Portage County Legal News

Portage County Legal News.

Local

Rural women are at a higher risk of violence − and less likely to get help

(THE CONVERSATION) I have been teaching a course on rural criminology since 2014, and most of my students are surprised by the information on violence against women presented to them.
Due to the lack of media attention to rural areas, my students come to class with the impression that all countrysides and small towns are safer t ... (full story)

From public confession to private penance: How Catholic confession has evolved

(THE CONVERSATION) The 1953 Alfred Hitchcock film "I Confess," based on an earlier play, features a priest suspected of murder. He's innocent, and has even heard the murderer's confession – but cannot clear his own name.
The Catholic sacrament of reconciliation, also known as penance or confession, has been a com ... (full story)

AI has passed the aesthetic Turing Test − and it's changing our relationship with art

(THE CONVERSATION) Pick up an August 2025 issue of Vogue and you'll come across an advertisement for the brand Guess featuring a stunning model. Yet tucked away in small print is a startling admission: She isn't real. She was generated entirely by AI.
For decades, fashion images have been retouched. But this isn't airbrushing a ... (full story)

'These people do it naturally': Trump's views on immigrant farmworkers reflect a long history of how farming has been idealized and practiced in America

(THE CONVERSATION) The Trump administration's mass deportation campaign has not spared the U.S. agricultural industry, with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement frequently raiding farms across the country in search of undocumented workers.
Now, farmers are facing a crisis the administration has helped create: not enou ... (full story)

The Conversation: Why America still needs public schools

(THE CONVERSATION) While the White House's fight with elite universities such as Columbia and Harvard has recently dominated the headlines, the feud overshadows the broader and more far-reaching assault on K-12 public education by the Trump administration and many states.
The Trump administration has gutted the Department of Edu ... (full story)