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POLITICO Pro Central Banker: Russian rate decision — Italy’s patriotic bonds — CBDC moratorium call

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

Our one-stop source for central banking & monetary policy news.View in your browser or listen to audioBy GEOFFREY SMITHwith ANJULI DAVIES, BEN MUNSTER and IZABELLA KAMINSKASNEAK PEEK— Russia’s central bank faces up to labor shortage ahead of rate decision meeting.— Italy issues “patriotic bonds” as it gets creative with how to woo retail investors as the ECB stops buying.— Economist Stephen Cecchetti tells central bankers the world needs a treaty to suspend CBDC development.POLICY TICKERECB 3.75% ⇡ — BOE 4.5% ⇡ — FED 5.35% ⇡— SNB 1.5% ⇡— BOJ -0.10% ⇣— RBA 4.10% ⇡— PBOC 3.65%⇣— CBR 7.5% ⇣ — BOC 4.75% ⇡Greetings and welcome to the end of the week. A reminder that both the Federal Reserve and the ECB are in their silent period ahead of rate meetings next week. Yesterday, India’s central bank broke ranks and kept its key lending rate steady for a second straight policy meeting, as widely expected, but signalled that monetary conditions will remain tight for ...

San Diego restaurant among top rooftops in US: Yelp

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Rooftop season is always a mood in San Diego. But coming off a wet and cloudy winter/spring, local rooftop bars and restaurants are welcoming the summer temperatures and sunshine with even wider open arms.Yelp recently compiled a list of the top rooftop restaurants and bars in every U.S. state. Representing California is Ocean Beach's-own The Holding Company.The restaurant, bar and live music venue, located 5046 Newport Avenue, is just steps away from the beach. On the first floor, you'll find a stage and a full bar. Head on up to the second floor, where there is indoor and outdoor seating, also accompanied with a full bar. Finally when you get to the third floor, the rooftop offers ocean views, table and fire pit seating and heaters. San Diego restaurant added to California Michelin Guide "Such a fun place for food and drinks with an ocean view! I love the rooftop area especially on a nice, sunny day. THC has 3 levels with each level having a different vibe. Can't go...

All-Veteran boat team to sail 2023 Ocean Globe Race for US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A team of military veterans are setting out to sea to compete in the largest ocean sailing race in the world.The Skeleton Crew team says their mission is about a lot more than sailing. These veterans aren’t just sailing to compete, but to conquer their own battles with Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).They are about to set sail for the 2023 Ocean Globe Race, but still have a lot of hurdles to overcome just to get to the starting line.The Skeleton Crew may be seen like the underdogs in the 2023 Ocean Globe race, as the smallest and self-funded boat crew. That won’t stop these veterans from sailing ahead.“This is a huge a moment,” Skeleton Crew Medic and Deckhand Sam Radoff said. “And we’re representing America and we’re representing veterans and raising awareness.”The race will bring them around the world to navigate treacherous waters from England to South Africa to Australia to New Zealand and back without any technology.“We just rely on the maps and the stars and...

Drake, GloRilla, Lizzo, 21 Savage enter BET Awards as top nominees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Drake could make an impactful mark at the BET Awards later this month.The chart-topping performer scored seven nominations at the show airing live on June 25 in Los Angeles. He’s up for best male hip-hop artist, male R&B/pop artist along with best collaboration and viewer’s choice with Future and Tems for their song “Wait for U.”Drake’s three other nominations are shared with 21 Savage, who is up for five nods. The tandem is nominated for album of the year through “Her Loss,” best group and viewer’s choice for their hit “Jimmy Cooks.”Rapper GloRilla, nominated for her first Grammy earlier this year, will enter the ceremony as the second-most nominated act with six. She’s up for best female hip-hop artist, new artist, album of the year for “Anyways, Life’s Great” and video of the year for “Tomorrow 2” with Cardi B. She’s scored two nominations in the best collaboration category for “Tomorrow 2” and “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” with Hitkidd.Along with 21 Savage, Lizzo ca...

Oregon to crack down on illegal pot growers by holding landowners responsible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon has long been known as a mecca for high-quality marijuana, but that reputation has come with a downside: illegal growers who offer huge amounts of cash to lease or buy land and then leave behind pollution, garbage and a drained water table. Now, a bill passed by the Oregon Legislature seeks to tackle that by making the landowners themselves responsible for the aftermath. The bill also prohibits the use of rivers or groundwater at the illegal site, as well as criminalizes seizing the identity papers of migrant workers who tend the plants or threatening to report them for deportation.Under the bill, local governments are authorized to file a claim of lien against property used for illicit marijuana, if the owner doesn’t pay for the cleanup. A leader of the state’s cannabis and alcohol regulatory agency has said southern Oregon is to marijuana what Bordeaux is to wine. But the state faces challenges on two fronts: The regulated industry has a glut of product t...

Pat Robertson united evangelical Christians and pushed them into conservative politics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Pat Robertson united tens of millions of evangelical Christians through the power of television and pushed them in a far more conservative direction with the personal touch of a folksy minister. His biggest impact may have been wedding evangelical Christianity to the Republican party, to an extent once unimaginable.“The culture wars being waged today by just about all the national Republican candidates — that is partly a product of Robertson,” said veteran political analyst Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Robertson died Thursday at the age of 93. Robertson’s reach exploded with the rise of cable in the late 1970s. He galvanized many viewers into a political force when he unsuccessfully ran for president in 1988.The next year, he created the deeply influential Christian Coalition. He sought to “influence and impact the trajectory of the Republican Party and turn it into a pro-life, pro-family party,” said Ralph Reed,...

Car-obsessed California seeks to follow New York’s lead and save public transit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sadaf Zahoor has bucked California’s car culture by never owning one, yet she and other residents who rely on public transit worry its bleak financial outlook could soon leave them standing at empty train stations and bus stops.The agencies running the public transit systems, particularly in San Francisco and Oakland, California, where Zahoor lives, have been living off billions of dollars in federal aid that will soon expire. Ridership plummeted by as much as 94% during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a gaping budget deficit. Fare box revenues have rebounded a bit, but with more people working from home, some systems haven’t returned to even half their previous levels.The transit agencies have asked Democrats who control California’s government to rescue them, much like Democrats in New York recently did with a $227 billion spending plan. The request is proving to be a much tougher sell in the nation’s most populous state, where majestic mountain highways a...

Frayed nerves and uprooted lives in Russian city close to Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

A week after fleeing her home in southern Russia to escape cross-border shelling from Ukraine, Irina Shevtsova is adjusting to life as a refugee inside her own country.Shevtsova is one of thousands of Russians who have abandoned their homes and taken shelter in Belgorod, the nearest big Russian city to the border with Ukraine.They spend their time drinking coffee, lounging on beds in temporary shelters, picking through piles of donated clothing and wondering when they will be able to go home."It’s very scary, we’re frightened, we don’t believe in anything, lately we’ve stopped believing. We jump every time we hear a noise," Shevtsova, 62, said. "Our children and old people are very scared."The number of uprooted Russians is a tiny fraction of the millions of Ukrainians who have become refugees and seen their towns and cities destroyed in the conflict.But more than 15 months after President Vladimir Putin sent his army into Ukraine, Belgorod and its surrounding region are feeling the...

Loved ones mourn death of Southern California BMX star Pat Casey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

Loved ones are mourning the death of Orange County BMX star Pat Casey following a fatal crash at a motocross competition in San Diego County on June 6.The 29-year-old X Games medalist was known as a dedicated husband, a loving father of two and a talented athlete whose life was cut tragically short.While competing in an X Games competition in Ramona, Pat missed a landing while performing a jump from a ramp, losing control of his bike before being ejected.Bystanders called 911 but by the time paramedics arrived at the track, they found Pat pulseless and apneic, according to the medical examiner's office. Despite life-saving measures, Pat was pronounced dead at the scene.Donations have been pouring into a GoFundMe campaign created by a family friend to help with funeral expenses."I haven't looked at it,” said Chase Casey, Pat’s wife, of the GoFundMe. “Thank you for donating if you have. I just can’t bring myself to because it makes it seem real and I don't want it to be."Pat Casey pic...

1 dead, 3 injured in multi-car crash on Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:39 GMT

Authorities in Long Beach are investigating a four-car crash that killed one man and sent three other men to the hospital Thursday night.  Officers with the Long Beach Police Department responded to the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Junipero Avenue at around 7:19 p.m. on reports of the multi-vehicle collision.  Early reports suggest that the male driver of an SUV who was traveling westbound on PCH at Junipero Avenue went into eastbound lanes of traffic and crashed into three other vehicles, an LBPD news release stated.  Despite life saving measures by personnel with the Long Beach Fire Department, the male driver, who was the sole occupant of the SUV, was declared dead at the scene. Three other male adults from different vehicles were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. It is unknown at this time if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash.  East and westbound lanes of traffic on PCH remained closed from Junipero Avenue t...