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Editor's note
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Coal mining has long been one of the nation’s most dangerous professions, with miners’ health problems enduring long after they leave their jobs behind. But bankruptcies of several coal companies have jeopardized the health care and pensions of retired miners, so the federal government stepped in, temporarily, to fund them. That could end tomorrow, unless Congress votes to extend the benefits. Simon Haeder, a professor of health policy at West Virginia University, writes that, despite bipartisan support, Republican leadership has
“stood in the way of a permanent fix.”
Trump signed an executive order yesterday, establishing a 300-day task force to take a closer look at the role the federal government plays in education. It’s charged to root out policies and guidelines that are seen as wresting too much control away from the states. As researcher Dustin Hornbeck explains, this tension between state and federal education policies is nothing new to American politics.
Also yesterday Team Trump released details of the president’s tax proposal and, unsurprisingly, trumpeted it as the “biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country.” Is that really the case? Not by a long shot, writes Ohio State economic sleuth Jay Zagorsky.
And finally, poop is a part of life, particularly for new parents. That’s how an investigation into the physics of feces was born. Researchers measured volume, velocity, viscosity, even duration of defecation – which is surprisingly stable across mammals of all sizes.
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Lynne Anderson
Senior Editor, Health & Medicine
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Top story
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United Mine Workers members rally in September on Capitol Hill for benefits for retired miners that are at risk.
Jose Louis Magana/AP
Simon Haeder, West Virginia University
Coal miners are often romanticized in our society and held up as examples of hard-working Americans who deserve our respect. In reality, many retired miners could get the shaft this Friday.
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Politics + Society
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Leslie Lenkowsky, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
In 'The Givers,' author David Callahan warns that today's mega-rich philanthropists wield too much political clout. He may be exaggerating their power and lowballing the public's own strength.
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Mark Major, Pennsylvania State University
The stack of executive orders, proclamations and memoranda Trump has signed makes other presidents' stacks look puny.
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Trending On Site
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Dan Reisenfeld, The University of Montana
With the probe now on its 'Grand Finale,' a Cassini team member describes the amazing discoveries it made about the ringed planet and its many moons.
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Ingrid Anderson, Boston University
Fake news has been used in the past to feed into people's fears and prejudices. A particularly poignant story from 1913 relates to the wrongful conviction of an innocent man named Leo Frank.
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Caleb Everett, University of Miami
From the Amazon to Nicaragua, there are humans who never learn numbers. What can these anumeric cultures teach us about ourselves?
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Charles Hankla, Georgia State University
A flurry of policy reversals in recent weeks suggests Trump has changed his tune from his populist campaign promises. Has he?
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