Population and Census

Vic and I took off for Big Bear Lake on Christmas to enjoy the snow there. The roads were clear, but there were several inches of snow on the ground, making a beautiful scene. Our son Scott rented a large house on the lake so we could have our...

Just when Washington looked like it was completely preoccupied with the scandals, real and imaginary, swirling around the White House, a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate managed the unexpected (and, these days, extraordinary): They...

As New Yorkers and Jerseyites in search of more house and a bigger yard migrated to the Lehigh Valley's exploding suburbs, the region's struggling cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton experienced nearly four decades of population flat-lining. But...

A notable example of how Americans fall through the cracks in census data-gathering caught my eye recently. It appeared on the black-oriented TheRoot.com website under this intriguing headline: "I found one drop; can I be black now?" The "one drop" is a...

The Academy Award-nominated movie "Amour" is sparking much-needed conversations about aging, the illness of a longtime companion and dying with dignity. In the film, we follow an elderly French couple struggling with common end-of-life questions, like:...

While the weather in Highland Park and Deerfield can't compare with the warm climes of Arizona or Florida, senior populations are steadily growing — prompting senior service providers in both communities to begin making plans. Residents and...

WASHINGTON -- The richest 7% of American families saw their average wealth soar 28% from 2009 to 2011, while the remaining 93% of households lost 4% of their net worth over that same period, according to a new report. The analysis of Census Bureau...

WASHINGTON — The richest 7% of American families saw their average wealth soar 28% from 2009 to 2011, while the remaining households lost 4% of their net worth over the same period, according to a new report. The analysis of Census Bureau data...

Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed that the state bolster its own troubled finances by freezing the amount of state income taxes shared with local governments at 2012 levels, which could cost some towns hundreds of thousands of dollars. Quinn estimates the...

During the 2013-2014 school year, Charlevoix Public Schools will consolidate into a two-building system, closing one of its buildings and tightening spending on some programs and staff. Declining state aid has decimated Charlevoix’s fund balance...

The book, “Who Will Feed China?: Wake-up Call for a Small Planet,” authored by Lester Brown in 1995, was a surprising wake-up call about world food security. Brown claimed that food production was not growing fast enough to feed China's increasing...

Not too long ago, Carroll County faced a problem: Rapid growth had brought crowded classrooms to the northeastern part of the county, and planners expected many more homes to be built in the area. "At one point, they were 400 kids over capacity at North...