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How the 41% of Americans with a travel card can boost rewards

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

Travel points/miles could make your next trip cheaper, or even free, and many Americans could benefit from the help this year. A new NerdWallet survey finds that the majority of U.S. adults (84%) have taken or plan to take a vacation that requires a flight or hotel stay in 2023, spending $3,916, on average, on those travel expenses. That’s nearly 218 million Americans spending close to $853 billion on travel expenses this year, according to NerdWallet analysis.The NerdWallet survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults — among whom 899 say they currently have a travel rewards credit card — conducted online by The Harris Poll asked Americans about their 2023 travel plans. We also asked Americans about their travel rewards credit cards and how they use points/miles.About one-fifth of Americans have a new travel rewards credit cardTravel rewards credit cards can be a great way to earn points/miles for free travel. According to the survey, over 2 in 5 Americans (41%) currently have a travel re...

CHP pursuit ends on I-8

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A vehicle pursuit ended Friday morning on eastbound Interstate 8 in East County.SkyFOX aerial video showed a white pickup truck being pursued by several California Highway Patrol vehicles. The hood of the truck was up when the truck pulled over on the side of the highway. The driver got out and ran, making it only a short distance before a K-9 took down the driver. Officers followed and appeared to take the suspect into custody.It was not immediately known why the driver was being pursued. Boy, 14, among 2 arrested in deadly park shooting This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Warmer days ahead: Here are San Diego's forecast highs for Easter Sunday

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The National Weather Service says San Diego can expect scattered clouds Friday and Saturday as a precursor to warmer days.Low clouds are more likely along the coast Friday, but weather officials say those clouds may reach as far inland as the western San Diego valleys by early Saturday morning. Come Easter Sunday, NWS predicts less clouds and warmer temperatures an an upper ridge builds in from the west. Inland areas can expect temperatures in the upper 70s while coastal areas can anticipate temperatures in the upper 60s, according to weather officials.This may come as good news for those hoping for dry and warm conditions in time for Easter activities and egg hunting across the region. Easter egg hunts in San Diego this week The warming is expected to continue across the region into Monday with even higher temperatures in the forecast. NWS says highs in the lower deserts could be between 95 and 100 degrees while the upper deserts are expected to be in the mid-80s. In...

Ontario nurses eye B.C.’s plan to cap nurse to patient ratio

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

Nurses in Ontario and British Columbia say the western province’s plan to set minimum nurse-to-patient ratios could help burnt-out nurses elsewhere in Canada by encouraging more provinces to adopt similar measures expected to reduce workloads and increase patient safety.Angela Preocanin, who was among dozens of rain-soaked nurses who gathered near Queen’s Park this week to protest “unsafe working conditions,” said she would not be surprised if Ontario lost nurses to British Columbia.“But I am hopeful, very hopeful, that this negotiated (plan) is going to be helpful to all of us across the country,” said Preocanin, first vice-president of the Ontario Nurses’ Association.British Columbia has outlined a plan to become the first province to adopt minimum nurse-to-patient ratios and better retain and recruit nurses, all backed by $750 million in funding over three years.The BC Nurses’ Union said it worked alongside the government to come up...

Uproar in suburbia as New York looks to spur development

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

For decades, the middle-class towns of single-family homes that ring many American cities have used zoning laws to ensure they stay much like they looked in the suburban boom after World War II. Apartment buildings in many places are simply not allowed, an exclusion that — intentionally or not — has historically also kept out people of color.Facing housing shortages, several states and the U.S. government have tried to break through those barriers with a mix of methods, including giving municipalities homebuilding goals or overriding certain local zoning restrictions.In New York, one such proposal from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has run into howls of opposition in one of the birthplaces of the American suburb. Critics on Long Island, a sprawling expanse of communities home to 2.9 million people, are denouncing provisions that would set growth targets, drive denser development near train stations and sometimes let state officials override local zoning decisions.“Her plan would floo...

Peru ex-leader Toledo wins reprieve in extradition from US

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Manrique has been granted two more weeks to fight his extradition from the United States on corruption charges, halting extradition proceedings that had been set to start Friday.Late Thursday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered a 14-day stay on Toledo’s extradition to Peru. The stay allows the 77-year-old former leader time to ask a three-judge panel to reconsider its decision denying him a stay or petition the full court to review his appeal.Toledo is accused of taking $20 million in bribes from Odebrecht, a giant Brazilian construction company that has admitted to U.S. authorities that it bribed officials to win contracts throughout Latin America for decades. Toledo is one of four of Peru’s ex-presidents implicated in the corruption scandal. He denies the charges. The judge in the extradition case, Thomas Hixson, ordered Toledo to turn himself over to U.S. marshals Friday after a three-ju...

Maryland lawmakers work on cannabis, guns, at session’s end

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland lawmakers kept working Friday on passing some remaining priority measures of the Democratic-led legislature in the waning days of the session. At the top of the list: bills to enable a recreational marijuana market to open July 1 and to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year that expanded gun rights.With the session set to end at midnight Monday, a sense of urgency was setting in for supporters of bills that had not yet been passed by the General Assembly in the 90-day session. Police led several protesters away in handcuffs down the steps of the Capitol, as they rallied to urge lawmakers to pass a bill that would enable any resident to enroll in a health plan through the state’s Health Benefit Exchange, regardless of their immigration status. The measure called the Access to Care Act has passed the House, but has not advanced in the Senate.Meanwhile, lawmakers continued working on legislation that creates licensing and tax rates to...

Tribe warns US government against moving ahead with mine

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Native American tribal members fighting plans for an enormous copper mine on land they consider sacred say they are increasingly worried U.S. officials will publish an environmental review paving the way for the project even as they await a federal appeals court ruling in the case. A U.S. government attorney said during last month’s hearing of a full panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the final environmental impact study for construction of the mine at Oak Flat, Arizona, could be published this spring. San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said during a visit last week that U.S. Forest Service officials confirmed plans to push forward on publication of the environmental analysis. That step would kick off a 60-day period culminating in a land swap allowing the project to go forward.“Obliterating Oak Flat for a copper mine will be a grave human rights violation against Indigenous people and an environmental catastrophe,” Rambler said in a written st...

Teen and 12-year-old accused of triple slaying in Florida

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A teenager and a 12-year-old have been charged in the deaths of three teens whose bodies were found along a Florida roadside and in the trunk of a partially-submerged vehicle, authorities said Friday. Another teen is being sought.Law enforcement officials were “shocked” by the young ages of the victims and alleged killers, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference. The older suspect in custody is 17, and police are still searching for a 16-year-old.The two suspects in custody are charged with first-degree murder. The state attorney’s office is reviewing the case to determine whether the suspects will be charged as adults. The Associated Press does not publish the names of juveniles unless they have been charged with adult crimes.The shooting suspects and victims were all in a vehicle belonging to 16-year-old victim Layla Silvernail when the killings occurred, Woods said. Authorities have not released the names of the other two victims, a 16-year-...

Microchips or microgreens? Oregon tweaks farm protection law

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:00:31 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon is changing a half-century-old land-use law to make room for semiconductor development and gain an edge in attracting the multi-billion-dollar industry, upsetting farmers who see their livelihoods at risk.Lawmakers backing a bill that also provides about $200 million in grants to chipmakers said it’s needed to make Oregon more competitive in luring more of the multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry to the state. Other lawmakers argued that the measure is an attack on the nation’s first statewide policy — created a half-century ago — that limits urban sprawl and protects farmland and forests. “These regulations have resulted in 50 years of success protecting our farm and forest lands, containing urban sprawl, and protecting natural resources,” said Republican state Rep. Anna Scharf. “Senate Bill 4 throws that out the window.” The bill, which the state Senate approved last week and the House passed on a 44-10 vote Thursday, allows Democratic G...