Fed leaves key rate unchanged, future hike still possible

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

Fed leaves key rate unchanged, future hike still possible By Christopher Rugaber | Associated PressWASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve kept its key short-term interest rate unchanged Wednesday for a second straight time but left the door open to further rate hikes if inflation pressures should accelerate in the months ahead.The Fed said in a statement after its latest meeting that it would keep its benchmark rate at about 5.4%, its highest level in 22 years. Since launching the most aggressive series of rate hikes in four decades in March 2022 to fight inflation, the Fed has pulled back and has now raised rates only once since May.The new statement noted that recent tumult in the financial markets has sent longer-term interest rates up to near 16-year highs and contributed to higher borrowing rates across the economy.“Tighter financial and credit conditions for households and businesses,” it said, “are likely to weigh on economic activity.”That reference echoed recent comments by Fed officials that higher yields — or i...

New speaker faces contentious floor votes in early test

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

New speaker faces contentious floor votes in early test By Melanie Zanona and Annie Grayer | CNNNewly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson hoped to rally his members around key policy issues during a recent Republican conference call. But it didn’t take long for personal feuds to instead take center stage.GOP Rep. Young Kim, who represents a key California swing district carried by President Joe Biden, expressed concern over a resolution to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her comments criticizing Israel and attendance at a pro-Palestinian protest, according to sources on the call.But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is the chief sponsor of the resolution and has her own history of anti-Semitic tropes, quickly shot back – and directly called out Kim.“You voted to remove me from my committees,” Greene said on the call, according to a member who recalled the conversation. “So you’re willing to hold Republicans accountable but not Democrats?”A source close to Kim said the congresswoman is concerned over a censure tit-for-t...

Felon arrested in San Rafael with loaded Glock, ounce of narcotics

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

Felon arrested in San Rafael with loaded Glock, ounce of narcotics (KRON) -- A felon with an outstanding warrant was arrested on weapons and drug charges in San Rafael last week, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office. Detectives with the MCSO Specialized Investigations Unit and Coordination of Probation Enforcement team contacted the suspect, Richard Trieber in the area of 300 Channing Way on Thursday, Oct. 26.At the time, Trieber was known to have an outstanding warrant out of Marin County for felon in possession of a firearm, police said. When police made contact with him, Trieber had a loaded, unregistered Glock 43X 9mm handgun in his front waistband, and about $1,093 in cash on him. Fire breaks out on 3 boats at Oyster Cove Marina in South SF, 1 person injured Police searched his vehicle and found two fully loaded Glock 9 mm magazines and a partially loaded FN 5.7-style magazine. About an ounce of various narcotics were also found, police said, including cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and ketamine.A digital scale and narcotic pa...

Saints’ Alvin Kamara, Jets’ Garrett Wilson among best bets to score in Week 9 of NFL season

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

Saints’ Alvin Kamara, Jets’ Garrett Wilson among best bets to score in Week 9 of NFL season It’s a tough bye week for some, but we still have some stellar options when it comes to scoring TDs. These are my best bets to find the end zone in Week 9.___Running BackZACK MOSS, COLTSI was tempted to put Jonathan Taylor here instead of Moss, but there are some distinctions between the two backs that have Moss here over Taylor, the main being that Moss is the preferred short-yardage back. It was Moss who punched in the score in Week 8, and it was Moss who has outscored Taylor four to one over the past four games. Taylor only logged one more carry (13) than Moss (12) in Week 8 too, so it’s not as if he’s running away with the carries. This week, they’ll face Carolina, a team that is our fifth-best matchup for opposing running backs. They’re both solid plays, but Moss has established himself as the TD go-to player in Indy with a 32.97% TD dependency.ALVIN KAMARA, SAINTSTouchdowns had been fairly hard to come by for Kamara since he returned in Week 4 until just last week, when he sco...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises after Federal Reserve holds steady on interest rates

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

Stock market today: Wall Street rises after Federal Reserve holds steady on interest rates NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Wednesday after the Federal Reserve opted against pressing the brakes even harder on Wall Streeet and the economy, at least for now. The S&P 500 was up 0.8% in afternoon trading, coming off its third straight losing month largely because of higher yields in the bond market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 156 points, or 0.5%, as of 2:15 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.Indexes added to their gains after the Fed announced its decision to hold interest rates steady, which was what investors expected. It’s already yanked the overnight rate from nearly zero early last year to its highest level since 2001, above 5.25%. The big question is how long the Fed will keep the rate high before cutting it to provide financial markets more oxygen.Longer-term Treasury yields have been rising rapidly since the spring and catching up with the Fed’s overnight rate. They’ve rallied as the U.S. economy has remained remarkably ...

Live updates | Dozens of foreign passport holders and injured allowed to flee Gaza

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

Live updates | Dozens of foreign passport holders and injured allowed to flee Gaza Israeli airstrikes hit apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City for a second day in a row, causing many deaths and injuries, the Hamas-run government said. The toll from Wednesday’s strikes was not immediately known. Meanwhile, dozens of people with foreign passports entered the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt. It appeared to be the first time that foreign passport holders have been allowed to leave the besieged territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than three weeks ago. Communications and internet services were gradually being restored after the second major cut in five days, according to Paltel, the main telecommunications provider. Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza.The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,805, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, 130 Palestinians have been killed in violence and I...

CNBC: Fiscal general de DC demanda a plataforma por presunto aumento ilegal de alquileres

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

CNBC: Fiscal general de DC demanda a plataforma por presunto aumento ilegal de alquileres La oficina del fiscal general de DC, Brian Schwalb, informó el martes que está demandando a RealPage, una empresa de software de administración de propiedades, y a 14 de los propietarios más grandes del distrito por presunta colusión para aumentar los alquileres.La denuncia nombra varios fideicomisos de inversión inmobiliaria que cotizan en bolsa, como UDR, AvalonBay Communities y Equity Residential.Las empresas compartieron datos con RealPage, que luego utilizó un algoritmo para aumentar artificialmente los precios de más de 50,000 apartamentos en toda la ciudad, lo que costó a los inquilinos millones de dólares en aumentos ilegales de los alquileres, según un comunicado de la oficina de Schwalb. La supuesta colusión viola la Ley Antimonopolio del Distrito de Columbia, explicó la oficina.Demanda por aumento de alquileres en la capitalLos 14 propietarios nombrados en la demanda son:AvalonBay Communities Inc.Avenue5 Residential LLCBell Partners Inc.Bozzuto Management Co.Camden Summit...

Don’t let the cold temps lead to a soggy mess in your home

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

Don’t let the cold temps lead to a soggy mess in your home Below freezing temperatures are set to return to the D.C. region on Wednesday night and with that comes an increased risk of flooding from frozen pipes.Many of the pipe bursts involve pipes that lead to the spigot outside, according to Wesley Bush, owner of Alliance Water Restoration in Chantilly, Virginia.“Hose bibs become the greatest issue as far as causing water leaks that people aren’t prepared for,” Bush said.When the pipes that supply the outdoor faucet with water freeze and expand, he said that at times leads to the pipe splitting.“As soon as it thaws out, you have full pressure that’s blowing water into your basement,” he said.To prevent this, you should winterize your home by locating the indoor shutoff valves for the water lines that lead to the outdoor faucet. Once you shut off the water using those valves, turn on the spigot outside so the water inside the pipe drains out, Bush said.Not taking this simple step can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of...

Movie Review: A serene debut from Raven Jackson in ‘All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

Movie Review: A serene debut from Raven Jackson in ‘All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt’ Nature provides much of the soundtrack to “ All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” a poised and occasionally transcendent debut from writer-director Raven Jackson.The sounds of crickets and birds, flowing water and the wind in the long summer grass are only sporadically punctured by a song at a party, or a brief moment of a swelling score. These are the kind of details that make you feel immediately rooted in a place. It’s not just the nature setting on a sleep app either, or, if it is, sound supervisor Miguel Calvo ensure that it doesn’t feel like that. It’s thoughtful and precise and also lets you more fully enjoy the moments where those human-made sounds take over.This might be a lot of talk about sound design to start, but it’s also a bit of a primer on what to expect from “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” which counts “Moonlight” filmmaker Barry Jenkins among its producers. Like sitting in a field for hours without a phone or a book or a companion to chat with, just the world around you,...

¿Qué es una amnistía y en qué consistiría la que aplicaría Pedro Sánchez en Cataluña?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:33:27 GMT

¿Qué es una amnistía y en qué consistiría la que aplicaría Pedro Sánchez en Cataluña? (CNN Español) — Que en España se forme un nuevo Ejecutivo tras las elecciones generales del 23 de julio depende, actualmente, de que Pedro Sánchez reúna los apoyos necesarios para apuntalar su investidura como presidente del Gobierno.Todavía no hay una fecha definida para que el parlamento acoja el debate donde el secretario general del Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) buscaría reunir la confianza de los miembros de la cámara, y eso se debe a que el líder socialista aún no ha culminado las negociaciones con los partidos que pueden brindar ese apoyo.Pedro Sánchez acepta la petición del rey de España para intentar formar Gobierno: ¿cuándo sería la investidura y qué necesita para lograrlo?El principal reto de Sánchez es cerrar un acuerdo con las formaciones independentistas catalanas, Junts per Catalunya y Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, para lograr el voto a favor de sus 14 diputados en el Congreso.Sin embargo, ese apoyo sólo lo ofrecen a cambio de una ley de amnistía...