Tens of thousands in Western Pa. could lose health insurance, SNAP if ‘big beautiful bill’ becomes law Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Teaching Children To Ask Right Questions In The Age Of AI – Kashmir Reader
In the AI-driven future, those who ask better questions will be the ones shaping innovation, policy, and human progress. AI can provide information, but human insight is necessary to direct its use effectively. Schools must transition from knowledge transmission to knowledge exploration, empowering students to be inquisitive thinkers rather than passive recipients of information.
By shifting the focus from finding answers to asking the right questions, we equip children with the cognitive tools necessary for lifelong learning and adaptability in a world where knowledge is dynamic. As we redefine education in the age of AI, our goal should be to nurture the next generation of thinkers, innovators, and problem solvers—armed not just with facts but with the power of curiosity-driven inquiry.
Teaching Children To Ask The Right Questions In The Age Of AI
In an era dominated by artificial intelligence, the role of education is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Traditionally, students have been encouraged to memorise facts and find answers. However, with AI-powered search engines and virtual assistants capable of providing instant responses, the real challenge for the next generation is not merely finding answers but learning how to ask the right questions. This shift necessitates a fundamental rethinking of our education system, with a stronger emphasis on inquiry-based learning and critical thinking.
The Changing Role Of Knowledge In The AI Era
Gone are the days when education primarily revolved around rote memorisation. With tools like ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and other AI-driven platforms, information is more accessible than ever. The real value no longer lies in recalling facts but in the ability to think critically, evaluate sources, and ask meaningful questions that lead to deeper understanding. Instead of teaching children what to think, educators must focus on teaching them how to think.
Why Questioning Matters More Than Ever
Asking the right questions is a skill that promotes problem-solving, creativity, and innovation. Great advancements in science, technology, and philosophy have emerged not from having all the answers but from asking groundbreaking questions. For instance, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity began with the simple question, “What would happen if I could travel at the speed of light?” Similarly, the development of the internet stemmed from inquiries into how computers could be interconnected to share information efficiently.
Moreover, AI systems are only as effective as the queries they receive. If children are trained to formulate precise, open-ended, and thought-provoking questions, they can unlock AI’s full potential as a tool for learning rather than relying on it for passive consumption of information.
Teaching The Art Of Inquiry In Classrooms
To cultivate strong questioning skills in children, teachers must incorporate inquiry-based learning strategies. Some effective methods include:
1. Encouraging Curiosity – Teachers should foster a culture where students feel comfortable questioning everything, from everyday observations to complex societal issues. A curious mindset is the foundation of meaningful learning. For example, a history teacher might ask, “How would history have changed if Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo?”
2. Using Open-Ended Questions – Instead of focusing on yes/no questions or factual recall, educators should challenge students with open-ended prompts that require critical thinking. For example, rather than asking “What is climate change?” they can ask, “How might human activities influence climate patterns, and what can we do about it?”
3. Socratic Method – Inspired by Socrates’ teaching style, this method involves continuous questioning to stimulate critical thinking and deeper analysis. Encouraging students to question their own assumptions enhances their reasoning skills. For example, in a literature class, a teacher might ask, “What do you think the author intended with this passage? How could it be interpreted differently?”
4. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) – Assigning real-world problems that require students to research, analyse, and formulate their own questions helps them develop problem-solving abilities and engage with learning more actively. For example, students could investigate, “How can we reduce plastic waste in our community?” and explore potential solutions.
5. Teaching Question Formulation Techniques—Educators can introduce frameworks such as Bloom’s Taxonomy to help students differentiate between basic recall questions and higher-order thinking questions. For instance, instead of simply asking, “What is photosynthesis?” a deeper inquiry would be, “How does photosynthesis impact the global carbon cycle?”
The Future Of Education: Preparing Question-Driven Thinkers
In the AI-driven future, those who ask better questions will be the ones shaping innovation, policy, and human progress. AI can provide information, but human insight is necessary to direct its use effectively. Schools must transition from knowledge transmission to knowledge exploration, empowering students to be inquisitive thinkers rather than passive recipients of information.
By shifting the focus from finding answers to asking the right questions, we equip children with the cognitive tools necessary for lifelong learning and adaptability in a world where knowledge is dynamic. As we redefine education in the age of AI, our goal should be to nurture the next generation of thinkers, innovators, and problem solvers—armed not just with facts but with the power of curiosity-driven inquiry.
Dr Reyaz Ahmed
[email protected]
© Kashmir Reader. All rights reserved. Kashmir Reader® is a registered India.
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Burcum: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ takes hatchet to health care – Star Tribune
Columnists
Newly passed U.S. House reconciliation legislation could result in punishing coverage losses, more red tape and, perhaps surprisingly, property tax hikes.
By Jill Burcum
Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.
•••
The U.S. House passed what President Donald Trump calls his “Big Beautiful Bill” early Thursday. Minnesotans understandably might come up with a less flattering label when they discover a potential downstream consequence: higher property taxes.
The sprawling budget legislation containing Trump’s signature policy agenda, if enacted, would impose significant new administrative burdens on medical assistance programs, such as work requirements and twice-yearly eligibility checks. These might sound reasonable at first. But in reality, these create massive amounts of red tape for enrollees and, in turn, require substantial additional sums to administer.
Compliance will fall heavily on Minnesota’s counties, who already face some cost-shifting from the state. The new federal obligations would require time and resources that they don’t have, especially rural counties. That leaves their main revenue-raising mechanism, property taxes, to fill the gap.
“We have communicated to the congressional delegation our concerns about the amount of administrative work that these changes will be for counties who are already strapped for resources,” said Julie Ring, the Association of Minnesota Counties’ executive director. ”We do have concerns about just strictly having enough staff to do the work in a timely manner and just the cost of doing that work.“
The new administrative costs could be substantial, something known from a previous legislative attempt in Minnesota to add medical assistance work requirements in 2018. State officials at the time put the price tag at $160 million a year, a sum that‘s likely gone up seven years later due to inflation.
Keep in mind this price tag just estimates the costs of overseeing the work mandate. It does not include the new eligibility checks or new administrative requirements for other programs, such as food assistance.
The House bill now heads to the Senate, where these provisions hopefully will undergo changes before a floor vote that could come midsummer. But the reconciliation process means that a simple majority is needed in the upper chamber vs. the usual 60-vote threshold. The troubling House provisions could remain in place despite Democrats’ best efforts.
Congressional Republicans are “taking us backwards, they are hurting people, and I plan to fight it every step of the way,” said U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat, on Friday.
As the bill makes its way through Congress, it‘s important to understand that this is as dramatic a health care overhaul as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The difference is that the ACA expanded access to coverage while the current House bill could roll back the ACA’s progress to help offset tax cuts for the wealthy.
The changes are sweeping and likely to impact a substantial number of Minnesotans. Currently, 1.2 million people here access health care thanks to Medicaid, the federal-state program providing coverage for low-income people. Medicaid also pays for many elderly people’s long-term care as well as disability services.
“Medicaid is the largest single source of health insurance in Minnesota,” according to state Department of Human Services (DHS) officials. The Minnesota counties with the highest percentage of residents enrolled in Medicaid are rural.
The House bill could result in $716 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other health initiatives nationally over the next decade, the “most significant” funding reductions in the program’s 60-year history. The savings mainly come from measures likely to kick people off coverage. The bill‘s sweeping changes could result in 253,000 Minnesotans losing coverage, according to an analysis shared by DHS.
The new work requirements, for example, have been tried in Arkansas and resulted in eligible people getting caught up in red tape and losing their coverage. The requirements didn’t boost employment.
The additional eligibility checks could also result in coverage losses. Many Medicaid enrollees are facing a health care crisis, such as substance-use disorder or housing challenges or both. That makes it difficult to contact them and get them to return eligibility forms.
In addition, Minnesota could also see a 10% reduction in federal support for adults who became newly eligible for Medicaid coverage under the ACA. That group could face significant hikes in out-of-pocket copays for care as well.
But the House bill goes beyond Medicaid. There are concerns that the bill‘s passage could trigger $500 billion cuts to Medicare, the popular health insurance program for seniors.
Coverage losses could also occur for those who buy private health insurance on their own instead of getting it through a job. About 186,000 Minnesotans (3.2% of us) buy health plans this way.
The legislation proposes cutting in half the open-enrollment time period for buying plans like this on MNsure or elsewhere. Other changes boost red tape, such as requiring manual verification of income and other eligibility checks instead of relying on the current system, which seems to be functioning just fine. That could lead to backlogs and additional administrative staff.
The biggest problem, though, is what the House bill does not do. It fails to renew expiring enhanced subsidies that allowed many people to newly qualify for the ACA’s financial assistance to pay monthly health insurance premiums. Many farm families and entrepreneurs fall into this category and could see steep hikes in monthly premiums beginning in 2026.
The private health insurance market changes could result in “over 62,000 Minnesotans” losing their private health plans in coming years, said MNsure CEO Libby Caulum on Thursday. That‘s “as many as 45% of our current enrollees.”
It might be easy to consider these changes as painful but necessary measures to reduce the nation’s red ink. That‘s not the case, however. The House bill not only fails to do that, but “is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt” through fiscal year 2034, states the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
A far more accurate name for that “Big Beautiful Bill”? I suggest “Taking a Huge Hatchet to Health Care Act of 2025.”
Hopefully, enough responsible leaders in the Senate see the legislation for what it is and act accordingly. There’s still time to head off truly harmful impacts on consumers, state and local governments and the nation’s medical providers.
Columnists
Columnists
Newly passed U.S. House reconciliation legislation could result in punishing coverage losses, more red tape and, perhaps surprisingly, property tax hikes.
Columnists
Columnists
Gov Tim Walz’s speech at the U’s law school graduation ceremony was more political than is standard. Good.
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Culture doesn’t have to come from a screen or empty your wallet — it pours from the woods and waters of the beautiful place where we live.
Columnists
Columnists
Newly passed U.S. House reconciliation legislation could result in punishing coverage losses, more red tape and, perhaps surprisingly, property tax hikes.
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Who is Kai-Ji Adam Lo? Suspect named in Vancouver Lapu Lapu Day festival car attack that killed 11 – Times of India
At TOI World Desk, our dedicated team of seasoned journalists and passionate writers tirelessly sifts through the vast tapestry of global events to bring you the latest news and diverse perspectives round the clock. With an unwavering commitment to accuracy, depth, and timeliness, we strive to keep you informed about the ever-evolving world, delivering a nuanced understanding of international affairs to our readers. Join us on a journey across continents as we unravel the stories that shape our interconnected world.
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Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined – Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
Published: June 9, 2020
Related Key Concepts
We know that responsive relationships and language-rich experiences for young children help build a strong foundation for later success in school. The rapidly advancing frontiers of 21st-century biological sciences now provide compelling evidence that the foundations of lifelong health are also built early, with increasing evidence of the importance of the prenatal period and first few years after birth.
This Working Paper examines how developing biological systems in the body interact with each other and adapt to the contexts in which a child is developing—for better or for worse—with lifelong consequences for physical and mental health. It explains in clear language how these systems are affected by adversity early in life, and shows how those adaptations can result in costly, common chronic illnesses.
The paper encourages us to think beyond early learning in policy and practice. It explores how policymakers, leaders of human services systems, intervention developers, and practitioners can also reduce disparities in preventable diseases and premature deaths and lower the high costs of health care for chronic illnesses that have their origins in early childhood adversity.
Sections include:
Suggested citation: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2020). Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined Working Paper No. 15. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.
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Gianforte vetoes bills on Medicaid, behavioral health insurance coverage – NBC Montana
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by NBC Montana Staff
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HELENA, Mont. — New developments from the state capitol in Helena, where Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed two bills Friday.
Senate Bill 72 would allow Medicaid applicants access to service while their application is under review.
Also, Senate Bill 244 would require health insurance providers to cover behavioral health screenings and assessments.
The Office of the Governor released the following letters, detailing why the bills were vetoed.
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Harvard Alumnus Says There's No Job For Indians In USA, Europe | "Stop Spending Crores On Education" – Trak.in
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Radhika Kajarekar
May 24, 2025
A Gurgaon-based entrepreneur, Rajesh Sawhney, has issued a warning about the decreasing availability of jobs for international students in the US, Canada, and the UK.
This warning comes in the context of increased immigration restrictions in these countries, making it harder for international students to remain after completing their studies.
No Jobs in US, Canada, UK: CEO Of GSF Accelerator
Sawhney is the Founder and CEO of GSF Accelerator and has academic credentials from the Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics.
Despite his own international education background, Sawhney believes the favorable era for international students is now over.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he cautioned parents against investing heavily in overseas education for their children.
He wrote, “There are no jobs in USA, Canada and UK for International students… Honeymoon is over, parents should think twice before spending crores on the expensive education.”
He explained that a previously reliable path—Indian students, particularly IIT graduates, doing a master’s in the US and landing high-paying tech jobs—no longer works.
He said, “Engg students especially IITians had an easy hack, do masters in the US and get a $200K starting tech job. This hack works no more.”
His comments sparked a broader discussion on social media about the job market and immigration challenges for international students.
One user commented, “True! I was there in 2017, people were getting a $150k offer in the first quarter of education BEFORE the career fair. NOW, that same person is at Google and scared s* that she will be laid off!”**
Another user responded positively, saying, “I am more bullish for those engineers come back to India and build billion dollar startups. Imagine all those YC startups by Indians, building from India for the world. That will be legendary.”
Layoffs By Indian Startups Decrease 52% In Last 12 Months
Layoffs in India’s startup ecosystem are noticeably slowing down in 2025, suggesting a cautious recovery following a protracted two-year decline.
Just seven Indian startups have let go of 1,602 workers in 2025, according to layoffs.fyi.
Compared to the same period in 2024, when 20 companies laid off 3,355 employees, this is a significant decrease.
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Swiss health insurance premiums set to rise again in 2026 – lenews.ch
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Swiss residents may soon face another jump in health insurance premiums. Comparis, a consumer price comparison service, forecasts an average increase of 4% for 2026. This would reflect a projected 3.7% rise in healthcare costs for the same period.
According to Felix Schneuwly, health insurance expert at Comparis, the projected increase would mark a return to rises in line with rising costs after three sharp premium shocks: a 6.6% rise in 2023, 8.7% in 2024 and 6% in 2025.
The real surprise, he suggests, is that premiums did not rise even more in previous years. Between 2018 and 2022, political pressure led insurers to draw down reserves to suppress premium growth, limiting increases to below what underlying costs would have justified. Without this intervention, Schneuwly argues, average annual increases from 2018 to 2025 would have been closer to 3%.
Now that health insurers’ reserves have been rebuilt, he hopes the politically induced volatility in premium setting is nearing its end. “Insurers should be able to use their reserves sensibly, so that every minor fluctuation in costs does not translate into a spike in premiums,” he said.
However, three forces are driving this upward cost pressure. The first is the gradual expansion of the compulsory health insurance benefits package—more treatments are being added, such as weight loss drugs. Second, many hospitals have been running deficits for years and are now demanding higher tariffs for both outpatient and inpatient services. Third, the implementation of Switzerland’s care initiative—designed to improve conditions for nursing staff—will push up costs.
In addition, the chronic shortage of qualified personnel may also trigger long-delayed structural reform in the hospital sector, Schneuwly believes.
More on this:
Comparis article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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