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Stock market today: US futures modestly lower after Congress narrowly averts a government shutdown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

BANGKOK — Wall Street pointed modestly lower early Monday after Congress narrowly averted a U.S. government shutdown with a last-minute, weekend compromise.Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials each ticked down about 0.2% before the opening bell Monday. After the worst month for markets this year, October begins with a slew of employment data. Reports on job openings, layoffs and the comprehensive monthly jobs report on Friday will give investors and economists new details on the country’s labor market, which has largely held up better than expected as the Federal Reserve cranked up interest rates in an effort to bring down inflation.Fed officials have hinted in recent weeks that rates will be likely remain elevated for longer than previously thought as the central bank tries to get inflation down its 2% target. Last week, the government reported that core prices rose 3.9% in August from a year ago, below July’s reading of 4.2% and the slowest such increase...

Work starts on turning Adolf Hitler’s birthplace in Austria into a police station

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

BRAUNAU AM INN, Austria (AP) — Work started Monday on turning the house in Austria where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 into a police station, a project meant to make it unattractive as a site of pilgrimage for people who glorify the Nazi dictator.The decision on the future of the building in Braunau am Inn, a town on Austria’s border with Germany, was made in late 2019. Plans call for a police station, the district police headquarters and a security academy branch where police officers will get human rights training.On Monday, workers put up fencing and started taking measurements for the construction work.The police are expected to occupy the premises in early 2026.A years-long back-and-forth over the ownership of the house preceded the overhaul project. The question was resolved in 2017 when Austria’s highest court ruled that the government was within its rights to expropriate the building after its owner refused to sell it. A suggestion it might be demolished was dropped.Th...

Rogers expands TTC subway wireless network access to customers at other carriers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

Rogers Communications Inc. says customers of all of the major Canadian wireless carriers can now connect to its 5G wireless network in the busiest sections of the Toronto subway system.The company says subway riders will be able to connect to its 5G network while in the Line 1 stations and tunnels in the so-called Downtown U from Union Station north to St. George and Bloor-Yonge, plus Spadina and Dupont stations. The area encompasses all of the subway stops in Toronto’s downtown core.Users will also be able to access the network in 13 stations on Line 2, along Bloor Street from Keele to Castle Frank, plus the tunnels between St. George and Yonge stations.Rogers acquired the cellular network in the subway system from BAI Canada earlier this year and has been working to upgrade it.The service to all carriers comes after months of tense back-and-forth negotiations between Rogers and rivals Bell and Telus over the best technical approach, as well as financial terms, for providing ...

Women’s voices and votes loom large as pope is set to open a Vatican meeting on church’s future

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A few years ago, Pope Francis told the head of the main Vatican-backed Catholic women’s organization to be “brave” in pushing for change for women in the Catholic Church. Maria Lia Zervino took his advice and in 2021 wrote Francis a letter, then made it public, saying flat out that the Catholic Church owed a big debt to half of humanity and that women deserved to be at the table where church decisions are made, not as mere “ornaments” but as protagonists.Francis appears to have taken note, and this week opens a global gathering of Catholic bishops and laypeople discussing the future of the church, where women — their voices and their votes — are taking center stage for the first time.For Zervino, who worked alongside the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when both held positions in the Argentine bishops’ conference, the gathering is a watershed moment for the church and quite possibly the most consequential thing Francis will have undertaken as po...

New Van Gogh show in Paris focuses on artist’s extraordinarily productive and tragic final months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Planted in a field, Vincent van Gogh painted furiously, bending the thick oils, riotous yellows and sumptuous blues to his will. The resulting masterpiece, “Wheatfield with Crows,” bursts off the canvas like technicolor champagne. Art historians believe the Dutch master painted it on July 8, 1890. As far as they can tell, Van Gogh then churned out another stunning work the very next day, July 9, of more wheat fields under thunderous clouds. In the painting’s vibrant greens, the mind’s eye can imagine the artist working frenetically amid the sashaying stalks.On or around July 10, then came yet another Van Gogh marvel — a painting of a tidy garden with a prowling cat. And the day after that, July 11, the artist appears to have headed back to the fields, likely having risen early as was his habit, painting them spotted with blood-red poppies, under skies of swirling blue.At age 37 and the height of his powers, Van Gogh was splurging out genius at a rate of a pa...

2 killed, 2 injured — including 7-year-old boy — in shooting on West Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

CHICAGO — Two men are dead and two others, including a child, are injured after a shooting on the city's West Side, according to Chicago Police.Officers say the shooting happened near West Madison Street and South Sacramento Boulevard in Garfield Park just after 2:30 p.m.Police say the three men and a 7-year-old boy were standing in a vacant lot in the area when a car, which was traveling southbound, pulled up and a person inside opened fire on the group.Officers say a 33-year-old man and a 31-year-old man were both shot in the head and taken to the hospital where they later died from their injuries. According to police, the 7-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to the head and was taken to Stroger Hospital in fair condition. The boy has been identified as Aden Carothers and will turn 8-years-old next month.The other person involved, a 38-year-old man who was shot in the lower back, was taken to the hospital in critical condition.Currently, it is unclear what led to the shooting.No ...

Think twice before participating in a student loan strike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

(NerdWallet) - Autoworkers and screenwriters aren’t the only Americans taking to the picket lines to better their conditions; some federal student loan borrowers also want in.“A student debt strike is about politicizing nonpayment collectively. Instead of doing things as individuals, we are doing them together as a united front,” the Debt Collective, a debtors’ union organizing the strike, explains on its website. With the goal of forcing the government to broadly erase student debt, the group is asking borrowers to pay $0 per month on their student loans through avenues like applying for borrower defense to repayment, signing up for the new income-driven repayment plan, going back to school or using the 12-month student loan on-ramp.The White House is currently pursuing a student debt cancellation “plan B” via another legal pathway, but it could take a year or more to roll out — and success is far from guaranteed.Although a debt strike may seem attractive, borrowers should be aware...

5 things to know this Monday, October 2

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- According to Meteorologist Jill Szwed, we can expect warmer temperatures kicking off the first Monday of October. Temperatures will get a boost close to 80 degrees again this afternoon. Highs will run a good 10 degrees above normal. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Moreau Lake State Park has been closed for the time being while law enforcement continues to search for 9-year-old Charlotte Sena. An AMBER Alert was issued for Sena at 9:35 a.m. on Sunday. The public is asked to avoid the area of Moreau Lake State Park to allow law enforcement to efficiently conduct their search.1. Multiple agencies searching for missing child in Saratoga CountyNew York State Police announced that 9-year-old Charlotte Sena is missing. An AMBER alert was activated on October 1 at 9:35 a.m.2. Public asked to avoid Moreau Lake State Park amid search for Charlotte SenaAccording to a statement posted online from the Moreau Lake St...

FOX 2's Shirley Washington inducted into NATAS 'Silver Circle' Society

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

BRANSON, Mo. - This weekend at the Mid-America Emmy Awards in Branson, FOX 2's Shirley Washington was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Silver Circle.FOX 2 and News 11 also won Emmys in the 'breaking/spot news' categories. The Silver Circle recognizes professionals who have performed distinguished service within the television industry for 25 years or more. Short-term rental property owner shares concerns about proposed regulations The academy not only considers their work in the newsroom, but also the impact members have on their communities.

MetroLink testing single-car trains today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:22:12 GMT

ST. LOUIS - MetroLink will look different for passengers starting Monday.Metro Transit is launching a pilot program to put single-car trains into service instead of two-car trains. The single-car trains will operate seven days a week throughout the 46-mile system in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and St. Clair County. Short-term rental property owner shares concerns about proposed regulations Metro says a one-train car is more efficient for security patrol and reduces the wear and tear on machinery.