Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

3 weeks ago | usnews.com | Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

More than 50 volcanoes have erupted so far in 2025 – most notably and recently, Italy’s Mount Etna, which spewed smoke, ash and bits of rock on Monday morning, terrifying visitors to the Sicilian peak. Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has also been spouting off recently. It released a 1,000-foot plume of lava late last month as part of an ongoing eruption. More than 1,2000 volcanoes across the globe have erupted during the Holocene, our current geological period, which covers the last 12,000 years.

3 weeks ago | usnews.com | Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced last week that the federal government was investing more than $1.5 billion to repair roads and bridges damaged during natural disasters. The repairs target roadways and bridge spans in more than two-thirds of all states, plus some U.S. territories and Washington, D.C.But federal data shows that much more investment is needed to shore up the nation’s ailing bridges.

4 weeks ago | usnews.com | Elliott Davis |Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

Key Takeaways: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that some Chinese students connected to the country’s Communist Party or “studying in critical fields” will have their visas revoked. It’s not yet clear how many visas could be taken away or which areas of study by Chinese students will be targeted. Students from China made up about 25% of the international student body in 2023-24.

1 month ago | usnews.com | Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

Proposed cuts to the nation’s largest anti-hunger program would translate into hundreds of dollars less in the pockets of the neediest families, with more than 2.7 million American households losing some or all of their benefits. A series of think-tank analyses concluded that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could suffer in these ways and more under a $300 billion reduction included in President Donald Trump’s massive budget bill, which passed the House early Thursday.

1 month ago | usnews.com | Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

It might be one of the most contentious findings we’ve ever published. Some of the brightest minds at U.S. News have spilled hundreds of words’ worth of virtual ink to explain the reasoning behind it. Why was Florida – perpetual lightning rod for controversy, rugged frontier of classroom censorship and book bans, and home to hostile takeovers of ideologically and politically noncompliant public institutions – the No. 1 state for education for two years running in our annual Best States rankings?