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Stock market today: Wall Street returns to highest level in more than a year after inflation cools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street returned to its highest level in more than a year on Wednesday after a report showed inflation cooled a bit more than expected last month, which hopefully takes some more pressure off the economy.The S&P 500 rose 32.90, or 0.7% to 4,472.16 to reach its strongest closing level since April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86.01, or 0.3%, to 34,347.43, and the Nasdaq composite gained 158.26, or 1.2%, to 13,918.96.Most stocks rose on Wall Street, from flashy Big Tech behemoths to staid utility companies, though the gains faded a bit as the day progressed. The U.S. government’s latest update on inflation showed that consumers paid prices for gasoline, food and other items that were 3% higher overall in June than a year earlier. That’s down from 4% inflation in May and a bit more than 9% last summer. Perhaps more importantly, it was a touch lower than economists expected.High inflation has been at the center of Wall Street’s problems because it’s...

Former Minneapolis police officer sentenced to nine months after fatally crashing into a man

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in the county workhouse, with eligibility for electric home monitoring in three months, after the officer pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in a high-speed chase that killed a bystander two years ago. Prosecutors said former officer Brian Cummings was pursuing a suspected car thief on July 6, 2021, when he ran a red light and hit a car driven by Leneal Frazier, 40, of St. Paul, who died at the scene. Frazier, a father of six children, was an uncle of Darnella Frazier, who shot the cellphone video of George Floyd’s death when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck in 2020.Cummings was driving nearly 80 mph (129 kph) in Minneapolis with his siren and lights activated when his squad car slammed into the vehicle, officials said. The crash ended a chase that lasted more than 20 blocks, including through residential neighborhoods where the posted speed l...

Manhattanhenge fans hope cloudy weather won’t obscure NYC’s famed sunset phenomenon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wednesday and Thursday are the last two days of Manhattanhenge, the biannual alignment of the setting sun with the city’s east-west streets that brings New Yorkers out of their apartments to watch it bathe the urban canyons in a rosy glow. With forecasters predicting gloomy weather, fans of the spectacle will have to hope the clouds part at the right time.“We have had luck in the past when the weather clears,” said Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History whose sold-out lecture on Manhattanhenge on Thursday will be followed by a viewing party. “All we need is for it to be clear at sunset.” It was Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium, who coined the term Manhattanhenge to describe the phenomenon. He was inspired by Stonehenge, where tourists and modern-day Druids camp out on the summer solstice to watch the rising sun align with the prehistoric stones.Manhattanhenge attracts its own Druids when...

Drone may have been flying near Pennsylvania jail before homicide suspect’s escape, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

WARREN, Pa. (AP) — Authorities are seeking information about a drone that may have been flying near a northwestern Pennsylvania jail before the escape of a homicide suspect last week, and they say they have increasing concerns that the escaped prisoner may be armed.Michael Burham, 34, fled the Warren County Prison late Thursday by climbing on exercise equipment to gain access to the roof and then used a rope fashioned from jail bedding to get down, authorities said. Prior to his escape, Burham had been held on $1 million bail and was facing numerous charges, including kidnapping and burglary.Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the drone was heard by a couple of people — although he didn’t know whether it was seen — “immediately adjacent to the jail” just before the escape. Surveillance video did not capture any drone, he said.“I’m not a big believer in coincidences,” he said. “There could be a perfec...

Expensive court fight over Aretha Franklin’s will provides cautionary tale

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The long, expensive court fight over the will of soul singer Aretha Franklin provides a cautionary tale for people who want to make sure their wishes are carried out after their death — and for their families.A Michigan jury determined on Tuesday that a handwritten document by Franklin that was found in her couch after her 2018 death was a valid will. It was a critical turn in a dispute that has turned her sons against each other. And it ended in victory for Kecalf and Edward Franklin, whose lawyers had argued that papers dated 2014 should override a 2010 will discovered in a locked cabinet at the Queen of Soul’s home in suburban Detroit.Legal experts say the fight could have been avoided if Franklin had had a formal will drafted by an experienced attorney who could have ensured that it specified what should become of her money, property and other possessions — and that it would hold up in court. And they say that lesson applies to other families, too. Here’...

Estate of anti-fascist shot and killed by police in Washington state files wrongful death lawsuit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal lawsuit alleges police in Washington state had no plan other than to use deadly force against a fugitive who was on the run in 2020 after shooting a supporter of a far-right group during clashes between supporters of then-President Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter in the streets of Portland, Oregon.“The actions of the officers, before, during, and after the shooting, show that they either had no plan to arrest the man without injury, made no effort to follow such a plan, or planned to use deadly force from the start,” said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma by the estate of Michael Forest Reinoehl, who identified as an anti-fascist. Reinoehl fatally shot Aaron “Jay” Danielson during chaotic clashes between racial injustice protesters and far-right groups who held a pro-Trump car rally in downtown Portland. The shooting attracted Trump’s attention and further inflamed tensions in Oregon’s largest city, which ...

Tornado Watch issued for Northern Illinois, most of Northwest Indiana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

CHICAGO — A Tornado Watch is in effect for the Chicago area as heavy rain and storms move through the region Wednesday.A Tornado Watch has been issued for Cook, De Kalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, La Salle, McHenry and Will counties in Illinois until 10 p.m. In Northwest Indiana, Jasper, Lake, Newton and Porter counties are under a Tornado Watch until 10 p.m.A Flood Watch is in place until 7 p.m. for Cook County, DuPage County, Will County and some parts of Northwest Indiana. There is a slight risk of severe weather. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Mostly cloudy conditions with heavy rain showers expected throughout the day. High temperature of 76 degrees and 73 degrees lakeside. Low of 66 degrees tonight.Thunderstorms will push eastward and waves of storms racing through Iowa will progress toward our area throughout the afternoon and evening. Storms look to move quickly, however some will have high rainfall rates, some of which may be 1-2" per ...

Cicero braces as more heavy rain rolls through

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

CICERO -- Just a week and a half after eight inches of rain fell in Cicero, the town prepares for yet another wet week.Last Wednesday, the Town of Cicero was hit again by another round of rain, and now, the community prepares for a week of rain.During a town hall meeting this week, Cicero's Town Engineer said the sewer system was not built to handle the storm from the Fourth of July weekend.Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation on Tuesday, which sends resources to counties hit by recent severe weather, including Cook County. The proclamation also helps local municipals like Cicero to secure federal aid from FEMA.Latest warnings and watches from the National Weather Service.Cicero residents said Wednesday they are filling out forms online to file for monetary assistance, after many of them lost everything.As the community attempted to clean-up from the nearly foot or more of rain over since the beginning of July, a daily weather forecast involving rain worries many.A Torn...

CPS security guard accused of sexually assaulting student

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

CHICAGO - A Little Village high school security guard is charged with criminal sexual assault of a 15-year-old CPS student. According to court records, 43-year-old Romell Campoverde met the victim at Farragut Career Academy High School when the teen was a freshman.Police say the teen shared her Snapchat username with Campoverde during her sophomore year and the two began communicating, eventually agreeing to meet outside of school grounds. Arrest made in shooting death of 9-year-old attending birthday party in Franklin Park On various occasions, officials say Campoverde took the teen to the mall, bought her shoes, gave her $40 for her hair, and even bought her alcohol.Romell CampoverdeOn June 25, officials say the pair made plans to meet again.   Campoverde took the student to McDonalds and bought alcohol, to which police say the teen became very intoxicated.   The pair drove around in Campoverde’s vehicle, and he kissed the teen. According to police, the 43-y...

'Literally like Matrix': Passengers, crew injured by severe turbulence on Allegiant flight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:12 GMT

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) - Two passengers and two flight attendants were injured by turbulence on a flight that landed Wednesday at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport in Florida, according to officials. The Allegiant flight, coming from Asheville, North Carolina, was carrying 179 passengers and six crew members, according to the airline.Paul Harris was on the flight and said he's never experienced anything like it. "There was a sudden burst of turbulence and then major, major turbulence," Harris said. "The plane felt like it dropped pretty considerably. Several people, including a lady in my row, hit the ceiling." Is El Niño making airplane turbulence worse? He said multiple people were placed on stretchers before being taken off the plane.Another passenger, Lisa Spriggs, called the experience "petrifying.""She was literally like Matrix," Spriggs said, describing the moment she saw a passenger tossed from her seat. "Watched her go up in the air, and just land straight d...