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A look at the important state-level criminal justice reforms of 2020
Bambi Majumdar Law Enforcement, Defense & Security2020 has started with a wave of criminal justice reform laws coming into effect across the country. New state laws have come in the wake of President Trump signing the bipartisan First Step Act into law in December 2018. Some states even passed dozens of measures, all of which took effect this month. In particular, the last year was especially eventful for New York as far as criminal justice reform is concerned. The state's Democratic majority wasted no time in pushing significant reforms at the state level.
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Are hypersonic missiles a breakthrough in weapons technology?
Michelle R. Matisons Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityWhat does weapons modernization look like these days? Ask Russia and China. Yes, as banal as it may seem, the arms race has entered overdrive with newly hyped hypersonic technology. Far from peaceful disarmament, hypersonic missiles arrive to up the tactical ante — or at least the debate on standard and boutique weapons technologies. Hypersonic missiles travel at five times the speed of sound and are capable of reaching the U.S. from China within minutes. These fast and sophisticated missiles have regalvanized the Cold War mentality. But are they a real threat?
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US, China sign partial trade pact, but economic danger remains
Seth Sandronsky Civil & GovernmentThe nearly two-year trade war between the U.S. and China has cooled down since President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a "phase one" pact to reduce hostilities. On one hand, the pact calls for China to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods over the next 24 months. That total includes $40 billion of American agriculture. For the short-term, there is long-awaited relief for soybean farmers in the Midwest. Is it time to pop the champagne corks? Not exactly.
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How HR technology is mitigating compliance risk in 2020
Michelle Lanter Smith Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementEach year, ensuring HR compliance gets a little harder, and 2020 is no exception. States are increasingly creating their own compliance regulations — and each of them is unique. Meanwhile, the human resources landscape continues to evolve at rapid pace, and each industry faces its own set of challenges. How can an employer keep up? One powerful strategy is to utilize HR technology that automates and optimizes labor compliance.
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Battles won and lost in American education’s bitter reading wars
Patrick Gleeson EducationAmerican and British educators are divided into two opposing camps over the best way to teach children to read: the “whole language” camp and the “phonics” camp. Both methods have been taught for over a century, but since 1955 the two camps have become stridently opposed to a degree that justifies the popular title for the dispute: “the reading wars.” Below is a brief review of this curious battle of angry academics and legislators, along with my answers to three cogent questions: What does each group propose? Why do they distrust and dislike each other so much? And, finally, is there any hope of a truce?
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Groupthink and healthcare: An unhealthy alliance
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareThe term "groupthink" has been in popular usage since the 1970s, and its applicability to the multibillion-dollar 21st-century healthcare industry could not be more salient than it is today. Initially coined in 1974 by Irving Janis, a professor of psychology at Yale University, it is defined by Yale Alumni Magazine as when "a group of intelligent people working together to solve a problem can sometimes arrive at the worst possible answer." Those firmly ensconced in the healthcare ecosystem can likely agree that groupthink plays a larger role than we would like to believe.
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In defense of tree planting and other feedback loop interventions for the…
Michelle R. Matisons Waste Management & EnvironmentalStatistics from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, affiliated with Columbia University, make speculation about rising global temperatures quite real. The past five years are the hottest on instrumental record, compared all the way back with the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But there’s a push-and-pull dynamic as a 1.2 degrees Celsius temperature rise can fall as water cools from melting ice. The climate science community can scarcely afford optimism's luxuries, but sometimes it shines through anyway. New research that links melting ice to human actions from 1955 to 2005 is supposedly not all bad news.
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12 tips to get the most out of your bid and proposal dollars
Brenda Crist Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementEvery time I go shopping, I try to stretch my dollars to get the best possible products for the most favorable prices. Consider using your bid and proposal (B&P) funds in the same way. Spend just enough money to create a winning proposal and use the leftover cash to fund new bids, improve your B&P infrastructure and/or enhance your team’s skills. Through careful planning, there are measures you can take to stretch your B&P dollars, including the 12 tips listed in this article.
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ONC outlines plans for health IT during the 2020s
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationFederal health IT officials have, for the first time, released a draft strategic plan that outlines their priorities for the first half of the 2020s. The focus appears to be on moving to a more patient-focused form of healthcare, with health data accessible through smartphone apps and application programming interfaces (APIs). Additionally, the plan is designed to help patients manage their health and shop for care, according to the Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
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Construction work begins on JFK’s Terminal 8
Matt Falcus Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementWork has begun on the expansion and rebuilding of New York JFK’s Terminal 8, a project that will cost $344 million and usher in passenger improvements to the airport. The work is a joint venture between American Airlines and British Airways, who are both Oneworld partners. Once completed, British Airways will move to Terminal 8 from its current Terminal 7, which itself will be closed and redeveloped. Terminal 8 is currently the largest at JFK. It is set to be redeveloped and expanded with five additional wide-body aircraft gates and four additional remote parking stands.
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