Rents across the United States continue to skyrocket
The burden of rising rents falls heaviest on younger households, as well as on Black and Hispanic families, further exacerbating long-simmering inequalities.
The Washington Post
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Elon Musk signals with $46.5 billion he’s serious about buying Twitter
Elon Musk’s offer, made public in a filing Thursday, shows he is willing to risk some of the lucrative Tesla shares that have made him the world’s richest person to acquire the platform Musk has described as a modern-day town square.
Education Department gives more borrowers chance of student loan cancellation
Despite fine-tuning over the years, government audits show the Education Department has provided insufficient instructions to contractors managing its loan portfolio. That oversight has resulted in inconsistent loan servicing to the detriment of borrowers.
U.S. businesses get hit with record numbers of disability lawsuits
Associations and business owners say serial plaintiffs filing dozens or hundreds of cases are increasingly using the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act to extract tens of thousands of dollars in settlements—and not to promote access as the landmark law intended.
Economic toll worsens as trucks remain stopped at Mexico border
Trucks containing household goods, car parts and other shelf-stable goods have been delayed, tangling up supply chains that involve hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides of the border.
Inside Twitter, Elon Musk’s bid prompts employee worries, exasperation
CEO Parag Agrawal held a companywide meeting to reassure his 7,500 full-time employee workforce by arguing that one man could not change a culture and that it was up to the company to set strategy
Mortgage rates soar to their highest levels in 11 years
Meanwhile, mortgage applications fell again last week. The market composite index, a measure of total loan application volume, decreased 1.3% from a week earlier, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data.
Trackers who monitor sewers find COVID rising again in much of U.S.
With official reporting of COVID-19 cases and testing data becoming less frequent and less reliable, especially as people test at home, sewage monitoring has gained increasing importance.
Baby formula shortage strains families, forces stores to ration
Roughly 30% of formula products were out of stock across the country the week of April 3, according to data from Datasembly, a retail software company.
The next leap in coronavirus vaccine development could be nasal spray
Many scientists are rethinking their strategy about the best way to fight future variants, by aiming for a higher level of protection: blocking infections altogether. If they succeed, the next vaccine could be a nasal spray.
Immigration snag threatens to stall $10 billion coronavirus relief package
A bipartisan backlash to the Biden administration’s decision to relax pandemic restrictions at the U.S. border has thrown swift passage of a coronavirus relief package in doubt on Capitol Hill.
House Dems tell Postal Service to pump brakes on gas-guzzling truck contract
The Postal Service’s plan falls well short of White House goals to move the entire federal civilian fleet to electric vehicles by 2035. The mail agency’s 217,000 vehicles make up the largest share of the government’s civilian vehicles.
Elon Musk takes 9.2% stake in Twitter; shares skyrocket
Twitter shares exploded 26% in premarket trading after the Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed that Musk snapped up more than 73 million shares, valued at $2.89 billion.
Long COVID accelerating revolution in medical research
The government estimates that between 7.7 and 23 million people may already have long COVID.
Colleges scramble to recruit students as nationwide enrollment plunges
Colleges across America face a daunting challenge: Their student head count has shrunk more than 5% since 2019, according to a national estimate, as debate over the value of higher education intensified during the public health crisis and economic tumult.
1950 Census data to be unveiled Friday, after 72 years under wraps
The National Archives will unveil a huge batch of the intimate details from the 1950 Census—on 6.4 million pages digitized from 6,373 microfilm census rolls. The information was collected under the promise it would be locked away for 72 years.
Indiana among 21 states to file suit to end transportation mask mandate
The effort in mostly Republican-led states is the latest effort seeking to abolish the mandate, put into place in February 2021, shortly after President Joe Biden took office.
NFL changes overtime format for postseason games only
The NFL will have a new overtime format beginning this coming season, but only for postseason games. The proposal that was approved was made by the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles.
Study: Younger women earn as much or more than men in 22 metro areas
Younger women have closed the pay gap or are outpacing their male counterparts in nearly two dozen U.S. metropolitan areas, according to research published Monday.
Major restaurant chains commit to eliminating ‘forever chemicals’
The effort to stamp out the chemicals comes in response to an investigation by Consumer Reports that found toxic chemicals in a majority of the food wrappers and packaging from chain restaurants and grocery stores that were tested.