A Reckoning

Tennessee's Capital Punishment Faces Mounting Scrutiny

What's going on: Last week’s botched execution of Tennessee’s Christa Pike — who was set to be the first woman put to death in the state in more than 200 years — continues to raise questions about what went wrong and what happens next. The 50-year-old remains in the hospital, where she’s unconscious and on a ventilator after surviving two rounds of pentobarbital — a sedative that was supposed to be fatal. (She’s the only person believed to have survived such a massive dose.) Pike’s lawyers had warned that her unique blood disorder would make lethal injection difficult, but the state proceeded anyway after the Supreme Court cleared her execution. While her health remains in limbo, Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) announced over the weekend that the head of Tennessee’s prison system will step down at the end of the month.

Ethical questions arise: Legal analysts say what happened to Pike amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. How she recovers could dictate what happens next. Her current mental state puts her up against a Supreme Court ruling that bans executions for those who lack a “rational understanding” of the reason they’re being put to death. However, if she recovers, the state could try to kill her again — though Lee has paused executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year. In the meantime, the state's process for capital punishment is facing scrutiny. The state has long been secretive about how it obtains and tests lethal drugs. Drug companies also typically restrict access to these products, while those administering the injections are often untrained, resulting in what one law professor calls “a recipe for disaster from the start.”

Related: A Doctor Explains How Christa Pike Survived Lethal Injection (People)

Put Her In, Coach 

The Next Generation Is on the Sidelines

What’s going on: Women’s sports are winning big, but if you look down the bench, it’s a different story for girls. More than half of tween and teen girls who have never played organized sports say they want to, but only 45% participate, according to a new Women’s Sports Foundation report. But the roster tells a different story: That’s compared to 52% of boys. So what’s creating the pipeline problem? Money is one big dividing line. Less than one-third of girls from households earning less than $50,000 currently play organized sports, compared with 58% of girls from households earning double that amount. Parents also pay more for girls’ sports. Olympic track champion and WSF trustee Gabby Thomas knows the drill. She started with recreational soccer, but once the sport required travel teams and greater expenses, it became a “big financial stress” for her family. So, she stopped.

A better playbook: There’s also a belonging gap. Younger boys and girls are equally likely to say sports are “for someone like me.” But by ages 14-18, that drops to 66% for girls, compared with 73% for boys. Girls ages 8-10 are also about twice as likely to quit because their friends stopped playing, they didn’t like their coach, or because their body changed. So what helps? Kids say having fun is the main reason they play, while parents may overestimate how much they care about winning. Experts say parents can focus more on effort, improvement, and enjoyment, because not every girl needs to become the next Gabby Thomas. But keeping more girls in the game makes it less likely we lose the next one.

Related: Kids Don’t Actually Have To Start Sports at a Young Age To Be Good at Them (TODAY)

College Life

A Not-So-Worthy Investment?

What’s going on: Though you’ll never convince Skimm writer Stephanie, who wakes up daily wishing she was back at the University of Georgia, that college isn’t the most life-changing four (ahem, four-and-a-half) years, the tide is turning elsewhere. Only 31% of Americans think a college education is “very important,” according to a new Gallup poll. That’s an all-time low — and the lowest it’s been since Gallup started asking the question in 1978. And it’s down 39% since 2013. The poll saw a decline across all major demographics — even among those who have historically prioritized college. The rising cost of earning a degree could be partially to blame. Higher education costs have outpaced inflation, making it the second-biggest household expense after buying a home, and leading nearly half of families to borrow money to pay for college.    

So are fewer parents sending their kids to college?: Despite the higher costs and uncertainty over its importance, 38% of parents still say they’d like their kids to attend a four-year college after high school. The kids seem to want that, too: undergraduate enrollment grew 1.3% this spring to 15.5 million students, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. And there’s reason to believe a college degree still has value. While unemployment rose nationwide last week, recent college grads ages 22 to 27 were still less likely to be unemployed than other workers their age. Wage growth is also a nationwide problem, but workers 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree make more than $600 per week more than their counterparts without. An executive at the education foundation who partnered with Gallup on the survey said parents aren’t asking “Is college worth it?” anymore. Instead, it's become: “Is this the right path, at the right price, and will it lead somewhere?”

Related: Workers Afraid of AI Are Now Seeking Careers That Require Actual Humans (The Washington Post gift link) 

Quick Hits

👠 Olivia Colman made her runway debut at 52, walking for Miu Miu at Paris Fashion Week. What role can’t she play? 

🍺 Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been spotted doing the most British thing ever: Hanging out at the pub eating fish and chips. Talk about a press run. 

🧠 Can’t shake a mistake? A performance psychologist who works with top athletes recommends “learn, burn, return” — take the lesson, mentally flush the rest, and literally, let that sh*t go. 

🤔 First came quiet quitting. Now, workers worried about layoffs are “loud working” — making damn sure the boss sees their value. Not us “accidentally” CC’ing our manager on everything. 

🎤 We all need a bestie to open the door and listen to our relationship problems like Taylor Swift does for Dakota Johnson. Nothing says “I’m here for you” like sending your friend home with Pedialyte.

🩰 Sarah Jessica Parker and Stevie Nicks took over the New York City Ballet's Fall Fashion Gala. Yes, their looks are absolute Dreams.

👻 If you want to get into the Halloween spirit, Cup Noodles has garlic-flavored “Vampire Noodles” that turn red when you add hot water. Talk about something to sink your teeth into.