Author: Reporter

People working from home became younger, more diverse, better educated and more likely to move during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In many respects, the demographic makeup of people working from home from 2019 to 2021 became more like workers who were commuting, while the share of the U.S. labor force working from home went from 5.7% in 2019 to 17.9% in 2021, as restrictions were implemented to help slow the spread of the virus, according to a report released last week based on American Community Survey data....

For every American killed by gunfire, an estimated two or more more survive, often with terrible injuries. It is a fact that public health experts say is crucial to understanding the full impact of guns on society. A new government study highlights just how violent America’s recent past has been by showing a surge in gunfire injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of people fatally shooting each other, and themselves, also increased. The number of people injured by gunfire was nearly 40% higher in 2020 and 2021, compared with 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

With just two days to spare, President Joe Biden signed legislation on Jnue 3 that lifts the nation’s debt ceiling, averting an unprecedented default on the federal government’s debt. President Biden celebrated a “crisis averted” in his first speech to the nation from the Oval Office on June 2. Treasury Department had warned the U.S. would not be able to meet its obligations. The budget agreement eliminated the potential for an unprecedented government default that would have been catastrophic for the domestic and global economies. “Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher,” Biden...

YouTube will stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 election or other past U.S. presidential elections were marred by “widespread fraud, errors or glitches,” the platform announced on June 2. The change is a reversal for the Google-owned video service, which said a month after the 2020 election that it would start removing new posts that falsely claimed widespread voter fraud or errors changed the outcome. YouTube said in a blog post that the updated policy was an attempt to protect the ability to “openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial or based on disproven assumptions.”...

The start of June marks the beginning of Pride month around the U.S. and some parts of the world, a season intended to celebrate the lives and experiences of LGBTQ+ communities and to protest against attacks on hard-won civil rights gains. This year’s Pride takes place in a contentious political climate in which some state legislators have sought to ban drag shows, prohibit gender-affirming care and limit how teachers can talk about sexuality and gender in the classroom. Events have been disrupted. Performers have been harassed. And in Colorado in November, five people were killed and several injured when...

Dozens of transgender people in Florida have turned to crowdfunding appeals to help them leave the state after the passage of new legislation that targets the LGBTQ+ community, including a law that curtails access to gender-affirming care for adults and bans it for minors. For Sage Chelf, the decision to leave hardly felt like a choice, but she didn’t have the funds to cover a move. The 30-year-old trans woman, who lives in the Orlando area, was nearly out of one medication when she found out the clinic that had been prescribing her hormone therapy was ending all treatment...