WASHINGTON — Children now make up less of America’s population than ever before, even with a boost from immigrant families, according to census figures. Currently, the share of children in the U.S. is 24 percent, falling below the previous low of 26 percent of 1990.

And when this generation grows up, it will become a shrinking work force that will have to support the nation’s expanding elderly population — even as the government strains to cut spending for health care, pensions and much else.

The latest 2010 census data show that children of immigrants make up one in four people younger than 18, and are now the fastest-growing segment of the nation’s youth, an indication that both legal and illegal immigrants as well as minority births are lifting the nation’s population.

Currently, the share of children in the U.S. is 24 percent, falling below the previous low of 26 percent of 1990. The share is projected to slip further, to 23 percent by 2050, even as the percentage of people 65 and older is expected to jump from 13 percent to 19 percent because of the aging of baby boomers and beyond.

In 1900, the share of children reached as high as 40 percent, […]

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The Environmental Protection Agency will not meet its July 29 deadline to issue final rules for tightening ozone standards that were put in place during the George W. Bush administration.

The latest delay comes as major industry groups, many Republicans and some conservative Democrats are pressuring EPA and the White House to scuttle the rules.

EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said in a statement Tuesday that agency Administrator Lisa Jackson remains ‘fully committed

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Scientists say those who age best have a light-hearted, optimistic outlook on life.

The findings offer a new theory on why some people with good genes have a sunnier outlook and sharper mind in old age, with exercise and even completing crosswords previously cited as ways of keeping your brain young.

However, scientists at the University of Hamburg in Germany discovered that simply focusing your brain on positive thoughts, and living for the moment, rather than looking too far into the future, can help maintain good mental health.

Dr Stefanie Brassen, the study’s author, said that successful ageing came down to ‘the positivity effect

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In an interview on MSNBC’s Hardball Monday evening, tenther Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) admitted that he is using the threat of a catastrophic default to extort the nation into rewriting the Constitution to force a permanent era of conservative governance:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: How many days do you think we have, on the outside, to get this debt ceiling through before we have a problem? How many days?

LEE: I don’t know, maybe ten days.

MATTHEWS: Okay, in ten days you want to change the United States Constitution by two-thirds vote in both houses? That’s what you’re demanding.

LEE: Yes. If possible we can’t change the Constitution just in Congress but we can submit it to the states. Let the states fight it out.

MATTHEWS: And you think you’re being reasonable by saying you want a two-thirds vote in the House, which is Republican, and in the Senate which is Democrat. You want the Democratic Senate, by a two-thirds vote, to pass a constitutional amendment or you want the house to come down?

LEE: Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying and I’ve been […]

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Environmental groups are aghast at proposed legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, which they claim is ‘larded up with giveaways to polluters and corporate donors.’

The U.S. House of Representatives began debate Monday on the Fiscal Year 2012 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. The House Appropriations Committee approved the legislation by a 28 to 18 vote on July 12, allotting $27.5 billion in spending for the Department of the Interior, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Forest Service, and various related agencies.

The legislation includes an 18 percent funding cut for the EPA and a 7 percent cut for the Department of the Interior.