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Unwrapping the truth: Parents navigating financial hardship during the holiday season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

René Bennett | Bankrate.com (TNS)The holiday season, synonymous with joy and celebration, often carries a hidden burden for many parents. Economic challenges, paired with the escalating costs of holiday traditions, can stretch already thin budgets to their limits.A recent Bankrate survey provides startling insight: U.S. parents with children under 18 need almost $25,000 more annually than those without children to feel financially secure. Moreover, 56 percent of these parents say that to feel financially comfortable, they’d need to make at least $100,000 on average.Beyond just the financial weight of buying gifts and planning gatherings, holiday travel, especially with children, adds a substantial strain to budgets. Whether it’s booking flights during peak travel times or ensuring comfortable stays for the family, the costs can rapidly accumulate.With dedicated advanced planning and the right tools, such as a free checking account, parents can manage these financial challenges and a...

How your employer can help you save for emergencies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

By Liz Weston | NerdWalletThe investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.When I wrote about employer-provided emergency savings accounts four years ago, the idea was still pretty novel. Some companies were experimenting with ways to help their workers save for short-term needs, but the concept wasn’t even on the radar for many employers.What a difference the pandemic made. Millions were thrown out of work with little warning, and few had the financial reserves to survive even a few months of unemployment. Big employers, and lawmakers, took notice, says Claire Chamberlain, global head of social impact for investment manager BlackRock. The result: Hundreds of thousands of workers now have options to build emergency savings through their employers, and Congress passed laws to encour...

An off-duty pilot is accused of trying to shut down the engines of a Horizon Air jet in midflight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

By DAVID KOENIG and CLAIRE RUSH (Associated Press)PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An off-duty pilot riding in the extra seat in the cockpit of a Horizon Air passenger jet tried to shut down the engines in midflight and had to be subdued by the crew, according to a pilot flying the plane.Authorities in Oregon identified the man as Joseph David Emerson, 44. He was being held Monday on 83 counts each of attempted murder and reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. The San Francisco-bound flight on Sunday diverted to Portland, Oregon, where it was met by officers from the Port of Portland, who took Emerson into custody.Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, which owns Horizon, a regional carrier, did not name Emerson, but said Monday that the threat was posed by one of its pilot who was off duty but authorized to occupy the cockpit jump seat.The airline said the captain and co-pilot reacted quickly, “engine power...

Aruba requests van der Sloot case documents, including his description of killing Natalee Holloway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Aruba have requested documents from the U.S. Department of Justice in the extortion case against Joran van der Sloot, including his description of killing Natalee Holloway on the island nearly 20 years ago. Van der Sloot, as part of a plea deal in the extortion case, agreed to describe what happened to Holloway in 2005. Van der Sloot said he bludgeoned her to death on a beach after she resisted his sexual advances and then put her body in the ocean, according to court documents.“We have requested the U.S. Department of Justice for the court documents, transcripts and all the documents related to the investigation,” Ann Angela, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Aruba, wrote in an email. She said they will, “review and analyze them before deciding on the procedural steps to be taken against Joran van der Sloot.”“The disappearance of Natalee Holloway, is still an open investigation in Aruba,” she wrote. An attorney for Holloway...

Suspects sought in daytime robbery at Sherway Gardens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

Toronto police are searching for multiple suspects following a daytime robbery at Sherway Gardens mall in Etobicoke.Authorities were called to the shopping centre at around 1:45 p.m. on Monday for reports of a robbery.It’s alleged that three male suspects used a hammer to smash displays and steal merchandise. The men then fled the area on foot.No injuries were reported. It’s unclear what store was targeted. Investigators said the three men were wearing black hoodies and blue face masks. ROBBERY:Sherway Gardens Plaza1:45 pm– police o/s– 3 male suspects used a hammer to smash displays– merchandise stolen– fled on foot– no reported injuries– all male, black, wearing hoodies, and blue face masks#GO2460816^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) October 23, 2023

US Forest Service sued over flooding deaths in the wake of New Mexico’s largest recorded wildfire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Relatives of three people who died last year in a flash flood stemming from the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history are suing the U.S. Forest Service.The wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges the Forest Service was negligent in the management of the prescribed burn and also failed to close roads and prevent access to areas at risk for flooding that followed the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire.The three West Texas residents were staying at a family cabin in northern New Mexico in July 2022 when monsoon rains hit the burn scar near Tecolote Creek. That created a flash flood that swept the three victims to their deaths.According to the Albuquerque Journal, the lawsuit also contends that the Forest Service failed to provide adequate warnings to the victims about the dangers caused by the wildfire and the dangers of potential flooding in the area.Neither the Forest Service nor its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Agricult...

Book Review: ‘A Brief History of Intelligence’ may help humans shape the future of AI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

Ever wonder how Homo sapiens got so smart? How come we developed actual language when all the other animals didn’t? How about what first made a nematode turn its body in a different direction? Or… what’s a nematode?Answers to those questions and much, much more can be found in the pages of Max Bennett’s new book “A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI and the Five Breakthroughs that Made Our Brains.” At 365 pages plus 45 more with a glossary, chapter notes and a bibliography, readers can quibble whether it’s indeed brief, but it is certainly thorough. Bennett’s premise — he’s a software entrepreneur who founded a company called Bluecore that “helped predict what consumers would buy before they knew what they wanted” — is that humans won’t ever create true artificial intelligence without understanding exactly what led to the real intelligence we already possess. So he begins with those nematodes — worms, to you and me — and painstakingly details the five breakthroughs that ov...

School shooting in Brazil’s Sao Paulo leaves one student dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — A teenager opened fire at a high school in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo early Monday, killing one student and wounding two others, authorities said.The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper identified the assailant as a male student at the high school who was a frequent target of bullying and said that the victim who died was a 17-year-old girl who was shot in the head. Authorities did not immediately release details about the suspected shooter, but the Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that police took him into custody. Two students were wounded in the shooting, and one other was hurt in a scramble to escape. All three were brought to a hospital, it said. “At this moment, the priority is attending to the victims and psychological support to students, teachers and family members,” the statement said. This was Brazil’s first school attack in months, following a rash of them earlier this year. There have been almost two dozen violent episodes in Brazilian s...

School bus with numerous students rolls over north of Calgary, RCMP say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

DIDSBURY, Alta. — RCMP in central Alberta say there has been a collision involving a school bus.An officer from Didsbury came across the school bus rollover on Highway 2A at Township Road 320, police said in a news release Monday. “The bus contained numerous students,” Didsbury RCMP said. “The extent of injuries is unknown at this time.”Highway 2A, which is north of Calgary, is closed and no traffic can get through the area.Police said they were responding Monday to multiple collisions in the area, including potentially 12 between Carstairs and Olds on Highway 2, due to poor road conditions.Albertans woke up to freezing rain ahead of a predicted snowfall that Environment Canada says could see accumulations of 10 to 15 centimetres before Tuesday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct .23, 2023. The Canadian Press

Theft of 2 million dimes from truckload of coins from US Mint leaves four facing federal charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:34 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal authorities have released more details and unsealed charges in the theft of more than 2 million dimes earlier this year from a tractor-trailer that had picked up the coins from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.The truck driver was bound for Miami when he pulled into a parking lot to sleep on April 13. During the night, thieves made off with a portion of its cargo of $750,000 in dimes, a shipment weighing about six tons, authorities had said earlier. Thousands of coins were left scattered all over the lot in northeast Philadelphia.The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that prosecutors contend that the theft — which they now say totaled $234,500 in stolen dimes — was part of a spree of robberies from tractor-trailers passing through the region that also netted the thieves frozen crab legs, shrimp, meat, beer and liquor.Detectives said at the time that surveillance video showed six men, dressed in gray hoodies and armed with bolt cutters, approaching the truck in t...