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Repelled by high car prices, Americans are holding on to their vehicles longer than ever

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

By TOM KRISHER (AP Auto Writer)ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — With new and used cars still painfully expensive, Ryan Holdsworth says he plans to keep his 9-year-old Chevy Cruze for at least four more years. Limiting his car payments and his overall debt is a bigger priority for him than having a new vehicle.A 35-year-old grocery store worker from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Holdsworth would probably be in the market for a vehicle within a few years — if not for the high cost. For now, it’s out of the question.“You’re not going to get one for a price you can afford,” he said.Holdsworth has plenty of company. Americans are keeping their cars longer than ever. The average age of a passenger vehicle on the road hit a record 12.5 years this year, according to data gathered by S&P Global Mobility. Sedans like Holdsworth’s are even older, on average — 13.6 years.Blame it mainly on the pandemic, which in 2020 triggered a global shortage of automotiv...

Cannabis home-growing 101: How to cultivate clones, seeds in Colorado

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

By now, Colorado gardeners are hard at work preparing their soil and remediating their snow-sick lawns in hopes of procuring a bountiful harvest later this year. For those who are still undecided on exactly what to plant, may I suggest adding a different kind of herb to your garden: cannabis.When Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, it also legalized home-growing. According to state law, any person age 21 or older is allowed to grow up to six plants at a time in an enclosed area at a private residence. Local laws may have stricter stipulations — for example, the city of Denver limits home-growing to 12 plants total regardless of how many people live at one location — but, in general, it’s permissible to cultivate your own stash.And because weed plants grow like, well, weeds, the process is also fairly simple. According to experts, anyone with a green thumb can be successful at growing cannabis.“Think about how you would grow a tomato plant. Make sure it’s got enough sp...

The schools that take Colorado’s “most vulnerable” students are disappearing. Can they be saved? Should they?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

Erin Schneiderman used to get calls in the middle of the day two or three times a week to pick her son up from his Denver elementary school.Last Resort“Last Resort” is a Colorado News Collaborative-led four-part investigation by Chalkbeat Colorado, The Colorado Sun, and KFF Health News into the collapsing system of schools that serve some of Colorado’s most vulnerable students.Read the full series at colabnews.co.The third-grader had run away or was standing in the hallway screaming. Meltdowns could last for hours. School was just too loud and crowded, with too much unpredictability, for a child with autism who craved routine.Denver Public Schools decided Schneiderman’s son should go to a privately run school that specializes in serving children with intense behavioral, mental health or special education needs. But when it came time to start fourth grade, he still didn’t have a spot. The boy spent two months at home, most of that time getting no education at all.Today, nearly five y...

The greatest wealth transfer in history is here, with familiar (rich) winners

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

By Talmon Joseph Smith and Karl Russell, The New York TimesAn intergenerational transfer of wealth is in motion in America — and it will dwarf any of the past.Of the 73 million baby boomers, the youngest are turning 60. The oldest boomers are nearing 80. Born in midcentury as U.S. birthrates surged in tandem with an enormous leap in prosperity after the Depression and World War II, boomers are now beginning to die in larger numbers, along with Americans older than 80.Most will leave behind thousands of dollars, a home or not much at all. Others are leaving their heirs hundreds of thousands, or millions, or billions of dollars in various assets.In 1989, total family wealth in the United States was about $38 trillion, adjusted for inflation. By 2022, that wealth had more than tripled, reaching $140 trillion. Of the $84 trillion projected to be passed down from older Americans to millennial and Generation X heirs through 2045, $16 trillion will be transferred within the next deca...

Hundreds of migrants are arriving in Denver, again stretching city resources. What’s the long-term plan?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

When gunfire erupted in front of his uncle’s business in Venezuela, it was the last straw for Jeremy Jimenez. He decided to make the long and dangerous trek to the United States.Jimenez, 22, set out alone, but eventually made friends with others who were fleeing violence. After months of journeying through treacherous conditions in multiple countries, he made it to El Paso, Texas. There, he was told he could get a bus ticket to Denver before ultimately making his way to Chicago, where a friend of his lives.And that’s what he did. Among a crowd of people getting food Tuesday at the migrant processing center on Denver’s Auraria Campus, Jimenez said he wants people to know he’s been treated well and welcomed in Denver. He wants to remain in the U.S. and work.But for now, “I’m just taking it day by day” and making “small plans,” he said in Spanish. “If you have (too many) plans, it can be stressful and weigh you down.”As ...

Colorado wildflowers could be epic this year thanks to abundant snowpack, but other factors in play

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

With Colorado’s snowpack ranging from ample to exceptional this spring, hikers who adore wildflowers may already be envisioning days of strolling along lush landscapes of spectacular blooms under columbine-blue skies when all that snow melts.It could well happen this summer. But because several factors affect the quality of wildflower seasons, and some of them have yet to play out, experts say it’s too soon to predict whether wildflower viewing will be good this year or great. It depends on what happens over the next few weeks.“The mountains are probably going to have a pretty good year,” said Thomas Bates, a plant ecologist for the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests, which encompass the northern Front Range high country. “The critical time is not now, because there’s still snow. It’s that three to six weeks after the snow melts. We have ample moisture, but it does depend on how that moisture comes off — in the timing, and the rate.”Rosy...

Here's what could happen to the military if the U.S. defaults on its debt

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

(The Hill) - As the United States stares down the barrel of a deadline to raise the national debt ceiling, past and current Pentagon leaders are sounding the alarm on how such an event could be deeply damaging to the country and those who keep it safe.  Disrupted pay for service members, late benefits checks for veterans and a hit to U.S. national security are only a glimpse into what could come.  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made that much clear this week, telling lawmakers that the Pentagon “won't, in some cases, be able to pay our troops with any degree of predictability,” should a default come to pass. And Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley said such an event could also “embolden China and increase risk to the United States.”  The debt limit, is the dollar figure up to which the Treasury Department can borrow to pay for congressionally approved spending decided through the annual appropriations process. The Biden administr...

Raging rivers are replenishing historic Gold Rush spots

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

BUCK MEADOWS — For 170 years, the gold deposits along Sierra streambeds have been so poked and prodded that easy supplies of the precious metal have grown scarce and are a challenge to find.This spring’s raging rivers are regifting them.“There it is!” said Kevin Bell of Sacramento, swirling a pan in the cold waters of Moore Creek, as glitter suddenly illuminated the inky black sand. A half bucket of material yielded 12 showy specks — nearly a tenth of a gram of gold, worth about $7 — about double the typical haul in previous years.Prospectors call it “flood gold” — fine-sized flakes carried by alluvial waters and then deposited as flow recedes.Glowing gold flakes stand out among black sand as Kevin Bell, California director of Gold Prospectors of America, pans for the precious metal along Moore Creek near Buck Meadows, Calif., Tuesday, May 9, 2023. Winter storms sent water blasting through rocks in the Sierra Nevada, leading to what is widely anticipated to be the biggest discovery ...

Fremont: Good Samaritan dies in I-880 weekend collision

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

FREMONT — A driver was arrested after a solo Interstate 880 crash, and a second driver fled on foot after his pickup truck fatally struck one of two Good Samaritans responding to the first crash, authorities said.In a statement Sunday, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson said a Chevrolet crashed around 2:40 a.m. on the northbound I-880 off-ramp to Highway 262/Mission Boulevard, blocking the off-ramp’s lanes.Shortly after, a Mitsubishi’s male driver and female passenger stopped and helped move the Chevrolet to the off-ramp’s right shoulder before parking the Mitsubishi behind it. The Mitsubishi passenger then got out of the car to speak with the Chevrolet’s driver.Moments later, as she stood between the two vehicles, a Ford F-150 pickup truck approached before drifting onto the shoulder and rear-ending the Mitsubishi.The impact pushed it forward into her, the CHP said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and her identity was not available Sunday n...

Are you a victim of crypto crime? Erin West wants to help

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:30:52 GMT

Thieves think that stolen cryptocurrency from duped consumers is the perfect crime – anonymous, secret and safe from seizure.Erin West is proving them wrong.In the past year, the Santa Clara County prosecutor and her team have recovered $2.5 million worth of digital currency from scammed Bay Area residents, with about 75 investigations still underway.One victim was an entrepreneur whose cell phone account was hacked, then emptied. Another was a father who was tricked into a fake investment scheme, losing his child’s college fund. Yet another was a grandfather, fooled by the sobs of someone pretending to be his grandson in a car accident. There are hundreds of others.Shining light on a complex world that thrives in darkness, West is crafting legal techniques to find and return once-vanished funds. With cryptocrimes on the rise, she has gained global acclaim, earning invitations to share her strategy at conferences in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, even the...