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The home and auto insurance crisis and how to keep your coverage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

By Ryan Brady | NerdWallet“Sheer panic.” That’s what Teddy Mars of Louisiana felt when his homeowners insurance company didn’t renew his policy in early 2023. The last remaining option left him and his family paying more for homeowners insurance than their mortgage.To cover costs, Mars had to dip into his nest egg and withdraw $12,000 from his individual retirement account. “We’re not sitting on a huge mountain of cash here,” Mars says. And opting out of insurance isn’t an option when you have a mortgage.“It’ll break my heart, but I think we’re going to have to leave,” says Mars, who grew up in Louisiana. But with a son in high school, it’s not easy to pack up and leave town. Plus, Mars worries about the saleability of his home. “Who wants to buy a house in our area when they can’t insure it?”Mars’ story is becoming all too familiar among Americans as climate catastrophes tear through the country with greater frequency and ferocity. Combined with inflation and an i...

Patriots rookie Christian Gonzalez recognized for stellar start to career

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

Patriots rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez earned the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Month for September, the league announced Thursday.Gonzalez, who was selected 17th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft, has 16 total tackles, one sack, one interception and three passes defensed through the first three weeks of his NFL career.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | How JuJu Smith-Schuster feels about role on Patriots through slow start to season New England Patriots | Callahan: Why this change in Mac Jones’ game could spur an upset of the Cowboys New England Patriots | Patriots-Cowboys injury report: Mac Jones gets more help than Dak Prescott on Wednesday New England Patriots | Ezekiel Elliott knows why he’s coming off his best game as a Patriot New England Patriots | Mac Jones feels Patriots’ passing attack can still improve in two key facets Most impressive, Gonzalez has matched up against...

House Republicans make their case for President Biden impeachment inquiry at first hearing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

By FARNOUSH AMIRI, LISA MASCARO and ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans launched their formal impeachment hearing Thursday against President Joe Biden, saying they intend to “provide accountability” as they make their case to the public, their colleagues and skeptics in the Senate.The chairmen of the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees are using the first hearing of their impeachment inquiry to review the constitutional and legal questions involved. They are trying to show what they say are links to his son Hunter’s overseas businesses, though key witnesses said they do not yet see hard evidence of impeachable offenses.Rep. James Comer, R-Ky, the Oversight chairman, said the lawmakers have “a mountain of evidence” that will show that the elder Biden “abused his public office for his family’s financial gain.”Comer said the panel will continue to “follow the money and the...

Why this week’s mass exodus from embattled Nagorno-Karabakh reflects decades of animosity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The exodus of ethnic Armenians this week from the region known as Nagorno-Karabakh has been a vivid and shocking tableau of fear and misery. Roads are jammed with cars lumbering with heavy loads, waiting for hours in traffic jams. People sit amid mounds of hastily packed luggage.As of Thursday, about 70,000 people had left the breakaway region for Armenia. That’s a huge number — more than half of the population of the region that is located entirely within Azerbaijan.Still, it’s not the largest displacement of civilians in three decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.After ethnic Armenian forces secured control of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories in 1994, refugee organizations estimated that some 900,000 people had fled to Azerbaijan and 300,000 to Armenia.When war broke out again in 2020 and Azerbaijan seized more territory, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees s...

Last samba in Paris: Gabriela Hearst exits Chloé dancing, not crying, with runway swan song

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

PARIS (AP) — In a bold departure from the somber farewells often seen in fashion, designer Gabriela Hearst literally danced her way out of Chloé at her final show Thursday, radiating pure, unapologetic joy. Rather than poignant goodbyes, Hearst opted for lively samba beats, leaving an indelible mark on the onlookers as she lithely pirouetted past guests carefree alongside one of Brazil’s most reputed Samba schools. It wasn’t just about an exit; it was a celebration. And as the curtains drew on her Chloé chapter, Hearst’s pioneering green legacy remained in sharp focus.Delving into the Spring-Summer 2024 ready-to-wear collections, here are Thursday’s highlights, including when AP caught up with Cher at Givenchy:HEARST’S SWAN SONGHearst, a designer renowned for exploring the boundaries of femininity, bid adieu to Chloé in spectacular style. On Thursday, her final bow with the house celebrated minimalism and sportiness, weaving in her unmistakable touch of modernity.Kicking...

Swiss court acquits former Belarusian security operative in case of enforced disappearances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — A court in northern Switzerland on Thursday acquitted a former security Belarusian operative over the enforced disappearances of three of President Aleksander Lukashenko’s political opponents in the late 1990s, said an advocacy group that spearheaded the case.Judges in the northern town of Rorschach said they were not convinced that the defendant, Yuri Harauski, a former member of a Belarusian military unit known as SOBR, was involved in the disappearances.According to the Geneva-based advocacy group TRIAL International, the court ruled that Harauski’s participation in the crimes could not be established beyond reasonable doubt.“The families of the victims remain in a state of uncertainty about the exact circumstances of their loved ones’ disappearances,” said the group.TRIAL International, the International Federation of Human Rights and Viasna — a Belarusian rights group whose founder Ales Bialiatski was a co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize — jointly...

Drive a Hyundai or Kia? See if your car is one of the nearly 3.4 million under recall for fire risks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Nearly 3.4 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles in the U.S. are under recall due to the risk of engine compartment fires and it’s important for drivers to check if their car is one of them.Both the companies and federal regulators are warning owners of the recalled vehicles to park them outdoors until repairs are made. Mail notifications about the recalls won’t begin until November, but owners can check right now to see if their vehicle in on the list — which covers multiple car and SUV models from the model years 2010 through 2019.Here’s what you need to know about the recalls and what to do if your car is impacted by it.Why are these Hyundai and Kia cars getting recalled?According to documents posted this week by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an anti-lock brake control module in recalled vehicles can leak fluid and cause an electrical short, which can touch off a fire whether the cars or being driven, or are parked. Hyundai h...

Shutdown’s shadow, Biden’s speech and arguing the case: Takeaways from the House impeachment hearing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Thursday are holding the first hearing of their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and their effort to tie the him to the business dealings to his son Hunter. It’s a high-stakes opening act for Republicans as they begin a process that can lead to the ultimate penalty for a president, punishment for what the Constitution describes as “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said the committee had “uncovered a mountain of evidence” that he said would show how the Democratic president abused his power and repeatedly lied about a “wall” between his political position and his son’s private business dealings. “There was no wall,” Comer said.Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden for years, since his father was vice president. While questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business, no evidence has emerged so far to pro...

First congressional hearing on Maui wildfire focuses on island’s sole electric provider and grid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

Hawaii’s top public utility officials and the president of Hawaiian Electric testified Thursday in a congressional hearing about the role the electrical grid played in last month’s deadly Maui wildfire. Members of a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee question the utility officials about how the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century began — and whether the electrical grid in Lahaina was safe and properly maintained. The fire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, mostly homes. It first erupted at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, when strong winds appeared to cause a Hawaiian Electric power line to fall, igniting dry brush and grass near a large subdivision.There is still much to sort out about the fire, Rep. Morgan Griffith R-Virginia said at the hearing’s start. Among questions that need to be answerered are how the fires spread and what efforts to reduce fire risk have been made in recent years. “It is extremely important that we ...

Furniture designer crafts a chair named ‘solace’ to aid those harmed by Fiona’s wrath

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:17:50 GMT

HALIFAX — Furniture designer Jonathan Otter has created a chair that suggests both a hurricane’s power and the support needed afterwards, as part of a fundraiser for those rebuilding after post-tropical storm Fiona.His work crafted from Nova Scotia red oak is up for auction at a starting bid of $30,000, and is among three artistic creations the United Way is selling to raise funds for those still recovering from the storm that hit Feb. 24, 2022.The auction also includes a hand-carved wood sculpture by Adam McNamara and an ink and water colour print of a tree ring by Kalen Roblee, and all three works were made from trees downed by Fiona.The storm was the costliest extreme weather event in the East Coast’s history, with about 100 houses destroyed by a tidal surge in southwestern Newfoundland, along with woodlands, farms, businesses and homes damaged across Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.Otter says the woodlands he grew up in on his parents’ farm in central Nova...