One in 10 youth were homeless
Hemmedin by low wages, pricey rental markets and family instability, more young people are crashing on couches of friends or acquaintances, sleeping in cars or turning to the streets, a new study has found.
Researchers with Chapin Hall, a youth policy center at the University of Chicago, surveyed in 2016 and 2017 more than 26,000 young people and their families across the country to gauge how many of them had been homeless during some period of the previous year. Their results were alarming: One in 10 people ages 18 to 25 had experienced homelessness. For adolescents, the number was one in 30. They concluded that nearly 3.5 million young adults and 660,000 adolescents had been homeless within the previous year.
In Washington, officials counted more homeless children and parents than homeless single men last year. The number of homeless families soared by more than 30 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to a federal estimate released last spring. City officials and advocates for the poor attributed the growth to rising home costs and a city policy of guaranteeing any homeless family shelter.
U.S. oil production booms
U.S. crude oil production is flirting with record highs heading into the new year, thanks to the technological nimbleness of shale oil drillers who have unleashed the crude bonanza.
The current abundance has erased memories of 1973 gas lines, which raised pump prices dramatically, traumatizing the United States and reordering its economy. In the decades since, presidents and politicians have mouthed platitudes calling for U.S. energy independence.
The United States is so awash in oil that petroleum-rich Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil and natural gas company is reportedly interested in investing in the fertile Texas Permian Basin shale oil region, according to a report last month.
U.S. oil production has averaged around 9.6 million barrels per day in 2017. The record, based on monthly government data, is above 10 million per day, which dates back to 1970.
Inactive voters
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thousands of state residents have tales of being removed from Ohio’s rolls because they didn’t vote in some elections. The Supreme Court will hear arguments Jan. 10 about the disputed practice, which generally pits Democrats against Republicans.
Thecase has taken on added importance because the parties have squared off over ballot access across the country. Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to suppress votes from minorities and poorer people who tend to vote for Democrats. Republicans have argued they are trying to promote ballot integrity and prevent voter fraud.
Adding to the mix, the Trump administration reversed the position taken by the Obama administration and is now backing Ohio’s method for purging voters.
Also in the nation...
Rep. Devin Nunes, once sidelined by an ethics inquiry from leading the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe, is reasserting the full authority of his position as chairman just as the GOP appears poised to challenge special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.