YOU DECIDE: Should communities leveled by hurricanes be rebuilt in the same place?
It’s summer, and that means the start of hurricane season. Due to the effects of climate change, the United States faces more deadly hurricanes every year. During the past two years, a record fifty named storms formed over the Atlantic Ocean, with eighteen tropical storms and hurricanes making landfall in the U.S. Every year, communities […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Student Debt Be Forgiven?
College is expensive. More than 43 million Americans (one out of every eight people) is responsible for some student loan debt. President Trump paused federal student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and President Biden has, so far, continued this policy. President Biden announced that he is considering some form of student debt forgiveness. […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Ohio Postpone its Primary Elections?
Every ten years, state legislatures must evaluate the census population data to see if their state’s congressional district maps must be changed. Information about population growth and loss comes directly from the Census. If the population increases or decreases enough to change the number of congressional members assigned to each state, the districts must be […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Members of Congress Be Allowed to Trade Stock?
In April 2012, Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act by a large majority of both Republicans and Democrats. The STOCK Act required members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children to publicly (and promptly) reveal when they have bought or sold shares of stock in a company. Recently, however, some […]
YOU DECIDE: Cars That Stop Drunk Driving?
When Congress passed President Biden’s infrastructure package last month, it included a demand for U.S. automakers: find a way to stop drunk people from driving cars. As a result, automakers are developing monitoring systems in cars. These new safety systems could be installed as early as 2026. But the legislation isn’t specific about what exactly […]
YOU DECIDE: Civilian Space Travel
In September 2021, four people–a CEO, a physician assistant, an aerospace data engineer, and a pilot/geoscientist–became the first all-civilian crew to orbit Earth on a mission called Inspiration4. On October 14, 2021, actor William Shatner experienced his own eleven-minute journey to the edge of space courtesy of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin aerospace company. Space travel, […]
YOU DECIDE: School Social Media Free Speech Case
As a student, what are you allowed to say–and not allowed to say–on social media? That’s the question at the heart of a recent Supreme Court ruling. A high school student from Pennsylvania is at the center of the case. She posted her frustration on Snapchat after not making the varsity cheerleading team. Here, btw […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Daylight Savings Time Become Permanent?
Spring forward, fall back . . . or is it the other way around? Daylight Savings Time was first developed in the early 1900s to save fuel during World War I. Most states in the United States observe Daylight Savings Time—which lasts for eight months of each calendar year. Standard Time (from November to March) […]
YOU DECIDE: D.C. Statehood
The District of Columbia, the capital of the United States, is not a state. At the time of the country’s formation, not enough people lived in the District to justify statehood. National leaders didn’t want so much power to be concentrated in one state. Today, D.C. residents pay federal taxes, but still do not have […]
YOU DECIDE: Raising the Minimum Wage
Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It can be difficult to survive on that amount of money, even for full-time workers. This is especially true if a worker has a family to support or rent and utilities to pay. On the other hand, raising the minimum wage could have a negative impact […]