Featured Stories
SBA Proposes Overhaul to Simplify Small Business Classification and Expand Access to Federal Programs
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 -- The Small Business Administration issued the following news release on Aug. 20, 2026:
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SBA Proposes Overhaul to Simplify Small Business Classification and Expand Access to Federal Programs
Size standard proposal would increase small business count by over 110,000
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Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposed a comprehensive overhaul of its small business size standards, modernizing how the federal government defines and classifies small businesses across the United States. Published in a proposed rule, the new standards would simplify industry categorization
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 -- The Small Business Administration issued the following news release on Aug. 20, 2026:
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SBA Proposes Overhaul to Simplify Small Business Classification and Expand Access to Federal Programs
Size standard proposal would increase small business count by over 110,000
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Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) proposed a comprehensive overhaul of its small business size standards, modernizing how the federal government defines and classifies small businesses across the United States. Published in a proposed rule, the new standards would simplify industry categorizationand raise applicable size thresholds, allowing small but rapidly growing firms to continue qualifying and adding over 110,000 firms to the 36 million small businesses in America.
"Thanks to President Trump and America First policies, small businesses are starting and growing at record rates, which is why the SBA is proposing modernized size standards that acknowledge their growth and empower them to compete against large corporations," said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. "Small businesses create the vast majority of new jobs. This proposal ensures that these job creators have the regulatory certainty to scale, expanding small business eligibility by 0.3%, or over 110,000 firms. By streamlining definitions, the SBA will expand access capital, counseling, and contracting opportunities, which in turn create jobs and drive growth."
Mandated by law every five years, this historic update would introduce a market-size approach that would dramatically simplify industry classifications by transitioning from complex separate 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code standards to streamlined 4-digit category standards where appropriate. By cutting the total list of similar industry categories by approximately 65%, down to 338 broader classifications, the SBA seeks to remove regulatory complexities for business owners.
The proposed standards would also expand the official small business pool by over 110,000 firms, ensuring that rapidly growing companies can continue to qualify as small businesses under President Trump's pro-growth economic agenda. By raising applicable size thresholds, the proposal is designed to reward growth rather than force successful firms out of small business eligibility prematurely, especially those in industries that are critical to American strength.
For example, the employee-based size standard for semiconductor manufacturers would increase from 1,250 to 2,800 employees, ship building would increase from 1,300 to 2,300 employees, and oil drilling would increase from 1,000 to 2,650 employees. The receipt-based side standard for support activities for animal production would increase from $11 million to $71 million. These changes would enable more businesses to access SBA loans, compete for federal contracts, and participate in other federal support programs, while reducing the regulatory ambiguity and compliance costs associated with overly narrow industry classifications.
Key highlights of the proposed size standard overhaul include:
* Streamlines the existing NAICS structure to a 4-digit classification system that reduces total size standard categories from nearly 1,000 down to 338 broad industry groupings, simplifying how firms determine their small business status.
* Introduces regional market considerations to ensure size thresholds accurately reflect the realities of local economic competition.
* Expands the pool of employer small businesses (firms with 1 or more employees) by 1.8%, growing the nation's 6.3 million employer firms by over 110,000 and adding to the 36 million small businesses that exist today.
The SBA is seeking comments on the proposed rule. Small businesses can check their current industry classification and size eligibility by visiting www.sba.gov/size-standards.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
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Original text here: https://legacy.sba.gov/article/2026/08/20/sba-proposes-overhaul-simplify-small-business-classification-expand-access-federal-programs
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine: ARPA-E Plays Unique and Valuable Role in Energy Innovation and Should Be Reliably Funded, Says New Report
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 (TNSrep) -- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued the following news release:
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ARPA-E Plays Unique and Valuable Role in Energy Innovation and Should Be Reliably Funded, Says New Report
Congress should continue to provide reliable funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, as it plays a unique and valuable role in the nation's energy innovation ecosystem, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
ARPA-E is an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that funds high-risk, high-payoff
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 (TNSrep) -- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued the following news release:
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ARPA-E Plays Unique and Valuable Role in Energy Innovation and Should Be Reliably Funded, Says New Report
Congress should continue to provide reliable funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, as it plays a unique and valuable role in the nation's energy innovation ecosystem, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
ARPA-E is an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that funds high-risk, high-payoffR&D efforts with the goal of developing advanced energy technologies that have the potential to reduce energy imports and emissions, increase energy efficiency, improve nuclear waste management and disposal, and improve energy infrastructure. ARPA-E was established partly in response to a recommendation in a 2007 National Academies report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (https://www.nationalacademies.org/projects/PGA-COSEMPUP-18-P-43/publication/11463).
The new report, requested by Congress, finds ARPA-E plays a critical role in U.S. energy innovation, helping reduce the risk in adopting new energy technologies and increase the likelihood of private-sector investment. Companies selected for an ARPA-E award see increased patents and follow-on funding in the years after the award, compared with those who applied but were not selected.
"Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and nuclear fusion will radically transform the energy ecosystem in the coming years, and highlight the criticality of ARPA-E's work," said Gary Marchant, Regents and Foundation Professor of Law and faculty director of the Center for Law, Science, and Innovation at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "In our analysis of ARPA-E, we found the agency's unique organization and operations are central to its success and make this agency indispensable to U.S. energy innovation."
The report recommends that Congress increase annual funding specifically for ARPA-E's SCALEUP program from roughly $40 million to $120 million, which should be added on top of the agency's overall budget. The SCALEUP program provides funds to prior ARPA-E awardees with the goal of increasing the commercial readiness of their technologies, and is a critical source of funding for companies that are moving through commercialization. The report notes there are few other sources of funding for energy companies at this particular stage of growth.
Preserving ARPA-E's Effectiveness
It is essential for ARPA-E to focus on staying nimble and agile in response to changes in energy needs and innovations, while also maintaining consistency in its purpose, the report says. ARPA-E leadership should focus on innovation and continuous improvement of the agency itself -- its organization, structure, design, processes, and outcomes.
ARPA-E's effectiveness also hinges on its distinctive culture, the report says. At the heart of the agency's model are program directors, who serve in term-limited roles to initiate and manage a portfolio of awards, and use their own expertise and discretion to choose which projects are funded. In its initial years, ARPA-E established a culture of innovation and demonstrated its ability to attract talented experts who can think "outside the box." The committee found that while many program directors today are hired with prior leadership experience, a large majority have not had roles at startup companies. Over time, hiring has shifted toward late-career individuals and those with a background at national laboratories, and away from industry-only experience. The report recommends ARPA-E leadership develop a proactive hiring strategy to target a range of expertise and career stages, and create performance measures that reward risk taking while ensuring investments align with energy technology gaps.
The report also says ARPA-E should improve its measurement and communication of the broader impacts of its funding, including lessons learned from projects that did not achieve their milestones. Better communication would send important signals to the innovation ecosystem, markets, and other stakeholders about the future of energy.
The study -- undertaken by the Committee on the Evaluation of ARPA-E's Mission and Goals -- was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.
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Original text here: https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/arpa-e-plays-unique-and-valuable-role-in-energy-innovation-and-should-be-reliably-funded-says-new-report
Korean Mask Dance Meets Modern Rock at the National Museum of Asian Art's 2026 Chuseok Family Festival
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 -- The Smithsonian Institution issued the following news release on Aug. 20, 2026:
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Korean Mask Dance Meets Modern Rock at the National Museum of Asian Art's 2026 Chuseok Family Festival
Museum's Annual Korean Thanksgiving Festival Features K-Pop DJ, Family Activities and Local Art and Food Vendors
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The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art presents its annual celebration of Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, featuring music and dance performances, family-friendly activities, art and food vendors, hands-on crafts and more. Free and open to the public, the festival
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 -- The Smithsonian Institution issued the following news release on Aug. 20, 2026:
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Korean Mask Dance Meets Modern Rock at the National Museum of Asian Art's 2026 Chuseok Family Festival
Museum's Annual Korean Thanksgiving Festival Features K-Pop DJ, Family Activities and Local Art and Food Vendors
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The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art presents its annual celebration of Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, featuring music and dance performances, family-friendly activities, art and food vendors, hands-on crafts and more. Free and open to the public, the festivalwill be held Saturday, Sept. 19, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is centered on the art of Tal, or Korean masks. The festival brings this centuries-old tradition to a contemporary stage with a headlining performance by Insun Park & Generals.
Traveling to Washington, D.C., from Seoul, South Korea, the group blends Korean traditional music, mask dance rhythms and contemporary rock. Lead singer Insun Park, a master of Korea's renowned Gangnyeong mask dance tradition, incorporates dance throughout the performance.
Additional musical performances co-presented by the Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. will take place on the museum's outdoor plaza, including a K-Pop set by DJ EPX and performances by the Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago and Gumwoo Washington Gayageum Ensemble. The plaza will also host food vendors and a marketplace, curated by local organization SAMASAMA, featuring kimchi, handmade jewelry, Korean oracle readings and other goods from local vendors.
Inside, visitors will encounter a recreation of an ancestral memorial table used during Charye, one of the central traditional ceremonies observed during Chuseok, and a display of traditional Korean masks. An array of mask-making activities and mask-themed giveaways will also celebrate the Tal theme. Conservation and docent talks will spotlight objects from the museum's Korean collection.
Family-friendly activities throughout the day will include story time featuring Korean fairy tales and folktales, a scavenger hunt and other hands-on activities inspired by the museum's collections.
The full list of activities (https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/events/search/event:206418148/) is available online.
Associated with the harvest, Chuseok, which translates to "autumn evening," is a time for families to gather and give thanks to their ancestors. Together with Lunar New Year, it is one of the most important holidays in Korea. South Koreans celebrate the holiday over three days, on the eighth month of the lunar calendar when the moon is at its fullest.
The museum's Chuseok Family Festival has become one of its signature annual community celebrations, welcoming thousands of visitors each year to experience Korean traditions through art, music and hands-on learning. In addition to the festival, the museum provides many digital resources to learn about Chuseok, such as virtual tours of related collections, lesson plans and videos.
In conjunction with the festival, the museum will present Korean films and concerts throughout September and October, including a screening of the Korean documentary, The Seoul Guardians, Sunday, Sept. 27, and the horror film, Train to Busan, Friday, Oct. 30. A concert featuring the Korean pop band Leenalchi will kick off the museum's Meyer concert spotlights season Thursday, Oct. 8. More information on these October events will be posted here (https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/events/) in coming weeks.
Credit
This event is co-presented by the Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. Support for this event is provided by the National Museum of Korea.
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About the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art opened in 1923 as the United States' first national art museum and the first Asian art museum in the country. It now stewards one of the world's most important collections of Asian art, with works dating from antiquity to the present. The museum also hosts an unparalleled collection of 19th- and early 20th-century American art.
Through an ambitious program of collecting, conservation, exhibitions, programming and research--both on-site and online--the museum serves as a global and national resource for understanding the arts and cultures of Asia and their interaction with America, past and present. By presenting the arts and cultures of Asia in their extraordinary richness, the museum furthers cross-cultural understanding and aims to exemplify foundational ideals of curiosity, creativity and respect.
Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the museum is free and open 364 days a year (closed Dec. 25). The Smithsonian is the world's largest museum, education and research complex and welcomes millions of visitors yearly. For more information about the National Museum of Asian Art, visit asia.si.edu.
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Original text here: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/korean-mask-dance-meets-modern-rock-national-museum-asian-arts-2026-chuseok
Inter-American Development Bank: Job Loss and the Role of Public Policies for Vulnerable Workers
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on July 2026, entitled "Job Loss and the Role of Public Policies for Vulnerable Workers."
Here are excerpts:
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Abstract
Job displacement generates large and persistent income losses. This paper examines how alternative social protection mechanisms mitigate the consequences of job loss in Uruguay, a middle-income country with a relatively well-developed social safety net. Using matched employer-employee administrative data, we combine variation from mass layoffs with difference in-differences
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on July 2026, entitled "Job Loss and the Role of Public Policies for Vulnerable Workers."
Here are excerpts:
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Abstract
Job displacement generates large and persistent income losses. This paper examines how alternative social protection mechanisms mitigate the consequences of job loss in Uruguay, a middle-income country with a relatively well-developed social safety net. Using matched employer-employee administrative data, we combine variation from mass layoffs with difference in-differencesand regression-discontinuity designs to estimate the effects of job displacement and the insurance value of two policies: (i) a traditional contributory unemployment insurance program and (ii) a noncontributory conditional cash transfer program targeting low income households. We document that after employment falls it gradually rebounds, while earnings decline sharply, with labor income falling by about 50% in the short term, and remain below pre-displacement levels even five years later. The persistent earnings losses are primarily driven by lower post-displacement wages. Comparing the insurance value of alternative policy responses, we find that the cash transfer program provides substantial protection for vulnerable and middle-income workers facing layoffs, while unemployment insurance does not generate comparable medium-term gains.
Introduction
Low- and middle-income countries are subject to frequent adverse macroeconomic shocks (Koren and Tenreyro, 2007) that reduce labor demand and directly affect workers and households that rely on their labor income. Many households lack the resources to buffer these shocks and are therefore highly vulnerable to poverty (Torche and Lopez-Calva, 2013; Ferreira et al., 1999). To protect against such risks, governments have implemented social safety nets. In developing countries, these typically include unemployment insurance (UI) for formal workers and conditional cash transfers (CCTs) for poor households with children (World Bank, 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic exposed large protection gaps in the face of the sudden and widespread loss of employment and income, leading many governments around the world--especially in developing countries--to expand or adapt existing social protection systems, scale up cash transfer programs, and, in some cases, temporarily broaden UI coverage (Gentilini, 2022).
In developing countries, UI primarily covers displaced workers strongly attached to the formal labor market, but high informality and weak enforcement severely restrict its reach, leaving many exposed to job loss without protection, often with regressive consequences (Sehnbruch, 2020; Vodopivec, 2013; Gerard and Naritomi, 2021; Gerard and Gonzaga, 2021). Where UI coverage is limited, CCTs, unlike UI, offer noncontributory income support to low-income households and can stabilize income in times of hardship, even if they are not explicitly designed as shock-response instruments (Fiszbein et al., 2011; Banerjee et al., 2024; De Janvry et al., 2006). While both types of programs can help stabilize income, they target distinct populations. Many middle-income but vulnerable households--who are not poor enough to qualify for CCTs and may lack access to stable formal employment--often fall outside the reach of safety nets (Fiszbein and Schady, 2009; Levy and Schady, 2013; Gentilini, 2022; Vera-Cossio et al., 2023). Yet little is known about the extent to which social protection systems actually insure households against income losses following job displacement, which groups benefit from existing programs, and who remains unprotected.
We use rich administrative data from Uruguay to provide novel evidence on how the social safety net mitigates the consequences of job displacement for different targeted groups. We exploit mass layoff events to examine post-displacement employment and earnings trajectories. We then estimate the extent to which Uruguay's two main social protection programs-- UI and the conditional cash transfer program (Asignaciones Familiares-Plan de Equidad, or AFAM-PE)--buffer income declines. Uruguay offers an ideal setting for this analysis, as it combines a long-standing contributory UI system with a large CCT program and provides high-quality administrative data that allows us to link workers' labor market histories with benefit records.
We exploit mass-layoff events to implement a difference-in-differences design that identifies the causal effect of job displacement on workers' employment and earnings. To examine the mitigating role of social protection, we extend this analysis in two ways. First, we exploit program eligibility discontinuities--based on UI tenure and the CCT program's poverty-score thresholds--which generate plausibly exogenous variation near the thresholds, in a regression discontinuity (RD) design. Second, we combine program eligibility discontinuities with the mass-layoff shocks in a regression-discontinuity difference-in-differences (RD-DiD) framework (Grembi et al., 2016; Eggers et al., 2018; Takahashi, 2024). Even without concurrent policy changes at the cutoffs, the RD-DiD strategy lets us estimate, within the same setting, both the direct effects of job displacement and the dynamic, event-time impacts of UI and CCTs on post-layoff outcomes. This unified approach provides new evidence on the insurance value of each program and identifies which groups of displaced workers are effectively protected and which remain outside the reach of existing safety nets.
The first set of results shows patterns consistent with prior evidence (Jacobson et al., 1993; Schmieder et al., 2023; Bertheau et al., 2023; Britto, 2022): Individual labor earnings fall by roughly 50% in the first two quarters after displacement and, despite a partial recovery, do not return to pre-layoff levels even five years later. While employment gradually rebounds, the persistence of income losses is driven primarily by the intensive margin, with wages in post-displacement jobs remaining below pre-shock levels. We then show that these dynamics exhibit substantial heterogeneity across workers, depending on their position in the income distribution and their access to social protection. In particular, workers covered by CCT programs experience faster recovery of earnings, whereas those without coverage face more persistent losses. This distinction is especially relevant in the context of developing countries, where many workers are employed in the informal sector. In such settings, the presence of CCT programs plays a central role in shaping post-displacement outcomes. While UI does not appear to generate significant medium-term gains, low- and middle-income workers benefit from the sustained income support provided by AFAM-PE, which helps improve their labor market outcomes following adverse displacement shocks.
Our study contributes to the literature on the design and efficiency of social insurance systems in developing economies (Gerard and Gonzaga, 2021; Gerard and Naritomi, 2021; Britto, 2022). Most existing work focuses on UI as the primary policy instrument to smooth income losses after job displacement, but little is known about the role of CCTs in this context. We extend this literature by jointly analyzing contributory (UI) and noncontributory programs (CCTs)--two pillars of social protection that target distinct populations but coexist within the same institutional framework. In doing so, we provide the first evidence on how these programs interact to buffer income shocks following job loss, identifying which groups of workers are effectively insured and which remain outside the reach of existing safety nets.
Our paper closely relates to that of Britto (2022), who analyzes the employment effects of a lump-sum job-displacement transfer and a one-month extension of UI in Brazil. However, the one-time cash bonus examined by Britto operates outside the formal safety net and thus resembles a liquidity shock rather than an insurance mechanism. In contrast, we study programs that form the core of the social protection system.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides institutional background. Section 3 describes our data sources. Section 4 outlines our empirical strategies, namely the event-study, RD, and RD-DiD designs. Finally, Sections 5 and 6 present preliminary results.
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/en/job-loss-and-role-public-policies-vulnerable-workers
[Category: IADB]
Your Feedback in Action: 2026 Annual Member Survey Results
CHICAGO, Illinois, Aug. 20 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, posted the following news:
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Your Feedback in Action: 2026 Annual Member Survey Results
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A member letter from President and CEO, Michael Ericson
Thank you for your continued partnership with FHLBank Chicago and for sharing your feedback through our 2026 Annual Member Survey and ongoing conversations throughout the year. As a member-owned cooperative, your perspective plays an important role in shaping our priorities, investments and how we serve our members.
This
... Show Full Article
CHICAGO, Illinois, Aug. 20 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, posted the following news:
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Your Feedback in Action: 2026 Annual Member Survey Results
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A member letter from President and CEO, Michael Ericson
Thank you for your continued partnership with FHLBank Chicago and for sharing your feedback through our 2026 Annual Member Survey and ongoing conversations throughout the year. As a member-owned cooperative, your perspective plays an important role in shaping our priorities, investments and how we serve our members.
Thisyear's survey saw participation from approximately half of our membership, providing valuable insight into what's working well and where we can continue to improve. We were pleased to see that member loyalty remains exceptionally strong, with a Net Promoter Score of 76-well above industry benchmarks and a reflection of the trust members place in FHLBank Chicago.
What We Heard
Many of the themes members shared this year reinforced what we've heard in previous surveys. Members value reliable access to liquidity, knowledgeable and responsive staff, strong products and services, and a trusted partnership that supports their institutions and communities. At the same time, you told us that simplifying processes, improving digital experiences and making it easier to do business with us remain important priorities.
What We're Delivering
Your feedback continues to influence the work underway across FHLBank Chicago.
Over the past year, we have expanded Community Advance funding, introduced the Mortgage Partnership Finance(r) (MPF(r)) Habitat for Humanity(r) program to support affordable homeownership opportunities and increased funding available through our Downpayment Plus(r) programs. These enhancements reflect our commitment to helping members meet housing and community development needs across our district.
We're also focused on strengthening the MPF Program and FHLBank Chicago's long-term ability to deliver value to participating institutions. As we look ahead, we are evaluating opportunities to create additional balance sheet capacity while preserving the cooperative, mission-aligned structure of the MPF Program. These efforts are intended to strengthen our ability to remain a reliable source of liquidity, broaden housing finance solutions, and support our members over the long term.
We also expanded opportunities for member education and preparedness. Earlier this year, our Collateral Workshops drew strong participation from members seeking to strengthen collateral practices that support liquidity, lending capacity and strategic balance sheet management. These sessions were designed to equip participants with the knowledge needed to confidently navigate a Collateral Verification Review (CVR) while helping protect collateral value and maximize borrowing capacity. Building on that momentum, we'll continue to provide resources that help members make the most of FHLBank Chicago programs, including our recent Community Advance Enhancements and Use Cases webinar, which explores recent program improvements, practical applications and strategies for maximizing available funding.
In addition, we are making strategic investments in technology and operations to improve the member experience. This includes ongoing work to modernize digital capabilities, enhance data delivery options, streamline key interactions and improve the technology and tools that help you do business with FHLBank Chicago and your customers. One example, we recently launched the MPF Navigator, an AI-powered search tool that helps members more efficiently access program guide information and answers when they need them. These efforts are designed to make it easier to access information, conduct business and engage with FHLBank Chicago in the ways that work best for you.
How Your Feedback is Shaping Our Future
We're encouraged that members reported strong satisfaction with recent initiatives, including our redesigned website, Integrated Wires System and Community Advance enhancements. Your feedback confirms that these investments are making a difference while also helping us identify where to focus next.
As we look ahead, we remain focused on strengthening liquidity solutions, expanding housing and community investment programs, and continuing to improve the member experience. These priorities are guided by the feedback we receive from members, and our shared commitment to supporting communities throughout Illinois and Wisconsin.
The survey results reinforce something I see every day: our success is built on listening to our members and responding to their evolving needs. Thank you for your partnership, your feedback and the trust you place in FHLBank Chicago.
Sincerely,
Michael Ericson
President and CEO
FHLBank Chicago
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Original text here: https://www.fhlbc.com/news/news-detail/2026/08/20/your-feedback-in-action--2026-annual-member-survey-results
National Museum of Asian Art Presents James McNeill Whistler for the 21st Century
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 -- The Smithsonian Institution issued the following news release on Aug. 19, 2026:
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National Museum of Asian Art Presents James McNeill Whistler for the 21st Century
Blockbuster Tate Britain Retrospective Comes to the Smithsonian, Where Artist's Famed Peacock Room Meets New Virtual-Reality Experience
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The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art will present the exhibition "James McNeill Whistler," uniting the London-based Tate Britain's major retrospective on the American artist with unique Whistler works held exclusively at the Smithsonian museum. Open Friday,
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 -- The Smithsonian Institution issued the following news release on Aug. 19, 2026:
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National Museum of Asian Art Presents James McNeill Whistler for the 21st Century
Blockbuster Tate Britain Retrospective Comes to the Smithsonian, Where Artist's Famed Peacock Room Meets New Virtual-Reality Experience
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The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art will present the exhibition "James McNeill Whistler," uniting the London-based Tate Britain's major retrospective on the American artist with unique Whistler works held exclusively at the Smithsonian museum. Open Friday,Feb. 12, 2027, to Sunday, July 11, 2027, the exhibition offers an unprecedented look at the entire range of work of one of the most innovative and controversial artists of the 19th century. It presents these insights into James McNeill Whistler's life, art and global inspirations at the museum founded by his friend and patron, Charles Lang Freer.
"James McNeill Whistler" is the first major international retrospective on the artist in 30 years and brings together works from 20 major collections across Europe and the U.S., including the National Gallery of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the White House. The National Museum of Asian Art is the travelling exhibition's only stop in the U.S., where it will be installed alongside the museum's expansive collection of Whistler's works. Objects from the museum's Japanese and Chinese collections will appear throughout the galleries to contextualize the transformative influence of East Asian art on Whistler's artwork.
The exhibition also coincides with the museum's launch of a new immersive virtual-reality (VR) experience of Whistler's only surviving intact interior, the Peacock Room, which turns 150 years old in 2027. At the museum, audiences can complement their viewing of "James McNeill Whistler" with a visit to the Peacock Room alongside the newly completed interactive VR experience, allowing a close look at the room's dramatic history.
"Our museum not only holds the largest and most diverse Whistler collection in America, but it is also uniquely qualified to present Whistler's global perspective, including how Asian art inspired and shaped the artist's practices," said Chase F. Robinson, director of the National Museum of Asian Art. "By bringing the Tate's monumental exhibition here, we reflect on a 'Whistler moment' for audiences to discover the full legacy of this singular artist's life and work."
"This exhibition offers audiences the rare opportunity to see how Whistler altered the course of modern art through bold experimentation across all media," said Diana Greenwold, the museum's associate director for curatorial affairs, the Lunder Curator of American Art and the exhibition's in-house curator. "So much of what we consider modern, from abstracted landscapes to white-cube gallery installations, stems from Whistler's ideas and innovations."
Over 100 paintings, prints, watercolors and pastels reveal Whistler's many dimensions--his boldness, humor and insistence on pushing boundaries. Visitors can explore how Whistler changed modern art and examine his role as an American ex-patriot and agile navigator of different social classes. The exhibition highlights the influence of accomplished women in his life, including his wife, Beatrice Whistler.
The exhibition also debuts insights about techniques through the "Whistler's Finish" conservation research project. This research has uncovered the artist's radical methods, including how he experimented with paint in his "Nocturnes"--works that foregrounded modern abstraction.
The galleries will showcase some of Whistler's most groundbreaking works, such as his "Nocturnes" and "Symphony in White: The White Girl," as well as rarely seen paintings, early sketches and rare etchings from over 1,300 Whistler objects in the museum's collection. "James McNeill Whistler" also explores the artist's free-ranging technique by showing an assortment of his tools, such as paintbrushes and original copper-etching plates that Freer collected. Because of Freer's bequest and its restrictions, these Whistler works can only be viewed on location.
Credit
This exhibition is organized by Tate Britain, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Asian Art.
Support for this exhibition is provided by Jacqueline B. Mars, Ms. Gretchen Welch and Ambassador David Welch, The Edward Smart Charitable Trust, Pamela Hyde Smith, and Hallie and David Swanson.
About the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art opened in 1923 as America's first national art museum and the first Asian art museum in the United States. It now stewards one of the world's most important collections of Asian art, with works dating from antiquity to the present. The museum also hosts an important collection of 19th- and early 20th-century American art.
Through an ambitious program of collection, conservation, exhibitions, programming and research, the museum serves as a global and national resource for understanding the arts and cultures of Asia and their interaction with America, past and present. By presenting the arts and cultures of Asia in their extraordinary diversity, the museum aims to exemplify foundational ideals of curiosity, creativity and respect. In a world growing ever more interdependent, the museum values cross-cultural understanding as a crucial element of personal and collective well-being.
Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the museum is free and open 364 days a year (closed Dec. 25). The Smithsonian is the world's largest museum, education and research complex and welcomes millions of visitors yearly. For more information about the National Museum of Asian Art, visit asia.si.edu.
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Original text here: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/national-museum-asian-art-presents-james-mcneill-whistler-21st-century
EPA to conduct PCB sampling in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release:
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EPA to conduct PCB sampling in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers
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The sampling project will focus on sediments and aquatic insects across five watersheds.
DENVER (August 20, 2026) - Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will conduct a sampling project in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers to better understand the distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) across the watershed.
These persistent chemicals were widely used in industrial
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release:
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EPA to conduct PCB sampling in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers
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The sampling project will focus on sediments and aquatic insects across five watersheds.
DENVER (August 20, 2026) - Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will conduct a sampling project in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers to better understand the distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) across the watershed.
These persistent chemicals were widely used in industrialapplications until production was banned in 1979. They can cause a variety of health concerns in humans and do not easily break down in the environment. Over time, they can build up in plants and animals, having an increasing impact through the food chain. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have issued PCB-related fish consumption advisories for all waterways expected to be sampled in this project.
"EPA is committed to strengthening the scientific foundation needed to better understand PCB contamination across these important Montana watersheds," said Cyrus Western, EPA Region 8 regional administrator. "This project reflects our commitment to responsive science, meaningful community engagement and a clearer understanding of conditions in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers."
The sampling project is being led by EPA Region 8 scientists in the Laboratory Services and Applied Sciences Division, with support from EPA's Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.
Tribes, state agencies, community advisory groups and organizations have consistently expressed interest in understanding PCB contamination in these rivers. EPA's current effort responds to those concerns and will help fill important data gaps related to the current spatial distribution of PCBs.
While past federal and state sampling has focused on fish tissue and human health exposure through consumption, this project will take a broader look at PCB distribution by analyzing sediment and aquatic insects and will extend 100 miles upstream of the confluence of the Clark Fork and Flathead Rivers. This expanded scope will help provide a more complete picture of PCB levels in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot, and Blackfoot watersheds.
Sampling is expected to occur from late August through early September 2026 with results expected in the summer of 2027.
For more information about EPA's work in the region, please visit https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-8-mountains-and-plains.
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Original text here: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-conduct-pcb-sampling-clark-fork-bitterroot-and-blackfoot-rivers
