The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Sorted by date Results 676 - 700 of 780
Over the last three decades, the rising cost of living has been weighing on Americans. The situation became even more dire in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Record-setting inflation rates in 2022 and stagnating or falling salaries during the same period have burdened U.S. residents. The size of the middle class shrunk by 10 percentage points between 1971 and 2023, while lower-income American households grew from 27% to 30%, according to Pew Research. An unaffordable housing market coupled...
New moms are trending older—and have been for decades. Those giving birth in 2022 averaged older than 29, and those having their first child weren't far behind at about 27 years old. That's up five and six years, respectively, from 1970, according to National Center for Health Statistics data. Using this data, Northwell Health partnered with Stacker to chart the rising maternal age over time and researched the social, economic, and health care forces behind later births. Older parents typically...
Road trips are more popular than ever—and travelers often have a four-legged family member (or two!) along for the ride. Over the Fourth of July weekend this summer, AAA estimated that more than 60 million Americans drove to their vacation destinations, a new record for travelers hitting the road during the holiday. At the same time, Americans are forgoing leaving their pets at home. This may be in part because families simply have more fur babies than at any time over the past few years. T...
As baby boomers age, the majority want to continue living independently in their homes, otherwise known as aging in place. About 78% of homeowners over the age of 60 prefer this option over moving into a senior or assisted-living facility, according to a 2024 survey from real estate company Redfin. Many Americans want to age in place to preserve a sense of independence, remain connected to existing communities, and avoid the high cost of long-term care. The median monthly cost of an...
Babies born in the Southeast tend to have the lowest birth weights in the U.S., highlighting a growing regional public health problem, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Northwell Health partnered with Stacker to examine the rates of low-birth-weight babies born in each state, using the latest statistics from the CDC. Federal data shows that more than 10% of babies born in the Southeastern states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and South...
As a new school year begins, students are still struggling to achieve grade-level proficiency in reading and math, compounding the learning loss during school closures at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. HeyTutor analyzed news reports and academic research to see how learning loss during the coronavirus pandemic might impact students during the 2024-2025 school year. A 2024 Annie E. Casey Foundation report revealed that many students in the United States are still performing far below their...
Among the most hotly contested debates in America is what to make of the vast discrepancy between the salaries of the country's top-earning CEOs and the average workers at their companies. CEO compensation rose nearly 1,045% between 1978 and 2022, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute released in September 2023. Their findings showed that CEOs made 344 times as much as a typical worker in 2022, a massive spike from the 21-1 ratio in 1965. Amid the United Auto Workers strike...
If you've ever worked in any number of office jobs, you've probably become familiar with mandatory computer safety training courses and those persistent reminders to change your password every few months. These efforts are just the first line of defense for protecting companies and organizations from dreaded (and often costly) cyberattacks. The hackers behind these attacks may hold data for ransom or, worse, sell off sensitive business information and clients' personal data. Prominent data...
Americans have been having fewer and fewer babies since 1957, with fertility rates dropping by more than half-and as a result, the country's population is quickly growing older. In terms of reproductive rights, declining fertility rates are a sign of successful advocacy. From an economic perspective, however, a healthy birth rate is crucial to ensuring enough workers exist to keep the engines of the economy strong and provide care for older generations. Japan is struggling with this exact...
Americans remain detached from their work significantly, leading to a lack of motivation that has profoundly impacted retention, productivity, and profitability. For every employee who feels invested in their company's mission and operations, nearly two more are disengaged—whether abstaining from group collaboration or expressing a negative attitude toward their work. That's according to Gallup's annual survey on employee engagement, which revealed companies are still struggling to engage w...
In a year where two of the most prominent leagues for women's sports shattered attendance and viewership records, the brightest stars are cultivating burgeoning audiences on social media—audiences that those players can now leverage for lucrative sponsorship deals as early as their college years. Collabstr analyzed data from SponsorUnited to rank the athletes in women's sports whose social followings grew across all platforms the most over the last year. The report analyzes social media e...
Over the next few decades, U.S. wealth is set to undergo a radical transformation, with enormous collective fortunes transferring from one generation to the next. Without proper financial education and planning, however, much of this money stands to vanish before it ever passes to a third generation. So, with that in mind, LegalZoom explains how the richest generations in American history can go about protecting their legacies. What is the Great Wealth Transfer (and does it really exist)? In...
The U.S. beats out other countries in many categories—and, increasingly, obesity is one of them. Live It Up used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explore this public health problem and better understand long-term obesity trends in American children and adults. Rates were determined using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, last released in 2021. The World Health Organization defines obesity as "abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a r...
A new round of grants from the federal government will pay out $78 million across 12 states and 13 tribal nations, hoping to reduce energy bills for rural people and create new renewable energy projects, the Biden administration announced. The money will help fund 19 projects in Alaska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Maine and elsewhere, funded by the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed into law by President Biden in 2021. The amount of money being pumped into renewable energy sources over th...
Charging an electric car can seem like a daunting task. Charging locations can be unreliable and sparse, and range anxiety remains a common fear for new electric vehicle (EV) drivers. But Tesla makes charging easy for its drivers. The automaker now offers a healthy lineup of cars, from the entry-level Model 3 to the range-topping flagship Cybertruck. All Tesla vehicles use the same North American Charging Standard (NACS) charge port and can be charged at home or on the road at a Tesla...
Weather experts have warned that the 2024 hurricane season could be especially destructive. The U.S. could see five to eight hurricane impacts, three to five of those major, according to the forecasting service WeatherBELL Analytics. Homeowners in some hurricane-prone states already face the highest home insurance rates in the country. Astronomical costs from hurricane damage claims contribute to Florida's average annual home insurance rate of nearly $11,000. Louisiana, the second-most...
Vacations are, in theory, a break from the daily grind — a chance to unwind, explore new places and recharge mentally and physically. In practice, though, vacations can also bring about stressors and even take an unexpected toll on mental health. Research shows that planning a trip, traveling to your destination, and being on vacation elicit stress for many travelers. According to a 2012 national study, the most stressful part of vacation for many people is planning, especially for those t...
Hollywood has long had a vision of what a great American town looks like. From "It's a Wonderful Life" to "Pleasantville," the cities emblazoned in our minds as nurturing spots to settle down and raise families all have a triad of things in common: single-family homes, low crime, and great schools. With the median home price creeping to $420,000 this spring, more Americans are wondering where they can get a slice of that dream, so moveBuddha crunched the numbers to see where it's still in...
More than 30 million school-aged children's menus will change in fall 2025 to reflect the latest dietary guidelines recommended by the U.S. government. Their new fare will limit added sugars in cereals and yogurts—increasingly over time—and reduce sodium in school breakfasts by 10% and lunches by 15% starting July 1, 2027. "Like teachers, classrooms, books, and computers, nutritious school meals are an essential part of the school environment, and when we raise the bar for school meals, it emp...
Divorce rates say a lot about who we are as a society. Trends in how unions dissolve reflect the social, economic, and cultural characteristics that define our time. Divorce rates have shifted over time, introducing new insights into why modern couples decide to end their marriage. LegalZoom reports that there are two ways to measure divorce rates: - Crude divorce rates measure the number of divorces per 1,000 people - Refined divorce rates measure the number of divorces per 1,000 married...
You may have heard that red cars have the highest insurance costs. This is often stated as a fact, with the explanation that police officers view people with red cars as more reckless and likely to speed. It is important to know that this is a misconception. Red cars cost the same to insure as any other color car and are not more expensive to insure. In fact, it is only in certain instances that you may expect your car insurance rates to increase as a result of the color of your car. In this...
However many reasons we have for loving our grandparents, scammers have a whole lot more. That's why fraudsters and hackers are increasingly relentless in targeting a demographic that is often trusting of financial institutions, perhaps too embarrassed to report a loss and at a disadvantage where digital technology is concerned. Seniors offer an easy jackpot for scammers, to the tune of $3 billion in losses annually. They are often homeowners, sitting on top of savings, and in good credit....
Every year, students across the country must make an agonizing decision: where to go to college. The choices are endless: Big university or small private school? Close to home or far away? Urban life or tiny town? Even for those committed to certain ideas, choices abound. College towns of all shapes and sizes often make major impacts on their surroundings. Rent is typically more expensive in college towns (and unfortunately, it's only going up). But that doesn't deter people from moving in....
Screech. Boom. Crash! In today's fast-paced world, car crashes feel like simply a fact of life. In 1913, before cars dominated the roads, there were only 1.3 million vehicles registered and 4,200 deaths associated with them, according to the National Safety Council. Fast-forward more than a century to 2022, when the latest data is available, and registered vehicles have soared to 283 million, with 46,027 people dying and 5.2 million getting injured on the road. The General analyzed National...
Tech savvy and away from home, college students are tapping into telehealth services rather than having to rely solely on student health centers. Telehealth has become a back-to-school basic for the collegiate set, 71% of whom report using a telehealth service, as compared to 54% of the general population, according to a 2024 study conducted by Hers. What's the result of more college students turning to telehealth? 71% of college students also self-identify as "healthy" as compared to 60% of...
