Columns by Mary Ellen Klas in Bloomberg Opinion and Exclusive stories in the Miami Herald

Bloomberg.com •

Want Students to Thrive? Lock Up Their Phones.

There are few things most American politicians seem to agree upon, but banning mobile phones in classrooms seems to be one of them. Based on the experiences of some schools that have required students to prioritize learning over TikTok scrolling, there’s also a welcome side benefit: less conflict and more “hellos.”When school starts this fall, students in most US states and DC will be required by law to turn over or turn off their smartphones during all or most of the school day, according to an...
Bloomberg.com •

Thom Tillis Knew What the GOP Refused to Hear

Earlier today, Republican Senator Thom Tillis became one of only three GOP senators to cast a vote against President Donald Trump’s budget bill. Ultimately, his vote was mostly symbolic — the measure passed on a 51-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaker.But the vote has already had consequences for the two-term lawmaker from North Carolina. On Sunday, he made the announcement that he would not be running for re-election in 2026. His decision came a day after he took to the...
Bloomberg.com •

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Is a Dystopian Pipe Dream, Not a Plan

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has been getting a lot of attention this week for erecting an ICE deportation camp on an abandoned airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades and calling it “Alligator Alcatraz.” In a glossy video, he suggests that the flood-prone wetland is perfect for housing detained immigrants in the heat of the summer because if anyone escapes “there’s not much waiting for them — other than alligators and pythons.”As a policy, building a tent city in a fragile sw...
Bloomberg.com •

Florida Could Be Flying Blind This Hurricane Season

As the US heads into the June-to-November Atlantic hurricane season, many of the tools weather forecasters rely on to assess risk and warn the public have been weakened or all but dismantled by the Trump administration’s scorched-earth campaign to cut government services. Coastal states are going to feel the brunt of the impact.The deep cuts to the programs that supply data for the forecasts mean that meteorologists will be left “flying a plane in the clouds with no navigation system,” said Mich...
Bloomberg.com •

The White House Plans for Texas Could Backfire

President Donald Trump’s push for Texas lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional districts in hopes of preserving the slim Republican majority in the US House is yet another example of the president putting his own fortune above his party’s.In an ideal world, it’s also a good idea — because it could lead to more competitive elections and a more representative democracy. Of course, that’s the opposite of Trump’s intention: He wants to make it more difficult for voters to punish him for his u...
Bloomberg.com •

Pell Grants Are an Engine of Social Mobility. Don’t Cut Them.

To preserve tax cuts for the wealthy, the Republican budget reconciliation proposals moving through Congress cut programs for the neediest in ways that will lead to higher costs for everyone in the long run. The plans include not only cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, but also to Pell Grants, the program that provides federal assistance for higher education.The first Pell Grant was awarded in 1973 and since then has helped millions of low-income students attend college. The grants overwhelmingly go to...
Bloomberg.com •

US Democracy Is Sicker Than Many Realize. Look at These States.

Political scientists are issuing stark warnings about the way they see President Donald Trump’s second term pushing the US into authoritarianism, with its sweeping executive orders, defiance of court rulings, threats and coercion to enforce ideology, and steamrolling of a Congress that appears only too willing to give up its power.But to focus only on the White House ignores the broader picture: the gradual rise of illiberal instincts in US politics, and especially on the right. It began with th...
Bloomberg.com •

Musk’s AI ‘Colossus’ in Memphis Is Everyone’s Problem

Build a massive supercomputer housed in a plant powered by methane gas-burning turbines that emit an undisclosed amount of pollutants into a disadvantaged community. Obtain no environmental permits. Ask permission later. That’s the approach Elon Musk has taken in the city of Memphis as he rushes to build two massive data centers to provide computing power for his artificial intelligence startup xAI. It’s a scenario America might have to get used to.
Bloomberg.com •

Normie Republicans Like Brian Kemp Have It Rough

Even before Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced he would not be challenging Democrat Jon Ossoff in that high-stakes US Senate race in the state next year, he had already emerged as one of the most interesting Republicans on the national stage. Kemp knows what a liability Trump can be for Republicans and has learned how to choose his battles carefully. For the last four years, the two-term governor endured Trump’s threats and bullying because he refused to illegally overturn the 2020 election r...
Bloomberg.com •

Who Can Save Florida Democrats? Former Republicans

Florida is becoming a testing ground for desperate centrists. The Democratic leader of the Florida Senate, Jason Pizzo, abruptly resigned his leadership post last week with just two weeks to go in the legislative session. “The Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” he said as he made the announcement on the Senate floor. “There are good people that can resuscitate it. But they don’t want it to be me.” Florida is becoming a testing ground for desperate centrists. The Democratic leader of the F...
Bloomberg.com •

GOP's Voting Reform Is Paperwork, Not a Solution

Listen closely to the arguments of the House Republicans pushing the so-called “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act” and you realize they aren’t interested in solving the problem the bill purports to address: non-citizens voting in federal elections.If you take the proponents of the bill at their word — that the measure is needed “to increase integrity of elections” because “non-citizen voting decreases confidence in our elections” — you’d expect a targeted proposal aimed at increasi...
Bloomberg.com •

Harvard Proves the Only Choice Is to Fight

School districts across the US are now facing the same decision as institutions of higher learning: allow the government to censor their instruction or stand up for themselves and lose federal funding. As Harvard and Columbia demonstrated by taking opposite approaches, there is really only one choice: fight.That’s because the Trump administration has demonstrated it’s not negotiating in good faith. Each time an educational institution engages with the White House, the White House shifts the goal...
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