BQ Broadside

Category: USA News

  • Linda McMahon and the Future of Public Education by Molly Castle ’25

    Public industries in the U.S. are more politicized than in other developed nations. (The recent shooting of a healthcare CEO is a potent reminder of the dangers and frustrations of a predominantly private and for-profit healthcare system).  Public schools have not escaped politicization either. Recent disputes over book bans in K-12 schools and the widely…

  • Student Arrests over Pro-Palestine Demonstrations by Molly Castle ’25

    If you have opened the New York Times app in the last month, or turned on the news, chances are you’ve seen something about the pro-Palestine protests taking over campuses across the country. What started as a sit-in on a green of Columbia’s campus spread quickly across the country, with some protests and encampments even…

  • The Clock is Ticking for TikTok by John Dean ’26

    Over the past few years, TikTok has become one of the most well-known and widely used social media apps. After rebranding from musical.ly in 2018, its popularity skyrocketed, growing exponentially during the pandemic. Everyone was stuck inside, with nothing better to do than spend hours scrolling. Its rise forever changed the internet, bringing with it…

  • Francis Scott Key Bridge and What It Reveals About US Infrastructure by Molly Castle ’25 

    The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26, seemed sudden and unbelievable. What is astonishing, however, is that experts have been warning for years that the bridge was not structurally sound and likely to collapse from a direct collision with a ship.  As early as 1980, engineers warned that…

  • Resurgence of SAT Requirements: Standardized Test Scores Make a Comeback in College Admissions! by Beatrix Worthington ’25

    In the height of Covid and the years since, more than 1,800 universities in the United States have stopped requiring students to submit standardized test scores, such as the SAT and ACT when applying for college. Schools have implemented different testing policies, including test required, test-blind (where standardized test scores are eliminated from the school’s…

  • 2024-2025 FAFSA: Is It A Flop? by Maggie Chen ’24

    On December 27, 2020, the FAFSA Simplification Act was passed. Plans to make the FAFSA application more accessible to students across the country were made. The new FAFSA would finally become available to students in 2023. The application went from about 118 questions to now, 36 questions. Though much shorter, the FAFSA has been far…

  • “Drive On, UAW, Drive On” by Max Negbaur ’24

    The United Auto Workers, the labor union that represents car assembly workers for Ford,  General Motors, and Stellantis, ended its strike barely a week ago, having finally reached a tentative agreement with General Motors  on October 30. In the process, the UAW got something unions almost never get: exactly what it asked for. At the…

  • “Lewiston Maine Shooting” by Molly Castle ’25

    It is difficult to determine exactly how many mass shootings there have been in 2023 so far. Different sources have different standards for what exactly qualifies as a mass shooting, but the general consensus is that there have been over 500 in the 300 days since the year began. One of the most deadly so…

  • “Ohio Issue 1 Abortion Rights… What Comes Next?” by Julia Robinson ’26

    Abortion rights supporters celebrate their biggest victory since June of 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, a moment in history that set the stage for states to decide whether or not an individual has the right to reproductive decisions- such as abortion. Now, in the month of November, Ohio stands as…

  • “Republican National Debate” by Maisie Morrison ’25

    The second Republican debate was held a couple of weeks ago, on Wednesday, November 8th. The qualified candidates included former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, former Governor of South Carolina and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina senator Tim Scott. President Trump met the…