This form updates results automatically as you select options. Disable live searching
Scripps News
The rise of weighted vests: Benefits, risks and how to start safely
Weighted vests are becoming more popular in the U.S. as an easy way to make walks more challenging. “Weighted vests are very practical. They’re scalable. They allow you to exercise in your home, in your neighborhood, doing resistance training without going to a gym. For a lot of individuals, there is a real appeal to that. The value of the weighted vest is that it allows you to sneak loading into activities of daily living," said health and exercise science professor Kristen Beavers.
May 2, 2026
The Conversation
"Housing costs are eating up more and more of Americans’ monthly budgets," writes law professor Allyson Gold. "Half of renters and a quarter of homeowners are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than a third of their income to pay their rent or mortgage. Roughly 27% of renters are spending more than half of their income on rent. If unaffordability in the U.S. continues to worsen, perhaps rental housing issues will receive more political oxygen, with more legislation proposed at the federal level."
May 1, 2026
Investopedia
States are enacting post-penny laws. Here’s how they work and what to know.
States are passing laws that guide businesses on how to round cash transactions as penny circulation falls. Still, some experts say a lack of federal legislation could create gray areas for retailers and their customers. Penny production has stopped—and states are starting to clarify how cash payments will work without them. If a teacher brings exact change for her $2.33 morning coffee, for example, does the cafe have to accept it? Can it instead adopt a no-penny policy and ask for $2.35? “The one or two bills that I've read would allow stores to round to $2.35,” said economics professor Robert Whaples, who has studied pennies.
May 1, 2026
WFDD-FM (Winston-Salem, NC)
Forsyth County school workers head to Raleigh for May 1 protest
K-12 educators weren't the only ones on the bus. Wake Forest University librarian Jemma Johnson said she attended the protest because she's passionate about public education. "And the fact that there isn't enough being done for kids and teachers and supporting the most important part of what our tax dollars go to," Johnson said.
May 1, 2026
The Conversation
Supreme Court considers how much states can protect consumers when federal agencies won’t
"Chemical giant Monsanto has argued for years that if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approves a pesticide label without requiring a cancer warning, states cannot hold its manufacturer liable in court for failing to warn consumers about cancer risks," writes law professor and Associate Dean for International Affairs Sarah Morath. "The U.S. Supreme Court has now taken up the question after hearing oral arguments for and against that position."
April 30, 2026
All Politics Now
The state Senate has advanced to a floor vote legislation that would prohibit Davidson and Guilford counties for implementing property tax revaluation changes for 2026. North Carolina legislators are not alone among the states in studying property taxes and seeking ways of limiting property-tax increases, said politics professor John Dinan. "North Carolina legislators have been studying property taxes for a good part of the last year. Almost certainly, this particular proposal is made in the context of significant public concerns."
April 30, 2026
Inside Climate News
Drought turns Southeastern US into ‘tinderbox’ as wildfires rage
Drought and fire are a dangerous duo. “The fact that you have all this vegetation here in North Carolina or across the Southeast U.S., and in a drought, it gets very dry and that becomes material that can become fuel for the wildfires,” said Lauren Lowman, an associate professor in environmental engineering.
April 28, 2026
New York Post
We survived the death of the penny — the nickel could be nixed next, experts say
While ditching the penny was a “no-brainer,” Robert Whaples, an economist at Wake Forest University who had long argued for the coin’s demise, told USA Today that he doesn’t “see any groundswell for getting rid of the nickel” as Americans are more likely to use the 5-cent coin when completing purchases. That said, the Treasury pressed a meager 113 million nickels in 2024, while they minted 3.2 billion pennies.
April 25, 2026
The Conversation
Boom in cremation hides surprising truths about what Americans really want when they die
"Nearly two-thirds of Americans now opt for cremation – a figure that has been steadily increasing over five decades. On the surface, that proportion tells a simple story: The nation has embraced cremation, while its preference for casket burials has fallen off," writes law professor Tanya Marsh. "The future of American death care probably isn’t a march toward more cremation. Instead, it’ll probably be a bumpy road of unmet wants, generational surprises and alternatives that need a little more time to get on people’s radars."
This article was reprinted in news outlets nationwide.
April 24, 2026
Money
The U.S. Mint has canceled the penny. Is the nickel next?
The same fate is likely to befall the nickel, too — just not anytime soon. “The key driver is inflation, which makes the penny or nickel less and less valuable over time,” economics professor Robert Whaples notes. He estimates that at a 3% annual inflation rate, it would take about 25 years for the real value of a nickel to shrink by half. “The major reason for keeping the nickel is that people continue to use it,” he said. “When they stopped bending over to pick up a penny and stopped bringing pennies back to the store, it was time to discontinue the penny."
April 24, 2026
USA Today
No more extra fingers? The good, bad and ugly of ChatGPT Images 2.0
No more extra fingers? Wake Forest's Woody Hood, director of critical and creative media and film and media studies, wasn't impressed after playing around with ChatGPT's new image generator. Hood said the generator's photorealism is well done, but the object proportions are "odd." After asking ChatGPT to help create an image of a chicken chasing a butterfly on a tropical island, Hood described the process of creating the chicken images like "chasing your own tail round and round."
April 23, 2026
Casino Beats
Prediction Markets: Trading, gambling, or both? Why the debate matters for consumer protections
While they may not be the majority, economics professor Koleman Strumpf said some participants, such as market makers, are focused on price differences and liquidity. “You can make a bet in a financial derivatives market on whether Johnson & Johnson stock will finish above a certain price on a certain day,” he said. “If you’re right, you make a lot of money. If you’re wrong, you lose everything. So, in that sense, they’re almost exactly the same thing as a prediction market.”
April 23, 2026