Author: The Center Square

Report: Eighth-Grade Students Need Whole School Year to Reach Pre-Pandemic Performance

The Center Square
Teacher and Students

An education organization that administers a nationwide assessment has found that students are still not performing as well as they were immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic and that students’ achievement gap worsened in the 2023-24 school year as compared to before COVID.

NWEA, which issues the Measures of Academic Progress, said in a report this week that some middle school students are still an entire school year behind where they were before the pandemic in almost every grade as schools are slated to run out of federal relief this fall.

Read More

Environmentalists Grateful for Appellate Win over Chemical Industry Giant

The Center Square
Chemours

Health advisories issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the risks of chemicals produced at a North Carolina plant on the Cape Fear River are lawful and not reviewable by a court.

In a ruling by three judges Tuesday at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, Justice Arianna Freeman wrote, “The health advisory provides guidance, but it imposes no obligations, prohibitions, or restrictions. The health advisory also does not give rise to any ‘direct and appreciable legal consequences.’”

Read More

Battleground States Absent Hurdles to Place Harris on Ballot

The Center Square
Kamala Harris

Election laws in all seven battleground states will allow Democrats to place onto ballots the name of Vice President Kamala Harris, or another candidate if one materializes.

As President Joe Biden’s supporters rally around Harris to take his spot as the party nominee, Republicans are planning legal challenges. Biden announced his decision via social media Sunday afternoon, with one month until the Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Read More

Poll: Inflation, Immigration, Economy Are Top Concerns of Voters

The Center Square
Shopping

The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted prior to the weekend assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, found that likely voters said inflation/price increases (45%), illegal immigration (36%) and the economy/jobs (28%) were the issues that matter most to them heading into the November election.

The poll was conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights from July 8-11 and surveyed nearly 2,300 likely voters, including 1,006 Republicans, 1,117 Democrats, and 172 true (non-leaning) independents. It has a margin of error of 2.1%. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll is one of only six national tracking polls in the United States.

Read More

U.S. Voters Suspect AI Could Impact Their Lives as It Develops According to Poll

The Center Square
ChatGPT

New poll data of registered and potential voters reveals a general consensus that artificial intelligence could pose a threat to people as it further develops.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is technology broadly used to complete tasks, learn information, and enable computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Recently, AI technology has become more sophisticated and more widely used at an increasing rate. 

Read More

Democrats Chart Unknown Legal Territory as the Party Scrambles to Replace Joe Biden

The Center Square

President Joe Biden on Sunday succumbed to pressure from leaders of his own party and suspended his reelection campaign. Several organizations have explained the process to replace him as the Democratic nominee.

Read More

Trump, in First Rally Since Butler, Says He ‘Took a Bullet for Democracy’

The Center Square

In his first campaign trail stop since surviving an assassination attempt and accepting the party nomination at the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump on Saturday appealed to auto workers in Michigan.

Read More

South Carolina Transportation Officials Divide Additional Transportation Funding

The Center Square
Justin Powell

South Carolina transportation officials have approved updates to the state’s bridge program, deciding how to allocate $200 million in additional money state lawmakers approved.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation Commission directed half the $200 million in one-time funding to bridges on secondary roads. The remaining $100 million will go toward bridges on primary and interstate routes.

Read More