Young People

The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say will help power the economic recovery but that skeptics say could open the door to the risky lending that caused the housing crash in the first place. President Obama's economic advisers and outside experts say the nation's much-celebrated housing rebound is leaving too many people behind , including young people looking to buy their first homes and...

NEWARK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who formally declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate on Saturday, now finds himself competing against like-minded Democratic congressmen in a primary that will be decided in midsummer, when exceptionally low voter turnout threatens his early advantage. Booker, 44, made his announcement at a news conference in Newark, New Jersey's largest city, which he has led since 2006. He is vying to fill the seat of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died Monday at age 89. Gov. Chris Christie set the primary...

B rittany Lofton spots them all the time: teens and college students clutching their beat-up cellphones, with screens so cracked that spider-web-like patterns creep across the glass. Sure, the screen's razory shards make reading a text and posting Instagram photos super blurry, not to mention slightly painful. But that's part of the appeal. Introducing the cracked cellphone screen, which raises the bar by lowering it. Think of it as the tech generation's ripped jeans or unwashed hair.

OBAMACARE PITCH: President Barack Obama will use his visit to California to highlight how the state is implementing the Affordable Care Act. He also will discuss California's collaboration with non-government groups to promote, primarily to Hispanics, the health care exchanges that are being created to help millions of uninsured people afford coverage, EXCHANGES: Obama is highlighting how the state is implementing the Affordable Care Act, including...

SAN JOSE, Calif. — President Barack Obama on Friday encouraged the uninsured or those paying high prices for health insurance to sign up for coverage under his health care law and urged opponents to stop wasting time continuing to fighting its implementation. Obama used a trip to California to highlight how the state is implementing the Affordable Care Act and rebut continuing criticism over his signature legislative achievement. He touted an effort in the state to recruit Hispanics...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — One young contender created the world's largest sequin mosaic using 325,000 of the sparkly disks. Two other youths achieved 123 consecutive badminton passes in one minute. And 1,450 participants broke the record for the most people arm-wrestling. Such are the skills that Guinness World Records are made of in Pakistan, where thousands of young people are groomed to establish their unique feats for posterity. This month, the contestants came together in the eastern city of...

SEOUL — Younger South Koreans are increasingly second-guessing a national goal. They don't think an eventual unification with North Korea will restore order and salve old wounds; they think it will turn a prosperous country into a chaotic one. More than half of those in their teens and 20s don't even think unification is necessary — though they're taught to believe as much starting in fifth grade. For those who remember the Korean War and its aftermath, the Korean Peninsula's split is...

For those of us who came of age in the past decade, two forces have us racing to keep up: First, we are immersed in a 24-hour cycle of news and information with a constant flow of tweets and text messages, cellphones clutched tightly in our hands like Linus's blanket. And second, we're starting our adult lives in a world without enough decent-paying jobs, where we might become the first generation in memory to have less opportunity than our parents. So it's no wonder that many people our age struggle with the...

In the past 20 years, our region has transformed into one of the nation's most desirable places to work and live. But there's a threat on the horizon, and it has nothing to do with sequestration. Long-term, one of the biggest challenges to our economic health is our local workforce. In the coming decades we will need to fill a million new jobs, while replacing two million positions vacated by retiring baby boomers. Most growth is coming in health care, education, high tech and finance...

THE MARYLAND Senate's vote to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana would not, as some critics warn, make it okay to use the drug. Such use would still be illegal, but it would be a civil offense, punishable by fines rather than imprisonment. Not only would this save law enforcement valuable resources but also prevent the lives of many young people from being ruined. We hope the House of Delegates follows the Senate's lead and that Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signs this sensible...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis revealed Friday that he never wanted to be pope and joked that he's living in the Vatican hotel for his "psychiatric" health. Francis showed a personal and spontaneous side as he met with thousands of children from Jesuit schools across Italy and Albania. Tossing aside his prepared remarks, Francis surprised the kids by asking them if they'd like to ask him some questions instead. "Yes!" they shouted to cheers and applause — and the concern of teachers...

The Great Recession has done many bad things to many people. But perhaps one part of the aftermath that's been beneficial is the increase in multigenerational households. Their numbers expanded from 2007 to 2009 — the recession years — to a record 51.4 million people, according to the Pew Research Center. "Starting right after World War II, the extended family household fell out of favor with the American public," according to a Pew report. "Since bottoming out around 1980, however, the multigenerational family...

B rittany Lofton spots them all the time: teens and college students clutching their beat-up cellphones, with screens so cracked that spider-web-like patterns creep across the glass. Sure, the screen's razory shards make reading a text and posting Instagram photos super blurry, not to mention slightly painful. But that's part of the appeal. Introducing the cracked cellphone screen, which raises the bar by lowering it. Think of it as the tech generation's ripped jeans...

More than 3 million young people have gained health insurance since the Affordable Care Act became law three years ago, allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26. Starting next year, young adults will have more options for health insurance. But despite the expanded choices, some may continue to face problems commonly associated with their age group: coverage for mental health issues, substance abuse and maternity care. A recent study ...

Isabel Allende has a cold. Bronchitis, actually. She's normally a hugger. Not today. "Don't touch me," she warns, thrusting her arms up to avoid the slightest possibility of skin-to-skin contact. "I'm all germs. " It's Wednesday and the Chilean novelist is in a plush, sun-streamed sitting room in the Madison Hotel in downtown Washington, one of 15 cities she's visiting on a nearly month-long book tour for " Maya's Notebook . " Allende "despises" book tours. The...

The April 23 front-page article " A retirement mecca, just outside the Beltway " offered a glimpse into a growing trend: age-segregated living. While such living arrangements appear positive , they have a downside, too . People in age-segregated communities are less apt to invest in younger generations. As the article noted, some residents of active communities "don't have much interest in education . " How unfortunate. The well-being of these communities ultimately relies on the economic and...

Skin Cancer Especially in young people, indoor tanning may raise risk of skin cancer THE QUESTION Do people who tan their skin indoors face a greater chance of developing non-melanoma skin cancer than those who do not? THIS STUDY analyzed data from 12 studies, involving 80,661 people, including 9,328 who had non-melanoma (either basal cell or squamous cell) skin cancer. Those who had ever tanned indoors — using a sunlamp, tanning bed, tanning booth or other device that...

In the wake of Congress' inability to pass a gun-control bill, a broad coalition of African American pastors has announced a new nationwide campaign designed to curb the appetite for people to use handguns that they say has led to the preaching of far too many funerals in their community. In addition to signing a three-year "covenant" in which they plan to work with more "community-based" organizations to slow the tide of gun violence, the pastors were briefed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Congressional Black...