The stock market’s venerable yardstick, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, just made history 鈥� crossing 40,000 for the first time.

Yes, this milestone set Thursday, May 16, is only a brief emotional victory for shareholders. Yet it can be seen as a historical milepost for the broader business climate, especially in California.

To honor the moment, the trusty spreadsheet reviewed the Dow’s 5,000-point markers and how California fared in those periods using an economic metric (California unemployment), an interest rate (the average 30-year fixed mortgage), and home prices from the California Association of Realtors.

As we begin our data-filled voyage, let’s note the Dow first crossed 5,000 in November 1995 鈥� back when you could buy the median-priced California single-family home for $176,000.

5,000-point mileposts

Dow passes 10,000 in December 1999: It took the stock index just over four years to double from 5,000 compared with a 28% gain for California homes to $225,000 in the same timeframe. This was an era when the economy broke loose from its early 1990s slumber. California unemployment dipped between 1995 and 1999 to 5% from 7.9% while mortgage rates rose to 7.9% from 7.4%.

15,000 in May 2013: The Dow needed more than 13 years to gain 50% to hit this benchmark vs. an 85% surge for homes statewide to $417,000 in the same period. This extended gap came during the financial rollercoaster ride from the bubble period in the early 2000s bursting into a Great Recession and then the economy’s slow recovery. So, California unemployment was 9.2%, up from 5% at the beginning of this crazy period. Yet, cheap money was one salve: 3.5% mortgages vs. 7.9% in 1999.

20,000 in January 2017: The Dow took under four years to gain 33% to gain the next 5,000 while homes statewide gained 18% to $492,000 as the post-crash rebound continued. California unemployment fell to 5.2% from 9.2%听 as mortgage rates ticked up to 4.2% from 3.5% in 2013.

25,000 in January 2018: The Dow needed just one year to gain 25% for its next benchmark vs. a 7% gain for California homes to $528,000 as the recovery hit full stride. California unemployment dipped to 4.4% from 5.2% while mortgage rates slipped to 4% from 4.2% in 2017.

30,000 in November 2020: The index took just under three years to gain 20% vs. 32% for California homes to $699,000 in the middle of the pandemic’s business wild gyrations. California unemployment surged to 9% from 4.4%听 鈥� but investors cheered historically cheap money such as mortgages hitting 2.8%, falling from 4% in 2018.

35,000 in July 2021: It took the Dow less than a year to gain 17% vs. 16% appreciation for California homes to $811,000 as the pandemic’s economic surge was in full force. Statewide unemployment fell to 7.4% from 9% and mortgages remained cheap 鈥� 2.9% vs. 2.8% in 2020.

40,000 in May 2024: The Dow took almost three years to gain 14% vs. an 11% gain for California homes to a record $904,000 in April. The economy struggles to find its new normal as statewide unemployment fell to 5.3% in April from 7.4%. But mortgages got expensive as the Federal Reserve fought and overheated economy 鈥� 7% in April from 2.9% in 2021.

Bottom line

So, the Dow is up eight-fold since crossing 5,000 just over 28 years ago. California homes are only five times more expensive.

That’s not the point, though. This stroll down memory lane reminds us that the markets typically need a solid economy for stocks or homes to appreciate. Cheap money is the icing on the cake.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California 色情论坛 Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

The trade group’s semi-annual conferences are epic; the destinations are glorious; the education is unparalleled; and the networking unsurpassed!

A little background on SIOR: The organization has been around for 80 years, a global office and industrial real estate association. It has 3,900 members in more than 50 countries.

I returned from a spring鈥檚 gathering last week, and I鈥檝e now had time to decompress and reflect on what I learned. This column will share some insights.

Industrial technologies

I spent time with industrial real estate brokers from around the United States and the world. One conversation was quite eye-opening.

We learned about the automated storage and retrieval systems, or ASRS for short. This high-tech inventory management system help a logistics provider to be more efficient and timely, requiring fewer employees.

Many in the cold storage space are using ASRS to more strategically manage their inventories. In one instance, an occupant called AmeriCold constructs their new buildings around such a system, and in many cases, they stretch 150 feet in height. To put this in context, that is approximately 12 stories high, and roughly four times the height of the modern concrete behemoths we see being erected in the Inland Empire.

Data centers, which power artificial intelligence, are springing up around the US, as well as chip manufacturing fabs, as they referred to.

The underlying challenge for industrial real estate applications is the acute need for power. Developers of these buildings seek power first and communities that can provide the power, as opposed to the cost of land under which the building is constructed.

A new concept called mini-grids is appearing around the nation. These systems are encapsulated power, serving a specific site with the juice generated by solar, wind or other forms of renewable energy.

Industrial roundtable

We heard from agents representing Mexico, Tampa, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Dallas, Texas, Houston, Texas, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Toronto, Canada, Laredo, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Los Angeles.

Curiously absent from this roundup was anyone from the middle part of the West, such as Denver, Salt Lake City and Phoenix.

Certain themes were repeated. Much like Southern California, large-scale inventory between 100,000 and 500,000 square feet has been dramatically over built, and therefore more supply than demand exists.

In buildings larger than 500,000 square feet, a shortage exists. And there is still quite a demand for large boxes. The most robust size range nationally are buildings under 50,000 square feet. Most mentioned power and the lack of a sustainable source as a future challenge.

All of the markets have experienced occupant demand waning as a result of inflation, higher borrowing rates and the exit from inventory after the Covid pandemic. The representative from Los Angeles opined that we are at the bottom in terms of rental rates as rents have decreased 30% to 40%.

He also echoed that 800,000 square feet and larger is a hot size range as well as buildings below 50,000 square feet. The Los Angeles ports are doing a record amount of business.

Third party logistics operators – or 3PLs – are renegotiating leases they originated in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Finally, some local insurance carriers are requiring electrical panels be replaced in order to lessen the possibility of fire.

It鈥檚 very interesting to hear about the successes and struggles of other SIOR brokers around the nation. I鈥檒l look forward, with great interest, to our fall conference, which will be a home game in Hollywood.

Allen C. Buchanan, SIOR, is a principal with Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in Orange. He can be reached at abuchanan@lee-associates.com or 714.564.7104.听

Restaurants and other food establishments ordered to close and allowed to reopen by San Bernardino County health inspectors from May 9 to May 16.

The Seafood Place, 16339 Arrow Blvd., Suite B, Fontana

• Closed: May 10
• Reason: Expired health permit

Whiskey Barrel, 12055 Mariposa Road, Suite A-E, Hesperia

• Closed: May 9
• Reason: Expired health permit
• Reopened: May 9

This list is published weekly with closures since the previous week’s list. Status updates are published the following week.

Source: San Bernardino County Department of Public Health

— Ian Wheeler

Frontier Airlines, famous for deeply discounted ticket prices and bare-bones service, is adding new fare categories that include carry-on bags, seat selection and no cancellation fees as it seeks to appeal to US travelers who want more upscale options when they fly.

Frontier, a unit of Frontier Group Holdings Inc., is now offering four fare and service categories basic, economy, premium and business with varying benefits, the carrier said in a statement Friday. It’s also dropping change and cancellation fees for all but its lowest level of basic fares, improving live phone support for passengers and extending to one year the expiration time for flight credits.

Fares for the economy option will start at $30 more than the basic category, with premium at least $50 more and business starting at $100 more, Frontier said.

The changes reflect increasing pressures on carriers including Frontier and Spirit Airlines Inc. since the pandemic as the largest US airlines offer a broader range of fares from stripped-down options to multiple premium classes, a shift known as “premiumization.”

Deep fare discounters succeeded for years with rapid growth and low operating costs that allowed them to make money with charges for anything extra, like coffee or bottled water during flights, printed boarding passes and carry-on bags. Such “ancillary” costs often exceeded the ticket price.

Frontier’s new pricing options are now available only on its website; they will be added to its mobile app in the future. New business and premium categories, which have more leg room, will only be for the first two rows of Frontier’s planes. Business fares offer the airline’s UpFront Plus seating, which blocks off the middle seat in each of those rows.

Southern California’s unemployment rate hit an 11-month low in April.

My trusty spreadsheet, , found Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties had a 4.3% unemployment rate compared with 4.8% in the previous month. It’s likely a seasonal dip, as the rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points in April in the pre-pandemic 2015-19 period.

Consider that April’s rate was the lowest since May 2023, but it’s still higher than the 3.9% joblessness seen in April 2023. Unemployment for the region averaged 4.7% in 2015-19.

The four-county tally of unemployed workers was 386,000 鈥� down 50,700 in a month but up 36,600 in a year. The jobless count is 9% above the 424,700 average in pre-pandemic 2015-19.

Increased employment helped to lower regional joblessness.

Local bosses had听7.97 million at work in April 鈥� up 23,000 in a month, and up 74,600 in 12 months. Local hiring averaged 22,600 in April in 2015-19. March 2024 saw 23,100 employees added.

The past year’s job growth of 0.9% topped the previous 12 months’ 0.6% increase, but it’s slower than the 2.2% hiring pace throughout 2015-19.

Industry swings

Job changes in key Southern California business sectors, ranked by one-month change …

Health/social services: 1,321,400 workers 鈥� up 6,600 in a month and up 67,400 in a year.

Restaurants: 694,500 workers 鈥� up 6,000 in a month and up 7,600 in a year.

Government: 1,040,100 workers 鈥� up 5,200 in a month and up 28,500 in a year.

Hotels/entertainment/recreation: 264,300 workers 鈥� up 2,800 in a month and up 2,500 in a year.

Private education: 218,700 workers 鈥� up 2,500 in a month and up 14,200 in a year.

Personal services: 267,500 workers 鈥� up 1,800 in a month and up 6,800 in a year.

Logistics/utilities: 799,800 workers 鈥� up 1,000 in a month but down 2,600 in a year.

Financial: 356,000 workers 鈥� up 900 in a month but down 4,200 in a year.

Information: 219,900 workers 鈥� up 700 in a month but down 16,200 in a year.

Retailing: 725,100 workers 鈥� up 100 in a month but down 1,400 in a year.

Manufacturing: 565,000 workers 鈥� down 1,200 in a month and down 9,800 in a year.

Professional-business services: 1,123,300 workers 鈥� down 1,400 in a month and down 19,600 in a year.

Regional differences

Here’s how the job market performed in the region’s key metropolitan areas …

Los Angeles County: 4.58 million workers, after adding 18,100 in a month and growing by 32,600 in a year. Hiring averaged 8,900 for the month in 2015-19. Unemployment? 4.5% vs. 5.2% a month earlier; 4.7% a year ago; and 5.2% average in 2015-19.

Orange County: 1.7 million workers, after adding 2,400 in a month and growing by 21,000 in a year. Hiring averaged 6,920 for the month in 2015-19. Unemployment? 3.7% vs. 3.9% a month earlier; 3.1% a year ago; and 3.6% average in 2015-19.

Inland Empire: 1.69 million workers, after adding 2,500 in a month and growing by 21,000 in a year. Hiring averaged 6,820 for the month in 2015-19. Unemployment? 4.8% vs. 5.1% a month earlier; 4.1% a year ago; and 5.2% average in 2015-19.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California 色情论坛 Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

Junior psychology major Erin Green works part time at the children鈥檚 preschool at Sonoma State University, caring for university employees鈥� kids ages 1 to 5. Some of the non-student workers in her center belong to a union. But she didn鈥檛, until just a few weeks ago.

Green, a 49-year-old returning student who works 20 hours a week, said she makes $16.25 an hour, just above the state鈥檚 minimum wage of $16.

鈥淚 was appalled at how little we were getting paid,鈥� Green said. 鈥淲hen I started to hear the buzz around the campus that we were about to become unionized, I thought that was something I should get involved in.鈥�

Green and more than 7,000 undergraduate student workers across California State University鈥檚 23 campuses overwhelmingly voted in an election this year to join a union. Now, about 20,000 undergrads are members of the California State University Employees Union, the largest union of undergraduate student workers in the country.

Green is at the tip of the growing movement toward undergraduate unionization on state college campuses. University of Oregon undergraduates voted in October to form a union covering about 4,000 students, one of the nation鈥檚 first such unions at a public university.

While graduate students and teaching assistants have been organizing since before the pandemic, large-scale undergraduate unions at public schools are new, joining recent moves by their counterparts at a number of private schools. Students, who often work next to unionized full-time employees, are looking for better pay, more predictable hours and benefits such as holiday and sick pay.

The student movements come as labor unions are seeing a resurgence nationwide. Since 2021, workers at hundreds of Starbucks stores have voted to organize, and Volkswagen workers at a Tennessee plant voted in April to join the United Auto Workers.

At Cal State, the union 鈥� which represents lab assistants, residence hall workers, cafeteria workers and others 鈥� will begin bargaining with the university system soon. Green is one of the student workers on the bargaining committee. The students joined CSUEU/SEIU Local 2579, which already represented 16,000 university staff members.

Students identify with the blue-collar workers, said Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University鈥檚 School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

鈥淭here used to be a separation 鈥� unions were for blue-collar workers, that if you were a professional, you didn鈥檛 need a union,鈥� said Campos-Medina, who is on leave from her position while she is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey. 鈥淲hat they are realizing is that we all need a union.鈥�

While the universities say they are ready to negotiate, ironing out agreements with a group of mostly part-time workers doing a variety of jobs 鈥� from manual labor in the agricultural school to checking out books in a library 鈥� could be challenging.

Steven Bloom, assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education, a trade group for higher education, said part of the problem with union agreements is that student workers are students first, which complicates their relationship with the schools.

鈥淲e are not opposed to the unionization of students in general,鈥� he said, though he acknowledged unions could affect university budgets. But he said personnel issues are even trickier than budgetary ones.

For example, he said, there鈥檚 a question of how to handle a situation if a dormitory resident adviser were to violate the school鈥檚 code of conduct or help out a student in their hall accused of doing so. In that case, what role would a union representative have, if any?

鈥淚t ultimately will create challenges for institutions in their relationship with their students. That relationship is built on an educational model, not an employment model,鈥� he said.

Neither of the union proposals at Oregon or Cal State went into personnel matters outside of wages, hours, holidays, sick pay and parking.

鈥業n the earliest stages鈥�

The growth in undergraduate unions is driven by economic conditions, inflation and, especially, rising tuition and other college costs, said William Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, which is at Hunter College in New York City. But, he added, the growth was sparked by pandemic conditions.

During the pandemic, he noted, some student workers needed to be on campus for their jobs even when classes moved online and many of their peers left campus. They found themselves working in the same circumstances as unionized non-student employees, but without the same rights, he said.

鈥淭he impact of the pandemic was [students] rethinking the nature of their job and the roles they are playing,鈥� he said. 鈥淪tudent workers, after the pandemic, are relating to that.鈥�

鈥淚f I don鈥檛 work, I won鈥檛 be able to come back to school,鈥� Brooks said.

At Cal State, sick pay is one of the demands undergraduate students are presenting to the administration as part of their upcoming negotiations.听听include higher wages, the introduction of holiday pay and an end to unpaid labor should they have to finish a job that continues past the end of a shift.

Students might have to work late if they have jobs feeding animals, for example, or must oversee a lab experiment that can鈥檛 be paused. They鈥檙e often limited in their weekly hours under university contracts.

Catherine Hutchinson, president of the California State University Employees Union, said students today are 鈥渦nderstanding and seeing their worth. They know it鈥檚 not OK and not right the way the management has been treating them.鈥�

Hutchinson once worked as an undergraduate student assistant in a biology lab at Cal State San Bernardino. Later in her career, she hired students to work for her in a lab and always felt bad when kids were sick and couldn鈥檛 work or get paid.

鈥淲e will keep pressing the university to carry out its mission to help working-class students succeed in life,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey need to treat student workers as a real staff person, and not less than a staff person.鈥�

California State University spokesperson Hazel Kelly said there was no one available for a phone interview, but wrote in an email that the CSU Board of Trustees is set to receive the union鈥檚 proposals at its May meeting and will set a date for bargaining after that. 鈥淭hrough negotiations, the parties are expected to come to an agreement over terms and conditions of employment within the scope of collective bargaining,鈥� she wrote.

She said the university, under the 1979 California Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, is required to 鈥渂argain in good faith鈥� over all the topics addressed by the student workers union.

In Oregon, university officials said they are ready to begin negotiations with the University of Oregon Student Workers union over a collective bargaining agreement.

Eric Howald, spokesperson and assistant director of issues management at the University of Oregon, said since the university is 鈥渋n the earliest stages of the new arrangement,鈥� he would have no further comment on how the process is unfolding.

The school听听that student employees now have the right to have a union steward present during preliminary disciplinary proceedings, to hang posters on workplace bulletin boards, and to have a union representative give a presentation at orientations for new student employees.

Colorado collision

In some states, efforts to organize university students have met pushback.

A 2022 bill in the Colorado legislature that would have extended bargaining rights to student workers and a host of other government employees was whittled down drastically during negotiations. The bill that Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed into law only extended the rights to county employees in the most populous counties.

Former state Rep. Daneya Esgar, a Democrat and chief sponsor of the听, said it took two years to build a coalition in support of the original bill, which would have covered government employees from cities, counties and universities 鈥� including student workers. But, she said, the universities worried about the potential cost and lobbied hard to be exempted.

Polis told local media the original, broad-based bill was too expensive.

鈥淎ny time you run a bill that is going to claim to cost millions of dollars 鈥� and this is what the universities were reporting to folks 鈥� people begin to be nervous about passing the bill,鈥� said Esgar, who is now a Pueblo County commissioner after having been term-limited out in the state legislature.

鈥淭he politics behind it were predictable,鈥� said Ahmed White, a law professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. 鈥淭here were elements of the state and university system that were not compelled to welcome union organizing. That was the position of the flagship where I work.鈥�

White said the attitude among campus administrators was that the unionization effort was not necessary.

The University of Colorado did not officially take a position on the bill, and the president of the university did not publicly comment on it, spokesperson Jeff Howard wrote in an email to Stateline.

White said undergraduate students see successful labor contracts with graduate students and teaching assistants at both public and private universities, and are more inclined to want the same for themselves, he said.

Unions are optimistic about the organizing on campuses, he added. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a sense of hope that they can make some progress. Young people are excited.鈥�

is part of听, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

漏2024 States 色情论坛room. Visit at听. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Heather Crivilare was a month from her due date when she was rushed to an operating room for an emergency cesarean section.

The first-time mother, a high school teacher in rural Illinois, had developed high blood pressure, a sometimes life-threatening condition in pregnancy that prompted doctors to hospitalize her. Then Crivilare鈥檚 blood pressure spiked, and the baby鈥檚 heart rate dropped. 鈥淚t was terrifying,鈥� Crivilare said.

She gave birth to a healthy daughter. What followed, though, was another ordeal: thousands of dollars in medical debt that sent Crivilare and her husband scrambling for nearly a year to keep collectors at bay.

The Crivilares would eventually get on nine payment plans as they juggled close to $5,000 in bills.

鈥淚t really felt like a full-time job some days,鈥� Crivilare recalled. 鈥淕etting the baby down to sleep and then getting on the phone. I鈥檇 set up one payment plan, and then a new bill would come that afternoon. And I鈥檇 have to set up another one.鈥�

Crivilare鈥檚 pregnancy may have been more dramatic than most. But for millions of new parents, medical debt is now as much a hallmark of having children as long nights and dirty diapers.

About 12% of the 100 million U.S. adults with health care debt attribute at least some of it to pregnancy or childbirth, according to听.

These people are more likely to report they鈥檝e had to take on extra work, change their living situation, or make other sacrifices.

Overall, women between 18 and 35 who have had a baby in the past year and a half are twice as likely to have medical debt as women of the same age who haven鈥檛 given birth recently, other听听conducted for this project found.

鈥淵ou feel bad for the patient because you know that they want the best for their pregnancy,鈥� said Eilean Attwood, a Rhode Island OB-GYN who said she routinely sees pregnant women anxious about going into debt.

鈥淪o often, they may be coming to the office or the hospital with preexisting debt from school, from other financial pressures of starting adult life,鈥� Attwood said. 鈥淭hey are having to make real choices, and what those real choices may entail can include the choice to not get certain services or medications or what may be needed for the care of themselves or their fetus.鈥�

Best-laid plans

Crivilare and her husband, Andrew, also a teacher, anticipated some of the costs.

The young couple settled in Jacksonville, in part because the farming community less than two hours north of St. Louis was the kind of place two public school teachers could afford a house. They saved aggressively. They bought life insurance.

And before Crivilare got pregnant in 2021, they enrolled in the most robust health insurance plan they could, paying higher premiums to minimize their deductible and out-of-pocket costs.

Then, two months before their baby was due, Crivilare learned she had developed preeclampsia. Her pregnancy would no longer be routine. Crivilare was put on blood pressure medication, and doctors at the local hospital recommended bed rest at a larger medical center in Springfield, about 35 miles away.

鈥淚 remember thinking when they insisted that I ride an ambulance from Jacksonville to Springfield 鈥� 鈥業鈥檓 never going to financially recover from this,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥溾�楤ut I want my baby to be OK.鈥欌��

For weeks, Crivilare remained in the hospital alone as COVID protocols limited visitors. Meanwhile, doctors steadily upped her medications while monitoring the fetus. It was, she said, 鈥渢he scariest month of my life.鈥�

Fear turned to relief after her daughter, Rita, was born. The baby was small and had to spend nearly two weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit. But there were no complications. 鈥淲e were incredibly lucky,鈥� Crivilare said.

When she and Rita finally came home, a stack of medical bills awaited. One was already past due.

Crivilare rushed to set up payment plans with the hospitals in Jacksonville and Springfield, as well as the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, and the labs. Some providers demanded hundreds of dollars a month. Some settled for monthly payments of $20 or $25. Some pushed Crivilare to apply for new credit cards to pay the bills.

鈥淚t was a blur of just being on the phone constantly with all the different people collecting money,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淭hat was a nightmare.鈥�

Big bills, Big consequences

The Crivilares鈥� bills weren鈥檛 unusual. Parents with private health coverage now face on average more than $3,000 in medical bills related to a pregnancy and childbirth that aren鈥檛 covered by insurance,听听蹿辞耻苍诲.

Out-of-pocket costs are even higher for families with a newborn who needs to stay in a neonatal ICU, averaging $5,000. And for 1 in 11 of these families, medical bills related to pregnancy and childbirth exceed $10,000, the researchers found.

鈥淭his forces very difficult trade-offs for families,鈥� said Michelle Moniz, a University of Michigan OB-GYN who worked on the study. 鈥淓ven though they have insurance, they still have these very high bills.鈥�

Nationwide polls suggest millions of these families end up in debt, with sometimes devastating consequences.

About three-quarters of U.S. adults with debt related to pregnancy or childbirth have cut spending on food, clothing, or other essentials, KFF polling found.

About half have put off buying a home or delayed their own or their children鈥檚 education.

These burdens have spurred calls to limit what families must pay out-of-pocket for medical care related to pregnancy and childbirth.

In Massachusetts, state Sen. Cindy Friedman has听听to exempt all these bills from copays, deductibles, and other cost sharing. This would parallel federal rules that require health plans to cover recommended preventive services like annual physicals without cost sharing for patients. 鈥淲e want 鈥� healthy children, and that starts with healthy mothers,鈥� Friedman said. Massachusetts health insurers have warned the proposal will raise costs, but an independent state analysis estimated the bill would add only $1.24 to monthly insurance premiums.

Tough lessons

For her part, Crivilare said she wishes new parents could catch their breath before paying down medical debt.

鈥淣o one is in the right frame of mind to deal with that when they have a new baby,鈥� she said, noting that college graduates get such a break. 鈥淲hen I graduated with my college degree, it was like: 鈥楬ey, new adult, it鈥檚 going to take you six months to kind of figure out your life, so we鈥檒l give you this six-month grace period before your student loans kick in and you can get a job.鈥欌��

Rita is now 2. The family scraped by on their payment plans, retiring the medical debt within a year, with help from Crivilare鈥檚 side job selling resources for teachers online.

But they are now back in debt, after Rita鈥檚 recurrent ear infections required surgery last year, leaving the family with thousands of dollars in new medical bills.

Crivilare said the stress has made her think twice about seeing a doctor, even for Rita. And, she added, she and her husband have decided their family is complete.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not for us to have another child,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just hope that we can put some of these big bills behind us and give [Rita] the life that we want to give her.鈥�

About this project

鈥淒iagnosis: Debt鈥� is a reporting partnership between KFF Health 色情论坛 and NPR exploring the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in America.

The series draws on original polling by KFF, court records, federal data on hospital finances, contracts obtained through public records requests, data on international health systems, and a yearlong investigation into the financial assistance and collection policies of more than 500 hospitals across the country.

Additional research was听, which analyzed credit bureau and other demographic data on poverty, race, and health status for KFF Health 色情论坛 to explore where medical debt is concentrated in the U.S. and what factors are associated with high debt levels.

The JPMorgan Chase Institute听听from a sampling of Chase credit card holders to look at how customers鈥� balances may be affected by major medical expenses. And the CED Project, a Denver nonprofit, worked with KFF Health 色情论坛 on a survey of its clients to explore links between medical debt and housing instability.

KFF Health 色情论坛 journalists worked with KFF public opinion researchers to design and analyze the 鈥�.鈥� The survey was conducted Feb. 25 through March 20, 2022, online and via telephone, in English and Spanish, among a nationally representative sample of 2,375 U.S. adults, including 1,292 adults with current health care debt and 382 adults who had health care debt in the past five years. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and 3 percentage points for those with current debt. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.

Reporters from KFF Health 色情论坛 and NPR also conducted hundreds of interviews with patients across the country; spoke with physicians, health industry leaders, consumer advocates, debt lawyers, and researchers; and reviewed scores of studies and surveys about medical debt.

___

(听is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of听鈥� the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

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The six passengers include former Air Force Capt. Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut candidate in the 1960s. Others flying are venture capitalist Mason Angel, French microbrewery founder Sylvain Chiron, software engineer and entrepreneur Kenneth Hess, world explorer and retired CPA Carol Schaller, and pilot and holistic wellness entrepreneur Gopi Thotakura, a graduate of Daytona Beach鈥檚 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Dwight was chosen by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to enter an Air Force flight training program that was one of the ways to join NASA鈥檚 astronaut corps, but despite graduating from the Aerospace Research Pilot School, he was not chosen, and retired from military service in 1966. Now 90, he has since become a sculptor with Black history the main theme among his subjects with more than 130 public installations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The price to fly with Blue Origin has not been made public, but Dwight鈥檚 seat is being sponsored by nonprofit Space for Humanity, which has sent up several previous New Shepard passengers, as well as contributions from the Jaison and Jamie Robinson Foundation.

The six will climb aboard the small capsule and take off on a short suborbital trip to space from Blue Origin鈥檚 Launch Site One in West Texas on what will be New Shepard鈥檚 25th flight since 2005. The launch window for the NS-25 mission opens at 9:30 a.m. EDT Sunday with live stream coverage on BlueOrigin.com starting about 40 minutes before liftoff.

Flights last a little more than 10 minutes with passengers able to unstrap and enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness before a return to Earth with a parachute-assisted landing just a few miles from the launch site.

The rocket last flew on a crewed mission in August 2022, but a month later the first stage booster on an uncrewed flight suffered an explosion.

The capsule jettisoned as designed and made a safe landing, but the rocket was grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration. The booster on that flight had never been used for human launches, but Blue Origin鈥檚 investigation into the incident led to changes in booster design.

New Shepard returned to flight last December, flying once again on an uncrewed mission.

That now sets up the seventh trip to space with passengers on board. The first, which included Bezos, launched from Blue Origin鈥檚 West Texas facility in summer 2021 followed by five more trips to suborbital space above the Karman line, which is 62 miles (100 km) altitude, the internationally recognized limit for having gone into space.

In total, Blue Origin has flown 31 people to suborbital space for the 10- to 11-minute rides. They have included Star Trek鈥檚 William Shatner, NFL Hall of Famer and 鈥淕ood Morning America鈥� co-host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the rocket is named.

Three of its customers have been from Central Florida with Winter Park power couple who flew in March 2022 followed by in August 2022.

The Hagles are slated to fly again, as soon as this year, and Sharon Hagle鈥檚 nonprofit SpaceKids Global, is running a contest seeking student journalists to cover the flight and tour Blue Origin鈥檚 Space Coast rocket factory where it鈥檚 building the larger New Glenn rocket.

The New Shepard program is just one facet of Blue Origin鈥檚 space pursuits. New Glenn is a heavy-lift rocket slated to fly for the first time this year from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The company also is the lead on the second of NASA鈥檚 chosen providers for a human landing system for future Artemis missions to the moon.

Between your contractual obligations with the seller to perform and your lenders鈥� rate lock, you just don鈥檛 want to delay the day.

Here is a list of common borrower actions or inaction that can slow down a transaction or even completely derail the deal.

鈥擣rozen credit. Make sure your credit report is unfrozen. The lender cannot check your credit when the report is frozen.

鈥擠on鈥檛 delay wiring the deposit to escrow. Mortgage originators need a receipt of “earnest money deposit” from escrow in order to submit the loan. Nothing much happens until the buyer has skin in the game.

鈥擠on鈥檛 delay signing the initial disclosures. Your lender cannot order an appraisal until you have signed the lenders鈥� disclosures.

鈥擠on鈥檛 delay in providing a credit card to your lender for fee charges. It’s needed for the appraisal to be ordered and will be required for any HOA documents that might be needed.听

鈥擜lways pay for an inspection and get it done upfront, even before spending money on an appraisal, for example. If the property doesn鈥檛 pass scrutiny, or you are haggling with the home seller late in the game about repair credits, it could delay the home loan closing. You don鈥檛 want to lose your rate lock because you aren鈥檛 ready to close.

鈥擜void quitting your job, getting fired or changing employers in the middle of escrow. Obviously, the loan application must go back to underwriting in order to recalculate the changed income to see if you still qualify.

鈥擜void taking out new credit in the middle of escrow. Lenders monitor an applicant’s credit during the loan process. If you have taken on a new car payment or gone out and bought furniture for your new home, the lender will have to review the loan to see if you can still qualify.

鈥擠o not send illegible documents to your lender. Every day, borrowers take pictures of required documents with their phones. Oftentimes, the images are of poor quality. It鈥檚 always best to scan and email documents or bring them to your mortgage originator to be copied and returned.

鈥擠o not send incomplete documents to a mortgage lender. For example, if the lender needs all pages of your two most recent months of bank statements, even if the last page is blank, you must send that page in. Send all tax return pages and schedules along with your W-2s and 1099s.

鈥擴ndisclosed items: If you own other property, don鈥檛 hide it. Lenders have sophisticated intel from research companies that will not only uncover other properties in your name, but also matters like child support judgments, tax liens and the like.

鈥擭ot following instructions: For example, the lender might need a letter of explanation from you regarding a source of funds for a large deposit in your bank account (a large deposit is considered more than a work period’s paycheck). Don鈥檛 ignore the request. Don鈥檛 give the lender a response that is unrelated to the request.

鈥擬attress money. Down payment funds and closing costs must be sourced, usually from the borrowers鈥� funds or a gift from a relative, for example. Cash on hand doesn鈥檛 work. Remember, the lender is like the secret police for the IRS, only we don鈥檛 get paid. Your lender will ask you for the most recent two months of bank statements. If money comes from another source, a source like a paycheck from an employer is no problem.

鈥擠on鈥檛 go out of town. Making yourself available by remaining available to answer clarifying questions from the underwriter or being available to sign the loan documents. Don鈥檛 go on vacation when you are in the middle of escrow.

鈥擠on’t play shell games with your money. Don鈥檛 move your money around from account to account during escrow. It makes it very hard for a lender to source, follow and track. Be sure to provide all bank accounts upfront if money from those funds will be used for your transaction.

鈥擯ay your bills on time. Again, lenders monitor credit during escrow. Besides taking out new credit, you don鈥檛 want to hurt yourself with recent late bills, for example.

鈥擜re you short of funds to close? Keep in mind the down payment and closing costs are needed along with escrow impounds, in some cases.

鈥擡mployment verification. Lenders must verify your job with either human resources, a supervisor or even a company like the Work Number.

鈥擧omeowners insurance preparedness. It鈥檚 getting harder and harder to find coverage, especially affordable coverage in fire prone areas. As soon as you go into escrow, you should be on the phone to learn if insurance is available for this property and pricing out that insurance.

鈥擥et your taxes done and submitted to the IRS. Your lender will audit the tax returns with the IRS. If the IRS doesn鈥檛 have a record of what you gave your lender, it creates validation headaches that can and will delay your closing.

Freddie Mac rate news

The 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.02%, 7 basis points lower than last week. The 15-year fixed rate averaged 6.28%, 10 basis points lower than last week.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a .5% mortgage application increase compared to one week ago.

Bottom line: Assuming a borrower gets the average 30-year fixed rate on a conforming $766,550 loan, last year鈥檚 payment was $320 less than this week鈥檚 payment of $5,110.

What I see: Locally, well-qualified borrowers can get the following fixed-rate mortgages with one point: A 30-year FHA at 5.625%, a 15-year conventional at 5.625%, a 30-year conventional at 6.25%, a 15-year conventional high balance at 6% ($766,551 to $1,149,825 in LA and OC and $766,551 to $1,006,250 in San Diego), a 30-year-high balance conventional at 6.625% and a jumbo 30-year fixed at 6.75%.

Note: The 30-year FHA conforming loan is limited to loans of $644,000 in the Inland Empire and $766,550 in LA, San Diego, and Orange counties.

Eye-catcher loan program of the week: A 30-year jumbo with 30% down at 6% adjustable after five years with one point.

Jeff Lazerson, president of Mortgage Grader can be reached at 949-322-8640 or jlazerson@mortgagegrader.com.

Governance

1. HOA governance is a team sport. It鈥檚 different from our career jobs because the board legally controls the HOA, not the president. The president is not the boss but mainly is the Chair and spokesperson, and only has what power the board grants. The president鈥檚 vote counts the same as the newest director.

2. An attitude of service is less stressful than an attitude of control. Directors mindful that they serve their neighbors will receive suggestions or criticism with more grace.

3. It is impossible to communicate too much with the HOA membership.

4. You鈥檙e not on duty 24/7, so strive to confine your governance work to board meetings and let the manager handle things between meetings.

5. Don鈥檛 just ask CAN we, but SHOULD we do something? I鈥檓 often asked if the board has the power to do something when the bigger issue is whether it is a good idea.

6. Our present culture unfortunately doesn鈥檛 handle disagreement very well. Patience and civility are more important than ever.

7. Town hall informational meetings are essential on major projects or issues, regardless of whether the board legally can proceed without membership support.

Finances

8. Good financial stewardship requires planning and budgeting for actual costs, not hope-for costs. Don鈥檛 give the manager a budget target, budgeting on wishes instead of reality. Expect the manager to provide real numbers based on reasonable expectations of costs in the coming year. Artificially budgeting for a specific desired assessment increase may be appealing to members, but it鈥檚 not telling them the truth about the costs of running the HOA. Typically, common area maintenance levels and reserve fund accumulation will be the first victims of such short-sightedness.

9. The HOA鈥檚 legal obligations are not excused by the lack of funds. The HOA鈥檚 basic duty to preserve, protect, and maintain the common areas is not conditional on funding. Would you tell a neighbor that their roof must continue to leak or that an unsafe balcony must stay that way until the HOA can pay for repairs?

10. It may seem unfair to pursue delinquent members going through hard times, but not requiring certain members to pay their share of the expenses is unfair to the other members and violates the board鈥檚 duties.

11. Failing to faithfully accumulate money in the HOA鈥檚 capital asset reserve account means the HOA is quietly falling into insolvency, as money is not set aside to offset the ongoing deterioration of major assets that is a fact of life. Accumulating those funds prepares the HOA for major repairs when they become necessary, avoiding potentially ruinous special assessments or long-term bank loans.

Legal protections

12. Compliance with all three Business Judgment Rule requirements (acting in good faith, in the HOA鈥檚 best interests, and with reasonable diligence/inquiry) is an essential protection for volunteer leaders. Heed your manager鈥檚 advice, or the expert they recommend because they are part of your reasonable diligence on most decisions.

13. The corporate process can seem frustrating, but it protects HOA leaders. By documenting the commitments the board makes, you are making them legally bound by the HOA and not the leaders. Decisions must be documented in the minutes. Avoid making individual commitments, promises, or instructions to vendors or homeowners.

Kelly G. Richardson CCAL is a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and Partner of Richardson Ober LLP, a California law firm known for community association advice. Send column questions to Kelly@roattorneys.com.