Author: Julia Mehalko

While many Gen Z individuals opt to live with their parents to save money in an unaffordable housing market, this decision carries hidden emotional and financial costs. Business Insider reports on the nuanced reality of this living arrangement, highlighting that the lack of rent does not equate to a free living situation. Despite the financial savings, there are significant mental health implications and potential long-term financial consequences for these young adults. Financial Savings Versus Long-Term Goals Source: freepik The immediate financial relief of living with parents is contrasted by potential long-term setbacks. Studies suggest that staying at home might hinder…

Throughout the United States, many conservative groups and leaders have made an effort to ban books that they feel should not be taught, or allowed, in schools. As a result, many books that deal with health, race, and LGBTQ+ topics have been banned from certain school districts. Now, many parents around the country are worried that these book bans may harm their child’s learning and ability to read. Parents across the political spectrum are also concerned that their students are reading at a much lower proficiency than they should be. The Pandemic Changed Schooling Source: Giovanni Gagliardi/Unsplash The debate over…

In September of 2022, NASA purposely flung a spacecraft onto an asteroid named Dimorphos. This test — called NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) — was designed to see how a collision could impact space rocks. Now, scientists are learning that this collision did indeed deform the asteroid Dimorphos. However, intriguingly, the asteroid seems to have healed itself. It has since been reshaped. DART’s Mission Source: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons Scientists have long thought up plans of what they could do if an asteroid or space rock was heading towards Earth. In an attempt to potentially save the planet from a…

Kentucky lawmakers have recently advanced a bill that would allow child support to start during pregnancy. If passed, a pregnant parent would have the right to collect child support for their unborn child. This latest legislative effort comes as many Republican-led states have begun to make moves that state that a fetus has the same rights as a person. Critics of this law believe that it could open up the door to more restrictions put on women. Kentucky Pushes New Child Support Law Source: Miles Manwaring/Unsplash According to this new legislation, a parent would be able to seek child support…

Panera Bread will not be impacted by California’s new FAST Act fast food bill, which raises the state minimum wage from $16 to $20 an hour at fast food chains. According to new reporting, this law has an exemption for fast food locations that also bake and sell bread. Only locations that sell bread as a standalone item will qualify for this new exemption. Once news of this exception broke, many critics were quick to point out the long and beneficial history between California Governor Gavin Newsom and Panera franchise billionaire Greg Flynn.  FAST Act’s Inception Source: Jeremy Bishop/Unsplash The…

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced that California seized a new record amount of fentanyl in 2023. According to new data, law enforcement seized 62,224 pounds of fentanyl. The governor’s statement also revealed that these seizures occurred throughout the state of California, as well as at the state’s ports of entry. In recent years, California has made a concerted effort to increase fentanyl seizures. A Mass Amount Of Fentanyl Seized Source: W K/Unsplash In a new statement, Newsom revealed this new record of fentanyl seized in a year for California. Compared to 2023’s 62,224 pounds of fentanyl, 2022 saw about…

Among American voters, there used to be a persistent trend where younger generations would vote more liberal, while older generations would vote more conservative. However, over time, these younger generations would begin to become more conservative just as their elders were. Now, there are new statistics that show this trend may no longer apply to Americans. Instead, many younger generations are voting liberal — and staying liberal, even as they get older. As a result, many researchers are trying to find out why this is occurring. For many, they believe “wokeness” is to blame. A New Voting Trend Source: Maria…

Many people are under the assumption that Native Americans in the United States have their own Indian reservation area that they completely own themselves. These lands are exempt from state jurisdiction. However, in reality, many state governments own some areas of these reservations instead of tribal communities. At least 10 states have owned land that is said to belong to Native Americans. Tens of thousands of acres of this reservation land is owned by U.S. states. In some cases, this information is not made public. What Are Trust Lands? Source: Andrew James/Unsplash Trust lands are any lands held and managed…

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders recently took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to declare that the U.S. government’s democracy could become an oligarchy. According to Sanders, this is because three major institutional investors hold quite a lot of power. Sanders singled out BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street. In his tweet, he explained that these three Wall Street firms manage trillions in wealth. All three also are major shareholders in the 500 largest companies in the United States. Bernie Sanders Issues a Grave Warning Source: Timothy Krause/Wikimedia Commons On X, Sanders wrote, “This is what oligarchy is about. Today just 3…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have benefitted from remote work as they allowed their full-time employees to work from home. However, years after the peak of the pandemic, many companies are looking to bring workers back into the office. The debate over remote work has escalated. Remote workers don’t want to return to the office, even though their bosses do. While there are many upsides to remote work for both employer and employee, there are some major challenges and concerns as well. The Struggle of Being Isolated Source: Windows/Unsplash One of the biggest issues both employers and employees have…