In October 2024’s news coverage of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and their catastrophic damage, some stories argued that climate change has increased the severity of such storms. This brief evaluates this hypothesis: are severe storms becoming more common?

Every election season, Americans are inundated with pre-election polls. Many times, polls offer different predictions of which candidates are ahead and who will win. And in recent elections, polls have significantly underestimated support for some presidential candidates. Do these outcomes indicate that polls are contaminated by partisan bias? Which polls should we pay attention to – if any?

Throughout the U.S., there is a huge backlog of immigration cases. Some involve individuals who were detained at the border. Other cases are individuals who failed to appear for immigration hearings after being allowed to enter the U.S.. Why can’t the undocumented be deported as soon as their status is determined? Why are new arrivals allowed to leave custody in the first place?