The U.S. Post Office Is A Public Service, Not A Business
The postal servie requires adequate funding to fully meet the diverse and valuable services it provides to individuals, businesses, and communities.
When Postmaster Louis DeJoy was appointed by former President Donald Trump last May, he immediately instituted many unpopular initiatives intended to help the United States Postal Service (USPS) become more fiscally sound. These initiatives, including cutting letter carrier hours and the removal of mailboxes and sorting machines, resulted in delays in delivery and generated political concerns about the potential impact on mail-in ballots. The USPS experienced dramatic delays in the delivery of packages and bills that continued during the holidays and into the New Year, with businesses alerting customers that there would be delays in packages and billing statements.
Jeffrey Clemens, Parker Rogers
The public and political pressure on vaccine developers and global regulatory approval agencies has never been higher. The world has been eagerly awaiting any – and all – developments regarding vaccines and therapeutics required to fight the current Covid-19 pandemic. While the demand side is willing to pay almost any price for an effective and fast solution, unfortunately neither the drug development nor the drug approval process is designed to deliver speed and safety free of trade-offs.
The dilemma faced by the regulators is simple. If regulators rush their review, they may end up approving a drug without adequately understanding its efficacy and safety, leaving room for unforeseen side-effects. These include safety issues around the drug itself, along with treatment dangers such as unsafe dosages and failing to highlight potentially dangerous drug interactions. Yet if regulators endeavour to understand all possible scenarios, it may take an
Published 5 March 2021
When a disaster strikes, FEMA outlines an organized process for response. To navigate the framework more easily, researchers designed a tool which visually captures and explores FEMA’s 470-plus requirements, recommendations, and other elements.
When a disaster strikes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Response Framework outlines an organized process for response. To more easily navigate the framework, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) designed the National Response Framework Policy Landscape Analysis Tool (NRF-PLAT) to visually capture the document’s 470-plus requirements, recommendations, and other elements.
“The declaration of an emergency triggers a complex set of interactions among federal, state, local, tribal, and non-government organizations as well as individuals. Our tool was designed to make those complexities, and ultimately our nation’s response processes, easier to understand,” said Kristin Omber
When a disaster strikes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Response Framework outlines an organized process for response. To more easily.
Feb. 26, 2021, entitled National Preparedness: A Summary and Select Issues by
Lauren R. Stienstra, section research manager, and
Shawn Reese, emergency management and
homeland security policy analyst:
SUMMARY
The nation has faced challenges in the effort to respond to, and recover from, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Persistent challenges related to acquisition and delivery of diagnostic tests, production and management of personal protective equipment, and development and distribution of vaccines have introduced new questions about the state of national readiness, for pandemics as well as other emergencies more broadly.
This is not the first time the nation has evaluated its state of preparedness. In the wake of the response to Hurricane Katrina,