Good news, bad news for formula shortage

May 21, 2022

For worried parents nationwide, there is good news and bad news on the baby formula front. First, the good news: Last week was a whirlwind as Washington, D.C., finally threw its weight behind solving the infant formula crisis. President Biden used the Defense Production Act to incentivize suppliers of key formula ingredients to sell to formula manufacturers. Production has also ramped up, and restrictions on imports have been temporarily relaxed. Biden even enlisted military planes to transport formula made abroad. The Food and Drug Administration also reached a deal with Abbott ...

Not safe to leave kids, pets in cars, even for ‘a minute’

May 20, 2022

As we start to see temperatures climb consistently into the mid- to upper-80s (with today expected to be a scorching 93-ish degrees), this is a PSA to parents of human and fur babies not to leave kids and pets unattended in the car. We’re sympathetic to the stress and hassle of traveling with babies, little kids and/or pets.  And it’s just for a minute. You’ll be in and out before anyone can even notice there’s still someone in the car. Right? Except “just a minute” is rarely one minute or less. Often, it stretches into several minutes, and it only takes a couple ...

Alito’s draft willfully misrepresents history

May 19, 2022

In its May 7 cold opening, Saturday Night Live took a jab at Justice Samuel Alito’s reference to a Dark Ages legal treatise. Host Benedict Cumberbatch, playing a man of some authority with a Medieval bowl cut, proposed eliminating abortion. The chatter among the skit’s characters — which included two other white men making decisions,  an almost 12-year-old girl of child-bearing age objecting to the proposal and  a Black man fully aware he has no rights — included some laugh-to-keep-from-crying one-liners like “That’s why we’re also offering maternity leave. When ...

What happens if we forgive student debt?

May 18, 2022

Yesterday, we discussed the generational cycle of student loan debt: how the pressure from parents, the (unfulfilled) promise of better economic fortunes and skyrocketing tuition over the last several decades have contributed to $1.7 trillion in national student loan debt, with Millennials bearing the brunt of the burden. If the “I paid mine, you pay yours” argument is an issue of fairness, the other argument is one of fiscal responsibility. What happens to the economy if the government forgives $1.7 trillion in loans? First, you have to understand who has the loans. According ...

Student debt is a generational burden

May 17, 2022

The closer we get the midterm elections, the more debate we hear about student loan forgiveness. President Biden campaigned on tackling the student debt crisis, but he hasn’t done more than continue to extend the loan freeze started under Trump at the beginning of the pandemic. Prior to Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion, it was thought Biden and Democrats would have to do more than pay lip service to student debt forgiveness in order to mobilize young and progressive voters. That may no longer be the case, but Biden and Democrats should still make an effort to reduce ...

Addiction is not a moral failure

May 14, 2022

There are many stigmas around addiction. The most harmful one, though, may be that addiction is a moral failure. That succumbing to the siren’s call of drugs or alcohol is a testament to one’s character. That being an addict makes you a bad person. But people with substance use disorder are not bad people. Granted, some do bad things (and some more often than others), but the mere fact that someone is battling addiction does not mean they aren’t a good person. Lauren Cole is the perfect example. Lauren received her bachelor’s in social work from WVU. She had a heart ...