Minnesota Star Tribune (November 9)
Clawcades are “the new Japanese-style arcade sweeping the Twin Cities. At least four claw (or crane) machine-only businesses have opened in the past year, drawing kids and adults alike in search of entertainment and Japanese prizes, like Hello Kitty or Pokémon plushies.”
Tags: Adults, Arcade, Claw, Clawcades, Crane, Entertainment, Hello Kitty, Japanese-style, Kids, Machine, Pokémon plushies, Prizes, Twin Cities
Bloomberg (July 12)
Itochu’s unconventional “tough love worked.” A decade after banning overtime after 8:00 PM, profit per employee has increased fivefold. “What also changed, to the surprise of Itochu’s management, is that more female employees took maternity leave, had kids and came back to work.” This raises the question, “could similar changes help East Asia’s flagging birthrate?”
Tags: 8:00 PM, Banning, Birthrate, East Asia, Employees, Female, Itochu, Kids, Management, Maternity leave, Overtime, Profit, Unconventional
PEW Research Center (November 19)
U.S. fertility rates “were already at a record low before the pandemic began” and have continued dropping during it, “lending evidence to predictions… that economic uncertainty might trigger a baby bust.” The center’s recent survey shows even broader concerns. “A rising share of U.S. adults who are not already parents say they are unlikely to ever have children, and their reasons range from just not wanting to have kids to concerns about climate change and the environment.”
Tags: Baby bust, Children, Climate change, Economic uncertainty, Fertility, Kids, Pandemic, Parents, Record low, Survey, U.S., Unlikely
LA Times (June 14)
“The chances of getting COVID-19 will not be zero anytime soon—even for vaccinated people. So, for all of us to comfortably return to in-person work, send our kids to school and abandon our masks, we will have to rely on multiple lines of trust…. Unfortunately, Americans’ willingness to trust one another was already in decline before the pandemic began.”
Tags: COVID-19, Decline, In-person, Kids, Masks, Pandemic, Return, School, Trust, Vaccinated, Willingness, Work
Chicago Tribune (May 11)
“COVID-19 vaccines finally are headed for more kids as U.S. regulators Monday expanded use of Pfizer’s shot to those as young as 12, sparking a race to protect middle and high school students before they head back to class in the fall.”
Tags: 12, Class, COVID-19, Expanded use, High school, Kids, Middle school, Pfizer, Protect, Race, Regulators, Students, U.S., Vaccines
