Newsroom Stories

The U.S. Treasury Department has taken action to curb corporate tax inversions, making it more difficult to for U.S. companies to merge with international firms and move abroad to reduce their taxes. This move attempts to combat specific abuses within a flawed framework, according to an international tax law expert at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that although a gene variant can prevent some young drinkers from developing alcohol problems, the gene’s protective effects can vanish in the presence of other teens who drink.

Corporate tax inversions — reincorporating overseas by transferring assets to a smaller company in a country where the corporate tax rate is lower — have become quite popular with American companies lately, forcing the Treasury Department to issue new rules aimed at curbing them. The benefit of changing a firm’s home base to lower its effective tax rate is obvious, the study, led by Radhakrishnan Gopalan of Olin Business School finds. However, the costs of inversion are not well understood.

Computer Comfort classes, offered through Olin Business School, connect local seniors with Washington University students who help them learn how to use and get comfortable with their computers — and the Internet, email and Skype, too.

The Assembly Series will feature next week speakers who explore issues of race, culture and identity — in two distinct ways. At 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, race and gender scholar Roderick Ferguson, PhD, will deliver the annual James E. McLeod Lecture on Higher Education. At noon Tuesday, Sept. 30, legal and literary scholar Patricia J. Williams, JD, will speak for the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities’ annual lecture series. Both are free and open to the public.

​On Sept. 11 — just one week into the 2014 NFL season — running back Adrian Peterson was indicted on charges of beating his four-year-old son with a tree branch. In the uproar that followed, Peterson was suspended from professional football and pilloried by pundits left and right. Washington University in St. Louis Associate Professor Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., PhD, who writes about masculinity, performance studies and popular culture, shares his thoughts.

Resident Ruth Groff pets Boo at a pop-up dog park constructed by Washington University staff and student volunteers Sept. 13 for “Rock The Block: A Skinker DeBaliviere Better Block Project.” The event encouraged residents to reimagine their neighborhood through temporary installations such as the dog park and other community activities.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a report last week from an advisory group on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Barbara A. Schaal, PhD, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences, chaired the advisory group that was tasked with creating a strategic vision and guide NAS’ Gulf Research Program.

Washington University in St. Louis has partnered with the National University of Singapore to establish the Next Age Institute, an international collaboration to design, study and test social innovations. The institute, a program of WUSTL’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy, will address global challenges facing many families and communities, among them aging populations and rising inequality.

As part of Washington University Libraries’ ongoing commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, the Washington University Film & Media Archive will host a Q&A with actor Richard Beymer and a free screening of his film, “A Regular Bouquet.” The event takes place at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 23, at Steinberg Auditorium on the Danforth Campus.