News Updates

5/25/17 – Buildings account for roughly three-quarters of all electricity used in the United States, but this tab can be cut at least in half using technologies that can be developed over the next few decades, given the right incentives for research and invention, an analyst has argued in Issues. And the World Resources Institute recently extended the case, detailing a range of policy options that could help attract private investment to energy-efficient buildings.

5/23/17 – A US-based company with Kiwi roots is set to enter the commercial space market with the launch from New Zealand of its new type of rocket—powered by electricity, made of light-weight carbon fibers, and produced using a 3-D printer—that will specialize in carrying small satellites into orbit. This reflects the changing nature of the space industry, described recently in Issues by an analyst who also noted that participation by more countries and private companies is pressing the US government to reshape its space agencies and policies to reflect global trends.

5/21/17 – Even as the US Attorney General is instructing federal prosecutors to treat drug crimes more harshly, lawmakers in a growing number of states are taking a different approach by locking up fewer people. Their actions, which reflect the latest evidence on how to reduce mass incarceration while protecting the public, as described recently in Issues, include reducing penalties for drug possession and other low-level crimes, allowing judges to sentence people to probation or drug treatment instead of prison, and reducing some mandatory minimum sentences.

5/19/17 – The Trump administration has notified Congress that it will soon begin renegotiating with Mexico and Canada the North American Free Trade Agreement. As a guide, the editorial board of the business news website Bloomberg cautions that the aim should be to carefully update the agreement because it has brought a range of benefits to US consumers and companies, as a trade policy expert has detailed in Issues, and with a bit of tweaking could even expand opportunities for mutually beneficial trade.

5/18/17 – Tesla has begun taking orders for a new type of solar roof that not only can power homes but also feed a companion battery for recharging electric vehicles at night, though some market challenges remain. As an energy analyst recently explained in Issues, new ways to “synchronize battery recharging with clean power” will be among innovations needed to make electric vehicles more widely practical and capitalize on their potential for taming climate change.

5/10/17 – The US Attorney General reportedly plans to toughen guidance on prosecuting drug crimes, rolling back Obama-era policies that gave federal prosecutors discretion in filing criminal charges to earlier times when prosecutors were often ordered to press the most serious charges possible. This shift would arguably stand against the best scientific evidence, as described in Issues by judicial experts who examined why and how to reduce incarceration rates, especially as they hit hardest within communities of color.

5/10/17 – In what may be the first major test of engineering the Earth to mitigate the effects of climate change, scientists are planning to use a balloon-borne probe to inject water vapor into the stratosphere to deflect away some of the sun’s warming rays. A co-leader of the project recently examined in Issues why such geoengineering experiments are becoming increasingly important and how they should be conducted to maximize scientific rewards and minimize social risks.

5/9/17 – Congress recently took a preliminary step toward reviving the long-delayed plan to store the nation’s nuclear waste under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, and President Trump has added funds for the project in his proposed budget, though controversy remains. Shortly after the plan had been put on hold, a trio of analysts laid out in Issues the case for developing the storage site and argued that its delay “lacks scientific justification and could hamper the nation’s effort to use nuclear energy to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.”

5/7/17 – Amid concerns about misuse of visas granted to foreign skilled workers, the federal government should develop new policies that encourage companies to train more US students and workers for technology occupations, a former labor policy adviser says, adding that apprenticeships offer a proven way to reach this aim. In Issues, an education expert has also examined the power of apprenticeships to effectively prepare young people, including those not interested in college, for jobs that are interesting, pay well, and likely to be secure.