Data Wants To Be Free

Criminal Justice

• In an op-ed for AL.com, Matthew Charles of FAMM and Andy Potter of One Voice United discuss the crisis in Alabama's, and the nation's, prisons that is putting corrections officers and incarcerated people at risk.
   
• The Chicago Tribune reports on how the state’s pretrial system is operating six months after money bail was officially eliminated, finding that while the system is operating relatively smoothly the changes have exposed several areas where improvements could be made, including as it relates to the availability of public defenders.
   
• During a gathering at the White House focused on criminal justice reform, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new Small Business Administration rule that will reduce some barriers people with a criminal record face when trying to get a business loan, NPR reports. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, also a criminal justice reform advocate, was in attendance.

• Dr. Mark T. Fleming, chair of the U.S. Oncology Network’s National Policy Board, echoed support in STAT News for the expansion of site-neutral payment reform, referencing the recent op-ed from former HHS secretaries Azar and Sebelius. 
   
• The Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) blog covers state efforts to improve price transparency.  
   
• Health Affairs takes an in-depth look at private equity's negative impact on health care costs and outcomes. 
   
• California's Office of Health Care Affordability voted 6-1 to rein in health care costs by adopting a 3.5% annual cost growth target in 2025, moving down to 3% by 2029. 

• The American Enterprise Institute, an AV grantee, published a new report by Matt Weidinger and Amy Simon on what metrics government agencies should be tracking and using to measure the successes and failures of unemployment insurance systems across the country.
   
• AV grantee the Niskanen Center’s Will Raderman released a report outlining how unemployment insurance funding mechanisms get in the way of modernization efforts and program integrity improvements.
   
• Scott Winship of the American Enterprise Institute released a working paper that examines the degree to which worker pay has risen over the past half century.
   
• In The New York Times, Jim Tankersley discusses a new IMF report that expressed concerns on runaway U.S. federal deficits and their impact on inflation. (free link)

• In Forbes, Adam Minsky reports that in response to a motion by AV grantee the Project on Predatory Student Lending, a federal judge has set a new timeline for the Education Department to provide automatic student loan relief for borrowers who were defrauded by their school.

• The Houston Chronicle editorial board investigates whether Texas’ grid problems undermine the state’s ambition in artificial intelligence.

• The Washingtonian's 2024 list of the 500 Most Influential People in the district dropped this week, and it includes AV's Executive Vice President of Health Care Mark E. Miller, AV partner Holly Harris at the Network, and several grantees, to name a few: Maya MacGuineas at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), Rich Powell at ClearPath, Aaron Klein at the Brookings Institution, David Mitchell at Patients for Affordable Drugs Now (P4AD), Rob Richie at FairVote, Janet Murguía at UnidosUS, Pete Sepp at the National Taxpayers Union, and many other current and former grantees.