USA TODAY articles from August 2004

USA TODAY archives from August 2004

Millions of Americans do not want a job.(Economics)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The creation of almost 1,500,000 jobs since January notwithstanding, the biggest factor that may be holding the unemployment rate down is the growing number of working-age people leaving the labor force, according to John A. Challenger, chief...

Welfare-work transition affected by obesity.(Employment)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Obesity contributes to various chronic medical problems, but research on current and former welfare recipients indicates that it also affects women's employment opportunities. "Obesity represents a potential barrier to labor market success...

System cheats working women.(Social Security)(report from Leanne Abdnor, former member of President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Despite changes in the American family during the past 70 years--most dramatically, the sharp increase in the number of working women--Social Security's benefit structure remains designed for the single-earner, 1930s-type family. As a matter of...

Wives' big salaries curtail relocation.(Job Market)
August 1, 2004... An increase over the last decade in the number of dual-professional marriages, in which both husband and wife earn substantial salaries, undoubtedly has helped fuel recent strong gains in home buying and recession-defying consumer spending,...

Does rain affect trading patterns?(Stock Market)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Make hay while the sun shines, the saying goes, so it is no mystery that farmers are cautious about cutting their crop under cloudy skies. In the same way, market makers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange are more averse to risk on...

Radar technology is being tested to detect mold behind gypsum wallboard by scientists from Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta.(Noteworthy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Radar technology is being tested to detect mold behind gypsum wallboard by scientists from Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta. "Mold is a common problem, especially in humid, southern climates, but people are often not aware of it because...

Along with the usual risk factors for asthma such as smoking and poverty, researchers have added another: a neighborhood where individuals live in fear.(Noteworthy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Along with the usual risk factors for asthma such as smoking and poverty, researchers have added another: a neighborhood where individuals live in fear. "People in poor neighborhoods who don't trust one another, who live in a climate of fear,...

Boeing could jeopardize the launch funding of the new 7E7 aircraft should it press for an investigation of government subsidies received by rival Airbus.(Noteworthy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Boeing could jeopardize the launch funding of the new 7E7 aircraft should it press for an investigation of government subsidies received by rival Airbus because Boeing itself has received government subsidies that violate world-trade...

It is the end of the "paper era" in the Food Stamp Program since all 50 states and the U.S. territories now provide benefits by electronic transfer instead of the traditional paper coupon.(Noteworthy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... It is the end of the "paper era" in the Food Stamp Program since all 50 states and the U.S. territories now provide benefits by electronic transfer instead of the traditional paper coupon. "The transition to the electronic benefits transfer...

Almost half of American adults lack sufficient literary skills, including reading ability, to take full advantage of the most useful medical technologies such as Pap smears and mammograms.(Noteworthy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Almost half of American adults lack sufficient literary skills, including reading ability, to take full advantage of the most useful medical technologies such as Pap smears and mammograms. Most of those individuals also are less likely than...

One of the most riveting detective stories of the last century supposedly ended when the Russian government declared that bones excavated from a Siberian mass grave belonged to the Romanovs, Russia's last royal family, who were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.(Noteworthy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... One of the most riveting detective stories of the last century supposedly ended when the Russian government declared that bones excavated from a Siberian mass grave belonged to the Romanovs, Russia's last royal family, who were executed by the...

A majority of teenagers' sexual education is derived from schools, peers, and the media.(Noteworthy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... A majority of teenagers' sexual education is derived from schools, peers, and the media. Parents, especially fathers, provide little input, maintains a University of Nebraska, Lincoln, study. Parental restrictions, however, are among the...

Will baby boomers go bust?(Retirement)
August 1, 2004... A mere 15% of baby boomers expect to receive an inheritance, concludes an American Association of Retired Persons' study, based on the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances. That is down from nearly 27% in 1989. Of the baby...

In celebration of light.(Focus on America)(works from photography collection of Cherye and Jim Pierce go on display at New Orleans Museum of Art)
August 1, 2004... It is amazing that the widespread recognition of photography as a fine art began only 30 years ago with a few pioneer dealers, private collectors, and museum curators. Now, in the first years of the new millennium, rare vintage photographs from...

Climate forecasts likely incorrect.(Global Warming)
August 1, 2004... A NASA-funded study found some climate models might be overestimating the amount of water vapor entering the atmosphere as the Earth warms. Since it is the most important heat-trapping greenhouse gas, climate forecasts may be incorrect...

Do warming oceans Portend an Ice Age?(Climate)
August 1, 2004... It has been shown for the first time that the deep-ocean circulation system of the North Atlantic, which controls ice-age cycles of cold and warm periods in the Northern Hemisphere, is integrally coupled to salinity levels in the Caribbean Sea....

Predators and prey affected by warming.(Ecology)(decline in numbers of North American moose, increase in number of wolves)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Wolves were up and moose were down in the spring of 2004 at Isle Royale National Park, the home of a 46-year study of predators and their prey. Researchers suspect that a global warming trend may be behind the shift. The moose population slid...

Wheat remains worldwide staple.(Crops)(researches develop genetically modified wheat for cold-weather environments)
August 1, 2004... A clearer picture of how wheat has been able to adapt to such a wide range of climates and become one of the world's staple food grains has been pieced together by a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis. They accomplished...

Global impact of meat consumption.(Environment)
August 1, 2004... Growing demand for meat has become a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening humanity's future, maintains the World Watch Institute, Washington, D.C. Total meat consumption has increased...

Norman Rockwell: hometown hero.(USA Yesterday)
August 1, 2004... The exhibition "Hometown Hero, Citizen of the World: Rockwell in Stockbridge" represents a rich selection of the artist's finest work at the culmination of his career and includes fascinating ephemera from the last 25 years of his life in...

Urban and suburban delinquency equal.(Schools )(according to National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The presumption that suburban schools have less disorder and delinquency than their urban counterparts is incorrect, maintains a study from the Manhattan (N.Y.) Institute. Researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent...

Sunscreen does not increase melanoma risk.(Skin Cancer)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Sunscreen use is not linked to an increased risk for melanoma, relate University of Iowa, Ames, researchers who reviewed 18 studies on sunscreen and this deadly type of skin cancer. The investigators saw limitations among several studies that...

Parents ponder academics vs. character.(Sociology)
August 1, 2004... While most of us claim our children to be of good character, when push comes to shove, more emphasis is placed on academics than character development for the very young, suggests a nationwide survey by the market research firm Synovate for...

Keep kids drinking during sports activities.(Athletics)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... A first-of-its-kind study, commissioned by the Defeat the Heat public safety campaign and presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting, found that two-thirds of children arrived at sports practice significantly...

Fido cannot prevent owner's heart attack.(Pets)(research into whether owning a pet has positive effect on owners cardiovascular health)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Can the presence of Fido or Fluffy calm an owner's stress, as some studies have suggested? Or is the science as fuzzy as Fifi's coat? Karen Allen, research scientist at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.), in reviewing evidence relating to pets...

Jim Crow laws remain on the books.(Law & Justice)
August 1, 2004... A half-century after the Supreme Court found the principle of "separate but equal" educational facilities to be unconstitutional, laws passed to ensure racial division in public schools remain on the books. At least eight southern states have...

Sixteen reasons to believe in God.(Religion)
August 1, 2004... There are 16 basic human psychological needs that motivate people to seek meaning through religion, contends Steven Reiss, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Ohio State University, Columbus. These basic human needs can explain why...

Women remember how you look.(Psychology)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Women are better than men at remembering the appearance of others, demonstrates a study by researchers at Ohio State University, Columbus. The gender difference in appearance memory was not great, but it shows another area where women are...

Bruce Springsteen troubadour of the highway.(Entertainment)(exhibition of photographs of the rock singer, Newark Museum, New Jersey)
August 1, 2004... During the past three decades, Bruce Springsteen has become one of the most beloved and respected artists in American popular music, inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, and recognized in numerous Grammy Awards. Known for his intense...

Keep piling on those cold cuts.(Lifestyles)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Nothing beats a sandwich for convenience and taste. Obviously, most Americans agree since research by Sara Lee Corporation indicates that: it is estimated that we eat 300,000,000 sandwiches a day--that's more than one for every man, woman, and...

"Traditional" men more likely to say, "I do".(Marriage)
August 1, 2004... Men raised in "traditional" family households--with both biological parents present and who are religiously observant--are more likely to marry than those from nontraditional homes, according to a nationwide survey by the National Marriage...

Broadband providers shaky about regulation.(Internet)(Coalition of Broadband Users and Innovators seeks regulation of the Internet)
August 1, 2004... For good reason, the Internet has a wild and wooly reputation; it has been a kinds of entrepreneurs, some wacky, some brilliant. This could change, however, if a band of large software companies called the Coalition of Broadband Users and...

Digital technology under scrutiny.(Copyright Law)(law school professor Robert P. Merges on the viability of compulsory licensing)
August 1, 2004... America's creative energy and entrepreneurship are known the world over. Property rights, contracts, and voluntary markets have played a primary role in the development of vibrant industries in the U.S. University of California-Berkeley Law...

Financial rights for active personnel.(Military)
August 1, 2004... Reservists and National Guard families whose loved ones have been activated for duty in Iraq or other distant lands not only face separation but often financial hardship as well. A survey by the Department of Defense for Reserve Affairs found...

Protecting soldiers from blinding lasers.(Warfare)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... An enemy laser beam can reach and blind a pilot or soldier in about one-billionth of a second. University of Central Florida, Orlando, researchers are trying to develop a protective eyeglass-like device that would react quickly enough to...

Global justice XML tightens the net.(Homeland Security)(Global Justice XML Data Model facilitates data sharing among federal and local agencies)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... "Incompatible databases and computer systems for many years have limited the ability of Federal, state, tribal, and local agencies to rapidly and efficiently share justice information," states John Wandelt, senior research scientist with the...

Are terrorists plotting a nuclear heist?(Arms Control)
August 1, 2004... Nuclear arms control no longer aims merely to lower the chances of attacks with weapons launched on missiles or dropped from airplanes. Today, it aspires to reduce the risk that terrorists will attack with improvised nuclear weapons, contends...