In the global climate fight, 2015 could be the year for innovation, collaboration and partnership. We have already see this in operation with the energy and climate language associated with the nuclear trade and verification elements of President Barack Obama’s diplomatic trip to India, which drew to a close this week. As he charts a path this year, let’s not forget that Obama legitimately helped rewrite the energy and environmental playing field in 2014. The United States Environmental…

At Edwin G. Foreman High School on Thursday, Avery Huberts watched as Christophir Rangel and Iann Trigveros worked on a math problem. On a recent afternoon, the banter of boisterous adolescents at Edwin G. Foreman High School, in a poor, racially and ethnically mixed Chicago neighborhood, echoed off the corridor walls. But Room 214 was as silent as a meditation retreat. Inside, 16 ninth- and 10th-grade African-American and Latino boys were working, two-on-one, with a tutor. They’re among 1,326 boys in 12…

Tell us a little bit about CrowdDefend - what is its main platform and what goals is it ultimately trying to achieve? CrowdDefend is a crowdfunding platform exclusively for the legal space. Our mission is to help expand access to justice for individuals, organizations, and businesses that can’t otherwise afford to hire counsel to defend or prosecute a case. For launch we are working with some of the top legal aid organizations from across the country to help…

by Anshuman Tiwari A Gurgaon rickshaw driver. To visit Kapashera you must leave the rickshaw behind. Photo: flickr.com/pastalane. Creative Commons, non-commercial. India’s new government in Delhi has promised to create more jobs and tackle urban chaos. Yet a stone’s throw away from where decisions are made is an example of how the government creates chaos. Here, multiple agencies’ overlapping jurisdictions create a situation in which even those with secure jobs cannot find decent…

Food Tank, in partnership with The George Washington University, is hosting the 1st Annual Food Tank Summit in Washington D.C. on January 21-22, 2015. This two-day event will feature more than 75 different speakers from the food and agriculture field. Researchers, farmers, chefs, policy makers, government officials, and students will come together for panels on topics including food waste, urban agriculture, family farmers, farm workers, and more. Food Tank recently had the opportunity to speak with Saru Jayaraman, Co-Founder…

The Goldman School doctoral student served two terms in state penitentiaries for armed robbery, first in Oregon and then in California. His experience fuels his doctoral research and propelled him to write Prison as Punishment, which combines firsthand accounts of life inside prison with policy analysis and recommendations. "My most recent term convinced me that nothing about how we incarcerate people is productive or providing anything for society beyond a money drain," says Ralph. "In 2012, California spent $11.5 billion on corrections. 90%…

The Hague Domestic Violence Project is delighted to announce the release of the Practice Guide “Representing Battered Respondents under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.” The guide will be made available nationally and will also be used by attorneys in Japan to represent battered mother respondents. This guide is intended to assist attorneys and domestic violence victim advocates representing battered mother respondents in the United States in cases filed under the Hague Convention…

MEMORANDUM OF LAW Question Presented: Would a federal net worth tax violate Article I, Section 9, Clause 4 of the United States Constitution? Answer: Yes Broad powers of taxation are granted to Congress by express provisions of the Constitution. Article I, Section 8, declares that "Congress shall have the power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises..." This broad power is limited only by the requirement of uniformity, the stipulation that direct taxes be apportioned according to population, and…

American students are enrolling in college in record numbers, but they’re also dropping out in droves. Barely half of those who start four-year colleges, and only a third of community college students, graduate. That’s one of the worst records among developed nations, and it’s a substantial drain on the economy. The American Institutes for Research estimates the cost of those dropouts, measured in lost earnings and taxes, at $4.5 billion. Incalculable are the lost opportunities…

Starting in the mid­1990s, education advocates began making a simple argument: National education standards will level the playing field, assuring that all high school graduates are prepared for first-­year college classes or rigorous career training. While there are reasons to doubt that claim — it’s hard to see how Utah, which spends less than one-­third as much per student as New York, can offer a comparable education — the movement took off…