Story at a glance Nadia*, a 33-year-old Chicagoan, has had her fair share of bad dates. But there are a handful that stand out in her mind as particularly awful. One of those dates took place on a hot summer night in 2017. Nadia went to a roof-top bar with a 25-year-old man she had…
Author: Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech
Here are the top ‘Allergy Capitals’ in the US
Story at a glance It’s almost that time of year when budding flowers begin to blossom, unleashing clouds of allergy-triggering pollen and sending many Americans into a sneezy, watery-eyed frenzy. And while allergies can be treated anywhere in the U.S., there are some cities that are worse for the allergy-prone than others. In a…
Illinois governor signs off on mandatory paid leave ‘for any reason’
Story at a glance Illinois is now the third state in the nation to require employers to offer workers paid time off “for any reason.” Illinois workers will be able to use their earned time off for any reason once they have worked for 90 days and will not have to provide a reason for their…
Daylight saving time: Here are the cities where daylight hours would be strangest if clock changes stopped
Story at a glance This weekend most Americans will again push their clocks forward an hour once daylight saving time begins at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday. The ritual is intended to take advantage of natural light in the Northern Hemisphere as the days grow longer in the spring, but it comes with some downsides: stealing an hour of sleep…
Pandemic SNAP benefits just ended. Here’s how some states are trying to bridge the gap.
Millions of Americans are scrambling to put food on the table after a pandemic-related expansion to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ended earlier this month. SNAP households got at least $95 extra in food funds each month over the last few years as a result of legislation passed by Congress in early 2020 as food…
SNAP cuts could lead to ‘hunger cliff,’ experts fear
A pandemic-related boost in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be cut in every state on March 1, meaning millions of Americans are faced with figuring out new ways to put food on the table. For Natalie Sharp, a 35-year-old part-time Pilates instructor, and her partner, that means stocking up on nonperishable food items like dry beans, pasta and canned tomatoes as well as visiting food pantries…
Seattle becomes first city to outlaw caste discrimination
Story at a glance Seattle is now the first city in the United States to officially ban discrimination based on caste after lawmakers voted Tuesday to pass an ordinance adding caste to the city’s existing anti-discrimination laws. The city council voted 6-1 for the change. Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who sponsored the ordinance, said she…
Proposed changes to census are step in the right direction, experts say
Story at a glance As the Biden administration mulls a series of proposed changes to race and ethnicity categories on the census and other federal surveys, many experts agree that the proposed modifications will help Americans. Racial categories have been included in the census since 1790, when the United States government issued the first-ever…
Oregon Senate approves measure allowing day care services in rental homes
Story at a glance A new bill passed by the Oregon state Senate requires landlords to allow childcare services to run out of their rental units. Once signed by the governor, the legislation will help the state’s childcare shortage by expanding the space available to chi providers, bill co-sponsors Senator Dick Anderson (R) and…
Research suggests link between poor quality education, dementia
Story at a glance Children who have a poor-quality education have a higher risk of developing dementia later in life, a new study suggests. The study recently published in JAMA Neurology looks at over twenty years’ worth of data gathered on members of the healthcare organization Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Researchers studied the…