An internal memo written by the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator offers a concerning glimpse into the future of vaccine regulation in the US — and could have profound implications for both access to and the development of vaccines.

Vinay Prasad’s memo, which was leaked to the news media, makes alarming claims about the...Read more

At least President Donald Trump didn't "kill all the lawyers" first, literally following Shakespeare's words in "Henry VI, Part 2" on evading the rule of law. Instead, just a month into his second term in February, he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth simply fired the top lawyers at the Army, Navy and Air Force, known as judge advocates general...Read more

Even before Trump’s actions against DEI, many in the academic community and elsewhere felt for some time that DEI had taken an unintended turn.

What was meant to provide support—in jobs, education, grants, and other ways—to those groups who historically and currently have suffered from discrimination became for others a sign of exclusion ...Read more

Barney the purple dinosaur was my first English teacher. Through songs, make-believe, and games, I learned how to greet people, ask kids if they wanted to play, and talk about the weather, which turned out to be useful for conversation in the United States. I also learned about sharing, respecting others, and finding the fun in learning.

Now, ...Read more

To hear many Democrats explain it, the nation has racked up $37 trillion in debt, not because Congress can’t control spending, but because the taxman doesn’t confiscate enough money from hard-working Americans, particularly those with comfortable incomes.

Perhaps they should take a look at the progressive nirvana we call California.

Nevada...Read more

President Donald Trump wasted no time before turning the right wing's cherished assault on transgender rights into government policy.

On the very day of his inauguration, he issued an executive order titled, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government."

The order purported to "...Read more

Each December, the International Day of Veterinary Medicine honors those who dedicate their lives to caring for animals. Yet right now, a deepening crisis—driven by irresponsible animal acquisition, relentless breeding and skyrocketing costs—is preventing veterinary professionals from helping the animals who need them the most.

Many readers...Read more

Even among the many sobering stories of cruelty and injustice arising from the Trump administration’s obsessive anti-immigration crusade, the story of Mohammad Ali Dadfar stands out.

An Afghanistan native who risked his life to aid America in its war there, Dadfar was living and working legally in the U.S., raising his family and patiently ...Read more

The leader of the free world is having trouble walking and talking. We need to know why.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has struggled to walk a straight line, and not for the first time. He was unable to state which part of his body was medically scanned — or why. He fell asleep in an Oval Office press conference and wandered off at ...Read more

He “could count by twos and tie his shoes.” That’s the opening line in episodes of Franklin, a children’s TV series about an eponymous turtle that goes on to do a lot of learning. The same thing, minus the learning, could be said about Pete Hegseth, who has now adopted Franklin as an improbably martial alter ego in his evolving fantasies...Read more

President Donald Trump is promoting the idea of sending a $2,000 check to most Americans funded by revenues brought by his tariffs on imports.

The scheme has received a frosty reception from Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress and economists alike, and they are unlikely to happen. If the White House really wants to ease the burden that ...Read more

The Wall Street Journal nailed it last week with a headline that read, “Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine.”

That headline captures why the president is so eager to end Vladimir Putin’s war by sacrificing the Ukrainian victim to the Russian aggressor. And it helps explain why Donald Trump’s negotiators are ...Read more

Reading week is quiet at Northwestern University. It’s a time for students to write papers and study for exams and for professors to grade and prepare new courses for winter quarter. But right now, it’s a different kind of quiet. On Friday evening, Northwestern announced a “deal” with the federal government. Media reports thus far have ...Read more

When the College Board canceled SAT testing in 2020, hundreds of colleges adopted test-optional admissions policies for that fall. The Urban Institute reported that the number of four-year colleges and universities going test-optional nearly doubled in one year, from 713 to 1,350.

Test-optional admissions had been spreading before the COVID ...Read more

In almost every election cycle, politicians toot their own horn when it comes to rising wages, pointing to higher paychecks as proof that the average worker is thriving. But under the Biden administration, millions of Americans—faced with mounting grocery bills, rising rent, and shrinking savings—could see that these higher paychecks did not...Read more

Democrats see an opportunity to hammer Republicans and the White House on “affordability,” counting on voters to forget that inflation soared to 9 percent in 2022 — the highest in four decades — under President Joe Biden and a Democratic Congress.

President Donald Trump took the bait, of course. On Tuesday, he called the issue “a ...Read more

The COVID pandemic brought out the worst of the Nanny State in the name of public health. From school closures, to scientifically dubious social distancing and mask mandates, few elected officials missed a chance to exert their authority.

But five years later, there may finally be consequences for a handful of the worst offenders.

Last month, ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)— famously helmed by Elon Musk — has been decentralized, its functions transferred to the Office of Personnel Management. And while it didn’t deliver on Musk’s promise to realize $1 trillion in budget cuts, it nevertheless served a useful purpose.

DOGE, as the exercise...Read more

For more than a century, American education has been driven by the same invisible engine: standardization. Rows of desks. National tests. Rankings.

From No Child Left Behind to statewide report cards, we have long measured success by what can be quantified, compared and controlled.

This model, born in the industrial age, is buckling under the ...Read more

The decision to attend college was a no-brainer during the second half of the 20th century. It almost assured higher earnings and job security. Tuition wasn’t even very expensive. None of this is true now.

The economic returns associated with a college degree are falling. Adding insult to injury, unemployment rates for recent graduates aren�...Read more