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POINT: Don’t let politicians take credit for economic recovery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

Workers have much to celebrate this Labor Day. Unemployment is near its lowest level since the 1960s, and real wages are growing again. Post-pandemic inflation is finally under control, even if it’s not yet all the way back to normal.Barring another crisis, there will be a soft landing from the pandemic downturn.This is fantastic news, and President Joe Biden has quickly taken credit for it under his Bidenomics umbrella. He, along with Republicans, deserves more blame than credit, however. Neither Biden nor Congress have much control over inflation, and their massive bipartisan spending binge is doing more harm than good for working families.It helps to think of today’s primarily healthy economy as the third act of a three-act story. In the opening act, a mostly healthy economy was humming along, much like it is now.In the second act, the pandemic shut everything down.We are now in the third act, when things are getting back to normal.The economy is mostly healthy now because the pr...

COUNTERPOINT: Labor faces a partisan divide on most important issues

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

“In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, tens of millions struggle to put food on the table, find affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable prescription drugs, affordable child care and affordable educational opportunities.”That was Bernie Sanders, in New Hampshire last week, summing up some of the injustices at the source of many Americans’ discontent.It’s Labor Day 2023. The election cycle will be moving into high gear, and 2024 could determine how much we can fix these problems or whether we move backward toward increasing inequality of income, wealth and access to education.Let’s start with some good news: Over the past year, inflation has fallen from 9.1% to just 3.2%. Many economists, including Nobel Prize winners and others prominent in the profession, would say that the job is about done. The Fed’s goal is still 2% and will likely get there. But it doesn’t really have an argument that 3% is a problem.In any case, the economists and others who said...

El director de ‘Friends’ cuenta que casi cambian a un personaje clave

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

(CNN) — El director de “Friends”, James Burrows, escribe en sus nuevas memorias que los productores casi reformulan a Emily, la esposa de Ross, interpretada por Helen Baxendale.En sus nuevas memorias, “Dirigidas por James Burrows”, escribe que la química de Baxendale con Schwimmer no siempre generó grandes risas.“Schwimmer no tenía a nadie con quien defenderse”, escribió. “Era como aplaudir con una mano”.Continuó: “En las comedias de situación y cualquier tipo de comedia romántica, lo divertido es tan importante como la química. Descubrimos que cualquier nueva novia de Ross tenía que ser tan divertida como Rachel”.Matthew Perry como Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston como Rachel Green, David Schwimmer como Ross Geller, Helen Baxendale como Emily Waltham, Courteney Cox como Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc como Joey Tribbiani. (Oliver Upton/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images)Rachel fue interpretada por Jennifer Aniston.Reestructurar a Emily se volvió difícil debido a ...

Spalletti carries ‘giant’ Italian flag his mom made for him to national team job

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

ROME (AP) — When Luciano Spalletti was 11, he asked his mom to sew a “giant” Italian flag together to celebrate the Azzurri’s 4-3 win over West Germany in the 1970 World Cup semifinals — a match that has since been labeled the “Game of the Century.”“Now I’m going to carry that flag with me onto the the national team’s bench,” Spalletti said Saturday at his presentation as the new Azzurri coach. “I want to create that dream for thousands of kids.“It’s really an indescribable emotion,” Spalletti added.The 64-year-old Spalletti, who led Napoli to the Serie A title last season, was hired when Roberto Mancini unexpectedly resigned last month. Mancini then took over Saudi Arabia’s national team.Spalletti, whose attacking tactics at Napoli garnered plaudits from all over Europe, left the southern club after the title and said he wanted to take a year-long sabbatical. But when the Italian soccer federation called to offer him the national team job, he didn’t hesitate.It’s a good fit f...

Howard Co. public schools superintendent announces mobile app as bus routes remain suspended

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

The superintendent of Howard County Public Schools in Maryland announced Friday that while suspended bus routes have yet to be reinstated in what he recently called a “transportation crisis,” an upcoming mobile app will help keep families informed about bus statuses in the future.Superintendent Michael Martirano said in a Friday email to students and their families that the county is going through “final testing and quality control assurances” for a mobile application from Zum Transportation, one of its independent contractors that said it did not have the drivers needed to service 20 routes on the first day of classes.The app will “allow families who ride Zum buses to track their child’s bus in real-time,” Martirano wrote in the email.“This will provide much-needed information for parents and families at your fingertips so you can plan accordingly,” the email said. “We expect to launch the application mid-week next week. Until t...

2 dead, 3 injured in multivehicle Hagerstown crash involving 4 tractor-trailers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

Two people are dead and three others injured after a Friday morning crash on southbound Interstate 81 in Washington County, Maryland, involving four tractor-trailers and two passenger vehicles, Maryland State Police said.A preliminary investigation revealed that a Chevrolet Tahoe struck the back of a tractor-trailer that had started to brake due to traffic, causing a chain-reaction crash between three more tractor-trailers and a pickup truck just before 9:40 a.m.Wesley Merrick, 55, and Alicia Eve Cornell, 46, both of Wellsville, New York, driver and passenger of the Chevrolet Tahoe involved in the crash, were pronounced dead on the scene.Two additional passengers in the Tahoe, Wesley’s wife Carrie Merrick, 49, and Kevin Dye, 59, were injured in the crash and transported to separate medical facilities.A third person and driver of one of the tractor-trailers involved in the crash, Darrin Wayne Shank, Jr., 55, of Williamsport, Maryland, was hospitalized with injuries.Southbound I...

Blazing fire leaves Southwest Miami-Dade home in ruins; No injuries reported

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

A fire engulfed a Southwest Miami-Dade home, leaving it charred and destroyed. The fire ignited in a house at Lago Mar Community on Southwest 158th Avenue near 72nd Street around 11 p.m.Officials said it took them about 30 minutes to put out the fire. Preliminary information reported this fire may be linked to an electric car parked in the garage. One neighbor called authorities as soon as he saw the flames. “I was just playing video games, I was on Facetime with my friend and I looked outside and there was a bunch of fire and flames and I heard the alarm,” said Kavi. “And then, I ran to my mom’s room and I told her I should call the cops and firemen and they all came.” 7News captured the decimated insides of the two-story home. Police said that everyone was able to escape the home on time and no injuries were reported. As far as what sparked everything, Miami Dade Fire Rescue said it remains under investigation.Please check back on WSVN.com ...

Shooting in Lynn leaves three victims with serious injuries

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

Police are investigating after three people were shot in Lynn late Friday night, officials said.The shooting took place by the corner of Chatham and Essex Streets, and Lynn police said all victims were seriously injured.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Russia says it thwarted attacks on Crimea bridge. Shelling and strikes leave at least 2 dead

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia said Saturday its forces destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones being used in an attempt to attack a key bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea, forcing its temporary closure for a third time in less than a year.One naval drone was destroyed late Friday and two others early Saturday morning, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials. A key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, the Kerch bridge has come under repeated attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. An explosion in October, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, left three people dead. A further attack on the bridge in July, killing a couple and seriously wounding their daughter, left a span of the roadway hanging perilously. The bridge connecting Crimea and Russia carries heavy significance for Moscow, both logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for military and civilian su...

An Ohio ballot measure seeks to protect abortion access. Opponents’ messaging is on parental rights

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:08 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The wording of a proposed constitutional amendment on Ohio’s fall ballot to ensure abortion rights seems straightforward: It would enshrine the right “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions.”Yet as the campaigning for and against the nation’s latest tug-of-war over abortion begins in earnest this weekend, voters are getting a different message from the measure’s opponents. They are characterizing it as threatening a wide range of parental rights.“As parents, it’s our worst nightmare,” one particularly ominous online ad funded by Protect Women Ohio, the opposition campaign, says of November’s Issue 1.The ad suggests the amendment would let minors end pregnancies and receive gender-related health care without parental permission: “A potential reality so grim it’s hard to even imagine.”It’s no surprise that anti-abortion groups opposed to the amendment are promoting that message. They are trying to fl...