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☆ The agony and ecstasy of scoring last-minute face value Taylor Swift tickets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“My family [last weekend] took the gamble to drive down the 5 hours to Nashville to see if we could get face value tickets,” she said. Another Twitter account called @ErasTourResell, which has 120,000 followers, has gained significant traction working with resellers who want to sell their tickets at face value. The trio of twenty-somethings aim to make Swift tickets as accessible to fans as possible without them overpaying or getting scammed. “So far we’ve posted somewhere between 2,700 and 3,000 tickets, all for face value,” the trio said in a DM conversation on Twitter. “It’s truly so rewarding seeing these tickets go to real fans for face value when the resale market has insane prices with people making three times the profit.

☆ Recycling 'end-of-life' solar panels, wind turbines, is about to be climate tech's big waste business
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Bob Woods | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

watch nowIndeed, the market for recycled solar panel materials is expected to grow exponentially over the next several years. One recipient of this federal funding is First Solar, the largest solar panel manufacturer in the U.S. Massive wind turbines, blades are almost all recyclableRetired wind turbines present another recycling challenge, as well as business opportunities. How the circular renewable energy economy worksPlayers in the circular economy are determined not to let all that waste go to waste. Vestas Wind Systems has committed to producing zero-waste wind turbines by 2040, though it has not yet introduced such a version.

☆ GOP senator on White nationalists in the military: ‘I call them Americans’ – but later tries to clarify
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Nicky Robertson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —In an interview with a local Alabama radio station, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville was asked if he believes White nationalists should be allowed in the military. He responded, “I call them Americans.”Tuberville is now attempting to clarify his comments, arguing that Trump Republicans in the military are being unfairly characterized as White nationalists. That’s not how we do it in America.”Tuberville later attempted to clarify his response, telling CNN on Thursday that “Democrats” say MAGA Republicans are White nationalists, and MAGA Republicans should not be characterized that way. Well, I agree that we should not be characterizing Trump supporters as White nationalists,” the Alabama Republican said. “Senator Tuberville, needs to do two things.

☆ Austin lambasts ‘irresponsible’ and ‘unprecedented’ Republican hold on military nominations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Haley Britzky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote a letter strongly criticizing an ongoing hold on senior military promotions and nominations in the Senate led by Republican lawmakers, saying it would create a “perilous precedent” for the military and impose “unconscionable” burdens on military families. The Senate approves thousands of civilian and military nominations every year, typically through unanimous consent. But Austin warned in his letter to Warren that the nominations need to be approved as quickly as possible. The United States military relies on the deep experience and strategic expertise of our senior military leaders,” he said. “The longer that this hold persists, the greater the risk the US military runs in every theater, every domain, and every service.”

☆ Joran van der Sloot: One of the last people to see Natalee Holloway alive in 2005 is being extradited to the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Joe Sutton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Joran van der Sloot, one of the last people to see American Natalee Holloway alive in Aruba in 2005 before she disappeared, will be extradited to the US, according to a family statement released Wednesday which was obtained by CNN. “In May 2005 my 18-year-old daughter Natalee Holloway left Birmingham for Aruba to attend her high school graduation trip and was never seen again,” mother Beth Holloway said in the statement. Holloway was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving a nightclub in Aruba with van der Sloot and two other men. Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot walks inside the courtroom during the reading of his verdict, in the Lurigancho prison in Lima January 13, 2012. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, has been indicted in the US on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud.

☆ US debt limit default could hit in early June to early August -think tank
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. government will begin defaulting on its payment obligations between early June and early August without an increase in the federal debt limit, the Bipartisan Policy Center said on Tuesday, flagging pressure from a drop in tax revenue. The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), which closely monitors debt limit disputes in Congress, had estimated in February the X-date could come between summer and early fall, but now sees a default hitting much earlier if Congress fails to raise the $31.4 trillion U.S. borrowing cap. "The coming weeks are critical for assessing the strength of government cash flows," Shai Akabas, BPC director of economic policy. The think tank's latest estimate roughly agrees with the Congressional Budget Office's revised assessment that there is now a "significantly greater risk" of an early June default. Later on Tuesday, President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with U.S. House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders to discuss options to resolve the debt limit standoff between Democrats and Republicans.

☆ Debt Ceiling Solution: McCarthy Vows to Reject a Short-Term Agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Kevin McCarthy is meeting with Biden on Tuesday to discuss a debt ceiling solution. Ahead of the meeting, McCarthy told NBC he will not accept a short-term debt ceiling increase. The US could default on its debt as early as June 1, and Congress has yet to agree on a solution. Biden vowed to veto that legislation and has remained adamant that raising the debt ceiling should be a bipartisan and clean increase, without any spending cuts attached, and he has left the door open for budget negotiations — separate from a debt ceiling deal. But McCarthy told NBC News on Tuesday that he is unwilling to accept even a short-term debt ceiling increase ahead of budget negotiations.

☆ Hurricanes of Data: The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Porter Fox | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +35 min

The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea Shortly after dawn on Sept. 30, 2021, Richard Jenkins watched a Category 4 hurricane overrun his life’s work. That August, a sister ship, SD 1031, successfully entered Tropical Storm Henri, but only in its early stages. Hurricane research, modeling and forecasting requires many terabytes of data for every square mile the storm passes through, including vitally important sea-level data from inside a storm. The next day, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and officially given the name Sam. And four months later, Tropical Storm Megi killed more than 150, wiped out several villages with landslides and displaced more than a million people.

☆ Associated Press, New York Times win Pulitzers for Ukraine coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] The New York Times building is seen in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 3, 2020. Eli Saslow, now with the Times, won the feature writing award for the Post. The annual Pulitzer awards, first presented in 1917, are the most celebrated honors in U.S. journalism. "The Pulitzer Prize board joins the many organizations around the world demanding Evan's immediate release," Brown said. In addition to the international reporting prize, the New York Times took the award for illustrated reporting and commentary.

☆ Father-Son Duo in Alabama Wins Pulitzer, Bucking Headwinds in Local News
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Benjamin Mullin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One of the best moments in John Archibald’s life came in 2018, when he won a Pulitzer Prize for columns published by Alabama Media Group, the largest news publisher in the state. He topped that on Monday. Mr. Archibald won a second prize, for local reporting, as part of a team of journalists that included his son, Ramsey Archibald, investigating a municipal police force. “I feel stunned,” Mr. Archibald, 60, said in an interview as the win was announced. The organization also won the commentary prize for columns by Kyle Whitmire, a political columnist who examined how Alabama’s Confederate history still affects the state today.

☆ Ukraine War Coverage Earns Pulitzers for The A.P. and The Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Coverage of the war in Ukraine dominated the Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, with The Associated Press winning two awards for its reporting and photography, including the prestigious public service prize, and The New York Times winning for a mix of news and investigative articles about the conflict. The Times also won for illustrated reporting and commentary, for a piece by Mona Chalabi in The Times Magazine examining the wealth of Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos. The A.P.’s journalists were the last from an international news organization to remain in the Ukrainian town of Mariupol after it came under fire from Russian troops. In addition to the public service award, considered the top prize, the news organization also won the breaking news photography award for its coverage. An Alabama news website, AL.com, received two Pulitzer Prizes.

☆ Casey White Pleads Guilty in Alabama Jail Escape
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An Alabama inmate whose escape from jail last spring set off a nationwide manhunt pleaded guilty on Thursday to the escape in exchange for the state dropping a felony murder charge in the death of the former corrections officer who helped him. The inmate, Casey White, 39, appeared for a routine status hearing on Thursday morning at the Lauderdale County courthouse in northern Alabama. In a surprise move to both the prosecution and his own defense team, Mr. White pleaded guilty to a first-degree escape charge. “You’re probably just as surprised by today’s turn of events as we are,” Robert Tuten, a lawyer for Mr. White, said after the hearing. Mr. White and the officer, Vicky White, who was no relation, were on the run for nearly two weeks after leaving the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Ala., for a courthouse appointment that was later revealed to be a ruse.

☆ Meet a boomer who retired from a 6-figure job so he wouldn't have to work remotely full time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He said he didn't have the self-discipline for remote work and likes being around people. He found during those couple of weeks that something that makes remote work appealing to many — the ability to structure time away from the eyes of coworkers — didn't really work for him. Remote work is "just not for me," he said. For many people, remote work has allowed them to flex their autonomy over their working conditions and lives. But for Bond, who worried about self-discipline and a lack of separation between home and work, working in person became his ideal.

☆ Alabama Discriminated Against Black Residents Over Sewage, Justice Dept. Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Linda Qiu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Justice Department said it had reached an interim agreement with the health departments of Alabama and one of its rural counties over practices found to discriminate against generations of Black residents. Under the agreement announced Thursday, the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Lowndes County Health Department said they would improve wastewater infrastructure, measure the health risks associated with raw sewage exposure, and stop penalizing residents who cannot afford adequate treatment systems. The agreement represents “a new chapter for Black residents of Lowndes County, Ala., who have endured health dangers, indignities and racial injustice for far too long,” said Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division. Catherine Coleman Flowers, an environmental activist who grew up in Lowndes, said that residents of the county, like those in many other rural communities, use wastewater systems installed on the grounds of homes and businesses rather than a centralized sewage treatment plant operated by a local government. But the county stood alone in penalizing residents for sanitation issues that were outside their control, she added.

☆ Alabama Fires Its Baseball Coach Amid Allegations of Suspicious Betting on Its Games
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon, left, was fired by the school. Photo: Michael Johnson/The Advocate/Associated PressThe University of Alabama said Thursday it is firing baseball head coach Brad Bohannon for “violating the standards, duties, and responsibilities expected of University employees. ” The action comes as three states have paused taking bets on the university’s baseball games. Questions about bets placed on Alabama baseball games surfaced late last week. Integrity, an independent firm that contracts with government regulators and sports leagues—including the Southeastern Conference, where Alabama plays—alerted the Ohio Casino Control Commission to what it described as suspicious bets placed on April 28 at the sports book located at Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park.

☆ Crazy videos show a Coast Guard helicopter nearly crashing into the ocean after abandoning a rescue attempt on a Carnival cruise ship during a storm
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The helicopter came close to the water, but the Coast Guard said "superb piloting" helped save it. Videos shared online showed the helicopter hovering over the cruise ship, appearing very shaky and making sudden, jerking movements. The helicopter then turns away from the cruise ship but takes a sharp dive down toward the ocean. The Jayhawk helicopter and the Ocean Sentry were able to return safely to base. In December, the Coast Guard rescued a cruise ship passenger who spent over 20 hours in open water after going overboard.

☆ Former F-16 pilot says he would not want to fly missions over Ukraine right now, arguing 'there is no fighting chance'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ukraine has repeatedly asked the US for fourth-generation fighter jets like the F-16. A former F-16 pilot said these jets don't have a fighting chance given Russia's air defense systems. One former F-16 pilot told Insider he wouldn't want to attempt to fly missions over Ukraine right now, asserting that the aircraft can't outmatch Russia's air defense systems. Fourth-generation fighters "have no business in a modern-day battlefield," John Venable, a 25-year veteran of the US Air Force, told Insider in a recent interview. F-16 fighters would likely be outmatched by Russian air defense systemsThe airspace above Ukraine remains contested after 14 months of war.

☆ Aldi plans to open 120 new stores this year as the no-frills German grocer doubles down its US expansion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Aldi is opening 120 new stores this year, including its first locations in two Louisiana cities. The supermarket chain will open 120 new stores this year, the company said. In January, Aldi opened a new distribution center in Alabama "to help support new stores in the area," it said. Aldi has recently opened or plans to open several new stores along the Gulf Coast in states including Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana, Supermarket News reported. Aldi did not immediately respond to a request from Insider for more details on where it plans to open the new stores.

☆ An explosion of hidden 'junk fees' is making every home more expensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The fee goes by many names: an administrative fee, a transaction fee, or even a "regulatory compliance" fee. Despite the controversy, all signs indicate that brokerages large and small have increasingly embraced the admin fee in recent years. The vast majority of real-estate agents are independent contractors who rely on commissions to earn a living. Admin fees may be one of the most polarizing topics among real-estate agents today. "I'm in a place in my business right now where I can justify paying that," the Las Vegas agent told me.

☆ Real estate agents are tacking ludicrous 'junk fees' on to every home purchase
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

☆ Serbia School Attack Is a Rare Mass Shooting Outside the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A mass shooting on Wednesday, in which eight students and a security guard were killed at a school in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, was a reminder that such attacks are far less common outside the United States. Serbs are known to have stockpiles of weapons left over from the Balkan wars of the 1990s, and there have been other mass shootings in the country. In 2013, a veteran of the Balkan wars shot and killed 13 people in a village near Belgrade. In 2007, a man fatally shot nine people in the village of Jabukovac, in eastern Serbia. The study found that among countries with more than 10 million people only Yemen had a higher rate of mass shootings per capita.

☆ Trump's Senate backers are fine with him skipping 2024 primary debates: 'Most of it's for entertainment anyway'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump is threatening to skip 2024 primary debates, and his Senate backers are just fine with that. In brief interviews with Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday, some of the 11 Republican senators who've endorsed Trump backed him up on those arguments. He famously skipped a primary debate before the 2016 Iowa caucus, allowing other candidates to criticize him without him being able to respond. Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, announced in April that the first GOP primary debate would be held in August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On Sunday, when asked about Trump's threat to skip the debates, she said simply that it was "his choice."

CNN —The strength of tornadoes is rated on the Enhanced Fujita, or EF, Scale. The scale runs from 0 to 5 and rates tornadoes after they’ve hit by assessing damage to determine wind speed. The scale is named after Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita, an engineer and meteorologist who developed the original version of it in 1971. EF4: 166- to 200-mph wind gustsEasily destroying homes, tossing cars and downing large trees, these tornadoes can be devastating. Cheney Orr/ReutersEF5: 200+-mph wind gustsThese monsters cause complete devastation, flattening nearly everything in their path.

☆ For only the second time in its history, the US Navy is beginning the slow, tricky process of taking apart a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In April, the Navy published a notice announcing the beginning of planning to scrap the USS Nimitz. But Nimitz will be only the second nuclear-powered carrier to go through deactivation and defueling. The Nimitz would only be the second American nuclear-powered carrier scheduled to be scrapped. The first is the USS Enterprise, which was commissioned in 1961 and was also the world's first nuclear-powered carrier. The private shipyard will probably be in Alabama, Texas, or Virginia, according to a draft environmental impact statement posted on a special Navy carrier disposal website.

Full coverage car insurance is a mix of liability, collision, and comprehensive car insurance. Liability insurance is required by state law, and full coverage is a combination of the three different types of insurance. What is full coverage car insurance? Full coverage is a combination of state minimum liability (and sometimes medical coverage, comprehensive, and collision insurance. Who needs full coverage car insurance?

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