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Key highlights from the Liberals’ 2023 fall economic statement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled her fall economic statement on Tuesday, updating Canadians on the country’s financial health and introducing some new measures to target the housing crisis. Here are the highlights. — $20.8 billion: New federal spending since the spring budget.— $488.7 billion: Total government spending for the current fiscal year, through the end of March 2024. — 1.1 per cent: The real rate of GDP growth for 2023. Growth is expected to decline to 0.4 next year, but the government says it doesn’t expect the slowdown to result in a recession. — $40 billion: The updated deficit for this year. — $38.4 billion: Next year’s projected deficit — a $3.4-billion increase from the government’s previous projection. — $15 billion: The amount of money expected to go toward loan funding, beginning in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, to build more than 30,000 homes across Canada. — $1 billion: The cost of a new affordable housing fund over three ...

After the dollar-loving Milei wins the presidency, Argentines anxiously watch the exchange rate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — As soon as Leandro Francisco Diana woke up Tuesday, he reached for his phone like many Argentines on the first business day after the election victory of President-elect Javier Milei.“I opened my eyes, got my phone and looked for the price of the dollar to see how the country had awakened,” said the 26-year-old Diana, who owns a hardware store with his father in Villa Crespo, a middle-class neighborhood of Buenos Aires.The exchange rate of the peso with the U.S. dollar has become a widely watched barometer of the nation’s economic health, and is top of mind for millions of Argentines coping with triple-digit inflation. Knowing a further depreciation of the peso will boost the price of consumer goods, they are anxious for signs of what Milei’s victory on Sunday meant for the value of the currency that has tanked against the U.S. dollar in the past year.Diana, who loves traveling to New York and visited Miami last month, said he had feared he would find ...

Freeland’s fiscal update pledges new guardrails to keep deficits in check

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

The Liberal government’s fall economic statement acknowledges the cost-of-living crisis weighing on Canadians but offers few new measures to tackle it while pledging to keep deficits in check.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented her fiscal update in the House of Commons on Tuesday, stressing the pressure inflation and a slowing economy are putting on federal finances.At a time when the Liberals are facing pointed criticism from the Opposition Conservatives for years of deficit spending, the update outlines new guardrails to demonstrate fiscal restraint.That includes setting a goal to keep deficits below one per cent of the GDP beginning in 2026-27.The Liberals are also aiming to maintain the current fiscal year’s deficit at or below the spring budget projection of $40.1 billion and lower the debt-to-GDP ratio in 2024-25 relative to the projection in the fall economic statement.The new fiscal objectives come as the Liberals face an election in no more than two yea...

Teachers in Portland, Oregon, march and temporarily block bridge in third week of strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Teachers in Portland, Oregon, temporarily shut down a major bridge Tuesday morning as they marched in a strike started roughly three weeks ago.Members of the Portland Association of Teachers union and their supporters stopped in the middle of the Burnside Bridge for about 15 minutes, KGW reported. By 9 a.m. the bridge was clear and cars were driving across, according to the news outlet.Photos posted by the union on its Facebook page showed teachers sitting down on the bridge donning blue clothes and holding banners calling for better pay and teaching conditions. The union had called on supporters to meet at its headquarters, roughly half a mile from the bridge, at 7:30 a.m. before beginning the march at 8 a.m.Portland teachers have been on strike since Nov. 1, shuttering schools serving about 45,000 students in Oregon’s largest district. Students have missed 11 days of class because of the walkout.In marathon bargaining sessions that at times went through...

Disability advocate says Eglinton Avenue bike lane a danger to visually impaired pedestrians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

A disability advocate is speaking out about a bike lane installed along Eglinton Avenue that he says could be dangerous for visually impaired pedestrians.In a video released by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance (AODA), David Lepofsky, AODA’s chair, walks along the north side of Eglinton with his cane, unable to tell the difference between the sidewalk and the raised bike lane.Lepofsky, a lawyer and associate professor, said he had to be told that the bike lane was at sidewalk level, not road level. “I’d never encountered this before. It is a serious and dangerous threat to blind pedestrians like me,” Leposky told CityNews.And he’s not just concerned for himself and other visually impaired pedestrians. “It’s also a danger to sighted pedestrians if they’re looking down at their phone, texting and having to walk into a bike path,” explained Lepofsky. “It’s dangerous to cyclists because I coul...

The White House says its cracking down on fentanyl use

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) - Tuesday President Joe Biden met with members of his cabinet to discuss ways to crack down on the flow of fentanyl into the U.S."Too many are faced with an empty chair for the first time at Thanksgiving. So many people have died,” he said.This meeting follows last week’s announcement that China is agreeing to help curb the deadly drug.  Mexico’s president also pledged to work side by side with the U.S.Biden stated, "It's a global challenge that demands global action."China says it will tell companies to stop shipments of the chemicals used to make the drug to Latin American countries, something the White House calls a step in the right direction. For more Washington DC coverage, click here National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said, "This agreement will save lives, will save American lives. And President Xi said he was committed to helping with that."Doctor Rahul Gupta, director of National Drug Control Policy, says over 100 nations are working ...

Highest paying jobs in Chicago that require a graduate degree

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

Education pays.At least, that's what Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. Higher degree holders earn more and experience lower unemployment rates than those without degrees or with lesser degrees. On a weekly basis, master's degree holders earn over $500 more than the median for all U.S. workers over age 25, and doctoral degree holders earn about $850 more than that median. Professional degree holders like doctors, lawyers, and veterinarians earn even more, at nearly $870 more than the median.However, advanced degrees often cost significant funds to obtain. A year of graduate tuition and fees cost about $19,750 for the 2020-21 academic year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The average at private institutions was even more, at $26,620 per year. Some programs offer assistantships or fellowships that offset those costs, but many students will be on the hook for paying or borrowing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.Other data from the center, released...

Senate panel subpoenas Live Nation, Ticketmaster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is accusing Live Nation of trying to cover up what he calls their predatory policies.“Consumers are sick and tired of astronomic ticket prices, hidden fees,” Blumenthal said.The Connecticut Democrat's subcommittee launched an investigation last November, after the demand for Taylor Swift's Eras concert tour caused Live Nation's Ticketmaster website to crash, which drew attention to other problems within the ticket industry.“People deserve to know whether these predatory practices are the result of monopolistic misuse of power,” Blumenthal added.After the concert giant refused to hand over requested information, Blumenthal's subcommittee issued a subpoena for documents he says are critical to the investigation.“Relating to fee setting policies, ticket charges, relationships to artists and venues,” Blumenthal said.Senators say Live Nation and Ticketmaster control over 80% of all ticket sales in the U.S. and the majority of venu...

Where the flu, RSV, and COVID are on the rise ahead of Thanksgiving

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — As Americans prepare to gather for the holidays, many say they fear becoming sick in the coming months. Based on the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those concerns may be genuine. While the CDC doesn’t track COVID-19 testing as closely as it did during the pandemic, it does still track other COVID-related data. That includes hospital admissions for COVID, jumped by almost 9% in the most recent week of data, through Nov. 11. The percentage of people visiting the emergency room and testing positive for COVID is up by 7%, and the number of deaths attributed to COVID is up 9%. The numbers aren’t as stark as in recent years, but CDC data shows some parts of the country may be seeing more COVID cases than others.  One-third in new survey worried about catching flu, COVID, RSV in next three months The CDC currently considers 20 or more new COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people in a week as a “high” level. Falling int...

Chris Finch says Jaden McDaniels likely out a week; Timberwolves confident Nickeil Alexander-Walker can pick up added duties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:24 GMT

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told Paul Allen on KFXN-100.3 FM that Wolves defensive stopper Jaden McDaniels will be out “probably a week or so” with the ankle injury suffered early in Monday’s victory over the Knicks.That timeline suggests McDaniels likely misses at least Minnesota’s next three games — Wednesday at home against Philadelphia, Friday at home against Sacramento and Sunday in Memphis. The Timberwolves host Oklahoma City on Nov. 28.Finch noted the team planned to get more tests done on McDaniels’ ankle Tuesday, but noted the injury is “unfortunate.”“He’s been playing so well for us,” Finch said.Luckily for Minnesota, the team has more options behind McDaniels than it did even a year ago around this time. Troy Brown Jr. enters the rotation with McDaniels absent. But, more importantly, Nickeil Alexander-Walker likely steps into the starting lineup and fills the position of opponent star stopper.Finch called Alexander-Walker a “godsend” on the radio, referring to th...