Today, Ohioans are voting in the state's special election on an issue that would make it significantly harder for voter led initiatives to pass. If successful, the referendum will make it more difficult for abortion-rights groups to keep abortion legal in the state. To discuss,we FEATURE Jennifer Driver. Driver is the senior director of reproductive rights with the State Innovation Exchange. She is a reproductive health, rights, and justice policy and advocacy leader with nearly 15 years in the field. Her work centers on addressing systems that add burdens or barriers to accessing full reproductive health information and services— paying particular attention to communities of color, immigrants, system involved youth, and LGBTQ communities. Prior to joining SiX, Driver served as the vice president of policy and strategic partnerships with SIECUS (the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States), where she provided leadership to drive the organization’s federal and state policy and advocacy efforts. Media includes: The Washington Post, Vogue, The New York Times, Rewire, The Hill, CNN, MSNBC.

Raymond Mattia, a Native American man, was killed outside his home in Arizona by Border Patrol. The three Border Patrol agents shot him nine times on a remote corner of the Tohono O’odham reservation. Mattia was unarmed. To discuss, we FEATURE Seánna Howard. Howard teaches courses in international human rights and Indigenous peoples and is the director of the International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop. Professor Howard has been a staff attorney and professor with the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program since 2006. She has represented indigenous communities before the Inter-American and United Nations human rights systems, including the Western Shoshone, the Chiricahua Apache, the Navajo Nation and the Water Protectors Legal Collective in the US; the Maya of Belize; and the Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group of Canada. Media includes: Rolling Stone, Ladysmith Chronicle, AZ Business Magazine, Elko Daily Free Press.

President Biden's new student loan forgiveness plan has been challenged by the Cato Institute and Mackinac Center, claiming that the federal government does not have the authority to forgive the debt. To discuss, we FEATURE Angela Peoples. Peoples is a strategist, trainer, and social justice economist focused on building movements for gender justice and Black liberation. A graduate of Western Michigan University, where she studied political science and Africana studies, Peoples got her start as a progressive advocate in 2006, fighting to stop an anti-affirmative action ballot initiative. She continued building student power and fighting for college access and affordability as legislative director of the United States Students Association and as policy and advocacy manager of the Center for American Progress' youth organizing division. Peoples also spent three years working to improve consumer protection laws for student loan borrowers and young consumers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Media includes: The New York Times, The Hill, The Kojo Nnamdi Show.

Two people have died and 30 are missing after two shipwrecks off Lampedusa, an Italian island off its southern coast. Both boats were carrying migrants. To discuss, we FEATURE Lamis Abdelaaty. Abdelaaty is associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Her research focuses on refugees in international relations. Her book, Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees, asks why countries open their borders to some refugees while blocking others, and why a number of countries have given the United Nations control of asylum procedures and refugee camps on their territory. Abdelaaty's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society, and her articles have appeared or are forthcoming in Annual Review of Sociology, International Interactions, International Journal of Human Rights, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, and Political Studies. Media includes: The Washington Post, Vox, Yahoo! News, CNN.

Following the Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia, China has shown support for a third round of peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. To discuss, we FEATURE Katarzyna Kubiak. Kubiak is the structured dialogue officer at Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. She has over a decade of professional experience in academia, think tanks, NGOs and IGOs, advising European decision-makers and facilitating international security dialogue on conventional and nuclear arms control, risk reduction, nonproliferation, and new emerging technologies, mainly in the NATO-Russia context. At the OSCE, Kubiak supports the Structured Dialogue to enhance understanding on the current and future challenges and risks to security in the OSCE area that could serve as a common solid basis for a way forward, create a conducive environment to reinvigorate conventional arms control and CSBMs, and incubate ideas for other OSCE bodies. Researcher by heart, coordinator by nature and a passionate mediator by choice, Kubiak aims at channeling collective energy towards finding common denominators and setting constructive agendas. Media includes: Deutsche Welle, Russia Today, ELN.

West African countries will be meeting on Thursday to discuss the coup in Niger. To discuss, we FEATURE Donna A. Patterson. Patterson is a professor and the chair of the Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy at Delaware State University. She also directs the Africana Studies program. Patterson is on the editorial advisory boards of Africa Today and the World Medical and Health Policy Journal. She is an associate review editor for the American Historical Review. Patterson is the editor of the Routledge Research in Health and Healing in Africa and the African Diaspora. She has published scholarly articles on Senegal, COVID-19, pharmaceutical markets, women, pharmacists, and Ebola. She is currently working on projects on Ebola, COVID-19, and on drug trafficking and consumption. Her research has taken her to a number of countries in Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean with the bulk of her work taking place in Senegal, Ethiopia, and France. Media includes: Slate, The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Al Jazeera, Globe and Mail, South China Morning Post, San Diego Union Tribune, African Arguments, ABC, CBS, PBS.

Three of Lizzo's former dancers—Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez—have filed a lawsuit against her alleging sexual harassment, religious harassment, and body discrimination. To discuss, we FEATURE Jessica E. Martinez. Martinez is co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH). Her experience in worker health and safety has been extensive and enriched by both her personal and professional encounters. At the core of her leadership is her ability and dedication to workers’ rights. Ms. Martinez is committed to protecting workers and continuously improving workplace safety and health, especially those most vulnerable to poor working conditions - low-wage workers of color, immigrants, women, and youth. A well-respected strategist in economic, racial justice and occupational safety and health movements, Martinez has appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, CNN en Español, NPR.

Barbie, which was directed by Greta Gerwig, has reached $1 billion at the box office, making it the first blockbuster solely directed by a woman. To discuss, we FEATURE Melissa Silverstein. Silverstein is the founder and publisher of Women and Hollywood, an initiative and website that educates, advocates, and agitates for gender diversity and inclusion in Hollywood and the global film industry. She is a speaker and consultant with extensive expertise in the area of women and Hollywood. She is the artistic director and co-founder of The Athena Film Festival at Barnard College which is a weekend of inspiring films that tell the extraordinary stories of fierce and fearless female leaders. In 2013, she published the first book from Women and Hollywood, In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk Directing, which is a compilation of over 40 interviews that have appeared on the site. Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, More Magazine, CNN, BBC.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup continues in Australia and New Zealand. To discuss, we FEATURE Qiana Martin. As an award-winning entrepreneur, soccer visionary and Super Bowl ad creator, Martin's journey of defying expectations has transported her from playing street soccer with guys in parks to traveling the world participating in the sport and helping global brands connect with soccer fans. Drawing from an exceptional record for landing game changing opportunities, Martin's company Eat Soccer was awarded an opportunity to produce two events in New York City on behalf of the Chelsea F.C. and World Jewish Congress’ Red Card for Hate Initiative. Her unique expertise, innovative approaches and diverse cultural experiences have garnered features with Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Men’s Health, Huffington Post, Our World with Black Enterprise and U.S. News & World Report.