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Top headlines
Lead story
If you’ve started your holiday shopping early and noticed toys are even pricier than they were last year, you’re not just imagining it. One reason: tariffs. The combined rate on imports from China has surged from about 20% when President Donald Trump took office in January to as high as 145% in the spring, before settling at 47% more recently. That’s still high by historical standards.
So it’s perhaps no surprise that toy makers are taking Trump to court. Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear a blockbuster case that could decide whether a president can use a 1977 emergency law to impose tariffs on vast swaths of imports – including the educational toys made by plaintiff Learning Resources Inc., among others. Trump is the only U.S. president to have used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs.
As economist Bedassa Tadesse explains, what’s at stake is more than the price of stuff – it’s about the balance of powers. The U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress to set import taxes, but lawmakers have gradually ceded that power to the president in recent decades, setting the stage for the White House’s tariff spree this year. This week’s Supreme Court hearing could have serious implications for accountable policymaking.
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Tracy Walsh
Economy + Business Editor
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The Supreme Court’s tariff case isn’t just about trade.
Douglas Rissing/Getty Images Plus
Bedassa Tadesse, University of Minnesota Duluth
The Supreme Court’s trade case isn’t just about tariffs. It’s about who sets economic policy in a democracy.
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Science + Technology
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Gabriela Radulescu, Smithsonian Institution
Radio astronomy opened up the universe for scientists. They could map new elements across galaxies and also search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
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Environment + Energy
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Huma Tariq Malik, Colorado State University; Thomas Borch, Colorado State University
Consumer choices about what to eat and how much of it can affect how much water farmers need to use.
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Politics + Society
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Daniel J. Mallinson, Penn State
The seats of three of the five Democrats on the state Supreme Court are up for grabs on Nov. 4.
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Education
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Emery Petchauer, Columbia University
Oklahoma announced in October 2025 it would no longer assess out-of-state teachers with a controversial test developed by a conservative media company.
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Jeff Kruth, Miami University; Tammy Schwartz, Miami University
With teacher shortages mounting and housing costs soaring, school districts from California to Ohio are experimenting with a new solution: building homes for educators on school-owned land.
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Economy + Business
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Allison Anna Tait, University of Richmond
Taking good care of your pets can include leaving clear directions to ensure their needs are met once you’re gone.
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Samia Islam, Boise State University; Kelly Chen, Boise State University
Two economists found links between the adoption of right-to-work laws and the opioid overdoses of working-age male teens and men.
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Peter McGraw, University of Colorado Boulder
Singles are reshaping culture and commerce in Asia. A professor of marketing explains why the US could be next.
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International
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Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel, University of Manchester; Birhan Mezgbo, Tufts University
Famine was weaponised as part of a broader campaign of destruction in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
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