A former Cornell student alleges she was drugged and raped by seven fraternity members in 2024. The case was initially not prosecuted but is now being reopened by the district attorney after she filed a civil lawsuit. To discuss, we FEATURE Andrea L. Pino-Silva. Pino-Silva is a public scholar on issues of global gender based violence, media framing of violence, portrayals of gender and sexuality and Latinx identity, and narratives of survivorhood. She is co-author of “We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out,” and Co-Founder of the national survivor advocacy organization End Rape on Campus, where she worked for over five years to support students in learning their rights under Title IX, and in changing their campus sexual assault and harassment policies. Pino-Silva is currently the web manager at Democracy Forward. Media includes: The New York Times, Vogue, Good Morning America, CNN.

Midterm elections are coming up in November. To discuss, we FEATURE Wendy Davis. Davis is an attorney, author, former Texas state senator, former city councilperson and the 2014 Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee. Her public service career as an elected official spans three decades. Though she was unsuccessful in her bid to become Texas’ first Democratic governor in 20 years, Davis shattered records in both fundraising and volunteer recruitment. With over $43 million raised in her gubernatorial race, Davis is most proud of the fact that the average donation to her race was only $103, with over 183,000 unique contributors from all over the country supporting her election. In addition to raising an extraordinary amount of money during her campaign, Davis also energized a record number of over 34,000 active volunteers, and built a social media following of over 550,000 Facebook followers and over 180,000 Twitter followers. Media includes: The New York Times, The Guardian, MSNBC, CNN, NPR.

Trump has announced a plan to build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa, just weeks before the 2026 midterm elections. The project is expected to create about 1,750 permanent jobs and begin production in 2030. To discuss, we FEATURE Angela Hanks. Hanks is chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation. She has extensive experience developing and advancing policies and narratives that promote an inclusive and expansive vision for the economy. Hanks most recently served as the associate director of external affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where she led the bureau’s external engagement strategy to ensure its policy agenda was informed by experts, industry stakeholders, and consumers across the country. Hanks was also previously deputy executive director at the Groundwork Collaborative, where she worked to advance an equitable, people-centered vision for the economy. She has also held roles at think tanks and policy organizations where she has written extensively about how to make the labor market more inclusive of marginalized workers. Media includes: Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Ms. Magazine.

The U.S. and China agreed to reduce tariffs on about $60 billion worth of goods following President Trump and Xi Jinping’s summit. The deal covers agricultural products, consumer goods and other non-sensitive items as the two countries seek to ease trade tensions. To discuss, we FEATURE Susan Shirk. Shirk is research professor and founding chair of the 21st Century China Center. She is one of the most influential experts working on U.S.-China relations and Chinese politics. She is also director emeritus of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). She is author of Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise and China: Fragile Superpower, which helped frame the policy debate on China in the U.S. and other countries. Her other publications include "The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China"; "How China Opened its Door"; "Competitive Comrades: Career Incentives and Student Strategies in China"; and her edited book, Changing Media, Changing China. Shirk co-chairs a task force of China experts that issued its second report Course Correction: Toward an Effective and Sustainable China Policy, in February 2019. She is also co-chair of the UC San Diego Forum on U.S.-China Relations, the first ongoing high-level forum focused entirely on the U.S.-China relationship. Media includes: The Washington Post, Lehrer News Hour, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, San Diego Union Tribune.

Trump and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had a private White House dinner Sunday evening after months of tensions over AI safety and government oversight. The meeting came shortly after a court upheld the Pentagon’s decision to restrict Anthropic’s AI models. To discuss, we FEATURE Corinne Cath. Cath is a doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford and at the Alan Turing Institute for data science and artificial intelligence. She is a cultural anthropologist whose research covers engineering culture, Internet governance, and the social significance of data-driven technologies like artificial intelligence. She is an expert in technology policy. Her doctoral research focuses on public interest advocacy in technical spaces, including organizations developing Internet standards and machine learning systems. She is interested in understanding what public interest advocacy and social justice activism look like when NGOs (and civil society more broadly) have to contend with codemakers as opposed to lawmakers. Media includes: Wired, Council on Foreign Relations, NOS, Alan Turing Institute.

Christa Pike is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in nearly 200 years when she is put to death on September 30 for killing a fellow student in 1995. Her attorneys are seeking clemency. To discuss, we FEATURE Diann Y. Rust-Tierney. Rust-Tierney is an associate professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia, David Clarke School of Law, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. She was the executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 2004 to 2022, where she led national and independent state affiliate efforts to end capital punishment in the U.S. and supported death penalty abolition worldwide. She developed and coordinated national policy and legal strategy. As a nationally recognized expert, Rust-Tierney developed strategic communications and policy advocacy to change public opinion about the death penalty and appeared in national media. Media includes: Good Morning America, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Crossfire, BET, BBC.

Five men were arrested near RAF Fairford in England on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack against the U.S.-used airbase. Police are investigating possible links to Iran, but the suspects have since been released on bail. To discuss, we FEATURE Elizabeth Bodine-Baron. Bodine-Baron is an information scientist specializing in complex networks and systems at the RAND Corporation. She also serves as the Director of the Master of Technology Policy Program at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her research interests include network analysis and modeling for both domestic and national security issues. Her recent work for the United States Air Force includes analysis of cybersecurity, logistics, targeting and intelligence policy. She has used network analysis of social media data to study CVE messaging, Russian propaganda, ISIS support and opposition networks, CENTCOM information operations, and US Army recruiting efforts. Media includes: U.S. News & World Report, Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, Austin-American Statesman, CNN, Fox News.

September 15–October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month. To commemorate, we FEATURE Vanessa Pérez-Rosario. Pérez-Rosario is professor of Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is currently working on a new book project tentatively titled “Las Girlfriends: A Cultural History of Latina Feminisms, 1980-1990” for which she was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship. She is the author of Becoming Julia de Burgos: The Making of a Puerto Rican Icon, which was published in a Spanish edition titled Julia de Burgos: la creación de un ícono puertorriqueño. She is editor of the bilingual critical edition I Am My Own Path: Selected Writings of Julia de Burgos and of Hispanic Caribbean Literature of Migration: Narratives of Displacement. Media includes: Huffington Post, NY1, ABC, NPR.