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Employee shot, killed at Seattle business, police hunt for suspects
A young man is dead after he was shot and killed at his workplace in Seattle's Northgate neighborhood on Saturday.
The unfinished business of Sonia Hayes and Mildred Frisby
Maryland Sen. Antonio Hayes reflects on the enduring influence of his mother, Sonia Hayes, and grandmother, Mildred Frisby, in a heartfelt Mother’s Day commentary about resilience, sacrifice and public service. Drawing from his upbringing in West Baltimore’s Penn North community, Hayes connects his legislative work to the struggles and hopes of the women who shaped his life and inspired his commitment to improving Baltimore neighborhoods.
Planned Parenthood reopens Gladstone health center in new facility
Planned Parenthood has reopened its Gladstone health center in a new facility.
Seattle beer garden employee found fatally shot inside business
Seattle police are investigating a homicide after a man was found dead Saturday morning at a business in the city’s Lake City neighborhood, authorities said.
Childhood obesity is at an all-time high — inviting a host of health complications
Every night before bed, Ashley Loboda walks by the family charging station and takes inventory. “I have four kids. It’s super annoying to walk...
‘The odds are not in our favour’: who sets the Doomsday Clock – and what can they tell us about the future of humanity?
With the war on Iran, Ukraine, AI and climate breakdown increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war, the clock stands closer to midnight than ever before. So who decides how many seconds we have left – and can we buy ourselves more time?
SGMC Health and Mercer University Celebrate First Hooding Ceremony at Valdosta Campus
Mercer University School of Medicine and SGMC Health marked a historic milestone with the first-ever Doctor of Medicine Hooding Ceremony
SoLa Foundation Opens New AI & Entertainment Center, Powered by Live Nation in Crenshaw
Images of The Center and the event can be found here The SoLa Foundation today announced the opening of the SoLa AI & Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation, a creative and workforce training hub within Los Angeles’ Crenshaw neighborhood. Developed in partnership with Live Nation, the 9,000-square-foot Center will…
A deadly crisis of violent manhood spills into our politics, again
Two recent incidents of gender-based violence involving elected officials highlight the need for a shift in the way masculinity is defined, from one of control and domination to one of care and con…
A journey across continents - UT Health San Antonio
A childhood dental visit set Nana Opoku Ansah on a path across continents. Graduating from the School of Dentistry this May, she’s preparing to specialize in pediatric dentistry to change how the next generation experiences care.
Long Hours, Big Impact: St. Mary’s Celebrates Small Business Month
LEONARDTOWN, Md. — For Mike Hewitt, the reality of small business was learned long before adulthood — in the quiet hours of a Saturday morning, when work came first. During the May 5 commissioners meeting, Hewitt reflected on decades spent working alongside his father, sharing a lesson that began long before most people started their […]
Caribbean restaurant in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood hit with consumer alert by health department
See life inside the inside Miami neighborhood attracting billionaires
Coconut Grove is the trendiest neighborhood in Miami for billionaires moving to the city. See its evolution from hippie enclave to a wealth magnet.
MONTY'S SPORTS CORNER: Running for roses is just beginning
There’s a certain buzz in the air this time of year, a feeling that something big is about to happen. For sports fans, it’s the signal the calendar is flipping
Business owners 'blindsided' by construction in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood
Business owners in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood are demanding answers after a surprise construction project barricaded their storefronts just days before Mother's Day.
5 businesses in Garfield Park are latest victims in smash-and-grab robberies
INDIANAPOLIS — Several small businesses in the Garfield Park neighborhood are the latest victims of smash-and-grab robberies. Those break-ins happened earlier Wednesday morning. “…
Seattle pauses Leschi marina redevelopment after outcry from disrupted local businesses
Local businesses in Seattle’s Leschi neighborhood say they were caught off guard this week when city crews abruptly blocked access to storefronts as part of a m
Assassin's Creed Multiplayer Leak Criticized by Ubisoft, After Fan Admits Editing Image Using AI
Ubisoft has criticized the posting of a leaked screenshot from its under-wraps multiplayer Assassin's Creed game, which had been altered using AI.
Anjelah Johnson-Reyes blends motherhood with her funny tia tendencies in 'Ugly Baby'
Comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes releases her seventh special, 'Ugly Baby,' on Mother's Day, marking a vulnerable shift from material about not wanting kids to exploring motherhood.
From campus to Corps: Public Health grad using community-centered training for global good
Fourteen days after graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, Morgan Brooke will board a plane for South America and begin her next chapter living out a dream she has carried since childhood.
FDA halts publication of covid, shingles vaccine studies
News of the studies being pulled comes weeks after the CDC decided it wouldn’t publish a report showing last winter’s covid vaccine cut the likelihood of hospitalizations.
Canceled Cinco de Mayo parade impacts Little Village businesses for second year in a row
Business owners say the canceled Cinco de Mayo parade dampens what is typically a time to celebrate Mexican culture in neighborhoods like theirs.
Former IDF commander Wajdi Sarhan launches first Druze political party in decades
'Brotherhood Alliance' aims for Knesset seats and kingmaker role as Druze frustration with major parties grows; no clarity yet on alignment with coalition or opposition blocs
Court says lies used against Wyoming legislators are politics as usual
Freedom Caucus beat a defamation case by convincing a judge its leaders believed the falsehoods they told, opines columnist Kerry Drake.
Resource Hubs expand citywide through Neighborhood Community Action Centers
Philadelphia Health Department expands Resource Hubs citywide through Neighborhood Community Action Centers.
Illinois maintains high childhood vaccination rates, health department says
Celebrating Seattle’s small businesses every day
National Small Business Week is a time to celebrate the important contributions of our small businesses to Seattle’s economy. They bring character to our neighborhoods, drive our economy, and embody what makes Seattle special. “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. For every dollar we invest in a small business, 75 percent comes back […]
Hidden galaxy within our galaxy discovered — billions of years after Milky Way ate it
This particular star system, dubbed Loki after the Norse god of trickery, was consumed by our own solar system billions of years ago when our celestial neighborhood was expanding in size.
Timothy Finlon
Marquette Bank, Chicagoland’s neighborhood bank, has promoted Timothy Finlon to Executive Vice President, Chief Credit Officer.
Mali: Authorities must immediately clarify the fate and whereabouts of lawyer and pro-democracy politician Mountaga Tall
On 3 May 2026, leader of the National Congress for Democratic Initiative Mountaga Tall was abducted by armed and hooded men.
Is Robinhood's Business Too Dependent on Crypto?
The company's growth rate was modest last quarter, largely due to a significant decline in crypto-related transactions.
The Sedgwick says goodbye; Downtown Vancouver restaurant set to close Friday after five years
The Sedgwick will close its doors Friday after nearly five years of serving dishes “inspired by Chef Tim McCusker’s childhood, travels and life experiences,” according to the restaurant’s website.
Moving close to my mom has made caregiving and parenting easier.
We purposely moved to the same neighborhood my mom lives in. It's made parenting and caregiving a lot easier on all of us.
Transitions in Health Insurance Status Following Initiation of Dialysis by Modality
Researchers examined whether dialysis modality affected patients' likelihood to experience an insurance transition.
‘Neighbourhood renaissance’: once noble La Sanità in Naples is open for business again
After decades in the shadows, the residents of this historic quarter came together to launch local businesses and make the area an attractive proposition once more
In-person requirements for abortion medication headed to Kim Reynolds
A bill awaiting Gov. Kim Reynolds' signature says Iowans would have to see a doctor in person to receive abortion medications such as mifepristone.
I sold my childhood home to buy a place in Sicily
Kat Moore sold her family home in Miami to buy and renovate a flat in Sicily, where she plans to move in a few years.
Nancy Guthrie Update: New Footage Shows Masked Man in Same Neighborhood
One neighbor said the new Ring video is ‘disturbing.’
Nancy Guthrie Update: New Footage Shows Masked Man in Same Neighborhood
One neighbor said the new Ring video is ‘disturbing.’
Sunday’s Brotherhood Playoff News & Links
This is the first time that the Celtics were up 3-1 and lost a series.
Buckner Children and Family Services event focuses on fatherhood, mental health and parenting
The Roots of Dementia Trace Back All The Way to Childhood, Experts Reveal
The evidence is growing.
Dads and mental health: How conversations can lead to change
Many dads would agree that fatherhood can be challenging.
Neighborhood Mobile Clinics Closing Healthcare Gaps Across Bexar County
Regular health check ups and screenings can save lives, but are out of reach for many in Bexar County. Health Collaborative is closing those gaps with regular s
Kid Captain: Rebecca Recalde
Rebecca Recalde developed severe childhood epilepsy at age 3, experiencing up to 80 seizures per day and undergoing two brain surgeries at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. Now 15, she relearned basic skills, returned to dance and other hobbies, excelled academically, and advocates for epilepsy awareness as a Kid Captain.
Preparing neighborhoods and small businesses for a summer of sports
Together with our partners, we are committed to making the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup an unforgettable moment for Seattle – one that strengthens local businesses, celebrates our neighborhoods, and showcases Seattle on a global stage.
Oakland Celebrates Small Business Week May 3–9
The City of Oakland’s Economic & Workforce Development Department announces Oakland Small Business Week 2026, running Sunday, May 3 through Saturday, May 9. This year’s theme — This Is Town Business — is a direct nod to the small businesses that define Oakland’s neighborhoods and drive its economy every day.
🗞️ The district dazzling Europe, on Friday’s front pages
Vallecas is living a dream. Last night, the Madrid neighborhood experienced one of its most special evenings thanks to its flagship club: Rayo Vallecano.La Franja earned a golden result against Strasb...
Health officials monitor West Valley neighborhood for possible Parkinson's disease cases
A neighborhood has been monitored by Utah health officials for possible cases of Parkinson's disease.The officials emphasized that the effort is in an early dat
What Janet Mills' fall signals for the Democratic Party's future: From the Politics Desk
Plus, redistricting ruling ripple effects.
Ahead of ‘The Neighborhood’ Finale, What Happened to the Spinoffs?
Find out how you can still dive into the world of the beloved sitcom.
ChristianaCare Advances New Health Campus in Camden, Delaware to Close Care Gaps
ChristianaCare has taken another major step to expand access to high quality care across Delaware by submitting a Notice of Intent to the Delaware Health Resources Board to develop a new health campus in Camden. Like the Georgetown campus announced in February, the proposed campus will include a health center and a neighborhood hospital and is part […]
Influencers are turning baby bumps into business models
They've transformed motherhood into lucrative professions — but Fortesa Latifi's new book is exploring the impact that has on kids who grow up online.
Microsoft expects headcount to decrease in coming quarters
Microsoft reported earnings on Wednesday, and CFO Amy Hood gave new forecasts, including a new outlook on headcount at the company.
SODO Business Improvement Area supports businesses, neighborhood to create a vibrant community
SODO is a unique neighborhood. Named for its location south of the Kingdome, the district grew from filled-in tidal flats to a vibrant and diverse business district. Supporting the neighborhood’s businesses is the SODO Business Improvement Area. “We focus on a lot of different areas mainly around cleaning, safe transportation, economic development, and community engagement,” […]
Trump wants to turn Fed into another 'political animal': Sen. Warren
The Senate Banking Committee will vote on Wednesday, April 29, over whether to confirm Kevin Warsh's nomination as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. This comes on the same day as Jerome Powell's last FOMC meeting as the head of the US central bank. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.) — the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee — speaks with Yahoo Finance Senior Fed Reporter Jennifer Schonberger about her questioning of Warsh, the likelihood that Powell will stay on the Fed's Board of Governors, and her perspective on President Trump's economic agenda.
Dupont Circle small businesses seek financial help amid city construction project
Some business owners in Dupont Circle say a construction project aimed at improving the D.C. neighborhood is hurting sales.
‘The Neighborhood’ Star Hank Greenspan Teases Series’ ‘Bittersweet’ Ending
Find out if he wants to continue acting and more about his film, 'Ethan Bloom.'
Michael Banky
Marquette Bank, Chicagoland's neighborhood bank, has promoted Michael Banky to Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Information Officer.
I want to run for US Senate. Motherhood is why I won't.
Being a mom is the core of my life. Is the risk to my family worth it if America isn't ready for women at the highest level of government?
Brown: In northern Minn., junk speaks to emotional divide in politics
"Keeping the neighborhood clean is a shared value, especially in town, but rural attitudes about inoperable vehicles vary considerably," columnist Aaron Brown writes.
Business owner worried as Hwy. 1 closure in San Francisco continues
Caltrans says they finished up one lane overnight and are moving on to the next. However, In the neighborhood there is mixed reaction, from relief to some concern, with three weekends of work.
Sunday’s Brotherhood Playoff News & Links
Another solid night in the playoffs for former Blue Devils
Channel 24 marks first year in Midtown Sacramento with praise from neighbors, businesses
Channel 24, Sacramento’s newest music venue, is celebrating one year in business in the heart of the Newton Booth neighborhood in Midtown.
Sci-Fi or Science? Paterna Bio Claims Lab-Grown Sperm and Embryos are a Reality
Is the future of fatherhood found in a petri dish? Startup Paterna Bio claims to have grown human sperm in a lab from scratch, even using it to create early-stage embryos. While it offers hope for infertility, critics warn of a "dangerous notion" that messes with Mother Nature.
Green Line Apothecary returns as ice cream shop
A longtime neighborhood apothecary is making a comeback, but this time, it’s trading medications for ice cream.Green Line Apothecary, a family-owned business, i
Wisconsin DOJ sues Kalshi, other prediction markets for illegal online sports betting
Wisconsin is suing Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket and Crypto.com for allegedly illegally facilitating sports betting on their prediction market platforms, the state’s Department of Justice announced this week.
Fathers' early involvement with babies is directly linked to long-term physical and mental health
A long-term tracking from the first year at home ties early interactions between fathers and their babies to lasting childhood health.
Choice lifestyle: Family business flourishes in tough love for backcountry skiing
Grace Yancey might someday write a book about her childhood winters – the igloo playhouse, a breezy three-sided latrine and visitors from around the world at her Little House in the Purcells.
Are You Overdue for a Doctor's Visit? We'll Come to You!
Cone Health’s mobile medicine program brings primary care, heart health, women’s services, and cancer screenings directly to neighborhoods, removing barriers to care.
Largest catch-up initiative delivers over 100 million childhood vaccinations
The Big Catch-Up (BCU), a historic multi-year, multi-country effort to address vaccination declines driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged 1 to 5 across 36 countries with more than 100 million doses of life-saving vaccines, helping to narrow critical immunity gaps, announced Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), WHO, and UNICEF at the start of World Immunization Week.
Infant Immunization Week highlights vaccines amid rise in preventable illnesses
Health leaders are using National Infant Immunization Week to encourage families to stay informed about childhood vaccines as cases of preventable diseases cont
‘Today’s Dylan Dreyer Confesses Her Motherhood Fears
Dreyer opened up about why she was initially scared to become a mom.
Considering History: Jackie Robinson, Japanese Americans, and the Best of American Sports and Community | The Saturday Evening Post
Jackie Robinson can help us better remember a largely forgotten teammate and childhood friend, Shigeo “Shig” Takayama, and the connections between African American and Japanese American baseball.
‘We only had moments’: Brantley County wildfire destroys wedding chapel business & home, leaves family starting over
A Brantley County business owner, Ginger Hunter says she is starting over from nothing after a fast-moving wildfire destroyed her home, her wedding chapel, and nearly everything tied to her family’s livelihood.
'The Neighbourhood': Graham Norton Praised By Team Behind ITV Show
Graham Norton has been praised for his hosting of 'The Neighbourhood, ITV's Saturday night show, after he appeared in a Taylor Swift video.
‘The Neighbourhood’: Creative Team Behind ITV’s Latest Big Entertainment Bet On Host Graham Norton’s Perfectly “Mischievous & Witty” Tone: “We Feel Lucky To Have Got Him Inbetween Taylor Swift Video Shoots”
Graham Norton clearly doesn’t do things by halves and he spent a full month living around the corner from contestants on The Neighbourhood, ITV’s constructed reality series that launches Saturday nigh...
‘It’s not just stardust.’ Musicians warn AI could erase artists’ livelihoods
Musicians brought their message straight to Capitol Hill, warning lawmakers that AI threatens artists’ voices, likenesses and livelihoods.
CDC won’t publish report showing covid shots cut likelihood of hospital visits
The report, which had cleared the agency’s scientific-review process, had been delayed. It now won’t be published at all, people familiar with the decision told The Post.
Drought restrictions 'a bit of a nightmare,' business owner says
The City of Raleigh says inspectors are out in neighborhoods making sure people understand and follow the new watering rules.
Size of Starbucks workforce in Nashville announced
At 2,000 employees, it would be more than half the head count at its current headquarters in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood, where it has been since the early 1990s.
Shaky political science: using "simulated" elections over real-world elections
[Dear DSOS readers – this article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in early December, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting. We found that many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data, and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first three articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report, the second one analyzing a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report, and a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research]. In this fourth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we shine a spotlight on seven studies that were web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group (the ERRG is an ad hoc committee headed by New America’s Political Reform Program and joined by the American Enterprise Institute, the Unite America Institute and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law). This research consortium has been led by Lee Drutman, senior fellow with New America’s Political Reform Program. These seven studies are simply not credible from any objective standard about how political “science” is supposed to illuminate our understanding of either ranked choice voting or politics in general. The feature that six of these seven studies have in common is that they all used surveys – artificial, simulated elections -- to attempt to say something cogent or interesting about ranked choice voting (RCV) elections. None of them used real world data from actual RCV elections – either the 1000+ elections in the US or the many thousands of elections from places like Australia, Ireland and elsewhere where RCV has been used for 100 years. While a few of these studies conclude with some mixed positives about RCV, our analysis here is content neutral. The idea that, with a political reform like RCV, you can ask respondents in a mock, artificial election to vote with that method, with only the barest of explanation about how RCV works or its likely impacts (i.e. no spoiler candidates, majority winners, voters liberated to pick their favorite candidates, coalition-building), and then ask them their thoughts/reactions about voting in that system, with fake candidates and no real campaigning, no real exposure to an actual election or actual candidates, rests on some very puzzling assumptions. The findings of these seven studies actually are contradicted by the findings from many other studies based on real-world RCV elections. These New America studies also failed to list the real-world RCV studies in their own citations, instead including those studies that reinforced their conclusions. The seven studies featured in this article were chosen because they form a cohesive cohort which precisely illustrates one of the main points of our research paper, namely that using surveys, i.e. artificial elections, or mathematical/theoretical models, instead of real-world data, is in fact “shaky political science.” Below are summaries of our analysis of five of the seven New America studies. You can read our complete analysis of all seven studies at our paper, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting.” Choosing to “Vote As Usual” by Andre Blais, Carolina Plescia, and Semra Sevi. New America. (Blais et al., 2021). This study, web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group, used two surveys in which respondents completed ballots for simulated elections using plurality, approval, RCV and point (Score) voting. In both cases the authors provided the respondents with only minimal explanation of each method. For example, the entire explanation for RCV was “For this vote, rank the candidates from your first to your last choice (you do not need to rank them all). This is called the ranked vote.” That’s it. The study did not provide any context or explanation to survey respondents about why she/he might want to rank multiple candidates. Participants were not even told that ballots would be tabulated using an “instant” runoff, not to mention any description of RCVs ability to eliminate the spoiler effect or liberate voters to rank their favorite candidates without fear of helping the “greater evil” candidate to win. That’s like taking an iPhone back in time to 1970 and asking someone if they like it better than their rotary phone without explaining how it works. Their first survey targeted states that held 2020 Super Tuesday Democratic primaries and used the real candidates’ names in the survey; the second survey used fictitious candidates. In other words, they surveyed respondents who had only ever participated in plurality elections, had no history or background with using RCV or any of the other methods, had no clue about its likely impacts, and did not communicate how the alternative methods would be counted, and then asked them: “How satisfied are you with using each system?” Predictably, the winner was plurality elections, the system used for president, Congress, gubernatorial and state legislative elections – in other words, the method they have been using, year after year, all their voting lives. With so little explanation of RCV and its impacts, this study is simply not credible in discovering anything useful about real-world RCV elections. It merely shows that a basic voter education campaign is needed when adopting a new election system. Additionally, the result contradicts many other post-election surveys following real RCV elections, asking opinions from voters who had just participated in a RCV election, that showed a great deal of satisfaction with RCV (see details on that in Studies 22-25 in our paper, as well as the four studies cited in the review for Study 28). Share Other studies on “satisfaction” and “understanding” make similar mistakes, in terms of basing their surveys on inadequate explanation to respondents and lack of education about context. How could any survey ever hope to measure accurately, in essence simulate a real-world election, without actual campaigning candidates, the media writing about those candidates, organizations endorsing candidates and voters being inundated with crucial information? More than anything, what these “studies” based on surveys show is that if you ask voters about something they don’t know very much about, and fail to adequately educate them, their responses will unsurprisingly reflect their confusion. Equally puzzling is that New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group, headed by political scientist Lee Drutman, found this to be a credible enough study that they not only published it but highlighted it in Drutman’s own discussion of research related to ranked choice voting. This pattern was repeated in study after study featured by New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group. For example in Ranked-Choice Voting and Political Expression: Voter Guides Narrow the Gap between Informed and Uninformed Citizens by Cheryl Boudreau, Jonathan Colner, and Scott MacKenzie, the researchers based their analysis on a survey which found that respondents who were asked to vote in a simulated RCV election, with minimal explanation of RCV or how it works, displayed less evidence of being informed about how to use RCV effectively, with the least informed voters ranking fewer candidates. As pointed out under the study above, in a real election voters are informed by a wide variety of methods, including public education by the election administration, by interested political groups, the media, and the candidates themselves who benefit from voters being aware of how to vote in the new system. In Support for Ranked-Choice Voting across Race and Partisanship by Joseph Anthony, David C. Kimball, Jack Santucci and Jamil Scott, the researchers used respondents from different parties and races voting in simulated plurality and RCV elections, who indicated their satisfaction with each voting method. Instead of using real world election results, the authors fell back on the easy, armchair and less reliable academic research methodology of making up mock elections. As with the other studies, little explanation was given of how RCV works or what its implications might be (electing majority winners or eliminating spoilers, for example). Unsurprisingly, this study found that respondents were not very satisfied with RCV. However, when the authors added an explanation that RCV has a tendency to elect more women and people of color, they found that this greater explanation increased the preference for RCV. The more voters were familiar with it, and the more they understood potential positive impacts – surprise! -- the more they were open to switching away from the status quo. Of note, the results from this study are thoroughly contradicted by a number of other studies whose data was obtained from real RCV elections with real voters. Those studies show a great deal of satisfaction with RCV. More “fake election” research An interesting wrinkle on this “research by fake elections” approach, which only served to illustrate how unreliable such “research” can become, was taken in Ranked-Choice Voting, Runoff, and Democracy: Insights from Maine and Other U.S. States by Joseph Cerrone and Cynthia McClintock_,_ also web-hosted and funded by New America’s ERRG. It gets high marks for creativity, but an eye-roll for thinking this could possibly add anything meaningful to our understanding of real world RCV elections. This study tried to determine whether RCV, plurality or two-round runoff elections provided greater voter satisfaction and acceptance of election results. To determine that, the authors conducted a survey asking if voters were satisfied with a fictional newspaper report of an election, with three different versions given to respondents – plurality, runoff and RCV, with variations of Republican/Democrat winners and variations of “come-from-behind” winners,” i.e. candidates not initially in first place but who win the “runoff.” Again, a minimal explanation of RCV or how it works was given, and the survey showed that respondents had the greatest unfamiliarity with RCV than the other methods. The unsurprising result? Respondents were much more satisfied with “come-from-behind” victories in a traditional two-round runoff election than in RCV, even though RCV is also a runoff system but with a single round of counting. Interestingly, the dissatisfaction with RCV disappeared for those who were more familiar with RCV. In fact, among those respondents who were “very familiar” with RCV, they were equally satisfied with RCV, runoff and plurality. Surprise, surprise. Again, what this study revealed, more than anything, is not only the inadequacy of the explanation for RCV given by the authors of this study, but the failure of the research format itself, thinking that such an artificial mock election could somehow simulate what actually happens in the real world in a real RCV election. Those four studies reviewed above are fitting examples of inadequate and shaky political “science.” Other studies reviewed in our paper from the New America/Electoral Reform Research Group cohort which also used mock elections included: Ranked-Choice Voting is an Acquired Taste by Joseph Anthony and David C. Kimball. New America. (Anthony et al., 2021). Ranked-Choice Voting is No Refuge for Extreme Candidates by Melissa Baker. New America. (Baker, 2021). Also included in this New America cohort is Does Ranked-Choice Voting Reduce Racial Polarization? by Yuki Atsusaka and Theodore Landsman, which actually did use real-world election results data but applied an odd and unconventional methodology to the data which relied on shaky assumptions and non-real-world scenarios that were too divorced from reality. To determine levels of “racially polarized voting,” the researchers imagined “ethnic parties,” by which they mean political parties for each ethnic group, which was especially odd since the election data they were using came from nonpartisan RCV races. But then they made an even odder assumption, namely that since race and ethnic characteristics of studied voters were not available, the authors tried to infer that information based on who voters selected and the racial make-up of voters in each district. This amounted to little more than vague and ambiguous guesswork dressed up with a bunch of mathematical equations used to give it a veneer of scientific appearance. Indeed, it seemed to assume racial polarization in order to prove racial polarization. Based on this questionable methodology, the authors concluded that RCV doesn’t reduce racial polarization. But the premise of this study missed an obvious reality: since RCV incentivizes more candidates to run and can result in more diverse fields of candidates, one would expect more racially-polarized voting in voters’ top rankings, not less, because more voters would have someone on that ballot who represents their racial or ethnic identity and more freedom to vote for their real first choice. By encouraging more diverse candidates and eliminating the spoiler effect, RCV facilitates voting for a favorite candidate of your own race and then selecting a second choice with the best likelihood of winning. The real measure is what voters do with their additional rankings – do they consider other candidates and vote “for the best of the rest”? This study didn’t tell us anything useful about that. But readily available data shows this is common in real RCV elections, and candidates act on this knowledge by engaging with voters outside their racial group. So the authors of this study failed to consider or account for what actually happens in real-world elections, and their conclusions are tainted by this failure. New America has contributed a great deal over the past 2.5 decades to our understanding of many policy areas, including politics and political reform (full disclosure: Steven Hill, one of the authors of this article and of the “Shaky Political Science” research paper and series, is a former senior fellow and former director of New America’s political reform program, 2005-2010). So it was especially disappointing that New America funded and published such a large batch of dubious studies about ranked choice voting. The stated praiseworthy goal of its Electoral Reform Research Group was to inspire new academic research about ranked choice voting that would shed light and help the public better understand the impacts of RCV. Instead, the ERRG research did just the opposite. It produced dubious research that created more confusion and misinformation. In so doing, New America’s political reform program contributed to “shaky political science.” Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS, a reader-supported digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
The Death of Public Health
During the recent measles outbreak, the largest in more than 30 years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refused to clearly recommend the measles vaccine, saying instead that it was a “personal decision,” and that parents should “do their own research.” Similarly, during her recent confirmation hearing for United States Surgeon General, Casey Means was questioned by Senator William Cassidy (R, La). “You’re the nation’s doctor,” said Cassidy. “Would you encourage [a mother] to have her child vaccinated!” “I’m not an individual’s doctor,” Means said. “And every individual needs to talk to their doctor before putting a medication in their body.” In June 2025, Marty Makary, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that COVID vaccines for pregnant women should be a “personal choice”, even though every other country in the world recommended the COVID vaccine during pregnancy due to a higher risk for severe disease. It doesn’t end there. On January 5, 2026, RFK Jr. reduced the number of routinely recommended vaccines from 18 to 10. For vaccines that protected against influenza, COVID, and rotavirus, parents were urged to speak with their doctors—to make an individual choice. (On March 16, 2026, in a ruling by a federal court in Boston, RFK Jr.’s revised schedule was invalidated.) What’s happening? Why are public health officials moving away from making recommendations for the public? The origin of this change might be rooted in the first two years of the COVID pandemic. In 2020, during the first year on the pandemic, we didn’t have anything to stop a virus that was killing hundreds of people a day and could be spread asymptomatically. We didn’t have antivirals until October, monoclonal antibodies until November, and vaccines until December. All we could do was restrict travel, close businesses, shutter schools, and mask, isolate, quarantine, test, and social distance. During the second year of the pandemic, when we had vaccines to prevent COVID, people couldn’t go anywhere without their vaccine cards. They couldn’t go to their favorite bar or restaurant or sporting event or place of worship without proof of vaccination. Some people were fired from their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated. For many, this was seen as massive government overreach and energized what has been called the “medical freedom movement.” Indeed, a headline in the New York Times declared, “How Health Freedom Became a Winning Rally Cry.” As expressed in the comments of RFK Jr., Casey Means, and Marty Makary, the medical freedom movement focuses on the individual not the community—the opposite of public health. In an article titled “Ethics and Social Value Judgments in Public Health,” ethicists from Yale University distinguished public health from medical freedom. “Public health policies,” they wrote, “are population oriented. Because individual health affects the health of others, public health measures regulate individual behavior to achieve population health goals. All raise questions about how individual autonomy and freedom should be balanced against public health interests…which respects individuals’ sovereignty over their bodies and actions as long as their actions do not harm others.” The medical freedom movement fails to recognize that it often limits the freedom of others. For example, a parent who is afraid to send a child to school where many of the students are unvaccinated. Or immune compromised children who depend on those around them to for protection. The question then becomes “Freedom for whom?” Is it your right, in the name of medical freedom, to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection—and in so doing, take away the freedom of others? In Four Essays on Liberty, Isaiah Berlin sums it up best. “Liberty for the wolves,” he wrote, “is death to the lambs.” Thanks for reading Beyond the Noise! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe
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