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More retailers are charging return fees. Here’s how to pay less

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

By Kimberly Palmer | NerdWalletIf you’re someone who likes to return and exchange gifts after the holidays, prepare yourself: Making returns could feel a little different this year.“It’s going to be hard for consumers to navigate,” says shopping expert Trae Bodge. “The return policies are all over the place.” The biggest change, she adds, is that more retailers are charging fees for returned merchandise.About 40% of online and brick-and-mortar retailers are charging fees for returns this year compared with 31% last year, according to David Morin, vice president of customer strategy at Narvar, which handles shipping, tracking and returns information post-purchase for online retailers. Those return shipping or restocking fees are generally $3.99 to $9.99, he says.The good news is there are ways to minimize return fees and in some cases avoid them altogether. Here’s what experts recommend.Review return policies in advanceBecause retailer return policies vary so much and many have recen...

US women are stocking up on abortion pills, especially when there is news about restrictions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

By LAURA UNGAR (AP Science Writer)Thousands of women stocked up on abortion pills just in case they needed them, new research shows, with demand peaking in the past couple years at times when it looked like the medications might become harder to get. Medication abortion accounts for more than half of all abortions in the U.S., and typically involves two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol. A research letter published Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at requests for these pills from people who weren’t pregnant and sought them through Aid Access, a European online telemedicine service that prescribes them for future and immediate use.Aid Access received about 48,400 requests from across the U.S. for so-called “advance provision” from September 2021 through April 2023. Requests were highest right after news leaked in May 2022 that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade — but before the formal announcement that June, researchers found. Nationally, t...

Series of small explosions, no injuries reported after 1.7-magnitude quake in New York

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A 1.7 magnitude earthquake that hit New York City early Tuesday may have caused a series of small explosions on an island between Manhattan and Queens, officials said.The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the quake occurred at 5:45 a.m. near the Astoria section of Queens. There were no reports of injuries or structural damage and no impacts to transit, traffic or utility services, New York City Office of Emergency Management spokesperson Aries Dela Cruz said.Some residents of Manhattan and Queens reported what sounded like small explosions shortly before 6 a.m. coming from Roosevelt Island, a 2-mile (3.2-kilometer)-long strip of land in the East River between the two boroughs.Allan Drury, a spokesperson for Consolidated Edison, said officials at the utility suspect that the quake caused the explosions, since they happened around the same time. Drury said there were no power outages.The New York City earthquake happened a few hours after a 2.3 magnitude quake was r...

Frank Ryan, the last quarterback to lead the Cleveland Browns to an NFL title, has died at 87

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Frank Ryan, the quarterback who led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964, has died. He was 87.The team said Ryan died Monday at a nursing home in Connecticut. There was no immediate cause of death given, but Ryan’s son, Frank Ryan Jr., told Cleveland.com that his father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.Ryan threw three touchdown passes to Gary Collins as the Browns shocked Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas and the favored Baltimore Colts 27-0 on Dec. 27, 1964. Cleveland hasn’t won a football championship since and remains one of four teams never to make the Super Bowl.However, with Ryan and Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly, the Browns were a perennial power in the early to mid-1960s.Following his playing career, Ryan, who earned a doctorate in mathematics at Rice, worked for the U.S. House of Representatives.A three-time Pro Bowler with the Browns, Ryan spent seven seasons with Cleveland, compiling a 52-22-2 recor...

Indiana woman is rescued after passerby directs police to car crash site along little-used road

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

GARY, Ind. (AP) — A woman who was trapped in a car that crashed early on New Years Day was rescued after a passerby directed officers to the crash scene along a little-used northwest Indiana road, police said.Police and emergency responders spent two hours searching unsuccessfully for the car after a woman called 911 about 3:40 a.m. Monday and said she and another woman were trapped in a car that had flipped over in Gary, police said.One of the women eventually got out of the wrecked car, which was upside down, and flagged down a passerby who directed officers to the crash, the Lake County Sheriff’s Department said.Greg Zellers, who’s a mechanic, said he was on his way to work about 6:30 a.m. when the woman flagged him down and walked him to where the car had crashed about 50 yards (46 meters) from the roadway.He told WLS-TV the car’s headlights and tail lights weren’t visible and there is little traffic on the road in Gary’s Buffington Harbor area.“It’...

Man found dead at Salt Lake City airport after climbing inside jet engine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man was found dead inside an airplane engine Monday night at Salt Lake City International Airport after police say he breached an emergency exit door, walked onto the tarmac and climbed inside the jet’s engine.Officers found the 30-year-old man unconscious inside an engine mounted to the wing of a commercial aircraft loaded with passengers, the Salt Lake City Police Department announced Tuesday. The plane had been sitting on a de-icing pad, and the engine was not running, according to a preliminary investigation.Police did not release the man’s name or cause of death.The manager of a store inside the airport reported a disturbance just before 10 p.m., telling dispatchers with the Airport Control Center that he saw a man pass through the emergency exit. After finding him, first responders pulled the man out of the engine intake cowling, which directs air flow to the engine fan section, and attempted life-saving measures. He was pronounced dead at the sce...

Canada pledges to work with U.S. over competing claims to Arctic sea floor

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

The federal government is pledging to work with its American counterparts after the U.S. claimed parts of the Arctic sea floor that Canada also wants. The U.S. filed its claim last month with the United Nations agency that evaluates such requests.As expected, it includes a large chunk of the Beaufort Sea floor that Canada also seeks to control.A UN treaty gives countries rights over seabeds and their natural resources if they can prove their continental shelf extends past 200 nautical miles from their coast and is a natural extension of the continent.Canada filed its claim in 2019, which overlaps with those of Russia and Denmark, as well as the U.S.Although the U.S. has not signed the Convention of the Law of the Sea, it has pledged to work within it. The UN doesn’t rule on boundaries, but evaluates the science behind each country’s claim and leaves it to them to negotiate a settlement. The Canadian Press

Sister of North Korean leader derides South Korea’s president but praises his predecessor

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has derided South Korea’s conservative president for being “foolishly brave” but called his liberal predecessor “smart” — rhetoric likely meant to help stoke domestic divisions in South Korea.Her statement Tuesday came as a response to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s New Year’s Day address, in which he said he would bolster South Korea’s military capability and enhance its alliance with the U.S. to cope with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats.Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has made such comments numerous times. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, used Yoon’s latest remarks as an opportunity to fire off derisive rhetoric against him.“Since his inauguration he’s been clamoring for the strengthening of the South Korea-U.S. extended deterrence and focusing on their joint military drills, bringing the fate of South Korea to the brink,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. ...

Gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines acquires minority stake in Canada Nickel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

TORONTO — Gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. has acquired a minority stake in Canada Nickel Co. Ltd. in what it says is an early stage investment in the growing critical minerals sector.Under the deal, Agnico Eagle says it has bought 19.6 million units of Canada Nickel in a flow-through offering at a price of $1.18 per unit for a total of $23.1 million.Each unit includes one share of Canada Nickel and 0.35 of a share purchase warrant, which entitles the holder to acquire a share at a set price of $1.77 at any time before Dec. 29, 2026, subject to conditions.The investment gives Agnico Eagle a 12 per cent stake in Canada Nickel on a non-diluted basis and also gives it a right to maintain its stake in Canada Nickel in future financings and to nominate one person to the company’s board of directors.Canada’s mining industry has been increasing its focus on critical minerals like copper, nickel and cobalt needed as part of the transition away from fossil fuels.Canada Nickel, ...

Honeymooning couple shares story of being in cab that crashed into tree near Millennium Park ice rink

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

CHICAGO — If you think you have an interesting story to tell about your honeymoon, you've probably got nothing compared to Joel Obrecht and Teresa Fedor of Toledo, Ohio.The newlyweds were honeymooning in Chicago over the New Year's holiday when they almost wound up on the ice rink at Millennium Park. But in a taxicab, not on ice skates.Obrecht and Fedor were the passengers in the cab that veered off the road and crashed into a tree near the ice rink in Millennium Park in the Loop on Monday afternoon. The couple, married just four days ago, says they hailed the cab near their hotel to go to Millennium Park. The driver, a 66-year-old man, attempted a U-turn in an effort to drop Obrecht and Fedor off on Michigan Ave., but he hit a curb and wound up driving over two different medians, across three lanes of traffic, over a sidewalk and through fence barriers and a bike rack before finally hitting a tree near near the McCormick Tribune Ice Rink. Woman in toll road crash struck, killed b...