French Farmers Halt Protests After Government Promises Changes
French farmers had been protesting for weeks to bring about reforms in the agricultural industry. They finally received several promises of change from the government on Thursday, February 1, 2024. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced plans to help the farmers and meet their demands. This led to the French farmers’ unions calling for an end […]
French Strikes Show Discontent with Proposed Retirement Reform
French workers have a long tradition of taking democracy to the streets. Now citizens are voicing their concerns about President Emmanuel Macron’s effort to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. On January 19 and January 31, 2023, thousands of citizens participated in union-organized national strikes against Macron’s plan. As a result of the […]
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Monarch Butterfly Populations on the Rise Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every winter. Migration is a dangerous journey. Monarch populations are also impacted by challenges such as drought, severe weather, habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. But even so, the number of monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico this past winter was increased by a […]
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 […]
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Hawaiians Face Widespread Unemployment and Few Solutions Hawaii has been hit harder than most other states by the economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. That’s because the islands are so heavily dependent on the tourism industry, which has ground nearly to a halt. While several states depend on tourism, Hawaii is unique because most […]
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Asian Americans Face Unemployment Crisis The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has significantly damaged the global economy. Asian Americans in the United States have experienced significant economic losses. Just one year ago, Asian Americans had the lowest unemployment rate of any racial demographic group. But now, their jobless rate has climbed from 2.8 percent to 10.7 percent, […]
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Aunt Jemima Logo to Change A few months ago, btw brought you the story of the Land O’Lakes butter company’s decision to change its logo. The butter logo featured a young Native American woman in a feathered headdress, which many people felt was an offensive racial stereotype. Now, following George Floyd’s death and the protests […]
When is the Right Time to Reopen?
To say that the global coronavirus pandemic has been devastating would be an understatement. Worldwide, nearly two million people are infected, with more than 120,000 dead. Right now, 82 countries are imposing some form of lockdown. Around the world, 1.4 billion children are out of school, and the global economy is expected to shrink by […]
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Baltimore Museum Shifts Focus to Female Artists Quick: Off the top of your head, name five visual artists. Now, be honest: How many of them were men? How many of them were white? It’s likely that most, or even all, of them were. That’s because the American and European art canon has traditionally been dominated […]
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Oregon Republicans Hide to Avoid Climate Vote Earlier this month, btw brought you the story of Oregon’s new climate change bill. In essence, the bill would require companies to purchase a certain number of “permits” for their pollutants (fewer and fewer permits will be available over time), and would then use that money to invest […]