Vail Kohnert-Yount is a student at Harvard Law School.
The New York Times reports that children fare better when their teachers are diverse. The majority of U.S. teachers are white women—77% of teachers are women, and 80% are white—but research shows that students, especially boys, benefit when at least one teacher shares their race or gender. For example, when black children had a single black teacher between third and fifth grades, boys were significantly less likely to later drop out of high school, and both boys and girls were more likely to attend college. Although the teacher workforce has grown more racially diverse in the past three decades, it has also become more female. Beyond training and hiring more diverse teachers in the long term, researchers say that schools can improve outcomes by educating teachers about biases and stereotypes.
CNBC reports that in a survey of workers from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 56% said they have not fully recovered from the Great Recession. Although by many measures today’s economy is strong, 7 in 10 Americans said they believe that there will be more financial crises in the future.
Some observers speculate that should Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed to the Supreme Court, his open seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals might be filled by Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta. Sources say that Acosta is interested in a judgeship and has the support of various Republican groups, including the Federalist Society led by Leonard Leo, who is widely credited with championing President Trump’s most influential judicial picks.
Amazon responded to the criticism it faced after two researchers revealed that it filed a patent for a system that would put its warehouse workers in cages. Amazon defended itself by arguing that the system has never been implemented and that it was designed for worker safety to allow humans to safely enter robot-only zones.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.
September 8
DC Circuit to rule on deference to NLRB, more vaccine exemption cases, Senate considers ban on forced arbitration for age discrimination claims.
September 7
Another weak jobs report, the Trump Administration's refusal to arbitrate with federal workers, and a district court judge's order on the constitutionality of the Laken-Riley Act.
September 5
Pro-labor legislation in New Jersey; class action lawsuit by TN workers proceeds; a report about wage theft in D.C.
September 4
Eighth Circuit avoids a challenge to Minnesota’s ban on captive audience meetings; ALJ finds that Starbucks violated the NLRA again; and a district court certifies a class of behavioral health workers pursuing wage claims.