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Ticker: UMass economic impact: $8.3B; Mortgage rates tick up, again

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

Spending by UMass students and faculty, construction projects, and university purchases of goods and services are driving a record $8.3 billion economic impact across the five-campus system, according to a new report.The analysis  also determined that the university system is responsible for nearly 40,000 external jobs across the state, that more than 330,000 university alumni live in Massachusetts, and that the university issues 20,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees each year.“As a center of undergraduate and professional education, as well as research and innovation, the University of Massachusetts is a key driver of the Commonwealth’s economy and workforce, helping to set Massachusetts apart as it competes, both domestically and globally,” said Mark Melnik, director of economic and policy research at the the UMass Amherst-based Donahue Institute, which authored the report.Mortgage rates tick up, againThe average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages remained at generati...

Judge says Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts are discriminatory and must be redrawn

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

By JEFF AMY and KATE BRUMBACK (Associated Press)ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge ruled Thursday that some of Georgia’s congressional, state Senate and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner, ordering the state to draw an additional Black-majority congressional district.U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, in a 516-page order, also ordered the state to draw two new Black-majority districts in Georgia’s 56-member state Senate and five new Black-majority districts in its 180-member state House.Jones ordered Georgia’s Republican majority General Assembly and governor to fix the maps by Dec. 8, saying he would redraw districts if lawmakers did not. Hours after the ruling, Gov. Brian Kemp issued a call for a special session to begin Nov. 29 to redraw congressional and legislative districts, although a spokesperson for the governor said that is a scheduling decision and doesn’t mean the Republican opposes an appeal.Jones’ ruling follows an eight-day September trial ...

Surfers find body floating near La Jolla Shores Beach; man identified

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Two surfers found an unresponsive man floating in the water near La Jolla Shores Beach last weekend.According to the San Diego Medical Examiner's Office, 65-year-old William Cunningham Jr. of San Diego was found floating about 150 yards off shore on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 21. Elderly woman killed in East County house fire identified The surfers alerted San Diego Lifeguards who responded to the location and removed the man from the water. The medical examiner's office said responding paramedics confirmed the man's death at that time due to "obvious postmortem changes."Cunningham Jr.'s cause of death was listed as "blunt force injury complicated by drowning." The San Diego Police Department is investigating. Anyone with additional information regarding these incident is encouraged to call the Crime Stoppers tip line at (888) 580-8477.

Radio host Larry Elder ends Republican presidential campaign and endorses Donald Trump

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder announced Thursday that he was ending his 2024 Republican campaign for president and endorsing former President Donald Trump.Elder, who sought to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a failed 2021 recall effort, said in a statement that he had made the “difficult decision” to end his bid after “careful consideration and consultation” with his team and to throw his support behind Trump. Trump’s leadership, he said, was “instrumental in advancing conservative America-first principles and policies that have benefited our great nation.”He said now was the time to unite behind Trump to beat President Joe Biden. He also said he hoped his campaign had shined a light on the issues important to him, including fatherlessness, fighting crime and opposition to the idea that the U.S. is a racist country.Elder is the fourth major candidate to suspend or end his 2024 GOP bid, following Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, former Texas congressman Will Hurd ...

Palestinians plead ‘stop the bombs’ at UN meeting but Israel insists Hamas must be ‘obliterated’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — “Stop the bombs and save lives!” the Palestinian ambassador pleaded at an emotional U.N. meeting Thursday on the war in Gaza. But Israel’s envoy was adamant, declaring again, “We will not rest until Hamas is obliterated.”The war sparked by Gaza’s Hamas rulers’ surprise attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 played out in the vast hall of the 193-nation General Assembly, where Arab nations expected to adopt a resolution Friday calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza after the Security Council’s four failed attempts to agree on any action.At the assembly’s resumed emergency special session on Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories Thursday, speaker after speaker backed the Arab resolution’s cease-fire call — except for Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who told the 193-member world body, “A cease-fire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself, so they can massacre us again.”After quoting several Hamas statements vowing to destroy Israel and the Jews, he said, ...

Carjacking call led police to chief’s son who was wanted in officers’ shooting. He died hours later

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — John Drake Jr. had been on the run for days when he showed up in a ski mask in a Nashville neighborhood and asked a woman for a ride in her car. His face was all over “wanted” notices, a suspect in the shooting and wounding of two police officers near Nashville, where his father is the police chief. When the woman said she didn’t have enough gas, Drake Jr. pulled out a pistol and stole her car.About two hours after the carjacking on Tuesday, the chief’s estranged son was dead.A newly released recording of the carjacking victim’s 911 call and bird’s-eye-view police video show some of Drake Jr.’s final movements. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is probing Drake Jr.’s death, and an autopsy is planned.Drake Jr. crashed the stolen vehicle into another car, then ran through alleys and hopped fences into yards before breaking into a shed, according to video footage shot from a Nashville police helicopter that the department releas...

Shiffrin, Odermatt are favorites again as Alpine skiing season starts amid climate change issues

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

SOELDEN, Austria (AP) — Just a fraction of the talk in the buildup to this weekend’s Alpine skiing World Cup opening has been about who will win the races or if Mikaela Shiffrin and Marco Odermatt are going to dominate the season again.The main topic is whether in times of global warming a winter sport season should still start as early as October.Amid growing environmental concerns surrounding the sport, the World Cup has its traditional start with two giant slaloms on a glacier in Austria coming up, with the women racing on Saturday and the men on Sunday.Those are the first two in a series of 90 races until mid-March, evenly divided between women and men, making for the busiest season in the 57-year history of the World Cup.In a season not interrupted by Olympics or world championships, the calendar includes the first cross-border downhills from Zermatt in Switzerland to Cervinia in Italy in November, which were canceled when they were first scheduled last year.The men’s circuit i...

U.S. man sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex exploitation of 3 B.C. children

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — An Oregon man has been sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. federal prison for sexually exploiting three British Columbia children.RCMP say 37-year-old Kevin McCarty of Happy Valley, Ore., used social media to stalk the children online, then coerced them into making and sharing sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves.Police say he threatened to share the images with their friends and family unless they sent more, and in two instances he told the victims they should kill themselves if they did not comply.RCMP in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island received the first complaint in May 2021 about a child being sexually exploited online, which police say led them to McCarty, who was later connected to cases in two other B.C. municipalities. Police say they notified U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, which took conduct of the case. Police say an Oregon court sentenced McCarty earlier this month to 20 years in prison and supervised released in the United States aft...

Democratic US Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland says he will not seek reelection in 2024

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland will not seek reelection in 2024, choosing to depart his seat after an 18-year run, the nine-term Democrat announced Thursday. Sarbanes, who has represented Maryland’s traditionally blue 3rd congressional district since 2007, said in a statement he wants to return to working in different areas of public service, like nonprofits and volunteer work. “For some time now, I have found myself drawn back to that kind of work — wanting to explore the many opportunities to serve that exist outside of elected office,” he said. Sarbanes said he is committed to seeing out the remainder of 14 months in office, but wanted to make the announcement “specifically for the benefit of candidates interested in running for my seat in next year’s election.” He called his time serving in U.S. Congress “a truly humbling opportunity to make a difference.” The Democratic Party controls all of Maryland’s U.S. Congress seats, as well as the offices of governor, se...

In closing days of Mississippi governor’s race, candidates clash over how to fund health care

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that he is working to ease financial problems for struggling hospitals — but the Democratic nominee for governor, Brandon Presley, said Reeves is hurting the state by refusing to expand Medicaid.In the final days before the Nov. 7 general election, both candidates spoke to hundreds of business people during Hobnob, a social event hosted by Mississippi Economic Council, the state’s chamber of commerce.“Our nation is struggling, particularly in rural areas with health care,” Reeves said. “And I want everyone to know that I am committed to addressing the problem.”Under a proposal Reeves released last month, hospitals would pay higher taxes so the state could draw more federal Medicaid money. It’s unclear whether the plan will receive federal approval, or how long that process could take. Reeves said the changes would generate about $689 million, which would be split among hospitals in the stat...