News notes

City Lab -The number of America’s youngest drivers just hit a record low, according to newly published data from the Federal Highway Administration. Roughly 8.5 million people ages 19 and younger had their licenses in 2014, and of those, just a little more than one million were 16 and younger—the lowest number since the 1960s. .... One explanation is the recession, which hit young people particularly hard. Without jobs (and with parents’ income stagnated), many teens have less disposable cash to fund a driving habit.

Organic food currently accounts for about 5 percent of all food sales in the U.S., but organic farming acres make up less than one percent of total U.S. farmland. Organic food currently accounts for about 5 percent of all food sales in the U.S., but organic farming acres make up less than one percent of total U.S. farmland... According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures, there were a record number of certified organic operations—19,474—in the U.S. in 2014. OTA reported that there were another 3,000 farms transitioning to organic.

A 1965 poll by Lou Harris found that 97% of Americans still believed in God. By the time Gallup asked the same question in 2014, that number had fallen to 86%, with 12% of Americans claiming no belief and 2% with no opinion.

Car Talk”s Ray Magliozzi checks out the famous old cars of Cuba: “What we saw were beautiful cars. The 1957 Chevy taxi we rode in was beautifully maintained. But it was not original by any means. A lot of cars had Hyundai diesel engines. … That’s part of their ingenuity – to rip out [original] engines and create something more reliable and newer and something you can get parts for.”