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Richard Drury It's a holiday-shortened Thanksgiving week, so over the next few days, we plan on writing about some of the stocks that investors can be most thankful for. In this post, we're highlighting the 25 best-performing stocks in the S&P 1500 on
Nordstrom stock soars to 52-week high, hits $24.96
In a half-sane world, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services would be recognized for what it plainly is -- crazy. With this final nail in the coffin of better Kennedys, I think we can declare the family mystique finis. A starstruck President-elect Donald Trump, meanwhile, must be having the time of his life, mocking and undermining nearly every American government institution by playing Cabinet roulette. With each new name, I can hear the pick say, “No, I’ve never been to medical school, but I slept at a Holiday Inn last night.” Trump must giggle himself to sleep. One can also safely infer that when Kennedy’s own family issues a statement denouncing his political shift, we should pay attention. No, I don’t think the Democratic Kennedys turned their backs on the serial adulterer, conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist only because he hitched his wagon to Trump. More likely, they fear that Trump could empower Kennedy to put into practice some of his loonier ideas. People are also reading... Much of this Kennedy’s history is familiar. He’s a drug addict, possessed of “lust demons” (in his own words) and a journalist -- of a sort. He kept a diary of his sexual exploits with names and ratings from 1 to 10. A 10 meant going all the way, to use the nomenclature of his arrested development. Kennedy was an adult in his second marriage when he started scoring his exploits. (As far as we know.) In the journal, which somehow found its way to the New York Post, he claims to have had affairs with 37 women while married to his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. She reportedly became aware of the journal at some point and, in the midst of the divorce, died by suicide, according to New York Magazine. In just the past year, Kennedy carried on a nine-month sexting relationship with a well-known journalist who was at the time engaged to another journalist. (They’ve parted ways, and both are on job vacation.) But ol’ Kennedy gets a pass because he’s -- I give up. The guy has the face of a baseball mitt, and yet women are tripping over each other trying to be his best girl. Three more women came forward in October claiming romantic involvement with Kennedy, whom they knew through the Children’s Health Defense, an advocacy group he founded to fight, among other things, 5G wireless technology. Kennedy claims that the technology causes cancer, infertility and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, for which there is, indeed, some limited, inconsistent evidence, according to the World Health Organization. He also claims that chemicals in our drinking water are making children gay or transgender, a conspiracy theory advanced by none other than Alex Jones. What must life be like in the brain of this man? No wonder the worm died. Like Trump, Kennedy seems impervious to consequences and shameless in the service of self-preservation. During his divorce from his second wife, he claimed during testimony that a brain worm had left him cognitively deficient, thus crippling his ability to earn money and therefore pay alimony. It must be said that Kennedy has his eye on some targets that are overdue for governmental scrutiny. Factory farming is an abomination. Environmental toxins can never be adequately controlled to my satisfaction. People have reason to question the contents of heavily processed foods. But lawyers and activists who cherry-pick data and traffic in junk science shouldn’t be assigned greater credibility than scientists who subject their research to strict quality standards. Kennedy’s willingness to bend the truth to his purposes should not be rewarded with one of the nation’s most important jobs. His confirmation would be not just bad for the national health. It would also be crazy. Parker writes for The Washington Post. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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By Abby Badach Doyle, NerdWallet It won’t be impossible to buy a house in 2025 — just be prepared to play on hard mode. According to a November 2024 report from ICE Mortgage Technology, the monthly principal and interest payment on an average-priced home is $2,385. While that’s not the highest it’s ever been, it’s still a sharp increase — nearly 80% — from just three years ago. In November 2021, when mortgage rates averaged 3%, the monthly principal and interest on an average-priced home was $1,327 per month. So here’s the key to buying in 2025: Look ahead, not back. Regret won’t help you budget for today’s new normal. And with this year’s election also in the rearview mirror, so is some uncertainty among buyers and sellers that historically slows the market during every presidential election cycle. “People have just been kind of sitting waiting to see what’s going to happen,” says Courtney Johnson Rose, president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, an industry group for Black real estate agents. “I’m hopeful that the new year will bring more attention to real estate, more excitement to real estate, and more opportunities for first-time home owners to get in the game.” Check the forecast Preparing to buy a house is a lot like dressing for the weather. It’s easier when the outlook is sunny — but with some planning, you can gear up to face any condition. Here’s what housing market experts are forecasting for the upcoming year. Related Articles Real Estate | New law could help California renters facing eviction stay in their homes Real Estate | California No. 1 for crazy, pretentious residents, poll says Real Estate | Southern California hiring dips 47% below average in November Real Estate | Is California living worth the costs and taxes? Real Estate | California homebuying jumps 20%, biggest gain in 41 months First, home prices: We’ll likely see more modest growth in 2025, a change from skyrocketing prices in recent years. After 16 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases, the median existing-home sales price hit $407,200 in October, according to the National Association of Realtors. In 2025, with more supply trickling in to temper price increases, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun forecasts a median existing-home sales price of $410,700, up just 2% over this year. Next, housing inventory: Demand still outpaces supply. While we don’t expect a return to a buyer’s market, competition should be less cutthroat. Realtor.com forecasts a balanced market in 2025 with an average 4.1-month supply of homes for sale, up from an average 3.7-month supply so far in 2024. That would make 2025 the friendliest market for buyers since 2016, which had an average 4.4-month supply. Finally, mortgage rates: After topping 8% in October 2023, the 30-year mortgage rate has slowly eased into the 6.5%-7% range this year. Rate cuts from the Federal Reserve have helped nudge that downward. Despite earlier optimism, forecasters’ latest consensus is for rates to effectively plateau above 6% throughout 2025. That said, every year has its wild cards. In 2025, it’s still uncertain how President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-led Congress might shake up regulations and tax policies that affect the U.S. housing market. Set a budget National forecasts don’t analyze what matters most: Your personal cash flow. To get ready to buy, first meet with a financial advisor or use an online calculator to determine how much house you can afford . You can also get free or low-cost advice from a housing counselor sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Next, look into down payment and closing cost assistance from state housing finance agencies, local governments, nonprofits and mortgage lenders. Your employer or labor union might offer assistance, too. First-time buyers with income below their area median have the most options, but repeat or higher-income borrowers can qualify for some programs as well. “I think that there’s a lot of free money being left out there,” Rose says. Find a buyer’s agent Your not-so-secret weapon for buying in 2025 just might be an experienced buyer’s agent. “Anybody can write a contract,” says Sharon Parker, associate broker with Tate & Foss Sotheby’s International Realty in Rye, New Hampshire. “But you need somebody who’s seen the market, the ups and downs, who knows how to get creative because every transaction is different.” Following a settlement with the NAR , buyers can now negotiate their agent’s compensation up front. (Previously, home sellers took on that task.) While new norms are still shaking out, Rose says she hasn’t seen too much drama since the change took effect in August. “So as long as buyers remember that we have to talk about this in the beginning of our relationship, everything typically works out fine,” she says. Shop and negotiate Finally, it’s time to shop for a mortgage. To get the best interest rate, get a quote with at least three different lenders. You could also delegate the shopping to a mortgage broker, who can compare quotes and even negotiate a lower rate on your behalf. Though brokers charge a fee, their access to more mortgage options and lower rates can often mean net savings overall. With a mortgage preapproval in hand, it’s go time. And you don’t have to wait until spring: If you’re ready to buy now, buyers have less competition and more negotiating power from December through February, so you could snag a deal. “The people who are selling and the people who are buying in the off season are very serious,” Parker says. “They’re not just lookie-loos.” However, lower inventory means fewer choices for buyers. So start your search prepared to compromise — a “good enough” house will still help you build equity. Should you buy a house in 2025? If a down payment or monthly mortgage payment is financially out of reach, there’s no shame in postponing your search to pad your savings. And owning a home isn’t the right lifestyle choice for everyone, with the ongoing commitment of money and time. But once you’re ready to buy — whether for the first time, or to upgrade or downsize — avoid the trap of waiting for a dip in mortgage rates. “Nobody can predict what the market, or the world, is going to do,” Parker says. “There is no better time than right now.” Mortgage rates will always fluctuate, and if they drop significantly, you can refinance. For first-time buyers, homeownership is a major financial glow-up — and the sooner you jump in, the longer you’ll have to build home equity. “Time value of money is really, really critical when it comes to real estate,” Rose says. “So I would always encourage somebody to buy as soon as you can and get the clock ticking.” More From NerdWallet Abby Badach Doyle writes for NerdWallet. Email: abadachdoyle@nerdwallet.com. The article Buying a House in 2025: Your How-To Guide originally appeared on NerdWallet .None
Purported transgender player on San Jose State women’s volleyball team can compete in championship series, judge rulesLaufey on Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Jazz Singing and Gen-Z Pop: Young Fans ‘Connect More With a Vibe or an Energy Than a Genre’
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Utah Hockey Club walks to arena after bus gets stuck in Toronto trafficArticle content Ontario Premier Doug Ford has had a successful run since being elected in 2018, but perhaps more than anything else, he deserves credit for expanding the subway system in Canada’s largest city. Recommended Videos The Ontario Line will introduce nearly 16 km of track to the fastest-growing city in North America, but it wasn’t easy. Initially conceived as the Downtown Relief Line, it has been mired in politics and bureaucracy for decades – until Doug Ford came along and made it happen. Without Ford’s initiative, the Ontario Line would still be aspirational rather than under construction, although that seems lost on Toronto’s chattering liberal class, for whom swallowing cyanide might be preferable to bestowing even a soupcon of credit upon a Conservative. The Ontario Line is no doubt a legacy project for a premier who will be remembered for building the most significant infrastructure project the city has seen in decades. Ford is presently being chided from all angles for his stance on bicycle lanes in Toronto, even though it’s one of the most congested cities in the world. It doesn’t take an urban planner to figure out that augmenting mass transit, not expanding underused bike lanes (which are used by a mere 1.2% of the residents, according to census data), is the solution. Nearly two decades after the Ontario Liberals introduced the Places to Grow Act, in part to curtail congestion, the tribulations of navigating Toronto’s factory farm-like conditions have exposed kinks in the legislation’s armour. Bloor Street is down to a single lane in either direction along the hyper-dense expanse west of Spadina Avenue. Further to the north, Eglinton Avenue has been saddled with a bike lane that virtually no one uses but has somehow managed to make traffic around the notoriously congested Allen Road intersection even worse than before. Ford’s initiatives have nevertheless done precious little to stem the barrage of criticism he receives on a quotidian basis. And the Toronto Star, which dropped the mitts against the Ford family long ago, is unsurprisingly front and centre. It recently ran a column accusing Ford of trying to hoodwink voters with trivialities like permitting grocers and convenience stores to sell alcohol. It’s a shrill rebuke that reeks of the same patronizing paternalism that’s mugged the province’s hard-working taxpayers of the same consumer liberty that neighbouring Quebec has enjoyed from what seems like time immemorial. The Star’s petty, low-rent reprimand ignores the fact that Ford is merely adhering to arguably the most salient principle of free-market capitalism: competition between vendors results in lower consumer prices. The Star must have forgotten that its columnists have also advocated for the exact thing Ford codified into law, having noted in the past that the Beer Store is a foreign-owned “cartel-cum-monopoly” and that its stores feel like “Stalinist relics ... designed by Communist apparatchiks for the beer-swilling lumpenproletariat.” The Star might need a primer on its on its own founding principles and mission statement, which says that it believes in “individual and civil liberties,” and works to “focus public attention on injustices of all kinds.” Those “injustices” apparently don’t include corporations colluding to price-gouge increasingly immiserated consumers. The reality is that such free market policies augment razor-thin profit margins for entrepreneurs, many of whom pour their life savings into ventures like neighbourhood convenience stores, and in case the chattering liberal class in Toronto hasn’t noticed, everything is more expensive. That includes small businesses’ overheads, but alcohol sales will help – and considering that you’d be hard-pressed to find a pint anywhere in Toronto for under $9, Ford’s push to increase competition and choice is great news for consumers and businesses alike. The portion of Hwy. 401 running through Toronto is North America’s busiest and the bane of the city’s drivers. Weekday or weekend, day or night, drivers can expect a slow commute. Ford has proposed building a tunnel below the highway to augment traffic flow. It’s an ambitious project that comes with considerable risk – just look at Boston’s “Big Dig,” which suffered years of delays and billions in cost overruns. Yet Ford’s army of media critics have only admonished his idea instead of offering their own solutions to the city’s traffic woes. Ford is a lightning rod for Canadian media, most of which has a liberal bias that perhaps explains why they’re more interested in tearing him down than proffering policies of their own. They offer criticism without any real solutions of their own, which reeks of partisanship and does little to further public discourse. Urban planners and left-wing commentators are fond of gaslighting Canadians by pointing to bike-lane usage in cities such as Beijing, Paris and Amsterdam, where temperatures rarely dip below freezing, and using the “If you build it, they will come” argument. But the fact remains that Canada does not have the bike culture of a country like China, and no matter how bad traffic gets, the prospect of riding a bicycle through the snow when it’s -20C outside will remain unappealing to most Canadians. Unfortunately, Ford’s critics seem completely devoid of solutions of their own, repeating tired cliches about how bike lanes are the answer to all our problems and building new roads will only invite more traffic. Toronto fancies itself Canada’s answer to Manhattan – and in a way it is, if exorbitant rent and gridlock factor into the equation – but if that dream ever becomes reality, Ford’s push to modernize transit and ease congestion will have played an outsized role.
Former ABC News Anchor Alleges Racism At NetworkThe AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . North Carolina has interviewed former New England Patriots coach and six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick for its head coaching position, two people with knowledge of the situation said Thursday. Both people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the school isn’t commenting publicly on its search. Belichick’s interview, first reported by Inside Carolina, comes a week after the school fired its winningest coach in College Football Hall of Famer Mack Brown. The school announced Nov. 26 that Brown wouldn’t return for a seventh season in his second stint at the school, with Brown staying on to coach last weekend’s rivalry loss to N.C. State. Former Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens is working as the interim coach for an upcoming bowl game as UNC conducts it search. Moving on from the 73-year-old Brown to hire the 72-year-old Belichick would mean UNC is turning to a coach who has never worked at the college level, yet had incredible NFL success alongside quarterback Tom Brady throughout most of his 24-year tenure with the Patriots that ended last season . In the time since, he had been linked to NFL jobs , notably the Atlanta Falcons in January. RELATED COVERAGE No. 2 Texas goes for a title in its first SEC season, but must get by No. 5 Georgia CFP berth at stake when No. 10 Boise State hosts No. 19 UNLV in Mountain West title game No. 18 Clemson needs to slow down SMU QB Kevin Jennings to win 9th ACC title game, secure CFP spot UNC’s opening comes at a time of rapid changes in college athletics with free player movement through the transfer portal and players able to cash in on their athletic fame with endorsement opportunities. There’s also the impending arrival of revenue sharing, part of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement proposal that gained preliminary approval by a judge in October. “I think it’s a great time for me to get out,” Brown said after Saturday’s loss to the Wolfpack. “This isn’t the game that I signed up for. It’s changed so much.” In an UNC-produced podcast earlier this week, athletic director Bubba Cunningham said all the coaches the school is talking with about its job “are playing,” with college football having reached its conference title games before unveiling the 12-team College Football Playoff and bowl assignments. Cunningham said then that “fit” was the most important thing in finding Brown’s successor. “There’s a certain person that’s best suited at the right time, at the right place,” he said. “And right now, that’s we’re looking for: Where are we today, who can lead us in the next three, five, 10 years?” ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballNone