An anguished mother called in to the regular Zoom meeting of the Jersey City, New Jersey, school board this summer. She implored the members and administrators to reconsider the decision that was keeping her son, Nicholas (an honor roll student), out of the district’s accelerated academic program. She pleaded with them to recognize that he had missed the test’s cutoff by only five points, that he had practically home-schooled himself during the yearlong pandemic shutdown, and that he would face bullying at the neighborhood school where he was assigned.

Certificate-of-need (CON) regulations require healthcare providers to seek permission from state regulators before offering new services, expanding facilities, or investing in new technologies. Though CON laws are intended to restrain costs, increase quality, and improve access for low-income and underserved communities, research shows that such laws increase cost, degrade quality, and limit access—and that these negative effects may be cumulative.

My name is Emily Washburn and I’m 11 months social media sober. I’ve been without Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and all other name-brand social media sites since last September. I took the plunge and deleted my accounts and the apps from my phone.