Editor's note

Many have been unnerved by this week’s tough talk between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. The U.S. lacks diplomatic and economic ties to the rogue nation, so how – short of war – can we force Kim to step away from his nuclear program? Economics professor Greg Wright of the University of California, Merced makes the argument that the best hope of doing so lies not with the United States, but with North Korea’s largest trading partner – China.

During the recent health care debates, we learned an essential truth: We likely are not going to have enough money to pay for nursing home care on our own. Medicaid, which many of us believe supports only the poor, actually pays for about 60 percent of the care for people in nursing homes. Sharona Hoffman, a legal scholar at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, explains why “long-term care and how to pay for it is a matter that affects us all, even if we do not realize it.

While the new film "Detroit” tackles a complex, important story, Michigan State’s Lisa Biggs was dismayed, however, to find the voices and perspectives of women lacking. After plumbing archives and oral histories, Biggs tells the stories of the courageous women who participated in the 1967 Detroit uprising, from the mother who stared down a national guardsman’s rifle to the unflappable radio DJ who called for order over the airwaves.

Emily Costello

Senior Editor, Politics + Society

Top story

The news of an exchange of threats between the U.S. and North Korea is reported in Tokyo on Aug. 9, 2017. AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

China is the key to avoiding nuclear 'fire and fury' in North Korea

Greg Wright, University of California, Merced

The most viable nonmilitary solution to the standoff with North Korea is to get China to apply pressure. But that's not so easy.

Health + Medicine

  • Why Medicaid matters to you

    Sharona Hoffman, Case Western Reserve University

    Medicaid, a state-federal entitlement program that people associate only with the poor, pays for care for more than six in 10 nursing home residents. That could be you, or someone you love.

Arts + Culture

Science + Technology

Education

  • Do college presidents still matter?

    Richard Freeland, Northeastern University

    A former president of Northeastern and scholar of higher education shares his perspectives on what has – and hasn't – changed in the role of the college president.

Environment + Energy

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