Too poor to give

  When Teresa, a widow with four young children, saw a notice that members of her church would gather to deliver presents and food to a needy family, she took $10 out of her savings jar and bought the ingredients to make three dozen cookies. She got to the church parking lot just in time to join a convoy going to the home that was to receive the congregation’s help.

Welcome to the University of Alabama! Hope some of you have an attorney

  This is what happened to a University of Alabama student targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and how the university reacted.

  (Alireza) Doroudi, an Iranian national pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering (at the University of Alabama), was taken into custody by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit on Tuesday around 3 a.m… The University of Alabama has not provided further details about the situation. Spokesperson Alex House did not respond to messages Friday after initially stating that the university was cooperating with immigration authorities. House did not address whether the university was offering Doroudi any assistance. — Alabama Reflector, March 28, 2025

‘Agreeing to disagree’ is hurting your relationships – here’s what to do instead

  As Americans become more polarized, even family dinners can feel fraught, surfacing differences that could spark out-and-out conflict. Tense conversations often end with a familiar refrain: “Let’s just drop it.”

  As a communications educator and trainer, I am frequently asked how to handle these conversations, especially when they involve social and political issues. One piece of advice I give is that “agree to disagree,” or any other phrase that politely stands in for “stop talking,” will not restore harmony. Not only that, but it could also do permanent harm to those important family bonds.

As US doubles down on fossil fuels, communities will have to adapt to the consequences − yet climate adaptation funding is on the chopping block

  It’s no secret that warming temperatures, wildfires, and flash floods are increasingly affecting lives across the United States. With the U.S. government now planning to ramp up fossil fuel use, the risks of these events are likely to become even more pronounced.

  That leaves a big question: Is the nation prepared to adapt to the consequences?

The Trump administration’s trade wars are crushing U.S. small businesses

  The great American historian Barbara Tuchman once described folly in government as the pursuit of policies contrary to a country’s own interests and despite the availability of feasible alternatives. Folly, as Tuchman noted, is more than just a one-off bad decision; rather, it is the consistent implementation of a policy that achieves the opposite of what is intended. The Trump administration’s unprecedented trade war rises to this level of mismanagement.

  President Donald Trump’s embrace of tariffs to a level not seen in more than a century, supposedly to foster the redevelopment of the country’s industrial base, will do the opposite of what he intends it to do. It will crush U.S. small businesses, particularly those engaged in manufacturing, decimating the backbone of American industry and of countless communities across the country. Already, corporate bankruptcies are up 7.38 percent year over year, commercial freight contracts have plummeted, ports are empty, and hiring has been frozen across several different industries.

Measles could again become widespread as cases surge worldwide

  Globally, measles is on the rise across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, and parts of Europe. In 2025, North and South America saw 11 times more cases than during the same period last year. In Europe, measles rates are at their highest point in 25 years.

  In the United States., as of May 2, 2025, health authorities have confirmed 935 cases of measles affecting 30 states. This is a huge surge compared with the 285 cases reported in 2024. A large measles outbreak is happening in Canada, too, with over 1,000 cases.

  The Conversation asked Rebecca Schein, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, to explain what this spike at home and abroad might mean for a disease that was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.

How to manage financial stress in uncertain times

  American families are struggling to keep up with their bills.

  The cost of food soared by more than 23% from 2020 to 2024. Other price increases, which are especially steep for vehicles, insurance, child care, and housing, come as nearly 40% more people are behind on their credit card payments than in 2022.

  Now, uncertainty arising from zigzagging tariffs, firing of tens of thousands of federal workers and contractors, and massive cuts and freezes to federally funded programs means that more people are increasingly pessimistic about the economy.

How Trump promotes a radical, unscientific theory about sex and gender in the name of opposing ‘gender ideology extremism’

  The Trump administration claims to be rooting out “gender ideology extremism” and “restoring biological truth” in the United States.

  In a January 2025 executive order, President Donald Trump decreed that there are only two genders – male and female – and that anyone who believes differently denies “the biological reality of sex.”

  Yet as a gender studies scholar, I know what the science really says about gender and sex.

The real scandal in Alabama’s transgender youth care ban

  This much we know: Alabama’s gender-affirming care ban will be law for the foreseeable future.

  Attorneys for transgender young people and their families sued to overturn it. But after a three-year battle, the plaintiffs and the state moved to dismiss the lawsuit. The attorneys for the families said their clients had “to make heart-wrenching decisions that no family should ever have to make, and they are each making the decisions that are right for them.”

  To be sure, the broader legal landscape looks threatening. The U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to uphold a similar ban on gender-affirming care in Tennessee. One can hardly blame parents for giving up on an unjust legal system.

Refuse to be afraid

  Tim Wrightman, a former All-American UCLA football player, tells a story about how as a rookie lineman in the National Football League, he was up against the legendary pass rusher Lawrence Taylor. Taylor was not only physically powerful and uncommonly quick but a master at verbal intimidation.

  Looking young Tim in the eye, he said, “Sonny, get ready. I’m going to the left and there’s nothing you can do about it.”