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Labor union asks federal regulators to oversee South Carolina workplace safety program

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — One of the largest labor organizations in the United States petitioned the federal government on Thursday to wrest workplace safety oversight from South Carolina regulators accused of failing to protect service employees.South Carolina is one of 22 states allowed to run its own ship when it comes to enforcing occupational safety in most private businesses — as long as the programs are “at least as effective” as their federal counterpart. Service Employees International Union argues that’s not the case in South Carolina, where its lawyer says a subpar enforcement program and “skeletal inspection force” are preventing real accountability. Organizers also said in the Dec. 7 filing to the U.S. Labor Department that the state does not carry out enough inspections. South Carolina ran fewer inspections than expected by federal regulators in four of the five years from 2017-2022. The totals fitting for a state economy of its size fell 50% below federal expectations in ...

PSG sells minority stake to US firm Arctos Partners

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

Paris Saint-Germain owner Qatar Sports Investments agreed to sell a minority stake to U.S. private equity platform Arctos Partners on Thursday.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the French league club. Arctos will own 12.5% of the club, valuing PSG at 4.25 billion euros ($4.6 billion), said a person familiar with the deal who was not authorized to speak publicly.The French league champion said Arctos’ investment will go towards growing PSG operations “into new markets, including North America” and supporting plans to develop its stadium and training center. Arctos, as a non-controlling partner, won’t have a say in sporting matters.Since it took over 12 years ago, QSI has increased PSG’s net expenditure to more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion). The club has become a dominant force on the domestic stage — having won nine of the last 11 league titles — but has repeatedly failed to win the Champions League.Arctos has invested in more than 20 professional sports o...

What to know about the Hall & Oates legal fight, and the business at stake behind all that music

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

After more than a half-century of making music together, Daryl Hall is suing John Oates and arguing in arbitration that he can’t sell his share of a Hall & Oates business partnership without Hall’s permission.Public court filings have revealed just how wide the rift has grown between the duo famous for hits in the 1970s and ’80s, including “Maneater,” “Rich Girl” “Kiss on My List” and “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”Hall has accused Oates of blindsiding and betraying him, saying their relationship and his trust in Oates have deteriorated. Oates has said he is “deeply hurt” that Hall is making “inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements” about him.A Nashville judge recently paused the sale of Oates’ stake in Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave IP Investment Management LLC until an arbitrator weighs in, or until Feb. 17.Here are some recent developments.WHY ARE HALL & OATES GOING TO COURT?The dispute went public on Nov. 16, when ...

Mexico focuses on looking for people falsely listed as missing, ignores thousands of disappeared

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s government is pouring resources into detecting what it suggests are “fake” missing people — cases reported by political opponents to embarrass the government, or kidnapped people who return home but don’t notify authorities.Yet officials make no significant effort to find actual missing people, angering the families of Mexico’s estimated 113,000 “disappeared.”They are outraged that President Andrés Manuel López’s administration has spent almost a year, lots of money and thousands of work hours combing databases to see if a supposedly missing person has applied for a loan, paid taxes, registered to vote or gotten a flu shot.López Obrador said last week he expects to release the first partial results of the recount soon. Claiming the figures of missing — up about 47,000 since he took office in 2018 — have been inflated to make him look bad, he said, “We are going house to house because we have found a lot of the people who were reported as...

Son of US Sen. Kevin Cramer crashes during police chase, killing North Dakota sheriff’s deputy

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashed into a North Dakota sheriff’s vehicle during a police chase, pushing it into a deputy and killing him, according to authorities and the Republican senator’s family.Ian Cramer, of Bismarck, was arrested and jailed following Wednesday’s crash, and charges are pending, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said in a news release. The name of the Mercer County deputy who was killed has not been released, and the sheriff’s office didn’t immediately respond to a Thursday voicemail seeking further information.“We ask the public for prayers for the lost officer’s family and colleagues who serve us every day and are grateful for all they do for us,” Kevin Cramer said in a statement.The first-term senator wrote that his son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.” Earlier Wednesday, Ian Cramer insisted on “going to his brother Ike,” who died ...

Holiday budget planning should include more than gifts you’re planning on giving

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

A holiday spending plan is always a good idea, but as inflation pushes the cost of everything up and higher interest rates squeeze households, a budget is more important than ever.Anne Arbour of the Credit Counselling Society says in a perfect world you would have started planning your holiday budgeting months ago, but it’s never too late.In making a plan, Arbour says to begin by asking yourself how you want to feel in January and February when those bills come in.“Do you want to have wonderful memories of time spent with family and friends and joy and laughter and some great food? Or do you want to feel stressed and exhausted and, quite frankly, financially stressed?” says Arbour, the society’s director of strategic partnerships and education.“It’s not a great way to start the new year with a large credit card bill that you can’t pay off in full.”Arbour says when making a list of who you’re looking to buy a gift for and how much you want to...

WATCH: Students lift car after it hits, pins mother and 2 kids

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

LAYTON, Utah (KTVX/KUCW) – Newly released surveillance video shows dozens of students and bystanders rushing to help a Utah mother and her two young children after they were struck and pinned under a car on Tuesday afternoon. Just before 4 p.m. in the parking lot of the Layton Christian Academy. Bridgette Ponson, who works at the school, was walking with her 2-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter when a driver hit them, pinning them under the car. Several students and bystanders immediately rushed to lift the car and free the family. Dominique Childress, an Air Force senior airman and bystander who helped, said Ponson, who used herself as a shield under the car, was the real hero. "You hear it all the time: supermom, super abilities, and in that moment, that's what it was," Childress told Nexstar's KTVX. "It was incredible to see her get off of her child as fast as she could so that he would be OK, and he is better because of that."The Layton City Po...

The 5 highest-earning bachelor's degrees in the US: new Census data

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Throughout the U.S., the median household income is around $75,000, according to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 5-year survey. Your income can, of course, vary due to several factors, like where you live, your gender, and the field you're in. Your highest level of educational attainment can also be impactful. Among American workers who have only a high school diploma or equivalent, the median income is less than $37,000, according to data the Census released Thursday, which was based on their widespread community survey. Those who have a bachelor's degree, however, report a median income of just under $65,000. Some fields will, on average, pay you much more than that. Where has your money been? Here’s how to find out Nationally, it's those with a degree in engineering that have the highest reported median income: Americans between the ages of 25 and 64 with a degree in that field earn about $111,600, Census data shows. (This data is based only on th...

Trump arrives in New York court as defense case nears end in fraud trial

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

Former President Trump is back in the New York courtroom where his civil fraud trial is underway as the defense nears the end of its case. The former president was last in court a month ago, when he took the witness stand himself to defend his business practices and lambast those involved in the case as politically motivated “Trump haters.”The New York attorney general’s office accused Trump, his business and several executives — including Trump’s adult sons — of falsely adjusting the value of the business’s assets to receive lower taxes and better insurance coverage in a lawsuit filed last year. On Thursday, he voluntarily returned to the Manhattan state Supreme Court as a spectator. New York University accounting professor Eli Bartov, the defense’s last expert witness, is expected to testify Thursday and Friday. Trump is set to take the stand once more on Monday as the defense’s final overall witness. Before heading to court Thursday morning, the former president ca...

How nations are losing a global race to tackle AI’s harms

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

BRUSSELS — When European Union leaders introduced a 125-page draft law to regulate artificial intelligence in April 2021, they hailed it as a global model for handling the technology.EU lawmakers had gotten input from thousands of experts for three years about AI, when the topic was not even on the table in other countries. The result was a “landmark” policy that was “future-proof,” declared Margrethe Vestager, the head of digital policy for the 27-nation bloc.Then came ChatGPT.The eerily humanlike chatbot, which went viral last year by generating its own answers to prompts, blindsided EU policymakers. The type of AI that powered ChatGPT was not mentioned in the draft law and was not a major focus of discussions about the policy. Lawmakers and their aides peppered one another with calls and texts to address the gap, as tech executives warned that overly aggressive regulations could put Europe at an economic disadvantage.Even now, EU lawmakers are arguing over what to do, putting the...