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Ticker: Jobless claims rise; Wall Street bonuses fall 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

U.S. applications for jobless benefits rose last week but remain at historically low levels despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool the economy and the job market in its fight against inflation.Jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending March 25 rose by 7,000 to 198,000 from theprevious week, the Labor Department said Thursday.The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose by 2,000 to 198,250, remaining below the 200,000 threshold for the tenth straight week.In its latest quarterly projections, the Federal Reserve predicts that the unemployment rate will rise from its current 3.6% to 4.5% by year’s end, a sizable increase historically associated with recessions.Wall Street bonuses fallFile this one under: Must be nice.Average Wall Street bonuses dropped sharply last year to $176,700 amid lagging profits and recession fears, New York state’s comptroller reported Thursday.The bonuses for employees in New York ...

Bruins notebook: Oskar Steen hopes to get more games down stretch

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

A little more than a year ago, Oskar Steen came up from Providence and showed some real promise that he could be a hard-nosed, middle-six winger who could provide the requisite amount of scoring. He showed enough to earn the 2016 sixth-round pick a two-year extension that came with a reasonable expectation that he had a good shot at making the opening night roster.It didn’t happen. While Steen did not have a great camp, other players, namely A.J. Greer and Jakob Lauko, popped. Steen was sent back to Providence after clearing waivers before the regular season began. With the B’s putting together the best regular season in their nearly century-long history, there was not a lot of need for many call-ups and, until last Sunday, Steen had to rebuild his game and his hopes back in Providence.Finally, with the B’s looking to rest some of their veteran players down the stretch before the playoffs, Steen got the nod to play against the Carolina Hurricanes last Sunday – and ...

Fatal pedestrian crashes rise across Massachusetts: Report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

Fatal crashes into pedestrians are on the rise in Massachusetts, a WalkBoston report released Thursday detailed, reaching 101 pedestrian deaths in 2022.“We haven’t seen a number over 100 in well over 20 years — that’s as far back as the reports on MassDOT’s website go back,” said Brendan Kearney, Deputy Director of WalkBoston. “That was stunning.”The report records a 35% jump in crashes resulting in pedestrian fatalities in 2022 compared to 2021 and shows significant trends in who is being killed and where.Of the total fatalities, 71% occurred in “environmental justice neighborhoods” — neighborhoods meeting state criteria related to lower household income, higher minority populations and higher populations for whom English is a second language — and 65% of victims were over age 50.The neighborhoods face a heightened risk for a number of reasons, Kearney said, from proximity to high-speed, busy roads to a larger ...

Used car prices back on the upswing 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

Well, it was nice while it lasted.For nearly a year, the average used vehicle in the United States had been edging toward affordable again for millions of people. The relief felt belated and relatively slight, but it was welcome nonetheless.From an eye-watering peak of $31,400 in April of last year, the average price had dropped 14% to $27,125 early this month.Now, with the supply of used vehicles failing to keep up with robust demand, prices are creeping up again, with signs pointing to further increases ahead. So many buyers have been priced out of the new-car market that fewer trade-ins are landing on dealer lots. Deepening the shortage, fewer used vehicles are coming off leases or being off-loaded by rental car companies.Average list prices for used car have edged up by about $700 in the past month, and Alex Yurchenko, chief data officer for Black Book, which tracks prices, expects them to keep rising at least into summer.“If you have to buy a used vehicle,” he sugge...

Column: Partisan lawmakers snipe over gun violence. Does latest child massacre change anything?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

South and southwest suburban residents might see the White Sox win another World Series sooner than America enacts any meaningful federal laws to address gun violence.That’s the sense in the Southland and elsewhere this week as the nation reacted along partisan lines to another horrific mass shooting that left innocent children dead. Heroic police officers killed an assailant who slaughtered three 9-year-olds and three adults Monday at a Christian elementary school in Nashville.Congressional Republicans immediately defended gun rights.“We’re not going to fix it,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told a reporter. “Criminals are going to be criminals.”“It’s just premature to talk about it,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said of reforming federal gun laws.“There’s no such thing as gun violence,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., adding that unborn fetuses aborted from wombs was a far greater tragedy than bullets fired from AK-4...

Aaron Judge picks up where he left off, Gerrit Cole dominates in Yankees’ Opening Day win over Giants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

Aaron Judge did his best to bring his offseason alter ego to life on Thursday, setting fire to the Giants with his first swing of the 2023 season.Judge, aka “Arson” after an erroneous report sent him to San Francisco over the winter, took Giants pitcher Logan Webb deep in his first at-bat on Opening Day in the Yankees’ 5-0 win.The first-inning solo shot, a 422-foot drive into Monument Park, started the scoring for the Yankees as Judge picked up exactly where he left off after clubbing a team and American League-record 62 dingers a season ago.The reigning American League MVP followed his blast up with an RBI bloop in the seventh.Gerrit Cole, meanwhile, did some record-setting of his own on Thursday, notching a new franchise Opening Day mark with 11 strikeouts. Webb claimed the same record in the Giants’ history books with 12 strikeouts, though he allowed four earned runs in the loss.Cole didn’t surrender any over six frames and held San Francisco to just...

Going to Padres Opening Day? Here's what to know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres Opening Day is hours away and fans are already gearing up for the team's return to Petco Park.The team will be playing against fellow MLB National League West team, the Colorado Rockies, in a four-game series that ends on Sunday. First pitch for the opening game will be at 6:40 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 1:10 p.m., but the Padres announced Wednesday they had pushed back the start time due to weather. Read More: Padres 2023 Opening Day For those heading downtown Thursday, here's a breakdown of things to help you plan. Getting in to Petco ParkAccording to the team, fans will be allowed into the stadium at 4:30 p.m.All bags are prohibited from the ballpark unless they are smaller than seven inches by ten inches, infant or medical bags. Service animals are allowed in the ballpark, while other pets or emotional support animals are not.For a full list of what is and is not allowed in the park, head to the Padres' website.Where to parkGiven Petco P...

House passes bill creating carve-outs for farmers in Canada’s carbon pricing scheme

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

OTTAWA — A private member’s bill that would create specific carve-outs for farmers in Canada’s carbon pricing scheme has passed in the House of Commons. The bill would exempt farmers from paying for emissions from natural gas and propane they use for certain activities performed on their farms, such as drying grain, preparing feed, irrigating and heating barns. It passed with the support of Conservative, NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green Party MPs, with a few Liberals, including agriculture committee chair Kody Blois, joining the opposition parties to vote in favour.Theprivate member’s bill introduced by Conservative MP Ben Lobb in February 2022, which would not exempt farmers from the carbon price for activities performed off-site, will now be debated in the Senate.Farmer groups have said they are facing rising production costs, and the proposed law would give them critical financial relief from rising costs. The Agriculture Carbon Alliance, which was created by indus...

Key recommendations of Nova Scotia mass shooting inquiry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

TRURO, N.S. — Here are some of the main recommendations from the public inquiry into the mass shooting that claimed 22 lives in Nova Scotia on April 18-19, 2020:— An external, independent review of the RCMP, including a review of the contract system under which the RCMP provide policing services to much of rural Canada.— After the review, identification by the federal public safety minister of tasks that are suitable to a federal policing agency and ones that are better reassigned to other agencies.— Closing of the RCMPs training depot in Regina and establishment of a Canadian Police College. The RCMP should phase out the depot model by 2032 and create a three-year degree-based model of police education for all police services in Canada.— A review of the RCMP’s critical incident response training, to be completed within six months.— Revision of the RCMP’s national communications policies to state clearly that the objective is to provide accurate i...

S&P/TSX composite gains more than 100 points, U.S. markets also rise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:11 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points Thursday with broad-based gains led by the base metals sector, while U.S. markets also rose. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.34 points at 19,940.99.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 141.43 points at 32,859.03. The S&P 500 index was up 23.02 points at 4,050.83,while the Nasdaq composite was up 87.24 points at 12,013.47.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.89 cents US compared with 73.66 cents US on Wednesday.The May crude contract was up US$1.40 at US$74.37 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.10 per mmBTU.The June gold contract was up US$13.20 at US$1,997.70 an ounce and the May copper contract was down half a penny at US$4.09 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press