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World

What you need to know about Iran’s raging protests

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Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.


Abu Dhabi, UAE
CNN
 — 

Protests continued across Iran on Sunday despite government crackdown and state media reports claiming that demonstrators have put an end to their rallies.

The protests, now in their tenth day, were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in a hospital three days after being apprehended by the morality police in Tehran and taken to a “re-education center” for not abiding by the state’s hijab rules.

Protests have since then taken place in more than 40 cities, including the capital Tehran, with dozens reportedly killed in clashes with security forces. At least 1,200 were arrested, according to state-backed media.

Rallies that started with calls for justice for Amini’s death have morphed into a larger protest, uniting an array of social factions and classes, with many calling for the fall of the regime.

Here’s what you need to know about the protests:

What’s different about the current protests?

Today’s protests aren’t unlike earlier anti-government movements, but the core issues driving today’s mobilization are different, experts say, arguably making them more significant.

Earlier waves of protests – in 2019, 2021 and more recently this year – were primarily fueled by economic grievances, says Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder and CEO of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation in London, adding that it was one of the main reasons protests did not cross over to other segments of society.

“This is different, because what people are really asking for is a more significant kind of political change,” said Batmanghelidj, adding that this movement has made it easier to “generate solidarity among different social groups.”

Today’s protests are also amassing younger Iranians with internet access who haven’t known an Iran before the Islamic Republic, said Sanam Vakil, a senior research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House think-tank in London.

How secure does the government feel now?

The government doesn’t appear to feel more vulnerable than before, said Trita Parsi, vice-president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC. “And they may be miscalculating here.”

Experts expect protests to escalate. On Sunday one of Iran’s main teachers’ unions called for a nationwide strike. Workers’ strikes are sensitive in Iran because they bring back memories of the 1979 revolution, when collective labor action acted as a useful tactic that helped bring down the Shah.

“I think it is quite likely that we will see more strikes because the strikes were happening even before this [movement],” said Parsi. “They may end up being mutually reinforcing,” he said, adding that strikes could add more pressure on the government.

How likely is the government to make concessions and what would the concessions look like?

An end to the protests is more likely to come through the use of brute force than concessions, say analysts.

The government has blamed Western media for instigating the protests, alluding to foreign conspiracies. Analysts say that determines how they’ll be dealt with.

“If they see this as a security threat and not as an issue of political expedience, then they are more likely to respond using the tools of their security apparatus,” said Batmanghelidj. “The government has far more capacity for repression than it does for reform at this stage.”

Vakil said that even if authorities make concessions through minor reforms, the bigger question will be “how to get those young women to put their hijabs back on.”

A face-saving outcome would be a rollback on the morality police, she said, adding that a complete scrapping of the hijab law is unlikely. A referendum allowing Iranians to vote on the issue of hijab could also help quell the protests, she said, casting doubt on that happening too.

At what point does the government become vulnerable, and how close is it to that point?

Despite ten days of demonstrations that have spread across the country as the death toll has risen, the protests continue to be leaderless, with some of the loudest and most visible proponents of the protests living in exile as the government has restricted internet access at home.

“This is an indigenous Iranian movement,” said Vakil, “and it is important to stress ordinary Iranians inside the country are the mobilizers of what is happening.”

A figurehead would be necessary to both negotiate change with the government as well as internally lead the movement itself, said Batmanghelidj.

The protests have a wide range of grievances, going beyond the compulsory hijab and the brutality of the state’s security apparatus.

It also remains unclear whether there are members within the Iranian government who understand the stakes at hand and are willing to push for significant change within the existing structure of power, added Batmanghelidj.

Germany signs energy agreement with UAE amid diversification drive

German utility RWE signed a deal with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to deliver liquefied natural gas to Germany by the end of December, Reuters reported on Sunday. The announcement came on the second day of a two-day trip to the Gulf region by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his bid to secure alternative energy resources. ADNOC will deliver the first shipment in late 2022 for use in the trial operation of a floating natural gas terminal in Brunsbuettel, UAE’s state-run WAM news agency said.

  • Background: On Saturday, Scholz held talks in Jeddah with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In Qatar, he said that Berlin and Doha will push ahead with cooperation on hydrogen, which will play a key role in the decarbonization and electrification of the German economy.
  • Why it matters: Germany, until recently heavily dependent on Russia for gas, has been seeking to diversify its energy supply since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Although the initial amount of LNG to be delivered from Abu Dhabi is relatively small, it’s a politically significant deal to shore up supplies of gas from outside of Russia as Berlin seeks to deepen ties with the Gulf and find alternative energy sources. Germany however lacks infrastructure to import liquefied gas.

Banks in Lebanon to partially reopen after wave of holdups

Banks in Lebanon were set to partially reopen on Monday following a week of closure, the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) said in a statement sent to CNN. Due to the “current difficult security conditions and the need to preserve the safety of customers and employees alike, in the absence of adequate protection by the state”, banks will partially reopen services for commercial use, the ABL said. Private depositors will only be allowed to access ATM’s.

  • Background: Banks closed on September 19, prompted by a wave of bank holdups where Lebanese depositors, some armed, held-up branches across the country demanding to withdraw their savings.
  • Why it matters: Depositors in Lebanon have seen their accounts frozen for the past two years, due to capital controls imposed by the banks over the country’s financial collapse. On September 16, five banks were held up by disgruntled depositors demanding to withdraw part of their savings in dollars.

Controversial Muslim cleric Qaradawi dies

Senior Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, who was based in Qatar and was a spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood, died on Monday, according to a post on his official Twitter account.

  • Background: The cleric, who was in his nineties, was highly critical of Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi and his crackdown on the Brotherhood. Egypt and Qatar’s Gulf neighbors who imposed an economic and diplomatic boycott on the country regularly called Doha out for giving him refuge. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have labelled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
  • Why it matters: Qatar has repaired relations with the boycotting states and resumed trade and diplomatic ties with them. Its emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said recently that his country doesn’t host any “active members” of the Brotherhood.

As hype over the upcoming 2022 World Cup reaches fever pitch, rival European teams have teamed up to send a united message of tolerance in Qatar.

Ten countries – the Netherlands, England, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales – will participate in a season-long “OneLove” campaign promoting inclusion and opposing discrimination.

Each of those nations except Sweden and Norway has qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and each captain of the eight qualifying nations will wear a distinctive OneLove armband – which features a heart containing colors from all backgrounds – during the tournament.

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and punishable by up to three years in prison. The Netherlands football association, which is spearheading the campaign, chose the colors to represent all heritages, backgrounds, genders and sexual identities.

Gulf states have cracked down on LGBTQ symbols of late, with Saudi Arabia ordering the withdrawal of rainbow flags from shops, and all six Gulf nations, including Qatar, calling on streaming service Netflix to take down content that violates local sensibilities.

A Qatari security official told the Associated Press news agency in April that rainbow flags could be taken from fans at the World Cup to protect them from being attacked for promoting gay rights.

“This is an important message which suits the game of football: on the field everybody is equal, and this should be the case in every place in society. With the OneLove band we express this message,” said Virgil van Dijk, the Netherlands captain.

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World

Mahsa Amini: Iran women protest and burn their hijabs over death of woman who died in police custody

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CNN
 — 

In the video, a massive crowd cheers as a woman lifts a pair of scissors to her hair – exposed, without a hijab in sight. The sea of people, many of them men, roar as she chops off her ponytail and raises her fist in the air.

It was a powerful act of defiance Tuesday night in the Iranian city of Kerman, where women are required to wear hijabs (or headscarves) in public, as outrage over the death of a woman in police custody fuels protests across the country.

Iranian authorities said Wednesday that three people, including a member of the security forces, have been killed in the unrest, which has stretched into a fifth day.

Human rights groups have reported that at least seven people have been killed.

The death last week of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in Tehran by morality police – a dedicated unit that enforces strict dress codes for women, such as wearing the compulsory headscarf – has sparked an outpouring anger over issues ranging from freedoms in the Islamic Republic to the crippling economic impacts of sanctions.

The protests are striking for their scale, ferocity and rare feminist nature; the last demonstrations of this size were three years ago, after the government hiked gas prices in 2019.

After starting Saturday at Amini’s funeral in Iran’s Kurdistan province, the demonstrations have swept much of the country, leading to clashes with security forces trying to quell them.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made no mention of the protests during a speech on Wednesday to veterans and military commanders commemorating the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988.

The prosecutor in the western city of Kermanshah said two people were killed during “riots” on Tuesday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The official IRNA state news agency said a police “assistant” was killed and four others injured during protests in Shiraz, the capital city of Fars province in southwestern Iran.

A 23-year-old in Urmia and a 16-year-old in Piranshahar were shot dead during protests on Tuesday, bringing the total number of demonstrators killed to seven, according to two Kurdish human rights groups monitoring violations in Iran – Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Hengaw, a Norwegian-registered organization.

Iranian authorities did not confirm the deaths.

Thousands took to the streets Tuesday night, with videos of protests emerging from dozens of towns and cities – ranging from the capital Tehran to more traditionally conservative strongholds like Mashad.

Footage shows some protesters chanting, “Women, life, freedom.” Others can be seen setting up bonfires, scuffling with police, or removing and burning their headscarves – as well as destroying posters of the country’s Supreme Leader and shouting, “Death to the dictator.”

In one video in Tehran, young protesters march around a bonfire on the street at night, chanting: “We are the children of war. Come on and fight, and we’ll fight back.”

Almost all the provincial towns in Iran’s Kurdish region, including Kermanshah and Hamedan, have seen demonstrations as well.

Witnesses tell CNN that the Tuesday night demonstrations appeared to be “flash protests” – meaning groups form and disperse quickly, to avoid run-ins with Iran’s security forces after the escalating violence of the last week.

A source said there was at least one instance of a heavy-handed police response on Tuesday, near Iran’s Enghelab (“Revolution”) Square on the western side of Tehran University – historically a rallying point for protests.

“Two young men were hit and beaten up by plainclothes police and anti-riot police, then dragged to the van in front of (the) subway entrance gate,” an eyewitness told CNN. “A wounded girl lying on the sidewalk was taken by ambulance to the hospital, and five others arrested on the north side of Enghelab Square.”

Hengaw said 450 people have been injured in the protests.

Amini was stopped and detained by Iran’s morality police last Tuesday. Iranian officials said that she died last Friday after suffering a “heart attack” and falling into a coma following her arrest.

However, her family said she had no pre-existing heart condition, according to Emtedad news, an Iranian pro-reform media outlet which claimed to have spoken to Amini’s father.

Edited security camera footage released by Iran’s state media appeared to show Amini collapsing at a “re-education” center where she was taken to receive “guidance” on her attire.

Iran’s morality police are part of the country’s law enforcement and are tasked with enforcing the strict social rules of the Islamic Republic, including its dress code that mandates women wear a headscarf, or hijab, in public.

An aide to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei promised a “thorough investigation” into Amini’s death during a meeting with her family in their home on Monday, according to Iran’s semi-official Nour News agency.

Abdolreza Pourzahabi, Khamenei’s representative in Iran’s Kurdish province, said the Supreme Leader “is sad” and that the family’s sorrow “is his sorrow too,” according to Nour.

He added that he hopes the family shows “good will to help bring back calm in society.”

During a news conference, also on Monday, Greater Tehran Police Commander Hossein Rahimi denied “false accusations” against the Iranian police, saying they had “done everything” to keep Amini alive.

He added that Amini had not been harmed physically during or after she was taken into custody, and called her death “unfortunate.”

In the wake of Amini’s death, internet monitoring website Netblocks has documented internet outages since Friday – a tactic Iran has previously used to prevent the spread of protests.

On Monday, the watchdog said that “real-time network data show a near-total disruption to internet connectivity in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province.”

Iran’s minister of communications, Issa Zarepour, said that internet services could be disrupted for “security purposes and discussions related to recent events,” by security forces, the country’s semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

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Health

Polio is back — how concerned should Americans be?

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CNN
 — 

New York’s governor has declared a state of emergency after health officials detected poliovirus in the wastewater of five counties – evidence the disease is circulating. The declaration also follows a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of an unvaccinated person in Rockland County, New York, who was diagnosed with paralytic polio this summer – the first case identified in the United States in nearly a decade.

Understandably, these events have sparked a lot of questions: Why does one case of polio worry officials? What does it mean to find poliovirus in wastewater? Who should be worried about contracting the disease? If someone had the vaccine years ago, are they still protected now?

To understand more about this disease, which most people alive today have never experienced, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”

CNN: So far, there has been only one documented case of paralysis due to poliovirus in New York. Why does one case worry health officials?

Dr. Leana Wen: An August report from the CDC said that “even a single case of paralytic polio represents a public health emergency in the United States.” This is for two main reasons.

First, polio is a disease with the potential for very severe consequences. During its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio resulted in tens of thousands of children becoming paralyzed every year. Thousands died from the virus.

This changed with the introduction of vaccines that are highly effective – more than 99% effective at protecting against paralytic polio. Thanks to massive vaccination campaigns, the last incidence of wild-type polio occurred in 1979 – and it had been considered to be eliminated in the United States. The reemergence of such a disease, which can have such serious impacts, is a major threat.

Second, the one case of paralytic polio may be the tip of a large iceberg. Most cases of polio infection are asymptomatic and do not cause paralysis. Symptoms – which can include fatigue, fever and diarrhea – tend to be mild and can resemble those of other viruses. Public health officials are worried there are many other people who may be infected with polio and could be transmitting it unknowingly.

This is particularly concerning because Rockland County, where the recent paralytic case of the virus was diagnosed, has a polio vaccination rate of just 60%. In some parts of the county, the vaccination rate is as low as 37%. These numbers are far below the threshold needed for herd immunity, and that means there are a lot of individuals in the area who are vulnerable to polio infection and potential severe outcomes.

CNN: What does it mean that poliovirus has been detected in the wastewater of five counties, including New York City?

Wen: Finding poliovirus in sewage means one of two things: That there are people actively infected with polio who are shedding the virus, or that the virus signal could be from people who recently received the oral polio vaccine (OPV). OPV is no longer given in the United States – since 2000, the version used in the US is the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is injected – but other countries are still using OPV, and it’s possible that travelers from those places are shedding virus from the vaccine.

In rare circumstances, the weakened virus from people who just received OPV could cause paralytic polio in unvaccinated individuals – which is a major reason why OPV is no longer used in the US.

One additional point of concern is that a wastewater sample from Nassau County on Long Island has been genetically linked to the paralytic polio case identified in Rockland County. (The two counties are not adjacent, rather approximately 40 miles apart.) This is further evidence of community spread that’s going largely undetected.

CNN: How can people contract polio?

Wen: Polio is an infectious disease that can be transmitted in a number of ways. A primary route is fecal-oral, meaning someone could get polio if they come into contact with feces from an infected person. This could occur, especially in children, through putting objects like toys that have been contaminated with feces into the mouth.

Poliovirus could also be transmitted through the respiratory route – for example, if someone who is infected coughs or sneezes and those droplets land around your mouth. It’s worth nothing that people who are vaccinated could also contract polio and pass it on to others, though they are extremely well-protected from severe illness themselves.

CNN: Should New Yorkers be worried about contracting polio?

Wen: Again, people who are vaccinated against polio are extremely well-protected from paralytic polio, and should not be concerned at this point. It should be pointed out, however, that while IPV is very good at preventing the most severe potential effects of the disease, people who received the vaccine could still be carriers of polio and could transmit it to others. Those at risk for serious outcomes are people who are unvaccinated and those who are incompletely vaccinated, including young children under 6 who have not yet completed their polio vaccine series.

CNN: How many polio vaccines should someone receive?

Wen: The CDC recommends children receive four doses of IPV. The first is given at 2 months of age, the second at 4 months, the third between 6 and 18 months old and the fourth between 4 and 6 years old.

Adults who have never been vaccinated against polio should receive three doses of IPV. The first should be given as soon as possible, the second one to two months after that and the third six to 12 months after the second.

CNN: If someone had the vaccine years ago, are they still protected? Who should get a polio booster now?

Wen: The protection against severe disease remains strong for many years after immunization; it’s believed it probably lasts for a lifetime. There is no need for most vaccinated people to get more doses.

However, if someone has not completed their original vaccine series, they should get their remaining doses. Some fully vaccinated people can also receive an additional lifetime booster of IPV under specific circumstances – for example, if they have direct contact with someone suspected of having polio or if they are health care workers with higher risk of exposure to people with the disease.

CNN: What if you’re not sure whether you were vaccinated? Say you don’t recall getting the vaccine, and it’s been many years. Is there a blood test you can take to verify either way?

Wen: You could check with your primary care physician’s office or state health department to see whether they have records of your immunizations. If they don’t, and there is no other way for you to verify – for example, by asking parents or other relatives or caregivers – you should speak with your health care provider about getting the full vaccine series for polio now. There is no blood test that can reliably detect whether you’re fully vaccinated against polio.

CNN: What if you or your family members haven’t yet gotten vaccinated against poliovirus?

Wen: People who have yet to receive any doses or are incompletely vaccinated should make sure to get their entire polio vaccine series right away. This is particularly important if they live in or around Rockland County in New York – but really everyone should get caught up with their routine immunizations.

It was a tragedy decades ago that so many children became permanently paralyzed and even died from polio. This should not happen again, since we have such effective vaccines that can prevent severe consequences of the disease.

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US

Coney Island beach: What we know about the deaths of 3 children found in Brooklyn

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CNN
 — 

Authorities are investigating the deaths of three children who were found unresponsive along a New York City shoreline early Monday after a family member reported concerns about their safety.

The children – a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 3-and-a-half-month-old girl – were found in Brooklyn’s Coney Island around 4:42 a.m., said New York Police Chief of Department Kenneth Corey.

A woman police say is believed to be the kids’ mother was at a hospital Tuesday undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, a law enforcement official said. She has not been charged with a crime, police said.

All three children were pronounced dead after first responders conducted life-saving measures, including CPR, Corey added.

“We don’t know exactly what happened here,” Corey said Monday during a news conference, stressing the information was preliminary.

The 30-year-old woman authorities said was believed to be the mother was questioned by police Monday morning after they found her in Brighton Beach, adjacent to Coney Island. She was later hospitalized, police said, not disclosing her condition.

There is no indication at this time of prior abuse or neglect of the children, authorities noted.

As investigators piece together what exactly happened to the children and the woman, here is what we know about how the events unfolded:

Police got a 911 call at 1:40 a.m. Monday from someone who was concerned a “family member may have harmed her three small children,” Corey said. The caller asked police to check on the woman’s apartment.

When police arrived at the apartment, a man who identified himself as the father of one of the three children said he was also concerned, Corey added. The man told police he believed the woman and three children were at a boardwalk on Coney Island.

For about 90 minutes, police officers canvassed beaches, streets and a local hospital. Then another 911 call came in directing officers to a specific location – Brighton 6th Street and Riegelmann Boardwalk in nearby Brighton Beach.

The caller reported a woman who was despondent, a police spokesperson told CNN.

When officers arrived, they found the woman and other family members with her. The children were not there.

The search continued via ground, air and harbor units. Around 4:42 a.m., officers found the children unconscious on the shoreline at West 35th Street in Coney Island, Corey said.

The spot where the children were found is about 2 miles from where the woman was found.

She was “soaking wet” when investigators made contact with her, said Corey, who noted it was not clear whether she’d been in the rain or in the water off the coast.

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US

Columbia University acknowledges submitting inaccurate data for consideration in college rankings

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CNN Business
 — 

Columbia University said that it relied on “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies” in submitting data to U.S. News & World Report for consideration in the publication’s 2021 college rankings, according to a statement released by the university Friday.

“The Columbia undergraduate experience is and always has been centered around small classes taught by highly accomplished faculty. That fact is unchanged. But anything less than complete accuracy in the data that we report – regardless of the size or the reason – is inconsistent with the standards of excellence to which Columbia holds itself,” the statement reads. “We deeply regret the deficiencies in our prior reporting and are committed to doing better.”

In February, Columbia Mathematics Professor Michael Thaddeus questioned the Ivy League school’s rise in rankings from 18th place, on its debut in 1988, to 2nd place in 2021. In a statement posted on Columbia University’s Department of Mathematics’ website, Thaddeus noted that “few other top-tier universities have also improved their standings, but none has matched Columbia’s extraordinary rise.”

Thaddeus pointed to data submitted by the university to U.S. News & World Report in questioning Columbia’s seemingly meteoric rise in rankings.

“Can we be sure that the data accurately reflect the reality of life within the university?” Thaddeus rhetorically asked. “Regrettably, the answer is no.”

The math professor then tabulated data on “undergraduate class size, percentage of faculty with terminal degrees, percentage of faculty who are full-time, and student-faculty ratio” submitted by Columbia University to U.S. News & World Report and compares the data “with figures computed by other means, drawing on information made public by Columbia elsewhere.”

In his findings, Thaddeus said there were “discrepancies sometimes quite large” which seemed to always work in Columbia’s favor.

In response to Thaddeus’ findings, Columbia University Provost Mary Boyce said in a June statement that the university would “refrain from submitting data to U.S. News and World Report” for consideration in the publication’s 2022 undergraduate college rankings.

“On two of the metrics questioned by our faculty member [Thaddeus], class size and faculty with terminal degrees, we determined we had previously relied on outdated and/or incorrect methodologies. We have changed those methodologies for current and future data submissions, as reflected in the newly posted Common Data Sets,” Boyce noted in June.

Boyce said starting Fall 2022, the university would start participating in the Common Data Set (CDS) Initiative, “a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers” to provide accurate information to students seeking information on institutions of higher education, according to the initiative’s website.

The CDS Initiative, represented by U.S. News & World Report, the College Board and educational services company Peterson’s, was launched in 1997 to provide institutions of higher education with “a set of standards and definitions of data items rather than a survey instrument or set of data represented in a database.”

U.S. News Chief Data Strategist Robert Morse told CNN Monday that schools report most of the information for their Best Colleges rankings directly to U.S. News.

“Each year, U.S. News sends an extensive questionnaire to all accredited four-year colleges and universities,” he explained. “U.S. News, a founding member of the Common Data Set initiative, incorporates questions from the CDS and proprietary questions on this survey. U.S. News relies on schools to accurately report their data.”

Coupled with the commitment of participating in the CDS Initiative, Boyce also announced the launch of a new webpage providing detailed context and analysis of the Columbia University undergraduate experience.

In July, U.S. News & World Report unranked Columbia University “from a number of rankings in the 2022 edition of Best Colleges (first published September 2021)” saying that the university “failed to respond to multiple U.S. News requests that the university substantiate certain data it previously submitted,” according to a blog post by U.S. News. It is unclear whether Thaddeus’ publication of his investigation into the data that Columbia presented to U.S. News & World Report may have contributed to the university being unranked.

In Friday’s statement, Boyce said the university posted two Common Data Sets, one for the Columbia College and Columbia Engineering, and one for Columbia General Studies.

“The information included in the two Common Data Sets reflects the University’s work in recent months to review our data collection processes, following questions raised by a faculty member regarding the accuracy of certain data the University submitted to U.S. News and World Report in 2021 for its ranking of undergraduate universities,” Boyce said.

“U.S. News publishes annual rankings for more than 11,500 schools and hundreds of individual programs as part of the Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools, Best Online Programs, Best Global Universities and Best High Schools rankings,” Morse said in a statement Monday.

“To produce the rankings, U.S. News collects tens of thousands of data points from the schools themselves and other sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, state and local governments and higher education associations. A very small proportion of the total number of schools that are ranked – typically less than 0.1% each year – inform U.S. News that they have misreported data that were used to calculate their school’s ranking.”

U.S. News & World Report released a breakdown of how their publication calculated the 2022-2023 Best Colleges Rankings in an article Monday.

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Business

Elon Musk’s college sweetheart auctions off their mementos

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CNN
 — 

Holding onto an ex’s stuff may prove profitable later on, at least if your ex turns out to be the wealthiest man in the world.

The former girlfriend of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is auctioning off a cache of photos and Musk memorabilia from her relationship with the billionaire. Jennifer Gwynne, Musk’s college girlfriend, is selling the mementos through Boston-based RR Auction.

Gwynne and Musk started dating in 1994 when they both worked as resident advisers in a university dorm, according to a news release RR Auction shared with CNN. Soon after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Musk started in a doctoral program at Stanford, but dropped out to launch his first startup, Zip2.

The lot includes 18 candid photos of the entrepreneur as a baby-faced economics student at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as several other mementos of Musk and Gwynne’s time together.

The glossy photos show the billionaire looking every bit the normal college student before his meteoric rise to success: goofing off in a dorm room, hanging out with his fellow resident advisers, and cuddling with his girlfriend.

The item with the current highest bid is a signed birthday card, followed by a necklace gifted to Gwynne on her birthday.

“Happy Birthday, Jennifer (aka, Boo-Boo), Love, Elon,” reads the note. As of Sunday morning, the highest bid is almost $7,000. The card is expected to sell for more than $10,000, according to RR.

The gold necklace includes an emerald from the Zambian emerald mine owned by Musk’s father Errol, a wealthy South African property developer and engineer.

“When we went to visit Elon’s mother in Toronto during the Christmas break of 1994, Elon gave me both the small ‘love, love, love’ note and the necklace,” said Gwynne in RR’s statement. “His mom had a number of these necklaces in a case in her bedroom, and Elon told me they were from his father’s emerald mine in South Africa — he pulled one from the case. And because I had not gotten him anything as a Christmas gift (and I felt very guilty about that), he said we would consider the necklace an early birthday present for me.”

“I wore the necklace for a number of years on and off, but it’s mostly been in my jewelry box for the last ten years (always reminding me of Elon, of course).”

The necklace also comes with two photos, one of Musk and Gwynne with Musk’s mother, the model Maye Musk, and one of Musk and Gwynne at an end-of-the-year formal in 1995.

Tesla superfans can place a bid on a piece of Musk-orabilia until Wednesday, when the auction closes.

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US

‘We’re living in a nightmare’: Jackson university students take online classes, leave campus amid city’s ongoing water crisis

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CNN
 — 

Just one week after the school year began in Mississippi’s capital city, university students were faced with a crisis canceling all in-person classes and forcing them online, but this time, it wasn’t Covid-19.

Hundreds of students at Jackson State University, a historically Black university, moved into their dorms August 18 as they settled in for the new year, but many have already returned home, while others are being forced to make difficult adjustments on campus due to the city’s ongoing water crisis.

Water in this US city is so dirty, boiling it doesn’t make it usable

Jackson had been without reliable tap water service since Monday, when torrential rains and severe flooding helped push an already-hobbled water treatment plant to begin failing. Roughly 150,000 residents are being forced to buy water or rely on an inefficient system of bottled water pick-up sites for water to drink, cook and brush teeth as businesses and schools were shuttered.

“It’s like we’re living in a nightmare right now,” said Erin Washington, 19, a sophomore. “We can’t use the showers, the toilets don’t flush,” she said.

Washington said the campus already had low water pressure and the toilets wouldn’t flush Sunday, and by the next day, students had no access to running water. Tuesday, the water turned on for a “split-second,” but it was brown and muddy, she added.

Wednesday, the water supply turned off completely, which Washington said was the “last straw” for her. She booked a flight back home to Chicago in the afternoon and is waiting to hear from university officials on whether they will go back to in-person classes next week.

The university’s head football coach, Deion Sanders, also said its football program is in “crisis mode.”

University officials scrambled to make provisions for the 2,000 students who live on campus as they continue to experience low water pressure, university president Thomas K. Hudson told CNN on Friday.

The university switched to virtual learning Monday, a familiar shift for many students whose in-person classes were canceled and moved online in 2020 to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. School officials are monitoring the water pressure “in hopes of resuming in-person classes next week,” Hudson said.

Rented portable showers and toilets have been set up across the campus and water is being delivered to students, Hudson said.

Hudson told CNN earlier this week Jackson State has a stash of drinking water it keeps for emergencies. The university is also bringing in clean water to keep the chillers operating for air conditioning in the dorms, he added.

“It’s their frustration that I’m concerned about,” Hudson said. “It’s the fact that this is interrupting their learning. So what we try to do is really focus on how we can best meet their needs.”

The water system in Jackson has been troubled for years and the city was already under a boil-water notice since late July. Advocates have pointed to systemic and environmental racism among the causes of Jackson’s ongoing water issues and lack of resources to address them. About 82.5% of Jackson’s population identifies as Black or African American, according to census data.

The main pumps at Jackson’s main O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant around late July were severely damaged, forcing the facility to operate on smaller backup pumps, Gov. Tate Reeves said this week, without elaborating on the damage, which city officials also have not detailed.

The city announced August 9 the troubled pumps were being pulled offline. Then, last week, heavy rains pushed the Pearl River to overflow, cresting Monday and flooding some Jackson streets, while also impacting intake water at a reservoir which feeds the drinking water treatment plant.

Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection at the Mississippi Department of Health, said a chemical imbalance was created on the conventional treatment side of the plant, which affected particulate removal, causing a side of the plant to be temporarily shut down and resulting in a loss of water distribution pressure.

A temporary rented pump was installed Wednesday at the plant, and “significant” gains were made by Thursday, the city said, with workers making a “series of repairs and equipment adjustments.”

It’s still unclear, however, when potable water will flow again to the city’s residents. On Thursday, people of Jackson were advised to shower with their mouths closed.

Hudson said the university is receiving “an overwhelming amount of support from organizations and individuals who are contributing potable water, bottled water and monetary donations through our Gap Fund,” which provides financial support to students for emergency expenses.

“We will continue to work with the City of Jackson for updates on their progress to resume operation at the water treatment facility. In the meantime, the university will remain open to house our resident students during this holiday weekend as needed,” he said, referencing the Labor Day weekend.

City officials reported Saturday most of the city’s water pressure is being restored, but a boil-water advisory remains in place, and pressure is expected to continue to fluctuate as repairs continue. The city said workers are fixing automated systems to support better water quality and production.

Mom and son share videos of daily life with no clean water in Jackson, Mississippi

Trenity Usher, 20, a junior at Jackson State, said she thought this year would be her first “normal year” on campus before the water crisis wreaked havoc on the city.

Usher’s freshman year started in 2020 when Covid-19 prompted universities across the country to move classes online. Usher was one of the few freshmen students who decided to live on campus, she recounted. During her second semester in February 2021, a winter storm froze and burst pipes, leaving many city residents and university students without water for at least a month.

Unlike Washington who was able to go home to Chicago, Usher has to stay on campus because she’s a member of the school band.

Usher moved into her dorm August 19 and even then, she said water was an issue. “Water from the faucets were running thin,” she said.

“A lot of people are packing up and leaving, the parking lots are empty.” She said. If she wasn’t required to stay, Usher says she probably would’ve made the trek home to Atlanta.

“We practice for six to seven hours a day and then how are we supposed to shower?” Usher said. She also has an emotional support bunny she has to make sure has plenty of water, in addition to herself.

Usher said she’s had to pour bottles of water in her trash can to shower outside due to the water pressure issue on campus, a situation she called “horrible.”

Jaylyn Clarke, 18, a freshman, had been on campus for a week before the floods. She took the opportunity to get to know the campus and meet new people. Clarke was looking forward to the experience of attending a historically Black university and enjoyed the perks of staying close to home, which is only three hours away in New Orleans.

Clarke started to see river flood warnings last Thursday, which made her nervous about the potential for flooded roads nearby and being trapped on campus.

“Basically, we couldn’t do our laundry because of low water pressure, the showers and the toilets weren’t working well, and it even affected the AC,” she said, adding the water was brown and smelled like sewage.

Clarke finally decided to go home to New Orleans on August 30 to shower, wash clothes and attend online classes until the issue is resolved.

“I’m going with the flow because I do love Jackson State, but this water issue is like a rain cloud, like a shadow that’s being casted over.”

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Health

Black and Hispanic people get monkeypox more but get less care. Here’s what’s being done to address inequities

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CNN
 — 

The organizers of Atlanta Black Pride, an LGBTQ celebration held each Labor Day weekend, have big plans. There will be parties and performances, workshops and financial literacy classes, brunches and a boat ride. This year also brings an event that no one ever expected would be necessary: a vaccination clinic.

“We actually got a head start, and we started early, even before the festival, with monkeypox vaccinations for people that are here in Atlanta,” said Melissa Scott, one of the organizers.

The festival will also offer Covid-19 vaccines on location.

The monkeypox vaccines won’t protect people right away, because two doses are needed, but Scott said the festival is the perfect opportunity to reach a large group of people who have been disproportionately affected by the outbreak.

As of Friday, there are nearly 20,000 probable or confirmed cases of monkeypox in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus is spread through close contact and can infect anyone. But cases in this outbreak have mostly been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, and no one’s been hit harder than those who identify as Black or Latino/Hispanic.

Nearly 38% of monkeypox cases are among Black people, yet they represent only 12% of the US population. Hispanic or Latino people make up 19% of the US population but account for 29% of the cases as of August 27, according to the CDC.

Not all US cities keep or publish demographic data. But among those with the most monkeypox cases, people of color are often overrepresented among the sick and underrepresented among the vaccinated.

In Philadelphia, for example, 55% of monkeypox cases are in Black people, 16% are in people who identify as Hispanic, and 24% are in those who identify as white. Yet 56% of the shots have gone to white individuals, 24% to Black people and 12% to Hispanic people, according to the city’s website.

In Atlanta, as of mid-August, 71% of monkeypox patients identified as Black, 12% as white and 7% as Hispanic, while 44% of the vaccines have gone to white people, 46% to Black people and 8% to Hispanics.

And in Houston, Black people are overrepresented among the sick, making up 32% of all the cases, but they are only 23% of the population. Only 15% of people who have gotten the vaccine identify as Black, according to the Houston Health Department.

However, while Hispanic people account for 21% of the cases in Houston, they make up 45% of the city’s population and 32% of those who have been vaccinated. White people are 24% of the population, 17% of the cases and 39% of those who have been vaccinated against monkeypox.

In Los Angeles County, the health department says 40% of cases are among Hispanic people, yet only 32% of first vaccine doses have gone to members of that community. Hispanics make up 49% of the county’s population.

White people are the most vaccinated against monkeypox in Los Angeles. They’ve gotten 41% of the first doses, and they account for 29% of the cases. White people make up a quarter of the population of the county.

Black people are overrepresented among the cases. They make up 9% of the population in the county but 11% of the cases. Only 9% of those who got their first vaccine dose identify as Black.

It is not totally clear what’s driving the differences, but this isn’t the first disease to see such inequities, said Dr. Chyke Doubeni, chief health equity officer at Ohio State University. Unless something drastically changes, he said, we’ll see the same pattern in the next outbreak.

“I would say as a public health community, we’re very good at repeating the same mistakes multiple times,” he said. “It’s the same story, the same underlying causes. There are barriers to care and information. Systems that require people to stand in line for hours for a vaccine do not work for people with hourly jobs, for instance.”

For months, community leaders have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to step up its efforts to protect this population. On Tuesday, the administration announced that it was launching a pilot program aimed at LGBTQ communities of color.

“It’s important to acknowledge that there’s more work we must do together with our partners on the ground to get shots in arms in the highest-risk communities,” said Robert Fenton, the White House national monkeypox response team coordinator.

“Equity is a key pillar in our response, and we recognize the need to put extra resources into the field to make sure we are reaching communities most impacted by the outbreak.”

The administration will send thousands of vaccine doses to organizations that work with Black and brown communities. The initiative will also work with state and local governments to set up vaccination clinics at key LGBTQ events that attract hundreds of thousands of people, such as Atlanta Black Pride, Oakland Pride in California and Southern Decadence in New Orleans. They will send enough vials to vaccinate up to 5,000 people at each event.

Federal health officials say they also will work with local leaders to identify smaller gatherings for pop-up vaccine clinics, like house and ballroom events that are popular with younger people. They’ve set aside an additional 10,000 vials for those equity initiatives.

Pride Month events in June went by without pop-up clinics. One pilot vaccination program that the administration launched with local public health organizers at the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade last weekend ended up administering only about a quarter of the doses allocated, but officials still called it a “great success.”

“It’s important to also respect sort of the strategy that Charlotte may have had in terms of how to get the word out,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House’s assistant monkeypox response coordinator, said Tuesday. “And so, 500-plus vaccines is a great success – it’s not a clinic, and so really, going to Pride and getting vaccinated – any number, especially that, I think is remarkable.”

The outreach seems to be working in Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta and several large suburbs.

Black people make up 79% of monkeypox cases there but are only 42.5% of the population, according to the last census. Since the start of the outbreak, the county Board of Health said, it has initiated its own efforts to engage directly with organizations that work with Black and brown communities. Officials have set up clinics, posted QR codes in bars that link to appointment information, and extended hours at clinics so people don’t have to take time off from work to get vaccinated.

As a result, nearly 70% of the monkeypox vaccines that the county has given have gone to people of color, the board said. In comparison, only 10% of doses nationwide have gone to people who are Black, 22% went to Hispanic or Latino people, and 44% went to people who identify as white, according to the Biden administration.

“Communities of color have been hit particularly hard by monkeypox,” said Dr. Lynn Paxton, Fulton County’s district health director. “So efforts targeting health equity have been especially crucial for the Board of Health.”

The Biden administration said equity is a key priority with its monkeypox strategy.

“Our vaccine strategy is to meet people where they seek services, care or community, especially in communities of color,” Daskalakis said.

The extra efforts have been prompted by several obstacles to access to treatments, vaccines and culturally sensitive education material, public health experts say.

Sean Cahill, director of health policy research at the Fenway Institute in Boston, a health organization that works with sexual and gender minorities, says he has been frustrated by these unnecessary barriers.

For example, the monkeypox treatment Tpoxx is still considered experimental, so patients and doctors have to fill out paperwork required by the CDC to get it. For months, not one of the forms was translated into a language other than English. The CDC made the Spanish-language form available on its website in the second week of August.

“For patients who speak Spanish or Chinese or don’t speak a lot of English, it can be a real challenge for them to complete these forms,” Cahill said. It’s even harder for people who don’t have access to a computer or printer.

“There’s just some logistical issues that have been a constant challenge to help patients, and there needn’t be,” he added.

Throughout the outbreak, organizers have been critical of the Biden administration’s response to the public health crisis, especially where people of color are concerned.

“As soon as we started receiving a vaccine, we should have had a conversation with Black and brown community-based organizations to lead the way to vaccinate the most at risk,” said Daniel Driffin, an HIV patient advocate and a consultant with NMAC, a national organization that works for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic.

To get a vaccine appointment, particularly in the beginning of the US outbreak when vaccines were in much shorter supply, people essentially had to follow their local health department on Twitter to find out when they were available, Driffin said. The appointments would often fill up in minutes.

“Your health status should not be dictated by Twitter or Instagram,” Driffin said.

He added that it’s especially difficult for some people to get appointments to get tests or treatments.

“Especially here in Georgia, where many individuals, especially men, Black and brown people, may not have access to regular medical care. So where are they supposed to go?”

This is not, of course, the first health outbreak to disproportionately affect Black and brown communities.

Black people account for a higher proportion of new HIV diagnoses and cases compared with other races and ethnicities. Hispanic and Latino people are also disproportionately affected by HIV.

The CDC says racism, stigma, homophobia, poverty and limited access to health care continue to drive these disparities.

These same communities are overrepresented in the Covid-19 pandemic. People of color have a disproportionate number of cases and deaths compared with White people when accounting for age differences, according to the CDC.

The CDC has regularly said that more needs to be done to help these communities, and public health officials’ inclination to want to help is good, Doubeni said.

“But typically, they don’t say ‘Oh, we have a problem. Let me see how I can work with the community to see what is beneficial for them,’ and they especially don’t do this from the beginning,” Doubeni said.

On more than one occasion, Doubeni said, he has watched government public health officials spend months to create education materials in English. Only after those materials come out will they start working on a Spanish version.

“I think it’s all well-intentioned, but unfortunately, it doesn’t always begin with an end in mind,” he said.

He tells people that because of institutional racism, and for social and economic reasons, those who are in communities of color may have to be persistent to get the treatment they need.

“Don’t take no for an answer,” Doubeni said. “People should not be ashamed to have to seek treatment for monkeypox. It has nothing to do with them as a person per se. We can control this outbreak and keep it from running out of control. And it’s your right to get the answers you need.”

Atlanta Black Pride organizer Scott said she’s been pleased with the local public health department’s targeted outreach. One of the event’s goals has always been to strengthen the community’s health while encouraging everyone to have fun.

“We’re trying to make sure we reach the people who need it most,” she said.

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Health

City children have better mental health and cognition if they live near woodlands

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London
CNN
—  

City children who have daily exposure to woodland have better cognitive development and a lower risk of emotional and behavioral problems, according to a new study published in Nature Sustainability.

Researchers studied 3,568 adolescents aged 9 to 15 at 31 schools across London over four years to examine the associations between natural environments and cognitive development, mental health and overall well-being.

Using vegetation satellite data, researchers calculated adolescents’ daily exposure to “green space,” like woods, meadows and parks, and “blue space,” including rivers, lakes and the sea, within 50 meters (164 feet), 100 meters (328 feet), 250 meters (820 feet) and 500 meters (1,640 feet) of their home and school.

A higher daily exposure to woodland was associated with higher scores for cognitive development – measured through a series of memory-based tasks – and a 17% lower risk of emotional and behavioral problems two years later, researchers said, adding that they adjusted for other variables, such as age, ethnic background, gender, parental occupation, type of school and air pollution.

Exposure to green space was associated with a beneficial contribution to young people’s cognitive development, researchers explained. The same associations were not seen with exposure to blue space – though the sample of children studied generally had low access to it, researchers noted in the study published Monday.

Lead author Mikaël Maes said that, while the team had established an association between woodlands and better cognitive development and mental health, there is no causal link between the two – something that could be studied in the future.

“Currently, the mechanisms why humans receive mental health or cognition benefits from nature exposure is unknown. Scientific research on the role of the human senses is key to establish a causal link,” Maes, a PhD researcher at University College London’s school of Geography, Biosciences and Imperial College London School of Public Health, told CNN.

Maes said in an email that one possible explanation for the link between woodland, cognition and mental health could be that audio-visual exposure through vegetation and animal abundance – which are more common in woodland – provides psychological benefits.

However, there were limitations to the study. The team said the research assumed that living or going to school near natural environments meant more exposure to them, which may not always be the case. Area crime rates were also not taken into account.

Researchers also noted that more than half of participants had parents who had a managerial or professional occupation, meaning that adolescents in other socio-economic groups could be underrepresented in the study. Pupils with special educational needs could also react differently than peers represented in the research.

“The findings are impressive and do highlight the importance of time outside on such a scale,” Carol Fuller, head of the Institute of Education at the University of Reading, told CNN via email.

“That said, while the findings are encouraging, what we don’t get from the study is a sense of why we see the results that we do? While the authors speculate as to the reasons, there is a crucial need to engage directly with young people to understand the results from the perspective of those who were taking part,” Fuller, who was not associated with the research, said.

“The research adds to a growing body of work about the importance of being outside on things like confidence, resilience, and self-efficacy,” she said.

“It makes sense that if you can develop these skills, things like cognition and learning outcomes will then improve. Being outside allows young people to learn a range of different skills and engage in diverse experiences, important for developing these underlying traits,” she added.

Stella Chan, professor of Evidence-based Psychological Treatment at the University of Reading, said in an email to CNN that the research offered “novel insights” with “potential to inform how we may better support young people’s intellectual development, health, and wellbeing.”

“As the authors note, just because someone lives close to natural environments does not mean that they could or would access this space, and of course how people use the space is another big question to ask,” Chan, who was not involved in the study, said.

“Building on these findings, it would be important to investigate how factors that are associated with exposure to natural environments, such as physical activity and hanging out with friends, may help enhance teenagers’ resilience, health, and wellbeing,” Chan said.

The great outdoors has long been linked to good physical and mental health – a 2015 study showed that people who take walks in nature report fewer repetitive negative thoughts.

And a 2019 study found that spending two hours a week soaking up nature – be it woodland, park or beach – gives a positive boost to health and well-being, both mentally and physically.

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Business

It’s so hard to get a house right now, people are giving up on buying

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Buying a home of her own became a priority for Kelly Robinson during the pandemic, as she began to feel cramped in her Indianapolis apartment.

“Last fall having to stay home so much, that really made me decide that it is time to buy a house,” she said. Among the top amenities she was looking for: outdoor space and more privacy.

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Further motivated by record low interest rates, Robinson set her sights to buy in the spring when she expected more properties would be available. It would also give her time to get her finances in order.

“But by the time I got pre-approved and started seriously looking at homes, the market got crazy” she said.

Robinson set a budget for $250,000. But in her market – the suburb of Greenwood – homes began selling within days, with as many as 10 competing offers, and sometimes going for $100,000 over the asking price.

“‘Crazy’ to me is not getting an inspection because you want to be number one on the homeowner’s list,” she said. “That is a risk I’m not wiling to take. And having to make an immediate decision the day you see it? That is another thing that makes me really nervous.”

So she decided to put the home search on ice and continue renting.

Courtesy Kelly Robinson

Kelly Robinson wants to buy a home outside of Indianapolis, but said the market is too aggressive now and has decided to wait.

“There are so many aggressive shoppers out there and I’m not willing to compete with that,” she said. “I need to be happy today, but I also want to be happy a year from now. If I overpay or don’t get an inspection, that will cause bigger issues down the road.”

Up against all-cash offers they can’t match and a feeding frenzy on each house they visit, many buyers are dropping out of the market and opting to wait it out and reevaluate their options.

The housing market was on fire this spring, leaving many would-be buyers burned out. Low mortgage rates have been fueling demand, but there’s also been a record-low inventory of available properties. That has pushed home prices to record highs, with some homes attracting multiple all-cash offers, and others selling for $1 million over the list price.

But home sales have fallen for the fourth month in a row, on a monthly basis, partially because there aren’t enough homes to buy, but also because the competition and higher prices are turnoffs to those who can’t afford to compete, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors.

“Clearly sales are moving down partly due to inventory shortage, but the affordability is squeezing some of the buyers out of the market,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Homebuyers qualify for a mortgage based on their income, but with prices rising 20% or higher, it is simply pricing them out of the market.”

Only 32% of consumers believe it’s a good time to buy a home, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index for June. That’s a record low. High home prices were cited as the main reason people were pessimistic toward home buying. That sentiment was particularly strong among renters looking to buy for the first time, said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.

“While all surveyed segments have expressed greater negativity toward homebuying over the last few months, renters who say they are planning to buy a home in the next few years have demonstrated an even steeper decline in homebuying sentiment than homeowners,” he said. “It’s likely that affordability concerns are more greatly affecting those who aspire to be first-time homeowners than other consumer segments who have already established homeownership.”

Still, even in the face of tough buying conditions, many would-be homeowners remain intent on purchasing now, Duncan said, especially with mortgage rates still relatively low and a down payment ready to go.

“I’m encouraging my buyers to stay the course,” said Corey Burr, a senior vice president at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty in Washington, DC. “They need to have a persistent confidence their dream home will become available and they can buy it. Just because it is difficult doesn’t mean it is impossible.”

It’s true, buying a home is not impossible. Plenty of people are doing it. But more people have tried and still aren’t able to buy. And there are limits to how much time and emotional energy buyers are willing to put toward being shut out of the market.

First-time homebuyers Steven and Laura Andranigian planned to move from their home near Monterey, California, to the Coachella Valley in southern California, where they have family and Laura got a job teaching elementary school.

Courtesy Steven Andranigian

Steven and Laura Andranigian were ready to be first-time homebuyers when they moved to California’s Coachella Valley. But after house hunting for months, they have decided to rent instead.

Looking for a home that costs less than $500,000 has them chasing properties as soon as they are listed. Many times, the houses are gone before they can even make an offer. Twice they’ve been laughed at for asking for time to get a pre-offer inspection. They’ve lost out on five bids so far.

“You get told, ‘Here are the 10 things you need to do to buy a house’” he said. “We did 20 of those. And it is still like, ‘Well, you’re not able to participate.’ Because there are people who are flush with cash who also want to buy here now.”

They had been saving to buy a home for years and have been looking for months. But now they realize that their purchase options are to buy something that needs work in an area they don’t want to live, to wait for a new construction home and pay a premium for it, or to buy something over their budget.

“The only way to buy [a home that costs] over $500,000 is for my in-laws to gift or loan us the difference,” said Steve Andranigian. “But that seems excessive for people who have stable, good jobs to get $200,000 from family. Even when you’ve done everything right you still need more?”

The Andranigians have decided to abandon their home search.

“We decided to rent while we wait for the housing market to settle or resolve itself,” Steven said.

But getting a rental isn’t going to be easy either. The most galling turn of events, he said, would be to have to rent a home they had put an offer on before.

They’ve already seen some homes that they bid on come back to market as rental homes right after closing. Even though a property like that would be the kind of home they would love to live in, it would pour salt in the wound to have to rent it after trying to buy it, he said.

“To have to talk to the landlord, and hear they were sitting on a ton of cash and they wanted to turn it into a rental while we are just trying to buy our first home would be really hard,” he said. “But to find out the landlord is a hedge fund and it is owned by some faceless company? That may be worse. We don’t want to rent the place. We want to buy.”

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