PR Newswire Broadcast Minute for Monday, May 2, 2005

PR Newswire Broadcast Minute for Monday, May 2, 2005

Number of America's Working Families Spending More Than Half Their Income on Housing Grows 76 Percent, New Study Finds

In just over half a decade the number of America's working families paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing has grown 76 percent, according to a new study released entitled The Housing Landscape for America's Working Families 2005, conducted by the Center for Housing Policy, the research affiliate of the National Housing Conference. Specifically, in 1997 2 point 4 million working families spent more than half their income on housing, but by 2003 this number had grown dramatically to 4 point 2 million. This comprehensive study also compares immigrant working families to their native-born counterparts and reveals that immigrant working families are 75 percent more likely to pay more than half their income for housing. Working families are defined as low- to moderate-income families that work the equivalent of a full-time job and earn from the minimum wage of $10,700 and up to 120 percent of the median income in their area. Freddie Mac, one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages, funded the study.

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2935506

Obesity in Middle Age Increases Risk of Dementia Later In Life

Obesity has long been known to increase the risk of a number of diseases, including diabetes, stroke, insulin resistance and hypertension. This same obesity in mid life may also have damaging effects on the brain. In a new study from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California, investigators are reporting that obesity in middle age increases the risk of dementia in later life. The study appears online in the British Medical Journal. The study is the first to evaluate the effect of obesity in middle age on the subsequent risk of future dementia and the first to determine whether skin-fold thickness is associated with dementia.

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2935006

Supermarkets, Computer Hardware and Software, Online Search Engines, and Packaged Goods Top the List of Industries Doing a Good Job for Their Consumers

Every year at this time, Harris Interactive presents a cross-section of U-S adults a list of different industries and asks whether they are generally doing "a good job or a bad job of serving their consumers." In this year's survey the industry which gets the most positive and lowest negative replies is the supermarket industry. Fully 92 percent of adults think supermarkets generally do a good job and only eight percent think they do a bad job, giving them a net positive score (i.e. good job minus bad job) of 84 percentage points.

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2934660

Bob Schiffer, Legendary Makeup Man to Such Hollywood Leading Ladies as Rita Hayworth and Roz Russell, and Head Of Disney's Make-Up Dept. for 33 Years, Dies at Age 88; Won Acclaim for Aging Burt Lancaster in 'Birdman of Alcatraz'

Bob Schiffer, a legendary Hollywood makeup artist with a reputation for working with such leading ladies as Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Marlene Dietrich, Paulette Goddard, and Rosalind Russell to look their glamorous best, and the man who aged Burt Lancaster from 18 to 80 for "The Birdman of Alcatraz," died on Tuesday April 26th at U-C-L-A Medical Center in Los Angeles. He died from complications due to a stroke and was 88 years old. Schiffer spent the last 33 years of his professional career at The Walt Disney Studios, where he headed up the makeup department, and put his unique artistic stamp on such films as "The Shaggy D.A.," "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and "Splash," among others. He retired from Disney in 2001.

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2935543

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PRNewswire -- May 2

Source: PR Newswire

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