WHO announced that they are halting their hydroxychloroquine studies after concerns that the drug may be doing more harm than good. To discuss, we FEATURE Suzanne B. Robotti. Robotti founded MedShadow Foundation in 2012 to bring the side effects of medications into the public discourse after two major health issues drove her to become engaged in patient advocacy. Robotti’s mother, like millions of other women in the 1950s and 1960s, took the prescription drug DES (diethylstilbestrol), which was thought to prevent future miscarriages. DES was eventually taken off the market in 1971. When Robotti reached childbearing age herself, she discovered she was infertile due to DES exposure. Media includes: Reader's Digest, Everyday Health, New York Daily News, Psych Central.

Public health experts have expressed concern over the lack of COVID-19 testing kits in African countries as resources have been limited due to international competition over kits. To discuss, we FEATURE Emira Woods. Woods is a member of the International Working Group for Africans Rising, a network of African social movements working to build peace, seek justice and manifest dignity. She has served as Director of Social Impact at ThoughtWorks, a global technology firm. Her work forged strategic relationships linking social movements to innovative technology, funding, policymakers and other resources. Originally from Liberia, Emira led ThoughtWorks’ efforts to bring more robust technology solutions to the Ebola crisis. Media includes: Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy in Focus, Baltimore Sun.

As the meatpacking industry has tried to stay open, many of its employees have caught the coronavirus— Tyson Foods, the largest manufacturer of meat, has seen a jump from 1,600 to more than 7,000 employees testing positive for the coronavirus over the last month. To discuss safety concerns for employees, we FEATURE Premilla Nasaden. Nasaden is a professor of history at Barnard College and writes and speaks on issues of race, gender, social policy and labor history. She is most interested in visions of social change, and the ways in which poor and working-class people, especially women of color, have fought for social justice. She has published extensively on the multiple meanings of feminism, alternative labor movements, and grass-roots community organizing. Media includes: Nations Magazine, Queens Tribune, American Prospect.

Alberta's Energy Minister Sonya Savage has said that now, during the pandemic, is the best time to build the Trans Mountain oil pipeline because protests of more than 15 people are no longer allowed. To discuss, we FEATURE Mary Kathryn Nagle. Nagle is an attorney/playwright working to restore and preserve tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction. Nagle graduated summa cum laude from Tulane Law School and subsequently clerked on both the federal district court and United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. As a Partner at Pipestem Law PC, she has filed briefs in the United States Supreme Court that advocate for safety for Native women from domestic violence and sexual assault. Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, MSNBC, NPR.

As social distancing orders are relaxed, restaurants are beginning to open up despite there being a limited amount of protective gear for all workers. Additionally, tipped workers who have lost their jobs are often not eligible for unemployment benefits. To discuss, we FEATURE Saru Jayaraman. Jayaraman is the Co-Founder and President of One Fair Wage, the co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United), and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been fighting to raise wages and working conditions for restaurant and other service workers for nearly 20 years. Media includes: Democracy Now!, The New York Times, WNYC's The Takeaway, MSNBC, CBS.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a 17 percent drop in carbon emissions, but the Global Carbon Project scientists who conducted the study warn that systematic change is needed if the world is to meet its Paris climate commitments. To discuss, we FEATURE Paula DiPerna. DiPerna is a Strategic Advisor for North America for the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and also serves on the Advisory Board of the NTR Foundation, an environmental and leadership development foundation with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, as well as Global Kids, based in New York City. She served formerly as President of the International division of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), where she led the development and expansion of CCX membership among emitters of greenhouse gases (ghgs), which eventually became the largest baseline of capped emissions of any nation in the world. Media includes: The New York Times, Forbes, CNN, CNBC, NPR.

In a graphic video shared across social media, a Minneapolis police officer is seen kneeling on a black man's neck as he repeatedly said that he couldn't breathe. George Floyd, the victim in the video, was killed at the scene and the officers involved were terminated. To discuss, we FEATURE Andrea J. Ritchie. Through research, writing, legal services, and organizing, Ritchie has dedicated the past two decades to challenging racial profiling, police violence, criminalization and mass incarceration, with a particular focus on the experiences of women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of color. She is the author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color (Beacon Press 2017) and co-author of Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women (African American Policy Forum 2015), and Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States (Beacon Press 2011). Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Root, MSNBC, NPR.

On Monday, a video was spread on social media of a white woman, Amy Cooper, threatening an African American man by saying she would call the police and emphasize that "an African American man" was "threatening" her. She became angry after Christian Cooper, the man at the scene, told her to leash her dog because they were in an area of Central Park that did not allow unleashed dogs. To discuss, we FEATURE Karen Fleshman. Fleshman is the founder of Racy Conversations and is a racial equity trainer and government accountability activist striving to build and support a community of people committed to love, learning, accountability, and action on race in America. Her mission is to inspire the first antiracist generation in the United States. Media includes: Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, CBS, NBC.

Netflix released its docuseries Jeffrey Epstein: Dirty Rich today and will examine Epstein's crimes, which include sexual abuse and trafficking. Many of his survivors will be featured in the docuseries as they speak out and come forward. To discuss, we FEATURE Kristen Houser. Houser is a leading expert on sexual violence. With decades of experience in the field, Houser is a go-to source for context and expert opinion to national, regional, and international media on sexual assault issues and cases. Houser is currently a lead spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, a national partnership working to end sexual violence in one generation. She provides expert opinion, context and facts about sexual assault to media covering high-profile cases, including those of Bill Cosby and Jerry Sandusky. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Forbes, CNN.

Gavin Grimm's case returned to the court yesterday. The case began in 2015 when Grimm was barred from using the boys bathroom at his high school because he is transgender. To discuss, we FEATURE Heidi Peck Breaux. Breaux possesses an expertise in counseling individuals of marginalized identities, training staff that serve diverse populations, and teaching anti-oppressive practice in higher education. Breaux has helped develop social work best practices. She served on the NYC Department of Health LGBTQ Employee Resource Group as a leader for the transgender and gender non-conforming inclusive sub-group and participated in developing programs for the Women Who Have Sex with Women group and Transgender Practice Patient training. Extensive media experience.

The Trump administration has pulled out of the Open Skies Surveillance Treaty, accusing Russia of not adhering to the treaty. The treaty allows countries to fly their aircrafts over each other's territories. To discuss, we FEATURE Alexandra Bell. Bell is the Senior Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation, where she focuses on nuclear weapons policy, emerging threats, and broader U.S. and international security issues. Bell was the Director for Strategic Outreach in the Office of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the Department of State. Media includes: The Washington Post, POLITICO, Foreign Policy, Vanity Fair, The Hill, CBS, NPR.