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Volunteers needed in Belleville to plant flags along Marine's funeral procession

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

BELLEVILLE, Ill. - Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has ordered the U.S. and Illinois flags to be half-staff Thursday in honor of a fallen metro east marine. Captain Eleanor 'Ellie' Leabau Cooke returns to her home in Belleville.The marine died in a military aircraft crash during a training exercise in Australia last month. The cause is still under investigation. The flagman's mission needs volunteers to help set up a thousand flags along the funeral procession route Thursday afternoon. Federal agents head operation on I-270 in St. Louis County They'll meet at 4:00 p.m. at 200 West Harrison Street in Belleville. Visitation is Friday and the funeral is Saturday. On Sunday, they need volunteers again to pick up the flags.

Flooring company moving California operation to Georgia, eliminating 291 jobs

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

Shaw Industries Group is shifting its residential carpet manufacturing operations in Santa Fe Springs to northwest Georgia in a move that will eliminate 291 local jobs.The company also is closing a plant in Yuma, Arizona, affecting 249 jobs there, the company said.Shaw said it already is scaling back work at the two facilities and will cease operations in the first quarter of 2024.Scott Sandlin, executive vice president of the Dalton, Ga.-based company’s residential division, said the adjustments will help ensure the company is poised for the long term.Shaw, which has at least 50 distribution centers throughout the U.S., didn’t cite wages as a factor in the move. Data from Indeed.com shows pay levels are considerably lower in Georgia.A forklift operator at the company’s Santa Fe Springs facility averages $20.20 hourly, for example, while a worker doing the same job in Dalton earns an average hourly wage of $15.62. And Georgia’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is less than half the Gol...

Opinion: California can lead nation with a public option for health insurance

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

California’s workers are facing a mounting health care affordability crisis. The cost of insurance for families has grown more than two and half times faster than wages have, putting health care out of reach for more and more people. This gap is even larger for the state’s Black and Latino populations.Part of the solution is within reach: The state should introduce a public option to compete with private insurance plans and drive down premiums. California is uniquely suited to pioneer this approach and has hard evidence that it will work.We propose a public-option for California that we call Golden Choice. It is based on the ability of the state’s integrated medical groups to provide high-quality care at a lower cost by receiving monthly revenue per enrollee, a payment system known as capitation. The figure would be adjusted for each patient’s age, gender, health status and related characteristics likely to influence need for care. This model provides incentives to the health care s...

‘King of Diamonds’ explores the dramatic life of jeweler Harry Winston

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

The world associates the name Harry Winston with glamour and jewels – it’s synonymous with Hollywood stars, royal families and captains of industry. Marilyn Monroe ushered the name into legend when she breathlessly sang, “Talk to me, Harry Winston; tell me all about it!” in 1953’s classic movie “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”But for his eldest and only living son, Ronald Winston, the man behind the brand seems to have been a complicated person, as well as a hard-to-live-up-to icon.The opening pages of “King of Diamonds: Harry Winston, The Definitive Biography of An American Icon,” by Ronald Winston and William Stadiem, contain a telling episode from the author’s childhood: His famous jeweler father was “bouncing me around, having a wonderful time” in the family’s plush New York apartment.Then suddenly, Winston dropped his son “hard and fast” onto the rug, shocking the child.As young Ronald begins to cry, the famed jeweler tells him, “Never trust anyone in life. Not even your own father....

‘He shot my arm off!’: 3 men who robbed California liquor store seen in viral video plead guilty

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

Three of the four men suspected  in the robbery of a Norco liquor store in 2022 during which the 80-year-old owner opened fire — prompting one intruder to memorably shout “He shot my arm off!” — each pleaded guilty to six felony charges on Wednesday, Sept. 20, and were immediately sentenced.Davon Anthony Broadus, 24, and Justin Kyle Johnson, 22, both of Inglewood; and Jamar Elijah Williams, 26, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, attempted robbery, carrying a loaded stolen firearm, possession of an assault weapon and two counts of receiving stolen property. Charges of assault with an assault weapon and cruelty to an elder were dropped.Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gary Polk sentenced them to five years in custody. All then received a little more than 2 years credit for time served — more than 400 days in actual custody that by law is doubled to achieve a total credit.It was unclear whether this was a plea to the court or was done in cooperation with...

Southern California student passes out pride flags to protest “targeted” school policies

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

A transgender student in Temecula is distributing hundreds of LGBTQ pride flags to protest new school district policies he says target LGBTQ students.Moxxie Childs, who goes by “Flag Boy” online, is documenting his efforts on TikTok, with now over 700,000 views. He has passed out over 600 flags, donated through his Amazon wishlist.Childs is among a number of Temecula students protesting the policy recently approved by the Temecula Valley Unified School District board — one of which allows only U.S. and California state flags to be displayed on school grounds, including classrooms.Childs and many Temecula students feel the new policy, adopted at a board meeting Tuesday, Sept. 12, is a coded way of banning pride flags. He and other students plan to protest by walking out of classes Friday, Sept. 22.Moxxie Childs, known as “Flag Boy” online, a 16-year-old student at Great Oak High School in Temecula, holds pride flags outside the Temecula campus on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023...

Opinion: The Panama Canal is running dry, and it is a major U.S. problem

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

A slight competition between transit and human consumption.That’s how Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, an official with the Panama Canal Authority, described a possible water crunch in the region as a historic drought threatens the trade route he oversees.Although the canal connects two oceans, its operation depends upon fresh water from a nearby lake, which has been dwindling during a 20-year drought. As a result, there is not as much water for vessels to sail through — or for local communities to drink.In August, the average wait time for ships went from less than a week to nearly a week and a half, creating a bottleneck. At one point more than 160 ships were hanging out waiting for a Panama official to swipe right.Today that number is down, but part of the relief came from using more fresh water.Did I mention the region is experiencing a 20-year drought?It’s similar to the two-decade drought that has choked the Colorado River and left Nevada’s Lake Mead at 34% of capac...

FactSet: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS) on Thursday reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $65.1 million.On a per-share basis, the Norwalk, Connecticut-based company said it had profit of $1.68. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $2.93 per share.The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $3.49 per share.The financial data firm posted revenue of $535.8 million in the period, exceeding Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $534.9 million.For the year, the company reported profit of $468.1 million, or $12.03 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.09 billion.FactSet expects full-year earnings in the range of $15.65 to $16.15 per share, with revenue in the range of $2.21 billion to $2.23 billion._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks ...

Bank of England joins US Fed in avoiding another interest rate hike after inflation declines

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has paused nearly two years of interest rate increases after a surprising fall in U.K. inflation eased concerns about the pace of price rises.In a development Thursday that few predicted just two days ago, the central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at a 15-year high of 5.25%. It comes to the relief of millions of homeowners who are facing higher mortgage rates.The decision was split, with four of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voting for a hike.Central banks worldwide appear to be near the end of an aggressive rate-hiking cycle meant to curb an outburst of inflation triggered by the bounceback from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The U.S. Federal Reserve left rates unchanged Wednesday.Clearly influencing the bank’s decision was news Wednesday that inflation unexpectedly fell to 6.7% in August, its lowest level since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Inflation, however, is still way above the b...

Darden Restaurants: Fiscal Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) on Thursday reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $194.5 million.The Orlando, Florida-based company said it had profit of $1.59 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and to account for discontinued operations, were $1.78 per share.The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.73 per share.The owner of Olive Garden and other chain restaurants posted revenue of $2.73 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.7 billion.Darden Restaurants expects full-year earnings in the range of $8.55 to $8.85 per share._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DRI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DRISource