ABC News
Trump has ambitious plans for federal land use. He may not be able to accomplish them all.
"Every administration gets to the place where they have to differentiate between the rhetoric that they use in the campaign and the actual challenges when it comes to actually governing," said Stan Meiburg, executive director of Wake Forest University's Sabin Family Center for Environment and Sustainability. The biggest roadblock to Trump's plans to drill on federally protected lands is whether or not those areas are actually economically competitive, compared to places where people are drilling on private land using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, he said.
November 16, 2024
Winston-Salem Journal
Triad cities look for help in identifying lead pipes on private property
A nationwide effort to pinpoint potential issues in so-called service lines — the stretches of pipe that connect the water meter to the building — was initiated by the U.S. Environmental Agency in 2021 in the wake of Flint, Michigan’s pervasive issues with lead in its water, said Stan Meiburg, executive director of Wake Forest's Sabin Family Center for Environment and Sustainability. The resulting revisions to federal regulations “required communities to update their inventory and identify lead pipes in their jurisdiction.”
November 16, 2024
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What we don’t know about Trump’s EPA pick and the risks we face
Executive director of Wake Forest University's Sabin Family Center for Environment writes: "President-elect Donald Trump has again confounded conventional wisdom in nominating former lawmaker and New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin to be the next head of the Environmental Protection Agency. This pick signals that Trump continues to value loyalty in choosing America’s next environmental leader.
November 15, 2024
Winston-Salem Journal
Wake Forest University opens new daycare center
Although almost every industry has returned to normal levels after the COVID-19 pandemic, childcare is still in a national crisis. “When you’re entrusting your child to someone else’s care, it’s a big deal,” said Vice President for Sustainability Dedee DeLongpre Johnston. “It’s having your attention split between your work and giving your child the care they need.” The childcare center, serviced by KinderCare, an early childhood development and education provider, can serve 120 children in eight classrooms.
November 15, 2024
Legal Newsline
Hedge-fund money complicates J&J’s massive settlement for talc claims
Johnson & Johnson’s lawyers think they’ve identified the reason the company is having such a hard time settling thousands of lawsuits claiming its talcum powder causes cancer, even though it’s won the vast majority of the cases that have gone to trial. Hedge funds are standing in the way. Those numbers make perfect sense to law professor Samir Parikh, who studies hedge funds and litigation finance, which he calls “opaque capital.” Hedge funds love investments that are difficult to price and that can grow exponentially in value with deft behind-the-scenes maneuvering, he said.
November 14, 2024
WXII-TV (Winston Salem, NC)
North Carolina political experts weigh in on Donald Trump’s plan to end the Department of Education
Donald Trump has promised to end the Department of Education. If the Department of Education were to go, those responsibilities would still need to be fulfilled. "Those functions that the education department currently performs are mandated by federal law," said politics professor John Dinan. "They would have to be performed, if not by the education department, by some other department or other officials."
November 13, 2024
Business Insider
Polymarket and Kalshi predicted Trump’s win. Now comes the hard part.
The argument for prediction markets' accuracy is that people are more decisive with their money, picking outcomes they think will happen, not just ones they want to happen. "When they actually put their money behind what they say, they're putting themselves out there," said economics professor Koleman Strumpf. He predicts that prediction markets will be around for 2028 — and they'll be bigger.
Strumpf was also interviewed on the Kalshi blog: 'Nobody came close to the markets' and his research mentioned in the Wall Street Journal.
November 12, 2024
Environmental Health News
Trump’s plans may shrink EPA workforce, curbing Biden-era growth
Stan Meiburg, who served as EPA acting deputy administrator during the Obama administration, said the agency has long been understaffed. It has a steady loss of personnel from retirements, transfers and turnover. “You’re losing roughly 1,000 people a year, just if you were standing still,” Meiburg said. “They have been actively trying to hire because they have all this work to do.”
November 11, 2024
AARP
The 5 worst mistakes grandparents can make with money
For many people, spoiling your grandchildren is one of the best things about being a grandparent. You remember your grandparents doing it to you, and now that you can, you want to pay it forward. “Grandparents should ensure they don’t put their own finances at risk by sharing resources that may be needed for their own living expenses,” said Mark Johnson, a teaching professor and fellow in investments and portfolio management at the School of Business.
November 11, 2024
Winston-Salem Journal
Forsyth County residents weigh in on why Trump won and Harris lost
Politics professor John Dinan said Trump benefited from polls that showed that many more people felt the country was on the wrong track. So the candidate who is best seen as the candidate of change is going to have the advantage," Dinan said. "Both Harris and Trump sought to position themselves as the candidate who would bring change, but Trump was more successful in making this case, and he benefited as a result."
November 9, 2024
Winston-Salem Journal
Why did Donald Trump win? Experts from around the Triad weigh in on decisive victory.
"There's a lot of trying to make it make sense going on," said Nate French, an associate teaching professor of communications who focuses on polling, key voter issues and demographic breakdowns. French said Trump foremost "understands the motivational power of cultural wars, of fear and outrage," whereas the look-forward message from Vice President Kamala Harris did not match the overall mood of voters.
November 8, 2024
Marketplace
Betting markets predicted a Trump victory. They were right.
This was a breakout election cycle for election wagering, which was legal thanks to a U.S. district court decision last month. While pollsters ask people how they intend to vote in an election, prediction markets have traders gather information, think hard about the likely outcome and place bets, according to political economist Koleman Strumpf. "People don't get involved in markets typically unless they think they have an edge," Strumpf said. He argued that these betting markets knew something traditional forecasters didn't.
Strumpf was also featured in CoinDesk: "If U.S. Election Is Disputed, Prediction Markets Could Face 'Hornet's Nest'" and "Prediction Betting Markets Vindicated by Trump's Strong Showing," the Sydney Morning Herald, WQAD8-TV (Orion, Illinois), the Washington Examiner, Reuters, CNN, and was interviewed on CBS6 (Albany) on Americans casting election bets.
November 7, 2024