Columns

Good morning, thanks for that warm welcome and, Gil Alterovitz, thanks for the kind introduction. More importantly, my thanks to you and your team for hosting this important event.

California's “failure to protect” law holds parents responsible for “willful or negligent failure” to safeguard their children from harm or the risk of harm. Under the law, children with significant risk of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, as well as neglect, can become dependents of the court and placed under the supervision of child protection services (CPS). 

The United States grew older, faster, last decade. The share of residents 65 or older grew by more than a third from 2010 to 2020 and at the fastest rate of any decade in 130 years, while the share of children declined, according to new figures from the most recent census.

Contrary to popular belief, firearm deaths in the United States are statistically more likely in small towns, not major cities, according to new research. Across the country, gun suicides are more common than gun homicides, and gun suicides are largely responsible for an increase in gun deaths over the past few decades, the study also finds.

President Joe Biden abruptly ended the national COVID-19 emergency last Monday, a month early and with little fanfare, after Congress forced his hand.