News and Issues

"My own favorite activity to mark summer's end is one that I discovered during my years as a classroom teacher: finding the caterpillars of Monarch butterflies, bringing them indoors to observe their metamorphoses, and seeing them off on their annual trip south to Mexico for the winter. Anyone who can identify milkweed growing nearby will be able to find Monarch caterpillars in late August or early September. All you need is a jar of water, a pair of scissors, and a bit of patience. This is a great activity to share with your favorite child, but it's also a rewarding experience if the only person involved in it is yourself." more »

This Week: On Tuesday, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion will hold a hearing, “Examining the Racial and Gender Wealth Gap in America;” On Wednesday a hearing, “Breaking the Silence: Addressing Military Sexual Trauma in the Military and Veteran Communities;” A bill to prohibit the approval of new abortion drugs, to prohibit investigational use exemptions for abortion drugs, and to impose additional regulatory requirements with respect to previously approved abortion drugs. more »

Financial Advisor Lex Zaharoff writes: "Given the reality that there will be a recession in our future, there is a natural tendency to want to adjust our investment strategy in advance of a market drop. Ideally we would like to sell stocks and buy longer maturity bonds of higher quality borrowers just before a recession starts. And before others recognize the recovery, we’d like to reverse those trades – buying back into stock markets and reducing our interest rate sensitivity in our bonds. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know the timing of market fluctuations with greater certainty than the rest of the market." more »

When travel plans go awry, airline passengers may take out their frustrations on customer service agents. We surveyed 104 customer service agents. About half said passengers had verbally threatened them and 10% said passengers had physically assaulted them in the past year. One prosecutor told GAO the transitory nature of airports makes it difficult to get witnesses to testify at trial; when prosecuted, passengers generally face misdemeanor charges. While stakeholders GAO interviewed generally did not identify gaps in resources, some said incidents could be further mitigated if, for example, airports made law enforcement’s presence more visible or airlines provided conflict de-escalation training to customer service agents. more »