The second night of the Republican National Convention was characterized by praise for President Trump’s economic policies and a focus on issues such as abortion and criticizing the news media. It also featured three members of the Trump family. First lady Melania Trump made the most direct acknowledgment of the toll that the coronavirus pandemic has taken, with more than 178,000 Americans killed. “I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless,” she said. “I want you to know you are not alone.” She also acknowledged the civil and racial unrest that has swept across the country in recent months, calling for peace and unity.

Pandemic Trade-Offs is an as-told-to series. All financial information provided by Tess Vandendolder. This article has been edited and condensed.

I vividly remember it being a Thursday when my company gave the stay-at-home order. Immediately I was like, I’m gonna die trying to work from the couch everyday—it’s going to kill my back. So I ordered a desk from Crate and Barrel, to build a home office in the corner of one of our rooms. My husband and I have been lucky to keep our jobs and work from our Brooklyn apartment.

Pandemic Trade-Offs is an as-told-to series. All financial information provided by Kwami Merzier. This article has been edited and condensed.

It’s very, very surreal. I moved to New York last summer, finished my college classes online in December, and had been working as a freelance photographer and photo assistant. The virus hit the city, and all of my income kind of just went away. If no one’s shooting for ads, commercials, or fashion, then there’s no money for me. 

My Path to Action is a recurring series about the pivotal moments that shaped young activists and advocates.

From the time Deon Jones was just a kid in the deep South, he felt stirrings of political consciousness that would evolve into his steadfast commitment to combating racial inequities. The 28-year-old creative consultant, who is based in Los Angeles, works with organizations and companies including: Glenn Kaino Studio, which focuses on socially-conscious artwork; Fair Fight, which promotes voter access and education;...

The Department of Homeland Security said it is resuming renewals of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects immigrants living in the U.S. since childhood without legal permission. It comes nearly a month after the DHS instructed staff to pause on all applications. The interruption delayed at least 20,000 renewal applications, according to two people familiar with the matter. The DHS also stopped accepting new applicants to the program as part of the action in July. The delays could leave tens of thousands of DACA recipients ineligible to work legally if their authorizations expire and put them at risk of deportation. While applications haven’t been processed since July 28, the agency has still been processing the $495 fee that accompanies each renewal, according to a person familiar with the matter.

If you are one of the roughly three million borrowers enrolled the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, you may be eligible to have a portion of your student debt canceled. Earlier this month, President Trump extended a provision in the Cares Act that allows most federal-student-loan borrowers to stop making payments with no interest accrual. The provision, which was set to expire Sept. 30, now ends Dec. 31. The extension also benefits public sector and nonprofit group workers who, under the PSLF program, are eligible to have the remaining balance of their student loans forgiven—or canceled—after 120 monthly payments. Suspended payments over the nine-month period of the coronavirus relief program, including the latest extension, would count toward the 120 monthly payments under the PSLF through the end of December, the White House clarified Friday.

Short shorts are back, thanks to TikTok. Recently, a groundswell of mostly female TikTokers started posting clips heralding men in tinier trunks. Videos with the hashtag #5inchseam—a reference to shorts with five-inch inseams—have racked up more than 24 million views. The trend has prompted more male users to proudly show off their bare thighs and ditch their longer seven or eight-inch-inseam shorts. Josh Benson, 24, a financial advisor in Tyler, Texas bought a pair of shorts with five-inch inseams after a female friend showed him a TikTok of a girl saying they made men look more attractive. He wasn’t precisely sure where their allure lies. “I don’t know if the girls are looking at the booty or if it’s the front.” Nevertheless, the trend is driving searches online. Chubbies, a clothing brand whose signature item is short shorts, saw a 1,500% increase in traffic to its five inch shorts on its website over the past five weeks compared to the previous five.

It’s been a graduation season like no other in memory: Colleges, universities and high schools held commencement ceremonies online or postponed them, hopeful that in a few months the threat of Covid-19 would have passed. When that didn’t happen, many opted for online ceremonies later in June, and some are still planning to hold in-person celebrations throughout August or during the fall.

In the meantime, graduates have gotten creative in finding alternative ways to mark their achievements. The Wall Street Journal asked dozens...

When Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg delivered a speech about freedom of expression in Washington, D.C., last fall, there was also another agenda: to raise the alarm about the threat from Chinese tech companies and, more specifically, the popular video-sharing app TikTok.

Tucked into the speech was a line pointing to Facebook’s rising rival: Mr. Zuckerberg told Georgetown students that TikTok doesn’t share Facebook’s commitment to freedom of expression, and represents a risk to American values and technological supremacy.

That was a message Mr. Zuckerberg hammered behind the scenes in meetings with officials and lawmakers during the October trip and a separate visit to Washington weeks earlier, according to people familiar with the matter.

In a private dinner at the White House in late October, Mr. Zuckerberg made the case to President Trump that the rise of Chinese internet companies threatens American business, and should be a bigger...

TikTok sued the U.S. government in federal court Monday, saying that it protects its users’ data and challenging President Trump’s executive order that would effectively ban the video-sharing app if it doesn’t find an American buyer for its U.S. operations.  In the lawsuit, TikTok’s lawyers said: “By banning TikTok with no notice or opportunity to be heard (whether before or after the fact), the executive order violates the due process protections of the Fifth Amendment.” U.S. officials say they are concerned that TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, could pass on data it collects from Americans streaming videos to China’s government. TikTok has said it hasn’t been asked to share data with the Chinese government and wouldn’t do so if asked.

In early April, Erin Payne drove to the group home in southwest Ohio where she cares for two men with serious disabilities. Normally, the 21-year-old would blare country music to keep her awake on her 40-minute commute. That day, she drove in silence.

“I was absolutely terrified,” she said.

Take a Break With is a recurring feature in which we ask people to tell us what they’re into.

KOTA the Friend, an increasingly popular rapper, believes his biggest asset is his independence: from the music industry, worldly possessions and bad vibes.

“Anytime where you’re dependent on a third party for your success, you’re kind of in a bad...

While many young people have been deeply affected by the pandemic in ways that led them to defer important life decisions, some are leaping forward toward a significant financial milestone: owning a house. 

After an initial downturn, home buying has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with people under 35 representing 53% of the primary market, according to early data.

In...

When Alex Guzman and Jenifar Chowdhury set out to open their first restaurant, they knew they were taking a risk. They knew that many restaurants fail in their first year. They knew they’d have to balance their undertaking with Chowdhury’s full-time work as a construction consultant. They knew the garden-level unit of the brownstone they’d fallen for,  on a bustling section of Lenox Avenue in Harlem, would take time to convert from residential to commercial.