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Ticker: Mortgage rates at highest level since 2001; Labor market keeps humming along

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed further above 7% this week to its highest level since 2001, another blow to prospective homebuyers grappling with rising home prices and a stubbornly low supply of properties on the market.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan jumped to 7.23% from 7.09% last week. A year ago, the rate averaged 5.55%.It’s the fifth consecutive weekly increase for the average rate, which is now at its highest level since early June 2001, when it averaged 7.24%. Back then, the median sales price of a previously occupied U.S. home was $157,500. As of last month, it was $406,700.“This week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached its highest level since 2001 and indications of ongoing economic strength will likely continue to keep upward pressure on rates in the short-term,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.Labor market keeps humming alongApplications for unem...

Column: ‘The Blind Side’ and Hollywood’s willful blindness to the truth

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago TribuneWhat kind of fidelity to the truth do you expect from Hollywood?The 2009 movie “The Blind Side” purports to tell the story of Michael Oher, a Black high school student rescued from poverty and neglect by the Tuohys, a wealthy white family who embraced him as one of their own, and whose love and selfless care guided him on a path that would eventually land him a career in the NFL.Last week, Oher filed a petition in a Tennessee court that challenges not only the validity of that portrayal, but alleges the couple did not adopt him — as they claimed — but tricked him, at age 18, into signing a document that made the couple his conservators for the last two decades.As reported by ESPN, the petition alleges the Tuohys “used their power as conservators to strike a deal that paid them and their two birth children millions of dollars in royalties from an Oscar-winning film that earned more than $300 million, while Oher got nothing for a story ‘that would not have e...

Chicago Cubs are bringing Keegan Thompson back from Triple-A Iowa to bolster a taxed bullpen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

The Chicago Cubs bullpen is getting a reinforcement.Right-hander Keegan Thompson was on a flight Thursday morning from Chicago to Pittsburgh — where the Cubs begin a four-game series Thursday night at PNC Park — and will be recalled before the series opener, the Tribune has learned. The Cubs do not announce any roster moves until shortly before they take the field for pregame work.Thompson, 28, has been with Triple-A Iowa since the Cubs optioned him May 19 after prolonged inconsistencies. He owned a 4.22 ERA with 14 walks and 16 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings before his demotion.Thompson’s struggles continued at Iowa, where he surrendered 24 runs, 24 hits and 20 walks and struck out 27 in 16 2/3 innings over his first 12 outings. He also missed five weeks while on the injured list from mid-June to late July.He showed improved command in his last four appearances — all at least two innings — dating to Aug. 9. Thompson issued just one walk in 8 1/3 innings ...

Firefighters in Greece struggle to control wildfires, including the EU’s largest blaze

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

By ELENA BECATOROS (Associated Press)ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighters struggled Thursday against strong winds and hot, dry conditions to tame multiple wildfires ravaging Greece, including one in the country’s northeast that officials say is the largest recorded in the European Union.The wildfires have left 20 people dead over the last week. Eighteen of those, including two boys aged between 10 and 15, are believed to be migrants who crossed the nearby border with Turkey. Their bodies were found near a shack in a burnt forest area near Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece. Sixty firefighters have been injured, fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said.The wildfire in the Alexandroupolis region, burning for a sixth day, combined with smaller fires to create a massive blaze that consumed homes and vast tracts of forest and triggered multiple evacuations of villages and of the city’s hospital. With more than 730 square kilometers (282 square miles) burned, th...

Journalism has seen a substantial rise in philanthropic spending over the past 5 years, a study says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — There has been a “substantial” increase in philanthropic spending for journalism over the past five years, particularly outlets that serve poor and minority communities, a report issued on Thursday said — but journalists need to tighten ethical rules that govern the new spending, it recommended.The struggling news industry is increasingly relying on donations and subscriptions, although it hasn’t come close to making up for the collapse in advertising that has led to the dramatic drop in outlets that cover local news.More than half of funders surveyed by NORC at the University of Chicago said they have increased their journalism grants. Most nonprofit and for-profit news organizations report more funding.“We see many more people — and that includes people who work in philanthropy — being interested in a stronger civic infrastructure by funding local news,” said Sarah Alvarez, founder of Outlier Media, a Detroit-based news source that started in 2016 and now has...

Slain Marine’s family plans to refile lawsuit accusing Alec Baldwin of defamation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for the family of a Marine killed in Afghanistan said Thursday that a new version of a lawsuit accusing actor Alec Baldwin of unleashing his social media followers against them will soon be filed after a federal judge dismissed the original lawsuit but invited the family to rewrite it and submit it again.Attorney Dennis Postiglione, representing the sisters and widow of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said he’ll meet a Sept. 12 deadline set by the judge to renew allegations that Baldwin subjected family members to online threats and harassment after he posted and commented on a photo shared online by one of McCollum’s sisters, Roice McCollum, who had been in Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.Earlier this week, Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan dismissed the family’s defamation lawsuit, which sought $25 million in damages, but he invited a refiling of the lawsuit to correct deficiencies and renew claims of defamation and intentional inflic...

Motorcyclist seriously injured in Etobicoke crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

A motorcyclist suffered serious injuries in a crash with a vehicle in north Etobicoke on Thursday afternoon.Police say it happened at around 3:07 p.m. in the Bergamot and Islington avenues area.The driver remained on scene.The motorcyclist was taken to hospital with serious injuries and police have closed the northbound lanes of Islington from Rexdale Boulevard.There’s no word on possible charges at this point.COLLISION:(UPDATE)Bergamot Ave & Islington Ave– @TorontoMedics o/s– motorcyclist to be transported to hospital with serious injuries– N/B Islington Ave closed from Rexdale Blvd#GO1976136^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) August 24, 2023

Stock market today: Wall Street slumps as pressure rises again from bond market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is sinking Thursday, despite a blowout profit report from Nvidia, after some mixed reports on the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 was 0.9% lower in late trading after erasing an earlier gain. It’s back to sinking in what’s been a rough August after regaining some ground earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 254 points, or 0.7%, at 34,221, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.Stocks fell as Treasury yields stabilized following their tumble a day earlier. High yields in the bond market have been upping the pressure because they make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other risky investments. They may be set to go even higher, depending on what the head of the Federal Reserve says in a speech scheduled for Friday.The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.23% from 4.20% late Wednesday. It fell there from 4.33% a day before, close to its highest level since 2007. Yields found some tra...

Bubble trouble: Massive foam blob shocks residents in North York park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

It’s not every day you’re out walking and come across a massive blob of foam emerging from a sewer, but that’s exactly what some North York residents witnessed on Wednesday.CityNews heard from concerned locals about a significantly large chunk of foam in Earl Bales Park and near Don River Boulevard.One tipster said two foam blobs, described as being about 20 feet across in length, popped up in those areas on Wednesday evening, much to the shock of park-goers.A City of Toronto spokesperson confirmed with CityNews through Toronto Water that the foamy substance originated from a sanitary sewer through Apollo Health and Beauty Care’s manufacturing facility. The culprit: likely liquid soaps.One resident shared a photo of the foam blob at Earl Bales Park in North York on Wednesday, August 24, 2023. Photo: CityNews submission/Alan E.“The company is a developer of beauty care products, which include liquid soaps,” the spokesperson told CityNews. “Th...

ISIS documentary ‘Rojek’ selected as Canada’s contender for Oscar nomination

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:14 GMT

TORONTO — A documentary that features interviews with imprisoned Islamic State members will be Canada’s contender for a nomination in the best international feature film category at next year’s Academy Awards.Telefilm Canada announced today that it would submit Zaynê Akyol’s film “Rojek” for consideration.The film follows the Montreal-based filmmaker’s exchanges with Islamic State members and their wives who are seeking to establish an Islamic form of government.Faced with the extremist ideology of jihadists, the film charts the origins, ascension, and decline of the Islamic State group by delving into their individual stories. The film, which includes English, Arabic, French and Kurdish, combines close-up shots of ISIS members interspersed with aerial and grounded views of Syria. Should the Academy choose it, “Rojek” would mark the ninth Canadian film to secure an Oscar nomination in that category.This report by The Canadian Press was first...