Zachary Dayno
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Lasting over two years, the 2008 financial crisis touched almost every American, as well as individuals, families, and companies all over the world.[1] Americans lost $17 trillion in net wealth.[2] Thirteen million Americans lost their homes.[3] Neighborhoods in Florida and Nevada were left desolate and empty, skeletons of the housing boom.[4]
Bomy Hwang
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Herbicide drift describes the movement of herbicide from one location to another.[1] As it is used incessantly in agricultural settings, some weeds develop resistance to formulas.[2] Herbicide manufacturers, including Monsanto, partly responded to these troublesome “superweeds” by releasing genetically-modified seeds resistant to certain herbicide, such as dicamba.[3]
Malachi Brennan
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First arising in England as charitable trusts with the Statute of Uses in 1601,[1] nonprofit organizations[2] currently represent 10 percent of the U.S. economy.[3] The assets employed by these 1.7 million nonprofits represent an invaluable public resource.[4] Nonprofits alleviate the burden on public funds,[5] and provide important services that private businesses avoid:[6] “For every dollar that a [person] contributes to these public charities, . . . the public gets 100 percent.”[7] But how do we ensure that the public gets 100 percent?
Kathryn Steffy
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An estimated three million girls are expected to suffer Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in 2018.[1] Also known as Female Genital Cutting or Circumcision, FGM is performed for the purposes of curbing sexual behavior and increasing a perception of cleanliness and feminism.[2] It is encouraged and perpetuated through social norms, like receiving increased dowries and bride prices for circumcised women, in many cultures across the globe.[3] In actuality, there are no health benefits to the practice, but instead FGM causes a massive number of health effects.[4] Viewed as a violent violation of human rights by the United Nations (UN) and other entities worldwide, FGM is still a principal practice within at least 30 countries and on three continents.[5]
Evan Baylor
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The United States boasts some of the world’s most stunning vistas, picturesque landscapes, and diverse scenery. From the Green Mountains in Vermont to the mesas of Utah, many of the most pristine examples of America’s beauty are carefully managed and protected by the federal government.[1] However, these lands are under attack.
Hannah Clarisse
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As technology continues to evolve, the need to prevent unconsented recording of communications is more important than ever before. The way that Americans communicate has changed considerably in the 140 years since the installation of the first telephone lines.[1] In 1968, when Congress enacted the Federal Wiretap Act,[2] 20 percent of American homes did not have a telephone.[3] Today, over 95 percent of Americans own some type of mobile phone, and 49 states have passed some form of wiretapping statute.[4] Vermont is the only state that has not.[5]
Benjamin Civiletti
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The renewable energy revolution is taking shape across the United States, carrying the potential for environmental and economic benefits.[1] Developments in clean energy are encouraging, but the transition is not happening fast enough. One significant barrier is the traditional ratemaking model, where investor-owned utilities are incentivized to build large generation projects and keep them running for as long as possible.[2] This is partly because the cost of these projects is built into electric rates in the form of an operating expense called depreciation.[3] Depreciation is spread over the expected life of the project, which often stretches 30 years or more.[4]
Patrick Marass
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The state of Maine has a complicated and often adversarial legal relationship with the federally recognized Native American (Indian) Tribes in the state.[1] Perhaps the most contentious legal relationship presently pertains to Maine’s authority to regulate water resources on Indian territories and lands (Indian lands).[2] At their core, legal conflicts often involve disputes over power, money, respect, or any combination of these elements.[3] What makes conflicts between states and Native American tribes so complex, and in this particular case volatile, is that the legal issues often involve clashes of all three of these elements.[4] The legal framework for the current water resource dispute traces back to a series of state and federal laws setting aside reservation and trust land for the Tribes in the 1980s and 1990s, collectively known as the Settlement Acts.[5] The Tribes’ lack of bargaining power during these settlements arguably resulted in a jurisdictionally oppressive framework for the protection of tribal natural resources.[6] The most recent legal conflict erupted in February 2015, and juxtaposes Maine’s right to regulate water quality standards (WQS) against the Tribes’ right to fish for sustenance on their lands.[7] The emotional responses ignited by this conflict illuminate why a comprehensive approach to settling the disputes between Maine its Tribes is needed.
Kandi Spindler
Society is beginning to seriously consider legal prostitution by turning to European models as guidance for policy issues.[1] Yet forsaking the financial incentives prostitution creates laws that are blind to the reality of sex worker. The gap between the reality of prostitution and the law becomes more troubling in rural areas, especially Appalachia, where a failure to account for local conditions exists because legislators are too far removed to know what those conditions are.[2]
David Sloan
On February 9, 2015, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), under the Department of the Treasury, proposed a major amendment to regulations governing the use of American viticultural area (AVA) names as appellations of origin on wine labels.[1] AVAs serve as “delimited grape-growing region[s] having distinguishing features[,] . . . a name[,] and a delineated boundary.”[2] They are used on wine labels to describe unique features relating to wine origin and production.[3]
