Author profile

Sean Salai

Follow author updates

Sean Salai

ssalai@washingtontimes.com

Sean Salai is the general assignment/culture reporter for The Washington Times. A former National desk intern and Metro clerk at The Washington Times, he also has served as a City Hall reporter at the Boca Raton News and as a special contributor at America Media. He can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Sean Salai

In this May 5, 2018, file photo, students attend the University of Toledo commencement ceremony in Toledo, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

Colleges expand ‘segregated’ graduation events

Universities are expanding their menu of optional graduation events focused on participants' identities and segregated by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and even income.

May 5, 2023

New graduates line up before the start of a community college commencement in East Rutherford, N.J., May 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Conservatives excluded from 2023 commencement invites

Conservative speakers, already a rarity on college campuses in recent years, may be even more of an anomaly this spring as the nation's universities hold commencement ceremonies featuring an array of educators, entertainers and politicians drawn from the left -- and essentially devoid of anyone from the right.

May 4, 2023

Pedestrians walk past the headquarters of First Republic Bank in San Francisco, Monday, May 1, 2023. Regulators seized the troubled bank early Monday, making it the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history, and promptly sold all of its deposits and most of its assets to JPMorgan Chase Bank in a bid to head off further banking turmoil in the U.S. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Gallup: Half of adults anxious about money after bank collapses

About half of those responding to a poll are worried about the security of their money in banks after the failure of several high-profile institutions, Gallup reported Thursday.

May 4, 2023

The 42nd annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will honor 144 first responders killed in the line of duty on May 5-6 in Emmitsburg, Maryland. (Photo courtesy of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation)

Memorial service to salute 144 fallen firefighters on Sunday

Ashley Smith says she feels proud that her late husband, Austin, will be among the 144 honorees Sunday at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

May 3, 2023

BART Police Officer Eric Hofstein displays the fentanyl he confiscated while patrolling the Civic Center Station BART platform in San Francisco, Calif. Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. (Jessica Christian /San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)

CDC: Fentanyl led 2021 spike in drug overdose deaths

The synthetic opioid fentanyl caused the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

May 3, 2023

In this Nov. 14, 2019, photo, students walk on the campus of Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Youths show spike in ER visits related to suicide; pandemic worsens decadelong trend

Young people experiencing emotional distress increasingly visited emergency rooms in the decade leading into the COVID pandemic, with suicide-related visits rising fivefold, a new study says.

May 2, 2023

From left to right: Family friend Joe Gallagher, Colvin Chumley, Cheryl K. Chumley, Chloe Chumley and Douglas P. Chumley at The Washington Times's May 2022 book party launch for "Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom," by Cheryl K. Chumley. (Photo by The Washington Times)

Douglas P. Chumley, husband of TWT’s Cheryl Chumley, dead at 66

Douglas P. Chumley, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran whose relationship with Washington Times online opinion editor Cheryl K. Chumley spanned three decades and produced four children, died Thursday, April 27.

May 2, 2023

Amelia, 16, sits for a portrait in a park near her home in Illinois on Friday, March 24, 2023. (AP Photo Erin Hooley)

Mental health worsened in online screenings last year: Report

The latest numbers from the nation's leading online mental health screening program are in, and they paint a pretty bleak picture of mental illness in the COVID era.

May 1, 2023

A traveler looks at a flight board with delays and cancellations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. Congressional investigators said in a report Friday, April 28, 2023, that an increase in flight cancellations as travel recovered from the pandemic was due mostly to factors that airlines controlled, including cancellations for maintenance issues or lack of a crew. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) **FILE**

Airlines, feds prep for flight interruptions as summer bookings soar

Airlines are crowing about early summer bookings returning to pre-pandemic levels, but the federal government is blaming them for delays and cancellations that airline analysts say are poised to ground passengers again.

May 1, 2023

In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018, photo, students and passers-by walk past an entrance to Boston University College of Arts and Sciences in Boston. Everyone can’t be a STEM major; there are still vital roles necessary in lower-paying fields like humanities, arts and social sciences. But when you follow your dreams from college to career, the return doesn’t always match the investment — especially if you take on debt. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) **FILE*

College prospects pick schools based on state politics

College-bound students are increasingly rejecting schools in states whose politics differ from their own, with many citing "cancel culture" and abortion as key issues, recent polls show.

May 1, 2023

Stanford women's soccer team players wear warmup jerseys with "Mental Health Matters" on their backs as well as a butterfly patch on their sleeves to remember late goalie Katie Meyer, who died by suicide earlier in the year, before an NCAA college soccer match against UCLA, Oct. 14, 2022, in Stanford, Calif. The COVID-19 pandemic took an especially harsh toll on U.S. teen girls’ mental health, with almost 60% reporting feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness, according to a government survey released Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, that bolsters earlier data. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)

CDC says percentage of suicidal teen girls rose during COVID

A growing share of teenage girls considered and attempted suicide in 2021 as their mental health deteriorated in the second year of COVID-19 restrictions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

April 28, 2023

An early morning pedestrian is silhouetted against sunrise as he walks through the U.S. Flags on the National Mall and past the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. President Biden is asking Congress to hand over another $10 billion in funding to combat COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and an additional $37.7 billion in aid to Ukraine as Congress begins debate on its next spending measure ahead of a mid-December deadline. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

COVID report finds suicide calls, overdose deaths and mental illness soared in D.C.

Suicide hotline calls, drug overdose deaths and mental illness complaints in the District all went through the roof during COVID-19, a report has found.

April 28, 2023

The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to a crowd of hundreds from the steps of the Senate portico during the National Action Network demonstration in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis's rejection of a high school African American history course, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023 in Tallahassee, Fla. (Alicia Devine /Tallahassee Democrat via AP) **FILE**

Al Sharpton accuses McDonald’s of racism against Blacks

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton has accused fast-food giant McDonald's of practicing "racial discrimination" by refusing to advertise in Black media and forcing Black franchise owners to operate in poor, high-crime neighborhoods.

April 28, 2023

84-year-old Andrew Lester's house, right, is seen up the street, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, from a neighbor's driveway where 16-year-old Ralph Yarl received help after he was shot by Lester a week earlier in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Fear of crime, high levels of anxiety blamed for ‘wrong address’ shootings

A spate of "wrong address" shootings around the country has sparked speculation about what's driving the incidents, from a fear of lawlessness and "stand your ground" laws to easy access to guns and lenient penalties for violent crime.

April 27, 2023

In this file photo, a vial of the Phase 3 Novavax coronavirus vaccine prepared for use in a trial at St. George's University hospital in London, Oct. 7, 2020. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax for emergency use on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, providing the U.S. with a fourth option. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) **FILE**

Study finds Novavax COVID jab safe, effective for adolescents

A randomized clinical trial has found that the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Novavax Inc. is "safe, immunogenic, and efficacious in preventing" the coronavirus in adolescents.

April 26, 2023

A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Arlington Heights, Ill., Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. A strong job market has helped fuel the inflation pressures that have led the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Consumers blame corporate ‘greedflation’ as soaring prices help companies rake in record profits

Companies say they've raised prices in the COVID era to keep up with soaring production costs. But new research shows most consumers believe they are jacking them up more than necessary.

April 25, 2023

Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents on Dec. 16, 2021, in Salt Lake City. With legislators in Florida barring even the mention of being gay in classrooms and similar restrictions being considered in other states, books with LGBTQ+ themes remain the most likely targets of bans or attempted bans at public schools and libraries around the country, according to a new report Monday, April 24, 2023. Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer,” was the most “challenged” book of 2022, the second consecutive year it has topped the list. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) **FILE**

Parents challenge books in record numbers, American Library Association report says

Parents challenged books in school libraries and classrooms in record numbers for the second straight year, with one highly contentious work on LGBTQ identity bearing the brunt of conservatives' wrath.

April 25, 2023

Hot cell operators Dawnette Hunter, left, and Scot White manipulate radioactive material from behind 4-foot-thick leaded glass at the Hot Fuel Examination Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory, about 50 miles west of Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Nov. 29, 2018. The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, the Idaho National Laboratory will receive $150 million for infrastructure improvements to boost nuclear research and development. (AP Photo/Keith Riddler) **FILE**

Rising oil prices drive support for nuclear energy to decade high: Gallup

Rising oil prices have increased support for nuclear energy to its highest level in a decade of Gallup polling.

April 25, 2023

This Jan. 3, 2017 photo released by Paul Zalewski shows his infant daughter Ruby in a smart-tech sleeper called the Snoo, which gently rocks and jiggles babies to sleep from birth to 6 months old. (Paul Zalewski via AP) **FILE**

FDA approves first ‘smart crib’ for babies

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first "smart bassinet" whose manufacturer says it reduces safety risks for infants through automated rocking that keeps them flat on their backs.

April 21, 2023

iPhone 7's screen shows several social media application icons. (File photo credit: Wachiwit via Shutterstock)

Gen Z dumps smartphones for dumbphones to escape screen addiction

At age 17, Davida Rimm-Kaufman gave up her smartphone to finish high school with a so-called dumbphone, worried that an "extreme addiction" to social media was making her stressed and sad.

April 21, 2023