This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 8 Beth Roper had already sold her husband Doug's boat and his pickup truck. Her daughter sends $500 a month or more. But it was nowhere near enough to pay the $5,950-a-month bill at Doug's assisted-living facility. So last year, Roper, 65, abandoned her own plans to retire. To the public school librarian from Poquoson, Va., it feels like a betrayal of a social contract. Doug Roper, a longtime high school history teacher and wrestling coach, has a pension and Social Security. The Ropers own a home; they have savings. Yet the expense of Doug's residential Alzheimer's care poses a grave threat to their middle-class nest egg. At nearly $72,000, a year in assisted living for Doug, 67, costs more than her $64,000 annual salary. "It's devastating," she said. "You can't wrap your head around it." A wave of Americans has been reaching retirement age largely … [Read more...] about Senior care is crushingly expensive. Boomers aren’t ready.
Lin chojnicki
Book ban attempts hit record high in 2022, library org says
NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association released Thursday. More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago. “I've never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.” Thursday's report not only documents the growing number of challenges, but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of “unifying, educating and … [Read more...] about Book ban attempts hit record high in 2022, library org says