CCF Briefing
- How the justice system criminalizes the poor — and funds itself in the process
- E-Cigarettes Are Effective at Helping Smokers Quit, a Study Says
- Hopeful Would-Be Parents Shop Jobs for I.V.F. Coverage
- Early-Voting Laws Probably Don’t Boost Turnout
- Many Families May Need Months to Recover From the Shutdown
- The Shutdown Showed How Precarious Americans’ Finances Really Are
- Could Black English Mean a Prison Sentence?
- How migration of millennials and seniors has shifted since the Great Recession
- A federal law is hurting Native American children. It must be struck down.
- ‘Act Natural’ Review: Don’t Worry, They’ll Survive
- What to Do With Empty Churches
- Gym Class Is So Bad, Kids Are Skipping School to Avoid It
- 70 and Female Is the New Cool
- As Pelvic Mesh Settlements Near $8 Billion, Women Question Lawyers’ Fees
- When Is the Surgeon Too Old to Operate?
- Taxing the Wealthy Sounds Easy. It’s Not.
- What Is the Blood of a Poor Person Worth?
- Unreported Sexual Assaults Surge at Military Academies, Pentagon Finds
- Sex Crime Reports Are Up in France. Officials See a #MeToo Effect.
- The aliens among us: close encounters of the teenage kind
- Cities Aren’t Built for Parents
- Japan’s Working Mothers: Record Responsibilities. Little Help from Dads
- He Committed Murder. Then He Graduated From an Elite Law School. Would You Hire Him as Your Attorney?
- Woman Killed by Fire in Menstruation Hut, as Nepal Fights a Tradition
- Does ‘Creative’ Work Free You from Drudgery, or Just Security?
- Massaging Away a Potential Complication of Birth?
- New Zealand Vowed 100,000 New Homes to Ease Crunch. So Far It Has Built 47.
- A.I. Could Worsen Health Disparities
- Fewer Homes for Median Earners
- Why Is Everyone Suddenly Talking About Michael Jackson?
- Teenagers Emerge as a Force in Climate Protests Across Europe
- Let Children Get Bored Again
- Two Sisters Bought DNA Kits. The Results Blew Apart Their Family.
- Assessing Betsy DeVos’s Proposed Rules on Title IX and Sexual Assault
- When the Suffrage Movement Sold Out to White Supremacy
- Why maternal depression is an economic mobility issue
- Many Families May Need Months to Recover From the Shutdown
- The Generation of Grandparents Who Keep Their Grandchildren Afloat
- The Crushing Logistics of Raising a Family Paycheck to Paycheck
- The Long Lines for Women’s Bathrooms Could Be Eliminated. Why Haven’t They Been?
- How a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl Smashed the Gender Divide in American High Schools
- How the justice system criminalizes the poor — and funds itself in the process
“If it weren’t for Ferguson, we would be having a different public conversation about the role of the misdemeanor system.”
- E-Cigarettes Are Effective at Helping Smokers Quit, a Study Says
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/health/ecigarettes-nicotine-smoking-quit.html
A yearlong, randomized trial in England showed that e-cigarettes were almost twice as successful as products like patches or gum for smoking cessation.
- Hopeful Would-Be Parents Shop Jobs for I.V.F. Coverage
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/style/ivf-coverage.html
Benefits in 2019 vary from nothing to a whole lot.
- Early-Voting Laws Probably Don’t Boost Turnout
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/early-voting-laws-probably-dont-boost-turnout/
It just shifts when existing voters cast their ballots.
- Many Families May Need Months to Recover From the Shutdown
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/shutdown-still-affecting-families/581662
As federal employees and contractors return to work, they’re still processing some of the emotional and financial stress of the past six weeks.
- The Shutdown Showed How Precarious Americans’ Finances Really Are
What began as an impasse over the border wall became a warning sign of creeping instability.
- Could Black English Mean a Prison Sentence?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/stenographers-need-understand-black-english/581671
Court stenographers often misunderstand Black English, and their mistakes could affect people’s lives at crucial junctures.
- How migration of millennials and seniors has shifted since the Great Recession
Young adult and senior migration rates have slowed down. Migration magnets for young adults are often havens for educated millennials. Senior migration magnets reflect more traditional retirement destinations.
- A federal law is hurting Native American children. It must be struck down.
- ‘Act Natural’ Review: Don’t Worry, They’ll Survive
https://www.wsj.com/articles/act-natural-review-dont-worry-theyll-survive-11548978666
How should you raise your children? Long ago, experts offered falsehood, myth and speculation. Modern parenting advice isn’t much better.
- What to Do With Empty Churches
https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-to-do-with-empty-churches-11548978752
Once a church is lost, that neighborhood seldom regains a public space offering services like day care, schools and free or below-market space for local groups, arts events, Boy Scout troops and sports teams, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and more. The University of Pennsylvania’s Ram Cnaan has found large social and economic benefits from church operations. His 2016 study of older urban churches found that 89% of total visits to these institutions were to take part in something other than worship. Nearly 90% of beneficiaries weren’t church members. The proportion of adults who attend religious services weekly is now down to 36%, according to the Pew Research Center. Young people in particular are falling away. In 2016 nearly 4 out of 10 American adults under 30 said they have no religious affiliation.
- Gym Class Is So Bad, Kids Are Skipping School to Avoid It
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/01/why-pe-is-terrible/581467
Not only does P.E. do little to improve physical fitness, but it can also lead to truancy and other disciplinary problems.
- 70 and Female Is the New Cool
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/books/review/mary-pipher-women-rowing-north-best-seller.html
Mary Pipher’s “Women Rowing North” celebrates the unacknowledged talents and wisdom of older women — a demographic increasingly in the limelight.
- As Pelvic Mesh Settlements Near $8 Billion, Women Question Lawyers’ Fees
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/business/pelvic-mesh-settlements-lawyers.html
More than 100,000 women are resolving claims against companies that made pelvic mesh products to treat urinary problems. Lawyers have found ways to take big chunks of their payouts.
- When Is the Surgeon Too Old to Operate?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/health/surgeons-retirement-competence.html
A handful of hospitals have instituted mandatory screening procedures for surgeons over 70. Doctors have been largely unenthusiastic about the idea.
- Taxing the Wealthy Sounds Easy. It’s Not.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/your-money/tax-wealthy.html
Two Democrats have proposed taxing the richest Americans at a higher rate. But if past efforts to use tax policy to target one group are a guide, they can backfire.
- What Is the Blood of a Poor Person Worth?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/sunday-review/blood-plasma-industry.html
Desperate people can make $30 donating plasma, up to 104 times a year, in this $20-billion industry.
- Unreported Sexual Assaults Surge at Military Academies, Pentagon Finds
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/military-sexual-assault.html
The number of cases rose by almost 50 percent during the 2017-18 academic year, an increase that defied efforts to address a problem that has long plagued the military.
- Sex Crime Reports Are Up in France. Officials See a #MeToo Effect.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/world/europe/france-sex-crimes.html
A government analysis found victims increasingly willing to talk to the authorities. It was published as two police officers were convicted in a closely watched rape case.
- The aliens among us: close encounters of the teenage kind
https://aeon.co/videos/the-aliens-among-us-close-encounters-of-the-teenage-kind
- Cities Aren’t Built for Parents
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/02/cities-arent-built-for-parents/581845
The death of a young mother who fell in a New York City subway station has drawn scrutiny to the inaccessibility of public-transit systems.
- Japan’s Working Mothers: Record Responsibilities. Little Help from Dads
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/02/world/asia/japan-working-mothers.html
Men in Japan do fewer hours of housework and child care than in any of the world’s richest nations. That keeps women from getting better jobs and holds back the economy.
- He Committed Murder. Then He Graduated From an Elite Law School. Would You Hire Him as Your Attorney?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/02/business/bruce-reilly-murder-conviction-lawyer.html
A bipartisan consensus has taken hold: After prison, nonviolent offenders should get a second chance at normal lives. But what about someone whose criminal history — and ambitions — are more extreme?
- Woman Killed by Fire in Menstruation Hut, as Nepal Fights a Tradition
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/02/world/asia/nepal-menstruation-hut-death-chhaupadi.html
Despite a ban and efforts to educate Nepalese about a centuries-old practice of banishing menstruating women to isolated huts, the tradition stubbornly lives on.
- Does ‘Creative’ Work Free You from Drudgery, or Just Security?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/magazine/creative-work-corporations.html
One result of our obsession with creative jobs: You may now be expected to live like a starving artist in order to work for a massive corporation.
- Massaging Away a Potential Complication of Birth?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/well/live/massaging-away-a-potential-complication-of-birth.html
A reader asks: Does the a perineal massage do anything to prevent the risk of tearing during birth?
- New Zealand Vowed 100,000 New Homes to Ease Crunch. So Far It Has Built 47.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/world/asia/new-zealand-housing-prices.html
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government said it would scrap its initial target of 1,000 homes by July, while a study showed that housing had grown more unaffordable.
- A.I. Could Worsen Health Disparities
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/podcasts/the-daily/bob-woodward-nixon-buzzfeed-cohen-mueller.html
In a health system riddled with inequity, we risk making dangerous biases automated and invisible.
- Fewer Homes for Median Earners
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/realestate/fewer-homes-for-median-earners.html
Housing inventory is up, but that doesn’t mean there are more homes you can afford.
- Why Is Everyone Suddenly Talking About Michael Jackson?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/arts/music/michael-jackson-leaving-neverland-accusations.html
A new documentary, “Leaving Neverland,” focuses on the allegations of two men who say the pop superstar sexually abused them as children.
- Teenagers Emerge as a Force in Climate Protests Across Europe
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/world/europe/climate-change-protests-students.html
Tens of thousands of students are skipping school to take part in a growing movement.
- Let Children Get Bored Again
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/02/opinion/sunday/children-bored.html
Boredom teaches us that life isn’t a parade of amusements. More important, it spawns creativity and self-sufficiency.
- Two Sisters Bought DNA Kits. The Results Blew Apart Their Family.
- Assessing Betsy DeVos’s Proposed Rules on Title IX and Sexual Assault
There is much to criticize in DeVos’s proposal but also much that would help to make schools’ processes for handling sexual misconduct fairer to all parties.
- When the Suffrage Movement Sold Out to White Supremacy
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/02/opinion/sunday/women-voting-19th-amendment-white-supremacy.html
African-American women were written out of the history of the woman suffrage movement. As the centennial of the 19th Amendment approaches, it’s time for a new look at the past.
- Why maternal depression is an economic mobility issue
Depression among mothers, which is often fueled by poverty, can affect a child’s development and lead to poor outcomes later in life. Richard Reeves shares policy solutions to break or at least weaken this vicious cycle.
- Many Families May Need Months to Recover From the Shutdown
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/shutdown-still-affecting-families/581662
As federal employees and contractors return to work, they’re still processing some of the emotional and financial stress of the past six weeks.
- The Generation of Grandparents Who Keep Their Grandchildren Afloat
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/grandparents-giving-money/581581
They’re eager to help out—even if that means putting themselves at financial risk.
- The Crushing Logistics of Raising a Family Paycheck to Paycheck
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/maid-book-stephanie-land/581362
Stephanie Land’s new memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, sheds light on the grueling work—and the bureaucratic complications—of being a maid and a single mother.
- The Long Lines for Women’s Bathrooms Could Be Eliminated. Why Haven’t They Been?
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/women-men-bathroom-lines-wait/580993/
It’s been more than 30 years since states started trying to achieve “potty parity,” but many queues are still unequal.
- How a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl Smashed the Gender Divide in American High Schools
In 1969, Alice de Rivera challenged Stuyvesant’s policy that women could not apply and set a new cultural precedent for coeducation.
