By Annalyn Kurtz @AnnalynKurtz
(CNNMoney) - White, non-Hispanic kids will no longer make up the majority of America's youth in just five to six years, according to Census Bureau projections released Wednesday.
Those projections, which include four different scenarios for population growth, estimate that today's minority ethnic groups will soon account for at least half of the under-18 population, either in 2018 or 2019.
"This is going to start from the bottom of the age distribution and move its way up," said William Frey, demographer and senior fellow for the Brooking Institution. "All of these projections show we're moving to greater diversity in the United States."
Already, more than half of American babies being born belong to racial and ethnic groups traditionally thought of as "minorities" - which means it could soon be time to toss that word out completely.
By the time those kids grow up to become adults - sometime between 2036 and 2042 - everyone in the working-age population (ages 18 to 64) will be a member of a group that comes up short of the 50% line.
Demographers call it a "minority-majority." No one single racial or ethnic group will make up more than half of the population.
By Pauline Kim and Jason Hanna, CNN
(CNN) - A body found Tuesday in Rhode Island's Providence River has been identified as that of Sunil Tripathi, a Brown University student who had been missing since mid-March, police said.
No foul play is suspected, police said, citing the state medical examiner's office.
It might take two months to determine the cause of death of the 22-year-old philosophy major, said Dara Chadwick of the Rhode Island Health Department.
The identification was made through forensic dental examination, Chadwick said.
His relatives' search for Tripathi was detailed on a Facebook page, "Help us find Sunil Tripathi." They had temporarily taken down the page after they were inundated by ugly comments when he was falsely identified on social media as a possible suspect in last week's Boston Marathon bombings.
Tripathi was last reported seen early March 16, on a security video walking south on Brook Street in Providence, near his home. His last recorded computer activity was shortly before that sighting.
FULL STORYBy Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN
(CNN) – As Quanesha Wallace remembers, it was around this time last year when the idea first came up at Wilcox County High School. It was nothing big, just chatter about prom, school, what comes next, what they'd change.
If things were different, someone said, we'd all go to the same prom.
For as long as anyone could remember, students in their South Georgia community went to separate proms, and homecoming dances, too. White students from Wilcox County attend one. Black students, another. They’re private events organized by parents and students, not the school district. Schools have long been desegregated, but in Wilcox County, the dances never changed.
FULL STORY
By Breeanna Hare, CNN
(CNN) – To become Google's first female engineer in 1999 – and, eventually, one of the most powerful women in tech – Marissa Mayer had to get comfortable with risk.
"I always did something I was a little not ready to do," she said last year while speaking on her best decisions in a talk with NPR Correspondent Laura Sydell. "That feeling at the end of the day, where you're like, 'what have I gotten myself into?' I realized that sometimes when you have that feeling and you push through it, something really great happens."
If the 37-year-old still makes career moves by her tried-and-true process, then she's likely anticipating something great to occur in her new role as Yahoo's CEO.
Mayer's hiring last summer, which accordng to Fortune made her the youngest head of a Fortune 500 company, came as a surprise, and her high-wire decisions since have spread far wider than Yahoo's campus.
First, there was her brief maternity leave after she gave birth to her son in September. When the Silicon Valley star first announced that she was pregnant, on the very same day Yahoo revealed she was the company's new CEO, some saw it as a progressive move and hoped Mayer would set a new standard for mothers trying to balance the competing demands of their corporate and familial roles.
What they saw instead was a businesswoman eager to get back in the office and who said that having a new baby in her life wasn't as difficult as she'd been told.
But the real critiques came last month when Yahoo's HR department issued an e-mail telling staff that they will no longer be able to work from home, prompting an angry backlash and leading some to question Mayer's judgment.
While some found her position just, others hoping the new mom would create a more reasonable corporate culture interpreted the move as unfair, noting that Mayer approved the edict while building a nursery next to her office – not an option for most working parents.
But over her nearly 14-year career in the tech world, Mayer has consistently shaken up expectations. If we've learned anything about this influential computer engineer-turned-corporate executive, it's that she plays the game of business by her own rules.
1. She doesn't do stereotypes
Part of the legend of Marissa Mayer is that she doesn't fit into our assumptions of what it means to be a tech geek.
FULL STORY
By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
Alpharetta, Georgia (CNN) - Before we had "16 and Pregnant," push-up bras for tweens or mandatory sex education, girls like Donna Liska-Johnson learned about the birds and the bees from author Judy Blume.
Liska-Johnson was 11 years old when her aunt gave her a copy of Blume's breakthrough novel, "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." She formed an instant bond with 12-year-old Margaret Simon who, like her, was embarking upon puberty at a time when people didn't talk openly about boys, bras and periods. She had finally found someone she could relate to.
"I would close my door and the world would fall away," she said. Blume's first-person narrative "always connected me with the character because she wrote so close to the heart."
Believe it or not, it's been nearly 43 years since "Are You There God?" jump-started Blume's prolific career, which changed the way a generation of readers learned about menstruation, masturbation and sex, among other growing pains. Though she's had her critics over the years, Blume, who turned 75 last week, can still draw a crowd in this latest chapter of her career, which includes a forthcoming novel and the first major motion picture adaptation of one of her novels - and it's not "Are You There God?"
"Tiger Eyes" may not be Blume's most popular book, but it's the one she and son Lawrence Blume (the inspiration for Fudge) had always wanted to bring to the big screen. Both said they felt a strong connection to lead character Davey Wexler, a teen whose mother uproots her from New Jersey to visit relatives in New Mexico after her father is killed in an armed robbery. Plus, it was the only novel they could film in 23 days on a budget that only allowed them to cast three professional actors from outside New Mexico, said Lawrence Blume, who directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with his mother.
FULL STORYBy Casey Wian and Michael Pearson, CNN
Irving, Texas (CNN) - Boy Scout executives won't vote this week on a proposal that would allow local troops to decide whether to welcome gay members and leaders.
The national organization's executive board had been expected to vote on the proposal Wednesday, but said instead that it needs more time to get comment on the issue from its members.
The decision will now be made at the organization's annual meeting in May. About 1,400 members of the group's national council will take part during that gathering, the board said.
"After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy," the board said in a statement.
In the meantime, the organization will "further engage representatives of Scouting's membership and listen to their perspectives and concerns."
FULL STORY
By Cindy Y. Rodriguez, CNN
(CNN) - Daniel Hernandez Jr. isn't your typical 23-year-old.
On January 8, 2011, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a "Congress on Your Corner" event in Tucson, Arizona, featuring U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Since he had some medical training, Hernandez ran toward the gunfire to tend to victims, realized Giffords was shot on the left side of her head and used his bare hands to keep her from losing more blood. Six people died and 13 people were injured, including Giffords, who is still recuperating.
That was Hernandez's first week interning for Giffords. He was only 20.
He's been credited with saving Giffords' life and recognized as a hero, although he rejects the title.
Since the tragedy, Hernandez's life hasn't been the same: It's involved interviews, meeting the president and first lady, and national fame. After graduating from the University of Arizona, he was elected to serve on a school board in Tucson but also travels the country as an inspirational speaker.
Now, in a heartfelt memoir, "They Call Me a Hero: A Memoir of My Youth," the Tucson native speaks in detail of the shooting, the experiences that have helped shaped him and why he doesn't want to be called a hero.
FULL STORY
By Mariano Castillo, CNN
(CNN) - When Erika Andiola's mother and brother were detained by immigration agents this month, she jumped to action.
She summoned the help of undocumented youths like herself, known as DREAMers, and within hours, immigration officials were flooded with dozens of phone calls.
Andiola's mother and brother were released.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the detention of the pair and their eventual release had nothing to do with Andiola's activism.
But that does not dampen her spirit. As far as she is concerned, the DREAMers snatched her mother from the brink of deportation.
"For us to get them to do that, it takes a lot of pressure," she said.
Her work, along with other DREAMers, has increasingly become a powerful voice shaping discussions on immigration reform, which President Obama has vowed to pass in his second term.
Dubbed DREAMers, their name is derived from the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, which, if passed, would have granted some undocumented immigrant youth legal status in return for attending college or joining the military.
In 2009, DREAMers knocked on doors and begged for support of the DREAM Act, a bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for certain youth who came to the United States as children and live in the country illegally.
Today, the movement is enjoying a certain amount of clout. FULL POST
Editor's note: Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. She will be stepping down from her role at the end of this month.
(CNN) - There have been a few moments in our history when a generation has used the power of its numbers and its passion for a cause to transcend a deeply divided society and change the course of the future for the better.
We've come to one of those moments.
About every 80 years, a young civic generation has forced the nation to deal with its fundamental challenges, according to Morley Winograd and Michael Hais in their 2011 book, "Millennial Momentum." They cite the American Revolution, the Civil War and the New Deal as key moments when a generation came together to create a different society.
Today's millennial generation is the next generation to wield that power.
I am a baby boomer. In the late 1960s, my generation rallied to make the case that a woman's right to choose should be guaranteed, and, 40 years ago on Tuesday, the Supreme Court handed down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Today, younger than 40 have always lived in an America where abortion has been legal.
Read Nancy Keenan's full column
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
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