Skip to content

What We’re Reading This Week, August 17-20

The Congressional August Recess keeps rolling on, and while Federal Relations is very busy hosting people on campus and round the state (check out our Facebook page to see some of our visitors), we are still enjoying some reading material.

Grant Memorial Restoration (AOC)
Grant Memorial Restoration (AOC)

Gmail People – Fall out from recent Ashely Madison hack has started as the hackers have revealed the email addresses of 15,000 email addresses that end with “.gov” and “.mil”. Individuals emails released include persons who work on the Hill, including a staffer of Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) and Capitol police officers, as well as four dozen people who work in the White House. Read more at Roll Call. 

Unionizing Sacked – The NLRB dismissed the Northwestern football players case and bid to unionize. Read more at NPR. Read about implications at Sports Illustrated.

Hoarders – Universities, specifically Harvard, University of Texas, and Princeton, are hoarding funds according to a recent op-ed. Read More at the New York Times. 

Brutal Amazon – In case you missed it, the corporate culture at Amazon is somewhat akin to Lord of the Flies. Read more at the New York Times. Meanwhile, Amazon has announced that it is leasing another office building near South Lake Union, but not constructing a skyscraper as originally thought. Read more at the Puget Sound Business Journal. 

New Debt Rules – The Administration is expected to release new proposed rules to discharge college debt for defrauded borrowers.  The rules are expected to be released soon, so that they may be finalized by November and take effect by July 2017. Read more at Inside Higher Education. 

Grad School Binge – Experts are concerned that the increase in grad school enrollments, and debt, combined with the new Income Based Repayment programs, an entitlement, is causing an impending crash. Graduate school debt now accounts for forty percent of all college debt. Read more at the Wall Street Journal. 

Summer in the Hamptons – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is taking a brief two-week break from the campaign trail to vacation in the Hamptons with her husband, former President Clinton. The rental house includes a private pool and beach, which it should for $50,000 a week. See pictures at the Daily Mail.

ach, which it should for $50,000 a week. See pictures at the Daily Mail.