It's now been half a decade since the COVID-19 pandemic altered reality for the entire globe. Though ripples of the pandemic continue to affect us all, one day continues to stand out as monumental. On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic, the NBA suspended its 2019-2020 season, Tom Hanks shared that he had tested positive for the virus and President Donald Trump announced a travel ban in the United States. (Cross, USA Today)
Read MoreThe deadliest phase of the street fentanyl crisis appears to have ended, as drug deaths continue to drop at an unprecedented pace. For the first time, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have now seen at least some recovery. A new analysis of U.S. overdose data conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill also found that the decline in deaths began much earlier than once understood, suggesting improvements may be sustainable. (Mann, NPR)
Read MoreThe conservative-led court is taking up the case amid actions by President Donald Trump targeting transgender people, including a ban on military service and an end to federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The justices also have heard arguments in a Tennessee case over whether state bans on treating transgender minors violate the Constitution. (Sherman, AP News)
Read MoreHe [Ross Markham] was born into the Plymouth Brethren, Britain’s most secretive Christian group, but left briefly, aged 17. This Prodigal Son only made it as far as Woking, but he was, he says, living in debauchery. He was “like the son in Luke 15… I was disillusioned. I didn’t feel the Church was fulfilling enough. But I was probably just ungrateful.” Within a year, he was back. (Buchanan, The Telegraph)
Read MoreTwo recent school shootings are highlighting what extremism researchers see as a growing — and poorly understood — trend among young people who embrace mass violence. The attacks, at high schools in Madison, Wis., and Nashville, Tenn., defy categories that law enforcement and researchers have long used to understand radicalization pathways, such as radical Islamist terrorism and white nationalist terrorism. (Yousef, NPR)
Read MoreThe racial and ethnic makeup of the Catholic population varies by region. For example, in the Midwest, 78% of Catholics are White and 15% are Hispanic. In the Northeast, 72% of Catholics are White and 20% are Hispanic. In the South, 44% are White and 45% are Hispanic. And in the West, there are more Hispanic Catholics than White Catholics (58% vs. 27%). (Nortey, Tevington & Smith, Pew Research Center)
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