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It might seem tempting to not pay your student loans. Here’s why that’s a bad idea

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After three years, the pandemic-era freeze on student loan payments will end in late August.It might seem tempting to just keep not making payments, but the consequences can be severe, including a hit to your credit score and exclusion from future aid and benefits.More than 40 million Americans will have to start making federal student loan payments again at the end of the summer under the terms of a debt ceiling deal approved by Congress.Millions are also waiting to find out whether the Supreme Court will allow President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan to go ahead. But payments will resume regardless of what justices decide.That means tough decisions for many borrowers, especially those in already-difficult financial situations.Experts say that delinquency and bankruptcy should be options of last resort, and that deferment and forbearance — which pause payments, though interest may continue to accrue — are often better in the short term. WHAT HAPPENS IF I ...

Edmunds Compares: 2023 Kia EV6 GT vs Tesla Model Y Performance

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

The electric car market is speeding up as consumer interest in EVs grows and a steady stream of new models arrive to fill different niches. Speed is the operative word when it comes to describing the 2023 Kia EV6 GT and Tesla Model Y Performance. These vehicles blend the acceleration and agility of a sports car with the packaging of an electric SUV. They also maintain a practical side thanks to their roomy second rows and a long roster of tech features. The automotive experts at Edmunds put these performance-themed EVs to the test to determine which is the better buy. PERFORMANCEThe Tesla Model Y Performance name provides an obvious hint that speed won’t be in short supply. The Performance trim sits above the base and Long Range versions of Tesla’s most popular model. Tesla doesn’t provide official horsepower ratings for the Model Y but the output is certainly prodigious. At Edmunds’ test track, the all-wheel-drive Model Y Performance needed only 3.7 seconds to zing its way from zer...

Russian court sends an associate of Kremlin foe Navalny to prison for 7 1/2 years

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Russia on Wednesday convicted an associate of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on extremism charges and sentenced her to 7 1/2 years in prison, the latest step in a yearslong crackdown by the Kremlin on opposition activists. Lilia Chanysheva, who used to head Navalny’s office in the Russian region of Bashkortostan, was found guilty of calling for extremism, forming an extremist group and founding an organization that violates rights. The charges against Chanysheva, who was arrested in November 2021, stem from a court ruling earlier that year that designated Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his regional offices as extremist organizations. In addition to the prison sentence, Chanysheva was fined 400,000 rubles (about $4,700). Her trial was conducted behind closed doors and she has maintained her innocence, rejecting the charges as politically motivated. Navalny himself is facing a new trial on extremism charges that c...

Abortion rights protests planned across Poland after death of pregnant woman

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Women’s rights advocates have called for protests in dozens of Polish cities on Wednesday under the slogan “Stop killing us,” after a woman in her fifth month of pregnancy died of sepsis, the latest such death since a tightening of Poland’s abortion law.The protests demanding a liberalization of the abortion law are scheduled to take place in the capital and nearly 50 other cities in the afternoon and evening.The 33-year-old woman died last month in the John Paul II hospital in Nowy Targ in southern Poland. It is a hospital in a deeply conservative region of the mostly Catholic nation. The hospital contains relics of the late Polish pope and Polish media have reported that it never performs abortions on principle.The woman, Dorota Lalik, arrived there after her waters broke and was told to lie with her legs up, as the medics hoped her fluids would be reconstituted. She developed sepsis and died three days later on May 24.Under the current law, women...

Greece: 32 migrants dead, more than 100 rescued after fishing vessel capsizes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — At least 32 people have died off the coast of southern Greece after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank, authorities said Wednesday.A large search and rescue operation was launched in the area. Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far following the nighttime incident some 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese region. Four of the survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. It was unclear how many passengers might remain missing at sea after the 32 bodies were recovered, the Greek coast guard said.Six coast guard vessels, a navy frigate, a military transport plane, an air force helicopter, several private vessels and a drone from the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, were taking part in the ongoing search.The Italy-bound boat is believed to have sailed from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya. The Italian coast guard first alerted Greek authorities and Frontex about the ...

Scottish charity Mary’s Meals wins Spain’s Princess of Asturias award

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Scottish charity group Mary’s Meals won a prestigious Spanish prize on Wednesday for its work feeding schoolchildren facing extreme poverty across the globe.The jury that decides the Princess of Asturias Awards gave Mary’s Meals its Concord Prize for “its exemplary dedication to helping resolve some of the world’s most pressing problems.”The charity, based in the Scottish village of Dalmally, started as Scottish International Relief in 1992 before taking on its current name in 2002 with its first school meals program in Malawi. It now helps more than 2.4 million schoolchildren eat every day in 18 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.The 50,000-euro ($54,000) Concord Prize is one of eight awards, including for the arts, sciences and sports, handed out annually by the foundation named for Spanish Crown Princess Leonor.Previous winners of the Concord Prize include Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, Spanish chef Jo...

Chicago Park District expected to vote on Riot Fest permit as some object

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

CHICAGO — Riot Fest is expected to take over Chicago’s Douglass Park in September. And while the event is expected to draw in huge crowds, people in the neighborhoods surrounding the park say they don’t want it to happen there anymore.On Wednesday, the Chicago Park District will vote on a $705,000 provisional permit for the festival.Close to 50,000 people are expected in the North Lawndale community when the festival takes place September 15- 17. Acts this year will include The Cure, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age. See the 2023 Riot Fest lineup Riot Fest has been held at the park for the last eight years but people have complained and say the millions made on the event doesn’t get reinvested into the community.Community members have also complained about the conditions Douglass Park facilities are left in after the fest is over.Some also have issues with the noise a large festival like Riot Fest can bring to the neighborhood. Some people say this type of festival with it...

Cloudy with chance of showers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

Wednesday is set to start out mostly cloudy. Clouds will then decrease as the day goes on. A 20% chance for showers. High of 76 and Low of 69. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Wednesday night will be partly cloudy with isolated showers.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog Thursday will be partly cloudy with a 20% chance of thunderstorms. Temps will drop in the afternoon. High of 78.

Nicholas Kristof: We are privileged to live an an age of miracles

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — One of the misimpressions people have about the world is that it’s going to hell.Perhaps that’s because humanity’s great triumph over the past half-century — huge reductions in poverty, disease and early death — goes largely unacknowledged. Just about the worst thing that can happen to anyone is to lose a child, and historically, almost half of children died before reaching adulthood. We happen to live in a transformational era in which 96% of the world’s children now survive until adulthood.That arc is visible here in Sierra Leone, a country that remains heartbreakingly poor — yet where the risk of a child dying is less than half what it was 20 years ago.You may have heard of Sierra Leone as “the most dangerous place in the world to give birth.” No longer true: Deaths in pregnancy and childbirth have plunged 74% since 2000, according to United Nations figures.In a remote health center, I met Yeabu Kargbo, 19, who had just given birth with the help of a trai...

5 dishes everyone should know how to grill

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:08 GMT

Grilling may be the world’s oldest, most universal cooking method, but that doesn’t guarantee automatic success. Just ask the person who routinely burns the burgers or whose fish always sticks to the grate.Suppose you’re a newcomer to the world of grilling or you just want a refresher. You don’t need to start with the thermodynamics of fire, the physics of fuels, the architecture of grills.Focus instead on the basics and a handful of dishes to put into your summer rotation: a tender, juicy steak; grilled chicken breast that actually tastes interesting; pork chops that evoke the spice and smoky flavors of your favorite barbecue joint; juicy burgers safely cooked; and fish that easily release from the grate.There are five methods of live-fire cooking: direct grilling, indirect, smoking, spit-roasting and on the embers, but direct grilling is the most universal. This means cooking tender, small or thin foods, like steaks or chops, directly over a hot fire. Don’t confuse it with barbecu...