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Anglia Ruskin mental health nursing course under review
Nursing and Midwifery Council seeks an "extraordinary review" of ARU's mental health nursing course.
Mamdani and City Council agree on new housing voucher program
Mamdani promised to drop the city’s lawsuit blocking a council-backed expansion of an existing voucher program.
White House forms UFO science panel led by polarizing Harvard professor
A polarizing Harvard astronomer has been appointed to lead a White House panel studying UFOs. Avi Loeb is leading a new Science Advisory Council tasked with finding the origin of unidentified objects spotted by military pilots and others.
Mamdani, City Council reach agreement on $125.8 billion budget
Mamdani said the budget will help make public transit more affordable.
Iowa Business Council projects positive six-month economic outlook
The Iowa Business Council has released its second-quarter Economic Outlook Survey for 2026, showing member expectations for sales, capital spending and employment remain positive for the next six months despite a slight overall decline from the previous quarter. The survey’s overall economic outlook index sits at 64.81 points for the second quarter, a decrease of […]
Florida Council of 100 Releases Q2 Florida CEO Index, Showing Business Confidence Remains Strong Despite National Uncertainty | The Florida Council of 100
Florida Council of 100 Releases Q2 Florida CEO Index, Showing Business Confidence Remains Strong Despite National Uncertainty
Aisha Chughtai taking mental health leave from Minneapolis City Council
KC council wants to crack down on unlicensed businesses that lead to violence
A city law change is being considered weeks after a shooting at an unregistered nightclub.
Mpls council member cites 'mass shootings, federal occupation' for mental health leave
Minneapolis City Council member Aisha Chughtai said on Monday that she plans to take a month-long break from city activities to seek care for her mental health, citing stressors such as an election, mass shootings and a federal occupation as stressors for her condition.
MoCo health officer to update County Council on ‘forever chemicals’ in North Potomac waterway
Plus: Public hearing on suggested revisions to water, sewer comprehensive plan
Will Andy Burnham’s economic vision make us all better off?
Andy Burnham has made his first major speech since returning to Westminster. He set out his vision for a No10 in the North, for more council house building and repeated his claim that Westminster was “broken”.
Minneapolis City Council member Aisha Chughtai taking mental health leave for a month
Minneapolis council member taking leave for mental health treatment, cites turmoil in city
Council Member Aisha Chughtai said the city’s various challenges in recent months have taken their toll on her.
As business concerns mount, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson taps Amazon, Microsoft and others to shape economic strategy
The group includes leaders from technology, aerospace, organized labor, higher education, tribal governments, ports and economic development organizations who will advise the governor on policies aimed at strengthening Washington's economy.
The Entertainment Community Fund Reveals New Board of Trustees Appointments and Leadership Additions
The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, has revealed four new Board members, including one returning member, as well as new appointments to its Western Council and the Actors Fund Home Board of Trustees.
Business Owner Questions Buffalo Council on Business Park
At their last regular meeting in June, the Buffalo City Council was asked by business owner Dustin Smith about the status of lots at the Buffalo Business Park, saying he may be interested in purchasing one. He explained further. Smith said he wanted to know what the city was planning for the business park because […]
Inside California Politics: Former LA city councilmember weighs in on mayoral race
(Inside California Politics) — With Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass now set for a tough reelection campaign against former ally turned rival Nithya Raman, a former member of the L.A. City Council spok…
National City weighs business tax overhaul amid mounting budget pressures
Council to hear proposal June 30. It faces significant opposition from business community.
City of Palms new downtown parking program: How local business react to the change
The Fort Myers City Council recently approved a change impacting parking rates at all three of downtown Fort Myers' parking garages. As it stood, visitors would receive one hour of free parking followed by a hourly rate. Now, the change has made it so visitors are entitled to two free hours followed by a hourly rate. Local business owners and managers said it's a good idea giving visitors more time to bask under the royal palms and indulge in some shopping. But one general manager points out a problem that did not start yesterday, but years prior.
Omaha City Council agenda notes for June 30
Items on new apartments, pedestrian safety improvements, and the city’s food truck ordinance in Tuesday’s agenda.
Colorado Politics Calendar June 29-July 5
CoPo’s weekly political calendar will help you find political and public-policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, […]
Council Explores AI, Quality Improvement and Patient Safety to Advance Community Health
The MHA Council on Health Access and Community Impact held its final meeting of the program year June 4 to examine emerging opportunities and challenges shaping healthcare delivery and advancing community health.
Prosperity Council’s Report Challenges Kotek to Signal That Oregon Is Open for Business
The 15-member panel of business and labor leaders proposed four modest tax code changes, replacing the Climate Protection Program, and some less controversial reforms.
Joint statement – WHO/Europe and CCEE to collaborate on addressing health inequities and loneliness
WHO/Europe and the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) officially signed a Letter of Intent on 23 June to establish a strategic partnership for promoting pan-European dialogue to reduce inequities, enabling every child and adult to live in health, safety and dignity.
City council members request special meeting on planned Sports and Entertainment District
San Antonio Council Districts 1, 5 and 7 want a special meeting before Aug. 7 to guide public input on the Spurs arena’s $75M Community Benefits Agreement as the city considers a $489M Sports and Entertainment District.
Business Council deliberations continue with four bill drafts
Lawmakers on the Joint Appropriations Committee spent another day diving through the Wyoming Business Council’s dealings. This time, they also reviewed draft bills that would influence how the council operates.
Governments are still underestimating the power of sports
Governments should harness the power of sports for their economic development strategies.
Propsal to limit lobbying in city of San Diego politics moves forward
The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to direct staff to begin drafting a proposed ethics reform package aimed at lobbyists and dark money.
Bangor council rejects proposed rules limiting ICE cooperation
One councilor left abruptly in protest during a heated discussion over ICE.
Lawmakers call for answers from Wyoming Business Council leader
After slashing the agency's budget, legislators examine the state's role in economic development.
Arkansas Allocates $5M for New U of A Food Science Center
A new food science research facility at the University of Arkansas is moving forward after the Arkansas Legislative Council approved a $5 m
Majority of business leaders fear a disorderly climate transition: survey
With climate-related costs already rising, global CEOs say they prefer early or gradual policy changes rather than delays, according to a new survey by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
New Orleans Summer Entertainment & The Omni Hotel Controversy
This week on The Get Down, John Stanton breaks down the week ahead in New Orleans, including the City Council's final vote on the controversial Omni Hotel redevelopment plan. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1492300'); }); Jake Clapp shares some upcoming entertainment picks, including Ilana Glazer's tour stop at the Joy Theater, and we take a look at summer bucket list ideas in The Pearl for making the most of the season in New Orleans.Be sure to grab a copy of our latest issue of Gambit and stay tuned for the latest on all things New Orleans at bestofneworleans.com. .donate-gambit-article-module-container { text-align: center; padding: 10px; /* background-color: #24da6d; */ background-color: rgb(153, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 20px; } .donate-gambit-article-module-title { font-weight: bold; color: #fff; } .donate-gambit-article-module-copy { color: #fff !important; font-size: 16px; } .donate-gambit-article-module-button { background-color: black; width: 50%; border-color: black; font-size: 16px; } .donate-gambit-article-module-button:hover { background-color: black; } @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) { .donate-gambit-article-module-button { font-size: 14px; width: 100%; } .donate-gambit-article-module-copy { font-size: 14px; } } BECOME A GAMBIT MEMBER AND JOIN OUR KREWE TODAY For more than 40 years, Gambit has covered New Orleans, for New Orleans. We’ve stood up to city hall with you, cheered the Saints with you, danced in the streets with you and cried over our collective loss with you. And we’re plannin’ on being here for 40 more. To do that, we need your help. Become a Gambit member today and help us continue our mission SUPPORT GAMBIT
National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association et al. v. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. et al.
The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) and its member, the Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania (FHCCP), sued the Trump administration to protect the integrity of the Title X family planning program. Title X is the country’s only dedicated federal program for family planning services. For more than 55 years, the program has provided access to effective contraceptive methods, cancer screenings, testing and treatment for STIs, and other preventive services, with priority given to patients with low incomes.
N.C. A&T College of Education Earns Top National Rating in Science of Reading Teacher Preparation
The undergraduate elementary teacher preparation program in the College of Education (CoEd) at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has earned an A+ rating from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) for how well it prepares future teachers to teach reading to elementary students.
WMO Executive Council seeks to balance growing demands for science and services
“The demand for what WMO delivers and what National Meteorological and Hydrological Services produce - weather forecasts and warnings, climate data and standards and for scientific cooperation - is growing. Every extreme event makes that clearer,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told the opening session.
Solopreneur America! - Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
by Raymond J. Keating – America is a nation of entrepreneurs. In particular, one can make the case that America is a nation of solopreneurs. Solopreneurs are one-man or one-woman businesses. The latest Census Bureau data point to there being approximately 36.8 million business firms in the U.S., and 30.4 million of those are nonemployers, […]
Thousands more business owners — including Springfield council members — disclosing taxable property to keep business license
Learn about the challenges small business owners face in Springfield with the new ordinance requiring payment of business personal property taxes.
'House of the Dragon' Season 3, episode 1: Why Rhaenyra destroying her court dress is complicated
"For two seasons we've seen Rhaenyra restrained from action, often by her male council," Emma D'Arcy tells Mashable.
VOTE: Do you agree with the entertainment zones?
The Fresno City Council passed an ordinance for entertainment zones.The ordinance would allow alcohol to be on the street during special permitted events.Howeve
Tybout House owner highlights local business at Council
Victoria Boehmer, owner of Tybout House on Market Street and a leader in several local community initiatives, shared the story behind her business and its growing impact on the region during Monday night’s Warren City Council meeting. Boehmer described Tybout House as much more than a traditional yarn store. The business works closely with local […]
A New Era for D.C. Politics? Insiders Discuss
On the Hill's Tom Fitzgerald is joined by former DC Councilmember At-Large Bill Lightfoot and DC Democratic Party Chair Charles Wilson for a breakdown of what Janeese Lewis George's win means for DC politics.
Educators learn about careres
Business advisory council hosts business boot camp
ZenniHome ex-business partner accuses Bob Worsley of creating LLC ‘without her consent’
After eight long days of investigating, the Navajo Nation Council has paused its public hearing into the ZenniHome scandal until next month. But in subpoenaed testimony from earlier this week, a key witness made a bombshell allegation against her ex-business partner.
Colorado Politics Calendar June 22-28
CoPo’s weekly political calendar will help you find political and public-policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, […]
White House Creates a UAP Science Council
Below is a transcript of an interview I just had with Elizabeth Vargas on NewsNation. Her questions are labeled below by EV and my answers…
Danielle Vinson talks local politics in The Post and Courier Greenville
The Post and Courier Greenville taps Furman's Vinson for her insights on nonpartisan elections and why County Council members pay the price for voter anger.
Danielle Vinson talks local politics in The Post and Courier Greeville
The Post and Courier Greenville taps Furman's Vinson for her insights on nonpartisan elections and why County Council members pay the price for voter anger.
The ‘risky business’ behind Puget Sound transportation planning
(The Center Square) - Puget Sound Regional Council's recent update to their 2050 regional transportation plan failed to account for Sound Transit's recent changes to ST3 deferring certain light rail
A new era for D.C. politics
With D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George capturing the nomination for mayor, and a host of other progressive candidates winning races down the ballot, the city's government is set for some of the biggest changes in the last two decades.
Herring Gut Coastal Science Center welcomes two new members to Advisory Council
PORT CLYDE — Two distinguished leaders in environmental science and communications have been appointed to Herring Gut Coastal Science Center's Advisory Council: Claire Parsons and Melissa Waterman. The Advisory Council provides strategic guidance and expertise to support Herring Gut's mission of educating students and communities about the connections between Maine's waters, environment, and economy.
Fresno business owners want change after Meta Liquor burglary; councilmember responds
WCC publishes “HIV and Mental Health: What Can the Church Do?”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has published “HIV and Mental Health: What Can the Church Do?” by Dr Sue Parry, a practical and theologically grounded resource for congregations ready to respond to one of the most complex pastoral challenges of our time.
Why China Insists on the “Existing International Order”: The Politics of UN Centrality and Reform
In May 2026, China held the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi flew […]
The Politics Hour: A historic D.C. primary election and Montgomery County voting on new leadership
We break down D.C. primary elections with Democratic nominee for D.C. Delegate Robert White, At-Large Councilmember-elect Elissa Silverman, and WAMU's D.C. politics reporter Alex Koma. Plus, we preview Maryland's primaries with WAMU's Maryland reporter Jenny Abamu.
Charlotte mayor finalists on who holds power in city hall: activists or business?
The City Council will select Charlotte’s next mayor from a pool of five finalists amid a changing political landscape.
'Relief' for small businesses after St. Petersburg city council rejects parking changes
Parking continues to be a problem in St. Petersburg, especially in neighborhoods with popular restaurants and businesses. City leaders voted down a proposal that would have allowed specific neighborhoods outside of downtown to establish resident-only parking zones.
The European Council’s new political arithmetic
Four freshly installed prime ministers are joining the EU leaders’ table.
Small Business Owner and Former Cultural Affairs Commissioner Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin Launches Bid for Culver City Council
Small Business Owner, Former Cultural Affairs Commissioner, and longtime community volunteer Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin today declared her candidacy for the Culver City Council. Wisnosky Stehlin is running to be a voice for residents and community members who want strong, collaborative leadership at City Hall. "People come to Culver City because the...
City lawyer rebuffs parking meter owner’s warnings as fight spills into view
Newly obtained documents reveal a growing legal and political battle over Stonepeak's bid to acquire Chicago's parking meter concession and City Council's role in approving the deal.
New science advisory council forms to help US government ‘resolve the UAP mystery’
Theoretical physicist and Harvard University Professor Avi Loeb shared early details about the new UAP Science Advisory Council.
Going pro-Trump and endorsing redistricting: 4 takeaways from SC’s 1st District GOP runoff debate
Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt and state Rep. Mark Smith talked affordability, Trump and more in their final debate before Tuesday’s runoff election.
Newark drops bid to give outgoing councilman health benefits for life
The Newark City Council today pulled a resolution that would give outgoing Councilman Carlos Gonzalez lifetime taxpayer-funded health benefits and
Council approves framework for future entertainment districts after heated debate
The Norfolk City Council approved an ordinance on Monday establishing the framework for future entertainment districts within the city, despite objections from some council members and residents who argued the
U.S. Business Applications for May 2026: Trend Remains Solid - Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
by Raymond J. Keating – The latest business applications numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau offered a mixed story for May, with the overall trend, however, remaining healthy. Total business applications in May increased by 3.7 percent to 523,971 (seasonally adjusted). At the same time, high-propensity business applications declined slightly – by 0.3 percent to […]
Our View: Don’t settle public business in private
Lowndes County Supervisors and the Columbus City Council are set to meet Friday in an attempt to settle a months-long dispute over $455,000 in jail and emergency services bills the city has declined to pay.
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management: Science, Stewardship, and Shared Successes
One of the most innovative aspects of the Magnuson-Stevens Act was the establishment of eight regional councils to manage fisheries. Across the country, regional councils are tackling their own unique challenges, each shaped by their local coastal communities and united under a shared framework.
How Trump sidelined national security experts ahead of his war with Iran
Worried about a president who seemed to be flying by the seat of his pants as he waged war, Congress stepped in to establish a council of experts to advise the president, gathering information from across the government to consider the consequences and effects of military action.
Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George opens up lead in Washington, D.C., mayoral primary
Lewis George, a member of the city council, has a significant edge over her nearest rival, Kenyan McDuffie, with about two-thirds of the vote counted and the race too early to call.
Despite claims of financial troubles, Newark wants to gift outgoing councilman lifetime health benefits
The Newark City Council wants to reward retiring City Councilman Carlos Gonzalez with lifetime health benefits in appreciation for his “long and faithful
More Details on the UAP Science Advisory Council
Below is a set of questions that I was asked today about my new leadership position regarding the UAP Science Advisory Council.
Latvia pilots citizen engagement in research grant evaluations
Latvia has introduced an element of citizen engagement to the evaluation of nationally funded research grants. The aim is to both create more connections between science and society, and to improve the quality of its evaluations. The move comes as research funders across Europe are experimenting with ways to improve evaluation processes in the face of a sharpened focus on science’s impact on society. Evaluators of grant applications submitted to Latvia’s Fundamental and Applied Research Programme (FLPP), the country’s main research funder, will this year have the option of consulting citizen feedback on challenges the public thinks science should focus on to inform their decisions. “In recent years, both public discussions and policy-level debates in Latvia have highlighted the importance of demonstrating how publicly funded research contributes to society, the economy and the resolution of real-world challenges,” said a source at the Latvian Council of Science (LCS), which manages the FLPP. “At the same time, research institutions themselves expressed interest in improving the project evaluation framework while continuing to ensure that funding is awarded to the highest-quality projects,” the source added. The citizen input comes from a survey that was conducted between 25 February and 16 March 2025, to which 1,737 people responded. It gathered information on what the public views as problem areas for Latvia, and the role of science and technology in providing solutions to these problems. A summary of these responses has been included as an annex to the FLPP 2026 call for proposals that evaluators can refer to, purely in an advisory manner, when judging proposals. Results from the survey show that the main problem areas identified by the public were in healthcare and public health, followed by the development of new treatment methods and medicines, and then digital technology, data security and cyber security. At the bottom of the list was research aimed at acquiring new knowledge about the universe, matter and the laws of nature. Further analysis looked at the public view of the possible role of science in solving these problems. The survey charted 4,167 individual responses based on open-ended questions that were derived from the participants’ answers. The analysis again found that medical and health sciences topped the scoring, with 788 responses referring to the field. Humanities and the arts were bottom of the list, with 625. Digging further into the details, the survey suggests citizens are aware of and concerned about a number of research areas. This includes technologies and innovation to improve the environment or reduce pollution, the development of modern military technologies and cybersecurity tools, and the development and application of artificial intelligence, among others. “We hope this initiative will help strengthen public trust in science and create a more meaningful dialogue between researchers and society,” the LCS source said, adding that it offers benefits to researchers, evaluators and to the general public. More space for citizen engagement in evaluationsThere is a gradual but increasing use of citizen engagement in research evaluation processes around Europe, especially in healthcare, but it remains relatively rare, said Henry Sauermann, a professor at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin and an expert in citizen science.“Given that we are at a point where citizen involvement is extremely limited, there is presumably space for more, but it's not that we should do it just because we want to do it,” he told Science|Business. He said some research lends itself better to having citizen input, and this usually tends to be on the applied end of the science spectrum where the public can offer useful feedback based on their experiences. He added that advising scientists on certain topics to study is also a useful approach, in the way that Latvia is doing. “The public does fund a lot of science, there's a lot of tax money going into this. We of course do want to preserve academic freedom, but it's also not unreasonable to incorporate more feedback or input from citizens where possible,” he said. Related articlesCitizen science: where, when, and how to let the public contribute to researchHow can Europe cope with a flood of AI-assisted research grant proposals?Data Corner: Horizon Europe’s AI, digital and data call success rate is 5.2%There are several ways of involving citizens in science funding. The most minimal way is having a few representatives on a panel, such as members of a patient group or union. The most direct way is crowdsourcing funding for specific projects. There is an increasing number of online platforms that allow the public to chip in to support scientific proposals.Sauermann studied this in a recent paper and found that it can have its uses, but it still is not clear if there are benefits to it. There are various assumptions linked to citizen engagement, for example that it increases public trust in science, or that it provides a representative view of what the public thinks about science. These are not necessarily true, Sauermann found. People who participate in engagement activities tend to already be very trusting of science, and, on the whole, it is generally the well-off and well educated who contribute, giving a narrow view of public opinion. On whether citizen input can help manage the increasing number of proposals that are being submitted due to assistance from AI, Sauermann is more sceptical. “The obvious answer to the flood of AI-written proposals is AI-driven evaluation,” he said, adding that it doesn’t mean citizen engagement shouldn’t be a part of evaluations in a well thought-out manner. Southern Denmark’s successful approachOne successful example of citizen engagement in science evaluations was implemented in southern Denmark. Between 2019 and 2025, citizens in the region were invited to vote to fund one of five pre-selected projects in the field of healthcare. The project, called A Healthier Southern Denmark, was a collaboration between regional authorities, the University of Southern Denmark, and two media partners. Over the seven years, there were 75,000 votes and significant public engagement online and on social media. “It was a bit of a wild project, we’d never done something like that before and we were a bit nervous about what would be said in the media about it. But actually, people were very positive,” said Anne Kathrine Overgaard, one of the main organisers of the project from the University of Southern Denmark. The university and its researchers have learned a lot from the experience, particularly about engaging with society and shaping their research to match real-world needs. This is important with Europe’s increasing focus on competitiveness and bringing innovations to market faster, Overgaard said. She hopes to see more citizen engagement in evaluation processes and in science more broadly. “For many years, citizen engagement has been a bit of an add-on to proposals, just to check a box. But I think things are changing,” she said. It’s less about citizens just gathering data and more “about the dialogue between the public and the scientists,” she said. The initiative ended last year as the team wanted to regroup to find fresh momentum. The development of AI and AI-written proposals has made Overgaard reflect on how the project could be reworked to help evaluators. She hopes to bring it back in the future. “It could be a good idea to try this initiative again in a slightly re-worked format,” she said.
Dems pick potential successor to DC's congressional delegate after decades-long incumbency
An at-large D.C. council member won the Democratic primary Tuesday for the district's non-voting House seat after Eleanor Holmes Norton's retirement.
Joe Morrissey announces run for office, three years after saying he was done with politics
Joe Morrissey announces a run for Petersburg City Council's Ward 5, three years after saying he was done with politics.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue Celebrates Pride Month with NYC Council Member Carl Wilson and Hospital Leaders
New York, NY – NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue hosted its annual Pride Month celebration, bringing together elected officials, patients, staff, and
Cardenas enters Chicago mayor’s race with focus on city finances
Cardenas, a former 12th Ward alderman who spent two decades on the City Council and later served as floor leader under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, announced his candidacy today.
Council approves framework for future entertainment districts after heated debate
The Norfolk City Council approved an ordinance Monday establishing the framework for future entertainment districts within the city, despite objections from some council members and residents who argued the proposal
KERRIGAN IN THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Virginia Should Not Tax Away its Data Center Advantage - Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
“However it is framed, the practical effect would reach far beyond one industry. A tax on digital infrastructure is a tax on everyone, including working families, local governments and small businesses in every corner of Virginia.” In a June 15 Washington Times Op-ed, SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan documents the state of Virginia’s tech […]
United States Announces U.S. Government Members of the U.S.-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council
United States Announces U.S. Government Members of the U.S.-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council Press Release June 16, 2026 Today, at the fifth annual Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF 2026), the United States announced the following inaugural members of the U.S.-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council: U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Vice President Bethany Aquilina Brez Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) Senior Vice President Sarah Witten Assistant Secretary of Commerce, David Fogel Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs, Caleb Orr U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Jonathan Henick Launched in Washington, D.C., in April 2026, the U.S.-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council serves as the premier bilateral platform to accelerate trade and catalyze private sector investment between the United States and Uzbekistan. The Council is Co-Chaired by Special Envoy for South and Central Asia, Ambassador Sergio Gor and Saida Mirziyoyeva, Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Council gives American businesses direct access to U.S. government financing, trade promotion, and market development tools to execute large-scale projects in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan holds significant reserves of critical minerals essential to U.S. technology, defense, and energy sectors. The Council provides a direct mechanism to advance U.S. access to these resources through transparent, mutually beneficial partnerships. Through their participation, the American members of the Council will deepen the institutional framework for American commercial engagement in Uzbekistan.
UToledo Earns National Recognition for Preparing Future Teachers in Science of Reading
Undergraduate and graduate early childhood education degree programs achieved top marks in a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality.
Chicago City Council to vote on sweepstakes machine ban as bar owners warn of business closures
Chicago alders are divided over a debate on whether to ban or keep sweepstakes machines legal in the city.
Revised charter aims to give more sports a place on Fairfax County Athletic Council
Changes to membership on the Fairfax County Athletic Council could give a seat at the table to representatives from a wider array of sports. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on June 9 approved the body's first significant charter change since 2004, slightly adjusting slots on the 23-member council. Approved by supervisors unanimously and without
The next mayor of DC will have to navigate its most famous resident: President Donald Trump
Janeese Lewis George, a Washington, DC, councilmember and leading candidate for mayor, was knocking on doors when her team got word that President Donald Trump said he wouldn’t “put up with it” if the democratic socialist wins her Tuesday primary.
A UAP Science Advisory Council to the U.S.
On June 12, 2026, Steven Spielberg publicly released his film Disclosure Day while on the same day the U.S. Government disclosed the third…
Colorado Politics Calendar June 15-21
CoPo’s weekly political calendar helps you find political and public policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, […]
In Retrospect: Poland, Russia, Europe
In April I spent a few days with Zryw, a Polish non-profit organization that recruits young people to enter politics and public life. Their aim is to build a new generation of civic leaders in Poland. I’ve followed their evolution from the beginning; my son is one of the founders. (“Zryw” means “impulse” or “burst of speed” in Polish). Julie Chmielewska, one of Zryw’s leaders, interviewed me at the event. Here is the conversation, lightly edited for grammar and context: Julia Chmielewska: Assuming that culture shapes institutions, could we conclude that some cultures are more prone to authoritarianism? Anne Applebaum: I don’t think so. Every culture, every nation, and every country has the potential for change. When we look at history, we can see that nations do change. Poland has changed, for example, from the 1980s to today. There’s a completely different mentality here than the one I encountered when I first visited, in 1988. The current generation sees the world through a different frame. So no, I don’t believe that certain nations are doomed to authoritarianism, or to anything. Of course, there are political and cultural traditions, but they can always be challenged. JC: So do you think there’s something intrinsic in human nature that pushes people to democracy, freedom? AA: I think there is something in human nature, a deep instinct, that pushes people towards freedom, yes. People who live in authoritarian countries – and I’ve heard this from them over and over again – sooner or later find themselves angered by a feeling of helplessness. They can see the unfairness of crooked courts, irrational political decisions. They naturally dislike the fact that somebody has all the power while they have none. In those circumstances, people who have no political background at all sometimes are politicized just by that frustration. I’m thinking of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, for example, who was a Belarusian housewife, until the circumstances of her husband’s arrest forced her to become a politician. I met a woman who is a Uyghur from China, and who had come to live in Turkey. After several of her family members were arrested, she too was propelled into a political role. These kinds of experiences make people interested in democracy or political reform, even if they thought they didn’t care. I also think that the opposite is true: some people instinctively prefer homogeneity, order, hierarchy. They don’t like the confrontation of opinions or the noise of debate, and they lean towards a single leader or a unified regime. I think that most of modern history is shaped by the clash between those two different sides of human nature. JC: Which force do you find more powerful today? AA: I think they both have a lot of power and there’s no way of predicting who wins. Even in countries that seem very shut off or stuck in an authoritarian system can change. We’ve seen that happen. And vice versa, I think democracies can also begin to fail and slide into authoritarianism. So it’s very important not to be complacent in either direction. JC: I want to go into your history and your experiences. You’ve lived in Russia during a time of incredible change in the late 80s, and then you came back to do research in post-Soviet Russia. AA: I was a student in Russia just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. I then traveled and worked there extensively in the 1990s, and I met people who really were full of hope. They hoped that Russia could become a democracy, or at least a place that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of the press. These weren’t ideas that came from Washington. Although now the narrative in the Kremlin is different, I met many people who were working towards exactly that kind of transformation. A friend of mine ran a series of seminars – once a year, and then later several times a year, in cities all over Russia – designed to get people to discuss politics in new ways. She invited young politicians and journalists, as well as foreigners. I went to many of them, in Moscow as well as Volgograd and Novosibirsk. Over two decades, hundreds of people came to these seminars, and all of them wanted Russia to be different. I remain convinced that many Russians still want Russia to be different. It’s just that the old system, in the form of Putin, a representative of that system, returned. The KGB reimposed their power. And this wasn’t because of something to do with culture, this was to do with money and politics, and who was in charge. JC: You’ve partially answered my question... I wanted to ask whether that excitement of the 1990s was an exception from the Russian historical norm which has been rather authoritarian? AA: Of course, if you look at the history of Russia since the 18th century, there have always been liberal groups, reformers and revolutionaries. There were the Decembrists, in the early 19th century, and the rural populists later on, who tried to organize the peasantry. A significant group of liberal Russians appeared at the turn of the 20th century, people like the father of the writer Vladimir Nabokov, who was a Russian politician before the revolution. These groups were small in number, but sometimes had a broader significance. The Russian dissident movement in the 1950s and 1960s actually invented the modern human rights movement. It was their idea to hold the leaders of the Soviet Union accountable for the language they used, to remind them of the treaties they had signed and the promised they had made. They created the Helsinki group, for example, that held Soviet leadership to the language of the Helsinki Treaty, which formally ended the Second World War and which contained guarantees of human rights, at least on paper. That idea spread to Eastern Europe, and similar tactics were used here in Poland. (Benjamin Nathans recently wrote a great book about the Soviet dissidents, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause) JC: But seemingly, even if they do ever get power, they could never hold on to it. AA: We don’t know, because they have never really had power. But in any case, we also don’t know what will happen in the future. There is no reason to assume that Russia will forever be condemned to totalitarianism. Even during the first fifteen years of Putin’s regime there was some form of democratic politics. Only when the full-scale war began did he bring everything to an end: he shut down all remaining independent organizations and killed his most important opponent, Alexi Navalny. But does that mean he is popular, that he enjoys legitimacy? Even now, we don’t really know what Russians think about him, or about the war. There is no way of doing real polling in Russia because nobody will answer an independent pollster over the phone. JC: Do you think that the flock of young people, especially young men, who fled Russia after the start of the war represent a continuation of liberal movements that refuse to partake in the authoritarian state, or do you think they are moving for the sake of self-preservation – “I don’t want to go to the army, so I leave”? AA: I’m sure it’s both. I actually know many people who left Russia for political reasons either in the very last years before the war, or else just after the war began. JC: And do you see a change in the young generation versus the old one that have fled? AA: It’s hard for me to say because the people who I know were mostly already politicized. I do know some younger people who left, but most of them were already either active in the opposition, or working as journalists. Many of them very self-consciously think of themselves as maintaining Russian culture abroad, just as in the 20th century the Soviet dissidents or the anti-communist White Russians once thought of themselves as people who maintained the true Russian culture, outside of Bolshevik Russia. JC: Let’s move on to Poland. One of your first experiences with Poland was reporting on Margaret Thatcher’s first state visit, in the autumn of 1988. You followed her around the farmers’ market. AA: She was making a symbolic gesture. She wanted to welcome free markets, but the only one she could really visit was the farmers’ market at Hala Mirowska. JC: And I want to talk about this area because today you can look out of any window in that district, Mirów, and see rows and rows of skyscrapers. How does it feel to see a country built from the ground in such a short time, both politically and economically? AA: You know, when you’re living in a period of dramatic change, it’s always hard to know whether the change is positive or negative. The transformation in Poland created winners and losers, as well as new classes of people, new political movements of different kinds. At the time, it sometimes just felt like turbulence. Now, we can look back at the 1990s and early 2000s in Poland and see in retrospect that the country was headed in towards prosperity and European integration. In around 2009 or 2010, I remember speaking to a woman who worked cleaning government offices, and who asked me if her daughter should study in Amsterdam or in London. This seemed to me to be a real transformation, and it happened very fast: within a few years, Poles stopped feeling like second-class Europeans, and a generation of younger Poles appeared who had no qualms about crossing borders. JC: We again live in turbulent times. Do you think we’re heading towards positive outcomes? AA: I can’t make predictions, because everything that happens tomorrow depends on what people do today. Also, history doesn’t have a trajectory. It doesn’t move in a particular direction. You only think it does afterwards. As I said, you can look afterwards at Poland in the 1990s and you could say this was a period of great progress. But not everybody at the time saw that. Sometimes people are very wrong about a given country’s trajectory. I remember people writing about Ukraine in the 1990s, about how dangerous it was that Ukraine was independent, that this was going to be an anti-semitic state, that Ukrainian nationalism was going to come back... and although you can say many bad things about Ukraine, the country made many bad choices, actually it became a pretty tolerant state which now has a Jewish president and until recently a Muslim defense minister. JC: In the 1990s Poland’s and Ukraine’s GDP were roughly similar. Ukraine was even a bit richer. So the starting point was similar for both of these countries, but they’ve turned out very, very differently. Even if we stop in 2014. Why do you think Ukraine “chose East”? Was it external influence? AA: No, I think Ukraine was in a different position. First of all, central and eastern Ukraine had been part of the Soviet Union since the 1920s, and had therefore experienced a longer period of occupation, repression, Sovietization and even Russification. Ukraine did not have, as Poland did, an alternative elite: a large cadre of economists and politicians, who already had some experience in opposition politics and in independent thinking. In Poland, the transformative finance minister, Leszek Balcerowicz, had already thought about how an economy might be decentralized before he took office. We can argue about how successful he was, but at least he was prepared to try something new. In Ukraine, people weren’t prepared. For one, there hadn’t been much space even for an illegal opposition in the previous couple of decades. Ukraine was also in many ways still emerging from colonial occupation. For the previous couple of centuries, many of the most capable Ukrainians had moved to Russia, and the first generation of leaders in independent Ukraine tended to be former Soviet apparatchiks. They didn’t immediately seek to become closer to western Europe. Instead, they looked for some kind of economic and political “third way” and an accomodation with Russia. Ukraine became stuck in this position, half-in, half-out and became pretty profoundly corrupt. JC: The Polish alternative elite had a vision of where they wanted the country to go. I think the general perception now is that this vision ends with the next election, right? Is this a natural process of gaining power? AA: Their vision, and it was shared by the time by politicians who now call themselves both left and right, was that Poland should join the EU and NATO, as fast as possible. My husband (Radek Sikorski) was in the very first government that said it wanted to join NATO. At the time this was taken very badly in Washington: the demand for NATO membership absolutely came from Poland, not from the US. But even then, in the early 1990s, many Poles already understood that the Russian sphere of influence would grow once again, that it was important to become part of the transatlantic alliance and an integrated Europe as fast as possible: NATO, the EU, the Council of Europe, all of the trading and security alliances. That consensus lasted through several different governments and over many years, even governments containing former communists. For twenty years, right, left and center disagreed about many things, but they all agreed on the direction that the country should go. In retrospect, that consensus created the basis for prosperity in Poland. JC: And regarding the Polish-Ukrainian relations. We know that antagonisms, e.g. the myth of Wołyń [a massacre of Poles that took place in what is now Western Ukraine, in 1943] are increasingly used in Polish political discourse today. In Ukraine, nationalist historians make heroes out of UPA, the Ukrainian revolutionary army, which is held responsible for this tragedy. Where do you see a start for burying the hatchet? Is the reconciliation of our nations possible? AA: So here’s a strange thing: For more than a decade after they both gained independence, Poland and Ukraine participated in a number of projects that were designed to solve exactly these kinds of Polish-Ukrainian differences. Books were published that were jointly written by Polish and Ukrainian historians, monuments were built. These projects were successful: If you’d asked me this question in 2010, I would have said that there are no real historical issues between Poland and Ukraine, that the two countries had mostly reconciled. For a number of reasons, this began to shift. In Poland, children and grandchildren of victims of the Wołyń massacre felt their tragedy hadn’t been fully recognized. In Ukraine, nationalist groups wanted the UPA partisans who had fought against the Soviet Union recognized for their heroism, despite the fact that some in this broad and not well-defined group were also linked to Wołyń. In both eastern Poland and western Ukraine, the memory of the ethnic cleansing that took place there in the late 1940s - Poles were moved West, Ukrainians East - to accomodate new borders has left feelings of displacement and bitterness. The wave of Ukrainian immigration, which started before the war, may have provoked some of this. But don’t underestimate the role played by Russia, which has always wanted to create discord between Poland and Ukraine, and pumps out propaganda to that effect in both countries. Vandalism on both sides of the border, damage done to cemeteries and monuments, is sometimes carried out by provacateurs working for Russia, just to create bad feelings. The Polish-Ukrainian conflict also hides a different reality: although there are real grievances and bad memories, the truth is that the biggest tragedies both nations experienced in the twentieth century were inflicted by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. That should unite these two countries, not divide them. JC: This week (19.04.2026 – Ed.) in Hungary we saw that using historical narratives to create grievance has no longer worked. Are you optimistic about the direction after Orban’s loss? AA: The Hungarian election was really important because it shows that people can actually resist powerful, dominant propaganda. The ruling party Fidesz controlled all of the TV, 90% of the newspapers, the constitutional court, the bureaucracy... and yet people had the nerve to vote against it and resist it. It’s also an important election because Hungary created a huge network of well-funded think tanks and foundations that were funding other far right groups and projects. So that loss is going to have a knock-on effect in other places too, maybe even in Poland. JC: What you’ve said about resisting propaganda reminds me of one of the interviews you did about talking to Russians in the post-Soviet era who claimed that people knew that the system was lying. Why do people choose to believe in these regimes anyway? AA: Because it’s useful. Stephen Kotkin, an American historian, once described how people would learn how to “speak Bolshevik”: It was just a language that you needed to use in order to get by in society. If you didn’t talk the way the regime wanted you to talk, then you might have problems, or lose your job, or your kids would not get into university. It was a way of getting along. Communist Poland was similar, at least in the early years. When I was writing a book about the Sovietization of Eastern Europe after World War II, I met a lot of people who wanted to talk a lot about the war, when many of them had done really heroic things. But almost nobody wanted to talk about the decade afterwards, between 1945 and 1956. This was when you had the short period of terror, violence and Polish Stalinism. To stay safe, people felt the need to just go along with what others were saying, or stay out of politics, or use communist jargon without necessarily believing it. I don’t judge them for it, and I wouldn’t describe all of those people as collaborators. It’s easy to feel moral certainty in retrospect, because we know that communism ended. But if you were living in 1949, it might not have been clear to you that communism was going to end. In very repressive societies, maybe about 10% of people who are really evil – collaborators, torturers. Maybe 10% of people are really brave and who find ways to resist. And then around 80% of people have kids, they have parents, they have to have jobs and they’ve had to get through it somehow. Strange though it may sound, I’ve found that the work I did on that book is now very useful in explaining some of what’s going on in the United States today. There are plenty of members of the Republican Party in Congress who know perfectly well that Donald Trump says many things that aren’t true. But they avoid criticizing him because it’s inconvenient, because they would get in trouble, because someone would attack them on the internet. So actually you don’t even need mass terror to get people to conform. JC: Is Gen Z reinventing agency? AA: We’ll see. In any generation you can find groups of people who want agency. If you live in a society that’s unfair, for example where a tiny number of people have captured most of the wealth, then at a certain point people rebel. This is always easier for younger people, who have you have less to lose. The question now is how the internet will affect the relationships between citizens and the state, and how it will change organizations. The “Twitter revolutions” people spoke about as early as 2008-9, mass protests organized online, have often proved to be very superficial. Although you can easily join something just by clicking, the work of creating a real movement requires physical participation. Successful mass movements of the past, for example the Civil Rights movement in the United States, were built by people who had spent many years together. They had participated in non-violent workshops together. They practiced and prepared. Just using the you can get everybody to show up at a certain moment, but then when the protest is broken up, nothing happens. It’s also true that the repressive regimes have more recently learned how to use the internet to undermine leaders and movements. Most of all, they now understand how to make people cynical. The form of propaganda that most modern authoritarians use - and I think the Russians really pioneered this - deploys sneering cynicism. Instead of praising the rulers, the regime propagandists mock the opposition movement leadership for being supposedly corrupt or sexually degenerate, with the goal of undermining any kind of idealism. JC: MAGA grew on the internet? AA: MAGA is a real grassroots movement. They had symbols, red hats, they showed up at rallies. But you’re right that the cynicism, the sarcasm and the distrust that the movement embodies came originally from the internet, and this is different. Fifty years ago, most European political parties had a social base in real organizations, in trade unions for Social Democrats, in church groups for Christian Democrats. As people stopped going to church and as the trade unions became smaller, the social base of these parties disappeared. Now people who wouldn’t have known one another in the past meet on the internet and create new movements, many of which don’t last. JC: Is history ending? Going in stale circles? AA: History never ends. In truth, human beings want contradictory things at the same time: order and freedom, stability and change. These things are never resolved, and when a society swings too far in one direction, people always push it the other way. But each time that happens, the result is different. Certainly it is true that we are now in a period when old philosophers and ideas from the 1930s are undergoing a revival. Carl Schmitt, who was a philosopher who was very influential on the Nazis, is back as an influence on both the far left and the far right, once again inspiring people to think that all politics has to be existential, that all politics is about defining and defeating enemies. In the US, some are also bringing back dominionism, the idea that we need a Christian and not a secular state. It’s also true that we are living through a more fundamental shift. The old left-right divide, which was mostly about the size of the state, is much less important now. Instead, we are arguing about more fundamental things: what are our rights, what protects our freedom. Or how much power do we want to give small elites, versus how much power to give ordinary people. In America a small group of very wealthy people now control information, because they control the social media platforms and AI, which means they determine what people will read and learn. Finding a way to preserve preserve zones of autonomy and independent thinking, this is going to be the main task for the next generation. JC: What is the one book that a person interested in Central Europe should read? AA: You could read my book “Iron Curtain: the Crushing of Eastern Europe” which tells the story of how the Soviet Union imposed its culture on the region. Or read Tim Snyder’s history of the region, “The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999.” And everyone should read “The Captive Mind” by Czesław Miłosz, which describes exactly the phenomenon we were talking about: why do people collaborate? I joined Scott Galloway and the brilliant Fiona Hill in a discussion about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the future of global power, and what these conflicts reveal about America's role in the world. Scott told us that this was the 400th edition of his podcast, which is quite a number: My friend Francesco Chiamulera runs a brilliant series of literary events, Una Colline di Libri, A Hill of Books, in the Prosecco Hills, a region of vineyards and elegant hill towns in the Veneto, north of Venice. We did an event in Vittorio Veneto and also drove and biked around the countryside. Buy Autocracy Inc Buy Iron Curtain Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
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