New research found that 35% of families in the United States that work full-time year-round do not have enough money to cover the costs of basic needs.

The study was conducted by researchers at Brandeis University’s diversitydatakids.org program at the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy.

Researchers said more than half of full-time working Black and Hispanic families cannot afford basic needs. The study showed that 25% of white families and 23% of Asian and Pacific Islander families who work full-time cannot afford basic needs.

According to the study, the situation is especially dire for low-income families with children. The researchers found that 77% of those who work full time do not earn enough to cover housing, food, and child care.

The researchers said that in order for families to afford the necessities, they should be making about $11.00 more per hour.

Black and Hispanic families would need to earn more than $12.00 per hour, the researchers said.

“Full-time work alone isn’t enough to cover the everyday essentials most families need to support themselves, which creates significant financial hurdles to support children,” said Pamela Joshi, Ph.D., senior research scientist and lead study author. “We’re seeing that full-time work provides even fewer necessary resources to Black and Hispanic families. That’s a problem because it drives inequities in child well-being. These results are a wake-up call for decision makers to prioritize policies that address income inequality and racial and ethnic equity and extend real opportunities for economic self-sufficiency.”

The RV industry has seen a significant increase in rentals and sales over the summer. One company, RVshare, reported more than a 1,000% increase in rentals.

Now, the trend seems to be moving beyond just a summer vacation alternative. Some are turning to it as a new way to home-school and work during this pandemic.

Some families are turning these RVs into their primary or secondary homes.

"I think it is difficult for families to be cooped up," said Julie Partridge.

Partridge was already considering making the switch to RV life before the pandemic, but after five months of social distancing and quarantining in her home, she decided to finally do it.

She sold the family home and hit the road to live, home-school her kids and work from an RV.

"Obviously our camper is much smaller than our house,” said Partridge. “Substantially smaller, but you have this vast open world available to you. You feel less cooped up in this camper than you do in this 3,000 square foot house."

She also feels the move to full-time RV life this fall will also give her kids a unique educational opportunity.

"We really want to see the national parks,” said Partridge. “I want my kids to do the park ranger program. I want to use that as their science and social studies curriculum from the road. So, we are really excited about those parts."

The Partridge family is just one of many either committing to or newly considering RV life in the fall, according to a survey done by the RV rental company RVshare.

"We have, from our survey, seen that over 30% of people are considering homeschooling from the road and over 40% of people are considering working from the road and that is something that is new to the industry," RVshare Jon Gray.

"You have school not opening on time, you have a lot of employers turning to work from anywhere models for the extended future and those things have made it to where RVs are appealing deep into the fall," said Gray.

The pandemic has changed so much in our lives. Many people are looking to get away from the uncertainty and continued concern with it. This seems to be one way for some to do that.

"It is saving us money, it is teaching them lessons, it has really been kind of refreshing," said Partridge.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A rare speckled lobster named Freckles will soon go on exhibit to the public as a welcome addition to the Virginia Living Museum's Chesapeake Bay Gallery.

Spared from a pot of boiling water, the new star of the museum now sits inside a cozy saltwater tank.

"As a person who loves all lobsters, it was very exciting," said Britt Sorensen, the museum's training and enrichment coordinator.

This lobster is, simply put, lucky.

"Lobsters are typically underrated," Sorenson said. "People usually just walk by and think that it's tasty or looks scary."

But what passersby will soon see on display is Freckles, who is adorned with golden speckles.

"This lobster is incredibly rare. It's a calico sort of orange and yellow, and it only happens in 1 in 30 million, which is ridiculous," she said.

The curiously-colored crustacean recently caught the eye of the cooks at a Red Lobster in Manassas, Virginia.

"They saw him and thought, 'This is not normal; this is new and special,'" Sorensen said.

Special enough to be spared from being served as a meal with the restaurant's famous Cheddar Bay biscuits. Red Lobster called the conservation experts instead.

"It's really great they saw that an opportunity to help this animal out and give him a home and contribute to the education of natural things," Sorensen said.

Sorensen says Freckles's speckles come from a protein deficiency, which also makes him prone to predators.

"This coloration shows more than a green, blue or brown coloration," she said.

There's no word on Freckles's age or how big he will get, but one thing Sorensen can confirm is that he's savvy and smart.

"Lobsters are incredibly intelligent - some scientists think as intelligent as an octopus," she said.

Freckles will now get used to his new home in a quarantine period before showing off his snazzy shell to the outside world.

This story was originally published by staff at WTKR.