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☆ 3 real-estate investing strategies to use — and 2 cities to invest in — as home prices around the country take a hit, according to BiggerPockets' housing-market guru
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For those looking to break into real-estate investing, this uncertainty can be paralyzing. But according to Dave Meyer, a real-estate investor and BiggerPockets' vice president of data and analytics, there are still ways to make money in this market. On a recent episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast, Meyer shared three strategies he thinks will work best right now. 3 real-estate investing strategies to use in the current environmentThe first strategy Meyer recommended is becoming a private lender. Meyer said "hybrid" cities would likely perform better in the coming years than high-appreciation cities, and listed a couple that fit that description.

☆ Former NFL player Jessie Lemonier dies at 25
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Drew Weisholtz | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Jessie Lemonier, a defensive end who played for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions, has died at the age of 25, the Lions announced Jan. 26. “We are shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of former Detroit Lion Jessie Lemonier,” the Lions said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Jessie was a model teammate and wonderful young man who is gone far too soon. Lemonier signed with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent out of Liberty University in 2020. He played in six games with them in 2020, according to Pro Football Reference.

☆ U.K. Gambling Company Fined $7.6 Million Over Alleged Money-Laundering Control Issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

U.K. online gambling company Intouch Games Ltd. has been fined the equivalent of $7.6 million after a regulator cited a series of failures in its program to prevent money laundering. The U.K.’s Gambling Commission on Wednesday announced the £6.1 million penalty for Intouch, the third action the regulator has taken against the company since 2019. The Gambling Commission has been among the more active enforcement bodies in its approach to the growing online gambling sector, taking action against companies when it has found problems with controls intended to prevent illicit money flows. Birmingham, England-based Intouch, which operates 11 gambling websites, was acquired in June by Skywind Holdings Ltd., a provider of online gambling software. Intouch in 2019 entered a £2.2 million settlement with the Gambling Commission.

☆ Former Detroit Lions linebacker Lemonier dies at 25
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Former Detroit Lions linebacker Jessie Lemonier has died at the age of 25, the National Football League (NFL) team said on Thursday. Lemonier began his professional career with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020. "We are shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of former Detroit Lion Jessie Lemonier," the Lions wrote on Twitter. "Jessie was a model team mate and wonderful young man who is gone far too soon. Lemonier was recently traded to the Birmingham Stallions in the United States Football League after signing for the Houston Gamblers.

☆ Buying a home is now more affordable than renting in these five cities
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Anna Bahney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Renting costs nearly $800 less per month than buying, on average. But there are five cities where, despite stubbornly high prices, rising mortgage rates and some of the least affordable home buying conditions in decades, it is still cheaper to buy than to rent. Monthly buying costs assume a 7% down payment with a mortgage rate of 6.36%, and include taxes, insurance and homeowners association fees. Where renting is betterAustin, Texas, offered the biggest discount for renting compared to buying, with renting 121% or $2,013 cheaper per month. Even in Florida cities like Miami, Tampa and Orlando, which have seen some of the highest rent growth and rent costs in the past year, renting is still more affordable than buying a starter home.

☆ UK car production is at its weakest since 1956. And the industry is losing the EV race
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —UK car manufacturing hit a 66-year low in 2022, as the closure of two plants, a global shortage of semiconductors and the effect of Covid lockdowns in China on auto supply chains crippled output. “The relationship between the UK and the EU, especially as you electrify, is still fundamental to the success of UK car manufacturing,” he said. UK factories made a record 234,066 electric vehicles in 2022, almost a third of all UK car production. Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s Tata Motors (TTM), are also positive about the prospects for electric vehicle manufacturing in the United Kingdom. “Our continued investment in our UK facilities … will herald an exciting new era of electric car production in the UK,” the company said.

☆ Abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro sues West Virginia, argues FDA rules pre-empt state ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro on Wednesday sued to overturn West Virginia's ban on abortion because it restricts access to a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in West Virginia's southern district, argues that FDA regulations on medications such as the abortion pill pre-empt state law under the U.S. Constitution. Access to the pill, called mifepristone, has become a major legal battleground in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned federal abortion rights last June. A dozen states, including West Virginia, have implemented near total abortion bans that basically outlaw the use of mifepristone. But bans such as those in West Virginia conflict with FDA regulations on mifepristone, raising the question of whether federal or state laws take precedence.

☆ Steelmaking Is Trying to Make Itself Greener and Researchers May Have Found a Way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Steelmaking is one of the most carbon-intensive industries in the world, but researchers may have found a way to make it greener. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Sustainable Business A weekly look at environmental, social and governance issues and strategies for corporate decision makers. The system essentially creates a closed loop where the carbon split using the perovskite is put back into the system. “After five years, this system would save the U.K. steel industry £1.28 billion [equivalent to $1.57 billion], while reducing UK-wide emissions by 2.9%,” Ms. Kildahl said. For example, H2 Green Steel in Sweden is looking to cut carbon emissions by using hydrogen as a fuel source.

My $40,000 salary was barely enough to get by, but when I got a $5,000 bonus, I suddenly felt rich. Even living in Birmingham, Alabama, I quickly realized how little my $40,000 a year paycheck actually was. When bonus time rolled around, usually toward the end of summer and right before the winter holidays, it felt like I'd won the lottery. All of which is to say, it was a big expense — one that a $5,000 bonus could have knocked out with money to spare. My bonus wasn't really a bonus, but a necessityI realized the company was using bonuses to pay us a living wage, when that's not what a bonus is supposed to be.

☆ Alabama’s Weekslong Landfill Fire Prompts Locals to Report Illnesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Arian Campo-Flores | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A blaze ignited in the landfill near Moody, Ala., in late November for reasons that authorities say remain unclear. A fire that has been burning for nearly two months in a landfill northeast of Birmingham, Ala., has drawn complaints of headaches and nosebleeds from many residents, some of whom say they have moved away temporarily. The Environmental Protection Agency stepped in last week at the request of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, or ADEM, to try to extinguish it. Kay Ivey declared a limited state of emergency on Wednesday.

☆ An Alabama 'election denier' is leading efforts in the state to withdraw from a national organization that combats voter fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Alabama's top elections official is withdrawing the state from a nonprofit known as ERIC. Founded in 2012, ERIC began as a collaboration by election officials in seven states, four of them Republican. A powerful outlierOfficials, including Republicans, have credited the organization with helping clean up their voter lists and prevent fraudulent votes. A former state legislator, Allen was dubbed an "election denier" by the States United Democracy Center, a bipartisan group that promotes election integrity, over his support for overturning the results of the 2020 election. With or without Alabama, he said, ERIC will continue to focus on "improving the accuracy of America's voter rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens."

That’s consistent with the long-standing and well-understood rule that eating fewer calories contributes to weight loss. She also noted that the average person gains 1 or 2 pounds per year, which can amount to significant weight gain over time. Eating fewer large meals and more small meals, then, could "prevent that slow creep of weight gain," Bennett said. Consuming too much highly processed food like hot dogs, chips or soda can contribute to weight gain, whereas diets that rely on vegetables and whole grains may assist with weight loss. "Some of our best data in humans suggests probably diet quality matters more than meal timing," Peterson said.

☆ University of Alabama Basketball Player Darius Miles Charged With Murder
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and another man have been charged with capital murder after a fatal shooting near campus. Tuscaloosa Police Capt. Jack Kennedy said that the shooting occurred early Sunday morning in the Strip off University Boulevard near campus. He said Jamea Harris, 23 years old, of the Birmingham area was shot and killed.

☆ Britain's M&S to invest $587 mln in store estate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( James Davey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

M&S's move shows the continuing importance of physical stores to retailers despite the rise of online shopping over the last two decades. Last October, M&S set out plans to accelerate what it calls its store rotation programme, delivering what was an initial five-year plan within three years by 2025-26. "Our store rotation programme is about making sure we have the right stores, in the right place, with the right space," said Machin. Twelve new M&S food halls are also planned. In addition to its owned store investment, M&S plans to extend its franchise model to expand its convenience stores offer, building on partnerships with BP, Moto, SSP and Costa.

☆ UK's M&S plans to open 20 new stores in Britain, the Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 16 (Reuters) - British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) (MKS.L) plans to open 20 new stores creating 3,400 jobs throughout Britain, The Times reported on Monday. It also will open 12 food halls, including in Stockport, Barnsley and the North Ayrshire seaside town of Largs, Scotland. The group last November had proposed a target to reduce its full line stores by 67 to 180 by 2028, while increasing its food only stores by 104 to 420. The openings will bring new store investment to 480 million pounds ($586.94 million), the newspaper added. ($1 = 0.8178 pounds)Reporting by Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

At least nine are dead and more deaths are expected after more than a dozen tornadoes tore through the Southeastern U.S. on Thursday, according to officials. Seven of the deaths were reported in Autauga County, Alabama, northwest of Montgomery, according to county Emergency Management Agency Director Ernie Baggett. Six of the deaths were reported the day the tornadoes made landfall in the state, and one was reported on Friday. The second fatality in Georgia was a Department of Transportation employee who was responding to storm damage, Governor Brian Kemp said in a news conference Friday. Governor Burt Jones took a helicopter tour of the damage Friday to also assess the damage resulting from tornadoes in the state.

A tornado hit parts of Alabama Thursday, causing "significant damage" in Selma, the city's mayor said. A tornado in Selma, Alabama, on Jan. 12, 2023. ]There have been at least 19 reported tornadoes across the state as a line of violent thunderstorms ripped through the Southeast. Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, Lexington, Kentucky, Montgomery, Alabama, and Nashville, Tennessee could be impacted. In addition to tornadoes, storms could produce large hail and damaging wind gusts up to 75 mph.

☆ Hospitals rely on volunteers for $5 billion a year of free work — and some could be violating federal labor laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Lauren Sausser | Kaiser Health News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The US health system benefits from potentially over $5 billion in free volunteer labor annually. Like paid employees, hospital volunteers typically face mandatory vaccine requirements, background checks, and patient privacy training. Hedges was furloughed for the better part of six months when hospital volunteers were sent home in March 2020. Nonprofit and for-profit hospitals alike benefit from volunteersNonprofit hospitals must follow federal labor laws, too. Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide a benefit to their communities, such as offering charity care, in exchange for their special tax status.

☆ Shoppers lined up outside Aldi stores to buy Logan Paul and KSI's coveted Prime drink. The retailer used a clever strategy to lure customers in.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Aldi confirmed it had sold out of Prime just one day after the drink hit its shelves. Aldi used clever strategy to create a notion of scarcity and lure customers in, experts told Insider. Experts say Aldi used a clever strategy to lure in shoppers by create a feeling of exclusivity and notion of scarcity. Logan Paul has 24.6 million Instagram followers and 23.6 million YouTube subscribers, while for KSI those numbers are 12.4 million and 16.1 million respectively. Aldi sold the drink at £1.99 a bottle, and Prime sold 12-packs for £24.99 ($29.60) on its UK website before they sold out.

☆ Pickleball popularity explodes, with more than 36 million playing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Jessica Golden | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The latest numbers unveiled in the 2023 APP Pickleball Participation report, via a study conducted by YouGov, shows that 14% of Americans played pickleball at least once in that 12-month period. The real dillAcross the country, tennis courts and being replaced, and pickleball courts are moving in as other investors are shoring up big money. Since 2022, Life Time has constructed indoor and outdoor pickleball courts at a rate of five new permanent courts each week. "Pickleball participation [at Life Time] in a given month has risen from about 16,000 people to like 160,000. Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association took notice and they have partnered with Life Time to host multiple tournaments across the country this year.

☆ A doctor battled for 5 hours to save the life of a passenger whose heart stopped twice on a flight from London to India
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A doctor battled to save the life of passenger whose heart stopped twice on an Air India flight. Vishwaraj Vemala was flying with his mother when the man suffered a heart attack. Vishwaraj Vemala was flying on Air India with his mother to Bangalore when a passenger collapsed and stopped breathing. The man then suffered another heart attack and Vemala said it took far longer to revive him the second time. Air India didn't immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider.

☆ India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant injured in car crash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Cricket - Fifth Test - England v India - Edgbaston, Birmingham, Britain - July 1, 2022 India's Rishabh Pant celebrates reaching his century Action Images via Reuters/Jason CairnduffNEW DELHI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was hospitalised on Friday after being involved in a car crash, his Indian Premier League (IPL) team said. His IPL team Delhi Capitals said the crash was in the northern state of Uttarakhand. "Rishabh Pant met with an accident between Manglaur and Narsan in Haridwar district," they said in a tweet. "Praying for Rishabh Pant. Pant was part of the India test squad that sealed a 2-0 series victory over Bangladesh this month.

☆ How many?! Pele's astonishing goal record
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Andrew Downie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FIFA put his overall total at more than 1,200 - over 1,000 of which came for his first club, Santos. Almost half of Pele's goals came in friendly matches – including games as an army conscript - and some argue they do not carry the same weight as goals scored in competitive matches. Barcelona celebrated in December 2020 when Messi scored his 644th goal for the Spanish club, surpassing the 643 competitive goals Pele scored for Santos. Two months later, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 768th goal, three more than Pele's total, including international goals. Pele sent his congratulations to both players but his supporters still argue the Brazilian's goal haul is superior because in Pele's day friendly matches were much more competitive than they are today.

☆ For 60 years, the US Navy has been training dolphins and sea lions to keep rivals away from its most sensitive hardware
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Gidget Fuentes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

The US Navy has been training dolphins and sea lions to detect undersea threats since the 1960s. A US Navy trainer with a Mark 5 Marine Mammal sea lion in Key West in October 1990. The program worked with sharks, rays, and sea turtles but settled on dolphins and sea lions. US NavyThe Navy Marine Mammal Program's budget for 2023 provides $40 million for "food, medicine, veterinary care, husbandry, and facilities," Wilson said. A US Navy sea lion jumps into a riverine command boat during a mine-countermeasures exercise in Bahrain in November 2014.

☆ Brexit has cracked Britain’s economic foundations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Brexit has erected trade barriers for UK businesses and foreign companies that used Britain as a European base. While Brexit isn’t the cause of Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, it has made the problem more difficult to solve. The Brexit deal, known as the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, came into effect on January 1, 2021. The deal is “the world’s largest zero tariff, zero quota free trade deal,” the spokesperson added. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects the UK economy to shrink by 0.4%, ahead only of sanctioned Russia.

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