Extra, Extra
Pouch Potatoes: “The program being tested at Wakefield requires students to store phones in magnetically locking pouches during the school day. Peter Balas, principal of the 2,200-student school, said teachers have reported less phone use in the classroom and higher engagement since the pilot launched in September. He’s seen fewer fights and less drama from social media.” WaPo (Gift Article): How a cellphone ban changed the way one high school scrolled. The reactions of students and teachers to these bans are always interesting. But the real headline is that we can’t get young people to avoid their phones without placing them into special locking pouches. Phones are like drugs. Maybe that’s why teens don’t have as much time for actual drugs these days. Unprecedented decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts.
+ Brute Course: “Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister, who is now a vice-president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Amman, told me. ‘Syria should teach the Arab world two things. First, the Arab Spring is not over and won’t be over until the problems of the region—economic prosperity and political inclusion—are properly addressed. Second, those who live by the sword die by the sword. Stability cannot be maintained by brute force.'” The New Yorker: The Remarkable Collapse of Iran’s Powerful Alliances.
+ Burger Chain Gang: An AP special report: Alabama profits off prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for parole. “Best Western, Bama Budweiser and Burger King are among the more than 500 businesses to lease incarcerated workers from one of the most violent, overcrowded and unruly prison systems in the U.S. in the past five years alone, The Associated Press found as part of a two-year investigation into prison labor. The cheap, reliable labor force has generated more than $250 million for the state since 2000 through money garnished from prisoners’ paychecks. Most jobs are inside facilities, where the state’s inmates — who are disproportionately Black — can be sentenced to hard labor and forced to work for free doing everything from mopping floors to laundry. But more than 10,000 inmates have logged a combined 17 million work hours outside Alabama’s prison walls since 2018.”
+ Don’t Buy the Party Uline: “Uline – a giant Wisconsin-based office and shipping supply company controlled by billionaires Liz and Dick Uihlein – shuttles in its own workers from Mexico, who are using tourist visas and visas meant for employees who are entering the US temporarily to receive professional training, known as B1 visas. But instead of being part of a dedicated training program, the Mexican employees stay for one to six months and – sources with direct knowledge of the matter allege – perform normal work in Uline’s US warehouses.” Major Trump donors who complained of immigrant ‘invasion’ used Mexican workers illegally, sources allege. (Shocker.) And here’s a stat that might surprise you (especially if you’ve been on a strict diet of Fox News). US deportations under Biden surpass Trump’s record.
+ The Dill of Victory: “Many states across the country host senior games, which include all types of sports like archery, basketball and mountain biking. But here in Florida, pickleball is the crown jewel.”