Is this the year you join the 1 percent?

Good news for the new year: According to new research by Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell University, there’s a 1-in-9 chance that a typical American will hit the jackpot and join the wealthiest 1 percent for at least one year in her or his working life. The bad news: That same research says only an elite few get to stay in that economic stratosphere – and nonwhite workers remain among those who face far longer odds.

Lane of Kingshighway Boulevard to close for crane construction

At 9 a.m., Friday, Jan. 30, contractors will close one lane of northbound Kingshighway Boulevard, just north of Children’s Place and extending past Parkview Place, to begin construction of a tower crane. The lane will reopen at 3 p.m. the same day.

Friends know how long you’ll live, study finds

Young lovers walking down the aisle may dream of long and healthy lives together, but close friends in the wedding party may have a better sense of whether those wishes will come true, suggests new research on personality and longevity from Washington University in St. Louis.

Wash U Expert: Politics of disaster relief spurred aggressive preparations for East Coast storm

Given past voter backlashes against natural disaster responses that were considered to be inept, it’s no surprise that New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and other politicians took aggressive measures to prepare for the megastorm now lashing the East Coast, suggests Andrew Reeves, PhD, an expert on the politics of disaster relief at Washington University in St. Louis.

​Student protest leader Riggs marching for a better St. Louis

Reuben Riggs, a senior in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says the fight for social justice is the foundation of a liberal arts education and he has embraced that fight in light of events in Ferguson in 2014. “To know that and not go out and engage when it’s happening on my doorstep would go against everything I believe in,” said Riggs, who also is an Ervin and a Civic Scholar.