UNDERNEWS: Meanwhile. . .

November 18, 2023

Meanwhile. . .

The share of US homes that are owned outright has increased by 5 percent over ten years to an all-time high. Last year, almost 40 percent of Americans owned their homes but a decade prior, in 2013, that number was just 34 percent, according to US Census Bureau data cited by Bloomberg. The trend is being driven by an aging population who enjoyed relatively low mortgage rates and have had opportunities to refinance them as they aged, the outlet reported.

A fierce storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of South Florida on Thursday, flooding homes and streets, downing power lines and trees and leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power. The storm, which started on Wednesday, dropped almost 14 inches of rain from Key Largo to Fort Lauderdale while wind gusts topped out at 86 mph, the US National Service said on Thursday. …The severity and frequency of major storms affecting the US in recent years is linked to global warming.

The US death rate from cancer among people up to the age of 19 has dropped 24% from 2001 to 2021, according to new CDC research.

Ms. Maze, a former librarian, is working to eliminate book deserts in Baltimore by creating free book vending machines that make reading more accessible to children in her community.

Researchers found that the average 20-year-old American English speaker knows about 42,000 unique words, and this number grows to about 48,000 by age 60. Some people will have even larger vocabularies.

The share of Americans who express confidence in scientists to serve the public interest has dropped since early 2019, from 86% to 73% today. The share saying science has a mostly positive impact on society has also declined in that time, from 73% to 57%.

In just three years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has more than quadrupled, from 3% in 2020 to 14% in 2023. The platform is especially popular among younger Americans: 32% of adults under 30 say they regularly get news there.

1 comment:

Greg Gerritt said...: If the vending machines do not work, Little Free Libraries are a community way of making books more accessible.; November 18, 2023 at 3:47 PM

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ABOUT THE EDITOR

The Review is edited by Sam Smith, who covered Washington under nine presidents, has edited the Progressive Review and its predecessors since 1964, wrote four books, been published in five anthologies, helped to start five organizations (including the DC Humanities Council and the DC Statehood Party), was a plaintiff in three successful class action suits, served as a Coast Guard officer, and played in jazz bands for four decades.

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One of a small group of whites with whom many blacks would trust their political lives - Chuck Stone, Washingtonian.

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