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5 credit card rewards pitfalls to avoid this holiday season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

By Craig Joseph | NerdWalletGrab your wallet because the busiest time of the year for spending is upon us. Despite persistent inflation and dwindling household savings, shoppers are planning to drop up to an estimated $967 billion during this holiday season, a November 2023 study by the National Retail Federation shows.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a 2023 report, estimates that 74% of adults in the U.S. had a credit card account in their name as of the end of 2021. And a 2023 NerdWallet survey found that nearly 3 in 4 Americans (74%) are planning to use their card to pay for holiday expenses.If you’re sitting on a stash of points or miles, you may be tempted to use them to offset holiday purchases. And when you’re trying to stick to a holiday budget, this can seem like a great idea. It may not provide an optimal value, but many people aren’t trying to wring the most out of every point. And that’s OK. If you’re responsible with your credit and using your rewards ...

Justin Fields delivers late for Chicago Bears. Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the win — their 1st vs. an NFC North foe in more than 2 years.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

10 thoughts on the Chicago Bears after their first win against an NFC North foe under coach Matt Eberflus and their first overall in the division since Nov. 25, 2021 — more than two years ago.You can’t make any sweeping conclusions from the result Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium after Cairo Santos’ 30-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Bears to a 12-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings — especially if you’re resisting weekly referendums on the coach, the quarterback and others. But, boy, everyone involved needed this outcome.1. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell was asked about the conservative approach at the end, and second-guessing the play caller is one of the first orders of business after a loss.The Vikings had just produced their second takeaway in a little more than six minutes of the fourth quarter when safety Josh Metellus stripped quarterback Justin Fields and linebacker Anthony Barr recovered on the Bears 43-yard line.T...

Pope cancels trip to Dubai for UN climate conference on doctors’ orders while recovering from flu

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

By NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis canceled his trip to Dubai for the U.N. climate conference on doctors’ orders Tuesday, even though he is recovering from the flu and lung inflammation, the Vatican said.Francis, who turns 87 next month, was scheduled to leave Rome on Friday to address the COP28 meeting first thing Saturday morning. He also was supposed to inaugurate a faith pavilion Sunday on the sidelines of the conference before returning home. The pope revealed Sunday that he had lung inflammation but said at the time that he still planned to go to Dubai, where he was to become the first pontiff to address a U.N. climate conference. Care for the environment has been a priority for Francis, and presidents and patriarchs alike have welcomed his moral leadership on the issue.Until the announcement late Tuesday, all of the information from the Vatican indicated the trip would proceed. The Vatican spokesman held his traditional pre-trip ...

Hunter Biden tells Congress he’d testify publicly, setting up a potential high-stakes face-off

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden offered Tuesday to testify publicly before Congress, striking a defiant note in response to a subpoena from Republicans and setting up a potential high-stakes face-off even as a special counsel probe unfolds and his father, President Joe Biden, campaigns for reelection.The Democratic president’s son slammed the subpoena’s request for closed-door testimony, saying it could be manipulated. But Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, stood firm, saying Republicans expect “full cooperation” with their original demand for a deposition.Hunter Biden’s lawyer called the inquiry a “fishing expedition,” a response in line with the more aggressive legal approach he’s taken in recent months as congressional Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry seeking to tie his father to his business dealings. The early-November subpoenas to Hunt...

Massachusetts unveils new strategy to help coastal communities cope with climate change

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey unveiled a new strategy Tuesday that she said will help the state’s 78 coastal communities work together to better cope with the challenges brought on by climate change.One element of the “ResilientCoasts” initiative is grouping distinct geographic regions that share similar landscape characteristics and face similar climate hazards, dubbed “coastal resilience districts.” Massachusetts has more than 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) of coastline that spans salt marshes, beaches, rocky shores, dunes, ports and harbors, as well as residential and commercial areas.The program’s goal is to help the communities within each district come up with tailored policies and strategies to address the impacts of climate change, and to pursue federal funds.Other goals of the strategy announced Tuesday include creating nature-based solutions for coastal erosion — including flood protection — nstreamlining the permitting process, and making sure ...

Fake AI-generated woman on tech conference agenda leads Microsoft and Amazon execs to drop out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Tech executives at Microsoft and Amazon have dropped out of an upcoming software conference after at least one of the women on the agenda turned out to be fake.DevTernity organizer Eduards Sizovs admitted on social media that one of the featured speakers was an “auto-generated” woman with a fake title. He was responding to allegations about a number of suspicious profiles on his conference websites that appeared to be generated by artificial intelligence.But he denied that the fake profile was intended to mask the “worse-than-expected level of diversity of speakers” in this year’s lineup and refused to apologize in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter. He didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment Monday.The revelation led other speakers to quickly drop out of the virtual conference that was supposed to start on Dec. 7.“I found out that I was the only woman on the agenda, and some of the others advertised may not be real,” said Amazon Web Services...

Child dies in fall from apartment building in downtown Kansas City, Missouri

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police in Kansas City, Missouri, are investigating the circumstances that led to a child’s death in a fall from a downtown apartment building.Police have not confirmed the child’s name but say it was a boy under age 12. Capt. Corey Carlisle said Tuesday that police are still working to determine how far he fell.Officers responded just after 11 a.m. Monday to the 1000 block of Grand Boulevard and found the child with “bodily trauma” in an alley. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the fall was captured on surveillance footage.The death is being investigated as “suspicious,” but police say it may be several weeks before a report is completed by the medical examiner’s office and for police to follow up on leads in the investigation.The Associated Press

Kansas unveiled a new blue and gold license plate. People hated it and now it’s back to square 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has had enough problems with some outsiders seeing it as flyover country, so perhaps it didn’t need a new license plate that many people saw as ugly and drab.Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced Tuesday that in response to criticism of a new navy blue and deep gold plate, she had slammed the brakes on its production — only six days after her office unveiled the design. Facing a threat that the Republican-controlled Legislature would intervene, she promised an eventual public vote on several possible designs. The now-disfavored design, mostly gold with a navy strip across the top, navy numbers and no art. It was a sharp break with the current plate, which is pale blue with navy letters and numbers and features an embossed representation of the state seal, mostly in white. Those plates have deteriorated over the years, and many are difficult for law enforcement to read, according to the state Department of Revenue, which issues them. Starting in March...

After a flat tire, Arizona Cardinals linebacker got to game with an assist from Phoenix family

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

A Phoenix family came to the rescue of Arizona Cardinals player Jesse Luketa, who had a fumble on the road to Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.Luketa only had 30 minutes left in his drive to State Farm Stadium in Glendale when his car’s tire became flat, the linebacker told AZfamily.com.He stopped at a north Phoenix gas station to try and pump air back into it, but it remained deflated.Pressed to make it in time for pre-game warm-ups, Luketa approached a family all dressed in Cardinals jerseys for a ride. “At first, they didn’t believe I was a player, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m a player; I need to get to the stadium.’ ” Luketa said. The Phillips family made room in their car for him. “Honestly, at the end of the day, we were just trying to help somebody out. It wasn’t the fact that he played football or didn’t,” J.W. Phillips said. The family was able to watch their new friend make a tackle during the 37-14 loss to the Rams.To show his appreciation, Luke...

Italian migration odyssey ‘Io Capitano’ hopes to connect with viewers regardless of politics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Italian director Matteo Garrone hopes that the way his film “Io Capitano” frames the journey taken by Senegalese teenagers to Europe as an adventure, albeit a harrowing one, will make it more compelling to audiences regardless of politics.The film, which played over the weekend at the Marrakech International Film Festival, accompanies aspiring musicians Seydou and Moussa as they venture from Dakar through Niger and Libya and voyage across the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy. The naive pair — unknowns whom Garrone found and cast in Senegal — witness mass death in the Sahara, scams and torture beyond their expectations.The film has had box office success and rave reviews in Italy since its release in September, and it was screened for Pope Francis. “Io Capitano,” which is being promoted in the English-speaking world as “Me Captain,” comes as Europe, particularly Italy, reckons with an increasing number of migrants arriving on its southern s...