By SEAN MURPHY

Patrick Hotze’s three daughters made it home safe from Camp Mystic after July’s catastrophic floods that killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors. He attended some of the funerals and says he understands the outrage over the Texas camp’s plan to partially reopen next year.

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He also intends to send his girls back.

“My heart is broken for them,” Hotze said of the parents whose girls died, including some he described as close friends. “I think it’s different for each kid and each family.”

For the first time since the roaring flood, the 100-year-old all-girls Christian sleepaway retreat plans to sign up campers in January, forging ahead with a reopening that has divided families and stunned some lawmakers. Campers will start arriving in May, bunking on higher ground than the area where fast-rising waters on the Guadalupe River swept away two cabins.

Some families say the decision to let their daughters return is a vital step in their own healing from the disaster that is still under scrutiny. The floodwaters that worsened with terrifying quickness during the July Fourth holiday weekend killed at least 117 people in Kerr County alone. Two victims have still not been found, including an 8-year-old Camp Mystic camper.

Promises of extra safety and preventive measures

Next year, Texas legislators are set to hold investigative hearings into the tragedy but have shown little appetite to assign blame. Local leaders in Kerr County, including two who were asleep when the waters started rising, remain in their jobs after defending their preparations and evacuation efforts. They are now steering a slow recovery while trying to expedite a new flood warning system before campers return.

“We recognize that returning to Camp Mystic carries both hope and heartache,” Camp Mystic’s owners wrote in a letter to families this month. “For many of your daughters, this return is not simple, but it is a courageous step in their healing journey.”

It is unclear how many girls will return to Camp Mystic when the camp begins enrollment next month, but a spokesperson said there is “strong interest.” The camp’s owner, Dick Eastland, died in the flood and his family has vowed to enhance safety measures before reopening, including two-way radios in every cabin and new flood warning river monitors.

The devastating July floods were hardly the first to strike the area known as “Flash Flood Alley,” where the limestone hills quickly gather water and funnel it into narrow river banks. This year was at least the fifth time in a century that flooding near the Guadalupe River has turned deadly. An attorney for Camp Mystic, Mikal Watts, said he and camp officials have contacted several former campers who witnessed previous floods and who told them they were nowhere near as high or as powerful as the flooding this year.

Outrage and acceptance

Those assurances have not quieted some parents of the 27 victims, who say the decision to reopen is insensitive and that the Eastland family has refused to take responsibility for its failures.

Lawsuits filed by some of the families allege camp operators failed to protect the children and even ordered girls and counselors in the cabins closest to the river to stay inside as floodwaters overwhelmed the property. Hundreds of 911 calls released by authorities this month included a woman who lived a mile downriver and said two of the campers had swept by.

“As parents of children who were killed at Camp Mystic last summer, we are deeply hurt but, sadly, not shocked by yet another insensitive announcement from Camp Mystic focused on enrollment,” the parents of six girls who died said in a public statement this month.

Some parents say Camp Mystic has played an instrumental role in their children’s personal and spiritual development, and that eased their decision to allow their girls to return.

Liberty Lindley’s 9-year-old daughter, Evie, was among those caught in the flooding. She was trapped with her campmates in a cabin dubbed Wiggle Inn, adjacent to the low-lying cabins that were quickly inundated by the flooded river.

Many of the girls Evie knew were swept to their deaths.

Yet despite the horror Evie endured, floating on mattresses with her friends in the pitch dark before being evacuated by helicopter, Lindley said her daughter didn’t hesitate when asked if she wanted to return to Camp Mystic.

“I know some people don’t understand that or think that’s crazy,” she said of her decision to allow her daughter to go back.

She recalled talking with Evie — whose twin sister died of leukemia in 2024 — while washing her hair in the bathtub, right after her terrifying ordeal.

“She thought she was going to be seeing her sister that night in heaven,” Lindley recalled. “And she still looked at me with a smile and said, ‘Mom, I really hope next year at camp we do Mary Poppins again, because I still really want to be Bert.’ That is just hours after the fact.”

Some parents remain unsure

Still, not all parents are eager to send their daughters back to Camp Mystic.

John Ball, an attorney in McAllen, Texas, whose daughter was at Camp Mystic during the flood, said he has serious reservations, especially after the poor communication from camp officials about his daughter’s whereabouts.

Ball said he was out of town and didn’t learn that his daughter was safe until more than 12 hours after the flooding, when she was able to borrow a cellphone and call him.

“That was the hardest part, not knowing,” Ball said.

“I think we’re going to take this year off and see how it goes and what these changes look like that they’re implementing,” he said, “and we’ll go from there.”

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, Associated Press

This holiday season, many U.S. drivers are getting the gift of lower gas prices.

According to data from motor club AAA, December has been the cheapest month for prices at the pump this year. The national average for unleaded gasoline has stayed below the $3 mark since Dec. 2, falling to its lowest level of about $2.85 a gallon on Monday.

That figure has inched up slightly since, sitting at closer to $2.86 a gallon Tuesday — but overall, consumers hitting the road ahead of the Christmas holiday will likely continue to see mild prices.

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As always, some states have cheaper averages than others, due to factors ranging from nearby refinery supply to local fuel requirements. Hawaii had the highest average of about $4.44 a gallon on Tuesday, per AAA — followed by $4.30 in California and $3.92 in Washington. Meanwhile, Oklahoma had the lowest average at about $2.30 per gallon, followed by nearly $2.42 in both Arkansas and Iowa.

Still, nationwide, unleaded gasoline is down more than 18 cents than it was at this time last year, and 21 cents from a month ago. So far, AAA says that prices seen this month mark the cheapest December for gas prices since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the economy.

The travel organization notes that this month’s cheaper prices arrive as supply remains strong. Crude oil, the main ingredient in gasoline, has also been at a relatively mild level — with West Texas Intermediate remaining below the $60 per barrel mark for most of December.

Relief at the pump is welcome for consumers who have been feeling higher prices in other parts of their budgets — as worries about the costs of goods ranging from groceries to holiday gifts rise amid ongoing inflation and President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign imports.

Government data actually showed that consumer prices cooled in November, rising at just 2.7% from a year earlier. But year-over-year inflation still remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target — and economists quickly warned that last month’s numbers were suspect because of delays and possible distortions from the 43-day federal shutdown.

Most Americans have continued to express anger and frustration about the high cost of living — as well as an uncertain job market. On Tuesday, the Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index fell in December to its lowest level since April.

By MIKE SCHNEIDER

The oldest baby boomers — once the vanguard of an American youth that revolutionized U.S. culture and politics — turn 80 in 2026.

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The generation that twirled the first plastic hula hoops and dressed up the first Barbie dolls, embraced the TV age, blissed out at Woodstock and protested the Vietnam War — the cohort that didn’t trust anyone over age 30 — now is contributing to the overall aging of America.

Boomers becoming octogenarians in 2026 include actor Henry Winkler and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, singers Cher and Dolly Parton and presidents Donald Trump, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The aging and shrinking youth of America

America’s population swelled with around 76 million births from 1946 to 1964, a spike magnified by couples reuniting after World War Two and enjoying postwar prosperity.

Boomers were better educated and richer than previous generations, and they helped grow a consumer-driven economy. In their youth, they pushed for social change through the Civil Rights Movement, the women’s rights movement and efforts to end the Vietnam War.

“We had rock ‘n’ roll. We were the first generation to get out and demonstrate in the streets. We were the first generation, that was, you know, a socially conscious generation,” said Diane West, a metro Atlanta resident who turns 80 in January. “Our parents played by the rules. We didn’t necessarily play by the rules, and there were lots of us.”

As they got older they became known as the “me” generation, a pejorative term coined by writer Tom Wolfe to reflect what some regarded as their self-absorption and consumerism.

“The thing about baby boomers is they’ve always had a spotlight on them, no matter what age they were,” Brookings demographer William Frey said. “They were a big generation, but they also did important things.”

By the end of this decade, all baby boomers will be 65 and older, and the number of people 80 and over will double in 20 years, Frey said.

The share of senior citizens in the U.S. population is projected to grow from 18.7% in 2025 to nearly 23% by 2050, while children under 18 decline from almost 21% to a projected 18.4%.

Without any immigration, the U.S. population will start shrinking in five years. That’s when deaths will surpass births, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, which were revised in September to account for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Population growth comes from immigration as well as births outpacing deaths.

The aging of America is being compounded by longer lives due to better health care and lower birth rates.

The projected average U.S. life expectancy at birth rises from 78.9 years in 2025 to 82.2 years in 2055, according to the CBO. And since the Great Recession in 2008, when the fertility rate was 2.08, around the 2.1 rate needed for children to numerically replace their parents, it has been on a steady decline, hitting 1.6 in 2025.

Younger generations miss boomer milestones

Women are having fewer children because they are better educated, they’re delaying marriage to focus on careers and they’re having their first child at a later age. Unaffordable housing, poor access to child care and the growing expenses of child-rearing also add up to fewer kids.

Donna West and her grandson Paul Quirk pose for a photo, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

University of New Hampshire senior demographer Kenneth Johnson estimates that the result has been 11.8 million fewer births, compared to what might have been had the fertility rate stayed at Great Recession levels.

“I was young when I had kids. I mean that’s what we did — we got out of college, we got married and we had babies,” said West, who has two daughters, a stepdaughter and six grandchildren. “My kids got married in their 30s, so it’s very different.”

A recent Census Bureau study showed that 21st century young adults in the U.S. haven’t been adulting like baby boomers did. In 1975, almost half of 25-to-34-year-olds had moved out of their parents’ home, landed jobs, gotten married and had kids. By the early 2020s, less than a quarter of U.S. adults had hit these milestones.

West, whose 21-year-old grandson lives with her, understands why: They lack the prospects her generation enjoyed. Her grandson, Paul Quirk, said it comes down to financial instability.

“They were able to buy a lot of things, a lot cheaper,” Quirk said.

All of her grandchildren are frustrated by the economy, West added.

“You have to get three roommates in order to afford a place,” she said. “When we got out of college, we had a job waiting for us. And now, people who have master’s degrees are going to work fast food while they look for a real job.”

Donna West and her grandson Paul Quirk pose for a photo, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Implications for the economy

The aging of America could constrain economic growth. With fewer workers paying taxes, Social Security and Medicare will be under more pressure. About 34 seniors have been supported by every 100 workers in 2025, but that ratio grows to 50 seniors per 100 working-age people in about 30 years, according to estimates released last year by the White House.

When West launched her career in employee benefits and retirement planning in 1973, each 100 workers supported 20 or fewer retirees, by some calculations.

Vice President JD Vance and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among those pushing for an increase in fertility. Vance has suggested giving parents more voting power, according to their numbers of children, or following the example of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in giving low-interest loans to married parents and tax exemptions to women who have four children or more.

Frey said programs that incentivize fertility among U.S. women hardly ever work, so funding should support pre-kindergarten and paid family leave.

“I think the best you can do for people who do want to have kids is to make it easier and less expensive to have them and raise them,” he said. “Those things may not bring up the fertility rate as much as people would like, but at least the kids who are being born will have a better chance of succeeding.”

Emilie Megnien in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Monday against Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker over new state laws aimed at protecting immigrants at courthouses, hospitals and day cares.

Pritzker signed a set of laws earlier this month that ban civil arrests at and around courthouses statewide and require hospitals, day care centers and public universities to have procedures for handling civil immigration operations and protecting personal information.

The laws, which took effect immediately, also provide legal steps for people whose constitutional rights were violated during the federal enforcement action in the Chicago area, including $10,000 in damages for someone unlawfully arrested while attempting to attend a court proceeding.

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Immigration and legal advocates have applauded the legislation, saying many immigrants were avoiding courthouses, hospitals and schools out of fear of being detained.

Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, called the laws “a brave choice.”

“Our collective resistance to ICE and CBP’s violent attacks on our communities goes beyond community-led rapid response — it includes legislative solutions as well,” he said at the time.

The Justice Department argues that Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who are both named in the lawsuit and both Democrats, violated the U.S. Constitution with the laws, which they say “threaten the safety of federal officers,” according to a statement Monday evening. The lawsuit is part of an effort by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify state and local laws the agency says impede federal immigration operations.

A spokesperson said Raoul and his staff are reviewing the complaint. Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When signing the bills, Pritzker acknowledged that they might be challenged in court.

“No doubt, they have the ability to go to court about it, but I believe this is not just a good law, but a great law,” Pritzker said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which appears to have largely wound down for now, arrested more than 4,000 people. Data on those arrested from early September through mid-October showed only 15% had criminal records, with traffic offenses, misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies comprising the vast majority.

Associated Press writer John O’Connor contributed from Springfield, Illinois.