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Student loans are back. Time to consolidate credit card debt?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

The federal student loan payment pause that began in March 2020 is ending. Loans began accruing interest on Sept. 1, and borrowers will start making payments in October.But the restart comes at a tricky time for Americans’ finances. Credit card debt is at a record high — $1 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — and student loan borrowers may struggle to prioritize different types of debt.Credit card debt is especially damaging to your finances because of its high, compounding interest. As money gets tighter, consolidating your credit card debt under a zero- or low-interest product may be a smart move.Increased debt for student loan borrowersWith no student loan bills for the past three-plus years, borrowers may have used the space in their budget to take on other types of debt.More than half of all federal student loan borrowers took out a new bank-issued credit card during the pandemic, while 36% got an auto loan and 31% signed up for a retail credit card, a...

Final rounds of pandemic food benefits headed to CA families. Are you eligible?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

(KSWB) -- The final round of pandemic-era food relief benefits is headed to help households across California get groceries.The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program was a federal initiative to help low-income families set food on the table while schools and childcare facilities were closed through a stipend for groceries.Two rounds were issued during the pandemic, with the third being distributed before summer this year, according to the California Department of Education. Cards for a fourth and final round of P-EBT for the 2022-23 school year is currently being distributed to qualifying households. Tax deadline nearing for most Californians According to the California Department of Social Services, there will be two final issuances of the benefits, one in September and a second in October. Children will receive as much as $90 each month.All of the P-EBT 4.0 cards are expected to be delivered to participating families by Sept. 30, 2023. For those that believe they...

India and Canada steer clear, at UN, of their dispute over Sikh separatist leader’s killing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Indian and Canadian diplomats didn’t directly address their countries’ row over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader, but they obliquely underscored some key talking points as they addressed world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that the world must not “countenance that political convenience determines responses to terrorism, extremism and violence.” Canadian U.N. Ambassador Robert Rae, by turn, insisted that “we cannot bend the rules of state-to-state relations for political expediency.”Relations between the two countries frayed after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that India may have been involved in the June killing of a Canadian citizen in a Vancouver suburb.Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45. Killed by masked gunmen, Nijjar was a leader in what remains of a once-strong moveme...

Preliminary hearing in 2024 for Quebecer accused of killing two kids in daycare

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

LAVAL, Que. — A preliminary hearing for a Quebec man accused of killing two four-year-olds and injuring six other children after he allegedly drove a city bus into a Montreal-area daycare is expected to take place in the new year.After a brief court appearance in Laval, Que., north of Montreal, defence lawyer Julien Lespérance Hudon said the prosecution had finished disclosing evidence and a preliminary hearing – which would last one week – could be scheduled for March or April. His client, Pierre Ny St-Amand, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder as well as seven other charges, including attempted murder and aggravated assault. The 51-year-old bus driver was arrested after a city bus crashed into the front of a daycare in Laval on Feb. 8, killing two four-year-olds and injuring six other children.The case will return to court on Nov. 29 for a management hearing, during which the date and parameters of the preliminary hearing will be set.However, Lespérance Hudon s...

SIU investigating circumstances of 88-year-old man’s death in Mississauga

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

Ontario’s police watchdog has taken over an investigation after an 88-year-old man died following a wellness check in Mississauga.The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says Peel Regional Police officers, a crisis worker and a mental health nurse attended a home in the Silver Creek Boulevard area at around 1:30 p.m. on Monday.The SIU said a request was made to assess the man’s well-being and noted that it became necessary to apprehend him under the Mental Health Act.During the apprehension with responding personnel, the province’s police watchdog says the man suffered a critical injury. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Monday.The SIU said the post-mortem examination is scheduled for Wednesday.Two investigators and one forensic investigator have been assigned to the case.The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or th...

Capitol rioter who trained for a ‘firefight’ with paintball gets over four years in prison

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

A California man whom prosecutors say was fixated on arresting Democratic leaders and training for combat with paintball fights after the 2020 presidential election was sentenced on Tuesday to more than four years in prison for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot.Edward Badalian planned for weeks before he and a friend traveled from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and joined a mob in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to prosecutors. They said Badalian organized group paintball sessions to train for a “firefight” and fantasized about meting out “vigilante justice” against politicians he believed to be “traitors.”“He trained, collected weapons, and traveled across the country for the riot, with the goal of arresting and ‘violently removing’ politicians he disagreed with,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Badalian, 29, of Panorama City, California, to four years and three months of incarceration, accordi...

Charges dismissed against Philadelphia officer in fatal traffic-stop shooting of Eddie Irizarry

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge dismissed murder and other charges Tuesday against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver through a rolled-up driver’s side window, agreeing with defense attorneys who said the officer could have feared for his life because he thought the driver had a gun. Police body camera footage showed the driver, 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry, holding a knife near his right leg as police approached his stopped vehicle on a residential street after a short pursuit prompted by erratic driving.The ruling came after a courtroom, packed with police and relatives of Irizarry attending now-fired Officer Mark Dial’s preliminary hearing, watched about 20 minutes of the harrowing video footage. The defense argued that Dial acted in self-defense when he fired his weapon at close range shortly after noon Aug. 14.Irizarry’s relatives appeared stunned and distraught by Municipal Judge Wendy Pew’s ruling. They said police should not need to fatally shoot some...

Messi Mania has grabbed hold in Major League Soccer, but will it be a long-lasting boost?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

It’s highly unlikely any player other than Lionel Messi could have brought Prince Harry, Selena Gomez and Leonardo DiCaprio out to a regular-season Major League Soccer match. But there they were — very noticeable in fact — in the crowd when Messi’s Inter Miami squad took on LAFC in Southern California early this month. Since Messi arrived in the United States, the league and his team have both been enjoying a rare spotlight, with sell-outs on the road and at home, No. 10 jerseys flying off the shelves, ticket prices at times reaching unheard-of levels and sponsors jumping on board. “He’s the best player in the world. What did you think he was going to do when he came here?” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said after Inter Miami’s star-studded sold-out match in Los Angeles. It’s almost necessary to be an A-lister to score a good ticket to watch him play: Front-row tickets on the secondary market have been going for thousands of dollars. Regardless of the costs the...

CP NewsAlert: 2 dead, four hurt in helicopter crash near Prince George, B.C.: TSB

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — The Transportation Safety Board says two people are dead and four have been hurt in a helicopter crash east of Prince George, B.C.The safety board says it is sending a team of investigators to the crash site where a Bell 206L helicopter went down near Purden Ski Hill, a mountain resort off Highway 16. More coming. The Canadian Press

Judge refuses to immediately block grant program for Black women entrepreneurs

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:11 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Atlanta ruled Tuesday that a venture capital firm can continue offering a grant program only to Black women entrepreneurs, saying a lawsuit arguing it illegally excluded other races was not likely to succeed.Senior U.S. Judge Thomas Thrash denied a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the grants by the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund. The judge issued the decision in court after hearing arguments from attorneys and said he planned to issue a written order by the end of the week.The Fearless Fund is a tiny player in the approximately $200 billion global venture capital market, but Tuesday’s ruling was a significant victory for the firm, which has become symbolic of the fight over corporate diversity policies. The lawsuit against it could be a test case, as the battle over considerations on race shifts to the workplace following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions. The injunction was s...