CCF’s Weekly Media Roundup by Steve Mintz, January 2nd, 2017

1. The Housing Gap
2. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country. Here’s what we’re buying.
3. Marriage May Help You Survive a Stroke
4. After 15 Big Mall Fights, Police See a Culprit: Teenage Boredom
5. The Continuing Collapse of the Death Penalty
6. The Housing Crisis Lives On for Minorities
7. Looking Death in the Face
8. Friend, Counselor, Supplier of Condoms
9. The Quiet War on Medicaid
10. Opioids Contribute to a Rising Death Toll: 28,647 in 2014
11. Varieties of Religious Experience
12. Bored, Isolated and Retired Young
13. Kansas court says sperm donor must pay child support
14. We’re really bad at judging risk to kids. We’re really good at judging parents. People think leaving children alone is dangerous — because they think it’s immoral.
15. ‘It’s Like a Miracle’: Woman Gives Birth Using Ovary Frozen Since Childhood
16. Scientists Say They Can Reset Clock of Aging, for Mice at Least
17. Americans’ Hearing Loss Decreases Even as Headphone Use Rises
18. The Stubborn Whiteness of White Neighborhoods
19. The Geography of Hate in the U.S.
20. The unintended consequence of Angelina Jolie’s viral breast cancer essay
21. Students Advised to Be Wary of College-Sponsored Debit Cards
22. Hospitals’ Death and Complication Rates Shown to Vary Widely
23. Extensive Brain Defects Seen in Babies of Mothers With Zika
24. The Children of the Opioid Crisis
25. Boomerang Boom: More Firms Tapping the Skills of the Recently Retired
26. 2016: A Year Defined by America’s Diverging Economies
27. The Rise of the Sun Belt
28. The hidden cost of made-in-America retail bargains
29. The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion
30. The surprising reason why the prison population keeps shrinking
31. The high costs and low payoff of the US education sector
32. Kitty Dukakis, a Beneficiary of Electroshock Therapy, Emerges as Its Evangelist
33. Cub Scouts Kick Out Transgender Boy in New Jersey
34. Why Aren’t There More Female Billionaires?
35. U.S. Correctional Population at Lowest Level in Over a Decade
36. Feminism Lost. Now What?
37. Loneliness Can Be Deadly for Elders; Friends Are the Antidote
38. Can Psychiatric Drugs Blunt the Mother-Baby Bond?
39. The 52 Best — And Weirdest — Charts We Made In 2016
40. Is the Recent Spike in Marriages a Trump Bump?
41. A Majority Agreed She Was Raped by a Stanford Football Player. That Wasn’t Enough.

 

1. The Housing Gap

http://www.wsj.com/articles/housing-gains-highlight-economic-divide-1482881929?mod=djem10point

Housing Gains Highlight Economic Divide www.wsj.com The volatile housing market is widening the divide between pricey urban and coastal areas and more affordable inland regions, creating large swaths of winners and losers based largely on geography.

 

The volatile housing market of the past 15 years is widening the divide between pricey urban and coastal areas and more affordable inland regions. Much of the spoils of the recent boom have been concentrated in pricier markets. Homes in ZIP Codes where the median value is $500,000 to $1 million are now worth 103% more than they were 16 years ago, while in ZIP Codes where the median home was worth $100,000 to $150,000, prices have risen 16% since the trough of the market. In more rural areas outside major cities, demand for housing has been flat, with little new supply and more people leaving for larger cities and coastal regions.  The contrast offers one explanation for the frustration building in the mostly rural, middle-American areas that helped propel Donald Trump to victory in the presidential election.

2. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country. Here’s what we’re buying.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/27/the-u-s-spends-more-on-health-care-than-any-other-country-heres-what-were-buying/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country. Here’s what we’re buying. www.washingtonpost.com A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals what patients and their insurers are spending money on.

 

Last year, we spent $3.2 trillion on health care, and a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that the primary drivers of spending vary considerably

 

3. Marriage May Help You Survive a Stroke

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/well/family/marriage-may-help-you-survive-a-stroke.html

Marriage May Help You Survive a Stroke www.nytimes.com Our social relationships can have immediate and lasting consequences for our health.

 

Our social relationships can have immediate and lasting consequences for our health.

 

4. After 15 Big Mall Fights, Police See a Culprit: Teenage Boredom

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/us/mall-fights-brawls.html

The day after Christmas is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, luring shoppers looking for a bargain, and teenagers looking for trouble.

 

5. The Continuing Collapse of the Death Penalty

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/the-continuing-collapse-of-the-death-penalty.html

Florida’s Supreme Court just wiped out over 150 death sentences, the latest sign that capital punishment is on the way out.

 

6. The Housing Crisis Lives On for Minorities

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/the-housing-crisis-lives-on-for-minorities.html

A lawsuit charges that Fannie Mae has neglected foreclosed properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods.

 

7. Looking Death in the Face

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/looking-death-in-the-face.html

We avoid it, but we can’t separate it from the act of living.

 

8. Friend, Counselor, Supplier of Condoms

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/friend-counselor-supplier-of-condoms.html

As a resident adviser at my college, some interactions with students got complicated, given that I am not just their peer.

 

9. The Quiet War on Medicaid

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/25/opinion/the-quiet-war-on-medicaid.html

Donald Trump may not have the stomach to attack Medicare, but trouble is certainly brewing for millions of poor and working-class families.

 

10. Opioids Contribute to a Rising Death Toll: 28,647 in 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/24/science/rising-opioid-deaths.html

Fatal drug overdoses have nearly tripled over the past few years, largely because of opioid abuse, the C.D.C. has found.

 

11. Varieties of Religious Experience

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/24/opinion/sunday/varieties-of-religious-experience.html

When unbelievers encounter the supernatural.

 

12. Bored, Isolated and Retired Young

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/your-money/early-retirement.html

Early retirement and a life of leisure may sound like the stuff of daydreams, but the reality can be jarring for people used to being busy and important.

 

13. Kansas court says sperm donor must pay child support

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/23/justice/kansas-sperm-donation/index.html

 

14. We’re really bad at judging risk to kids. We’re really good at judging parents. People think leaving children alone is dangerous — because they think it’s immoral.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/16/were-really-bad-at-judging-risk-to-kids-were-really-good-at-judging-parents/?utm_term=.239f12ecb65a&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

 

15. ‘It’s Like a Miracle’: Woman Gives Birth Using Ovary Frozen Since Childhood

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/world/europe/its-like-a-miracle-woman-gives-birth-using-ovary-frozen-since-childhood.html

Tissue from the cryogenically preserved ovary of a child who was 9 was reimplanted in her 14 years later and she was able to conceive.

16. Scientists Say They Can Reset Clock of Aging, for Mice at Least

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/science/scientists-say-they-can-reset-clock-of-aging-for-mice-at-least.html

The technique, discovered by a team at the Salk Institute, cannot be applied directly to people, but it points toward better understanding of human aging.

 

17. Americans’ Hearing Loss Decreases Even as Headphone Use Rises

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/health/hearing-loss-united-states.html

New research shows a drop in hearing loss, thanks to factors like fewer noisy factories, reduced use of medicines that can affect hearing, and better health in general.

 

18. The Stubborn Whiteness of White Neighborhoods

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/12/white-neighborhoods-segregation-census/510590/?utm_source=nl__link2_121516

Even in the diversifying big cities, the average white person’s neighborhood is whiter than the metropolitan area he or she is in.

 

19. The Geography of Hate in the U.S.

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/12/the-new-geography-of-hate/509816/?utm_source=nl__link3_121516

Where hate groups operate now.

 

20. The unintended consequence of Angelina Jolie’s viral breast cancer essay

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/15/why-doctors-cant-ignore-celebrities-the-angelina-jolie-effect/?utm_term=.60d418f7b816&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1

More women got genetic testing after Angelina Jolie’s mastectomy. But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

 

21. Students Advised to Be Wary of College-Sponsored Debit Cards

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/your-money/money-adviser-college-debit-cards.html

The debit cards marketed on many campuses often are not designed with students’ best interests in mind, a new report found.

 

22. Hospitals’ Death and Complication Rates Shown to Vary Widely

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/business/hospitals-death-rates-quality-vary-widely.html

Patients at the worst institutions were three times more likely to die and 13 times more likely to have medical complications than at one of the best.

 

23. Extensive Brain Defects Seen in Babies of Mothers With Zika

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/health/zika-virus-baby-brain-defects.html

Damage may be present even in the absence of obvious abnormalities like small heads, and the virus may go on replicating in babies’ brains well after birth, studies found.

 

24. The Children of the Opioid Crisis

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-children-of-the-opioid-crisis-1481816178?mod=djem10point

The number of children in foster care in many states has soared, overwhelming social workers and courts. Hospitals that once saw few opioid-addicted newborns are now treating dozens a year. Social workers say the scale of the trouble exceeds anything they saw during the crack-cocaine or methamphetamine crises of previous decades. The recent black-market arrival of synthetic opioids many times more potent than heroin, such as fentanyl and carfentanil, has only made the crisis worse. Many grandparents who were preparing for retirement are suddenly faced not just with the unraveling of a previously functional adult child, but with several young mouths to feed. We profile several families grappling with the crisis.

 

25. Boomerang Boom: More Firms Tapping the Skills of the Recently Retired

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/business/retirement/boomerang-boom-more-firms-tapping-the-skills-of-the-recently-retired.html

Businesses find it useful to have experienced hands who can train younger staff. And those workers get to stay active as they ease into retirement.

 

26. 2016: A Year Defined by America’s Diverging Economies

http://www.citylab.com/work/2016/12/2016-a-year-defined-by-americas-diverging-economies/511919/?utm_source=nl__link1_123016

Just as income inequality has become a fixture in many Americans’ understanding of the country, so too must accelerating regional divides.

 

27. The Rise of the Sun Belt

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/12/us-population-growth-rate-sun-belt-states/511844/?utm_source=nl__link4_123016

National population growth has fallen to 1937 levels. But jobs and affordable living continue to attract people to certain parts of the country.

 

28. The hidden cost of made-in-America retail bargains

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/30/the-hidden-cost-of-made-in-america-retail-bargains/?utm_term=.9427e2adf807&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1

 

29. The Asian American ‘advantage’ that is actually an illusion

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/29/the-asian-american-advantage-that-is-actually-an-illusion/?utm_term=.8ef78d561e39&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1

Asians earn more than whites, right? Or do they?

 

30. The surprising reason why the prison population keeps shrinking

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/29/the-surprising-reason-the-prison-population-keeps-shrinking/?utm_term=.01362553d58d&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1

The incarceration rate dropped again, even though Congress keeps failing to pass criminal justice reforms.

 

31. The high costs and low payoff of the US education sector

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2016/12/23/the-declining-productivity-of-education/

Education costs have soared in the U.S. in recent decades while learning has stagnated, hurting both the nation’s economic growth and income equality.

 

32. Kitty Dukakis, a Beneficiary of Electroshock Therapy, Emerges as Its Evangelist

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/us/kitty-dukakis-electroshock-therapy-evangelist.html

Mrs. Dukakis, a former first lady of Massachusetts, credits the treatment with saving her life, and she and her husband work to promote electroconvulsive therapy.

 

33. Cub Scouts Kick Out Transgender Boy in New Jersey

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/us/cub-scouts-transgender.html

Three years after the Boy Scouts ended its ban on openly gay youths, Joe Maldonado, 8, was ejected from the Cub Scouts because he is transgender.

 

34. Why Aren’t There More Female Billionaires?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/business/why-arent-there-more-female-billionaires.html

A study shows that women are making inroads among the wealthy, but that their ranks at the very top of the earnings ladder are still remarkably thin.

 

35. U.S. Correctional Population at Lowest Level in Over a Decade

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/us/us-prison-population.html

Incarceration rates declined in 2015 as federal prisons released nonviolent drug offenders and states enacted policies to reduce prison populations.

 

36. Feminism Lost. Now What?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/opinion/sunday/feminism-lost-now-what.html

“It’s amazing to me the lightning speed at which these issues have receded. The story is the total omission of women.”

 

37. Loneliness Can Be Deadly for Elders; Friends Are the Antidote

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/health/loneliness-elderly.html

As friends lose touch or die, older people can forge new bonds. Those relationships appear critical to physical and psychological health.

 

38. Can Psychiatric Drugs Blunt the Mother-Baby Bond?

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/can-psychiatric-drugs-blunt-the-mother-baby-bond/

Antidepressants and other medications can affect bonding, but letting an illness go untreated is far riskier for both mother and baby.

 

39. The 52 Best — And Weirdest — Charts We Made In 2016

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-52-best-and-weirdest-charts-we-made-in-2016/

 

40. Is the Recent Spike in Marriages a Trump Bump?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/nyregion/marriages-since-trump-election.html

There is no data explaining why couples are suddenly marrying at a faster pace, but fear of an immigration crackdown is clearly a factor for some.

 

41. A Majority Agreed She Was Raped by a Stanford Football Player. That Wasn’t Enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/sports/football/stanford-football-rape-accusation.html

Stanford has an uncommonly high bar for sexual assault cases, so the player was never punished despite two panels ruling in favor of the accuser.

Also see, Stanford University response to The New York Times story:

http://news.stanford.edu/2016/12/29/stanford-university-statement-new-york-times-story-dec-29-2016/