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Articles by James Kunhardt
Why an interdepartmental coordination group should be part of the CDC’s reforms for future pandemics
On August 17, 2022, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced sweeping reforms to allow the CDC to publish data quicker and make public health guidelines clearer to improve the effectiveness of the agency. This is an important step to address many of the CDC’s shortcomings that came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic. As Dr. Walensky acknowledged, many of these problems arose from the calcified, bureaucratic nature of the CDC.
The future of Twitter: Four scenarios
It has been an eventful year for Twitter. With Elon Musk’s recent purchase, there have been dramatic changes. As a free speech advocate, he has encouraged a wider range of voices on Twitter, piloted new products, and asked people to pay $8/month to get special services and use the company’s blue check certification. Yet a few weeks after this ownership change, the company is drowning in chaos. of its employees have left or been laid-off.
Could Elon Musk grow to like regulation?
Let’s stipulate that Elon Musk is brilliant. With Tesla, he revolutionized the somnambulant American automobile industry. His SpaceX lifts payloads into space at a cost far below NASA. He is revolutionizing battery technology and production. And with Starlink, he owns 3,000 satellites orbiting above our heads. No wonder he is the world’s richest person. Musk’s achievements have been amazing! But in buying Twitter, the world’s biggest megaphone, has Musk’s reach exceeded his grasp?
Why Biden would be justified in blocking or modifying Musk’s Twitter acquisition on national security grounds
On October 27, Elon Musk purchased Twitter in a deal worth . Expectations and opinions about the deal vary widely. Critics are concerned that Musk will remove important safeguards against hate speech, online harassment, and incitement of violence, and weaken the platform’s rules against mis- and disinformation.
The national security grounds for investigating Musk’s Twitter acquisition
On October 27, Elon Musk purchased Twitter in a deal worth . Expectations and opinions about the deal vary widely. Critics are concerned that Musk will remove important safeguards against hate speech, online harassment, and incitement of violence, and weaken the platform’s rules against mis- and disinformation.
The national security grounds for investigating Musk’s Twitter acquisition
On October 27, Elon Musk purchased Twitter in a deal worth . Expectations and opinions about the deal vary widely. Critics are concerned that Musk will remove important safeguards against hate speech, online harassment, and incitement of violence, and weaken the platform’s rules against mis- and disinformation.
Encouraging interoperability to help learners in the digital credential marketplace
The growing use of digital credentials is enabling graduates and job seekers to make their credentials more accessible and portable in a fast-changing labor market. Governments and educational institutions should be moving to support interoperable versions of these digital credentials to give learners more control, which will ultimately lead to platforms and services that are more valuable for users.
Biden could reduce inflation, mitigate a recession, and strengthen democracy with a new EU-US trade agreement
On both sides of the Atlantic, economies are showing signs of turmoil: Inflation is at the highest level in more than 40 years, the U.S. stock market has plunged significantly since its peak on January 3, and expectations for a recession are increasing both in the EU and in the U.S., particularly as the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are aggressively increasing interest rates to combat inflation.
TechTank Podcast Episode 51: The weaponization of information threatens American democracy. What should we do about that?
New revelations from the January 6 hearings continue to shock the nation. And while former President Donald Trump failed in his attempt to undermine a peaceful transition of power, it’s dangerous to assume that an end to Trumpism is an end to all of America’s problems. Political polarization and extremism continue to be at an all-time high, worsened by ongoing economic tensions. In his most recent book, “Power Politics: Trump and the Assault on American Democracy,” Darrell M.
Judicial deference and the future of regulation
Will Chevron deference—where courts defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes—make it to its fortieth birthday in 2024? Commentators predicted the framework might fall in the Supreme Court’s recently concluded term, some cheering and others fearing such an outcome. But the Court remained quiet on the case, as it has done repeatedly in recent years. This silence could be temporary, however, as the Court may soon decide to hear some cases that tee up the issue.
Judicial deference and the future of regulation
Will Chevron deference—where courts defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes—make it to its fortieth birthday in 2024? Commentators predicted the framework might fall in the Supreme Court’s recently concluded term, some cheering and others fearing such an outcome. But the Court remained quiet on the case, as it has done repeatedly in recent years. This silence could be temporary, however, as the Court may soon decide to hear some cases that tee up the issue.
Explaining the Brookings Regulatory Tracker
The Brookings Center on Regulations and Markets Regulatory Tracker (“Reg Tracker”) is a tool that tracks and provides insights into important regulatory actions by the federal government. Originally launched in October 2017, the Reg Tracker monitors a curated selection of executive agency rules, as well as notable guidance and policy introductions or revocations. The rules span a wide range of policy areas, including but not limited to education, labor, environment, and transportation.
Weston High School interns get a taste of the real world
With the end of the school year, there is an established tradition for Weston High School seniors — internships. During the last month of high school, a number of Weston seniors are given the opportunity to leave the school grounds to get real workplace experience at one of many different locations. Here are some of these experiences. Grace Juneau interned with SoundWaters, a Stamford-based environmental education organization, at its coastal education center at Cove Island Park in Stamford.
Teacher and mock trial coach Peggy Jorgensen is retiring
Longtime Weston teacher Peggy Jorgensen is retiring at the end of the school year after 24 years of service with Weston public schools. Jorgensen is the Project Challenge teacher at the Weston Middle School and coach of the school’s mock trial team. Parents and students regard Jorgensen as a caring, energized and independent spirit in the Weston community. Grace Milliman, 13, one of Jorgensen’s current students, said, “Mrs. Jorgensen is an amazing person and educator.
Young Weston voters' perspective on the presidential election
Weston Forum interns and high school seniors James Kunhardt and Montgomery Glaser will be voting for the first time in the upcoming presidential election in November. They have different points of view about the candidates and the election process in general. Each wrote an essay voicing their thoughts. For many, this November’s election will come down to which candidate they dislike least, with both major party candidates’ unfavorability ratings hovering at nearly 60%.
Dedicated athletes compete in Special Olympics
For Miguel Teles and many of his classmates, this Saturday is a big deal — they are competing in the Southern Time Trials for the Special Olympics Connecticut Summer Games. Hosted by Weston, more than 1,000 athletes with a wide range of disabilities are expected to participate this Saturday, May 21, in events from swimming to track and field to tennis.
Weston volunteers caught in earthquake in Ecuador
I was in Ecuador on Saturday, April 16, with my Builders Beyond Borders team when the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit. We were in the Mariscal Sucre International Airport just outside of Quito, awaiting our flight to come back home, when we felt the building violently shake. People were screaming and crying and we rushed to the nearest wall, away from large panels of glass and a double-height ceiling with hanging lights swaying back and forth. The rumbling stopped after about 90 seconds.
The Hallway: What's the deal with all the testing?
It’s nice to know that sometimes rational thinking and some organized protests can overturn certain not-so-rational rules put into place by bureaucrats who may think they’re doing the right thing but who are just so wrong. That’s what seems to have happened with the SBAC or Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium testing for high school juniors in Connecticut.
Weston school custodians: The people behind the struggle
A couple of weeks ago, my fellow columnist Brandon wrote an article about how the nighttime custodians are fighting for a wage increase from $9.58 to $15 per hour. Almost every student I’ve spoken with supports this increase and feels strongly that these workers should be treated fairly and, at the very least, should be able to live above the poverty line.
The Hallway: A generation gets involved
Our generation gets a bad reputation for doing stupid things. Teens in places like Weston are thought of as being “rich” or “entitled” and not caring about anything except their Snapchat story. Just a couple of weeks ago, a friend and fellow columnist wrote about the “plague” of laziness that has swept young people, and discussed how rare it is to find exceptions to this rule. But from what I’ve seen, I have to disagree.
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