched programs like the Mental Health Co-Responder Initiative and a citywide license plate reader system that sparked a statewide effort. His leadership during the 2019 flood kept Kearney safe while strengthening community trust. I am confident we’ve chosen the right person to lead the Patrol and build on its 88-year-old legacy.”
Four candidates were interviewed for the leadership position. Lt. Governor Joe Kelly noted that all were highly qualified.
“It’s encouraging to know that there are many good law enforcement officers in Nebraska capable of fulfilling a role like this,” he said.
Speaking about Waugh in particular, the Lt. Governor said he was very impressed with his experience interacting with federal, state and local government.
“You have to be able to play across the field with everybody in law enforcement. Bryan is someone who can reach across those lines and bring everyone together.”
Senator Stan Clouse, who hired Waugh in 2019 when he was Kearney’s mayor, joked that today felt like a proud dad moment.
“The things that Bryan brought to our city are incredible. What stands out to me most is his professionalism. You can see that in the officers he hired and in the culture that he changed. We are going to miss him in Kearney, and I think the state will be very pleased with the leadership role that Bryan is taking on. He understands policing.”
Originally from West Virginia, Waugh served four years of active duty as a U.S. Air Force security police/law enforcement specialist at Offutt Air Force Base. He had two tours of duty in Southeast Asia during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Southern Watch/Enduring Freedom. He has nearly 32 combined years of law enforcement experience, serving 21 years with the La Vista Police Department, prior to making the move to Kearney.
Waugh holds multiple law enforcement certifications, including through the FBI. He is president of the Police Chiefs Association in Nebraska. Waugh earned his master’s degree in administrative leadership from the University of Oklahoma.
“I am incredibly humbled, proud, and honored by the faith Governor Pillen has placed in me to become the 19th colonel of the Nebraska State Patrol. This storied organization’s professional men and women are first-class, dedicated, committed, and driven toward providing the highest level of public safety and professional services for the entire state of Nebraska,” said Waugh.
At today’s announcement, Gov. Pillen also took time to highlight the service of Col. Bolduc, who has reached the Patrol’s mandatory retirement age of 60. He has been superintendent since 2017. Gov. Pillen thanked Bolduc “on behalf of every Nebraskan.”
Acknowledging the Governor’s appreciation, Col. Bolduc remarked that it had been an incredible honor to serve as colonel for the State Patrol.
“I’m proud of the work our team has done and the constant effort our troopers, investigators, and professional staff put forth every day to serve Nebraskans. As this chapter of the agency closes and a new one begins under Chief Waugh’s leadership, I have no doubt that our team will remain dedicated to providing excellent public service and our shared mission to keep Nebraska safe.”
“I am eager, motivated, and committed to leading our premier law enforcement organization into the future,” said Waugh. “With enthusiasm, integrity, care, and a strong vision to strengthen our ranks, leverage technology, broaden efficiencies, build on our successes, and embrace our challenges I look forward to getting started. We will honor the past, live in the present, and reimagine our future, together.”
Until Waugh begins his new position in June, Gov. Pillen has appointed Lt. Colonel Jeff Roby to serve as the interim superintendent for the Patrol.
Source: United States Senator for Tennessee Bill Hagerty
May 2, 2025
Hermandorfer is the first major judicial nominee in President Trump’s second term
NASHVILLE, TN—Today, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) applauded the nomination of Whitey Hermandorfer, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
“I am delighted that President Donald Trump has nominated Whitney Hermandorfer, a native Tennessean, to serve as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,” said Senator Hagerty. “Few can boast equal credentials, having clerked for Justices Alito and Barrett, as well as then-Judge Kavanaugh. Whitney graduated top of her law school class at the George Washington University Law School. She also led the Strategic Litigation Unit for the Tennessee Attorney General. Whitney is principled, genuine, kind, and has a brilliant legal mind that will make all Tennesseans proud. I will work tirelessly to ensure that Whitney is confirmed by the Senate.”
Cast members of the children’s television show ‘Sesame Street’ pose with Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Ernie, Bert and Oscar the Grouch in 1969.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Across the country, 1,500 independent stations affiliated with NPR and PBS air shows such as “Morning Edition,” “Marketplace,” “PBS NewsHour,” “Frontline” and “Nova.” Some 43 million people tune into public radio every week, and over 130 million watch PBS every year, according to the networks.
Public media stations air local news and, when necessary, emergency information. Most also feature regional, national and global coverage of arts and culture. With commercial media divesting from local news reporting, audiences that have long relied on public media to inform their communities are even more dependent now on that service, as are audiences that got their local news from commercial sources.
Investigating public media
Public media is also under attack from the Republican majority in Congress and facing scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates media.
Brendan Carr, whom President Donald Trump appointed to lead the FCC, helped draft Project 2025. That’s the conservative blueprint that Trump distanced himself from during the 2024 campaign but has since embraced.
As proposed in Project 2025, the FCC is examining NPR’s approach to underwriting. Through underwriting, financial support from sponsors is acknowledged on air without asking audiences to form an opinion about a product or make a specific purchase.
At the same time, House Republicans are holding hearings regarding what they say is public media’s “liberal bias.” Their attention is primarily directed at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit corporation that stewards federal money that Congress appropriates for NPR and PBS.
And in a separate move, Trump demanded that CPB “cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law” and “decline to provide future funding” in an executive order issued on May 1, 2025. Trump’s order accused NPR and PBS of bias in its “portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
I’m a media historian who wrote a book about the origins of public media in the U.S. and how NPR and PBS contribute to democratic participation. Both networks are designed to provide equal access to information for every listener and viewer.
In my view, as these efforts to investigate and end the fundingof public media proceed, it’s worth revisiting why the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was founded in the first place and to understand how it contributes to equal access to information today.
Beginning with education
U.S. public media took root in the 1920s, when public universities built radio stations so that rural communities could receive better access to the kind of education available in cities.
The first programs consisted of professors and radio hosts giving lectures about history, finance and other subjects such as cooking, quilting and music appreciation.
Some of those professors believed so strongly in democratic access to media that they built radio stations with their own hands, including one at the University of Wisconsin. In other cases, professors experimented with performing live drama. Ohio State University broadcast the first educational radio Shakespeare performances in the late 1920s.
Many people liked the programming enough to tune in, but the quality of early educational broadcast experiments was inconsistent. Some professors didn’t understand how to talk with audiences and were criticized for their monotone deliveries.
Amid threats to its federal funding, PBS reports on the history of U.S. public media.
Running the ‘bicycle network’
Interest in improving the quality of educational radio grew once radio ownership became more widespread. Over 500 U.S. stations were on the air in 1940. By 1945, when World War II ended, over 95% of families owned radio receivers.
Every listener could take correspondence classes. And educators started to research how to make learning through the radio more compelling and fun.
By the late 1940s, colleges and universities started to pay better attention to making education on the radio both entertaining and informative. They traded their best programs all around the country, through a system they called the “bicycle network.”
Once national distribution was in place, producers of educational radio and TV shows came to an agreement about their best programs through a group called the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. They landed on formulas now associated with NPR and PBS. Home economics instruction evolved into cooking shows. Interviews with professors became public affairs programs.
Radio stations started to combine different kinds of programs that spanned an entire school day. A half-hour children’s comedy show now weaved math, storytelling, music and civics. This format laid some of the groundwork for “Sesame Street.”
The National Association of Educational Broadcasters’ members believed that everyone should have equal access to education no matter where they lived. They argued that information they presented should be held to rigorous standards, such as fact-checking and even peer review, the academic practice of verifying research validity.
Educational broadcasters aired programs for all kinds of audiences, including in communities not served by commercial media.
To stay focused on their mission, educational broadcasters decided to bar taking money from corporate advertisers. This meant that most money came from state and local governments instead of businesses.
State authorities were able to make public announcements, quickly report emergencies and provide free airtime for political candidates. State lawmakers also thought that these media outlets could help their constituents learn trades at their own pace.
Phasing in government funding
Using broadcasting to provide equal access to education required a lot of new infrastructure.
By the late 1950s the federal government started to fund the construction of radio towers, transmitters and buildings so that every person could access educational programs via broadcasts. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law in 1958 that funded educational access because it could contribute to national defense.
Nearly a decade later, in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act. That law guaranteed a permanent stream of government funding for educational radio and television. Congress had pivoted from “education” to “public” broadcasting as the medium incorporated a wider array of programs, including BBC shows from the U.K.
To buffer NPR and PBS from the influence of political parties and commercial sponsors, the law called for the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In addition to receiving and then disbursing to NPR and PBS the federal funds that Congress appropriates for public media, the CPB provides additional grants to stations across the country. Notably, federal funds help to pay for maintaining equipment and studios where public media programs are taped. That is, most government funding for public media is dedicated to maintaining the technology necessary to continue with its mission to provide equal access.
The rest of the federal money supports the same program development and audience engagement research that started with the National Association of Educational Broadcasters’ “bicycle network.”
NPR has gotten more sophisticated since it first went on the air in 1971, as CBS News reports.
Establishing a strong track record
The CPB model has succeeded by many measures. About 99% of Americans have access to public media through their television sets, car radios, computers and other devices.
The U.S. system is also unusual in that the local affiliates are nonprofits that have to pay for the NPR and PBS programs they run. Like the CPB, NPR and PBS are independent nonprofits, not government agencies.
Rather than having the federal government foot the whole bill, in the U.S. public media also relies on $1.3 billion in annual charitable donations from viewers, listeners, corporations and foundations. Of that, public media receives $170 million in underwriting, according to a 2023 report.
But should the federal government end all federal funding for the CPB, their NPR- and PBS-affiliated stations would have more trouble buying, repairing and replacing the transmitters, antennas and websites required to broadcast their programs.
Losing access to local news
The CPB has already sued the Trump administration over its attempt to oust three of its board members. The CPB asserts that because it is an independent organization and not a federal agency, the federal government can’t dictate who serves on its board. Trump’s executive order could also be challenged in court. And, as is the case with all executive orders, any future administration could rescind it.
Public media’s first century inspired an alternative approach to media other than producing programs that tobacco companies, automakers and other businesses would want to sponsor. How Congress, the FCC and the courts proceed today will influence public media’s reach and practices for the next century.
Josh Shepperd is under contract to co-author an update of the history of public broadcasting for Current, public media’s trade journal, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Josh is not a paid employee or vendor of either institution.
The Women’s Health Initiative was established in response to a growing realization that very little medical research existed to inform health care that was specifically relevant to women. In the U.S. in the 1970s, for example, almost 40% of postmenopausal women were taking estrogen, but no large clinical trials had studied the risks and benefits. In 1985 an NIH task force outlined the need for long-term research on women’s health.
Between 1993 and 1998, the project enrolled 161,808 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79 to participate in four randomized clinical trials. Two of them investigated how menopausal hormone therapy affects the risk of heart disease, breast cancer, hip fractures and cognition. Another examined the effects of a low-fat, high-fiber diet on breast and colorectal cancers as well as heart disease. The fourth looked at whether taking calcium plus vitamin D supplements helps prevent hip fractures and colorectal cancer.
Women could participate in just one or in multiple trials. More than 90,000 also took part in a long-term observational study that used medical records and surveys to probe the link between risk factors and disease outcomes over time.
Clarifying the effects of hormone therapy
Some of the most important findings from the Women’s Health Initiative addressed the effects of menopausal hormone therapy.
The hormone therapy trial testing a combination of estrogen and progesterone was set to run until 2005. However, it was terminated early, in 2002, when results showed an increased risk in heart disease, stroke, blood clotting disorders and breast cancer, as well as cognitive decline and dementia. The trial of estrogen alone also raised safety concerns, though both types of therapy reduced the risk of bone fractures.
Although the Women’s Health Initiative’s four original clinical trials ended by 2005, researchers have continued to follow participants, collect new data and launch spinoff studies that shape health recommendations for women over 65.
One of the Women’s Health Initiative’s biggest yields is its vast repository of health data collected annually from tens of thousands of women over more than 30 years. The data consists of survey responses on topics such as diet, physical activity and family history; information on major health outcomes such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and cause of death, verified using medical records; and a trove of biological samples, including 5 million blood vials and genetic information from 50,000 participants.
The Women’s Health Initiative set out to prevent heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis in menopausal women.
Any researcher can access this repository to explore associations between blood biomarkers, disease outcomes, genes, lifestyle factors and other health features. More than 300 such studies are investigating health outcomes related to stroke, cancer, diabetes, eye diseases, mental health, physical frailty and more. Thirty are currently running.
What does the future hold?
In addition to data amassed by the Women’s Health Initiative until now, about 42,000 participants from all 50 states, now ages 78 to 108, are still actively contributing to the study. This cohort is a rare treasure: Very few studies have collected such detailed, long-term information on a broad group of women of this age. Meanwhile, the demographic of older women is growing quickly.
Continuing to shed light on aging, disease risk and prevention in this population is vital. The questions guiding the project’s ongoing and planned research directly address the chronic diseases that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced as national priorities.
So I hope that the Women’s Health Initiative can continue to generate discoveries that support women’s health well into the future.
Jean Wactawski-Wende receives funding from the NIH.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Andrew E. Busch, Professor and Associate Director, Institute of American Civics, University of Tennessee
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, center, introduces Russian and Japanese delegates during negotiations at the Portsmouth Peace Conference in Kittery, Maine, in August 1905. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Throughout his 2024 campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump made diplomatic resolution of the Ukraine-Russia war a major priority, suggesting that he could bring peace within “24 hours.” Even before Trump resumed office in January 2025, as president-elect he named envoys and held preliminary discussions with a variety of leaders.
How does Trump’s mediation effort stack up historically? I’m a scholar of the presidency, and while we don’t yet know the outcome of the Trump-led negotiations, we do know one thing: He’s not conducting them in the ways presidents – including Trump himself – have conducted them in the past.
President Donald Trump erupted at Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting on Feb. 28, 2025, angrily sending the Ukrainian leader out of the White House because he was ‘not ready’ for peace with Russia. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Some worked, others didn’t
There are several examples of presidents who attempted to play a mediating role in foreign conflicts.
Bill Clinton: Clinton made two ambitious attempts to broker peace between old adversaries. One ended in success, the other in failure.
Clinton’s envoy, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, mediated an accord between the British government, the Republic of Ireland and the warring factions in Northern Ireland that was signed on Good Friday 1998.
Although all of these examples involved presidential leadership and involvement, they did not follow a single model.
How they did it
Former President Bill Clinton bows as he meets former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who spearheaded peace negotiations on behalf of Clinton that led to the end of 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland. Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images
Roosevelt never attended the peace negotiations over the Russo-Japanese War in Portsmouth, but he actively offered proposals through intermediaries before and during the conference. The final stages of negotiation were held on his yacht, the Mayflower.
Carter’s breakthrough came when he engaged in intense personal diplomacy at Camp David, where he, Sadat and Begin were sequestered for 13 days. To complete the deal, Carter had to shuffle back and forth between the principals and at one point had to make a frantic appeal to Sadat not to leave.
Clinton’s unsuccessful efforts to broker an agreement between Arafat and a succession of Israeli prime ministers extended over the duration of his two-term presidency and frequently involved personal meetings and exchanges.
On the other hand, Clinton’s involvement in the Northern Ireland resolution did not primarily come in the form of personal diplomacy at the end of the process. Rather, he set the conditions for a settlement earlier when he approved a visa for Irish Republican leader Gerry Adams to enter the U.S., against the wishes of Britain and Clinton’s own advisers.
Although each mediation effort was unique, there were some commonalities.
First, where sensitive issues of land possession were involved, many of the negotiations benefited from privacy in the process.
Second, successful mediations came most often when the U.S. was neutral, such as in the Portsmouth negotiations, or friendly toward both parties to some degree, such as with the Camp David, Good Friday and Abraham negotiations. Dayton was the exception in that the U.S. had become quite hostile toward the Serbs.
Trump appears to be violating the first rule above – no public negotiations over land – in order to chase compliance with the second, which is no mediation without neutrality. By, among other things, publicly offering proposals that the Ukrainians see as one-sided against them, Trump has largely erased the image of the U.S. as pro-Ukraine.
Whatever success Trump ultimately achieves, it is little surprise that the effort, which has been pursued over a period of six months so far, has been more difficult than he anticipated.
Andrew E. Busch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03)
LOWELL MA – Yesterday, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) named Billerica Memorial High School 11th grader Jooho Lee as the winner of the Third District’s 2025 Congressional Art Competition during a reception honoring participants of this year’s challenge held at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts. Jooho’s original artwork will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year alongside other winners, and he will be invited to Washington, DC for the annual awards ceremony in June. His artwork, entitled “Boundless Nexus” uses colored pencil on paper to create a cyborg-like figure stretching across different panels depicting landscapes and elements in nature. “Every year, the Congressional Art Competition is a powerful reminder of just how much imagination and potential lives right here in our district. Our incredibly talented student artists have once again captured the spirit of our local landmarks, the beauty of our neighborhoods, and the identity of our Commonwealth in ways words sometimes can’t,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “Johoo’s drawing beautifully connects so many worlds – from the depth of the ocean to the language of code and the vastness of space. I am honored to continue this tradition of celebrating young artists and look forward to seeing his artwork on display in the United States Capitol.” There was a tie for second place, resulting in two winners. The second-place awards go to Sherry Ye, a 10th grader at Westford Academy, for her piece “Chasing Their Standards”, and Baiyu (Cici) Zou, a 10th grader at St. Mark’s School, for her piece “Her Heart Seeks Freedom.” Trahan’s office received 25 entries from students across the Third District. She invited several area art experts to help her select the winner, including Sara Bogosian of the Whistler House Museum Of Art, Emily Mazzola of the Fitchburg Art Museum, and Eileen Williston of The Umbrella Arts Center. About the Art Competition: Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Since the competition began in 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated. Students submit entries to their representative’s office, and panels of district artists select the winning entries. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The winning pieces are displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol. In addition, the winner will be invited to a celebratory reception in Washington D.C. in June. ###
A new study by U.S. National Science Foundation-funded researchers on how members of the animal world sense and react to sounds provides insight into adaptations in communication that could be used in the development of adaptable hearing aids or limiting the impact of agricultural pests.
“By increasing our understanding of how animals perceive and respond to sounds — especially when those sounds are changing — this research could aid in developing hearing aids that automatically tune as a person walks from a movie theater to a crowded restaurant or other adaptive hearing and acoustics devices,” said Jodie Jawor, a program director in the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences. “It also highlights how agricultural pests can move into an area and capitalize on a new host, harming society in the process — think about a parasite of honeybees that hurts their populations and our food supply.”
The study focused on the interactions between a species of fly (Ormia ochracea) and Pacific crickets, which are engaged in a sort of sound arms race. The fly can hear the mating chirps of the male cricket and uses the sounds to locate the male, in which the fly lays its eggs. The fly larvae feed on and develop inside of their cricket hosts, eventually killing them when they emerge. Some crickets in Hawaii have responded to this threat by changing the sounds they use to find mates — purring or rattling rather than chirping — but the flies still find them, and the researchers sought to understand how.
The research team, led by Norman Lee, an associate professor of biology at St. Olaf College, and Robin Tinghitella, an associate professor of biology at the University of Denver, used a series of lab experiments to test if this was a unique counteradaptation by flies in areas where both they and crickets have been introduced or if the flies had always been able to hear the alternative noises but not focused on them, as in their natural habitats such sounds would not have signaled a cricket. The researchers found that populations of flies from natural and non-natural habitats could hear the purrs, but the flies from areas where they have been introduced were more active in their response to the sounds. This represents a novel change caused by adaptation to a new environment, knowledge that could support advances in assistive hearing devices for humans and shows the growing number of interactions that drive how species communicate.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
On Friday, April 25, 2025, Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown of the Atlanta Field Office presented Dr. John Horgan with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for his dedicated work directing the Violent Extremism Research Group, which has not only impacted Atlanta, Georgia, but has had transformative impact worldwide. Dr. Horgan, who is a distinguished university professor at Georgia State University’s Department of Psychology, accepted the award. Dr. Horgan has shown a strong and enduring commitment to applying his extraordinary abilities and expertise to further the interests of U.S. National Security.
The FBI established the DCLA in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence. Each year, one person or organization from each of the FBI’s 55 field offices is chosen to receive this prestigious award.
“Dr. Horgan has not only been a trusted collaborator with the FBI, but his research has also been instrumental in deepening our understanding of extremist psychology, thereby enhancing the safety of our communities,” said Paul Brown, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. “Congratulations, Dr. Horgan! Your dedication and pursuit of excellence have made a lasting impact, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with you.”
Dr. Horgan’s research examines terrorist psychology. He has over 120 publications, and his books include The Psychology of Terrorism (now in its second edition and published in a dozen languages), Divided We Stand: The Strategy and Psychology of Ireland’s Dissident Terrorists; and Walking Away from Terrorism. Dr. Horgan has helped to shape the thinking of scientists, policymakers, and the public; helping them to better understand the pathways and processes by which people become attracted to, engaged with, and (importantly) disengaged from violent extremist ideologies and activities.
The FBI recognizes the important role that community partnerships play in keeping our shared communities safe. These partnerships – as exemplified by the breadth of the work by the DCLA recipients – have led to a host of crime prevention programs that protect the most vulnerable in our communities, educate families and businesses about cyber threats, and work to reduce violent crime in our neighborhoods. Learn more about the Director’s Community Leadership Award program, the FBI’s general outreach efforts, and the Atlanta Field Office About — FBI on our website.
The men’s cricket World Cup final match between Australia and India on Nov. 19, 2023, had a peak of 59 million concurrent streaming viewers.AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool
Live and on-demand video constituted an estimated 66% of global internet traffic by volume in 2022, and the top 10 days for internet traffic in 2024 coincided with live streaming events such as the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match and coverage of the NFL. Streaming enables seamless, on-demand access to video content, from online gaming to short videos like TikToks, and longer content such as movies, podcasts and NFL games.
The defining aspect of streaming is its on-demand nature. Consider the global reach of a Joe Rogan podcast episode or the live coverage of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft launch – both examples demonstrate how streaming connects millions of viewers to real-time and on-demand content worldwide.
I’m a computer scientist whose research includes cloud computing, which is the distribution of computing resources such as video servers across the internet.
Netflix claimed that it supported 65 million concurrent streams for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match on Nov. 15, 2024, though many users reported technical issues.
‘Chunks’ of video
When it comes to video content – whether it’s a live stream or a prerecorded video – there are two major challenges to address. First, video data is massive in size, making it time-consuming to transmit from the source to devices such as TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones.
Second, streaming must be adaptive to accommodate differences in users’ devices and internet capabilities. For instance, viewers with lower-resolution screens or slower internet speeds should still be able to watch a given video, albeit in lower quality, while those with higher-resolution displays and faster connections enjoy the best possible quality.
To tackle these challenges, video providers implement a series of optimizations. The first step involves fragmenting videos into smaller pieces, commonly referred to as “chunks.” These chunks then undergo a process called “encoding and compression,” which optimizes the video for different resolutions and bitrates to suit various devices and network conditions.
When a user requests an on-demand video, the system dynamically selects the appropriate stream of chunks based on the capabilities of the user’s device, such as screen resolution and current internet speed. The video player on the user’s device assembles and plays these chunks in sequence to create a seamless viewing experience.
For users with slower internet connections, the system delivers lower-quality chunks to ensure smooth playback. This is why you might notice a drop in video quality when your connection speed is reduced. Similarly, if the video pauses during playback, it’s usually because your player is waiting to buffer additional chunks from the provider.
Video streams come to users at different quality levels based on the user’s device and internet connection. Chetan Jaiswal
Dealing with distance and congestion
Delivering video content on a large scale, whether prerecorded or live, poses a significant challenge when extrapolated to the immense number of videos consumed globally. Streaming services like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix host enormous libraries of on-demand content, while simultaneously managing countless live streams happening worldwide.
A seemingly straightforward approach to delivering video content would involve building a massive data center to store all the videos and related content, then streaming them to users worldwide via the internet. However, this method isn’t favored because it comes with significant challenges.
One major issue is geographic latency, where a user’s location relative to the data center affects the delay they experience. For instance, if a data center is located in Virginia, a user in Washington, D.C., would experience minimal delay, while a user in Australia would face much longer delays due to the increased distance and the need for the data to traverse multiple interconnected networks. This added travel time slows down content delivery.
Another problem is network congestion. As more users worldwide connect to the central data center, the interconnecting networks become increasingly busy, resulting in frustrating delays and video buffering. Additionally, when the same video is sent simultaneously to multiple users, duplicate data traveling over the same internet links wastes bandwidth and further congests the network.
A centralized data center also creates a single point of failure. If the data center experiences an outage, no users can access their content, leading to a complete service disruption.
Content delivery networks
To address these challenges, most content providers rely on content delivery networks. These networks distribute content through globally scattered points of presence, which are clusters of servers that store copies of high-demand content locally. This approach significantly reduces latency and improves reliability.
Content delivery network providers, such as Akamai and Edgio, implement two main strategies for deploying points of presence.
The first is the “Enter Deep” approach, where thousands of smaller point-of-presence nodes are placed closer to users, often within internet service provider networks. This ensures minimal latency by bringing the content as close as possible to the end user.
This diagram, with the internet backbone at the top and users at the bottom, shows the ‘Enter Deep’ approach to placing content delivery servers ‘deep’ in the network, close to users. Chetan Jaiswal
The second strategy is “Bring Home,” which involves deploying hundreds of larger point-of-presence clusters at strategic locations, typically where ISPs interconnect: internet exchange points. While these clusters are farther from users than in the Enter Deep approach, they are larger in capacity, allowing them to handle higher volumes of traffic efficiently.
This diagram, with the internet backbone at the top and users at the bottom, shows the ‘Bring Home’ approach to placing content delivery servers between backbone and regional internet service providers. Chetan Jaiswal
Infrastructure for a connected world
Both strategies aim to optimize video streaming by reducing delays, minimizing bandwidth waste and ensuring a seamless viewing experience for users worldwide.
The rapid expansion of the internet and the surge in video streaming – both live and on demand – have transformed how video content is delivered to users globally. However, the challenges of handling massive amounts of video data, reducing geographic latency and accommodating varying user devices and internet speeds require sophisticated solutions.
Content delivery networks have emerged as a cornerstone of modern streaming, enabling efficient and reliable delivery of video. This infrastructure supports the growing demand for high-quality video and highlights the innovative approaches needed to meet the expectations of a connected world.
Chetan Jaiswal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brady Thomas West, Research Professor of Survey and Data Science, University of Michigan
Demonstrators protest funding cuts outside of the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., on March 8, 2025.Michael Mathes/AFP via Getty Images
In its first 100 days, the Trump administration has terminatedmore than US$2 billion in federal grants, according to a public source database compiled by the scientific community, and it is proposing additional cuts that would reduce the $47 billion budget of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, also known as the NIH, by nearly half.
The effects of these cuts are being felt at top-tier public research institutions such as the University of Michigan. In fiscal year 2024, of the $2 billion in total research expenditures at the university, $1.2 billion came in through federal research grants, with $762 million from NIH alone.
Brady West is a research professor at the University of Michigan who has been writing federal grant proposals for more than two decades. The Conversation U.S. spoke with him about what these cuts could mean for the university and scientific research in the U.S. going forward.
The University of Michigan’s research arm includes “soft money” institutes. What does that mean?
Brady West: A soft money institute is one where the salaries are entirely funded by the research grants and contracts that they’re able to obtain. This is the case for most of the research arm of the University of Michigan, which includes the Institute for Social Research where I work. The university sets the salary amounts for these positions, and the people filling them − whether faculty, staff or graduate students − have to raise the money to fund their salary.
Teaching faculty, on the other hand, usually are paid from general university funds, which might come in from sources such as tuition, rather than grant funding.
What is involved in applying for a grant from a federal institution like NIH?
West: In my experience, it’s an extremely competitive and stressful process.
On average, I would estimate that it takes about a year to craft a research proposal from scratch. Applicants do background research, look at all the relevant work that has already been done in the field, summarize the articles that they’ve written, and sometimes do initial preliminary studies. They have to sell their research as connected to past work but still innovative, something that will move the science forward.
Meanwhile, they’re working with a team of research administrators, whose jobs at the university are funded by soft money, on things like creating a budget and determining what sort of supplies, equipment and additional personnel will be required for the research project. These administrators also help the applicant format and submit the proposal.
How does NIH determine what proposals receive funding?
West: Every proposal submitted to NIH gets reviewed by a panel of experts in that particular field, so your peers are the ones reviewing your proposal and deciding whether it should be considered for funding.
Each panel is tasked with reviewing and scoring multiple proposals. About half of the proposals receive scores that do not warrant additional discussion for funding. The rest are scrutinized line by line.
Those with the best scores, based on their merits as well as agency budgets and priorities, are ultimately awarded grants. All applicants are sent the reviewers’ comments, and those not receiving funding may revise their proposal and resubmit. In my experience, few applications get funded the first time they are submitted, and most go through at least one round of revisions.
I’ve found it generally takes about two years from the time you start writing a proposal to the time that you get funded.
When did you learn that NIH and other federal grants were being rescinded at the University of Michigan?
West: The first notice I received was in mid-February of 2025. I was wrapping up a federally funded study where we were looking at different ways of measuring sexual identity in surveys. That study was funded by a $160,000 grant from NIH.
I received a notice from administrators for the National Center for Health Statistics – part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – that maintains the data I was working with. The email said my work was being reviewed for compliance with the president’s executive orders and would be paused.
The email Brady received from the National Center for Health Statistics, terminating his access to the secure data he’d been using for his NIH-funded research study. courtesy of Brady Thomas West, CC BY
I was lucky, because that particular grant was set to end at the end of February, so the project was nearly finished, and the paper was already written.
And then over the following weeks, it was like a waterfall. I started hearing from colleagues who were working on grants related to climate change, vaccination, vaccine hesitancy, sexual identity, gender identity, DEI – all of the work related to that, I just heard story after story of these grants being ended on the spot.
What does this mean for the researchers who lost their funding? What will they do now?
West: These terminations put jobs at risk – not only the research faculty, but also the teams who were working on these projects and the administrators who helped format and submit the grants.
One of my Ph.D. students received an email from NIH that simply said his grant has been terminated. So his source of support as a graduate student at the University of Michigan was gone in an instant.
The University of Michigan has developed a new research funding program where you can apply for support if you’ve had your grant terminated, and your local department can help share the costs. My student is waiting to hear if he will receive some of that funding. This is a welcome development, but only a short-term solution to this problem.
So right now, everybody’s pivoting. Your first thought is, how can I write a proposal that’s not going to have certain keywords in it? And that’s just not a good way to do science.
The University of Michigan is committed to doing the best possible science, but it’s going to require some adaptation in terms of how to think about the proposal process. And, honestly, for the immediate future, part of being a scientist in the U.S. is getting a firm understanding of what the current administration wants to fund.
Are you or your colleagues considering leaving the university?
West: That’s the million-dollar question. Do you decide to pack up your family and move to a different country? Do you shift to private industry? Do you wait it out for the next administration and hope that things swing back in a direction that’s going to support the kind of work that you’re doing? Those are the kinds of career decisions that people have to think about.
Is the U.S. going to lose a lot of top-tier faculty at top-tier universities like the University of Michigan because of what’s going on? That’s a significant concern.
Brady Thomas West has received funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation.
The Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme has been extended to include 12 additional medical institutions in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), bringing the number of pilot medical institutions under the scheme to 19 and covering all the nine Mainland cities in the GBA, the Government announced today.
Together with the two existing service points operated by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, a total of 21 service points in the bay area will be allowed to use Elderly Health Care Vouchers (EHCVs), benefitting more than 1.78 million eligible Hong Kong seniors.
Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau said the service points of the pilot scheme are meticulously planned to extend to GBA cities not yet covered in the scheme, namely Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing as well as to set up additional service points in the GBA cities that are already covered.
The extension also includes Chinese medicine hospitals for the first time to provide eligible seniors with additional choices in healthcare services, he added.
The service scope eligible for claims for the EHCVs at medical institutions under the pilot scheme will be largely the same. The arrangements for shared use of EHCVs between spouses and the EHCV Pilot Reward Scheme are also applicable.
Eligible people have to register with the eHealth system. The “Cross-boundary Health Record” and “Personal Folder” functions of the eHealth mobile application will also be applicable to the medical institutions under the scheme to offer convenience for Hong Kong citizens to self-carry their electronic health records for cross-boundary uses.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Vice-President Sabine Verheyen and Culture and Education Committee Chair Nela Riehl stress the vital role of independent journalism.
President Roberta Metsola said: “A free press is the best shield for democracy. Journalists must be free to report without fear of censorship, intimidation, or retaliation. The European Parliament will always defend and stand up for media and press freedom – not only on World Press Freedom Day, but every day.”
Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE), Vice-President of the European Parliament and chair of the Working Group on the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) said:
“On World Press Freedom Day, we reaffirm our commitment to one of the fundamental pillars of democracy: media freedom. Free, independent, and diverse journalism is essential to any democratic society. However, it remains under threat – even within some EU member states – and without it, democracy cannot function. The European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), passed in April 2024, is vital in addressing these challenges. It sends a strong message about the need to protect media diversity and journalistic independence across Europe. Media is more than just an industry – it shapes political discourse, drives cultural development, fosters social inclusion, and safeguards fundamental rights.
“The EMFA represents a historic milestone for the EU: for the first time, a comprehensive European law is in place to uphold press freedom and media pluralism. We have made significant legislative progress in shielding journalists from political interference and economic pressure. But these protections now need to be actively enforced.
“The EMFA is already taking effect. The first provisions have officially entered into force, with the next set to follow this month. By August 2025, the most significant parts of the law will come into effect, marking a major step in strengthening media freedom across the EU. However, the real impact of the EMFA depends on its implementation. That is why we are already monitoring the process closely to ensure that member states do not delay its enforcement. Press freedom cannot wait – we must act upon these commitments.
“On this World Press Freedom Day, we have to remember the importance of standing firm in defending media freedom. Troubling global trends remind us that indifference is not an option. Even in Europe, we must remain vigilant in upholding our democratic values. Press freedom is the backbone of democracy – defending it means protecting our freedoms and the values we hold dear.”
Nela Riehl (Greens, DE), Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education, said: “An independent press sector is an essential pillar of our democracy. We need a free press to hold our decision makers accountable, advance social change, and keep citizens informed. I am concerned about the drastic increase in young people’s exposure to news from unverified sources on social media. Quality journalism is competing with algorithms on social media platforms for our attention. To minimise the spread of harmful disinformation, the EU is now starting to regulate digital platforms, but we also need to improve media literacy, make sure people have access to accurate information, and provide education on media consumption.
“This should be a high priority for civic education, with clear targets as we work towards improved democratic resilience across Europe. As a committee, we are pushing these challenges up the European education agenda, and we welcome the first steps in this direction under the Commission’s “Union of Skills” initiative.
“My recent visit to Ukraine reminded me of the power of citizens to counter threats to democracy. When the manipulation of information is weaponised, strengthening and protecting people – namely independent journalists, reporters, media professionals, and volunteers – is a matter of security as well. Accordingly, this World Press Freedom Day, we also emphasise the need to make work environments safe for the independent press, with liveable working conditions, a supportive European infrastructure, and protection from persecution.”
The chairs of the Civil Liberties Committee, the Human Rights Subcommittee and the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield are also issuing a statement to mark the World Press Freedom Day. You can read it here (available soon).
How Parliament strengthens media freedom
In early 2024, Parliament and Council adopted new rules to protect freedom of media and the independence of journalists in the EU. The provisions of the Media Freedom Act (EMFA) will become fully applicable in EU member states as of 8 August 2025.
These provisions should ensure transparency of media outlet ownership and of allocation of state advertising, strengthen public media independence, and secure robust protection for journalists and their sources. To ensure visibility and pluralism, digital platforms will be prevented from arbitrarily deleting or restricting independent media content.
Every year, the European Parliament rewards outstanding journalism that promotes or defends the core principles and values of the European Union, such as human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights. The fifth edition of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism will be launched later this month.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steny H Hoyer (MD-05)
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) announced the winner of the 2025 Fifth District Congressional Art Competition (CAC). Cynclair Wilson, a junior at Maurice J. McDonough High School in Charles County, won the competition with her piece titled “Ancestral Wisdom.”
“Congratulations to Cynclair Wilson on winning the 2025 Fifth District Congressional Art Competition,” said Congressman Hoyer. “Her artwork is profoundly moving and heartfelt, and I am inspired by her ability to produce a work of art that is both skillful and deeply emotional to behold. I look forward to viewing her thought-provoking piece in the Capitol complex this year.”
“Iam deeply honored and humbled to receive this award for my piece Ancestral Wisdom in the Congressional Art Competition. This work is profoundly personal to me—it is a reflection of my identity as an African American woman, a tribute to the strength and pride of the ancestors who paved the way, and a visual echo of the struggles they endured so that I could stand here today. I am grateful for the opportunity to share this story, and I accept this recognition not only in celebration of the past, but also with hope for the future. Thank you for seeing me, and for honoring the legacy that lives through this art,” said Cynclair Wilson.
Cynclair Wilson lives in Charles County, Maryland. Her artwork, titled “Ancestral Wisdom,” was created using gouache paint and illustrates a depiction of a young girl with the hands of her ancestors on her shoulders. Behind her are representations of traumas of the past her ancestors have endured. The hands seem to be imparting their wisdom into her so that she can face the future with the lessons and experiences they have gained.
“I am also thrilled to congratulate our other top placement winners,” continued Congressman Hoyer. “Each piece of artwork demonstrated great skill, and I was extremely impressed by the creations. These submissions further highlight the outstanding talent of young people in Maryland’s Fifth District. I congratulate every student who participated in the 2025 competition. I want to especially thank the members of the art jury who took great care to carefully evaluate each piece and determine our 2025 winner. This was no easy feat with such a talented group of young Marylanders.”
2nd Place – Natalie Grosek; Calvert High School in Calvert County; “The Journey: Power and Hardships.”
3rd Place – Kendall Nosich; Homeschool in Charles County; “Work In Progress,”Acrylic on Canvas.
4th Place – Ryan Hatch; Leonardtown High School in St. Mary’s County; “Internal Hardware,” Acrylic, Charcoal on Paper, Clear Vinyl (2023 CAC Winner).
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Lauren Little; South River High School in Anne Arundel County; “Grammy’s Front Yard,” Oil on Canvas.
Aspen Ellerbe; Leonardtown High School in St. Mary’s County; “Florilegium: To Gather a Bouquet of Sweet Literary Blossoms.“
Mark Adams received his Ph.D. in Polymer Science from the University of Connecticut in 1993. After an 11-year tenure with Dow Chemical, Adams joined Henry Company in various vice president and senior vice president roles. Following his tenure at Henry Company, Adams joined Associated Materials, acting in senior vice president and later executive vice president positions. Since May of 2023, Adams has served as the Chief Operating Officer of HASA Inc., a large water treatment company based in southern California.
IMS reached out to Adams with five questions about his breadth of professional experience since obtaining his Ph.D., and how his time at UConn shaped it. Adams shows us that with grit, passion, and a strong support system, career growth occurs naturally.
Why did you choose to pursue your Ph.D. in polymer science at UConn?
My plan was to go to medical school after completing a B.S. in Chemistry from UConn. While working on my B.S., I took Physical Chemistry with Professor Andrew Garton. One day about halfway through the semester, he approached me after class and asked about what I was going to do after undergrad. I told him I was planning to go to medical school. He asked if I had ever considered grad school.
(contributed photo)
He went on to talk about an opportunity to go to the Institute of Materials Science for a Ph.D. in Polymer Science, working with him under a grant from NASA. Curious about the opportunity, I went to visit him at IMS, and the rest is history. I changed direction and worked to earn my Ph.D. on a research project for NASA, studying the degradation of polymeric spacecraft materials in the low earth orbit.
Who were some of the people who helped or inspired you most during your time at UConn, and how did their influence carry over into your professional career?
Obviously, Professor Garton had a huge impact on my academic career. He was incredibly energetic and excited about his research, which was infectious in his research group. When he passed away suddenly, prior to me completing my thesis, I was shocked and somewhat lost. My mentor in research was gone, and I was uncertain about the future and the choices I made. Fortunately, Sam Huang took me on to complete my degree.
Dr. Garton and other faculty at IMS taught me the importance of first principles and how to do research, but Dr. Garton is responsible for teaching me how to apply learning. How to identify a problem, develop root cause, research/develop technology needed, and implement technology solutions. He also helped me develop continuous improvement skills that have become the backbone of my career. Advanced research is interesting and fun but, using that to develop products and solutions is exciting.
A lot of your professional experience is more on the business side rather than in a lab or research setting. How did your Ph.D. and heavy scientific background impact your trajectory for success in so many executive-level corporate roles?
The first few roles early in my career were focused on technology and product development, which heavily leveraged my Ph.D. Successfully translating these efforts into value-creating opportunities required a complex voice of the customer requirements, which was only obtained and validated through observation and communication with end users. It’s at this interface where my unique skills started to develop, and when my career started taking turns from R&D leadership to new business development, sales, commercial leadership, and operations leadership. I have been fortunate to work with exceptional executive leaders that continually challenged and developed me, which has produced a myriad of different and challenging roles. This would not have been possible without the solid foundation I received from IMS and UConn.
What advice do you have for current polymer science students who may be unsure of their career paths?
Figure out your “internal” job description as early as possible. In other words, determine what you like to do most in combination with the skills and experience you have developed. When you figure out what your internal job description is, and you find a role that matches, you will experience dramatically accelerated growth. In my case, that was away from pure and applied research, and more focused on deploying all kinds of chemistry and engineering to develop solutions that rapidly grow businesses. Once you figure that out, job opportunities come faster than will be comfortable.
What are you most proud of having accomplished so far in your current position, and what do you most hope to accomplish going forward?
I am currently the Chief Operations Officer at a specialty chemical company specializing in water treatment. This role is truly the culmination of all my years of experience in multiple functions and companies. I am responsible for Operations at 12 sites, Engineering, Product/Process Development, EH&S, Continuous Improvement, Quality, and Transportation.
My biggest accomplishment so far with this company has been successfully restructuring and realigning our engineering group into a segmented portfolio management approach. We had way too many projects, worked on all of them at once, with too few resources, and no prioritization. Everything was delayed and above budget. Now, we are executing on time and on budget across the board on a full spectrum of projects from large new site design-builds, down to site specific capex projects.
My biggest challenge is developing and implementing automation technology in our packaging plants. We still require too much manual labor in an environment that is ergonomically challenging. Also, working with hazardous and corrosive materials poses unique challenges to metals and circuitry, so we needed to develop materials, machines, and now robots that reliably operate in challenging environments with hazardous chemicals. I guess it’s kind of like my Ph.D. work that analyzed polymers in low earth orbit, also a challenging and unforgiving environment.
IMS thanks Mark Adams very much for his willingness to share his unique journey, and we are excited to see where he takes HASA next.
On May 10 and 12, 2025, the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) and the Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture will recognize graduates as they meet a major academic milestone.
Learn about a few of the nearly 600 stellar students who will soon become CAHNR alumni.
Bendy Al Zaatini, Allied Health Sciences
Hometown: Waterbury, CT
Why UConn? Throughout the chaos of the pandemic, I was positive that staying at home while simultaneously building my community at UConn Waterbury would be the right way to start my journey as an undergraduate student at the prestigious school. I was surprised by the number of resources that are available to students. There is always help when needed and many different pathways to achieve success.
Why your major? I am an Allied Health Sciences major, and I was drawn to it because of the different career opportunities that fall under this major. My plan after graduation is to receive my second bachelor’s degree through CEIN, the accelerated nursing program with UConn, starting January 2026.
Advice for incoming students? Stay busy, make your presence known, and make sure that everything you are involved in benefits you in different ways. Throughout your many involvements, never forget that you are a student first and prioritize your grades above all else.
Benjamin Angus, Agricultural and Resource Economics
Hometown: Avon, CT
WhyUConn? I have been a UConn fan my entire life, so for me it was a no brainer. Coming to Gampel as a kid or tailgating at Rentschler, UConn sports for me wasn’t a hobby, it was a lifestyle.
Why your major? I am a double major in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Economics. I am eager to join the fight against climate change and am looking forward to wherever that takes me. It is the most pressing issue of our time. After graduation, I am exercising my Covid year and coming back to UConn to get my Masters in Applied Resource Economics. After that, who knows? Wherever the wind takes me.
Advice for incoming students? When you sit down in class on the first day, talk to the person next to you. Learn their name, get their number, ask them their life story – just put yourself out there and I promise you will meet some incredible human beings. Also, bundle up on a clear winter night and walk to the top of Horsebarn Hill. No one ever looks at the stars in the winter, they are breathtaking.
Matt Antunes, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Hometown: Smithfield, RI
WhyUConn? UConn was a top ranked school in my choices for college, and I felt like I would get the best education for my major. I felt at home in my time at UConn with the friends and connections I made throughout my four years here.
Why your major? Plant Science (Sustainable Plant and Soil Systems) – with a turfgrass concentration. I always had a love for turf from a young age. Beginning with just mowing my home lawn as a teenager to eventually building a small putting green, I found I was always around turfgrass systems in my summers. I plan on continuing my education here as a graduate student studying turfgrass pathology, and I plan on working in the golf course industry as an assistant superintendent and hopefully a superintendent down the road.
Advice for incoming students? Go to a UConn sporting event (especially basketball even if you’re not into it). The energy and atmosphere are unmatched to any other sporting event I’ve been to in my lifetime.
Jillian Bowen, Pathobiology and Veterinary Science
Hometown: Trumbull, CT
WhyUConn? The academics were the main draw for me. As an R1 institution, I knew that UConn had a lot of research opportunities, and that really drew me in.
Why your major? My major is Pathobiology, or disease biology. I attended an agricultural high school and was a member of Future Farmers of America, so I already had an interest in animal science, but the pandemic was definitely a big factor in stimulating my interest in infectious diseases. Pathobiology is a perfect combination of those interests! After graduation, I am planning to attend UConn’s Master of Public Health program with a concentration in epidemiology.
Advice for incoming students? Variety is the spice of life, so don’t be afraid to try something completely different – learn how to breakdance! Join an improv group! Start a book club! The world is your oyster.
John-Henry Burke, Natural Resources and the Environment
Hometown: Suffield, CT
Why UConn? I chose UConn because I thought it offered the best ‘bang for my buck.’ You get an incredibly large institution with a large number of resources and a diverse array of opportunities for a price that is much more affordable than other schools.
Why your major? I’m an Environmental Science major with a concentration in Sustainable Systems and a minor in Political Science and a minor in Environmental Economics and Policy. I was drawn to environmental science after taking a class in high school where I learned about climate change, plastic pollution, species extinction, and other threats facing our planet. I’m going to law school in the fall, and I would like to ultimately go into environmental law to advance environmental policy and protect natural areas.
Top UConn memories? One of the best parts of my UConn experience has been playing in the UConn Marching Band, where I served as Vice President. I’ve met so many amazing people through the band and accomplished a level of musicality I would’ve never imagined possible. Some notable UCMB performances were playing at a New England Patriots game and two Bowl games (Fenway and Myrtle Beach)!
Christian Carmona, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Hometown: Stamford, CT
WhyUConn? I chose UConn because it helped me the most financially and it was not as far away from my house as others were.
Why your major? My major is Landscape Architecture, and what drew me to it was that it was a form of architecture I had never heard of before. I was eager to try it out, and it gave me the opportunity to be creative and design spaces for communities. I hope to continue my education and pursue a master’s in architecture.
Advice for incoming students? Be open minded and ready to learn. You are here for a reason so stay focused on your goals and do not take anything for granted.
Laura Centanni, Animal Science
Hometown: Haworth, NJ
WhyUConn? I was leaning towards UConn due to the diversity of species in our barns on campus; however, what tipped the scales in the end was the mascot!
Why your major? My major is Animal science. I have had a passion for animals and service for as long as I can remember, and I am pursuing my passion of becoming a veterinarian through animal science here at UConn. I have already received my first few acceptances to vet school! Wherever I choose, I know that UConn prepared me well.
Advice for incoming students? Expand your comfort zone. Let it get so big that nothing is outside of it. UConn is one of the safest environments to explore that you will ever have, so take advantage of it!
Jessica Harris, Allied Health Sciences
Hometown: Mansfield, MA
WhyUConn? When it was time for me to look at colleges, I was excited to apply to UConn as is but I also discovered that CAHNR offered the major I was interested in, Allied Health Sciences, as part of the New England Regional Tuition Program. This made UConn such an easy choice for me because of its well-known academic excellence and affordability as an out of state school.
Why your major? I applied into UConn as an AHS major, because it would allow me to do my prerequisite courses to apply to physical therapy school, but I soon learned that it was not the right path for me. Luckily, AHS is such an adaptable major, intended to cater to your career interests, that I was able to stay on track despite changing paths, and ended up finding exactly what I wanted to do: UConn’s CEIN program.
Top UConn memories? Going to the UConn Dairy Bar, and 2023 when we won the Men’s National Basketball Championship for the first time in a while.
Sungwan Kim, Kinesiology
Hometown: Gyeongju, Republic of Korea
WhyUConn?UConn was my one and only choice because the research topics of my Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Neal Glaviano, perfectly align with my interests. Additionally, the collaborative research culture at UConn offers a unique opportunity to work with leading experts and engage in interdisciplinary projects, further enhancing my professional development.
Why your major? I am completing my PhD in Exercise Science. Working clinically as a certified athletic trainer, I witnessed firsthand the significant impact that orthopedic conditions have on individuals’ lives. This experience motivated me to investigate how musculoskeletal injuries or pain affect physical and psychological well-being and to explore optimal treatment strategies for rehabilitation and recovery. After graduation, I will start my postdoctoral research fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Top UConn memories? One thing everyone should do during their time at UConn is take advantage of the Recreation Center. Whether it’s lifting weights, playing sports, or just taking a break after a long day, it’s a great place to stay active and recharge!
Gramos Medjolli, Kinesiology
Hometown: Korça, Albania
WhyUConn? I had heard a lot of great things about UConn from a few people I knew, and I learned what an excellent institution it is. In fact, UConn was the only university I applied to—it was UConn or nothing! I thought to myself, if it’s meant to be, it will be. And it was! At the time, I was living in Germany and already practicing as a physical therapist.
Why your major? My grandpa always said, “The flowing water always stays fresh.” That’s why I decided to pursue the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at UConn, even after already being a licensed PT in Albania and Germany. I wanted to be the best version of myself in my profession because I love what I do. I truly believe physical therapy is one of the best jobs someone can have. If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. I also want to advocate for the field of physical therapy and create things that will benefit the community.
Advice for incoming students? Don’t stress too much in advance. He who suffers before it’s necessary will suffer more than necessary. You won’t remember how many hours you studied, but you will remember the beautiful moments and adventures you experienced.
Yasmin Rosewell, Agricultural and Resource Economics
Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
WhyUConn? I chose UConn because of its diverse and upbeat environment. The student body is heavily involved in the sports teams, clubs, and educational opportunities the school has to offer.
Why your major? Economics of Sustainable Development and Management. I was drawn to this because I enjoyed the business aspects of the major, but the department was so involved in the students’ learning and offered great connections and opportunities to learn through different outlets. As an athlete, all of my professors within the department were extremely supportive and accommodating of my absences during the season, and that helped me succeed and learn the material without being overly stressed. After graduation, I plan to travel and then move to New York City and pursue a career in logistics.
Advice for incoming students? Everyone on this campus is truly rooting for each other. The sense of comradery is one of a kind and the students and staff of UConn are encouraging, inclusive, and collaborative. So be bold. Don’t be afraid to be amazing. There is a place here for everyone and you will find yours. There are always people behind you and in your corner.
Sydney Seldon, Natural Resources and the Environment
Hometown: Harker Heights, TX
WhyUConn? I originally came to UConn to play on one of the athletic teams here but when that didn’t work out, I was launched into a time of self-discovery, which unleashed a deeper purpose and passion for spiritual formation and sustainability (both social and environmental).
Why your major? My major is unique – Environmental Science and an Individualized Major in Sustainable Communities with a Minor in Sustainable Community Food Systems. After graduation, I’ll be joining staff with the Navigators, an international, interdenominational Christian ministry, and walking alongside students as they explore faith and spirituality.
Advice for incoming students? Be courageous. College brings with it a host of new experiences and opportunities to grow so surrender to it. Allow yourself to be challenged and molded into not only a committed learner, but also a committed individual. Allow your conceptions about the world and yourself to be challenged. Find people who gracefully love you and push you to be the best version of yourself, so that out of that, you can contribute to being a positive influence in the world around you.
Noah Sneed, Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, Animal Science
Hometown: Natick, MA
WhyUConn? I chose UConn because of the opportunities for hands-on learning, as well as their extensive commitment to academia and research as an R1 university.
Why your major? I came into college as an animal science major who was planning on going to veterinary school. I was drawn to it because I have always loved animals, and I was so excited to be able to get hands-on experience working with horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, and of course cows. I was drawn to pathobiology because I realized that further than just administering vaccinations, I was interested in how they worked and the process to make them. I was able to join a pathology research lab on campus, and it has been such an enriching experience. After graduation, I am taking two gap years before medical school. I will be working full time as an EMT in the Boston area, as well as completing a Post-Baccalaureate program at the Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Advice for incoming students? Everyone should go to a men’s and women’s basketball game at Gampel Pavilion and sit in the student section. I have never felt so much pride for my school before; it is truly an amazing experience.
Mingda Sun, Nutritional Sciences
Hometown: Farmington, CT
WhyUConn? I chose UConn because I am from Connecticut, and did not want to go to school too far away from home. I also chose UConn because it has a strong nutrition and pre-medical program, which were areas of study I wanted to pursue. Moreover, UConn is a large school with students of many different backgrounds, and I felt like it was a place where I could belong and find a community of friends.
Why your major? I am a nutrition major with a minor in Spanish. I am passionate about how nutrition relates to health and the human body and have worked in numerous community health and public health initiatives as an undergraduate that are related to nutrition and disease prevention. Learning different languages is something I enjoy and believe is an important skill for connecting with patients and populations as a future health care professional. After graduation, I plan to attend medical school and become a doctor!
Advice for incoming students? Do not be afraid to reach out for support, mentorship, or guidance when you need it. If you have an idea or a passion that you want to pursue, there are faculty and students at UConn who are willing to help you. Don’t be afraid to take the initiative for your own learning!
Matt Syrotiak, Animal Science
Hometown: Bethlehem, CT
WhyUConn? I spent a great deal of time here at UConn through 4-H activities and high school FFA competitions. It’s safe to say that the Storrs campus was familiar to me from early on, despite my family having never been and never attending college themselves. While it was the campus and familiarity that drew me to UConn, it was the community of students, faculty, and staff that made me stay.
Why your major? My major is Animal Science, and I was drawn to it thanks to my involvement with the UConn Extension 4-H program where I worked on my dairy goat project. Through working with my goats, I gained a greater interest in the field, and it was reinforced by my time in agriscience classes throughout high school. UConn was the perfect fit to continue my work in animal science thanks to the proximity of the barns on campus and emphasis of hands-on class work. After graduation, I’ll serve as State 4-H Program Coordinator with UConn Extension, and create meaningful connections for 4-H youth, volunteers, and educators to increase the reach of the college and its community.
Advice for incoming students? The connections that you gain through being a part of the UConn community are critical to future success whether its classmates, educators, or alumni. You never know when those people will make a new appearance in your life.
Jonathan Vasquez Garcia, Nutritional Sciences
Hometown: Willimantic, CT
WhyUConn? Ever since I was little, I was always part of various programs associated with UConn, and when I came to campus, I felt that this school was my calling.
Why your major? I originally wanted to become a nurse. However, during my fall semester of sophomore year, I took my first nutrition class, where I gained valuable insight into the role of a registered dietitian. Ultimately, I changed my major to pursue a path aligned with my newfound passion for nutrition and sought out experiences that would deepen my understanding of the field. After graduation, I plan to pursue a master’s in clinical nutrition and complete my dietetic internship to become a registered dietitian. Eventually, I plan to work in a clinical setting to further gain foundational knowledge.
Advice for incoming students? My advice is to have fun and take advantage of all the resources UConn has to offer. And you should diversify your social network; you never know who you will meet.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steve Hewitt, Associate Professor in North American History, University of Birmingham
The greatest comeback since Lazarus. So went some of the sentiment around novice politician Mark Carney’s near-miraculous victory in the April 28 Canadian federal election.
His Liberal party was on political life support in January. The highly unpopular Justin Trudeau had just resigned and, after nearly ten years in office, the governing centrist Liberals seemed destined for an historic defeat. The Conservative party led by over 20 points in opinion polls and looked certain to enter government.
Then came a two-part salvation. First was the arrival of Carney as Liberal leader. Without a previous political record, Carney avoided the contamination attached to the Liberals’ time in office.
The other part of the revival came courtesy of President Donald J. Trump, who repeatedly referred to the outgoing Trudeau as “governor” and mused continually, including on the day of the Canadian election, about his desire for Canada to become the “51st state” of the United States. Applying tariffs on Canadian goods made it clear that the threat was real and triggered a dramatic nationalistic reaction on the part of Canadians.
But are there lessons from the Carney triumph that might aid other struggling leaders, such as British prime minister Keir Starmer? Having achieved a large majority less than a year ago, Labour has lost a safe seat to Reform in a byelection and languishes in the polls.
Whereas Carney and the Liberals have been vocal in their resistance to Trump, Starmer and Labour have followed a path of obsequiousness, even to the point of avoiding criticism of the US president over threats to Canada. Instead of speaking out, Starmer has managed Trump by flattering him through an invitation for a second state visit.
Starmer and Labour seem determined to curry favour with Trump to gain a free trade agreement with the US. Setting aside the value of such an agreement, given how Trump has simply ignored the deal his first administration struck with Mexico and Canada in 2020, the toadying appears to have all been for naught.
According to the Guardian, the Trump administration has made a free-trade agreement with the UK a second or third level priority. So much for the “special relationship”.
This apparent disinterest would imply that Starmer and Labour have little to risk by taking a more aggressive stance. Playing a more overtly nationalistic card might play well with more centrist voters in the UK, as it did in Canada. There is clear evidence from opinion polls of growing unhappiness with the United States among Britons, along with increasing disdain for the idea of the “special relationship”.
Such an approach might undermine some of the momentum that the Reform Party has enjoyed over the last few months. Tying Nigel Farage to the Trump administration might be especially effective given his close connections over several years to the president.
Certainly, tarring your opponent as a mini-Trump represented an effective tool by the Liberal campaign against the Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who not only lost the election but also was defeated in his own constituency after having won there seven previous times.
A case could be made that the Canadian situation has a uniqueness that isn’t necessarily transferrable elsewhere. There is, for instance, a long history in the country of anti-Americanism as a potent political force, especially on the left of the political spectrum.
Efforts to distance Canada from the US culturally and intellectually in the 1960s and 1970s were popular and led to a cultural flourishing. And elections in 1911 and 1988 were fought directly over the issue of free trade with the United States.
Major public concerns over American domination of Canada were key in both contests, even though the latter election was a victory for the Progressive Conservative party that advocated free trade with the US. Additionally, a significant element of Canadian identity outside of Quebec has long been defined in oppositional terms to Canada’s southern neighbour.
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Even though the Canadian example may be unique, other countries are certainly looking towards it. Taking an aggressive stance against Trump tariffs appears to be helping the Labor party in Australia. It may also have an impact in New Zealand. At this point, with Starmer and Labour struggling in troubled polling waters, Trump may be the best political lifeline available.
Steve Hewitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
One story dominates the elections held on May 1 in England: the dramatic Reform surge. The Runcorn and Helsby byelection was a stunning win for Nigel Farage’s party.
Labour’s 49th safest seat – supposedly safer than the prime minister’s – was hardly natural Farage territory. The town of Runcorn – Liverpool overspill mainly – makes up 60% of the constituency. Labour won more votes than all other parties combined in the general election of July 2024. Yet less than a year later, Reform has captured the seat, overturning a majority of 14,700 – albeit with the smallest ever byelection majority, beating Labour by just six votes.
This has delivered Reform its first woman MP, former Conservative councillor Sarah Pochin. Her arrival brings the party up to five MPs (a sixth having been suspended from the party earlier this year).
Do early byelections matter, with the general election so distant? They can be a signal of what is to come. Since the second world war, Labour has only once retained office at the next general election after losing a seat at a byelection less than one year after forming a government. A narrow loss to the Conservatives in Leyton in 1965 was sandwiched between 1964 and 1966 general election triumphs, but that was the exception to the rule.
The norm is for new governments to enjoy a honeymoon. No such joy for Keir Starmer’s Labour.
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Farage has made what is being called an economic “left turn” in a bid to attract Labour voters. He continues to push for tougher immigration policies but is now also backing greater nationalisation, including for British steel.
Starmer benefited from intra-right tussling between the Conservatives and Reform in July – the split vote on the right contributed to his loveless landslide. But things look different now Reform has shown it can take on Labour and win.
And while the Conservatives were never in the running in this byelection, they’ve been damaged in their own way. Farage’s assessment was that “after tonight, there’s no question, in most of the country we are now the main opposition party to this government.”
Given that the Conservatives have 20 times the number of MPs as Reform, that’s a bold claim from Farage. But Reform has more members and is well funded.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has compared her position to that of William Hague when he took over a Conservative party battered by Labour’s landslide win in 1997. It’s a dismal vista. Hague was similarly crushed at the next general election. Yet for the Conservatives there remained the prospect of an eventual swing back of the pendulum. As the fragmentation of politics gathers pace under the Reform surge, there are now no such guarantees.
Badenoch’s closest leadership rival, Robert Jenrick, has made clear that the right of British politics, the Conservatives and Reform, will be obliged to unite or both will fail. They believe Reform has yet to be properly scrutinised and could fade.
Yet Reform may continue to upend the old certainties of the Conservative-Labour duopoly. British electoral politics have never been more fragmented and, in that context, Farage is the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next prime minister.
Jonathan Tonge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
