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Sending kids back to school this fall: Yay or nay?
Amanda Ghosh EducationAugust is when we start to think about the upcoming school year. But so far, August looks like it will hold more uncertainty and anxiety. Even if schools reopen, parents may opt to redshirt the year. One thing is for sure — the 2020-21 school year will be drastically different from all previous academic years.
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IMF predicts small business bankruptcies may triple as workers brace for…
Kevin Reynolds Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementCalifornia took some people by surprise recently when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the largest rollback of reopenings in the country. Proceeded by Los Angeles moving to online schooling for a large portion of the fall semester and closely followed by individual counties leveling their own, stricter precautions, Newsom’s order was part of a slew of indicators that all said the same message: the coronavirus is not going away.
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How does remote learning affect student achievement?
Bambi Majumdar EducationA recent Wall Street Journal article addressed many American parents' concerns about whether school districts' remote learning practices are widening the education gap. Though a vast majority of parents do not want to send their kids back to school unless there is a vaccine, they are concerned about the quality of education that their kids are getting. According to one report assessing the rigor of remote-learning instruction, only 20% of K-12 schools meet the standards to ensure proper student development.
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Are K-12 schools on the brink of financial disaster?
Patrick Gleeson EducationWhat financial impact will the COVID-19 pandemic have on K-12 schools? Opinion is mixed, ranging from guardedly optimistic to disastrous beyond belief. As usual in our sharply divided country, opinions link to politics. But this is more than a funding disagreement.
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A look at how TSA has suffered during the coronavirus pandemic and its…
Matt Falcus Civil & GovernmentAs airport security remains a priority for travel, alarming numbers of agents of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have been exposed to COVID-19, with some losing their life, exacerbated by a lack of protective equipment. Airports across the United States have recently seen a return to growth across many areas despite spikes in cases, so what is being done to prevent these key workers from infection?
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New bill in the House aims to protect access to telehealth
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareThe changes to telehealth utilization and payment reform brought on as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic appear set for permanency as House Telehealth Caucus leaders introduced legislation on July 16 that would allow access to such services for Medicare patients. The bipartisan bill would expand telehealth by eliminating restrictions on its use in Medicare, which have been a thorn in the side of the technology’s advancement for decades.
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Senate set to consider new stimulus measures, but will they be enough?
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementAs the pandemic rages, state closures are resuming after early reopenings. Economic policy to address such impacts looms large, as states face crushing budget shortfalls. We turn to Washington, D.C. On July 20, the GOP-majority Senate is set to take up its version of the Heroes Act that the House passed in May. It aimed to help struggling firms and working families but omitted Medicare for All and a Universal Basic Income.
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Uninsured during a pandemic? A homegrown epidemic
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareThe tentacles of the COVID-19 pandemic have reached into every aspect of U.S. society. As so many struggle to make ends meet and keep themselves and their loved ones afloat as best they can, we've learned that, as of early July, more than 5 million people have lost their health insurance since the pandemic-related recession began. How can we allow so many citizens to fall through the cracks when we face such an existential threat that makes us all vulnerable to critical illness?
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New York employees traveling to COVID-19 hotspots won’t get paid…
Grace Ferguson Civil & GovernmentTo help reduce the spread of the virus, some states have enacted a mandatory 14-day quarantine on people traveling from out of town. Along with imposing mandatory quarantine on certain out-of-towners, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently issued an executive order, which says that New York employees who voluntarily travel to COVID-19 hotspots after June 25, 2020, are ineligible for the state's COVID-19 paid sick leave benefits.
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Why Britain’s small business approach might soon mirror the US’
Kevin Reynolds Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementBy all accounts, Britain was leading the United States in its response to the coronavirus before the past week. The British government thought it had potentially avoided some of the major economic fallouts the U.S. had experienced since much of the world came to a halt in March. But on July 7, most experts agree that the bubble Britain was operating in might have burst.
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