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Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, an FBI report says

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – An FBI seal is seen on a wall on Aug. 10, 2022, in Omaha, Neb. The FBI says scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year. An FBI report released Tuesday shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report released Tuesday that shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings.

Losses from scams reported by Americans over the age of 60 last year were up 11% over the year before, according to the FBI’s report. Investigators are warning of a rise in brazen schemes to drain bank accounts that involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.

“It can be a devastating impact to older Americans who lack the ability to go out and make money,” said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “People lose all their money. Some people become destitute.” Continue reading

New study calculates climate changes economic bite will hit about 38 trillion a year by 2049

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – People watch the sunset at a park on an unseasonably warm day, Feb. 25, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. A new study says climate change will reduce future global income by about 19% in the next 25 years compared to a fictional world that’s not warming. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

Climate change will reduce future global income by about 19% in the next 25 years compared to a fictional world that’s not warming, with the poorest areas and those least responsible for heating the atmosphere taking the biggest monetary hit, a new study said.

Climate change’s economic bite in how much people make is already locked in at about $38 trillion a year by 2049, according to Wednesday’s study in the journal Nature by researchers at Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. By 2100 the financial cost could hit twice what previous studies estimate.

“Our analysis shows that climate change will cause massive economic damages within the next 25 years in almost all countries around the world, also in highly-developed ones such as Germany and the U.S., with a projected median income reduction of 11% each and France with 13%,” said study co-author Leonie Wenz, a climate scientist and economist. Continue reading

Would you like a cicada salad? The monstrous little noisemakers descend on a New Orleans menu

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

Zach Lemann, curator of animal collections for the Audubon Insectarium, prepares cicadas for eating at the insectarium in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The insectarium plans to demonstrate ways to cook cicadas at the little in-house snack bar where it already serves other insect dishes. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As the nation prepares for trillions of red-eyed bugs known as periodical cicadas to emerge, it’s worth noting that they’re not just annoying, noisy pests — if prepared properly, they can also be tasty to eat.

Blocks away from such French Quarter fine-dining stalwarts as Antoine’s and Brennan’s, the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long served up an array of alternative, insect-based treats at its “Bug Appetit” cafe overlooking the Mississippi River. “Cinnamon Bug Crunch,” chili-fried waxworms, and crispy, cajun-spiced crickets are among the menu items.

Periodical cicadas stay buried for years, until they surface and take over a landscape. Depending on the variety, the emergence happens every 13 or 17 years. This year two groups are expected to emerge soon, averaging around 1 million per acre over hundreds of millions of acres across parts of 16 states in the Midwest and South. Continue reading

Record Store Day celebrates indie retail music sellers as they ride vinyl’s popularity wave

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

Jeff Maimon, of Chicago, checks out some vinyl at Tracks In Wax record shop, Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Phoenix. Special LP releases, live performances and at least one giant block party are scheduled around the U.S. Saturday as hundreds of shops celebrate Record Store Day amid a surge of interest in vinyl and the day after the release of Taylor Swift’s latest album. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Special LP releases, live performances and at least one giant block party are scheduled around the U.S. Saturday as hundreds of shops celebrate Record Store Day during a surge of interest in vinyl and the day after the release of Taylor Swift’s latest album.

There were no announced Record Store Day specials for the arrival of Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, but her fans always anxiously look forward to the new albums and accompanying collectible LPs.

In suburban strip malls and big city downtowns, indie record stores are often the first to recognize and promote emerging artists. Years before Swift was setting Grammy records and selling out concerts in Japan, Bull Moose Music in Portland, Maine, was giving away one of her autographed guitars in an enter-to-win contest.

“We were carrying her music before all the big stores. We always knew she would be a star,” said Chris Brown of employee-owned Bull Moose and a co-founder of Record Store Day. Continue reading

Olympic gold is great, but athletes say some cash to go with it is even better

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – Lamont Marcell Jacobs, of Italy poses with his gold medal following the men’s 100-meters final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021, in Tokyo. Track and field is set to become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics, with World Athletics saying Wednesday, April 10, 2024, it would pay $50,000 to gold medalists in Paris. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

By HOWARD FENDRICH and EDDIE PELLS AP National Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — They compete for a trophy, a ring, the chance to be called a champion and, sometimes, a place in history. Most of the world’s best athletes in all sorts of sports compete for cold, hard cash, too.

After more than 100 years of striving to earn Olympic gold — but nothing else from the folks organizing the event — track and field athletes at the Paris Games will join that money-making club thanks to the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.

In a first-of-its-kind development, the runners, throwers and jumpers lining up at the Stade de France in August will be trying to win a $50,000 check to go with the gold. It’s a novel — some might say overdue — concept that has athletes in other sports wondering if they can get a piece of that action. Continue reading

Only 26% of Americans say they get at least eight hours of sleep, new Gallup poll says

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – A traveler takes a nap as he waits for a ride outside Miami International Airport, Friday, July 1, 2022, in Miami. The Gallup survey, released Monday, April 15, 2024, says that a majority of Americans say they would feel better if they could have more sleep. But in the U.S., where the ethos of grinding and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is ubiquitous, getting enough sleep can seem like a dream. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

By DEEPTI HAJELA and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — If you’re feeling — YAWN — sleepy or tired while you read this and wish you could get some more shut-eye, you’re not alone. A majority of Americans say they would feel better if they could have more sleep, according to a new poll.

But in the U.S., the ethos of grinding and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is ubiquitous, both in the country’s beginnings and our current environment of always-on technology and work hours. And getting enough sleep can seem like a dream.

The Gallup poll, released Monday, found 57% of Americans say they would feel better if they could get more sleep, while only 42% say they are getting as much sleep as they need. That’s a first in Gallup polling since 2001; in 2013, when Americans were last asked, it was just about the reverse — 56% saying they got the needed sleep and 43% saying they didn’t. Continue reading

Spring Cleaning: A Waste of Time or Essential for Happy Living?

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Marly Garman | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Upwards of 86% of United States respondents plan to declutter and deep clean their homes this spring, according to Nextdoor’s January 2024 survey. As many as 29% plan to dedicate an entire day to the process, and others plan to spend more than a week getting their house in perfect order.

One might expect to see parks buzzing with people enjoying the sun after months inside. There’s something else topping many to-do lists that people are eager to accomplish this spring.

Is spring cleaning more ritual, tradition, habit, or necessity for well-being? Recent data suggests it may be a combination of all four. But one thing is clear: removing clutter and enjoying a clean, fresh-smelling home are the top priorities for feeling happier at home this spring. Continue reading

Even in the age of Google Earth, people still buy globes. Here’s why they remain so alluring

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

An artist paints a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Globes in the age of Google Earth capture the imagination and serve as snapshots of how the owners see the world and their place in it. Peter Bellerby made his first globe for his father, after he could not find one accurate or attractive enough. In 2008, he founded Bellerby & Co. Globemakers in London. His team of dozens of artists and cartographers has made thousands of bespoke globes up to 50 inches in diameter. The most ornate can cost six figures. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Find a globe in your local library or classroom and try this: Close the eyes, spin it and drop a finger randomly on its curved, glossy surface.

You’re likely to pinpoint a spot in the water, which covers 71% of the planet. Maybe you’ll alight on a place you’ve never heard of — or a spot that no longer exists after a war or because of climate change. Perhaps you’ll feel inspired to find out who lives there and what it’s like. Trace the path of totality ahead of Monday’s solar eclipse. Look carefully, and you’ll find the cartouche — the globemaker’s signature — and the antipode ( look it up ) of where you’re standing right now.

In the age of Google Earth, watches that triangulate and cars with built-in GPS, there’s something about a globe — a spherical representation of the world in miniature — that somehow endures.

London globemaker Peter Bellerby thinks the human yearning to “find our place in the cosmos” has helped globes survive their original purpose — navigation — and the internet. He says it’s part of the reason he went into debt making a globe for his father’s 80th birthday in 2008. The experience helped inspire his company, and 16 years later is keeping his team of about two dozen artists, cartographers and woodworkers employed. Continue reading

Who wouldn’t like prices to start falling? Careful what you wish for, economists say

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – Plastic bottles of Pepsi are displayed at a grocery store in New York on Nov. 15, 2023. Before inflation began heating up, a 2-liter bottle of soda it cost an average of $1.67 in supermarkets across America. Three years later it is going for $2.25 – a 35% increase.(AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans are in a sour mood about the economy for one main reason: Prices feel too high.

Maybe they’re not rising as fast as they had been, but average prices are still painfully above where they were three years ago. And they’re mostly heading higher still.

Consider a 2-liter bottle of soda: In February 2021, before inflation began heating up, it cost an average of $1.67 in supermarkets across America. Three years later? That bottle is going for $2.25 — a 35% increase.

Or egg prices. They soared in 2022, then fell back down. Yet they’re still 43% higher than they were three years ago.

Likewise, the average used-car price: It rocketed from roughly $23,000 in February 2021 to $31,000 in April 2022. By last month, the average was down to $26,752. But that’s still up 16% from February 2021. Continue reading

Baltimore bridge collapse: Who will pay for the destroyed bridge, harmed businesses and lost lives?

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

A crane is seen near the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Baltimore. A cargo ship rammed into the major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to collapse in a matter of seconds. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

By REBECCA BOONE and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland is a multi-layered tragedy: For the families and friends of those killed or presumed dead, it’s a profound and personal loss. For businesses that rely on the Port of Baltimore, it’s an economic nightmare.

And for the federal courts, it will soon become a balance of dollars and facts, with a network of insurance companies expected to foot at least some of the bill.

The disaster happened early Tuesday when a cargo ship lost power and rammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. Eight people were on the highway bridge when it collapsed. Two were rescued. The bodies of two more were recovered, and four remain missing and are presumed dead.

The wreckage closed the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping port, potentially costing the area’s economy hundreds millions of dollars in lost labor income alone over the next month, according to the economic analysis company Implan. Continue reading