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US pending-home sales drop to lowest this year on limited supply

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

Augusta Saraiva | Bloomberg News (TNS)U.S. pending home sales in May fell to the lowest level this year as high mortgage rates and inventory constraints continue to impact sales.The National Association of Realtors’ index of contract signings to purchase previously owned homes dropped 2.7% to 76.5 last month, according to data released Thursday. The decrease was bigger than all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.The resale market continues to face headwinds as high borrowing costs and low supply weigh on sales. Many homeowners who locked in lowers mortgage rates in the past are reluctant to move, adding to inventory constraints that are pushing many buyers into the new-home market and helping keep existing-home sales subdued.“The lack of housing inventory continues to prevent housing demand from being fully realized,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement. “It is encouraging that homebuilders have ramped up production, but the supply from new con...

Planning a road trip this 4th of July? Here’s how much it will cost to fill your gas tank

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

If you’re planning to join the estimated 50.7 million Americans taking a road trip for the Fourth of July holiday, less of your travel budget will go out your tailpipe compared to last year, according to the latest data from AAA.As of Thursday, the national price per gallon for regular unleaded gas was $3.549, down 27.3% from a year ago, when it was $4.881.You may have to take less cash, but a lot more patience for your travels: the AAA predicts that holiday travel this year will break the record 49 million trips taken in 2019. About 48.6 million people took to the roads for a trip of at least 50 miles last year.The American Automobile Association tracks gas prices in every area of the country. This chart shows how the national average has changed over the last four years.The highest prices nationwide are currently in Washington ($4.987), California ($4.827), and Hawaii ($4.727). Last year at this time, the Californians were paying $6.308 to take the 405 to the 118 to Madera Rd. to ...

Bruins select centermen with first three picks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

After sitting on their hands for the first two rounds of the draft, the Bruins made their first selection of the NHL draft in Nashville on Thursday, taking center Christopher Pelosi, a New Jersey product who is headed for Quinnipiac, with the 92nd overall selection.In 43 games for Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL, 6-foot-1, 181-pound Pelosi had 13-6-19 totals.At the moment, it looks like a reach. Pelosi was ranked 127th among North American skaters. We’ll see what kind of player he turns out to be.With the 124th pick, the B’s took another center, Beckett Hendrickson from the US National Team Development Program. The 6-foot-2, 174-pound pivot is the son of long-timer NHLer Darby Hendrickson. He had 13-21-34 in NTDP play.Hendrickson, a Minnetonka, Minn.. native, is committed to the University of Minnesota for the 2024-24 season.The B’s took their third straight centerman with 188th pick, taking 19-year-old Rochester, New York native Ryan Walsh. With the Cedar Rapids ...

Divided Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions, says race can't be used

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.The court’s conservative majority effectively overturned cases reaching back 45 years in invalidating admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively. The decision, like last year’s momentous abortion ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, marked the realization of a long-sought conservative legal goal in finding that race-conscious admissions plans violate the Constitution and a law that applies to recipients of federal funding, as almost all colleges and universities are.Those schools will be forced to reshape their admissions practices, especially top schools that are more likely to consider the race of applicants.Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long uni...

Ex-GOP Ohio House speaker sentenced to 20 years for role in $60M bribery scheme; appeal expected

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the largest corruption scandal in state history.The 64-year-old Republican appeared before U.S. District Judge Timothy Black, who meted out the punishment, about an hour after he and his wife arrived at the federal courthouse.Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, a former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, were both convicted in April of a single racketeering charge each, after a six-week trial. Borges is set to be sentenced Friday.Householder also received on year of probation and was remanded into the custody of U.S. Marshals.Jurors found that Householder orchestrated and Borges participated in a $60 million bribery scheme secretly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to secure Householder’s power, elect his allies, pass legislation containing a $1 billion bailout for two aging nuclear power plants owned by a FirstEnergy affiliate and then to use a dirt...

Naomi Campbell welcomes her second child, a boy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

Naomi Campbell has welcomed baby No. 2.“My little darling, know that you are cherished beyond measure and surrounded by love from the moment you graced us with your presence,” she posted Thursday on Instagram. “A True Gift from God – blessed!”The supermodel and host of the reality competition series “The Face” confirmed the baby is a boy. Campbell, 53, did not offer further the details.In May 2021, she introduced her firstborn on Instagram, followed by the cover of British Vogue, saying only that the child, a girl, “wasn’t adopted. … She’s my child.”On Thursday, Campbell’s post was accompanied by a photo showing the new baby from behind as she held him with her daughter’s tiny hand joining theirs.“It’s never too late to become a mother,” Campbell wrote.The Associated Press

Suspected car bomb explodes in cartel-dominated Mexican city, wounds several National Guard officers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An apparent booby trap or car bomb exploded in a cartel-dominated Mexican city, wounding several officers of Mexico’s National Guard, who approached the vehicle to inspect it, authorities confirmed Thursday.The National Guard said the explosion occurred late Wednesday in the city of Celaya, in the north-central state of Guanajuato, where the Jalisco and Santa Rosa de Lima drug cartels have been fighting a bloody turf war for years.The use of a car bomb to intentionally cause law enforcement casualties marks an escalation of the infighting between rival cartels and is reminiscent of a 2010 car bomb blast that killed three people in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez at the height of the 2006-2012 drug war.The officers were reportedly responding to a report about a car parked with what appeared to be bodies inside. As they approached, the vehicle exploded, sending guard officers flying. There was no immediate information on the condition of the wounded, thoug...

Transgender Kansas residents can keep updating their documents despite a new law, governor says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Democratic governor in Kansas declared Thursday that the state will keep allowing transgender residents to alter their driver’s licenses and birth certificates, despite a new law aimed at preventing it. Gov. Laura Kelly issued a directive that allows agencies under her control to defy a legal opinion issued earlier this week by Republican state Attorney General Kris Kobach, telling them to follow their lawyers’ narrower view of the law. Kobach has told reporters that if Kelly’s administration did not follow his opinion, he might sue her. The new law is set to take effect Saturday and legally defines a person’s sex as male or female based on their “biological reproductive system” at birth, a standard that would apply to “any” law or state regulation. Kansas driver’s licenses and birth certificates list a person’s sex, and Kobach said they can’t contradict what doctors assigned at birth. He also said the state must undo chang...

Crews will rebuild a critical dam in Puerto Rico that was battered by Hurricane Maria

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A key dam in Puerto Rico that was severely damaged nearly six years ago by Hurricane Maria will be rebuilt and improved, officials announced Thursday.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will work with Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority on the multimillion-dollar project that is expected to take a decade.“We are talking about a very complex undertaking,” Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.Among the priorities is to install an early warning system, something that was lacking when Hurricane Maria pummeled the U.S. territory as a powerful Category 4 storm in September 2017 and destabilized the dam, forcing authorities to evacuate nearby communities.Crews have since made emergency repairs to the Guajataca Dam in northwest Puerto Rico, but officials said permanent work will start soon.The dam provides water for crops in the region and as well as potable water for more than 300,000 people in the area.The Associated Press

California’s Black reparations task force concludes its historic 2 years of work

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:31 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Members of California’s Black reparations task force were set to present their historic two-year report to state lawmakers Thursday, challenging critics to read the hefty tome and reconsider redress for the descendants of slavery. “This book of truth will be a legacy, will be a testament to the full story,” said Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and task force member. “Anyone who says that we are colorblind, that we have solved the problem of anti-Black … racism, I challenge you to read this document.”The first-in-the-nation state slavery reparations panel met one last time Thursday ahead of handing off the 1,200-page report to the lawmakers responsible for turning the findings into legislation. Lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom must agree for any money to be paid or for any policy changes to be adopted.The report details California’s role in perpetuating discrimination against Black residents and suggests more than 100 ways to repair the...