5 Charts on Views of Press Freedom Around the World5 Charts on Views of Press Freedom Around the World

5 Charts on Views of Press Freedom Around the World. Pew Research Center. Aidan Connaughton. May 1, 2020.

Since the United Nations proclaimed May 3 World Press Freedom Day in 1993, the day has been used to celebrate the fundamental principles of media freedom, as well as to assess the state of this freedom and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. To mark the day, here are five charts that show how people globally see the freedom of the press. All findings are taken from Pew Research Center surveys. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

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Americans’ Views of the News Media During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Americans’ Views of the News Media During the COVID-19 Outbreak. Pew Research Center. Jeffrey Gottfried, Mason Walker and Amy Mitchell. May 8, 2020.

Even in crisis, Republicans and Democrats remain starkly divided in their attitudes toward journalists

Coverage of the current coronavirus outbreak has consumed much of the news media’s attention as Americans look for information in a time of high anxiety and uncertainty. Overall, more Americans hold positive than negative views of the news media’s coverage of the COVID-19 crisis, though broader views of the media are more evenly divided or more negative. And Republicans and Democrats continue to stand far apart in their opinions of the media during the pandemic, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted April 20-26, 2020, among 10,139 U.S. adults who are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

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Reauthorization of Federal Highway Programs

Reauthorization of Federal Highway Programs. Congressional Research Service. Robert S. Kirk. April 22, 2020

Federal highway construction and safety programs are currently authorized through September 30, 2020, under the five-year Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act; P.L. 114-94). For the 1,027,849-mile system of federal-aid highways, the FAST Act provided an average of $45 billion annually. Although there are exceptions, federally funded projects are generally limited to this system that includes roughly 25% of all U.S. public road mileage. Of these funds, nearly 93% are distributed to the states via formula. The states have nearly complete control over the use of these funds, within the limits of federal planning, eligibility, and oversight rules. Money is not provided up front. A state is reimbursed after work is started, costs are incurred, and the state submits a voucher to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The highway program focuses on highway construction and planning, and does not support operations or routine maintenance. The federal share of project costs is generally 80%, but 90% for Interstate System projects.

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Energy Transition: Coal as the Canary

Energy Transition: Coal as the Canary. YaleGlobal. Joshua Busby, Morgan D. Bazilian and Dustin Mulvaney. April 23, 2020

New challenges and innovations put economies in constant transition, but Covid-19 has applied an abrupt halt to economic activity for most of the world. Huge shifts were already underway in global energy markets with the rise of shale gas and renewables before the pandemic. Societies must prepare to mitigate the consequences for workers and local economies as pressure grows to phase out fossil fuels and cut emissions and pollution, explain Joshua Busby, with the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas-Austin; Morgan D. Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines; and Dustin Mulvaney, with San Jose State University. Transitions to new energies must consider workers and communities that depend upon fossil fuels as well as the communities that lack energy access or suffer from pollution. Nations with industrial strategies focused on new technologies such as electric vehicles may be more competitive, providing clarity for investors while providing resources in funding inevitable energy transitions. The writers conclude, “Countries that remain overwhelmingly reliant on legacy energy technologies risk exposing workers and communities to large losses in sectors that become obsolete.” Energy innovation and transitions could contribute to post-pandemic economic revitalization. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

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Strategies and Challenges in Feeding Out-of-School Students

Strategies and Challenges in Feeding Out-of-School Students. Urban Institute. Jonathan Schwabish et al. April 21, 2020

In response to school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s school nutrition programs have transformed into emergency community feeding systems, delivering meals to out-of-school students, their families, and in many districts, other members of the community. Because the crisis is expected to continue and the sustainability of many districts’ emergency operations is unknown, researchers at the Urban Institute assessed the challenges facing families and districts across the nation, the strategies districts are employing to ensure students and families can continue to access nutritious meals, and the situation’s implications for policy changes or future emergencies. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

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An Estimation of the Economic Costs of Social-Distancing Policies

An Estimation of the Economic Costs of Social-Distancing Policies. RAND Corporation. Aaron Strong, Jonathan William Welburn. May 4, 2020.

Many state and local officials are making social-distancing policy decisions based on the actions of other locations rather than through a decisionmaking framework that evaluates these measures and their reduction of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019. To help provide one piece of that information, RAND researchers developed a series of economic models aimed at filling in the gap and at estimating a rough order of magnitude of the economic consequences associated with a small set of social-distancing policies. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

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Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) and COVID-19

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) and COVID-19. Congressional Research Service. Scott D. Szymendera. Updated April 27, 2020

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not currently have a specific standard that protects healthcare or other workers from airborne or aerosol transmission of disease or diseases transmitted by airborne droplets. Some in Congress, and some groups representing healthcare and other workers, are calling on OSHA to promulgate an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from exposure to SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) gives OSHA the ability to promulgate an ETS that would remain in effect for up to six months without going through the normal review and comment process of rulemaking. OSHA, however, has rarely used this authority in the past—not since the courts struck down its ETS on asbestos in 1983.

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Covid-19 Demands Innovative Ideas for Financing the SDGs

Covid-19 Demands Innovative Ideas for Financing the SDGs. Center for Strategic & International Studies. Daniel F. Runde, Christopher Metzger, Hareem F. Abdullah. May 7, 2020

THE ISSUE

The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbates the challenges to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlights the need for a shared framework for tackling global challenges. No country in the world is on track to meet all the goals by 2030, and collective action is needed to make real progress.
Even before the current global pandemic, the financing gap to achieve the SDGs by 2030 was estimated to be $2.5 trillion per year. The bulk of this financing is expected to come from developing countries’ government revenue and savings, which can be increased through concerted domestic resource mobilization (DRM) efforts.
New sources of private capital could be used to fill the SDG financing gap but will require innovative and scalable approaches. Developing countries would benefit from mobilizing local pools of capital as well as from increased foreign direct investment (FDI), remittances, and investments from pension funds. Financial tools and approaches such as guarantees, green and infrastructure bonds, and advanced purchase agreements can be used to encourage participation from untapped private sources. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

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Gendered Laws and Women in the Workforce

Gendered Laws and Women in the Workforce. Peterson Institute for International Economics. Marie Hyland (World Bank), Simeon Djankov (PIIE) and Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg (PIIE). Working Paper 20-7. May 2020

This paper provides the first global look at how gender discrimination by the law affects women’s economic opportunity and charts the evolution of legal inequalities over five decades. Using the World Bank’s newly constructed Women, Business and the Law database, it documents large and persistent gender inequalities, especially with regard to pay and treatment of parenthood. The paper finds positive correlations between more equal laws pertaining to women in the workforce and more equal labor market outcomes, such as higher female labor force participation and a smaller wage gap between men and women. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 21 pages].

Mapping Student Needs during COVID-19

Mapping Student Needs during COVID-19. Urban Institute. Kristin Blagg et al. April 29, 2020

Staff, teachers, and students experienced rapid change as school buildings closed in March 2020 because of the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. In this brief, we use American Community Survey (ACS) data to highlight different types of challenges to remote learning and point to district and educator strategies that might mitigate harm to students as districts navigate long-term school closures. Although many families will face unique circumstances and obstacles, we focus on six factors in addition to poverty: linguistic isolation, child disability status, parents in vulnerable economic sectors, single parents, crowded conditions, and lack of computer or broadband access. We describe the difficulties each circumstance presents and potential solutions for school districts. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 27 pages].