During the late 1970s, American families experienced stagflation—a combination of economic stagnation and significantly higher inflation. By the summer of 1980, unemployment hit 7.8% and the economy was actually shrinking. On the year, inflation spiked 12.3%.

The unfortunate addition of two more dog breeds by the American Kennel Club (AKC) is being reported as breezily as if it were an announcement for a new car or smartphone. But dogs aren’t fad objects. They’re living, feeling beings—and driving up demand for “purebreds” has dire consequences for dogs.

Six decades ago, many states, particularly in the South, passed laws to suppress the votes of people of color. The techniques varied, but they were all quite insidious: poll taxes, literacy tests, English proficiency requirements among them. Civil rights activists, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., held large and often peaceful demonstrations against this assault on democracy, with Dr. King once observing from an Alabama cell that there are more Black people “in jail with me than there are on the voting rolls.” Local leaders proved unsympathetic and gladly sent in police to break up marches like Selma’s “Bloody Sunday,” where a 25-year-old protester named John Lewis led hundreds across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, only to be beaten down by state troopers.

Our two organizations, Blue Frontier and the Center for the Blue Economy, were among the first, in 2019, to highlight how our public seas must play a central role in national climate policy. The ocean, after all, is the planet’s major sequesterer of heat and carbon, as well as the source of vast quantities of carbon-free energy from winds, tides and currents. Coastal communities, from those of Native Alaskans to condo residents in south Florida, are on the frontlines for rising sea level impacts.

Two high-profile criminal cases at opposite ends of the country are putting a much-needed focus on the legalities — or illegalities — of lying. Americans for too long have justified lying as a tolerable offshoot of the brash entrepreneurial spirit that spurred industry and created $2 trillion tech empires like Apple and Microsoft. Fake it till you make it became accepted as a legitimate route to success, as if duping investors was somehow admirable.

Since last summer, Medicare has been evaluating whether to pay for a newly approved, exorbitantly priced drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Its decision was always going to be fraught: The data on the drug’s potential benefits are ambiguous at best, and its risks are considerable. About 40% of patients who have taken it have suffered swelling or bleeding in the brain. Others have experienced disabling nausea, dizziness, headaches and confusion. Biogen, the manufacturer, is investigating a patient death.

Commentary: To stop another Jan. 6, we have to disagree

Editorial: Jan. 6 insurrection was the result of a continuing war on truth

From the very beginning of the pandemic, when we called it coronavirus, political leaders tasked with making moment to moment decisions to protect public health have relied on a steady stream of data: new infections, breakthrough cases, variant dominance and tragically, deaths. But COVID hospitalizations have the most critical measure in determining the progress of the disease and if our health care system would collapse or not.

Getting healthy and fit in the new year is an admirable resolution. But while we’re doing downward dogs and cat stretches, what are our dogs and cats doing? More than likely, they’re just waiting — staring at the wall and wishing they could enjoy a little exercise, too.

Are you among the two-thirds of Americans without a will? You probably realize you aren’t alone and that others, even many wealthy celebrities — such as Prince, Howard Hughes and Sonny Bono — have died without a will.

Prices have been increasing at the fastest rate in decades, but we haven’t been having a debate about inflation. We’ve been having five. We might do a better job of thinking through the issues if we distinguish among them.

It’s not every day that the Biden administration and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller agree. In fact, it’s more like a total eclipse of the sun.

Here’s the second most important message that the jury in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial delivered in finding her guilty of trafficking minor girls to be sexually exploited. It comes courtesy of a statement by state Sen. Lauren Book, of Broward County: “The brave women who testified in the trials against Maxwell and [Jeffrey] Epstein not only held their own abusers accountable, but also paved the way for other survivors to come forward with the knowledge that they, too, can be heard and believed.

I teach college, and recently had an overwhelming sense of sadness.

AARP is the nation’s biggest and most influential advocacy group for seniors. It has about 38 million members — more than 11% of the U.S. population. From lobbying for better conditions in nursing homes to getting travel discounts for members, the organization has done much to help retired people over the years.

For Americans under 50, inflation is little more than a theoretical concept. But for those of us born in the late 1950s and 1960s, the inflation of the 1970s was a formative experience we’d rather not repeat. Inflation was as much a part of our childhood as COVID is for today’s kids.

December’s end is when we reflect on what we hope to improve in the year to come … and also the time for my annual predictions of news headlines for the next 12 months.

The terrible year of 2020 ended with a glimmer of hope. While the United States and California were in the grip of the worst surge yet of the pandemic, the first vaccines against COVID-19 were being distributed to health care workers and plans were underway for the largest immunization rollout in the nation’s history.

Forget car dealers; Americans are flummoxed by the marketplace for health care. Two new reports published last week show that consumers are increasingly anxious about medical costs and access to care, with record numbers signing up for subsidized health coverage. The system is not working for the majority of Americans, and the inequities are only getting worse.