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Ticker: Mortgage rates tick down; Jobless claims highest since 2021

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

The average rate on a long-term U.S. home loan is down to the lowest level in five weeks, welcome news for house hunters facing a market constrained by persistently high prices and low inventory.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan inched down to 6.35% from 6.39% last week. The average rate a year ago was 5.30%.The average benchmark rate has now edged lower seven of the last nine weeks since reaching a high for this year of 6.73% in early March.“This week’s decrease continues a recent sideways trend in mortgage rates, which is a welcome departure from the record increases of last year,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While inflation remains elevated, its rate of growth has moderated and is expected to decelerate over the remainder of 2023. This should bode well for the trajectory of mortgage rates over the long-term.”Jobless claims highest since 2021The number of Americ...

‘Money, power, sex’: Idaho jury deliberates case against slain kids’ mom in alleged doomsday plot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

By REBECCA BOONE (Associated Press)BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho jury is weighing the fate of a woman charged in the slayings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival in what prosecutors say was a strange doomsday-focused plot. Lori Vallow Daybell wanted the victims’ money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and a lover into carrying out the crimes, Idaho prosecutors told jurors Thursday at the close of the weekslong case. The panel of 12 jurors began deliberations shortly after 2 p.m.“ Money, power and sex,” Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said, urging the jury to convict Lori Vallow Daybell in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and her fifth husband’s previous wife Tammy Daybell. “What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count,” Wood said. Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his clie...

5-year-old Andover girl killed in pedestrian crash had a ‘boundless love for everyone’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

The 5-year-old Andover girl who was killed in a pedestrian crash this week is being remembered for her “boundless love for everyone” as her family calls on the town to make safety changes at high-traffic intersections.Sidney Olson died following the tragic incident in Andover on Tuesday evening. She was struck by a tractor trailer truck at the intersection of Elm and Main streets, as the family was walking to art class.Sidney and one other family member traversed the crosswalk on Elm Street while the walk sign showed it was still safe to cross.“As long-time residents of the neighborhood, we’ve followed that route hundreds of times before,” the family said in a statement on Thursday.“The rest was a blur, and Sidney was struck by a truck and killed, leaving an impossible void in our lives,” the family wrote.Sidney was described by the family as a bright-eyed, energetic girl with springy curls.She was in the Springboard to Kindergarten program ...

Elon Musk says he’s found a woman to lead Twitter as new CEO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

By The Associated Press (By BARBARA ORTUTAY and MATT O’BRIEN)AP Technology Writers (AP) — Elon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as it’s now called. He did not name the person but said she will be starting in about six weeks. Musk, who bought Twitter last fall and has been running it since, has long insisted he is not the company’s permanent CEO. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet Thursday that his role will transition to being Twitter’s executive chairman and chief technology officer. Musk has been saying for nearly six months that he plans to find a new CEO for San Francisco-based Twitter. In mid-November, just a few weeks after buying the social media platform for $44 billion, he told a Delaware court that he does not want to be the CEO of any company.While testifying, Musk said “I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.”More than a month later, he tweeted in ...

18 years after Natalee Holloway disappearance, Peru to extradite key suspect to US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and FRANKLIN BRICENO (Associated Press)LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s government will allow the extradition to the United States of the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba, bringing her family hope there will be justice in the case.Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot will be sent to the U.S., Peru announced Wednesday, to face trial on extortion and wire fraud charges, stemming from an accusation that he tried to extort the Holloway family after their daughter’s disappearance.Holloway, who lived in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, was 18 when she was last seen during a trip with classmates to Aruba. She vanished after a night with friends at a nightclub, leaving a mystery that sparked years of news coverage and countless true-crime podcasts. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, then 18 years old.Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and detained, along with two Surin...

Migrants rush across US border in final hours before Title 42 expires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

By VALERIE GONZALEZ (Associated Press)MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted — a change that many feared would make it more difficult for them to stay.With a late-night deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending a steep bank into the Rio Grande, clutching plastic bags filled with clothes. One man held a baby in an open suitcase on his head.On the U.S. side of the river, migrants put on dry clothing and picked their way through concertina wire. Many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.It was not clear how many migrants were on the move, but a U.S. official reported that daily encounters on Tuesday hit 10,000 — nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorit...

Yes, people are paying to be safely surrounded by bees in Colorado. Here’s why

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

Reclining on a bench in a wooden hut mere inches above thousands of humming honeybees in four active hives might sound like a frightening experience to some. It seems to have the opposite effect on guests who spend time in the “bee huts” at the Capella Ranch in Lafayette, Colorado, near Denver.There is nothing to fear because, while the hum of the bees and the aroma of fresh honey can waft into the hut’s interior through slats in the bench, the bees are kept out by screen mesh. Most guests find their visits relaxing, and some report more profound effects.When Kari Tewalt had her first bee hut experience there this week, she was entranced by the sound of the bees, noticing it had a “meditative” effect on her. She also felt what she called a “magnetic field,” a head-to-toe sensation akin to goosebumps.“It’s a sensation almost like an energy flow,” said Tewalt, 48, a Broomfield, Colorado, resident who enjoyed her session so much she made reservations for a return visit next week with h...

Elon Musk announces hiring of new Twitter CEO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Elon Musk has announced he has hired a new CEO for Twitter. He did not identify by name who it will be but confirmed the new CEO will be a woman. Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last October, says he will step down from the CEO role and transition to being executive chair and Chief Technical Officer (CTO). Musk added he will be "overseeing product, software (and) sysops."The new CEO will start in approximately six weeks. In April, legacy blue checkmarks for Twitter users were removed. Only users who subscribe and pay for Twitter Blue have blue checkmarks. Musk recently said owning Twitter is "painful" but needed to be done. This story will be updated. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ford says decision coming ‘very, very soon’ on future of Peel Region

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says a decision on the possible future independence of cities within Peel Region will hopefully be made “very, very soon.”Peel encompasses Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, and the region is responsible for services such as paramedics, health programs and recycling.Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has been pushing for her city to become independent, saying it will save her municipality $1 billion over 10 years and make it more efficient.Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark announced in November that he would appoint facilitators to assess six regional governments, including Peel Region, and look at the best mix of roles between upper-tier and lower-tier municipalities with an eye to expanding “strong mayor” powers beyond Toronto and Ottawa.Ford says today that a final decision on Peel hasn’t yet been made, but he believes Mississauga and Brampton are large cities that can stand alone.Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown ...

House Republicans pass new asylum restrictions as Title 42 ends; Biden promises veto

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden’s policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law. Democrats, who have a narrow hold on the Senate, have decried the aggressive measures in the bill as “cruel” and “anti-immigrant,” and Biden has already promised he would veto it.But the House GOP pointedly voted on the bill the same day as the expiration of Title 42, a public health emergency rule that allowed border authorities to quickly return many migrants who crossed the border illegally. Biden has conceded that the southern border will be “chaotic for a while” as migrants weigh whether to cross and U.S. officials use a new set of policies that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration while offering more lega...