Psychology behind why your mom may be the mother of all heroes

  Each May, the United States celebrates Mother’s Day, and for good reason. According to surveys I’ve conducted, over 25% of Americans cite their mother as their number one hero. Fathers come in a distant second at 16%.

  Moms are indeed the mother of all heroes.

The killing of Ahmaud Arbery highlights the danger of jogging while black

  Unsteady cellphone footage follows a jogger – an apparently young, black man – as he approaches and attempts to run around a white pickup truck parked in the middle of a suburban road. Moments later he lies dead on the ground.

  The killing of Ahmaud Arbery took place on Feb. 23 after the 25-year-old was confronted by Gregory McMichael, a 64-year-old former police officer and investigator for the Brunswick, Georgia district attorney’s office, and his 34-year-old son, Travis. It took 10 weeks to gain widespread attention with the circulation of video footage on social media, prompting revulsion and calls for justice.

Hank Sanders: Sketches #1717 - A stitch in time saves nine

  A stitch in time saves nine. This old folks' saying is personal to me. As a child, I was really rough on pants. I kept ripping them in the seams. Each time it was just a little rip at first, but it would keep getting bigger and bigger. My mother, who required us to sew our own seams, urged me to sew the rip as soon as it started. That way, she said, I would have to put in just a stitch or two. But if I waited, the rip would get bigger and bigger, requiring a whole lot more stitches. Sometimes I would not put in a stitch when the rip first started. I would just hope that the seam would not rip farther. It always got bigger and bigger. A stitch in time saves nine.

Five lessons from the coronavirus about inequality in America

  The coronavirus is a global threat, but the pandemic has an uneven impact across the United States. It exacerbates existing inequalities and creates new challenges.

  I think this crisis can teach several important lessons about inequality in America: how it hurts, who it hurts the most, why that’s the case, and what can be done about it.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - Budgets are priority for this legislative session

  The 2020 Alabama Legislative Session has resumed after a six-week hiatus due to the coronavirus shutdown of the state and the nation. The session must end by May 18. The only thing they will do is pass barebones budgets. 

  The most important - and actually the only constitutionally-mandated act that must be accomplished - is the passage of the state budgets. In our case, we have two state budgets. We have a general fund like 45 other states, and we have a second one, the Special Education Trust Fund budget. 

Americans might love Cinco de Mayo, but few know what they’re celebrating

  Many Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but how many actually know the story of the holiday?

  Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo doesn’t mark Mexican Independence, which is celebrated on September 16. Instead, it’s meant to commemorate the Battle of Puebla, which was fought between the Mexican and French armies in 1862.

4 ways the Trump administration has made our air dirtier during the COVID-19 pandemic

  While the novel coronavirus has raged across the United States, infecting more than 1 million Americans, the Trump administration has failed catastrophically in its efforts to protect the public. One of these myriad failures has come in the form of continued rollbacks of critical protections for clean air across the country.

Infected with the coronavirus but not showing symptoms? A physician answers 5 questions about asymptomatic COVID-19

  Blood tests that check for exposure to the coronavirus are starting to come online, and preliminary findings suggest that many people have been infected without knowing it. Even people who do eventually experience the common symptoms of COVID-19 don’t start coughing and spiking fevers the moment they’re infected.

  William Petri is a professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Virginia who specializes in infectious diseases. Here, he runs through what’s known and what isn’t about asymptomatic cases of COVID-19.

Why do people believe con artists?

  What is real can seem pretty arbitrary. It’s easy to be fooled by misinformation disguised as news and deepfake videos showing people doing things they never did or said. Inaccurate information – even deliberately wrong information – doesn’t just come from snake-oil salesmen, door-to-door hucksters, and TV shopping channels anymore.

  Even the president of the United States needs constant fact-checking. As of February, he had made an average of 15 false or misleading public claims every day of his presidency, according to a tally from the Washington Post.

As businesses reopen, a salon owner finds herself ‘on the front line’ of COVID-19

  With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, Lauren Reyes is more than a little apprehensive about reopening her hair salon, located in an Atlanta shopping mall. But she said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) April 20 decision to allow some nonessential businesses in the state to reopen leaves her no choice.

  “If we choose to stay closed for the sake of our health and our families’ health, we risk losing our clientele. If we reopen for our clients, we put ourselves at risk,” she said, explaining the dilemma she and other Georgia small-business owners face.