By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN

(CNN) — For generations, the formula for getting ahead in America seemed straightforward: Go to college, work hard, save your money, buy a home and climb the economic ladder.

Today, that formula increasingly depends on something many Americans can’t control: whether their family has the financial means to help along the way. Without that support, many Americans face mounting debt and an increasingly difficult – if not impossible – path to homeownership and wealth accumulation.

The dependence is especially pronounced among young adults, who are entering an economy that has become less forgiving. Breaking into the job market is tougher than it was just a few years ago; everyday expenses are eating up a larger share of paychecks; student loan debt continues to weigh on borrowers; and would-be homeowners are being pushed to the sidelines as high prices collide with stubborn mortgage rates.

That reality is reshaping the role of family support. Nearly half of adults ages 18 to 29 received assistance from someone they don’t live with to cover recurring expenses over the past year — such as housing, transportation and medical bills — according to the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking.

An almost identical share (49%) of people from that cohort also reported living with parents, according to the survey, which was fielded in October. That’s up six percentage points from 2022 and 12 percentage points from 2019.

“I definitely am seeing kids tied to their parents longer,” said Nate Kinzinger, a wealth adviser at Small World Wealth Management, a division of Northwestern Mutual. Part of it is that they’re not earning enough to support themselves, he said. But they’re also not changing their lifestyles to save money. Instead, he said, “they’re asking their parents to give them more.”

Among what he describes as the “moderately affluent” families he advises, Kinzinger said parents often oblige.

Not every family has the financial means to do so.

Giving while living

For parents who can afford it, giving financial assistance to adult children has become a way to help them meet their immediate needs, rather than making their children wait until they pass away to inherit it, said Emily Irwin, a managing director of private wealth planning at Wells Fargo.

“They’re reflecting upon their goals, and they’re saying that they find more joy, fulfillment and purpose in being able to see the impact,” she said.

That philosophy shaped the decision David made after inheriting more than half a million dollars from his parents at the age of 61. David, a retired physical therapist who is now 68, asked that his family’s last name not be used to protect their privacy.

His financial adviser had already assured him that the roughly $750,000 he and his wife had saved for retirement plus the additional $566,000 he inherited was more than enough to support them. So he decided to give $50,000 to both of his children. While his adviser encouraged him to put himself first and keep all the money, he felt that given the simple lifestyle he leads, if he couldn’t get by without the extra $100,000, he was doing something wrong.

He gave them the money on Christmas Day 2019, tucked inside cards alongside a letter and deposit slips.

“Grammie and Papa worked hard and were frugal. They lived the American dream,” he wrote. “Despite being the children of a machinist and housewife; and a road crew supervisor and librarian, they were the first generat

By Ray Sanchez, CNN

(CNN) — Days after Gabriel Hurtado-Cariaco was arrested by federal officers in Nebraska last summer, government officials branded the Venezuelan delivery driver with incendiary labels: “a criminal illegal alien,” “a known Tren de Aragua terrorist” and even alleged he slammed one agent’s head into the ground and choked her.

But that version of events, reported by some news outlets, began unraveling when bystander videos contradicted accounts painting the immigrant as a villain, the officers as victims.

Then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche called Hurtado-Cariaco a “vicious Tren de Aragua gang member” in a June 2025 Justice Department statement.

“Violent attacks from terrorists against those who serve our communities will be met with swift and decisive justice,” Blanche said. The attorney general at the time, Pamela Bondi, weighed in, announcing a charge of attempted murder.

To his public defender, Hurtado-Cariaco’s case is yet another instance where video footage or other evidence largely undercuts the government’s account of immigration enforcement actions.

“It certainly seems like a pattern to me,” Federal Public Defender Richard McWilliams told CNN, referring to recent immigration arrests where DHS’ narratives were at odds with the evidence or undermined by video footage.

“If no one had recorded it, we’d be going to trial,” McWilliams said of his client’s arrest, underscoring just how crucial such documentation can be in high-stakes cases with pliable narratives.

Narrative travels ‘halfway around the world’

Hurtado-Cariaco, an asylum seeker paroled into the United States in 2024 after deserting the Venezuelan military, was indicted last summer on attempted murder and other charges, according to court documents.

The initial complaint, filed on the day he was apprehended, alleged Hurtado-Cariaco forcibly resisted arrest, according to a pre-sentencing court filing by McWilliams.

In an amended complaint a day later, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent wrote the defendant “violently threw himself” against the officer and caused her head to “smack harshly against the ground.” He later put the officer in a “chokehold” and continued to choke her “rather than simply flee the scene,” the complaint said.

Like in other cases before his, there would be no trial for Hurtado-Cariaco. He agreed to a plea bargain and threw himself at the mercy of the court for sentencing. He had no criminal record before his guilty plea, according to his attorney and court documents.

The difference in his case: the cellphone videos.

McWilliams, in the pre-sentencing filing, said HSI agents saw the videos via social media in mid-July, weeks after the arrest. The Nebraska US Attorney’s Office did not have those videos in han

Por David Mack, CNN

Cuando se celebró en Manhattan el estreno en Nueva York de la versión de Christopher Nolan de “La Odisea”, una estatua de un caballo de casi 12 metros de altura se alzaba sobre la alfombra roja. Otros equinos gigantes han estado recorriendo el país (y el Reino Unido) para promocionar la película, que también utiliza la imagen del icónico caballo de madera de Troya en algunos de sus carteles. Y aunque el poema griego antiguo original no narra con gran detalle los acontecimientos de la famosa estratagema mitológica, sigue siendo un símbolo poderoso para la nueva película de Nolan, algo que los fans que ya la han visto comprenden perfectamente.

En una secuencia visceral y emocionante, Nolan traslada al público al interior del caballo de Troya para una escena extensa y cruda que expone las condiciones agobiantes y aterradoras de quienes se esconden dentro, subrayando su hambre frenética y animal por triunfar en la batalla.

Esta escena, que dura varios minutos, no tiene parangón en las numerosas representaciones previas de este momento mitológico en la cultura popular. Max Nelson, profesor asociado de estudios griegos y romanos que ha impartido cursos sobre las representaciones del mundo antiguo en la pantalla en la Universidad de Windsor (Canadá), afirmó no recordar ninguna otra obra que atrapara al público junto a los griegos en el interior del caballo de una manera tan sombría. “Las duras condiciones que soportaron los griegos al esperar durante días dentro del caballo de Troya no se habían mostrado antes en pantalla”, señaló Nelson.

Lo que resulta especialmente novedoso en la película de Nolan es que invierte la perspectiva a la que el público está más acostumbrado. “Por lo general, el episodio se presenta desde el punto de vista de los troyanos, que deben decidir qué hacer con él”, explicó Nelson.

Es evidente que la escena llevaba tiempo rondando la mente de Nolan. El director británico estuvo vinculado brevemente al proyecto de la película “Troya” (2004), protagonizada por Brad Pitt, antes de que la dirección recayera en Wolfgang Petersen. “Llevaba mucho tiempo dándole vueltas a esto”, declaró el año pasado a la revista Empire. “Ciertas imágenes en particular: cómo quería abordar el caballo de Troya, cosas por el estilo”. Nolan también declaró este mes a The Independent que había dedicado mucho tiempo a pensar cómo representar el caballo de Troya y lograr que resultara “creíble” para el público. “Llevo veinte años con la imagen de ese caballo hundiéndose en la arena grabada en la mente”, afirmó.

De hecho, esta nueva película protagonizada por Matt Damon comienza con una breve escena en la que los troyanos descubren la estatua del caballo, aparentemente abandonada entre las olas a la orilla del mar, tal como Nolan la había imaginado. (El director comentó a Jon Stewart, de The Daily Show, que consideraba necesario que el caballo pareciera haber sido dejado allí, junto al mar, para que resultara “creíble” ante el público que los troyanos no lo vieran como una estratagema). El único griego que permanece allí, Sinón (Elliot Page), explica a los soldados troyanos que el caballo es una ofrenda de despedida a los dioses por parte de su ejército, que al parecer ha desistido del asedio a la ciudad, mantenido durante años.

Entonces, justo cuando creemos que vamos a seguir el regalo-trampa a través de las puertas de Troya, Nolan cambia de escena. No volvemos a ver el caballo hasta unos 45 minutos después, cuando Menelao (Jon Bernthal) relata a Telémaco (Tom Holland) cómo fue esconderse en el interior de la estatua junto al padre de este, Odiseo (Damon), y otros soldados.

La versión de los hechos que vemos en pantalla resulta aterradora, por no decir otra cosa. Se muestra a homb

By Logan Schiciano, CNN

(CNN) — Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina announced on Saturday he will run to replace Lindsey Graham in the Senate.

“For years, Senator Lindsey Graham fought hard to save America and defend South Carolina. Now, President Trump needs another proven America First conservative in the US Senate to deliver on those America First priorities,” Norman said in a news release.

Graham died last Saturday from a tear in his artery, according to preliminary findings from a medical examiner. His younger sister, Darline, was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to serve out the remainder of the late senator’s term, which ends in January. The state will hold a special primary election next month to determine the Republican nominee in the general election in November.

President Donald Trump on Friday urged Darline Graham to run in the special primary and pledged his endorsement, though Graham has not yet announced her plans to do so.

Other potential candidates who have been floated include Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Rep. Nancy Mace, who both lost in the state’s GOP gubernatorial primary this year.

The filing period for the GOP special primary begins on July 21 and ends on July 28.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with additional information.

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