by Grayson Shaw (PO ’25) “One of the main reasons I filed the lawsuit was to try to save my life… It was really horrible being sick, and the only access to water I had was poison” This testimony from Lamar Singleton, along with 18 independent lawsuits from former inmates, illustrates the reality of the Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, California. Prisoners were reportedly forced to...
By Jon Burkart (PO ‘24) In 2008, the Great Recession struck. And in its wake, upwards of 20 states cut public spending: Ohio was one of them. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. And while the future remains uncertain, one thing is clear: austerity is returning. In some states, it has already made a return. On May 6, 2020, just months into the pandemic, Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine...
Kathryn Parker (SC ‘23) With the recent election shifting the balance of power in the Senate to the Democrats, a divided Congress struggled to address the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions. Throughout his campaign, Biden pledged to provide the American public with a relief package should he become president. Since he took office, Congress has been fairly supportive of this mission...
By Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) On February 23rd 2021, Akquile Pollard, better known as Bobby Shmurda, was released from Clinton Correctional Facility. Pollard, a 26-year-old New York rapper who gained esteem for his hit single “Hot Boy,” was released after serving 6 years for criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy to murder. In the years following Pollard’s arrest, fans and...
Jon Burkart (PO ’24) If the past 6 months have proved anything, it’s that nothing is wholly immune to COVID-19. Institutions of higher education (IHE) are certainly no exception. On October 15th, National Student Clearinghouse reported that average undergraduate enrollment for the fall 2020 semester is down 4%, and overall enrollment is down 3% compared to last year. This trend has hit four...
Scotland Carter (SC ’24) The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938 in response to the growing number of workplace abuses during the Great Depression. Before 1938, the federal government had not regulated workplace conditions for employees in either the public or private sectors: there was no minimum wage, overtime pay, or working protections for minors. That said, the...
By Cade Novara (PO ’23) For the past eight months, the country has been ravaged by the coronavirus. The lack of a cohesive, coordinated response from the government has left the United States with nearly 8 million cases and 217,000 deaths from the virus. Despite claims that the virus does not discriminate among groups, it has become increasingly evident that this is not the case...
By Andy Xu (PO ’24) The Race for a Vaccine Imagine you’re asked to be among one of the first recipients of the FDA approved COVID-19 vaccine. You might consider refusing and, as of now, that decision wouldn’t be uncommon. In fact, over two-thirds of Americans say that they intend to forgo such a vaccine in its early stages of release. The findings suggest a growing mistrust of the Trump...
Guest Contributors Anubhav Das and Winy Daigavane, National University of Advanced Legal Studies In January 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was reported. In the five months since, it has spread all over the world. Around the world, public health officials have enacted stringent measures to mitigate the impact of the virus. However, deaths continue to be on the rise, and countries face...
By Edward Jung (PO ’22) Developing a concrete definition for the relationship between a doctor and their patient is a difficult question whose answer lies within the intersection of medicine, ethics, and the law. Medical students are taught in medical school that their primary obligation is to patients; yet, from the Hippocratic Oath to Hollywood’s representations of physicians feeling this...
