Author: Breccan F. Thies, Washington Examiner
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Fluoride in water linked to lower IQ in children: Government report
Water with twice the recommended limit of fluoride has been linked to lower IQs in children, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report. The Wednesday report, from HHS’s National Toxicology Program, acknowledges the potential neurological risk of high levels of fluoride exposure “with moderate confidence,” the second-highest level of confidence used by…
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Columbia University hit with congressional subpoena in antisemitism investigation
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, sent a subpoena to Columbia University on Wednesday, tightening the screws in its antisemitism investigation. The subpoena, sent to acting Columbia University President Katrina Armstrong, comes exactly one week after Minouche Shafik resigned from her post as the school’s president amid months…
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Federal government should regulate homeschooling, legacy magazine says
Scientific American, a left-leaning legacy science magazine, called for the federal regulation of homeschooling on Monday, saying parents who homeschool should be subjected to a “background check.” The editors of the magazine sent around their call in a June 17 newsletter, citing statistics showing 3% of American children are homeschooled and noting that the coronavirus…
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Pro-Palestinian campus protests organized by groups with terrorism ties: Report
EXCLUSIVE — The pro-Palestinian protests and encampments that wreaked havoc over universities across the country this spring are connected to professional activism networks and terrorist organizations, according to a new report. The report from Restoration News, a project of the conservative Restoration of America PAC, connected the dots between encampments, national organizations pushing the boycott,…
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‘Abuse of power’: Federal judge blocks Biden’s Title IX overhaul
A federal judge in Louisiana has blocked the Biden administration’s Title IX overhaul for four states, calling the rewrite a “threat to democracy” and an “abuse of power.” U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty issued a preliminary injunction Thursday to the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules, which changed the definition of sex to include…
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Texas Democrats look to flip state House seats by attacking school choice
Democrats in Texas are looking to flip state House seats by running against Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) school voucher program and other Republican education priorities. Members of the state Democratic Party spoke last week about the Republican reforms at their convention in El Paso, where many in attendance criticized using taxpayer dollars to fund the…
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University tax-exempt status under threat after semester of campus antisemitism
House Republicans are eyeing the tax-exempt status of universities as a way to ensure administrators will stop campus antisemitism. At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Thursday titled “Crisis on Campus: Antisemitism, Radical Faculty, and the Failure of University Leadership,” Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) called into question the tax-exempt status of universities that…
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Online course provider launches AI plagiarism detection tool
Online course provider Coursera is launching a tool to detect whether students used artificial intelligence to complete their work. The detection tool is part of an entire suite of “academic integrity” features launched Tuesday, as Coursera joins a growing education technology industry. The suite of tools actually uses AI to assist educators in finding fraud,…
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College financial aid officers ask Congress to intervene in Biden’s gainful employment demands
A national association representing thousands of college financial aid officers is asking Congress to extend the Biden administration’s deadline for reporting new financial transparency metrics. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, which represents roughly 29,000 financial aid professionals at nearly 3,000 institutions of higher education, sent a letter this week to the House and Senate committees with…
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Louisiana moves forward with plan to hold schools accountable with new grading system
Louisiana is preparing to hold K-12 schools accountable by overhauling their grading system to raise achievement standards. A state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education committee approved a new grading plan on Tuesday, with a full board vote set for Wednesday, a state Department of Education spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. While a similar measure failed…