Jon Marcus

5 days ago | wfae.org | Jon Marcus

MUSCATINE, Iowa — The suspect moved menacingly toward her, but Elexiana Oliva stood her ground, gun drawn and in a half crouch as she calmly tried to talk him down. The confrontation wasn't real, and neither was the gun. But the lesson was deadly serious. Oliva is a criminal justice major at Muscatine Community College in this largely agricultural community along the Mississippi River. She was in a simulation lab, with that scenario projected on a screen as classmates watched, spellbound.

1 week ago | aarp.org | Jon Marcus

AARP (Shutterstock) Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?” Laura Wattenberg tracks what names are in. The author of The Baby Name Wizard, Wattenberg has a vast and unexpected resource for her work: the Social Security Administration (SSA).

1 week ago | npr.org | Jon Marcus

Muscatine Community College students in Iowa may get to pursue bachelor's degrees. From left: Jake Siefers is majoring in psychology, Elexiana Oliva is majoring in criminal justice, Shiloh Morter plans to become an engineer and Jaylea Perez is pursuing psychology.

1 week ago | hechingerreport.org | Jon Marcus

RIVER FOREST, Illinois — Cuando Jacqueline Quintero empezó a explorar opciones para ir a la universidad cuando se graduara de secundaria, se dio cuenta de algo que muchas parecían tener en común. “No me gusta decirlo, pero todo el mundo parecía tan blanco”, dijo Quintero, cuyos padres llegaron a Estados Unidos desde México. “Simplemente no sentía que yo pertenecía allí”.

2 weeks ago | bleumag.com | Jon Marcus

A steep decline in the number of 18-year-olds is set to hit colleges hard, with ripple effects across higher education, the workforce, and the broader economy.