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☆ Real-Estate Agents Face a Reckoning As Housing Market, Home Sales Slow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Just as the housing market goes through booms and busts, so do the ranks of real-estate agents. This has left real-estate agents fighting over a dwindling pool of listings. That makes the job of a local real-estate agent trickier and more nuanced than it was a year ago. "What makes a good real-estate agent and what makes a successful real-estate agent have almost no crossover." She joined a women's support group for real-estate agents on Facebook, where she found many others were experiencing similar challenges.

☆ Fact Check-Mammograms do not expose women to Hiroshima-level radiation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Breast cancer screenings reduce deaths from breast cancer and have considerably lower radiation levels than nuclear or atomic bombs, contrary to claims circulating in a video on social media. Dr Veronique Desaulniers, a bio-energetic chiropractor according to her LinkedIn profile, warns about the purported dangers of breast cancer screening in the clip posted on Instagram (here). “A decade of annual mammography would yield a total radiation dose 10 times that: 3.6 mSv,” he adds. A reduction in breast cancer deaths has been primarily attributed to mammography screening and early breast cancer detection (here). There is a radiation risk to the breasts of teenagers and women in their early 20s due to development, however, the risk drops rapidly as women age, according to Kopans.

☆ Democrats gear up for rematch against Lauren Boebert after her near-loss in the 2022 midterms: 'She's actually doubled down on crazy'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

After a close 2022 result, Democrats are hoping to knock off GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert next year. Last year, Boebert won her Republican-leaning Colorado district over Adam Frisch by only 546 votes. And as the incumbent in the state's conservative-leaning 3rd Congressional District, it appeared to many as though Boebert would be relatively safe in her reelection bid in last year's midterms. "I think it started the people in the third congressional district thinking that she wasn't paying enough attention to the district as she was paying more attention to national politics." "Extreme House Democrats lost the majority because they hammered families with crime, chaos and skyrocketing costs," National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Jack Pandol said in a statement.

☆ Democrats are betting Republicans' defense of Donald Trump's criminal charges will age like milk on the 2024 campaign trail
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Republicans facing tough 2024 races are defending Donald Trump against criminal charges. Democrats are betting their defense of Trump will hurt them in competitive 2024 races. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) April 4, 2023Boebert is on House Democrats' list of 31 vulnerable Republicans and two competitive open seats that they are targeting to take back control of the House in 2024. Biden hasn't commented on Trump's charges, and Democrats in Congress are treading carefully. Democrats shouldn't get ahead of the judicial process, said Rodell Mollineau, a cofounder and partner at Rokk Solutions in Washington, DC.

☆ Call it the Great Cash Out: Almost half of job switchers are making the mistake of cashing out their retirement savings when they go
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Americans are rushing to cash out their 401(k)s, and it's not just about being strapped for money. Cashing out when you leave a job can mean you miss out on major long-term savings, experts say. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyAmericans have been cashing out their retirement savings at an "alarming" rate. That's despite the IRS's 10% penalty, under most circumstances, for those under the age of 59.5 who choose to cash out. Of the workers withdrawing from their funds after a job separation, only 27% were fired or laid off.

☆ Senators ask 27 CEOs to make sure their companies comply with child labor laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Laura Strickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The company entered into an agreement with the agency pledging compliance with child labor laws and consented to third-party oversight. This is the second Senate inquiry citing NBC News reporting on child labor. JBS has zero tolerance for child labor, discrimination or unsafe working conditions for anyone working in our facilities. In a local newspaper editorial, Hearthside CEO Darlene Nicosia wrote the revelation of child labor was "a shock and major disappointment to us." Hearthside is in the midst of a 60-day independent review of child labor practices by an outside law firm, according to a spokesperson.

☆ Repeating radio signal leads astronomers to an Earth-size exoplanet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have detected a repeating radio signal from an exoplanet and the star that it orbits, both located 12 light-years away from Earth. The signal suggests that the Earth-size planet may have a magnetic field and perhaps even an atmosphere. The researchers believe the radio signal was created by interactions between the planet’s magnetic field and the star. How strong radio waves occurIn order for the radio waves to be detectable on Earth, they must be very strong, the researchers said. “This research shows not only that this particular rocky exoplanet likely has a magnetic field but provides a promising method to find more.”

☆ March's bank failures show options can be tricky even when retail traders pick big winners
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Jesse Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

This halt, and how regulators and brokerage firms handled the outstanding options contracts, turned simple trades into a big headache for retail investors. Davies said that usually he would sell his winning options trades before expiration, so he does not have to deal with the settlement process. Robinhood later allowed Davies to create the naked short position and therefore to exercise his option. The naked short positions showed an on-paper loss in his account until the stock began trading over the counter on March 28. Another wrinkle is that some types of accounts, including retirement accounts, are not allowed to hold short positions, which created additional steps for traders and brokers to close out the trade.

The lobbying comes amid a sustained effort by TikTok to play down fears raised by lawmakers who want to ban the app, which has 150 million monthly active users in the U.S. She defended the work of TikTok's team in Washington and said the company is trying to address lawmakers' privacy and safety concerns. At the furthest end of the extreme is the legislation from Hawley and Buck that simply seeks to ban TikTok outright by directing the president to block transactions with ByteDance. Hawley has not eased his campaign to ban TikTok. But after, "our phones were ringing off the hook," with the majority of callers voicing opposition to a TikTok ban.

☆ Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie got in a heated exchange over gun violence in the halls of Congress: 'Calm down? Children are dying!'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie got in a heated exchange over gun violence. Massie, who once shared a Christmas photo of his family toting guns, told Bowman to "calm down." The Covenant School shooting on Monday reignited debates over gun violence in the halls of Congress. At one point, Massie — who represents Kentucky's 4th district and once shared a Christmas photo of his family toting guns — told Bowman to "calm down." Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who represents the district where the Nashville mass school shooting happened, posted a similar gun-filled family photo for Christmas in 2021.

☆ The US housing market is crashing and soaring at the same time. It all depends on where you live.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The US housing market is crashing and soaring all at the same time as pockets of the market see divergent trends. According to data from Black Knight, home prices on the West Coast are plunging at the same time home prices on the East Coast are surging. Meanwhile, all 12 of the major housing markets west of Texas saw home prices fall over the same time period. Such a split in the US housing market is unprecedented. To be sure, West Coast home prices had room to fall after experiencing dizzying gains over the past decade.

☆ A Tale of Two Housing Markets: Prices Fall in the West While the East Booms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Nicole Friedman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The United States is a country of two housing markets. In one, home prices are falling from a year ago. In the other, they’re still posting annual gains. In all of the 12 major housing markets west of Texas, plus Austin, home prices fell in January on an annual basis, according to mortgage-data firm Black Knight Inc.’s home-price index. In the 37 biggest metro areas east of Colorado, except Austin, home prices rose year-over-year.

☆ Democrats want to make electric bikes much cheaper by giving you up to $1,500 to buy one
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A new bill would give Americans up to $1,500 off the purchase of an electric bicycle. The Senate cut this legislation out of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, but included subsidies for electric cars and SUVs. Biking advocates argue that electric bikes should be subsidized just as electric cars have been for years. Electric bikes have boomed in popularity in the US over the last several years. E-bike tax credits introduced by cities and states around the country have become hugely popular in recent years.

☆ Wall Street investment firms are thirsty for the West's vanishing water
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Lucy Kafanov | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

And it comes at a time when Arizona’s allocation of Colorado River water is being slashed amid a decadeslong megadrought. “In the face of record shortages on the Colorado River, we have voluntarily answered urgent and repeated calls to conserve water. Water Asset Management owns at least 3,000 acres in Western Colorado’s Grand Valley, where Mueller works to protect Colorado’s share of the river. “Water Asset Management has engaged in a number of different purchase methods to keep their transactions unknown to many of the local jurisdictions,” Mueller said. The Colorado River in Eagle County, Colorado.

☆ Obama wants companies to strip degree requirements from more six-figure jobs to address the labor shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Former President Barack Obama said more states should drop degree requirements for government jobs. It's an example of "a smart policy that gets rid of unnecessary college degree requirements and reduces barriers to good paying jobs," Obama said on Twitter. In recent years, states have eliminated four-year degree requirements to shore up their understaffed governments, and Republican governors have led the way. Arizona and Oregon have temporarily loosened degree requirements to address a teacher shortage. Georgia and Alaska are considering dropping degree requirements to fill government vacancies as well.

While Joe Bogumill was in college, he received a monthly GI Bill educational stipend of $2,232 per month. Bogumill decided to take a yearlong break from school, which meant that roughly a third of the couple's monthly income would be cut. The couple shares one car and uses public transit"I think a lot of people have this desire to look at little things they can cut," Weir says. The couple audited all of their monthly subscriptionsAfter cutting costs in the "big three" categories, Weir and Bogumill audited their monthly subscriptions. Splitting costs with their community helps Weir and Bogumill cut costs on subscriptions altogether.

Companies Conocophillips FollowWASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The oil industry on Monday cheered the U.S. government's greenlighting of ConocoPhillips' multibillion-dollar oil drilling project in Alaska's Arctic, but court challenges could mire the plans in further delays. President Joe Biden's administration approved a trimmed-down version of the $7 billion Willow project on federal lands in a pristine area on Alaska's north coast. Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, another group involved in the previous suits, said Monday's approval for the Willow project is "still inadequate in numerous respects." Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, told reporters the state's lawmakers are prepared to defend the decision against "frivolous" legal challenges. Even if Interior could beat back the oil company's challenge, it would probably only mean another delay for Willow, he said.

☆ Factbox: Jehovah's Witnesses: some facts about their history and community in Germany
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, March 10 (Reuters) - Here are some facts about the Jehovah's Witnesses and their community in Germany, shaken by a mass shooting at a Jehovah's Witness hall in Hamburg on Thursday. - The first German branch was founded in 1902 in Elberfeld in west Germany - before the "Watch Tower Society" was renamed Jehovah's Witnesses. - Jehovah's Witnesses have struggled to have their beliefs and practices accepted in some parts of the world. - Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted in Nazi Germany for their refusal to swear allegiance to the Nazi regime or join the military. On Dec. 25, 2022, a couple attempted arson with explosives at a Jehovah's Witness' Kingdom Hall in Thornton in the U.S. state of Colorado.

Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene have both inadvertently slammed the Trump administration in recent weeks. Greene falsely blamed the Biden administration for fentanyl deaths that happened while Trump was in office. MAGA-faithful Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene have both inadvertently slammed the Trump administration in recent weeks while trying to take shots at President Joe Biden. Rep. Matt Gaetz, meanwhile, got schooled for unknowingly basing a critique of Biden's policies on a Communist newspaper. Gaetz tried to recover, pressing Kahl to "just tell me if the allegation is true or false."

☆ Biden wants to bring back sending monthly checks to parents and make the program permanent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The first iteration of expanded child tax credit checks lifted millions of kids out of poverty. The ARP also paid out the tax credit in monthly checks, rather than as part of an annual tax refund. According to the US Census Bureau, child poverty fell to a record low of 5.2% in 2021, declining from 2020's 9.7% rate because of those monthly checks sent out to parents. However, after efforts to expand or prolong the credit fell short, child poverty skyrocketed in 2022. Several Democratic lawmakers have also pushed for the expanded Child Tax Credit to be renewed.

Under the agreement released on Wednesday between Ellis and Colorado attorney disciplinary officials, Ellis acknowledged making 10 "misrepresentations" about the 2020 election. The misrepresentations included saying Trump's legal team could "prove" the election was stolen and that the results were "fraudulent," according to the opinion by Judge Bryon Large, the state's presiding disciplinary judge. Ellis' attorney Michael Melito in a statement said that his client "remains a practicing attorney in good standing in the State of Colorado. The parties also agreed that Ellis "had a selfish motive" and had "engaged in a pattern of misconduct." Ellis was the subject of a bar complaint filed by The 65 Project, a group that has filed ethics complaints against lawyers who alleged fraud in the 2020 election without evidence.

☆ House Democrats push back against GOP bill to abolish IRS, impose national sales tax
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON — Three Democrats in the U.S. House introduced a measure to push back against a controversial Republican tax proposal that would abolish the IRS, eliminate income taxes and impose a national sales tax. House Republicans introduced the Fair Tax Act in January shortly after Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, was voted in as speaker. The three Democrats introduced a House resolution opposing a national sales tax on working families and, instead, supporting a tax cut to benefit middle-class families. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., who introduced the Fair Tax Act, said it would simplify the tax code. Pettersen said the sales tax would hurt the most those who are unable to save, such as seniors and low-income families.

☆ Meet the 'boommates': These two baby boomers live together to cut costs and build a relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Miller had an extra room in her home and thought why not find a roommate to help pay the mortgage. She called her local senior center, and they suggested she try Silvernest, a home-sharing platform founded in Colorado in 2015. According to Miller, Mears pays $650 on a month-to-month basis for her lodging and utilities. Longmont, Colorado, where Mears and Miller live, is located 40 miles north of Denver. After less than a week, Miller and Mears were eating dinner together regularly, taking turns cooking for each other.

☆ A growing group of lawmakers think TikTok is 'digital fentanyl' and want to ban it. Many others remain skeptical.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Some members of Congress have begun pushing to ban TikTok in the US. "I'm a little less enthusiastic about an all-out ban of it," said Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. "I'm an incrementalist on a lot of things, and I would be on this as well," said Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on social media and the internet's impact on children. Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, another committee member, said she's most concerned about how social media platforms are impacting kids.

☆ An undocumented worker was able to pay rent because he got $2,000 as part of a UBI-like program that will now be permanent for Coloradans who lose their jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Leo Alvarez received $2,000 from a pandemic-era fund for undocumented workers who lost wages in 2020. The fund has led to a permanent unemployment assistance program for undocumented workers in Denver. The pandemic exacerbated inequalities for undocumented workers that advocates want states to address. In New York for instance, advocates want the state to make its fund for undocumented workers permanent. "This is not something that's a luxury," Jessica Maxwell of the Workers Center of Central New York told Spectrum News last month.

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