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Average long-term US mortgage rate slips to 6.39% this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate edged lower this week, a modest boost for homebuyers looking for relief as a stubbornly low inventory of properties for sale fuels bidding wars in many markets.The average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate home loan fell to 6.39% from 6.43% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, it averaged 5.27%. The average rate fell for five straight weeks before rising the last two weeks of April.This week’s drop in mortgage rates is welcome news for prospective homebuyers, many of whom have been pushed to the sidelines during the past year as the Federal Reserve cranked up its main borrowing rate in a bid to tamp down persistent, four-decade high inflation.All told, the Fed has raised its benchmark rate 10 times since March 2022, including an increase this week that pushed it to 5.1%, the highest since 2007, from virtually zero early last year.Shifts in the Fed’s short-term lending rate don’t dire...

Bud Light boosts spending in US to counter sales declines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

Bud Light’s parent company said Thursday it will triple its marketing spending in the U.S. this summer as it tries to boost sales that plummeted after the brand partnered with a transgender influencer.But Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris also downplayed the impact of the backlash, saying Bud Light’s U.S. sales declines in the first three weeks of April represented only 1% of InBev’s global volumes. Doukeris also said the company sees signs that Bud Light demand is stabilizing.“We believe we have the experience, the resources and the partners to manage this,” Doukeris said during a conference call with investors Thursday.On April 1, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a video of herself cracking open a Bud Light on her Instagram page. She showed off a can with her face on it that Bud Light sent her — one of many corporate freebies she gets and shares with her millions of followers.Three days after Mulvaney’s post, Kid Rock posted a video of himself ...

Review: Lily James, Shazad Latif anchor charming rom-com

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

The romantic comedy may be on the endangered genres list in Hollywood, but thankfully our friends in England have continued to concoct and export enjoyable confections at a steady clip. Earlier this year, we were treated to the delightful “Rye Lane,” a vibrant and fresh take on the meet cute that’s currently streaming on Hulu. And now we have “ What’s Love Got to Do With It? ” starring Lily James as a documentary filmmaker, Zoe, who turns her lens to the arranged marriage of her childhood friend, Kaz (Shazad Latif). Within a conventional rom-com package, the ending of which isn’t the slightest of mysteries, tropes are subverted, big questions are asked about marriage and love, and a warm spotlight is shined on Pakistani culture. Also Emma Thompson gets to drink and dance and say mildly offensive things to her daughter (James’ Zoe) and her best friends next door. The film, directed by Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth”), was written by Jemima Khan, a noted documentarian and an editor at publ...

Declaran culpables de conspiración sediciosa a cuatro miembros de Proud Boys

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

(CNN) —  Cuatro miembros del grupo de ultraderecha Proud Boys fueron declarados culpables de conspiración sediciosa por un jurado en Washington por su papel para impedir por la fuerza el traspaso pacífico del poder del entonces presidente Donald Trump a Joe Biden tras las elecciones de 2020.Los acusados Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Enrique Tarrio y Dominic Pezzola se enfrentan a una serie de cargos, incluidos tres cargos separados de conspiración, obstrucción de la votación del Colegio Electoral y manipulación de pruebas.El veredicto marca la tercera vez que los fiscales consiguen condenas por conspiración sediciosa en la histórica persecución del Departamento de Justicia contra quienes irrumpieron en el Capitolio aquel día.El jurado no pudo llegar a un veredicto sobre el cargo de conspiración sediciosa contra Pezzola. A diferencia de los demás acusados en este juicio, Pezzola no ocupa supuestamente un cargo de liderazgo en la organización y se mostraba inactivo ...

Jury finds Ed Sheeran didn't copy Marvin Gaye classic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury concluded Thursday that British singer Ed Sheeran didn't steal key components of Marvin Gaye’s classic 1970s tune “Let’s Get It On” when he created his hit song “Thinking Out Loud.”As the New York jury answered the single question of whether Sheeran proved he didn't infringe upon the copyright in the affirmative, the crooner briefly put his hands over his face in relief before standing and hugging his lawyer.The verdict came after a two-week trial that featured a courtroom performance by Sheeran as the singer insisted, sometimes angrily, that the trial was a threat to all musicians who create their own music. Which names are most commonly used in song titles? Sheeran sat with his legal team throughout the trial, defending himself against the lawsuit by the heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend, who created the 1973 soul classic with Gaye. They said “Thinking Out Loud” had so many similarities to “Let's Get It On” that it violated the song's copyright protection.At...

Stranahan High School evacuated due to bomb threat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

A South Florida high school is being evacuated due to a bomb threat, Thursday afternoon. Police are on the scene at Stranahan High School, located at 1800 SW 5th Place in Fort Lauderdale. 7Skyforce hovered over the school where the student body was seen on the football field. Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

Heat still waiting to see if Butler can play in Game 3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — NBA playoff scoring leader Jimmy Butler was with the Miami Heat for their film session Thursday, without any clarity yet if his sprained ankle will be healed enough for him to play in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Knicks on Saturday.And if Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has an answer, he’s not tipping his hand.“No update. … I’m not going to get into all the minutiae of it,” Spoelstra said. “When we find out how he is feeling on Saturday, we’ll let you know. That’s what the deal is.”Butler missed Game 2 of the series — a 111-105 win for the Knicks — because of the ankle, which he sprained with about 5 minutes left in Miami’s Game 1 victory at Madison Square Garden.It was only the fourth game Butler has missed since the last week of January, and two of those were the final two games of the regular season with the Heat locked into the play-in tournament at that point.Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, after Game 2, made clear that...

CA woman goes from being homeless to winning $5M in state lottery; plans on getting married

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, California (KABC) — Lucia Forseth has seen a dramatic change in fortune since 2017. First, she overcame homelessness. Then, she became a multimillionaire after winning $5 million in the California lottery!Forseth picked up her winning Scratchers ticket at a Walmart in Contra Costa County, where she had stopped to get an oil change for her car.She said she bought only one ticket while waiting outside.“I only bought one ticket,” Forseth told the California Lottery, according to a press release. “I closed my eyes and picked that one, and it won! I first thought I’d won a free ticket, but I checked, and it said I won $5 million!”And, not only has Forseth won millions of dollars, she said she is also getting married and working toward her associate’s degree.“You never think you have a chance to win it. It is just random. Being homeless just six years ago, I never thought it would happen to someone like me,” she to...

Jury finds Ed Sheeran didn’t copy Marvin Gaye classic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury concluded Thursday that British singer Ed Sheeran didn’t steal key components of Marvin Gaye’s classic 1970s tune “Let’s Get It On” when he created his hit song “Thinking Out Loud.”The verdict in New York came after a two-week trial that featured a courtroom performance by Sheeran as the singer insisted, sometimes angrily, that the trial was a threat to all musicians who create their own music.Sheeran sat with his legal team throughout the trial, defending himself against the lawsuit by the heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend, who created the 1973 soul classic with Gaye. They said “Thinking Out Loud” had so many similarities to “Let’s Get It On” that it violated the song’s copyright protection.At the trial’s start, attorney Ben Crump told jurors on behalf of the Townsend heirs that Sheeran himself sometimes performed the two songs together. The jury saw video of a concert in Switzerland in which Sheeran can be heard segueing on stage betwee...

Building up: How Lego sets have helped Orioles rookie Gunnar Henderson ‘decompress’ through early-season struggles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:02 GMT

For Gunnar Henderson, “Star Wars” Lego sets aren’t only a way to compete with Orioles prospect Colton Cowser, though their 2023 race is set to begin soon. They’ve also helped Baltimore’s prized rookie put his mind at ease amid a relatively slow start to his first full major league season.Hits have been hard to come by for Henderson, a 21-year-old infielder who began this year as baseball’s unanimous top prospect and a favorite to be American League Rookie of the Year. That’s why many nights, he’s found himself piecing together a Lego Imperial Star Destroyer.“Everybody has their own way to decompress, and it’s just something that just kind of gets your mind off everything,” Henderson said. “You just go back home, build for a little bit, and then eventually you come out with something fully made. It’s definitely different, but I enjoy it.”Modeling the triangular spaceship from the opening scene of the ...