Young People Frequent Libraries, Study Finds

In a digital world where many younger readers feel increasingly comfortable downloading novels and textbooks onto their computers or e-readers, a majority of Americans from the ages of 16 through 29 still frequent libraries.

According to a study released Monday by the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of Americans surveyed in this age group said they still visited the library. They use libraries to conduct research, borrow print, audio and electronic books and, in some cases, read magazines and newspapers.

That finding would seem to clash with the popular notion that young readers have turned away from libraries and print books as the source of their reading material, said Kathryn Zickuhr, research analyst with the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. “A lot of people think that young people aren't reading, they aren't using libraries,” Ms. Zickuhr said. “That they're just turning to Google for everything.”

The Pew Center has be en researching the use of the nation's libraries for more than two years, with financing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The latest study involved a telephone survey, conducted last November and December, of nearly 3,000 people 16 and older talking about their reading habits, and data from two telephone polls conducted in January. While young people clearly do not read newspapers as regularly as their parents and grandparents did, their consumption of magazines is more closely aligned. The study showed that 40 percent of surveyed Americans under 30 regularly read newspapers, compared with 62 percent of older Americans. Seventy-one percent of those under 30 who do read news regularly said they viewed all of their news through hand-held devices.

While 42 percent of Americans under 30 read magazines, 50 percent of older adults read magazines.

But in troubling news for tablet makers, the study also found that the subjects under 30 who read electronically were more likely to read books on a cellphone or a computer.

In fact, the study found that 41 percent of readers under 30 view books using a cellphone and 55 percent read from a computer. Only 23 percent of Americans under 30 used an e-reader and 16 percent used a tablet.

“That's definitely something we will keep an eye on,” Ms. Zickuhr said.

Coroner Officially Declares Tony Scott Death a Suicide

LOS ANGELES-The director Tony Scott's death was officially declared a suicide on Monday, as the Los Angeles County Coroner released a brief summary of the findings in the case.

Mr. Scott died on Aug. 19 after jumping from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the Los Angeles Harbor. A full coroner's report is still pending, and should be available within two weeks, the coroner's office said in a statement.

In the summary released Monday, the coroner's office said that Mr. Scott died by “multiple blunt force injuries” and drowning, after jumping from the bridge. Toxicology tests showed a “therapeutic level” of Mirtazipine, which is an anti-depressant, and zopiclone, which is a sleep-aid, the report said.

Mr. Scott, the brother and business partner of Ridley Scott, was 68 years old when he died. An autopsy was conducted on Aug. 20, the coroner said.

Craig Harvey, a public information officer with the coroner's office, declined to elaborate on the repor t.

Brief Labor Action at New York Times

Hundreds of members of The New York Times Company's newsroom staff staged a brief rally Monday afternoon related to the lack of progress on a new contract with the company.

The action lasted for less than 10 minutes. Involved union members met in the building's lobby, with many wearing stickers that said “Believe Us.” Some held signs that read “Without us it's just blank space” and “Save Our Times.” Employees gathered on the staircase of the 41st Street entrance of The Times's headquarters and took a group photograph to give to the company's incoming chief executive, Mark Thompson. Mr. Thompson, who does not start with the company until the middle of November, is visiting The Times this week for some meetings.

This is the second such action in two weeks by Times employees. On Oct. 8, staff members left the building briefly. Earlier this year some workers gathered and stood by silently as top editors headed into the paper's afternoon editorial meetin g.

On Oct. 10, The Times and the union agreed to work with the mediator Marty Sheinman. The disagreements involve the company's pensions, salaries and health insurance.

Showtime Orders Third Season of \'Homeland\'

To the surprise of almost no one in television, Showtime announced Monday that it had ordered a third season of its Emmy-winning drama “Homeland.”

And, in some news that is only slightly more surprising, the Fox network renewed its fall singing competition, “The X Factor,” for a third season.

“Homeland” is not the most-watched show on Showtime. “Dexter” still attracts more viewers, but the network has never had a show with so much prestige value. Beyond its win for best drama, “Homeland” also took home Emmy Awards for best actress, Claire Danes, and best actor, Damian Lewis. And the critical acclaim for the series has only increased this season.

“X Factor” has seen its ratings drop in its second season, eclipsed by the more successful and talked-about singing competition on NBC, “The Voice.” But in a fall season when Fox has struggled on most nights, “X Factor” has remained a steady performer on two nights.

“The Voi ce” also made news Monday. NBC announced it will program three live editions of the show during election week - Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. (The regular Tuesday night edition will be pre-empted by election coverage.) The Wednesday version will have one hour, and the Thursday special will be two hours.

Home Affordability Still Elusive in Some Major Markets

T. Lynne Pixley for The New York TimesA home for sale earlier this year near Atlanta.

Despite a drop in prices since the housing market crash and historically low mortgage rates, many families still can't afford to buy a home in many major cities, a new analysis finds.

Despite lower prices, a median-income household can afford a median-priced home in just 14 of the country's 25 largest metropolitan areas due to rising expenses and stagnant wages, research from Interest.com finds.

The home affordability study finds that Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis are the most affordable markets, and San Diego, New York and San Francisco are the least affordable.< /p>

“Even after years of declining home prices and record-low mortgage rates, median-income households are unable to afford a median-priced home in nearly half of the metropolitan areas that we looked at,” explained Mike Sante, the site's managing editor, in a statement.

To determine their rankings, Interest.com gathered the median home prices in the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States and calculated how much financing would be required for a buyer with a 20 percent down payment. The site crunched data from the National Association of Realtors, the Census Bureau and other sources, including data on insurance costs and taxes, to arrive at its findings.

Interest.com gave each market a letter-grade for overall affordability, as well as a “paycheck power” rating, which indicates the percentage by which the median income exceeds, or falls short of, the income necessary to buy a median-priced home.

Atlanta scored an “A” on affordabili ty and a paycheck power rating of 40 percent, which means that the median income in the city exceeds that needed to buy a median-priced home there by 40 percent. The city has relatively low home prices - the median sale price of $103,200 is well below the average of nearly $230,000 for the 25 largest cities - and slightly higher income. (Detroit's rating was even higher, but the city represents a special situation, Interest.com notes, because the low home prices reflect a large number of abandoned properties).

The least affordable city was San Francisco, where the median income falls 33 percent short of the income needed to buy a median-priced home.

The most-affordable and least-affordable markets and their paycheck power ratings are:

1. Detroit (+45.32 percent)
2. Atlanta (+40 percent)
3. Minneapolis (+32.2 percent)
4. Phoenix (+23.67 percent)
5. St. Louis (+23.49 percent)

Least Affordable Metropolitan Areas

21. Los Ange les (-12.52 percent)
22. Miami (-12.59 percent)
23. San Diego (-25.9 percent)
24. New York (-29.71 percent)
25. San Francisco (-32.76 percent)

Do you live in one of the more expensive markets? Do you think you will be able to buy a home there?

Just a Minute: 3 Screens for 3 Televised Matchups

Brian Stelter has a solution for television viewers who think they have to choose among Monday night's presidential debate, baseball playoff game and “Monday Night Football”: watch all three.

Earlier:

• ESPN Suggests Watching Monday Night Game and Debate on Two Screens

Monday Reading: Some Clinics Raffle Off Chances for Fertility Treatment

A variety of consumer-focused articles appears daily in The New York Times and on our blogs. Each weekday morning, we gather them together here so you can quickly scan the news that could hit you in your wallet.

• Raffling off a chance for in vitro fertilization. (National)
• When the Web's chaos takes an ugly turn. (Sunday Business)
• The end is nigh for certain tax exemptions. (Real Estate)
• A cab tailored to wheelchair users. (Automobiles)
• Silicon Valley perks come home. (National)
• Boys now enter puberty younger, study suggests. (National)
• Despite fans' fears, Disney's Country Bears remain corny. (Arts)
• Microsoft shifts privacy rules, but uproar is absent. (Business)
• You don't work as hard as you say you do. (Economix)
• How are 7-inch tablets doing? (Bits)
• An app to help find apps. (Gadgetwise)
• From radiation to smog, numbers for the public. (Green)
• Some schools try to ban “Flamin' Hot Cheetos.” (Well)
• Elections, politics and a house divided. (Motherlode)
• Depending on the favored child. (The New Old Age)
• Meningitis risk haunts 14,000. (National)
• Microsoft Windows gets a major makeover. (Business)
• A tiny camera for the stratosphere. (Bits)
• Eating Well magazine has new lease on life. (Business)
• Your fees, their bank. (Economix)
• More on maps. (Gadgetwise)
• In fight against obesity, drink sizes matter. (Well)
• Answers to questions about SAT and ACT, part one. (The Choice)

Call It an Uncertainty Fund, Not an Emergency Fund

The Behavior Gap,” was published this year. His sketches are archived on the Bucks blog. A few weeks ago I wrote about the challenges of managing a lumpy income-one that varies a lot from month to month or year to year.

With this shift to lumpy incomes comes the increasing need to pay attention to what my friend Manisha Thakor, a financial adviser and author, calls an “uncertainty fund.”

We used to call this thing an emergency fund or a rainy day fund, but the basic idea is this: You set aside a bunch of cash to see you through emergencies like a job loss or huge medical bills.

There are a lot of old rules floating around about emergency funds. The most common one says you need to save between three and six months of your income to really be safe. But there are few problems with that rule.

• It's arbitrary. Why is three months or six months right for everyone?
• Who has that kind of money anyway?
• Where should collecting that pile of money land on the priority list?

Do you stop building your retirement account for a year or two or three to build up your uncertainty fund? Should you pay off your credit card debt first? What about saving for your kids' college tuition?

So the old rules of thumb are inadequate for most of us, yet the need for an uncertainty fund is rising. Now what should you do?

In this case, I'm not going to try to replace an old, arbitrary rule with a new one. I suggest you ask yourself two crucial questions to decide how to solve your own uncertainty fund problem.

1. What is the level of uncertainty in my life?

To decide how much risk you can afford to take with your finances, consider the risk you're taking with your human capital. If you're on a risky career path, you might need your uncertainty fund to be a lot bigger.

We used to think of risky careers as those that crazy entrepreneurs pursue. But now, for the first time, you're at risk even if you have the kind of steady job we used to think was secure for life.

I have a lot of friends in Las Vegas who are dentists. I don't know of any of them who went into dentistry out of a spirit of entrepreneurial risk-taking. They went into it because it was stable.

But then they woke up one day and found that the economy had crashed. The real estate market imploded, people were moving away and my friends worried about losing their practices. These guys are dentists - they didn't sign up for all of this. They signed up for doing the same thing for 30 years. They didn't really do anything wrong. It's just that the landscape shifted. So examine whether that same shifting landscape has put your own career in greater uncertainty, or whet her it might before too long.

Consider other potential financial uncertainties too. What do you worry about? Maybe you fear that your elderly parents might become dependent on you or your children might have to move back in with you after college.

2. How can I deal with it?

Now think about the resources available to you if you lost your job, had to support an aging parent or needed to pay off a huge hospital bill.

Some of us may decide the best approach is to save as much as we can in an old-fashioned rainy day fund. But if money is so tight that saving isn't a realistic option, you have to get creative.

• Do you have home equity you can tap? Consider getting a line of credit now to serve as your safety net in case of emergencies.
• Can you borrow against the money in your 401(k) plan? Would you want to do that?
• If your spouse doesn't work, could he or she get a job?
• Do you have decent disability insurance?
• Do yo u have a fallback plan if you lost your job? Maybe you used to wait tables or paint houses and might be able to pick up some work on the side while you look for something better.

The point is that an uncertainty fund doesn't have to be $100,000 parked in a money market fund. But it's important to have some kind of plan in place that will offer at least some cushion against financial blows.

What creative ways have you discovered to add to your uncertainty fund?

 

Breakfast Meeting: The Poetry of Print

Newsweek's impending demise in print â€" it will live on in digital editions only beginning in January â€" is a reminder that sometimes instincts and timing are crucial in the magazine world, David Carr writes in his Media Equation column in The Times. Felix Dennis, the British magazine owner, has had impeccable timing, selling his publications at the height of their value, and his success has made him determined to prove there is still some life in print.

The Walt Disney Company has been successful with theme parks, animated films, merchandise and a number of other enterprises. But the Internet? That's a different story. A successful Web site has so far eluded Disney, and its game, mobile and Internet division has posted 15 consecutive quarterly losses. Now Disney is trying again, introducing its third new site in five years. Brooks Barnes of The Times looks at whether Disney may have truly solved the online riddle.

It's Bob Schieffer's turn in the hot seat on Monday night, Dylan Byers writes on Politico. The veteran CBS newsman and host of “Face the Nation'' will moderate the third and final presidential debate. If precedent is a guide, the candidates will ignore the rules of the format, making Mr. Schieffer's job harder. And when it's all over, somebody, perhaps many somebodies, will be displeased with Mr. Schieffer's performance.

The editor of a prominent BBC News show is stepping aside as a result of a scandal at the broadcaster involving the deceased television personality Jimmy Savile, Alan Cowell and John F. Burns report in The Times. The editor, Peter Rippon, abandoned an investigation into the behavior of Mr. Savile, who was regarded by some as a national treasure but has been accused of sexually abusing young girls. In a statement on Monday, the BBC said Mr. Rippon's explanation for dropping the segment purely for editorial reasons was “inaccurate or incomplete in some respects.â €

The last shall be first â€" if things fall into place and a few unique factors are thrown in. And that is why NBC is, believe it or not, leading the ratings race for attracting viewers in the coveted 18- to 49-year-old category, Bill Carter writes in The Times. NBC has been last for about a decade in that category, but the network has surged to unexpected success on the strength of pro football on Sunday night, the success of “The Voice'' on Monday and Tuesday, and the breakout hit “Revolution'' on Monday.

At Eating Well magazine, trust and loyalty were in short supply after the magazine was shut down in the late 1990s. But, Christine Haughney reports, the magazine is enjoying new life, and carving tis own niche, after being bought by the Meredith Corporation last year.

What's in a name? Plenty, the Weather Channel believes, so it is dropping the word “channel'' from its name and becoming the Weather Company, Brian Stelter writes in The Times. The channel will remain, of course, but the company believes the change is a way to emphasize that much of its growth is now coming from its Web site and other business operations.

Can a company ignore a market as big as the United States and still be successful? Deezer, a French start-up in the music streaming business, is adopting that strategy, Eric Pfanner writes for The Times. With $130 million in new financing, Deezer is turning its back on the American market and instead hoping to expand into about 160 other countries, in the belief that the field is less crowded outside the United States.