Teaching

Why Is There A Shortage Of Psychiatrists?

As the number of people dealing with mental health challenges increases, it’s putting a strain on psychiatrists and mental health professionals.

More American adults are seeking resources for help in getting treatment for mental health. A new CDC survey finds the trend is higher among adults 18 to 44.

But with an increase in patients comes a new strain on mental health professionals, on psychiatrists.

The Association of American Medical Colleges says the current shortfall is at 6%. That’s expected to be between 14,000 and 32,000 psychiatrists by 2024.

Forensic psychiatry specialist Dr. Abdi Tinwalla, as president of the Illinois Psychiatric Society, has seen how the shortage of psychiatrists has reached a crisis point.

“The prevalence of mental illness in the population is increasing, the American population is increasing. So year over year so far we have more doctors going into retirement than doctors coming into the workforce,” said Tinwalla.

Another factor in the shortage, he says, is feeding the pipeline — as in residencies. These take place after medical school in a hospital or clinic and provide doctors with crucial hands-on training.

Dr. Tinwalla says there’s growing interest in the field but financial barriers are posing steep challenges.

“This year itself there were twice the number of people wanting to go in than the seats they had available. The biggest barrier for that is funding and, you know, the government funding for these programs has not increased in the last couple of years,” said Tinwalla.

It’s actually been decades. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 capped the number of residents each teaching hospital is eligible to receive Medicare-funded reimbursements for.

Individual institutions are responsible for any additional slots. Though there is a new federal push to bolster the medical workforce. The “Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act”, which Democratic Senator Bob Menendez introduced in 2021, would expand Medicare funding for thousands of residency positions.

But despite support from medical groups and organizations, the bill’s future is uncertain, with minimal movement since introduced.

The demands of the job are also pushing some psychiatrists to rethink their careers.

A 2022 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that nearly half of psychiatrists experience burnout.

It cited lack of resources and lack of autonomy as contributors to feelings of professional exhaustion.

“Part of us experience it in our lives, if we don’t deal with it appropriately it does lead to shortage in our careers so I definitely think burnout so if you ask me if it’s a real phenomenon? It’s a yes,” said Tinwalla.

Despite the reasons for the shortage, Dr. Tinwalla say he sees solutions including collaborative care which involves a team approach.

“Collaborative care has been popular in the last decade, its the care in which is given by the primary care physician in his office, in collaboration with a behavioral care manager and a psychiatrist is a consultant over the phone or video or whatever,” he said.

He also says technology is opening doors for treatment with telemedicine. And he’s encouraged insurers are more likely to cover mental health appointments than in years past.

“Well I’m hoping with the collaborative care model and hopefully with the telepsychiatry we are doing we are going to bridge some of those care gaps that we are having right now,” he said.

Source: newsy.com

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KTNV: More Latinos Are Becoming Homeowners, But Roadblocks Remain

By Tricia Kean

and KTNV-TV
September 19, 2022

More than 650,000 Latinos became homeowners nationwide from 2019 to 2021and now over half of all Latino-Americans own a home.

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — 700,000 Latinos live in Clark County, and many of them are buying homes. In fact, a recent report by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals says Latinos across the country are buying homes more than ever before.

Today, nearly half of all Hispanics are homeowners. But are they buying in Las Vegas?

“I for sure wanted to have at least three bedrooms in the house,” Hugo Organista told KTNV.

He bought a home last November. Organista says he came to Las Vegas after struggling to find something in the Phoenix area.

“(I) realized that I probably wasn’t going to get what I wanted and placed four offers on a house there, got beat out by a cash buyer every time,” Organista said.

Fortunately, he was able to scoop up a move-in-ready house near Boulder Highway and Tropicana Avenue. It’s a dream the Mexican native says he still can’t believe.

“When my family came here, we were eating pizza on the floor. We didn’t even have enough for a dining room table,” Organista said.

Organista said he was able to buy a home at a young age thanks to his mom. He credits her with teaching him how to work hard, save money and pay bills on time.

“You know, like she would drag me down to JC Penney’s to go make a cash payment for her credit card because she didn’t want it to be late. So, I kind of grew up with that in mind,” he said.

LATINO HOUSEHOLDS

In the Latino community, Organista isn’t alone. More than 650,000 Latinos became homeowners nationwide from 2019 to 2021. A lot of them are buying in the Las Vegas valley, says Myra Rivera, with the local chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.

“(In) 2021, we went up a little bit over 48 percent in Latino households, and that’s projected to continue to go up,” Rivera said. “I think in the last few years that I’ve been in business, and also just looking at the stats, those numbers have been increasing every single year.”

In fact, as of 2021, more than 40% of Hispanic adults 45 years old and younger are mortgage ready.

“And in the next few years, we’re going to see a lot of those Latinos come into the market because now they’re ready. Their next step is finding a home,” Rivera said.

Many interested homebuyers are looking here in Las Vegas because they want new construction, Rivera added.

FROM CALIFORNIA

“We get people from California coming in, used to the older homes, and they see Vegas homes mostly in the 2000s and they’re like, Oh, wow, this is new,” says Rivera.

Rivera admits it’s still a tough market for some Hispanic families. Many still struggle with poor credit and are looking for homes at a lower price point.

“Latino households usually are larger. They have a lot of kids or their parents living with them. So, they need at least 3 to 5 bedrooms. Finding a house that’s 3 to 5 bedrooms in that little price point… is sometimes a little difficult,” says Rivera.

But Rivera is happy to see the situation is improving. She says many younger Latinos see the benefits to buying versus renting.

“You’re starting to see the next generations or the next one in the family is buying younger or they’re upgrading sooner… They see it as ‘I’m investing, I’m upgrading. My family needs it.’ They’re not scared of the process,” says Rivera.

Organista says it’s encouraging to hear Latinos his age and younger are learning, anything is possible.

“It’s a testament to what happens when we start to tackle systematic injustices… Knowledge is like step number one. That’s like half the battle. Then the other half of that is actually putting it into practice,” says Organista.

This story was originally published by Tricia Kean on ktnv.com.

Source: newsy.com

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How Accent-Changing Apps Are Removing Communication Barriers

Apps like Sanas are helping smooth communication by removing accent barriers that can lead to misunderstandings.

Accents are diverse and unique, but sometimes accents get in the way of understanding people. An app called Sanas looks to remove that barrier by using AI technology to take away a person’s accent.

“We’re all trained with the products, with the services,” said Dwayne Alviola, “Whether we’re in the Philippines or in a different country, rest assured that we’re trained in every detail to handle your accounts.”

Alviola lives in the Philippines and has worked for U.S.-based companies for eight years. He previously worked in call centers and now works in customer service.

Throughout the years of working in call centers, Alviola says he and his coworkers faced discrimination and racism on the other end of the call.

“Usually, the “f-you” word, then usually they’ll be in different types of curses, but since it’s our second language, we don’t even mind it,” Alviola said. “But, racism comes in, even if we know that we’re not the one being blamed for their experience, it still hits us the most.”

Alviola says they’re stuck. When he was working in call centers, they’re not allowed to hang up, so they have to be on the call until the caller on the other line clicks off. He says accent-altering apps can lead to smoother communication and less verbal abuse.

“Especially for new graduates who just entered training, then it would help them boost their confidence,” Alviola said. “That’s also one reason why I like the app, because if it was developed just a few years ago when I was starting, I would love it.”

Others find the Sanas app especially helpful when cops or hospitals are involved.

“If there is a law, like a with discussion, with the cop, with their doctor mainly, there are a lot of problem when communicating with the doctor if you don’t know proper English,” said Mehboob Ahmedabadi, an Indian man working in media.

On the flip side, others argue that apps that take away accents perpetuate racism and discrimination by masking the problem at hand. Judy Ravin, the founder of Accents International, says there’s a way to do things differently.

“At the conclusion of our program, which is called Powerful Pronunciation, people will still have an accent,” Ravin said. “We think that’s a good thing. An accent is a piece of our cultural and linguistic identity. What we won’t have is a communication barrier due to pronunciation.”

Unlike the app that filters voices, Accents International improves pronunciation through real time coaching. For example, the vowel sounding “aw” used in words like “law” or “daughter” can be tough for those not familiar with pronouncing it.

“The way we teach it is both,” Ravin said. “What does it look like, and what does it feel like? Well, it looks like someone’s popped an egg in their mouth. It looks like a perfect oval… and a person can feel the top of their tongue behind their lower teeth. So what does it look like? What does it feel like… not, what does it sound like?”

Vincent Dixon had a thick Irish accent, but through years of teaching English in France, he learned to communicate more effectively.

“I think sometimes people feel that their accents makes them lesser or more, and it really doesn’t,” Dixon said. “It just makes you who you are. It’s like the color of my eyes or the color of my hair.”

In a world filled with more AI listening, trying to get machines to understand despite an accent can be especially frustrating.

“It’s very frustrating because I talk to my watch, I talk to my husband,” said Eileen Panzardi, a Puerto Rican living in Atlanta. “I talk to my phone, and I have to pass it to my daughter, who was born here in Atlanta, and ask her to say whatever word it is for Siri to understand me because sometimes she don’t even get me.”

Ultimately, the goal of accent-changing technology is to create better person-to-person communication in an ever-increasing, globalized world.

“For me, the key point is not their identity in communication,” said Haulk A, a Kurdish software engineer living in Chicago. “In the communication, the important thing is to the message that you send and the message that you get.”

Source: newsy.com

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Package Explodes On Boston Campus; 1 Injured, FBI Involved

By Associated Press
September 14, 2022

The package exploded as it was being opened near Northeastern University’s Holmes Hall.

A package exploded on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston late Tuesday, and the college said a staff member suffered minor injuries.

Authorities said another suspicious package was found near a prominent art museum and the FBI was assisting with the investigation.

The parcel that blew up was one of two that were reported to police early in the evening. Boston’s bomb squad neutralized a second package near the city’s Museum of Fine Arts, which is on the outskirts of the Northeastern campus.

NBC Boston reported that the package that exploded went off as it was being opened near the university’s Holmes Hall, which is home to the university’s creative writing program and its women’s, gender and sexuality studies program. It said the FBI was assisting the investigation.

Authorities declined to elaborate, but Northeastern spokesperson Shannon Nargi said in a statement that an unidentified university staff member suffered minor injuries to his hand in the explosion. Felipe Colon, a Boston police superintendent, later described the victim as a 45-year-old man.

Police converged on the campus shortly before 7:30 p.m., and the university asked students who had gathered for an evening journalism class at the hall to evacuate the building.

Northeastern is a private university in downtown Boston with about 16,000 undergraduate students. WCVB-TV said one of its reporters, Mike Beaudet, was teaching a class there at the time. Beaudet told the station his class was moved outside but that neither he nor his students heard an explosion.

Michael Davis, chief of Northeastern’s police force, told reporters the campus was secure. Boston police didn’t say whether any other suspicious packages were found.

“We’re monitoring the situation at Northeastern and we’re ready to work with the university and our law enforcement partners on any prosecutions that may develop,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said, promising “a comprehensive investigation to determine exactly what occurred here.”

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both on the other side of the Charles River separating Boston from Cambridge, said they were increasing patrols on their campuses as a precaution and urging students and faculty to report anything suspicious.

Tuesday’s explosion marked one of the first big scares in Boston since 2013, when two bombs planted near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 others.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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Uvalde Teacher Shot Says She’s Not Returning To The Classroom

A teacher injured in the Robb Elementary School shooting will not be returning to a classroom this year, while she recovers from being shot.

Decorations that once brought life to Elsa Avila’s fourth grade classroom at Robb Elementary School now sit in brown boxes.

“Every year, you know, I was there,” said Avila.

She would be in class preparing for the school year, just like her siblings — a family of educators.

“She teaches first grade at UDLA and this is my other sister that she teaches fifth grade at Florence Elementary,” she said.

But after a 30-year teaching career, this year Avila is focused on recovering physically, mentally and emotionally from a mass shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead at her school, and paralyzed her passion.

“It’s different this year. I sleep with my light on. You know, I can’t handle the dark because we were in the dark for an hour,” said Avila.

On May 24, after an award ceremony, Avila and her students headed back to room 109.

“They were all just so happy, laughing and smiling,” she said.

That excitement quickly vanished when students heard screams coming from the hallway.

“I heard a teacher yelling. ‘Get in your rooms. Get in your rooms.’ We heard the gunshots. I stood for my crouched position to motion to them to come come nearer to me. And as I stood is when I felt the impact on my lower abdomen. I felt the gunshot.” she said.

She texted her family and the school vice principal.

“I told her, I’m shot. The two little girls that were closest to me would come and they would tap on my shoulder, you know, they would try to move me and they would say, you’re going to be okay, miss. It’s okay. We love you. We love you,” said Avila.

Help finally arrived an hour after she was shot.

“My biggest fear was like, I’m going to die in front of my students. You know, I don’t want them to see me, to see me die. I was there to protect them but they ended up having to protect themselves, trying to help me,” she continued.

She’s still haunted by the terror that swept across campus.

Avila was flown to a hospital in San Antonio and later found out one of her students was injured by shrapnel.

It was a heartwrenching reality and trauma that’s now holding her back from teaching.

“My biggest fear is that I won’t be able to handle it, that I won’t, you know, have a meltdown or an anxiety attack or panic attack,” said Avila.

NEWSY’S ADI GUAJARDO: What message do you have for kids going back to school this week?

ELSA AVILA: That they can move forward. They are strong. They’re brave. They’ve already been through the hardest thing that anyone can go through.

Avila tells Newsy she’s considering returning to teaching in the spring, but says it’s just too early to make that decision.

Source: newsy.com

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How Different Sex Education Methods Affect Students Around The World

Gaps in sex ed in the U.S. can leave students in the dark, while other countries have programs that positively affect student health and knowledge.

Across the nation, students have vastly different experiences learning about a somewhat taboo but super important health topic: sexual health education, or sex ed.

According to Sex Ed for Social Change, or SIECUS, 29 states and D.C. mandate sex ed as of July 2022. But 17 of those states require that abstinence be stressed, and only 11 of them require the curriculum to be medically accurate. Some states choose to leave discussions around healthy relationships, contraception and sexual orientation out of the conversation entirely.

“Due to the lack of guidance and policy implementation at the federal level, the United States has a patchwork of laws that vary, which determine what and if sex education is being taught,” said Michelle Slaybaugh, director of social impact and strategic communications at SIECUS. “When it comes to education, policy, decisions have largely been left to local control, So we’re talking very local at the school board level, not even the city or state level. It’s very, very local.”

Currently at the federal level, SIECUS is one group working to get the Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act passed. This legislation promotes comprehensive sex ed, which means giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy choices about their sexual lives, and the act makes sure access to this education is protected.

In March, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, but funding for comprehensive sex ed programs is not included.

On the state level, according to the SIECUS mid-year report, the number of bills introduced this year aimed at restricting sex ed was almost equal to the number of bills introduced advancing sex ed. But more regressive bills were passed in states this legislative session than progressive ones.

“I think there is this big myth that if we teach young people about sex, that they’re going to go and have it,” Slaybaugh said. “The evidence does not show that. Additionally, I think it is very important for us to understand that age appropriate or developmentally appropriate sex education is key.”

A Georgetown University study shows that sex ed helps with a lot of things, like preventing unplanned pregnancy, maternal death, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted diseases. But a survey from the Public Religion Institute found that nearly a quarter of millennials were not taught sex ed in middle or high school.

There is also a big gap in sex ed that’s inclusive and talks about LGBTQ+ identities. Less than 10% of LGBTQ+ students say their school’s sex ed is inclusive. When talking about gender identity and orientation, this is sometimes where curriculum can become “medically inaccurate.”

“Medically accurate sex education is vital to promoting long term health outcomes, and a part of that, which I think is really where we’re seeing the rub, is this idea of gender norms, gender stereotypes and orientation,” Slaybaugh said.

Florida in particular has become a bit of a hotspot when it comes to sex ed and what can or should be taught. New laws there, like what critics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, limits discussion of sexuality and gender identity for some elementary students.

Katie Lagrone, a correspondent at Newsy’s sister station in Tampa, Florida explains a confusing mix of standards on whether the new laws are altering old policies on sex ed.

“In Florida, while laws mandate health education include teen dating and disease control, we discovered there’s actually no statewide curriculum for sex education,” Lagrone said. “What and how students are taught about sexual and reproductive health is left to individual school boards who approve policies, principals who interpret them and instructors who ultimately drill it down for students. What’s more… we found about a one-third of Florida’s 67 school districts are teaching students, even high schoolers, abstinence only.”

Studies show abstinence-only instruction doesn’t prevent teens from having sex. In fact, a 2019 study by the CDC found by the 12th grade, more than half of Florida teens surveyed have already engaged in sexual intercourse, with some STD rates among teens in Florida being four times higher than the national average.

In some counties that have adopted this abstinence-only teaching method in Florida, teen birth rates are actually higher. One district spokesperson told Newsy these limits are because they “are respectful of parents rights.”

Elsewhere in the world, some countries have been recognized for comprehensive sex ed programs that help combat these issues, especially in Europe.

In the Netherlands, it’s required by law that all primary school students are taught sex ed. It starts as early as 4-years-old, but they’re not talking about the full birds and the bees at that age. They are simply covering the basics of healthy relationships.

In the U.S., some people argue that that is too young to be teaching sex ed, but three decades of research shows that sex ed can help prevent child abuse.

On average, teens in the Netherlands are also waiting longer to have sex when compared to Europe or the U.S. Researchers found that most young people in the Netherlands had “wanted and fun” first sexual experiences, while many American teens said they wished they waited longer to have sex for the first time.

The Netherlands has one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the world. Dutch teens are some of the most likely to use birth control pills, though part of that could be because contraception is easily accessible.

The Netherlands also works to educate parents on how to talk to their kids about sex to help get everyone on the same page.

In Denmark, for a long time, their sex ed program emphasized preventing unplanned pregnancy and promoting safe sex. In 2015, the country’s birth rate fell below the rate necessary to maintain population, and Danish officials went as far as actually encouraging people to have babies at a younger age. At the time, only point 5% of teen girls in Denmark had a baby. That rate was six times higher in the United States.

In recent years, the birth rate has started to rise again. While neither Denmark nor any country has a perfect system, they experienced some outcomes that other places could learn from.

This highlights good models for comprehensive sex ed, but there are also other countries, like the U.S., where it isn’t widely taught, there are inconsistencies or it’s not available at all. Experts stress the importance of making sure students have the information necessary to live healthy lives.

“We really need to push for something that is rooted in age-appropriate, medically-accurate and affirming content that is taught by trained educators to be able to deliver the most comprehensive and age-appropriate education around sexuality as possible,” Slaybaugh said.

Source: newsy.com

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16 Uvalde 4th Graders Waited An Hour With Wounded Teacher

Minutes before Elsa Avila felt the pain of the bullet piercing her intestine and colon, she was motioning students away from the walls and windows.

Elsa Avila slid to her phone, terrified as she held the bleeding side of her abdomen and tried to stay calm for her students. In a text to her family that she meant to send to fellow Uvalde teachers, she wrote: “I’m shot.”

For the first time in 30 years, Avila will not be going back to school as classes resume Tuesday in the small, southwest Texas city. The start of school will look different for her, as for other survivors of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in which 21 people died, with an emphasis on healing, both physically and mentally. Some have opted for virtual education, others for private school. Many will return to Uvalde school district campuses, though Robb Elementary itself will never reopen.

“I’m trying to make sense of everything,” Avila said in an August interview, “but it is never going to make sense.”

A scar down her torso brings her to tears as a permanent reminder of the horror she endured with her 16 students as they waited in their classroom for an hour for help while a gunman slaughtered 19 children and two teachers in two adjoining classrooms nearby.

Minutes before she felt the sharp pain of the bullet piercing her intestine and colon, Avila was motioning students away from the walls and windows and closer to her. A student lined up by the door for recess had just told her something was going on outside: People were running — and screaming. As she slammed the classroom door so the lock would catch, her students took their well-practiced lockdown positions.

Moments later, a gunman stormed into their fourth-grade wing and began spraying bullets before ultimately making his way into rooms 111 and 112.

In room 109, Avila repeatedly texted for help, according to messages reviewed by The Associated Press. First at 11:35 a.m. in the text to her family that she says was meant for the teacher group chat. Then at 11:38 in a message to the school’s vice principal. At 11:45, she responded to a text from the school’s counselor asking if her classroom was on lockdown with: “I’m shot, send help.” And when the principal assured her that help was on the way, she replied simply: “Help.”

“Yes they are coming,” the principal wrote back at 11:48 a.m.

It’s unclear whether her messages were relayed to police. District officials did not respond to requests for comment on actions taken to communicate with law enforcement on May 24, and an attorney for then-Principal Mandy Gutierrez was not available for comment.

According to a legislative committee’s report that described a botched police response, nearly 400 local, state and federal officers stood in the hallway of the fourth-grade wing or outside the building for 77 minutes before some finally entered the adjoining classrooms and killed the gunman. Lawmakers also found a relaxed approach to lockdowns — which happened often — and security concerns, including issues with door locks. State and federal investigations into the shooting are ongoing.

The district is working to complete new security measures, and the school board in August fired the district’s police chief, Pete Arredondo. Residents say it remains unclear how — or even if — trust between the community and officials can be rebuilt, even as some call for more accountability, better police training and stricter gun safety laws.

Avila recalls hearing the ominous bursts of rapid fire, then silence, then the voices of officers in the hallway yelling, “Crossfire!” and later more officers standing nearby.

“But still nobody came to help us,” she said.

As Avila lay motionless, unable to speak loud enough to be heard, some of her students nudged and shook her. She wished for the strength to tell them she was still alive.

A light flashed into their window, but nobody identified themselves. Scared it might be the gunman, the students moved away.

“The little girls closest to me kept patting me and telling me, ‘It’s going to be OK miss. We love you miss,'” Avila said.

Finally, at 12:33 p.m. a window in her classroom broke. Officers arrived to evacuate her students — the last to be let out in the area, according to Avila.

With her remaining strength, Avila pulled herself up and helped usher students onto chairs and tables and through the window. Then, clutching her side, she told an officer she was too weak to jump herself. He came through the window to pull her out.

“I never saw my kids again. I know they climbed out the window and I could just hear them telling them, `Run, run, run!'” Avila said.

She remembers being taken to the airport, where a helicopter flew her to a San Antonio hospital. She was in and out of care until June 18.

Avila later learned that a student in her class was wounded by shrapnel to the nose and mouth but had since been released from medical care. She said other students helped their injured classmates until officers arrived.

“I am very proud of them because they were able to stay calm for a whole hour that we were in there terrified,” Avila said.

As her students prepare to return to school for the first time since that traumatic day, Avila is on the way to recovery, walking up to eight minutes at a time on the treadmill in physical therapy and going to counseling. She looks forward to teaching again someday.

Outside of a shuttered Robb Elementary, a memorial for the people killed overflows at the entrance gate. Teachers from across Texas stopped by this summer to pay their respects and reflect on what they would do in the same situation.

“If I survive, I have to make sure they survive first,” said Olga Oglin, an educator of 23 years from Dallas, her voice breaking.

“Whatever happens to a student at our school, it just happens to one of my kids,” Olgin said, adding that as the person to greet parents, students and staff at the door in the mornings, she likely would be the first person shot.

Ofelia Loyola, who teaches elementary school in San Antonio, visited with her husband, middle school teacher Raul Loyola. She was baffled at the delayed response from law enforcement, as seen on security and police video.

“They are all kids. It doesn’t matter how old they are, you protect them,” she said.

Last week, Avila and several of her students met for the end-of-year party they were unable to have in May. They played in the pool at a country club and she gave them each a bracelet with a little cross to remind them that “God was with us that day and they are not alone,” she said.

“We always talked about being kind, being respectful, taking care of each other — and they were able to do that on that day,” Avila said.

“They took care of each other. They took care of me.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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How Robots Are Impacting U.S. Economy

Experts are pleased with how quickly robots are being added to the workplace. A mechanized future is well on its way.

North American companies are onboarding robot workers at a faster-than-ever pace.

According to the Association for Advancing Automation, companies ordered a record-setting 12,305 machines in the second quarter of 2022. That’s 25% more than the same period a year ago.

“The pandemic definitely highlighted some areas and shortages in resources needed to be automated, and customers had to automate just due to the fact that people weren’t coming back to the workplace,” FANUC North America Vice President Louis Finazzo said.

“For a long time, the automotive industry accounted for 60 to 70% of robot orders,” Association for Advancing Automation President Jeff Burnstein said. “And we knew that when other industries started adopting is when we would really see growth, which is finally happening now, in part due to the pandemic forcing companies to look at other options when they couldn’t bring people into work.”

Burnstein and Finazzo told Newsy that the industries helping fuel this increased demand for robotics ranged widely from food processing to pharmaceuticals.

E-commerce companies have been particularly interested in buying up these robots, as robots can help grab packages and get them ready for delivery.

However, if these robots are meant to close productivity gaps, the results aren’t apparent. During the second quarter of 2022, U.S. productivity fell at its highest rate since the government began collecting that data.

Robots can help do the tasks businesses need done, but it will take time to get those machines up and running. And they’ll need a human workforce with specialized training.

“The lack of people who are available to install and maintain, operate, program and take advantage of all the data — this is a barrier, actually, to further adoption of robotics,” Burnstein said. “We have to put more emphasis on teaching people the skills they need because we all have to benefit in an increasingly automated future.”

Experts are pleased with how quickly robots are being added to the workplace. A mechanized future is well on its way.

“The adoption curve used to be 50 weeks, now it’s been cut into the 21 week range,” Finazzo said. “So, you will see gains happening quicker because the customers and the manufacturers are picking applications that can get immediate impact.”

Source: newsy.com

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Some States Could Tax Biden’s Student Loan Debt Relief

Some states tax forgiven debt as income, which means borrowers who are still paying down student loans could owe taxes on money taken off their bill.

President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan could lift crushing debt burdens from millions of borrowers, but the tax man may demand a cut of the relief in some states.

That’s because some states tax forgiven debt as income, which means borrowers who are still paying down student loans could owe taxes on as much as $10,000 or even $20,000 that was taken off their bill. In Mississippi, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arkansas and North Carolina, forgiven student loans will be subject to state income taxes unless they change their laws to conform with a federal tax exemption for student loans, according to a tally by the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

That dismays Cathy Newman, a Louisiana State University graduate who just took a job teaching freshman biology at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She figures she could end up owing a few hundred dollars of money that she could have kept had she stayed in Louisiana.

Newman said she can come up with the cash because she has a good job, but she knows of a lot of other borrowers who will still be stuck in difficult financial positions even with their loans forgiven.

“If they stay in the state, they could end up with a pretty hefty tax burden if things don’t change,” Newman said. “I won’t be happy if I have to do it. I can do it. But a lot of people can’t.”

More than 40 million Americans could see their student loan debt cut or eliminated under the forgiveness plan President Biden announced late last month. The president is erasing $10,000 in federal student loan debt for individuals with incomes below $125,000 a year, or households that earn less than $250,000. He’s canceling an additional $10,000 for those who also used federal Pell Grants to pay for college. But it only applies to those whose loans were paid out before July 1, which leaves out current high school seniors and students who will follow them.

Although having $10,000 or $20,000 in loan payments eliminated will be a boon over the long term to borrowers who qualify, those in the affected states might be required to declare that as income. Depending on a state’s tax rates, the taxpayer’s other income and the deductions and exemptions they’re able to claim, that could add up to several hundred extra tax dollars that they’ll owe.

Spokespeople for tax agencies in several states — including Virginia, Idaho, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky — told The Associated Press that their states definitely won’t tax student loans forgiven under President Biden’s program. Revenue officials in a few other states said they needed to do more research to know.

Newman, 38, went into debt to pay for graduate school. She had already set herself up for relief under the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, though that requires five more years of teaching on top of the five she already taught at the University of Louisiana Monroe. President Biden’s program would cut $10,000 off her debt load when it takes effect, but under existing Mississippi tax law, the relief won’t come free.

“It’s not a huge burden for me, but it could be for a lot of other people, which is what I’m worried about, especially if it’s unexpected, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that,” Newman said.

Any relief in states that would tax the forgiven debt would have to come from their Legislatures. Leaders of the Minnesota Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz have indicated in recent media interviews that there’s broad support for a fix, which could come during the 2023 session, or even earlier on the remote chance of a special session.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration plans to propose a fix in the state budget next year, but that would have to be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. And Evers needs to get reelected in November before he can formally make that request. Republican legislative leaders and Evers’ GOP challenger, Tim Michels, did not reply to messages seeking comment on the student loan tax issue.

However, in Mississippi, the chairman of the state Senate committee in charge of taxes said he’s willing to take a look when the Legislature convenes next year. Republican state Sen. Josh Harkins, of Brandon, said he needs to learn more about what his state’s tax laws say on debt forgiveness.

“I’m sure people will want to look at adjusting that or making some changes in the law, but a lot of factors have to be considered,” Harkins said, noting that Mississippi enacted its biggest-ever tax cut earlier this year and adding that he wants to gauge the impact of inflation before making big tax policy decisions. “This all just hit in the last week.”

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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