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US consumer confidence jumps to highest level since early 2022

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American consumer’s confidence jumped in June to its highest level in 18 months as a strong labor market continues to buoy the U.S. economy.The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 109.7 in June from 102.5 in May. That’s the highest the reading has been since January of 2022 and much higher than economists had forecast.The business research group’s present situation index — which measures consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions — rose to 155.3 from 148.9 in May.The board’s expectations index — a measure of consumers’ six-month outlook for income, business and labor conditions — climbed to 79.3 this month from 71.5 in May.A reading under 80 often signals a recession in the coming year. The Conference Board noted that reading has come in below 80 every month but one since February of 2022.The board said that consumers’ fears of a recession declined in June, with 69.3% of respo...

5 teens were killed in a car that swerved off a road and sank in a Florida pond

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Five teenagers were killed when their car ran off a curving street and landed in a southwest Florida retention pond where it went underwater, authorities said.It happened either late Sunday or early Monday, killing everyone inside. The crumpled Kia sedan was pulled from the water on Monday.On Tuesday morning, Fort Myers Police confirmed their identities as Eric Paul, 19; Jackson Eyre, 18; Amanda Ferguson, 18; Breanna Coleman, 18; and Jesus Salinas, 18.The News-Press in Fort Myers reported that Paul, Eyre, Ferguson and Coleman worked together at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant, and had gone out together to get fast food after finishing their Sunday night shifts. The steakhouse was closed Monday so their friends and families could grieve together at a dinner where flowers were placed alongside their framed pictures.

Rapper Kodak Black booked and released from jail following recent court hearing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

South Florida native and rapper Kodak Black is now free to travel and tour, pending his trial, following his release from a South Florida jail. Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, was arrested last year on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. He was freed on bond, and regular drug testing was a condition of his release.However, during a scheduled court appearance Monday, Kapri’s lawyer, Bradford Cohen, requested an increased bond in lieu of several pre-trial release conditions, including regular drug testing. Kapri was not in court as he was not required to appear. Following approval by the judge and the removal of the pre-trial release conditions, Cohen tells 7News that his client turned himself in, posted a $250,000 bond and was released all in under an hour. A warrant was issued for Kapri’s arrest earlier this month after he failed to show up for a mandatory drug test. A judge released Kapri ...

Man sentenced to death assaults lawyer in Florida courtroom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) – A man convicted of two murders in a 33-year-old cold case has found himself in deeper trouble after assaulting his own lawyer during his sentencing.Court video footage captured the moment Joseph Zieler beckoned his lawyer, Kevin Shirley, over to speak to him, before elbowing him in the face, causing a commotion in the courtroom.Zieler was sentenced to death for the murder of an 11-year-old girl and her babysitter.The incident took place moments after being sentenced. Despite the assault, the lawyer said he was fine.Authorities swiftly intervened and apprehended Zieler, escorting him out of the courtroom.

Drive-thrus are creating problems for cities and towns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

New York (CNN) — America is a land of drive-thrus.An estimated 200,000 drive-thrus are spread across this country. Americans visit drive-thru lanes approximately 6 billion times a year. At leading chains like McDonald’s, drive-thrus account for 70% of sales or more.Drive-thrus promise hungry drivers ease, convenience and a juicy burger.But long lines of cars waiting for orders spill out into US roads in every state from chains like Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Dunkin. And city officials, urban planners and critics say the model is failing modern cities.Magnets of traffic and congestion, drive-thrus discourage walking, public transit use and visits to neighboring businesses. They also lead to accidents with pedestrians, cyclists and other cars, and contradict the environmental and livability goals of many communities.A host of cities and regions want the sprawl to stop: Atlanta lawmakers will vote this summer on whether to ban new drive-thrus in the popular Beltline area. M...

Putin admits Kremlin gave Wagner nearly $1 billion in the past year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

The Wagner Group is fully funded by the Kremlin and received tens of billions of rubles in public money over the past year, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, days after the paramilitary group’s aborted attempt at a coup.“I want to point out and I want everyone to know about it: The maintenance of the entire Wagner Group was fully provided for by the state,” Putin said at a meeting with officials from the Russian defense ministry, according to state-owned newswires TASS and Ria Novosti. “From the Ministry of Defense, from the state budget, we fully financed this group.”From May 2022 to May 2023, the Russian state paid more than 86 billion rubles (approximately $940 million) to the Wagner Group, Putin said. POLITICO was not able to independently verify that claim.This is the first time the Russian president has acknowledged publicly the group was funded by the Russian state.The Wagner paramilitary group, created in 2014 by the oligarch...

Canadian wildfire smoke clouds European skies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

The smoke from Canada’s devastating wildfires has reached Europe, but the Continent’s skies are unlikely to turn orange as happened in North America.The bloc’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said Tuesday that as the fires in Quebec and Ontario have intensified further, they sent a large plume across the Atlantic. The smoke arrived in Portugal and Spain on Monday and is expected to sweep across Western Europe and the British Isles until at least Thursday. But scientists said Europeans won’t see their skies turn a dramatic orange — as happened earlier this month in New York and other North American cities — or have to worry about choking on smoke. “It is important to note that long-range transport of smoke, such as this episode, tend to occur at higher altitudes where the atmospheric lifetime of air pollutants is longer, which means they are manifested more as hazy skies with red/orange sunsets,” CAMS said in an email...

Putin remains strong despite Wagner rebellion, Hungary’s Orbán says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

Paul Ronzheimer is the deputy editor-in-chief of BILD and a senior journalist reporting for Axel Springer, the parent company of POLITICO. BUDAPEST — Vladimir Putin’s handling of a mercenary mutiny shows the Russian president remains firmly in control, Viktor Orbán said in an interview — putting the Hungarian leader, once again, at odds with his Western partners. “When it is managed in 24 hours, it’s a signal of being strong,” Orbán told Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company. Referring to the Wagner paramilitary group’s recent rebellion, which put troops and armored vehicles dangerously close to Moscow, the Hungarian prime minister said he did not “see any major importance to that event,” separating him from numerous Western officials who, while remaining cautious, have said the uprising exposed weaknesses for Putin.“Putin is the president of Russia,” said Orbán, who has cultivated a close personal relationship...

Jeffrey Epstein suicide blamed on jail guard negligence and misconduct: Justice Department watchdog

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department’s watchdog said Tuesday that a “combination of negligence and misconduct” enabled financier Jeffrey Epstein to take his own life at a federal jail in New York City while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.Inspector General Michael Horowitz cited the federal Bureau of Prisons’ failure to assign Epstein a cellmate after his previous one left and problems with surveillance cameras as factors in Epstein’s death.Horowitz also said that Epstein was left in his cell with too many bed linens, which are a security issue and were used in his suicide.The inspector general issued a report detailing findings of his investigation into Epstein’s August 2019 death, the last of several official inquiries into the matter. He reiterated the findings of other investigations that there was no indication of foul play, rebutting conspiracy theories surrounding the high-profile death.Horowitz echoed previous findings t...

What’s next for the Chicago Cubs after their exit from London? Blister watch, Kyle Schwarber and the quest for .500.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

The Chicago Cubs’ Brexit went smoothly after splitting their two-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals in London.The team arrived back in Chicago late Sunday night, then had Monday off to try and shake the jet lag as they prepared for Tuesday’s start of a six-game homestand against the Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Guardians.The Athletic called the London Series a “smashing success,” though it was hard to understand how anyone came to that conclusion from watching the games on Fox Sports and ESPN.Both the Cubs and Cardinals were sub-.500 teams who looked the part. Neither game was particularly competitive, and the fielding was lackluster. ESPN botched the names of Cubs players and never corrected themselves. An ESPN pregame show even mispronounced the name of Bruce Sutter, a Hall of Famer who played for both teams during his career.There also was no instant classic moment, like Tim Anderson depositing a walk-off home run into a cornfield in the 20...