Due to a rise in the number of jury scams, most states continue to issue public warnings and reminders regarding fraudulent failure to appear for jury duty. Some scammers are now exhibiting complex tactics to coerce individuals into providing them with personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers or routing numbers for financial institutions. As of February 2025, 49 states have posted information on jury scams on behalf of their respective local and state jurisdictions. For example, the Minnesota Judicial Branch warned the public about a national scam in which individuals pose as law enforcement officers and falsely claim there is a warrant for the recipient’s arrest. The scammer claims that a payment of a fine would solve the issue. Idaho Courts, in conjunction with the U.S. District Court of Idaho, also issued a warning about the increasing number of scam calls and provided a few tips that individuals should keep in mind when encountering this type of suspicious activity. According to the National Center for State Court’s (NCSC) Jury Service Scam Toolkit, state officials such as the attorneys general of Alabama and Oklahoma, and the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs started warning the public about jury service scams over 10 years ago. Typically, scammers call individuals and identify themselves as members of local law enforcement. The scammer claims that because the individual failed to appear for jury service they must pay a fine immediately or will be arrested. The NCSC Toolkit includes a press release template, a handout for seniors , an audio public service announcement, and a jury scam poster with information and warning signs regarding scam tactics.

In the United States there are approximately 3.7 million people under community supervision—also known as probation or parole. People under community supervision often need supportive services, such as behavioral health (to deal with mental health and substance use disorders), education, employment, housing, and transportation services. Such services are usually provided by local governments or community-based organizations, which play a pivotal role in helping people under supervision to avoid contact with the criminal legal system. Probation officers typically provide referrals for services, though research suggests that a low percentage of people under community supervision end up receiving services. (About 80% of people under community supervision are on probation and they are the focus of this brief.) This brief describes an MDRC study of a community hub model in Los Angeles (LA) County, the Developing Opportunities and Offering Reentry Solutions Community Reentry Center (better known as “DOORS”). DOORS was established inside a building where probation officers also work. The DOORS model is intended to provide probation officers with the opportunity to connect adults on probation to service providers located within the same building with the goal of reducing future involvement in the criminal legal system. However, within eight months of opening, the COVID-19 pandemic forced DOORS to shift to a hybrid model where services were provided both in person and virtually. Since study data collection ended, DOORS has expanded in LA County as a hybrid model that is not always located in a probation building.

Teachers and principals play an influential role in school factors impacting student achievement. As such, it is essential to have highly effective educators in all schools across the country. State legislatures play a critical role by setting the policy context for the entire educator pipeline—from recruitment through retirement. Numerous strategies exist to effectively combat pervasive educator shortages. The most effective initiatives create a comprehensive and aligned system. This toolkit provides a wide variety of resources for teachers and principals, including legislators’ guides, a glossary of teacher preparation terms, and relevant reports from external partners. Although these resources present policy strategies separately, research suggests these policies have the greatest impact when implemented together as a comprehensive set of practices to improve the educator pipeline.

Education experts at the University of South Australia are encouraging schools to consider problem-based learning in a move to improve engagement and creativity among high school students. The call follows new data that shows Australia’s school attendance rates over the past year have decreased from 88.8% in Year 7 to 84% in Year 10. Government schools are worst hit, with only 73% of public-school students completing year 12, as compared with nearly 80% in 2017. New University of South Australia research demonstrates how hands-on, community-based projects can deliver successful learning outcomes for disengaged students. Specifically, the study showed that when students engage in hands-on projects, they are more likely to complete their studies, feel empowered in their learning, their confidence and motivation improve contribute to their communities, they see greater value and meaning to tasks they are engaged in. Researchers say the findings present alternative supports to the interventions outlined in the South Australian government’s $48 million investment for disengaged high school students. The problem-based learning model enables students to extend their design knowledge in a collaborative problem-solving process involving investigation, planning, construction and knowledge evaluation. The teacher serves as expert practitioner, facilitator and guide while providing students with a leading role in the process.

The Alder Teacher Residency began in 2010 as an in-house new teacher preparation program for Aspire Public Schools, a California charter network, and has since evolved into an independent graduate school of education and the largest residency preparation pathway in California. During the 2022–23 academic year, Alder enrolled 325 residents, who were grouped into regional cohorts, and partnered with 47 local education agencies (LEAs) across California, including public school districts, public charter schools, and county offices of education. The university featured multiple subjects, single subject (math, science, social studies, English, and world languages), and education specialist credentialing pathways and had developed a coursework sequence that allowed all residents to attain a Master of Arts in Education in addition to their teaching credential. Research found that the program maintained a high standard of teacher preparation and produced teachers who were consistently well-equipped to enter the profession. On average, Alder residents assigned high ratings to the program, with 97% of graduates rating the program as effective or very effective on the 2022–23 California Commission on Teacher Credentialing completer survey. Overall, 95% of Alder graduates have been hired as full-time teachers following the residency year, and 90% of Alder graduates have been rated by their school leaders as more effective than other first-year teachers working in the same schools. Alder residency graduates exhibited consistently higher retention rates than teachers prepared through other pathways: On average, 57% of Alder graduates were still working in the same LEA after 3 years as of 2023, compared with only 33% of new teachers in those LEAs who were prepared through other pathways. Driven by a focus on equity and the goal to build a more racially diverse teaching workforce, Alder had almost doubled the proportion of enrolled residents who identify as members of historically underrepresented groups, from 45% in 2010–11 to 83% in 2022–23.

Air traffic controllers rely on numerous complex systems to manage 45,000 flights per day in the national airspace. These systems allow air traffic controllers to track and sequence flights, communicate with pilots, and more. A shutdown of the national airspace in 2023 due to the outage of an aging air traffic control system prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct an operational risk assessment to evaluate the sustainability of all ATC systems. Of the 138 systems, 51 (37%) were deemed unsustainable by FAA and 54 (39%) were potentially unsustainable. Many unsustainable and potentially unsustainable systems have critical operational impacts on the safety and efficiency of the national airspace. In September 2024, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found several weaknesses in how FAA manages investments to modernize these systems, an effort known as NextGen. FAA's progress has also been slow, taking years to establish cost, schedule, and performance baselines for investments that GAO selected for its review. As of May 2024, completion dates for planned investments for systems that GAO deemed especially concerning were at least 6 to 10 years away. Four such systems did not have associated investments. GAO's 2023 and 2024 reports made recommendations to FAA to help address shortcomings in the agency's management of NextGen and air traffic control system investments. For example, weaknesses exist in FAA's risk mitigation approach. GAO recommended FAA develop a risk mitigation plan for NextGen and report to Congress on its risk mitigation efforts for all unsustainable and critical systems. Doing so would help FAA systematically examine risk mitigation options and increase transparency. FAA has fully addressed two GAO recommendations: conducting root cause analysis on programs that exceed baselines and managing investments in segments. However, critical risk mitigation recommendations and others remain open.

Much of the current literature on the economic impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) focuses on the uses of AI, but little is known about the production of AI and its contribution to economic growth. In this paper, researchers discuss basic concepts and challenges related to measuring the production of AI within a standard national accounting framework. This paper presents a variety of examples that illustrate how both the production and use of AI software are currently reflected in macroeconomic statistics like Gross Domestic Product and the Supply and Use Tables (SUTs). This paper also discusses a broader approach to measurement using a thematic satellite account framework that highlights the production of AI across foundational areas, including manufacturing, software publishing, computer and data services, and research & development. The challenges of identifying and quantifying AI production in the national accounts using existing data sources are discussed and some possible solutions for the future are offered, such as the potential to change or add government data collections to better isolate AI production in the SUTs.

Rising development costs, high interest rates, and an aging housing stock are worsening the long-standing shortage of affordable housing supply. Concurrently, climate-related risks such as hurricanes, severe storms, and wildfires are reducing the country’s housing stock and threatening the safety, insurability, and affordability of housing. As communities search for ways to bring down housing costs, while protecting residents from ongoing climate hazards, housing developers need guidance, support, and incentives to build new housing that is both affordable and climate-resilient, particularly in low-income communities. Using green and resilient-building approaches to new construction or retrofits can result in multiple benefits: increased housing stability and affordability, reduced carbon emissions, increased resilience to climate hazards, and improved financial health, physical health, and well-being. For example, weatherization opportunities, including insulation, air sealing, and more efficient heating and cooling systems, would help households manage extreme temperatures and can have positive outcomes for household finances, health, and life satisfaction in low-income communities. Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) S headquartered in St. Lucie County, Florida, has been in operation since 2010 providing innovative and low-cost financing for sustainable housing retrofits and new affordable housing developments in underserved communities across the greater South. First established as a green bank, SELF’s primary focus is on financing sustainable property improvements, namely energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate resilience in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. SELF was certified as CDFI in 2012—the first green CDFI in the Southeast. SELF’s SAGE Homes loan program provides one example of the critical role of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and green banks in helping community-based developers bring affordable and climate-resilient housing to their communities through flexible financing, training, and mentorship. The SAGE program provides necessary loans to close financing gaps, offers developers flexible financing options (made possible by developers’ elevated understanding of green building), including timelines and underwriting based on expected savings; and integrates both resilience and decarbonization measures into their projects. The program also mentors novice developers and developers new to green development, providing them with knowledge and networks to navigate the development processes and see firsthand how green, resilient, and affordable development is less complicated and less expensive than it may seem.

Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes or vapes, are the most commonly used tobacco product among youth in the United States. Data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that 5.9% of middle and high school students used electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days, a decline from 7.7% in 2023. While cigarettes remain the most commonly used tobacco product among adults, recent trends indicate that electronic cigarette use is increasing among adults. This report uses data from the 2019–2023 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to present 5-year trends in electronic cigarette use among adults and to show how prevalence estimates changed between 2019 and 2023 for men and women and by age and race and ethnicity. The percentage of adults who used electronic cigarettes increased from 4.5% in 2019 to 6.5% in 2023. In both 2019 and 2023, men were more likely than women to use electronic cigarettes. In 2023, young adults ages 21–24 were most likely to use electronic cigarettes (15.5%). The percentage of adults who used electronic cigarettes varied by race and ethnicity in both 2019 and 2023.

Black people, including immigrants, in the U.S. bear a disproportionate burden of cardiometabolic conditions, such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Despite effective interventions to improve cardiometabolic health, these populations continue to experience poorer outcomes compared with their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Participants in this study received a 6-month culturally adapted lifestyle intervention based on the National Diabetes Prevention Program curriculum, delivered via virtual group sessions by a lifestyle coach of African origin. The delayed intervention began 6 months later with a follow-up time of 6 months. The intervention also included remote blood pressure and weight monitoring. Primary outcomes were changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and HbA1c levels from baseline to 6 months. Secondary outcomes included reduced body weight and body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). those in the first intervention group had systolic blood pressure reduction of 9.2 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure reduction of 6.1 mm Hg; those in the delayed intervention group had systolic blood pressure reduction of 11.4 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure reduction of 10.3 mm Hg at 6 months. The findings suggest that adapting evidence-based lifestyle interventions by incorporating cultural elements and leveraging virtual platforms may be an effective strategy to improve cardiometabolic health among African immigrant populations.