Summary List Placement Several top Democrats pushed back on Wednesday against President Joe Biden’s dismissal on Tuesday night of their proposal to forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt. Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a joint statement defending their plan, and said student-loan forgiveness was a step that […]
Summary List Placement Every elected Democratic state treasurer is calling on Congress to approve the American Rescue Plan, including the provision with $350 billion in state and local aid. The 17 treasurers signed on to a letter organized by Invest in America Action calling for the necessity of that full relief. States received $150 billion of […]
Summary List Placement Some top UK firms plan to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for staff through “no jab, no job” employment contracts, The Financial Times reported. Law firms that declined to be named told the FT that businesses, ranging from care-home operators to big multinationals, were considering contracts that require new and current employees to […]
As mortgage rates come off of their historic lows, mortgage applications dropped for the second week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage applications dropped 5.1% for the week ending Feb. 12, after falling 4.1% the week prior. Notably, the refinance share of activity dropped to 69.3%, the first time it’s been below […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden effectively rejected on Tuesday evening a Democratic plan put forward by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer to wipe out up to $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower. Instead, he said he backed a measure to provide up to $10,000 in forgiveness. “I will not make that happen,” […]
Yoshiro Mori’s replacement as president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee is expected to be named very quickly. The 83-year-old former prime minister was forced to step down last week after making demeaning remarks about women. Basically, he said they talk too much. There is pressure to name a woman to replace Mori. But don’t […]
Black Americans attend church more regularly than Americans overall, and pray more often. Most attend churches that are predominantly Black, yet many would like those congregations to become racially diverse. There is broad respect for Black churches’ historical role in seeking racial equality, coupled with a widespread perception they have lost influence in recent decades. […]
Depository bank Western Alliance has reached a deal to acquire correspondent lender AmeriHome for $1 billion in cash, the firms announced late Tuesday afternoon. With the acquisition, Western Alliance will grab full control of America’s third-largest correspondent lender from an affiliate of financial giant Apollo Global. AmeriHome purchased approximately $65 billion in conventional conforming and […]
Summary List Placement We asked a certified professional career coach at TopResume about the skills that can help advance your career. From strengthening writing skills to mastering public speaking, learning new soft skills has never been more accessible or convenient, thanks to e-learning courses. Online learning platforms like edX, Udemy, and Coursera offer high-quality, low-cost classes […]
Summary List Placement Democrats in Congress are ramping up their efforts to enact President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package before federal unemployment benefits start expiring on March 14. Congressional Democrats are doubling down on an aggressive timeline now that former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is behind them. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on […]
South Africa has held (Feb 10-14) its annual International Public Art Festival (IPAF), despite the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures. Turnout was low but those attending welcomed the street festival as a chance to get out of the house. Vinicius Assis reports from Cape Town. Produced by: Jason Godman Camera: Vinicius Assis details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal […]
Summary List Placement Now that the second impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump has ended with an acquittal, Democrats are turning their attention to handing President Joe Biden his first major legislative victory. Democrats are racing to enact Biden’s $1.9 trillion federal rescue package and kickstart the flow of aid before federal unemployment benefits start lapsing for millions of […]
The total number of mortgages in forbearance declined six basis points to 5.29% in the week ending Feb. 7, according to the latest estimate from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group said 2.6 million homeowners are currently in forbearance plans. “The share of loans in forbearance declined to the lowest level since April 5th […]
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday extended COVID-19 foreclosure and forbearance moratoriums for FHA and USDA loans to June 30, 2021. It also extended the deadline for the first legal action and the reasonable diligence time frame to 180 days. This announcement follows FHFA action last week to extend moratoriums for […]
Summary List Placement The federal government kicked in a lot more money to people on unemployment from April through July of last year, and again starting last September, and now the experts are starting to pick over the findings. They’re surprised. A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and the JPMorgan […]
Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél was arrested Tuesday after a 24-hour standoff between him and his free speech supporters on one side and Catalan anti-riot police on the other. Along with more than 50 supporters, Hásel barricaded himself in rectorate building of Lleida University, located some 160 kilometers west of Barcelona, to resist reporting to serve […]
Summary List Placement Getting your child into a respectable preschool in Los Angeles starts when they’re barely out of diapers, Cindy Chanin, the LA-based founder of Rainbow EDU Consulting & Tutoring and former Ivy admissions rep who’s heavily involved with LA’s most sought-after private schools, told Insider. She also noted that the process, while highly competitive, is unlike […]
Writing about digital mortgage in 2021, I am reminded of a cartoon in the New Yorker, in which two cavemen were starting a fire and one said “Stop saying everything is ‘unprecedented.’” After a year of unprecedented everything, including mortgage volume, it’s hard to fathom the level of fintech disruption that is approaching financial services […]
Summary List Placement The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) — the government’s official budget scorekeeper — has said that the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 would have a sizeable impact on the budget. That means it may be able to clear the hurdle of the Byrd Rule and be passed through reconciliation. The letter came […]
Summary List Placement On President’s Day, just over 10 million homeowners got an extra benefit when President Joe Biden extended the moratorium on home foreclosures through June 30, intended to address the housing affordability crisis and aid homeowners struggling during COVID-19. The moratorium on foreclosures, in place since last March under President Donald Trump, was […]
Summary List Placement Fast-food, home-care, and nursing-home workers will strike on Tuesday for a $15 minimum wage, more training, and better COVID-19 safety measures. Some workers from fast-food chains including McDonald’s, Burger King, Domino’s, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s would strike in 15 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, and Houston, according to Fight for $15, a […]
“Our Big Chief told us he doesn’t want us out there this Mardi Gras because of COVID,” Aaron “Flagboy Giz” Hartley told VOA. “He said it wasn’t safe for our members or for the public watching us.” Until this year, Hartley took part in a festive New Orleans tradition dating back to the 1800s, the […]
More than 150 million people in the central and southern United States were under winter storm warnings or advisories Monday, with record-breaking cold temperatures gripping the nation from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The south-central state of Texas may be takin g the worst of the winter weather. Hit by ice […]
The years 2020-2024 will have the best housing demographics ever recorded in U.S. history, with the lowest mortgage rates recorded in history. When you have these two titans acting in unison, it can potentially accelerate real home prices in an unhealthy way. In 2020, the year of COVID-19, existing home sales ended at a respectable […]
To every sport, there’s a season, a spot on the calendar that fans mark for the big event. World Series, October. College hoops, March. Indy 500, Memorial Day. For dog owners, it’s right around Valentine’s Day. That’s when they normally cuddle up on the couch with their precious pooch to watch the Super Bowl of […]
The line between politics and entertainment is increasingly blurred in America, where a former reality TV star recently served as president and entertainment has become more political. The content people choose to watch and listen to reflects a politically divided country, and as VOA’s Elizabeth Lee shows, the division often cuts across families. Produced by: […]
Larry the cat, a four-legged inhabitant of London’s 10 Downing St., is marking a decade as Britain’s mouse-catcher in chief on Monday. The tabby cat was recruited by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to deal with a pack of rats seen scuttling close to the British leader’s official residence and entered Downing Street on Feb. […]
The search for three climbers, who went missing on Pakistan’s K2 mountain earlier this month, has found no trace of them. Iceland’s John Snorri, 47, Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr, 33, and Pakistan’s Muhammad Ali Sadpara, 45, lost contact with base camp on February 5 during their ascent of what global mountaineers describe as the killer […]
Summary List Placement Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reiterated Sunday that her agency doesn’t believe all teachers must receive COVID-19 vaccinations before they return to classrooms for in-person learning. “I’m a strong advocate of teachers receiving their vaccinations, but we don’t believe it’s a prerequisite for reopening […]
Summary List Placement Students at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, were told Friday the university was aware that virtual events held in honor of Black History Month were being targeted by bigoted individuals espousing anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ views. “I am deeply disturbed and saddened to learn of racist and bigoted Zoom-bombings that have […]
Archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old brewery that could produce thousands of liters of beer in the ancient Egyptian city of Abydos, Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said. The site in Egypt’s Sohag Governorate likely dates back to the reign of King Narmer around 3,100 BC, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Dr. Matthew […]
Summary List Placement A new survey from Pew Research Center finds only 51% of unemployed Americans are optimistic about finding a job soon. Even though a recent global survey from Monster found 82% of employers plan to hire in 2021, some Americans are not feeling too hopeful about their job prospects in a slowly recovering […]
Diamond cloning is said to be a vocation, an artform and a rare skill. New York artist John Hatleberg creates precise reproductions of famous diamonds, but one copy became his life’s work – the Blue Diamond of the French Crown. Vladimir Lenski has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Aleksandr Barash and Natalia Latukhina […]
Summary List Placement This week the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis of the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The report found raising the wage would have many positive effects, but the email notifications that landed in my inbox focused on the same […]
Summary List Placement Attending law school is time-consuming and expensive, but if you end up in the right program, it could lead to a fulfilling and successful career. For example, according to Yale Law School’s website, over 13,000 YLS alumni are leaders in their organizations — and a decade after graduating they almost unanimously express […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden pressed ahead with his $1.9 trillion emergency spending package throughout the week even as the second impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump got underway. A split-screen appeared on Friday. As the trial started reaching its end, Biden continued attempting to muster support for his stimulus package. He met […]
As 17-year-old Darius Jackson watched TV, listening in rapt attention to 22-year-old Amanda Gorman recite her poem The Hill We Climb at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden last month, he was struck by the “powerful words” of the young Black woman. It was a “defining moment in history,” said Jackson, who is a […]
Summary List Placement Coursera is one of the top e-learning platforms and offers over 3,000 online courses, specializations, and professional certificate programs. Below is a ranking of Coursera’s 30 most popular online courses and programs, some of which are completely free to audit. Read more: 12 public health courses you can take online for […]
Summary List Placement Python is one of the most popular programming languages, used in everything from AI and machine learning to data analysis. Below are 14 online courses and certificate programs you can take to learn Python code, offered by schools like MIT and Harvard and companies like Google and IBM. Read more: 9 […]
Summary List Placement A second Democratic senator came out in opposition to including a $15 minimum wage in President Joe Biden’s relief package, possibly dealing a major blow to the proposed wage hike. “What’s important is whether or not it’s directly related to short-term Covid relief. And if it’s not, then I am not going […]
After Navy veteran Maxwell Moore returned home to Los Angeles following numerous tours to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, the local Veterans Affairs office urged him to find a hobby to help him deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder. His therapy eventually turned into a business, as reporter Angelina Bagdasaryan found in this story […]
Summary List Placement A $1,400 stimulus checks by March 1, would help 22.6 million Americans to pay their bills in full through mid-July without going into debt, according to a report released by Morning Consult on Friday. The House Committee on Ways and Means included $1,400 stimulus checks with a $75,000 income threshold for individuals […]
United Wholesale Mortgage has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three independent mortgage brokers last year whom the lender accused of “churning.” The Pontiac, Michigan-based wholesale mortgage lender filed a motion this week saying that the three named brokers – Rishi Bhasin, Anne James and Nelson Otero – were among the 75 brokers it […]
To reopen safely during the COVID-19 pandemic and maximize the amount of in-person instruction, schools need sufficient resources as well as adhered-to, strong state and local public health measures. Extraordinary efforts by states, districts, and schools have been underway to support students throughout the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this […]
Summary List Placement More than 60 economists urged President Joe Biden’s economic leaders to include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in Biden’s infrastructure plan in a letter on Thursday, saying that doing so will stimulate economic growth. In a letter addressed to Neera Tanden, designate-director of the Office of Management and Budget, Brian […]