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4 things that could impact your credit in 2024

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

Credit is top of mind for many folks going into 2024. Nearly 4 in 5 Americans (79%) say they are trying to improve their credit, according to a recent survey from NerdWallet.Getting ahead of surprises will go a long way in protecting your credit. Here are four things to look out for that could impact your credit in the new year.1. Holiday debtHoliday purchases could follow you for months. NerdWallet’s 2023 Holiday Shopping Report found that about half of Americans (52%) incurred credit card debt when shopping last holiday season, and of them, 31% still have not paid off their balances.Payment history is the biggest factor influencing your credit scores. If you’re carrying debt, make at least the minimum payments on your cards to keep your payment history intact and shield your scores. But paying a higher amount, if you’re able to, is better for your credit utilization — another major factor in score calculations. Using too much of available credit can make you appear risky to lender...

A travel quiz for globetrotters and armchair travelers alike

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

By Bob Ecker, correspondent to Bay Area News GroupWhether you’re a full blown globetrotter or someone who just dreams of faraway places, the 20 questions in this travel quiz are sure to challenge and entertain. You’ll find all the answers — and some amusing trivia — at the end.The Quiz1. Which country holds the title — and has since 1993 — of most beer consumed per capita?2. Do you enjoy heights? Or are you afraid of high places? Then you may — or may not — want to stay at the world’s highest altitude hotel. Where might that be?The fluttering emblems of different countries include several that are hundreds of years old. (Getty Images)3. Which country’s current flag is considered the world’s oldest?A) ChinaB) ThailandC) DenmarkD) EgyptE) France4. Volcanos never fail to excite us human beings. Which volcano holds the record for the fastest lava flows ever recorded?Which volcano spews the fastest flowing lava in the world? (Getty Images)5. Can you match each nut with its place of origi...

Michigan state lawmaker enters crowded U.S. House race as Democrats aim to defend open seat

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

Michigan state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet on Wednesday became the fifth candidate to enter a competitive race for a U.S. House seat that Democrats are being forced to defend without an incumbent because of U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee’s retirement this year.Defending the seat could be vital for Democrats in a year in which they need to gain at least five seats to win a majority control of the U.S. House. The party will also need to defend a vulnerable mid-Michigan seat left vacant after U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin opted to run for an open U.S. Senate seat this year. While the state has shifted increasingly Democratic in recent years, a contested presidential election and open Senate race are expected to make Michigan one of the few swing states in 2024. Democrats in Michigan have also been divided in response to the war in Gaza, with the state’s large Arab American population vowing not to support those who don’t call for a cease fire. The 65-year-old Kildee announced in November that he woul...

A hiker is rescued after falling down an Adirondack mountain peak on a wet, wintry night

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

Forest rangers successfully rescued an upstate New York hiker who survived a frigid night on a rugged Adirondack mountain peak trapped above a cliff, after she slipped and fell hundreds of feet down from the summit. “I thought I might have froze to death. There were like 45-mile-an-hour winds (70 kph) up there,” veteran hiker Hope Lloyd said Wednesday about her recent ordeal. Lloyd, 46, was solo hiking on the day after Christmas when she lost her footing at around 5:30 p.m. near the top of South Dix Mountain. Lloyd and state rangers said she slid several hundred feet over steep snow and down a slippery rock slab. She was heading straight toward a cliff but was stopped by a small spruce tree.“That’s the only thing that saved me,” Lloyd said in a phone interview. “If I was a little bit to the left or a little bit to the right, I wouldn’t be here right now.” Conditions were treacherous on the 4,060-foot (1,235 meter) mountain, one of the Adirondack High Peaks, with heavy rain and areas...

Michigan detectives interview convicted murderer before his death, looking into unsolved slayings

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

Authorities in western Michigan are looking into missing persons cases and unsolved homicides after interviewing a convicted murderer and long-haul truck driver with terminal cancer who died last week in a prison hospital. Kent County sheriff’s detectives questioned Garry Artman on three occasions before his death Thursday at a state Corrections health facility in Jackson, Michigan.Kent County Lt. Eric Brunner said detectives “gleaned information” from their interviews with Artman and are collaborating with other law enforcement agencies to “connect the dots with missing pieces or homicide cases that are still open.”Brunner would not say which unsolved cases are being looked into or how many cases are being investigated, although police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have tied Artman to a woman’s disappearance nearly 30 years ago.“Interviews with Artman provided enough information to reasonably conclude he was involved in the 1995 disappearance of Cathleen Dennis but t...

New York governor pushes for reading education overhaul as test scores lag

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday said she will push for schools to reemphasize phonics in literacy education programs, a potential overhaul that comes as many states revamp curriculums amid low reading scores.The proposal would require the state education department to draft guidelines centered on the so-called science of reading, a phonics-based approach to literacy education, that school districts would have to follow by September 2025. The state Legislature would need to approve the plan before it could go into effect.The change would see New York join a national movement away from an education method known as balanced literacy, which focuses on introducing children to books they find interesting — often at the expense of dedicated phonics instruction. New York, like other states, has seen reading proficiency scores dip after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools and forced classes online. Last year, data show fewer than half of third grade student...

Charities say need for help in Toronto soaring after Christmas and into 2024

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

Coming out of a year when many in Toronto struggled with affordability and housing issues, charity representatives CityNews spoke with say they saw a huge surge in demand for help in 2023 and that need is only expected to grow in 2024.“I’ve been doing this work for 30 years … never, ever has the need been greater than in this last year and in this last quarter of the year, and we wish we never would have to say that again but support is needed now more than ever,” Daniele Zanotti, the president and CEO of United Way Greater Toronto told CityNews.United Way is an umbrella non-profit agency that funds approximately 300 other social service organizations and charities. Zanotti said deepening poverty in recent decades combined with COVID-19 have detrimentally impacted many in the Greater Toronto Area. “Now you add to the headlines, inflation, affordability, increasing food costs, lack of jobs for people, housing that is slipping away from those who are wor...

Canada, allies warn Houthi rebels to stop attacks on shipping vessels in Red Sea

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada and some of its allies are warning the Houthis that they will bear responsibility for the consequences of their continued attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The statement, released by the White House and signed by 12 countries, says the ongoing attacks are illegal, unacceptable and profoundly destabilizing. The Iran-backed rebel group has been firing long-range missiles at Israel from Yemen and attacking civilian cargo ships, and the statement said the group has been significantly escalating its efforts in the past week.Around 15 per cent of the world’s seaborne trade typically passes through the Red Sea, but shipping companies have been forced to reroute.The statement says rerouting ships is adding weeks of delays and jeopardizing the movement of food, fuel and humanitarian aid. It calls for an immediate end to the attacks and for release of detained vessels and crews.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2024.The Canadian Press<!̵...

Federal Reserve minutes: Officials saw inflation cooling but were cautious about timing of rate cuts

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s policymakers concluded last month that inflationary pressures were easing and that the job market was cooling. In response, the officials chose to leave their key interest rate unchanged for the third straight time and signaled that they expected to cut rates three times in 2024.According to the minutes of their Dec. 12-13 meeting released Wednesday, Fed officials indicated in their own interest-rate forecasts that a lower benchmark rate “would be appropriate by the end of 2024” given the steady progress toward taming inflation. But they ”stressed the importance” of remaining vigilant and keeping rates high “until inflation was clearly moving down sustainably” toward their 2% target. And though Chair Jerome Powell suggested at a news conference after the meeting that the Fed was likely done raising rates, the minutes show that uncertainty about the economy’s outlook meant that further hikes were still possible.The...

An apparent Israeli strike killed a top Hamas commander. How might it impact the Gaza conflict?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:38 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The killing of a top Hamas commander in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a Beirut apartment has given Israel an important symbolic achievement in its 3-month-old war against the Islamic militant group.But history has shown the benefits of such dramatic operations are often short-lived, bringing on further violence and equally formidable replacements as leaders of militant groups.The drone strike on Saleh Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, follows a long line of suspected Israeli killings of senior militant leaders over the years. While Israel did not claim responsibility for Tuesday’s blast, it had all the hallmarks of an Israeli attack. Both Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group immediately blamed Israel and could soon respond.Here is a look at the strike and Israel’s history of suspected killings of militants abroad:WHAT HAPPENED?A mysterious blast shook a Beirut neighborhood. Hama...