Archive for November 2025

On Monday, the West Virginia Department of Human Services shared its response to the report with 13 News. “The recent OIG audit identifies deficiencies that occurred during the review period October 2023- September 2024, but it does not reflect the significant reforms and modernization efforts already underway within the West Virginia Department of Human Services (DoHS) since the Morrisey Administration took over in 2025. Since assuming office, Governor Patrick Morrisey and DoHS leadership have launched an aggressive transformation of the child welfare system, one that addresses the very issues highlighted in the report and, in many cases, goes well beyond federal expectations,” the DoHS release said.

As a sociologist who teaches about AI and studies the impact of this technology on work, I am well acquainted with research on the rise of AI and its social consequences. And when one looks at ethical questions from multiple perspectives – those of students, higher education institutions and technology companies – it is clear that the burden of responsible AI use should not fall entirely on students’ shoulders. I argue that responsibility, more generally, begins with the companies behind this technology and needs to be shouldered by higher education institutions themselves.

Malawi is struggling to contain a devastating mental health crisis, with official police statistics revealing that at least 2 014 people have killed themselves between 2022 and September 2025…. The data reveals that those committing suicide are predominantly aged 20 to 39, the country’s most economically and socially productive age group and overwhelmingly male.

Today, most research is done collaboratively. But research finds that when individual scholars have less academic freedom and universities’ autonomy declines, global research collaborations are also threatened. The prevalence and complexity of those collaborations that optimize human and material resources has grown, with substantial impact on scientific productivity — what we call the global “collaboration dividend.” Collaborations foster solutions to complex problems, from vaccine development to renewable energy. Diminishing academic freedom erodes these collaboration dividends, which then reduces the quantity and quality of scientific discovery worldwide.

In September, Adams presented a graphic about white supremacy during her graduate-level social work class titled “Diversity, Human Rights and Social Justice.” A student filed a complaint against her that drew issue with the inclusion of Make America Great Again on the graphic.

Scientists found that people who use both cannabis and tobacco show a distinct brain pattern tied to mood and stress regulation. Their scans revealed higher levels of an enzyme that reduces a natural feel-good molecule in the brain. This imbalance may help explain why co-users experience more anxiety and struggle more when quitting.