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Americans’ debt levels — and delinquencies — are on the rise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

Minneapolis (CNN) — The resilient consumer has kept the US economic engine running, but it’s coming at a big cost: More Americans are falling behind on their credit cards.During the third quarter, the rate of households becoming delinquent or entering serious delinquency (90 days or more behind) on their credit cards was the highest since the end of 2011, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit released Tuesday.The increases in credit card delinquency were the sharpest among borrowers in the range of 30 to 39 years old, according to the New York Fed.Newly delinquent auto loan balances continued to climb, as well, with transitions into serious delinquencies hitting 13-year highs, survey data showed.Still, thanks mostly to higher-quality mortgage loans, overall delinquencies remain below pre-pandemic levels, New York Fed researchers said.During the third quarter, household debt increased 1.3% to $17.2...

Does a 401(k) employer match tempt you to cash out?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 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.Many companies try to help their workers to save for retirement. Employers often offer 401(k)s, company matches and automatic enrollment to encourage saving.Much of that effort goes to waste, though, when employees leave. A study published last year in Marketing Science, a peer-reviewed research journal, found more than 40% of departing workers cashed out at least part of their 401(k)s, and most of those drained every dime.What’s more, employers may bear at least some of the blame, according to researchers Yanwen Wang of the University of British Columbia, Muxin Zhai of Texas State University and John Lynch Jr. of the University of Colorado.The study, titled “Cashing Out Retirement Savings at Job Separation,...

The Supreme Court seems likely to preserve a gun law that protects domestic violence victims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

By MARK SHERMAN (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to preserve a federal law that prohibits people under domestic violence restraining orders from having guns.In their first guns case since last year’s expansion of gun rights, the justices suggested that they will reverse a ruling from an appeals court in New Orleans that struck down the 1994 ban on firearms for people under court order to stay away from their spouses or partners.Liberal and conservative justices sounded persuaded by arguments from the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer that the prohibition is in line with the longstanding practice of disarming dangerous people.The case before the court involves a Texas man, Zackey Rahimi, who was accused of hitting his girlfriend during an argument in a parking lot and later threatening to shoot her.The justices peppered Rahimi’s lawyer, J. Matthew Wright, with skeptical questions that seemed to foretell ...

Queen Elizabeth statue unveiled on grounds of Ontario legislature

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

A new statue of the late Queen Elizabeth has been unveiled at the Ontario legislature, marking the end of a years-long delay for the bronze sculpture.It was designed and hand sculpted by artist Ruth Abernethy and depicts Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 on the throne in the Canadian Senate, delivering a speech on Canadian unity.NEW – Bronze statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II unveiled at Queen’s Park. pic.twitter.com/d3izNOAmYB— Richard Southern (@RichardCityNews) November 7, 2023The statue was conceived as a privately backed project to be unveiled in 2017, but fundraising efforts fell short so the government allocated $1.5 million to get the statue installed. Related: Queen Elizabeth statue coming to Ontario legislature, government pays $1.5M Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell says she hopes people who see the statue will reflect on the queen’s remarkable life of service.Premier Doug Ford says the statue is both a tribute to the late queen and will serve a...

Alberta government report on safe consumption ‘pseudoscience,’ says medical journal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

A paper in a prominent medical journal says an Alberta government report that influenced safe drug consumption policy is so badly flawed it’s harming people and should be withdrawn.The paper in the Canadian Journal of Public Health calls the government’s 2019 report into seven supervised consumption sites pseudoscience.It says the United Conservative-commissioned report is biased in three major ways, all of which distort its findings against such sites. It points out the government study was not peer-reviewed, unlike the journal article. Lead author Ginetta Salvalaggio from the University of Alberta, one of 14 co-authors, says the government’s paper has been cited widely by opponents of safe injection sites despite its weakness. She calls the report “creating evidence” and says there are real dangers to basing decisions on bad data.  Salvalaggio points out that 2023 is shaping up to be the deadliest year on record for opioid poisoning in Alberta. A spok...

BU finds Ibram X. Kendi’s antiracist research center managed funds properly, despite turmoil

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

Boston University said Tuesday that its initial inquiry into the antiracist research center run by best-selling author and academic Ibram X. Kendi found no issues with how it managed its finances. After the announcement, Kendi said he was eager to get back to work.The university launched the inquiry into the financials of the BU Center for Antiracist Research, or CAR, in September, after acknowledging the organization was laying off about half of its staff and changing its operating model. “Our auditors concluded that CAR’s financial management of its grants and gifts was appropriate,” Gary Nicksa, BU’s chief financial officer and treasurer, said in a statement Tuesday.The university hired Kendi in 2020 to found the center and join the faculty as a history professor after his 2019 memoir, “How to Be an Antiracist,” catapulted him to national prominence, which was only heightened after the murder of George Floyd by then-police officers in Minneapolis. “Unfortunately, one of the...

Activist hands ICC evidence he says implicates Belarus president in transfer of Ukrainian children

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An exiled Belarus activist on Tuesday presented a second dossier of evidence to the International Criminal Court that he said proves the personal involvement of President Alexander Lukashenko in the illegal transfer of children to Belarus from Russian-occupied towns in Ukraine.Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian culture minister, said some of the new information came from “insiders” in Belarus.“We share additional evidence proving Lukashenko’s direct participation in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus as leader of the so-called Union State of Belarus and Russia,” Latushka told The Associated Press outside the court’s headquarters in The Hague.The dossier also includes “evidence and previously unknown facts regarding the involvement of various Belarusian and Russian organizations, as well as their leaders and members, in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus,” he said, and gives more detailed information o...

Federal Fisheries Department doing a poor job of monitoring fishing industry: report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

OTTAWA — A new report slams the federal Fisheries Department for failing to properly monitor Canada’s commercial fishing industry.The report from the federal environment commissioner, Jerry DeMarco, says Fisheries and Oceans Canada lacks the ability to collect timely and dependable data about what is being caught.DeMarco says the dearth of reliable data means the department can’t protect Canada’s fish stocks from overfishing.The commissioner says the problem is that the department has failed to deliver on most of the corrective measures it committed to seven years ago, when the federal auditor general called for changes to ensure sustainable management of the industry.DeMarco’s audit says the department responded to the auditor general by creating a new fishery monitoring policy, but he says that policy has yet to be implemented.As well, the audit found the department has been slow to modernize its information systems, even though it has spent about $31 million on ...

Cornell student accused threatening Jewish people had mental health struggles, mother says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — The mother of a Cornell University student accused of making online threats against Jewish people on campus said he had mental health struggles and later posted an apology.Patrick Dai, 21, faces a federal charge of posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications after authorities say he made threatening comments on an online Greek Life forum late last month. The anonymous postings included threats to shoot and stab Jewish people on the upstate New York campus, rattling students and prompting police to increase security.Dai admitted that he posted the threatening messages in an interview with law enforcement authorities, according to the federal complaint.Dai’s mother, Bing Liu, told the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester on Monday she thinks the threats were partly triggered by his use of a medication for depression and anxiety. She also shared an apology posting she said was given to her by Dai’s defense lawyers after they received ...

Unification Church in Japan offers to set aside up to $66 million in a compensation fund

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Unification Church’s Japanese branch announced plans Tuesday to set aside a fund up to 10 billion yen ($67 million) to cover possible compensation for those seeking damages they say were caused by the group’s manipulative fundraising tactics.The move is seen as an attempt to allay any suspicion that the group would try to avoid later payouts by hiding assets overseas while a government-requested dissolution order is pending.The announcement by head of the controversial church’s Japanese branch, Tomihiro Tanaka, came a month after Japan’s Education Ministry asked the Tokyo District Court to revoke the legal status of the group. The ministry investigation concluded that the South Korean-headquartered group for decades has systematically manipulated its followers into donating money, sowing fear and harming their family ties. The investigation followed public outrage and questions about the group’s fundraising and recruitment tactics that surfaced in the in...