Well-heeled home shoppers are increasingly paying cash, helping turbocharge price gains for the most expensive U.S. homes. The median sale price of luxury homes — valued in the top 5% of the market nationally — hit an all-time high $1.23 million in the first quarter, an increase of 8.7% from the same period last year, according to an analysis by …
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Astronauts thrilled to be making first piloted flight aboard Boeings Starliner spacecraft
Two veteran astronauts flew to the Kennedy Space Center Thursday afternoon to prepare for the first piloted launch of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, a long-awaited flight running years behind schedule after two uncrewed test flights and extensive work to resolve a variety of technical problems. Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, two of NASA’s most seasoned astronauts with four previous …
Read More »Net neutrality is back: FCC bars broadband providers from meddling with internet speed
Internet service providers can no longer fiddle with how quickly — or not — customers are able to browse the web or download files, the Federal Communications Commission ruled Thursday. The 3-2 vote to adopt net neutrality regulations, which block wireless companies from selectively speeding up, slowing down or blocking users’ internet traffic, restores a policy that was discarded during …
Read More »Veteran taikonaut, 2 rookies launched on long-duration Chinese space station flight
Three Chinese taikonauts blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Thursday and set off after the the Tiangong space station to replace three long-duration crew members who are closing out a six-month stay in space. With veteran Ye Guangfu, 43, at the controls of the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft, flanked by rookies Li Cong, 34, and …
Read More »Amazon Ring customers getting $5.6 million in refunds, FTC says
The Federal Trade Commission is sending more than $5.6 million in refunds to people who purchased Amazon’s Ring camera during a time when the devices were potentially being used to violate their privacy. Payments are coming to 117,044 consumers who had certain types of Ring devices, the result of a settlement of allegations Amazon let employees and contractors access people’s …
Read More »A spacecraft captured images of "spiders" on the surface of Mars. Heres what they really are.
A unique phenomenon that could be mistaken for spiders scuttling across the planet’s surface has been spotted on Mars, according to the European Space Agency. The ESA said in a news release that one of its Mars Express orbiter captured images of the “spiders,” which are really just small, dark-colored features that begin to be formed when sunshine falls on …
Read More »How to pay off $7,500 in credit card debt
Today’s economic environment can be a challenging one if you have credit card debt. The cost of living is climbing as inflation continues unabated, which can make it difficult to budget for your credit card payments. Moreover, the Federal Reserve’s federal funds rate target currently stands at a 23-year high. And since that’s the primary benchmark for consumer interest rates, …
Read More »EPA issues toughest rule yet on power plant emissions, but its likely to face court challenges
Washington — Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency. New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. …
Read More »The EPA says lead in Flints water is at acceptable levels. Residents still have concerns about its safety.
The Environmental Protection Agency says lead in the water in Flint, Michigan, is lower than federal safety limits specify. It’s been a decade since the city, attempting to save millions of dollars, inadvertently exposed more than 100,000 people, including vulnerable children, to lead seeping from aging pipes — and many residents still don’t trust what’s coming out of their faucets …
Read More »U.S. birth rate drops to record low, ending pandemic uptick
The pace of babies born each year in the U.S. has slowed to a new record low, according to an analysis of 2023 birth certificate data published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year’s slowdown marks an official end to the uptick in new babies that began during the COVID-19pandemic. At least 3,591,328 babies were born …
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