Walmart has announced that they will now cover abortions for employees if there are health risks to pregnancy or in cases of rape. To discuss, we FEATURE Lisa Maldonado. Maldonado is one of the founders of the Reproductive Health Access Project and has served as the organization’s Executive Director since 2005. She has devoted her career to working on reproductive health issues, especially as they affect women, adolescents and immigrants. Maldonada has worked with large family planning programs in Latin America and Africa and, for over 10 years, worked with local New York City primary care clinics providing health care to Latino women and adolescents. She is on the board of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and is active within the American Public Health Association–having served as co-chair of the Association’s Abortion Task Force, President of its Latino Caucus and as a Governing Councilor for the Population, Sexual and Reproductive Health section. Media includes: Vice, US News and World Report, Glamour.

WMC SheSource has a list of additional experts for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

A federal appeals court has put a hold on a lower court's decision to require U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham to testify in the Georgia election probe, which is looking into possible illegal efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. To discuss, we FEATURE Venkayla Haynes. Haynes is the Deputy Communications Director for Black Voters Matter Fund, an organization dedicated to expanding Black voter engagement and increasing progressive power that played a pivotal role in increasing record-breaking Black voter turnout in the 2020 Presidential Election and the 2021 Georgia Special Election. She is responsible for developing, implementing and managing all online communications for the organization. She has grown the organization's digital program extensively in under two years. Media includes: The Nation, Forbes, USA Today, Huffington Post, Vox, NBC, NPR.

Three Arkansas law enforcement officers have been suspended after video footage of them beating a man during arrest was circulated on social media. To discuss, we FEATURE Ivonne Roman. Roman, a retired police chief, has 25 years of experience in urban policing, having held every rank from police officer to police chief. She is an expert on evidence-based policing, police and criminal justice reform, organization legitimacy and procedural justice, disorder policing, broken windows, and zero tolerance policing. She founded the Women’s Leadership Academy in 2018, to address the stagnating rates of women in policing, and the high attrition rates for female applicants and recruits. She works as a consultant on topics of recruitment and retention of policewomen, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requirements for validating physical fitness tests. Media includes: Vice, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, NBC.

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan has been charged under the country's anti-terrorism act after Khan spoke at a rally criticizing the government and top police officials. To discuss, we FEATURE Samina Ahmed. Ahmed oversees Crisis Group’s work in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nepal. Together with our analysts throughout the region, she prepares reports on the political, social, economic and military factors that increase the risks of extremism, internal conflict and war, and she makes policy recommendations to overcome these threats. In general, her team focuses on political, security and stability issues in South Asia, including problems of authoritarianism; Islamic extremism, domestic and regional terrorism; educational, judicial, and security sector reform; international involvement and intervention in the region, including US relations with authoritarian states; and domestic insurgencies and the risk of inter-state conflict. Extensive media experience.

A new gender gap has emerged in the job market as men have recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic whereas women have not. To discuss, we FEATURE Siri Chilazi. Chilazi is a Research Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Her life’s work is to advance gender equality in the workplace through research and research translation. She operates at the intersection of academia and practice, both conducting research on how organizations can become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, and bringing those research insights to practitioners through speaking, training, workshops, and media appearances. As an advisor and scholar, Siri frequently collaborates with organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies and leading professional service firms in order to close gender gaps. Media includes: Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, BBC.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced that a decision on whether to extend the student loan debt moratorium, which ends next week, is pending. To discuss, we FEATURE Betsy Mayotte. Mayotte is the President and Founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA). She has been working in the student loan industry doing compliance and advocacy work for over 20 years and has helped thousands of borrowers with their student loans. Mayotte has served as a primary negotiator for several federal Title IV negotiated rulemaking sessions on topics such as the use of student loans at foreign schools, loan rehabilitation and borrower defense to repayment. In addition, Mayotte frequently conducts regulatory trainings for the higher education financing industry both in the United States and as far away as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Bloomberg, NPR, Fox.

In a BBC investigation, journalists looked into Reddit groups that were sharing unconsenting intimate photos and videos of women, often accompanied by degrading language and threats of rape. To discuss, we FEATURE Asia A. Eaton. Eaton an Associate Professor of Psychology at Florida International University (FIU), where she runs the Power, Women, and Relationships (PWR) Lab. She is also the Head of Research for the nonprofit organization Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), which is working to understand and end cyber abuse. As a feminist social psychologist, she studies how gender intersects with identities such as race, class, and sexual orientation to affect individuals’ access to and experience with power in (a) intimate partner relationships and (b) the workplace. Media includes: The New York Times, Psychology Today, Prevention Magazine, Mic, BBC.

The U.S. midterm elections are coming up and, as primary results come in, we FEATURE Gayle Alberda. Alberda received her PhD in Political Science from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and her M.P.A. and B.S. degree from Central Michigan University. Alberda's prior work experience in the political field includes lobbying in Washington D.C. as well as the state and local levels, working on numerous campaigns including state house, city council, governor, president, and U.S. Senate races in multiple states. Before coming to Fairfield University, she was a visiting assistant professor at Drake University in Des Moines, IA. Professor Alberda’s research focuses on election laws, political participation and civic engagement, and election administration. Media includes: The Daily Iowan, Times-Delephic, The Washington Post, Associated Press, The Des Moines Register, NPR.