International Law Update

Guests: Joerg Graf, PhD, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at University of Connecticut and Associate Department Head for Graduate Research and Education; Adam Matson, MD, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology, University of Connecticut and Neonatologist at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center More than ten percent of babies in the US are born prematurely. That’s an enormous number of families who experience the stress of an impossibly tiny preemie hooked up to monitors and tubes in Newborn Intensive Care. It’s stressful for the babies too – and a study underway at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center aims to find out if that stress might be linked to some of the health problems premature infants experience later in life.

Guest: Melissa Walker, Creative Arts Therapist at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at Walter Reed Medical Center Imagine a display of handmade masks painted with American flags or words written across the forehead or cheeks. Some have eyes. Some don’t. They’re the first exercise in a four-weak treatment program for military service members suffering from PTSD, brain injury and other psychological issues. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Defense are so committed to this kind of therapy that they recently expanded a program called the Military Healing Arts Partnership at various military facilities including the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.

Guest: Cristina Garcia, California State Assemblymember, Bell Gardens, California The Tampon Tax. That’s what it’s been dubbed in California, where State Assemblymember Cristina Garcia made it the subject of the bill she introduced on the first day of the 2016 legislative session. It would make feminine hygiene products exempt from sales tax. Canada lifted its Tampon Tax last summer after thousands of people signed an online petition. Five states in the U.S. also exempt tampons and feminine napkins from tax. California would be the most populous state in the country to do it, if Garcia’s bill passes.

Guest: Jay Rosen, PhD, Associate Professor of Journalism at New York University and Founder, PressThink blog What makes you trust a specific journalist or media outlet in this day when we have so many choices and so many options coming straight to your Facebook feed? Media critic and New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen says what we consider “new media” – blogs and social media feeds – actually bear close resemblance to the press at the founding of America. Rosen’s own blog is called “PressThink.” During a visit to BYU last week, he spoke with my colleague Marcus Smith, host of Thinking Aloud.?