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Retail sales up a solid 0.7% in September as American consumers defy rising prices, interest rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans kept spending in September at a solid pace even as they grappled with higher prices and interest rates.Retail sales rose 0.7% in September, more than twice what economists had expected, and close to a a revised 0.8% bump in August, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Retail sales in August were inflated after gasoline prices spiked, however. That was not the case in September. since begun to decline. Excluding sales from gas and autos, retail sales rose 0.6%.September’s uptick in retail sales, the sixth consecutive monthly gain, reflects how the U.S. economy has remained resilient despite attempts by the Federal Reserve to cool spending and hiring. Yet spending has been volatile after surging nearly 3% in January. Sales tumbled in February and March before recovering in the spring and summer.Spending at restaurants were up 0.9%, while spending online rose 1.1% last month, according to the report. Sales at general merchandise stores rose 0.4%. An...

Pedestrian struck and killed on DuSable Lake Shore Drive; southbound lanes closed at North Avenue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was struck and killed by a vehicle after attempting to cross all lanes of DuSable Lake Shore Drive Tuesday morning.Police said it happened around 5:25 a.m. in the 800 block of North Lake Shore Drive when two men attempted to cross Lake Shore Drive, not in a crosswalk.One of the men was struck by a BMW X-3 that was traveling southbound. He was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.According to police, the second male pedestrian was not injured.The 63-year-old male driver of the BMW remained on the scene. Police said the driver was not injured, but was transported to Northwestern Hospital for panic symptoms.The southbound lanes of DuSable Lake Shore Drive are closed and vehicles are being diverted off at North Avenue. Heavy traffic delays remain in the area.The crash is under investigation.

Bears make an addition to their coaching staff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Bears will indeed have an addition to their coaching staff for the rest of the season.Matt Eberflus is adding someone with both National Football League and college football experience in hopes of improving the team's defense. During his news conference on Monday, the head coach announced that Phil Snow has joined the staff as a senior defensive analyst for the remainder of the 2023 season. This comes a few weeks after Eberflus announced that he would make an addition to his staff, which is down a person after the resignation of Alan Williams in September.Snow was last the defensive coordinator with the Panthers under head coach Matt Rhule, serving in that position from 2020 through 2022. While never working together on staff at the college or pro level, Eberflus got to know him through Rod Marinelli, whom he worked with in Dallas for a number of years.Snow will be doing advance scouting for the defensive staff and will be at Halas Hall with the team during t...

'Brutal heat': South Carolina expert who set world's hottest pepper record does it again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

FORT MILL, S.C. (AP) — Ed Currie, the South Carolina hot pepper expert who crossbred and grew the Carolina Reaper that’s hotter than most pepper sprays police use to subdue unruly criminals, has broken his own world record with a pepper that’s three times hotter.Pepper X was publicly named the hottest pepper in the world on Oct. 9 by the Guinness Book of World Records, beating out the Reaper in Currie’s decadelong hunt to perfect a pepper that he says provides “immediate, brutal heat.”Currie said when he first tried Pepper X, it did more than warm his heart.“I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours. Then the cramps came,” said Currie, one of only five people so far to eat an entire Pepper X. “Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain.”Heat in peppers is measured in Scoville Heat Units. Zero is bland, and a regular jalapeno pepper registers about 5,000 units. A habanero, the record-holder about 25 ...

Queensbury man pleads guilty in knifepoint robbery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A Queensbury man pleaded guilty in relation to a knifepoint robbery that happened on the fourth of July. Justin Cabral, 36, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Police say Cabral entered the Speedway on Aviation Road in Queensbury, brandished a knife, and demanded money. Police also say Garrett Murray (25, Greenwich), an accomplice in the crime, also pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary and drove the getaway car. Law enforcement said Cabral tried to flee after police caught the getaway car on foot across the Northway but was quickly tracked down.Cabral was sentenced to 13 years in prison with five years of post-release supervision. Warren County District Attorney Jason Carusone commended the clerk's calm demeanor and response by law enforcement, which led to the arrest of both men.

Crews responding to 3-vehicle crash on I-170 at Ladue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - Crews are responding to a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 170 on Tuesday. The crash happened around a bit before 7:00 a.m. on I-170 at Ladue, where a box truck, a sedan, and another truck were involved. DoorDash driver caught on doorbell camera swiping delivery The cause of the crash has not yet been reported, and so far, no injuries have been revealed. Drivers are urged to take Lindbergh and I-270 as alternate routes. FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

“Tom Lake,” by Ann Patchett, and more short reviews from readers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email [email protected].“Tom Lake,” by Ann Patchett (Harper, 2023)TOM LAKEBy Ann PatchettI thought this book would be about a guy with a laughable short name, but, no, Tom Lake is the name of an actual lake in this novel that excavates layers of family history and reveals family dynamics, Patchett’s forte. Set in Michigan’s rural cherry orchard country, the mother’s stories about her early life and relationships unwind during long days of harvesting cherries. The daughters, whose sibling mannerisms likely will resonate with many women who h...

Colorado has the four most expensive housing markets in U.S. not on a coast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

When it comes to noncoastal metro areas with the most expensive home prices, Colorado takes spots one to four, with Greeley now on the highest-cost list, according to a study from the real estate research firm Zonda.“Housing affordability generally improves as one moves away from the coast, but even inland markets are reaching affordability extremes,” said Ali Wolf, Zonda’s chief economist, in a blog post that highlights just how expensive it has become to live along Colorado’s Front Range.Wolf set out to identify the five most expensive noncoastal markets with a population of 250,000 or more, and her report also includes lists for the top five in 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010.Boulder tops the list with a median home price of $833,622 and Denver came in next at $636,651. Fort Collins was third at $593,282 and for the first time ever, Greeley showed up in fourth place with a median price of $573,957. Greeley, whose metro area covers all of Weld County, edged out P...

One of Colorado’s largest craft breweries opens new taproom, production facility in Denver’s Park Hill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

Tucked behind the controversial Park Hill golf course, where the neighborhood meets a series of industrial parks, 4 Noses Brewing’s brand-new production facility and taproom offers an unusual view of Denver’s skyline — and maybe of the future of the craft beer industry in Colorado.The company, which got its start in Broomfield in 2015, has been making beer in the warehouse space, at 4040 Dahlia St., for a few months now, but it opened the doors to the taproom and patio at the end of September, after two years of construction and planning. The interior, which is airy and modern, features 32 taps, while the patio wraps around the side and offers great views.“The sunsets are beautiful,” said 4 Noses marketing director Dustin Ramey, adding that neighbors began turning out right away. During the first few days, there were “bikes everywhere, on the rack, chained to the fence. That is something that we just don’t get” at the Broomfield taproo...

Denver airport’s planned mega-garage for rental car companies will be closer to terminal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

Denver International Airport said Monday it has selected an employee parking lot south of the main terminal as the future site of a huge rental car garage facility that will help accommodate the airport’s tremendous growth.The facility, envisioned as a multi-level garage, is still a ways off. DIA’s planning process is expected to ramp up over the course of 2024 with airport officials hoping to put the project out to bid to contractors late next year.But identifying a location is an important step. DIA officials considered three sites and zeroed in on the employee lot along East 78th Avenue, just north of Peña Boulevard and east of Jackson Gap Road. That lot would be relocated.In a new release Monday, DIA officials cited the possibility of the facility consolidating all of the airport’s rental car operators on one property. It could be connected to the terminal using some sort of “automated people mover” — a train system or bus route in a dedicated...