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Political Ads Mentioning Abortion Jump After Supreme Court Leak

The mention of abortion in political television advertisements has surged since a draft US Supreme Court opinion on Roe v. Wade was made public.

In US House races, 22% of pro-Democratic ads and 24.5% of pro-Republican ads that ran since the May 2 leak mentioned abortion, according to a report from the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks campaign spending. Previously, 6.2% of Democratic and 13.5% of Republican ads mentioned the issue.

Travis Ridout.
Ridout

“Clearly, the country’s attention has turned to abortion rights, and we’re seeing the shift in political advertising as well,” Travis Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, said in a report released on Thursday. “Abortion is an issue that not only separates Democrats and Republicans, but the issue could matter in primary races as well.”

The increase in abortion mentions also has shown up in Democratic Senate and gubernatorial ads, and in Republican gubernatorial spots, the report showed.

Politico first reported the leaked draft opinion that potentially could overturn the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.

TV ad spending for the crucial midterm elections is climbing as candidates bombard voters weighing inflation and abortion before deciding which party will control Congress and dozens of state offices.

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BNN Bloomberg

Columbian digital archives now available to public free

On Monday, The Columbian’s digital archives became available to the public for the first time, allowing users to search with keywords and date ranges.

The archives, available at columbian.newspapers.com, open up a new world for historians, students and curious Clark County residents who may want to search for their own names, an ancestor’s name, addresses, or a date of a specific paper or an event.

Donna Sinclair.
Sinclair

“The digital newspaper archives are a really great resource,” said Donna Sinclair, history professor at Washington State University Vancouver. “They bring life to the past.”

Historians and students previously had to use microfilm or microfiche projectors to scan through each roll of film, a slow and inefficient way to find information without a specific date of an event.

Sinclair, who teaches history classes at WSUV, said that the online archives will save historians and students time, opening up new ways for them to discover stories.

“I plan on developing an exercise where there’s a timeline or history of a place, and students are looking at material in The Columbian,” Sinclair said.

Other archives projects

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Rome News Tribune/Northwest Georgia News

Study supports stronger conservation efforts in Appalachians and the Gulf Coast, US

During the last ice age, glaciers covered vast portions of North America. But some regions, including areas of the southern Appalachians and the Gulf Coast, had more temperate climates in which plants and animals survived and thrived. From those regions, called glacial refugia, those populations spread northward as the glaciers receded.

Jeremiah Busch.
Busch

New research by Clemson University scientist Matthew Koski and colleagues, including WSU professor of biological sciences Jeremiah Busch, supports strengthening conservation efforts in glacial refugia because of their high genetic diversity.

“These regions are the source of genetic diversity for the rest of the species ranges to the north of us,” said Koski. “Conservation of these habitats in the Southeast is vital and has implications for other areas of the country.”

If forced migrations of species — the planting populations beyond their current range edges — is necessary, being able to sample from regions with high genetic diversity is important.

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Science News

Service workers’ volatile shifts linked to high‑cost debt

Time, more than money, appears to influence whether service sector employees end up turning to so-called predatory lenders.

A study by Washington State University and Harvard University researchers found service employees’ unpredictable work schedules played more of a role in their reliance on high-cost debt than their income. Service employees work in industries such as retail, food service, grocery and hospitality as well as delivery and fulfillment – with many in the study sample working for the nation’s largest retail employers, Amazon and Walmart.

Mariana Amorim.
Amorim

“The experience of schedule volatility is pretty common among service sector workers,” said Mariana Amorim, WSU sociologist and lead author on the study in the journal Sociological Science. “We found that the more schedule volatility people experienced, the more likely they were to take out expensive loans, such as those from pawn shops and auto-title lenders—or they use credit cards in ways that are problematic.”

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WSU Insider
Phys.org

Marcia Ostrom named WSU Food Systems program director

Marcia Ostrom.
Ostrom

Leading statewide outreach supporting access to healthy food for all, Marcia Ostrom is the new director of the Washington State University Food Systems Program.

Founder of the WSU Small Farms Program, which she led for 15 years, and a 21-year WSU faculty member, Ostrom took on directorship March 16, 2022. Ostrom is an associate professor in the WSU School of the Environment and an Extension specialist in sustainable food and farming systems, leading outreach to diverse food and farming communities in Washington.

“The director’s role is an incredible opportunity to lead efforts to build positive change within our institution and across Washington state,” Ostrom said.

WSU Food Systems offers multi-disciplinary education and research to support regional food systems development from farm to table. Working with partner organizations and communities, the program fosters successful farm businesses, promotes better processing, distribution, and sustainable practices, and educates for a more secure, economically vibrant, and equitable regional food system.

The program was originally created as part of the Washington Safe Food Initiative in response to public requests for expanded WSU research and education aimed at socially disadvantaged farmers, sustainable and organic agriculture, and community food security.

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WSU Insider
Morning Ag Clips