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Stock market today: Wall Street falls as the bond market cranks up the pressure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street weakened Wednesday to worsen what’s already been a messy August.The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower in late trading, following up on its prior day’s loss of 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 186 points, or 0.5%, to 34,759, as of 3:25 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1%.Increased pressure came from the bond market, where yields have recently neared their highest levels since the Great Recession triggered a collapse in interest rates. Yields climbed more following the afternoon release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. The minutes suggested Fed officials are unsure about their next move after catapulting the main interest rate they control to its highest level in two decades. Hopes had been rising among investors that last month’s rate hike by the Fed would prove to be its last.High rates work to grind down inflation by bluntly slowing the entire economy and hurting investment prices. The Fed’s minutes show...

Bacteria found in raw shellfish linked to two Connecticut deaths also blamed for New York death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The death of a Long Island resident has been linked to a bacteria found in raw shellfish or seawater that has also been blamed for two deaths in Connecticut, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.The Vibrio vulnificus bacteria was identified in a Suffolk County resident who died recently, Hochul said.“While rare, the vibrio bacteria has unfortunately made it to this region and can be extraordinarily dangerous,” Hochul said in a news release. Precautions for avoiding the potentially deadly bacteria include protecting open wounds from seawater and, for those with compromised immune systems, forgoing raw or undercooked shellfish, she said.The death in Suffolk County is being investigated to determine if the bacteria was encountered in New York waters or elsewhere, the governor said, adding that health care providers should consider Vibrio vulnificus when seeing patients with severe wound infections or sepsis.Health officials say anyone can get vibriosis, the illness...

Plea negotiations could mean no 9/11 defendants face the death penalty, the US tells families

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The suspected architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and his fellow defendants may never face the death penalty under plea agreements now under consideration to bring an end to their more than decadelong prosecution, the Pentagon and FBI have advised families of some of the thousands killed.The notice, made in a letter that was sent to several of the families and obtained by The Associated Press, comes 1 1/2 years after military prosecutors and defense lawyers began exploring a negotiated resolution to the case. The prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others held at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been troubled by repeated delays and legal disputes, especially over the legal ramifications of the interrogation under torture that the men initially underwent while in CIA custody. No trial date has been set. “The Office of the Chief Prosecutor has been negotiating and is considering entering into pre-trial agreements,” or PTAs, the l...

14 more members of Minneapolis gangs are charged in federal violent crime initiative

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officials announced Wednesday that 14 members of Minneapolis-based gangs have been charged with crimes including possession of machine guns, fentanyl trafficking and firearms violations as part of a federal initiative to crack down on violent gangs.“It’s a small group of violent offenders that are responsible for the vast majority of violence that rocks our communities,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news conference. “These arrests represent our commitment to reducing the tragedy and trauma” of that violence, he said.U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said told reporters that the department is investigating the gangs as “criminal organizations, focusing on their most violent members and leaders.”The people charged are suspected of using machine guns, engaging in beatings and armed robberies, and planning revenge killings for the murder of their fellow gang members, Luger said. He added that this is the second round of charges against Minneapoli...

Two decades later, record wildfires in Kelowna, B.C. are dwarfed by current season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

KELOWNA, B.C. — It’s been about five years since Jesse Zeman began a summer ritual of boxing up keepsakes and personal effects to ship to relatives because he worried his home in Kelowna, B.C., would burn down. Eventually, Zeman said he and his wife moved their treasures permanently after the family had to evacuate twice. Now they have a so-called “go box” prepared and they are ready to leave at a moment’s notice every summer.They’ve had fires start within a few kilometres of their house many times over the years, but Zeman said he looks back to the devastating season in 2003 when friends’ homes burned down in what was then considered a catastrophic event, but now is the new norm.“You only need to get woken up at 11 at night because there’s a fire within two kilometres of your house, you only need to do that once to go ‘holy smoke, so this is real,'” he said in an interview. “The risk is very high where we live.”...

Canada left off China’s list of approved countries for tour groups

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

Canada has been left off China’s list of approved countries for tour groups to travel to, dealing Canada’s already struggling tourism industry another financial blow.The reasoning for its actions, according to a statement made by the Chinese embassy to CBC, includes concerns about Canada’s discussions about “Chinese interference” and what it claims are rampant, discriminatory anti-Asian acts. The U.S. and Australia are among the 78 other countries that made the approved list.This exclusion spells trouble for Canada’s tourism industry, says Beth Potter, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. Potter says tourists from China are a large financial contributor that many businesses rely upon.“On average, they spend almost twice what the next tourist would spend from other countries around the world,” Potter said. “We’re talking in the neighbourhood of about $1,500 to $1,600.”Related Articles:Selfie...

Nova Scotia Power handed $750,000 fine for failing to meet performance standards

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s electric utility has been handed a $750,000 fine for failing to meet 2022 performance targets set by the provincial regulator.The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board issued a statement today saying privately owned Nova Scotia Power Inc. failed to fully satisfy five of 14 performance targets dealing with reliability, restoring power after adverse weather and service installations.The board found that even though the utility has increased investments in its transmission and distribution infrastructure to deal with increasingly powerful and more frequent storms, it has failed to achieve certain reliability targets in each year since the standards were established in 2016.In 2020, the board ordered Nova Scotia Power to pay a $250,000 penalty, and in 2022 the penalty rose to $375,000.In May, Nova Scotia Power filed a response to the board’s latest findings, saying the utility’s failure on seven occasions to meet the standard for restoring power ...

Massachusetts trying to jump-start effort to replace Cape Cod bridges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is hoping to jump-start the replacement of the two bridges connecting Cape Cod to the rest of the state by focusing first on federal dollars to replace the Sagamore Bridge before turning to the Bourne Bridge.The renewed effort comes as earlier attempts to win federal funds to replace the bridges have failed, including an application for $1.88 billion by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the bridges.Healey, who took office in January, said the administration is committed to replacing both bridges, but it is taking a new approach by focusing initially on the Sagamore Bridge.“We are proud to be finalizing our application this month to compete for $1.45 billion in federal funds,” the Democrat said in a written statement. “This first phase will enable us to get shovels in the ground quickly on the Sagamore Bridge, lay the groundwork for rebuilding the Bourne Bridge, and move forward on the permitting and design of both bridges....

Georgia prosecutor seeks March trial date for trial of Trump and 18 others in election case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor who obtained an indictment this week against former President Donald Trump and 18 others wants to take the case to trial in March.Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in a proposed scheduling order filed with the court Wednesday that she wants the trial to start on March 4. She is also proposing that arraignments for the defendants happen the week of Sept. 5.Trump and 18 others were indicted Monday by a Fulton County grand jury. They are accused of committing various crimes as part of a scheme to keep Trump in power after his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.Trump is already scheduled to stand trial in March in the separate New York case involving dozens of state charges of falsifying business records in connection with an alleged hush money payment to a porn actor. He’s scheduled to stand trial in May in the federal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith alleging he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lag...

CPD: 2 critical after shooting outside funeral home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:14 GMT

CHICAGO — Two people were critically wounded in a drive-by shooting outside of a funeral home Wednesday morning on the South Side.The shooting happened just before 11 a.m. outside Leak and Sons Funeral Home, located at 7838 S. Cottage Grove Avenue in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.Two men, ages 38 and 43, were standing near a sidewalk when a gunman in a vehicle driving by opened fire. The 38-year-old was struck in the face, head and neck. He was transported to University of Chicago in critical condition.The 43-year-old was shot in the jaw and was transported to University of Chicago in critical condition.Authorities said another person was transported to St. Bernard Hospital with a leg injury sustained while moving through a crowd when the shooting occurred. Bond set at $5M for 16-year-old accused in fatal shooting of teen in Highland Park No one is in custody.