Editor's note

One year ago tomorrow, Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico. Since then, the island’s struggles have made for painful headlines, highlighting the longest power outage in American history, the ever-rising death toll and the exodus to the U.S. mainland. “To say that the island of 3.3 million has not yet recovered is an understatement,” writes urban studies researcher Lauren Lluveras, whose extended family remains in Puerto Rico. “One year after Maria, nearly every pillar of Puerto Rican society remains devastated.”

Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Bezos have pledged to give $2 billion dollars to build preschools and house the homeless. That may sound generous, but political theorist Ted Lechterman, who studies the ethics of philanthropy, argues that their giving also “raises grave concerns about the pervasive power of business moguls.”

And binge drinking is often accepted as part of the college experience, but a growing body of research into the maturing brain shows that it comes with serious risks. Blackouts – that feeling that you can’t remember what happened during a binge – impede the formation of memory. They can also “affect learning inside and outside the classroom,” writes University of Florida addiction researcher Jamie Smolen.

Catesby Holmes

Global Affairs Editor

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Some Puerto Ricans had to restore downed power lines themselves after Hurricane Maria. Alvin Baez/Reuters

Puerto Rico has not recovered from Hurricane Maria

Lauren Lluveras, University of Texas at Austin

It's been one year since a Category 4 storm turned Puerto Rico into a disaster zone. Today, nearly every pillar of society — including the economy, health care and schools — remains hobbled.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are becoming bigger donors. Invision and AP/Evan Agostini

One big problem with how Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are spending a small share of their fortune

Ted Lechterman, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main

The US$2 billion that the Amazon founder and his wife are donating to help the homeless and educate young kids may appear selfless. But this money may also soften calls to raise taxes on the rich.

Young adults at a tailgate. Young adults are more likely than older adults to binge drink and are at greater risk when they do. Monkey Business ImagesShutterstock.com

Binge drinking and blackouts: Sobering truths about lost learning

Jamie Smolen, University of Florida

A Sept. 14 report on drug use suggested that opioid use has declined. But troubling trends in drinking among teens and young adults stood out. An addiction specialist explains the unique dangers.

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Today’s quote

"Decisions parents made about where to live, where to send their kids to school, which extracurricular activities to enroll them in, where they traveled and what media they consumed work to create what I refer to as a child’s “racial context of childhood.”

 

Are today's white kids less racist than their grandparents?

 

Margaret Hagerman

Mississippi State University

Margaret Hagerman