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California rent 5% off peak as vacancies hit 32-month high

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

“Rent Watch” tracks what’s happening at the intersection of landlords and tenants – who is paying what and where.Buzz: California rents are down four straight months – and modestly off all-time highs – as the number of empty units hit a 32-month high.Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked into ApartmentList’s tally of rent and vacancy rates across California. The math based on a combination of Census surveys of what renters are paying and landlord’s listing data that tracks a mix of units with varying numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms.ToplineThe typical California rent was $1,917 a month in November, by this math, part of an ongoing slide since July. Yes, it’s a slow period for landlords, but average rents are now 5% off peak pricing seen in August 2022 – back when the pandemic pushed tenants to find larger living spaces.Why the recent price dip? Well, life has returned to near-normalcy and the lofty cost of renting plus the state’s shrinking population a...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts higher ahead of a highly anticipated jobs report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting higher Thursday following its first three-day losing streak since Halloween.The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in morning trading and continuing to hang near its highest level since March 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 43 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.Oil-and-gas stocks rose, including a 1.3% gain for Exxon Mobil, after crude prices recovered some of their sharp tumble from the day before. They helped to offset drops for some companies reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than expected. Chewy fell 4.3% as sales growth slows for the seller of pet food and supplies.Cerevel Therapeutics jumped 12.8% after AbbVie announced an $8.7 billion deal to buy the company and its pipeline of candidates for schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and other diseases. AbbVie added 0.3%.Much of Wall Street’s recent rally has been because of rising hopes that the Federal Reserve is fina...

House votes to censure Democratic Rep. Bowman for pulling a fire alarm in House office building

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House members voted again Thursday to punish one of their own, targeting Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for triggering a fire alarm in one of the U.S. Capitol office buildings in September when the chamber was in session. The Republican censure resolution passed with some Democratic votes, but most Democrats stood by Bowman in opposition of an effort they said lacked credibility and integrity. The prominent progressive now becomes the third Democratic House member to be admonished this year through the censure process, which is a punishment one step below expulsion from the House.“It’s painfully obvious to myself, my colleagues and the American people that the Republican Party is deeply unserious and unable to legislate,” Bowman said Wednesday as he defended himself during floor debate. “Their censure resolution against me today continues to demonstrate their inability to govern and serve the American people.”The vote to censure Bowman caps nearly a year of chaos an...

House votes to censure Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling fire alarm, making him latest member punished this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House votes to censure Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling fire alarm, making him latest member punished this year.Source

Putin continues his blitz round of Mideast diplomacy by hosting the Iranian president

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Iran’s president Thursday as part of a blitz round of Middle East diplomacy that also included visits to United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in efforts to raise Moscow’s profile as a power broker in the region.Putin has cast the Israel-Hamas war as a failure of U.S. diplomacy and suggested Moscow could be a mediator, thanks to its friendly ties with both Israel and the Palestinians.“It’s very important for us to exchange views of the situation in the region, particularly regarding the Palestinian situation,” Putin said as he welcomed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the start of their talks in Moscow.Raisi emphasized the need to quickly stop the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, declaring that “a child is killed there every 10 minutes.” “It’s not just a regional issue, it’s an issue for the entire humankind,” he told Putin, adding that “it’s necessary to find a quick solution.”Iran, which has been a staunch support...

Texas judge grants pregnant woman permission to get an abortion despite state’s ban

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Thursday granted a pregnant woman permission to obtain an abortion in an unprecedented challenge to the state’s ban that took effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.It was unclear how quickly or whether Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from the Dallas area, will be able to obtain an abortion. State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, an elected Democrat, said she would grant a temporary restraining order that would allow Cox to have an abortion. That decision is likely to be appealed by the state.Cox is 20 weeks pregnant and doctors say her fetus has a fatal diagnosis. Her attorneys told Gamble that Cox went to an emergency room this week for a fourth time since her pregnancy. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. Texas’ strict abortion ban will face an unprecedented test Thursday, when a judge considers a request for an emergency court order that would allow a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fat...

Texas judge grants pregnant woman permission to have an abortion in rare challenge to ban; state likely to appeal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas judge grants pregnant woman permission to have an abortion in rare challenge to ban; state likely to appeal.Source

UAW says over 1,000 workers at VW plant in Tennessee have signed cards seeking union representation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — More than 1,000 workers at Volkswagen’s Tennessee factory have signed cards authorizing a vote on representation by the United Auto Workers, the first plant in the nation to reach that milestone in the UAW’s quest to organize more than a dozen nonunion factories.The union says in a statement Thursday that the VW workers signed on in less than a week. The factory in Chattanooga employs about 3,800 people who make the VW ID.4 electric vehicle and the Atlas family of gas-powered SUVs. It could become the first test of the union’s strategy to simultaneously try to organize the nonunion plants. The UAW statement says workers have complained about mistreatment by management including mandatory overtime on Saturdays, and they are seeking higher pay. A message was left Thursday seeking comment from VW.In November, VW gave workers an 11% pay raise at the plant. The raises came after UAW members ratified new contracts with Detroit automakers. The union says VW...

A China, EU summit exposes divisions over Ukraine, trade and subsidies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The leaders of China and the European Union held talks Thursday that focused on their disputes over trade, subsidies and a deep divide over the war in Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing with the two European presidents, Ursula von der Leyen from the EU Commission and Charles Michel from the EU Council. The European Union is calling on China to improve market access to address an annual trade imbalance of more than $200 billion between the two sides. China is unhappy with an EU investigation into subsides for electric vehicles and possible EU restrictions on technology exports. The EU has urged China to use its influence with Russia to help bring an end to the Ukraine conflict. Von der Leyen said the two sides need to manage their differences responsibly.“China is the EU’s most important trading partner,” she said in opening remarks posted on the commission’s website. “But there are clear imbalances and differences that we must address.”Xi said ...

An appreciation: How Norman Lear changed television — and with it American life — in the 1970s

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — In many American living rooms, the 1960s didn’t really begin until Jan. 12, 1971.That was the night the comedy “All in the Family” debuted, almost instantly changing television and American society with it. Creator Norman Lear, who died at age 101 on Tuesday, was the man behind that transformation.The series introduced the brash bigot Archie Bunker, his “dingbat” wife Edith, his feminist daughter Gloria and his liberal son-in-law Mike “Meathead” Stivic. From their house in the New York City borough of Queens, they co-existed loudly and watched the world spin uncontrollably.Archie Bunker, portrayed by Carroll O’Connor, embodied the “American Way” — as most middle-aged white Americans understood it at the time — and watched in confused exasperation as “others” redefined it.Coming out of a tumultuous decade of fundamental change, and smack in the middle of a contentious war overseas, these realities were hardly foreign to most Americans. They just rarely saw...