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How doing the bare minimum with debt is costing you

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

When you’re carrying a credit card balance, paying at least the minimum due each month is certainly a start. If those payments aren’t making your overall budget feel squeezed, you have all the more reason to put payments on autopilot and not think about the total cost of your debt.“Our pace of life has gotten really busy,” says Delia Fernandez, a certified financial planner and the founder and president of Fernandez Financial Advisory LLC in Los Alamitos, California. “There’s always something that’s more important, particularly for these people who are not in a financial crisis.”But that inertia can cost you, especially with average credit card interest rates reaching 20.4% as of November 2022, according to the Federal Reserve. NerdWallet’s 2022 American Household Credit Card Debt Study, conducted by Harris Poll, found that U.S. households with revolving credit card debt are paying an average of $1,380 in interest this year.There is good news, though: Dedicating even a small amount ...

Fernando Tatis Jr. set to return from suspension Thursday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — El Niño is coming.It could be quite the storm.Thursday night at Arizona, Fernando Tatis Jr. will be announced as the leadoff hitter for the San Diego Padres and settle into a big league batter’s box for the first time since the last game of the 2021 season.One of baseball’s most electrifying players will return from an 80-game PED suspension that shocked and angered his teammates and an entire fan base — and tempered his status as one of the sport's most prominent and likable stars. If a jaw-dropping power display during a rehab stint at Triple-A El Paso is any indication, the Padres will be getting back the player who was an All-Star at shortstop in 2021, when he led the NL with 42 homers.Perhaps equally important is the energy and swagger the 24-year-old from the Dominican Republic brings every time he steps on the field, whether it’s hitting tape-measure home runs and then dancing in the dugout, or baserunning exploits that sometimes defy physics. Petco Park to...

Oklahoma official who discussed killing reporters resigns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was apparently caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office confirmed Wednesday.Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received a handwritten resignation letter from McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings. In it, Jennings says he is resigning immediately and that he plans to release a formal statement “in the near future regarding the recent events in our county.”The threatening comments by Jennings and officials with the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office were obtained following a March 6 meeting and reported by McCurtain Gazette-News earlier this week in their weekend edition. They have sparked outrage and protests in the city of Idabel, the county seat. In a post on the sheriff’s office Facebook page on Tuesday, officials did not address the recorded discussion but claimed the recording was illegally obtained. A...

CAQ breaks major campaign promise on ‘third link’ road tunnel for Quebec City

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

QUEBEC — The Quebec government is abandoning plans to build a multi-purpose vehicular tunnel linking Quebec City to its south shore in favour of one that will be for public transit only, citing changing driving habits after the COVID-19 pandemic.The so-called “third link” across the St. Lawrence River — after the Pierre Laporte Bridge and the Quebec Bridge — was a key promise of Premier François Legault during the 2018 and 2022 election campaigns to woo voters in the capital region. Legault’s promises weren’t just designed to reduce traffic congestion but to show Quebec City-area voters that major projects could be realized in the capital and weren’t only destined for Montreal. But On Wednesday, the premier had to scale back his plans for the province’s second-biggest city.“I believe that as a government, when there is a change in context, we must be able to adapt, we must be pragmatic … and we must be responsible because we manage the funds...

Bargaining continues as federal workers picket, major service disruptions expected

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s largest federal public-service union and the federal government continue to negotiate as workers go on strike, triggering major service disruptions.Federal workers were hitting the picket lines across the country on Wednesday after Canada’s largest federal public-service union and the government failed to reach a deal by a Tuesday evening deadline.Federal ministers provided an update on the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s strike action in a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.“We will continue to work with the PSAC to reach agreements that are fair and competitive, but we cannot do that unless the union is prepared to compromise. We cannot write a blank check,” Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said.On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said negotiations had paused and called on the union to come back to the table. For its part, the union said it was waiting for a better offer from government before resuming ta...

Stock market today: Wall Street wavers amid earnings updates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is wavering Wednesday following mixed earnings reports from big U.S. companies and another signal that inflation remains painfully hot around the world.The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged in afternoon trading following a dip earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 62 points, or 0.2%, at 33,913, as of 1:15 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher. Tesla weighed heavily on the market after the electric-vehicle company cut prices for its two top-selling models, its fourth price cut in the U.S. this year. That could be a signal Tesla is trying to spur sales amid shifting U.S. tax credits for electric vehicles. Tesla shares fell 1.1%. Netflix fell 3.9% after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit topped forecasts. Elevance Health dropped 5.1% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. The health insurer gave a forecast for earnings this year that fell short of...

Penalosa bows out of mayoral race, throws support behind Chow

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

The man who finished a distant second to John Tory in last year’s mayoral election says he won’t be vying for the job again when Torontonians head to the polls to replace Tory in the upcoming byelection.In a surprise announcement Wednesday, urban planner Gil Penalosa said he won’t be running for mayor, instead throwing his support behind candidate Olivia Chow.Penalosa garnered just under 18 per cent of the vote in October’s election, running on a platform to create more urban spaces and to make Toronto a more walkable and transit-friendly city.He had announced his intentions to run for mayor again after Tory resigned in the midst of a scandal over an affair, but he never actually registered.On Wednesday, he made it clear on Wednesday that he would not move forward in the increasingly-crowded race.“We need to act now to create a magnificent city for future generations to live in and enjoy,” he said on Wednesday, flanked by NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, who i...

Nordic news outlets: Russian yachts, cargo ships spy at sea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Russia is suspected of spying in the waters of the Baltic Sea and North Sea using civilian fishing trawlers, cargo ships and yachts, the public broadcasters of four Nordic countries said in a joint investigation published Wednesday. The investigation by the public broadcasting companies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden uncovered Moscow’s alleged undersea intelligence operations by tracking the radio traffic and locations of Russian vessels traveling in the seas over the past year.Analyzing the data revealed suspicious sailing patterns, particularly around offshore wind farms, gas pipelines, and undersea power and data cables, the broadcasters said. They published the investigation on their websites and planned to air a documentary, titled “Shadow War,” with their full findings later Wednesday. One of their conclusions states that Russian military and civilian ships were constantly on the move in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea with the aim of mapping critical ...

PSAC strike could have domino effect for unionized workers: labour expert

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

A labour expert says if the current strike by thousands of public sector workers is successful, it could have a domino effect for unionized workers in other industries. Larry Savage, a professor in the labour studies department at Brock University, says strikes in the federal public service are rare, but the current labour dispute is reflective of a larger trend that’s seeing more militancy among unionized workers amid persistent inflation. Thousands of public-service workers began their strike Wednesday morning after the federal government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, representing some 155,000 federal workers up for bargaining, couldn’t reach a deal in negotiations that began almost two years ago. Almost a third of all federal public servants are involved in the strike, and the union and government alike have warned of disruptions to tax season, border operations, Employment Insurance, immigration and passport applications. Savage said the striking workers have been w...

Murder charges for 2 teens in Alabama Sweet 16 shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:08:01 GMT

DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Two teenagers have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party, Alabama investigators announced Wednesday.Tallapoosa County District Attorney Mike Segrest said the pair — Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee — would be tried as adults. That’s automatically required in Alabama for anyone 16 or older charged with murder. Sgt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency wouldn’t say where the two are being jailed, or whether they were already in custody when they were charged late Tuesday.“We can’t get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation,” Burkett added. “We can’t share that.”Authorities did not specify if they’re related. Segrest said prosecutors would ask a judge to hold them without bail. A bond hearing must be held by Friday under Alabama law. Online court records do not show any previou...