The Jan. 7 death by suicide of Glenbrook North High School student Dylan Buckner is just one example of why parents are concerned. Buckner’s father in a Tribune interview said his son’s isolation and lack of school activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to his struggles.
“I would argue, and I believe strongly, that Dylan’s death is not going to show up in COVID statistics, and yet absolutely it’s a COVID death,” Chris Buckner said.
Las Vegas-area school officials moved quickly late last year to get schools reopened after noticing a spike in suicides and an uptick in a student mental health monitoring system. Eighteen students had died by suicide as of December. The superintendent of schools, Jesus Jara, wanted to move quickly to get kids back into their school routines.
Hang tough, Illinois, and cap interest rates at 36% on payday loans | Editorial suntimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from suntimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Six years ago, a woman in Downstate Springfield, Billie Aschmeller, took out a $596 short-term loan that carried a crazy high 304% annual interest rate. Even if she paid back the loan in the two years required by her lender, her total bill would exceed $3,000.
Before long, though, Aschmeller fell behind on other basic expenses, desperately trying to keep up with the loan so as not to lose the title to her car. Eventually, she ended up living in that car.
Aschmeller regrets she ever went the payday and car title loan route, with its usury-high levels of interest, though her intentions to buy a winter coat, crib and car seat for her pregnant daughter were understandable. She is now an outspoken advocate in Illinois for cracking down on a short-term small loan industry that, by any measure, has left millions of Americans like her only poorer and more desperate.