Latest news with #Merced
Arab News
a day ago
- Business
- Arab News
Trump administration may rescind $4 billion for California High-Speed Rail project
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration said Wednesday there is no viable path forward for California's High-Speed Rail project and warned it may rescind $4 billion in government funding in the coming weeks. The US Transportation Department released a 315-page report from the Federal Railroad Administration that cited missed deadlines, budget shortfalls and questionable ridership projections. One key issue cited is that California has not identified $7 billion in additional funding needed to build an initial 171-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield, California. USDOT gave California until mid-July to respond and then the administration could terminate the grants. Trump said last month the US government would not pay for the project. The FRA report Wednesday said California had 'conned the taxpayer out of its $4 billion investment, with no viable plan to deliver even that partial segment on time.' The California High-Speed Rail System is a planned two-phase 800-mile system with speeds of up to 220 miles per hour that aims to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim and in the second phase extend north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. The California High-Speed Rail Authority said it strongly disagrees with the administration's conclusions 'which are misguided and do not reflect the substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California.' It noted California, Governor Gavin Newsom's budget proposal before the legislature extends at least $1 billion per year in funding for the next 20 years 'providing the necessary resources to complete the project's initial operating segment.' The authority noted in May there is active civil construction along 119 miles in the state's Central Valley. Voters approved $10 billion for the project in 2008 but the costs have risen sharply. The Transportation Department under former President Joe Biden awarded the project about $4 billion. The entire San Francisco-to-Los Angeles project was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 for $33 billion but has now jumped from $89 billion to $128 billion. In 2021, Biden restored a $929 million grant for California's high-speed rail that Trump had revoked in 2019 after the Republican president called the project a 'disaster.'
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Health
- Newsweek
Divorce Increases Children's Risk of Death by 55%, Study Reveals
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Children whose parents divorce when they are aged five or younger are more likely to experience early death, a new study has claimed. The research paper—authored by professor Nolan Pope of the University of Maryland, Andrew C. Johnston at the University of California, Merced and Maggie R. Jones of the U.S. Census Bureau, found that American children whose parents divorce while they are still in infancy face a variety of marked disadvantages through life as a result. These include reduced earnings and an increased likelihood of teen pregnancy, incarceration and early death. Much of this was attributed to the disruption divorce causes to the family household. Parents move apart as a result, household income falls, single parents then often work longer hours, move more often and relocate to poorer neighborhoods with fewer economic opportunities. All of which leads to social and financial struggles for their children. The authors write: "These changes in family life reveal that, rather than an isolated legal shock, divorce represents a bundle of treatments—including income loss, neighborhood changes and family restructuring—each of which might affect children's outcomes." File photo of a smashed picture frame. File photo of a smashed picture frame. Jupiter Images/Getty The researchers linked data on more than 5 million children born between 1988 and 1993 from federal tax records, the Social Security Administration and the Census Bureau. This allowed them to compare siblings with different lengths of exposure to the same divorce. Unsurprisingly, household income was found to drop by around 50 percent when families split into separate households. However, the research also revealed that these households were only able to recover around half of the initial income loss in the decade following a divorce. The probability of moving was also found to nearly triple in the wake of divorce with families relocating to neighborhoods with lower incomes. Half of the parents also remarried within five years of divorce, introducing stepparents to children's lives, and adding more dependents to the household as a result. The research paper also identified how a "lot of things with family life change" as a result of divorce. Mothers were found to work 8 percent more hours while fathers 16 percent. By far the most concerning statistics from the study, however, concerned the impact on children of divorce under the age of 5 when their parents split. While the downward shift in family finances was found to impact educational outcomes, even more worrying was the data showing that experiencing a parental divorce before the age of 5 increased teen births by roughly 60 percent and mortality by as much as 55 percent. The authors were keen to note the study offered no insight on the impact of remaining in a harmful or unhappy marriage and that the findings offer a generalized view on the issue. "As such, I would not want our results to deter someone from an abusive or highly damaging relationship from seeking help and potentially getting divorced," Pope said. "There are many additional dimensions of divorce—particularly the impact on the lives and happiness of the parents—that our study is unable to address, which are also important when making decisions about divorce." The findings touch on those of a 2017 study which found children whose parents divorce were more likely to experience frequent bouts of sickness as adults. In 2014, another piece of research found that parents' separation can increase behavior problems for children—especially those 5 or younger—but mostly in high-income families, not lower-income ones. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the impact of divorce? Let us know via science@
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US children of divorce have reduced earnings, increased chances of teen births and jail, study says
U.S. children whose parents divorce when they are age 5 or younger have reduced earnings as adults and increased chances by young adulthood of teen pregnancy, incarceration and death, according to a study released this month. After a divorce, a household's income typically is halved as a family splits into two households, and it struggles to recover that lost income over the ensuing decade. Families after divorce also tend to move to neighborhoods with lower incomes that offer reduced economic opportunities, and children are farther away from their non-custodial parent, according to the working paper by economists at the University of California, Merced; the U.S. Census Bureau; and the University of Maryland. The three events — loss of financial resources, a decline in neighborhood quality and missing parental involvement because of distance or an increased workload required to make up for lost income — accounted for 25% to 60% of the impact divorce has on children's outcomes, the study said. 'These changes in family life reveal that, rather than an isolated legal shock, divorce represents a bundle of treatments — including income loss, neighborhood changes, and family restructuring — each of which might affect children's outcomes,' the economists wrote. Almost a third of American children live through their parents' divorcing before reaching adulthood, according to the study. Many children of divorce have reached the heights of professional success, including former President Barack Obama and Vice President JD Vance, who lamented that divorce was too easily accessible during a 2021 speech at a Christian high school in California. The U.S. divorce rate has been on a decline for the past decade and a half, going from over 10% in 2008 to about 7% in 2022, according to the Census Bureau. The economists' study can't show the emotional impact of divorce, but some children of divorce said it resonated through adulthood, no matter what age they were when it happened. Brandon Hellan, 54, said it took him until his mid-30s before he felt like he could commit to getting married and having children. He thinks his parents' divorce when he was in his early 20s played a role since it felt at the time like an immense betrayal. 'I really think my parents' divorce made me put up these walls and treat relationships like they were rentals, temporary,' said Hellan, who lives in the St. Louis area and wasn't connected to the study. While the study shows the negative impacts of divorce, it can't show what families' lives would have been like if parents had stayed together, said Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist with no ties to the study. "Probably nobody can tell better than the parents facing the conditions of the marriage and the opportunity for divorce," Cohen said. 'I believe parents are aware divorce may have harmful consequences for their children, and make difficult judgments about what is in their own best interest, as well as the interest of their children.' Previous academic studies reached different conclusions about the impact of divorce on children. Some argued that unhappy marriages harm children by exposing them to conflict between their parents and that, generally, divorce is a better option for both parents and children. Other studies said divorce leads to reductions in financial resources, the time parents have to spend with their children and the emotional stability of their offspring. Yet other studies concluded that divorce has a minimal impact one way or another. A big shortfall in reaching any conclusions has been a lack of data. But the authors of the new study said they overcame that limitation by linking data from federal tax records, the Social Security Administration and the Census Bureau for all children born in the U.S. between 1988 and 1993. The tax data traced marital histories and income of the parents and the census data provided information about households and outcomes from childhood to adulthood. The study compared outcomes among siblings by the amount of time a childhood was spent with divorced parents. It found that children whose parents divorced when they were age 5 or younger had a 13% smaller income by age 27, but there was little or no impact if the child was older than 18 when their parents divorced. A parental divorce increased the chances of teen pregnancy if it took place before the child was age 15. But that effect disappeared by age 20, as did the impact of any divorce on the chances of incarceration. There also was no noticeable effect on a child of divorce getting married by age 25, according to the study. The impact from divorce was similar across demographic groups, the study found. ___ Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @
San Francisco Chronicle
26-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
US children of divorce have reduced earnings, increased chances of teen births and jail, study says
U.S. children whose parents divorce when they are age 5 or younger have reduced earnings as adults and increased chances by young adulthood of teen pregnancy, incarceration and death, according to a study released this month. After a divorce, a household's income typically is halved as a family splits into two households, and it struggles to recover that lost income over the ensuing decade. Families after divorce also tend to move to neighborhoods with lower incomes that offer reduced economic opportunities, and children are farther away from their non-custodial parent, according to the working paper by economists at the University of California, Merced; the U.S. Census Bureau; and the University of Maryland. The three events — loss of financial resources, a decline in neighborhood quality and missing parental involvement because of distance or an increased workload required to make up for lost income — accounted for 25% to 60% of the impact divorce has on children's outcomes, the study said. 'These changes in family life reveal that, rather than an isolated legal shock, divorce represents a bundle of treatments — including income loss, neighborhood changes, and family restructuring — each of which might affect children's outcomes,' the economists wrote. Almost a third of American children live through their parents' divorcing before reaching adulthood, according to the study. Many children of divorce have reached the heights of professional success, including former President Barack Obama and Vice President JD Vance, who lamented that divorce was too easily accessible during a 2021 speech at a Christian high school in California. The U.S. divorce rate has been on a decline for the past decade and a half, going from over 10% in 2008 to about 7% in 2022, according to the Census Bureau. The economists' study can't show the emotional impact of divorce, but some children of divorce said it resonated through adulthood, no matter what age they were when it happened. Brandon Hellan, 54, said it took him until his mid-30s before he felt like he could commit to getting married and having children. He thinks his parents' divorce when he was in his early 20s played a role since it felt at the time like an immense betrayal. 'I really think my parents' divorce made me put up these walls and treat relationships like they were rentals, temporary,' said Hellan, who lives in the St. Louis area and wasn't connected to the study. While the study shows the negative impacts of divorce, it can't show what families' lives would have been like if parents had stayed together, said Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist with no ties to the study. "Probably nobody can tell better than the parents facing the conditions of the marriage and the opportunity for divorce," Cohen said. 'I believe parents are aware divorce may have harmful consequences for their children, and make difficult judgments about what is in their own best interest, as well as the interest of their children.' Previous academic studies reached different conclusions about the impact of divorce on children. Some argued that unhappy marriages harm children by exposing them to conflict between their parents and that, generally, divorce is a better option for both parents and children. Other studies said divorce leads to reductions in financial resources, the time parents have to spend with their children and the emotional stability of their offspring. Yet other studies concluded that divorce has a minimal impact one way or another. A big shortfall in reaching any conclusions has been a lack of data. But the authors of the new study said they overcame that limitation by linking data from federal tax records, the Social Security Administration and the Census Bureau for all children born in the U.S. between 1988 and 1993. The tax data traced marital histories and income of the parents and the census data provided information about households and outcomes from childhood to adulthood. The study compared outcomes among siblings by the amount of time a childhood was spent with divorced parents. It found that children whose parents divorced when they were age 5 or younger had a 13% smaller income by age 27, but there was little or no impact if the child was older than 18 when their parents divorced. A parental divorce increased the chances of teen pregnancy if it took place before the child was age 15. But that effect disappeared by age 20, as did the impact of any divorce on the chances of incarceration. There also was no noticeable effect on a child of divorce getting married by age 25, according to the study.
26-05-2025
- Business
US children of divorce have reduced earnings, study says
U.S. children whose parents divorce when they are age 5 or younger have reduced earnings as adults and increased chances by young adulthood of teen pregnancy, incarceration and death, according to a study released this month. After a divorce, a household's income typically is halved as a family splits into two households, and it struggles to recover that lost income over the ensuing decade. Families after divorce also tend to move to neighborhoods with lower incomes that offer reduced economic opportunities, and children are farther away from their non-custodial parent, according to the working paper by economists at the University of California, Merced; the U.S. Census Bureau; and the University of Maryland. The three events — loss of financial resources, a decline in neighborhood quality and missing parental involvement because of distance or an increased workload required to make up for lost income — accounted for 25% to 60% of the impact divorce has on children's outcomes, the study said. 'These changes in family life reveal that, rather than an isolated legal shock, divorce represents a bundle of treatments — including income loss, neighborhood changes, and family restructuring — each of which might affect children's outcomes,' the economists wrote. Almost a third of American children live through their parents' divorcing before reaching adulthood, according to the study. Many children of divorce have reached the heights of professional success, including former President Barack Obama and Vice President JD Vance, who lamented that divorce was too easily accessible during a 2021 speech at a Christian high school in California. The U.S. divorce rate has been on a decline for the past decade and a half, going from over 10% in 2008 to about 7% in 2022, according to the Census Bureau. The economists' study can't show the emotional impact of divorce, but some children of divorce said it resonated through adulthood, no matter what age they were when it happened. Brandon Hellan, 54, said it took him until his mid-30s before he felt like he could commit to getting married and having children. He thinks his parents' divorce when he was in his early 20s played a role since it felt at the time like an immense betrayal. 'I really think my parents' divorce made me put up these walls and treat relationships like they were rentals, temporary,' said Hellan, who lives in the St. Louis area and wasn't connected to the study. While the study shows the negative impacts of divorce, it can't show what families' lives would have been like if parents had stayed together, said Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist with no ties to the study. "Probably nobody can tell better than the parents facing the conditions of the marriage and the opportunity for divorce," Cohen said. 'I believe parents are aware divorce may have harmful consequences for their children, and make difficult judgments about what is in their own best interest, as well as the interest of their children.' Previous academic studies reached different conclusions about the impact of divorce on children. Some argued that unhappy marriages harm children by exposing them to conflict between their parents and that, generally, divorce is a better option for both parents and children. Other studies said divorce leads to reductions in financial resources, the time parents have to spend with their children and the emotional stability of their offspring. Yet other studies concluded that divorce has a minimal impact one way or another. A big shortfall in reaching any conclusions has been a lack of data. But the authors of the new study said they overcame that limitation by linking data from federal tax records, the Social Security Administration and the Census Bureau for all children born in the U.S. between 1988 and 1993. The tax data traced marital histories and income of the parents and the census data provided information about households and outcomes from childhood to adulthood. The study compared outcomes among siblings by the amount of time a childhood was spent with divorced parents. It found that children whose parents divorced when they were age 5 or younger had a 13% smaller income by age 27, but there was little or no impact if the child was older than 18 when their parents divorced. A parental divorce increased the chances of teen pregnancy if it took place before the child was age 15. But that effect disappeared by age 20, as did the impact of any divorce on the chances of incarceration. There also was no noticeable effect on a child of divorce getting married by age 25, according to the study. The impact from divorce was similar across demographic groups, the study found.
