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White House says Elon Musk isn't in charge at DOGE, but 'advising' the president; CA schools brace for harmful cuts to Medi-Cal; Report says AR students still struggle with COVID-19 learning loss; and UT enacts controversial labor union law.

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The SAVE Act, requiring proof of citizenship to vote, is moving in the U.S. House. Environmental groups want the U.S. Senate to kill a bill they say falsely claims to slow climate change, and the agriculture industry is concerned about mass migrant deportations.

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Rural America struggles with opioids and homelessness in unexpected ways, Colorado's Lariat Ditch could help spur local recreation, and book deliveries revive rural communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

Keeping Poor White Women Alive

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Monday, September 9, 2013   

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. - The life expectancy of white, female high school dropouts has dropped markedly over the past 20 years, according to researchers in population, human longevity and public health. Poor, undereducated, white American women can now expect to die five years earlier than the generation before them. Obesity, diabetes, dead-end jobs, low wages, alcohol, drugs such as OxyContin and meth, and bad marriage partners are all suggested as stress factors.

One way to keep girls from heading in that direction may be to get them involved in things like i-tri, an Eastern Long Island triathlon challenge for at-risk girls founded by Theresa Roden.

"People are sitting around watching reality TV and not living their own reality. So, clubs and groups and opportunities for girls and women to be together are very important," Roden said.

Others have said an equal - or greater - responsibility lies with society as a whole to find ways to help these women out of a downward spiral of risky behavior and malaise.

Monica Potts has written an eye-opening article in The American Prospect, "What's Killing Poor White Women?", in which she pulled together research that has social scientists scrambling to find answers.

"One of the researchers I talked to said he believed that the root cause was this dramatic increase in the amount of economic and other stressers that that population faces," Potts said. High school dropouts have been affected more than most by the recent proliferation of low-wage, dead-end jobs.

Potts said there are no simple remedies for what is doing poor white women in.

"You need many, many interventions," Potts explained. "There are always going to be people who struggle a lot, and perhaps what is happening is that the world has become maybe even less able to catch those people than it was before."

Roden agreed that the answer is not as simple as, say, telling a girl to eat healthier food or take up running. She said it can start, though, with lighting a flame within someone. Then a group dynamic takes over.

"You form this camaraderie of girls. Women together are a really strong force. So when you're feeling, 'I can't do it,' there's always somebody next to you who says, 'Yeah, you can; come on, I'll go with you.'"




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