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Asante-Muhammad: Baby bonds boldest step to closing racial wealth divide

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

Juneteenth celebrates the end of chattel slavery in the United States. But over 150 years later, discriminatory public policies have prevented African Americans from closing the racial wealth divide in this country they helped build.Policy created that divide — and policy can close it.One state is showing how to move forward in advancing racial economic equality. This year, Connecticut is launching the country’s first “Baby Bond” program.This program will invest $3,200 for every baby born into poverty in the state. The bonds are projected to grow to between $10,000 and $24,000 in value, depending on when they’re used.When they reach an age between 18 and 30, these Connecticut residents will be able to use that money to start a small business, get a higher education or job training, or buy a home.That money goes to poor residents regardless of their race. But because Black and Latino residents of the state are poorer than their white counterparts, the program will significantly addre...

Dear Abby: Readers share ‘tall tales’ about dealing with height

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

Dear Abby: Regarding “Tall Person Sympathizer” (Feb. 28), whose very tall husband and son hate the comments they receive, I am 6 feet, 8 inches tall, so I can relate. One does feel like part of a freak show and have to deal with things most average height people don’t think twice about, like, “Can I fit in that car?” or “Where can I buy clothes that fit?” And that tired basketball question. Yep, even at my age of 64 I still hear it.But the questions don’t bother me much anymore — except for “How’s the weather up there?” Now when someone asks the height question, I quickly respond with the obviously wrong answer of 5 feet 6. It always gets a laugh, and there usually is a little small talk after that, and I may even ask them their height. Then I tell them, I am 80 inches tall, which is true, and let them figure it out.Seriously, though, most people look favorably upon you and wish they themselves were taller. I...

Two minors killed after struck by car on SR-78

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

VISTA, Calif. -- Two minors are dead after being struck by a vehicle in traffic on the eastbound SR-78 Sunday night, the Vista Fire Department said.Fire officials were first alerted about the incident at 6:12 p.m., after receiving a call that the two had been hit on the highway just east of the Mar Vista exit.According to VFD Deputy Chief Brett Davidson, the minors, whose ages have not been disclosed by authorities, got out of the vehicle after the driver, their mom, had pulled onto the shoulder of SR-78. 25 unlicensed drivers cited during checkpoint in Escondido The two were struck by a vehicle in oncoming traffic and were later pronounced dead on the scene by authorities.According to VFD, the exact number of people in the car that had pulled over is not known at this time.Details about what led up to the collision remain under investigation by California Highway Patrol. However, Davidson said a suitcase that had come lose from the top of the car is possibly what prompted the tw...

VIDEO: Baby seal climbs onto Pacific Beach surfers' boards

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A baby seal was spotted climbing from surfboard to surfboard near Pacific Beach, riding the waves from above water.The pup can be seen wiggling onto the boards of surfers in the Tourmaline - Pump House area of Pacific Beach in drone footage obtained by FOX 5 Saturday. Video of the pup climbing onto a surfboard can be viewed in the player above.SeaWorld, who was notified by the surfers after the seal first surfaced, sent a crew out to evaluate the pup. According to the theme park, the seal appeared healthy and was in the water when their team arrived."There was no need to intervene as the pup also appeared to be old enough to care for itself," SeaWorld said in a statement to FOX 5. VIDEO: Wattled jacana chicks nestle under their father’s wing at San Diego Zoo A seal climbing onto a surfer's board in Pacific Beach. (Courtesy of Edwin D. Hartel/@DroneDudeEd)A seal on a surfer's board in Pacific Beach. (Courtesy of Edwin D. Hartel/@DroneDudeEd)A seal climbing onto a surf...

Japan’s emperor meets with Indonesian president on his first official foreign trip as emperor

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

BOGOR, Indonesia (AP) — Japanese Emperor Naruhito met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday, the third day of his first official foreign trip since ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.Widodo and Indonesia’s first lady, Iriana, welcomed Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Bogor presidential palace, along with greeters wearing Indonesian traditional clothes and a military band that played both national anthems.“I feel very honored because Indonesia is the first destination for the Japanese emperor’s bilateral state visit abroad,” Widodo said.Naruhito is seeking to underline the friendship between Japan and Indonesia during his week-long visit, and officials said the two leaders would talk about cooperation between the countries.The emperor arrived in the capital Saturday and visited some places in the city, including a station of the Jakarta MRT, which is Indonesia’s first subway line and was financed by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation...

5 killed after truck collides with bus in Hokkaido in northern Japan

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Five people were killed and 12 others taken to the hospital after a truck collided with a bus in Hokkaido in northern Japan, according to local media reports.Police said the truck might have strayed into oncoming traffic, Kyodo news agency reported. The bus was carrying 15 passengers at the time of the accident, which occurred on Sunday.The drivers of both vehicles died in the crash, Kyodo said.Video from broadcaster NTV showed the mangled wreckage of the two vehicles stuck on the road in the aftermath of the crash.The bus was traveling from Sapporo to Hakodate, and the truck was carrying pigs from Hakodate to Yakumo, Kyodo said.The Associated Press

What if things could turn out differently? How the multiverse got into our heads and didn’t let go

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

“Let’s do things differently this time.”Those are the first words you hear in this month’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” an otherworldly meditation on multiple realities. The message is clear from the get-go: We have choices. You are you, sure. But wait — you might also be you and you and you.The world is a stressful, sometimes lonely place. But what if things could turn out another way? What if, somewhere, they had? Enter the realm of the multiverse and alternate realities, one of the most glorified pop culture canvases — and a repository for the ache and longing of living in an era of uncertainty.“The cultural assumption used to be that the world we live in is the way it is, and that’s the only way it could be,” says Douglas Wolk, who read 27,000 Marvel comics for his book, “All of the Marvels.”“What has happened in culture,” Wolk says, “is that people are saying, ‘Well, no. This consensus reality is not how things have to be.’”The notion of exploring life’s twists and tu...

Biden to hold 4 fundraisers in San Francisco area as he revs up 2024 campaign

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ramps up his reelection effort this week with four fundraisers in the San Francisco area, as his campaign builds up its coffers and lays strategic foundations for 2024.In the back half of June, Biden’s campaign will have over 20 fundraisers involving the president, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, according to a person involved in Biden’s travel plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss the schedule.More than half of the fundraisers are with the president, who will also be traveling to New York, Maryland and Illinois. Biden hit the themes of his campaign at a Friday fundraising event in Connecticut, saying his goal is to do more to tell voters about his legislative accomplishments with infrastructure, computer chip production and programs for responding to climate change, among other policies.“There’s a lot we’ve done,” Biden said Friday. “We just got to let many people know we...

Captivated by the multiverse and alternate realities? Here’s a handy guide to some good stuff

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

Loved “Everything Everywhere All at Once?” Can’t get enough of “The Flash” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” this month? Then this list is for you. We’ve compiled a non-exhaustive sampler of fiction about alternate universes and multiverses — from movies to TV to comics to books. It’s a great starter kit if your media tastes run to asking: What if? MOVIES:— “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946): In this Christmas classic, family man George Bailey grows increasingly frustrated as opportunities pass him by, and it takes an angel-in-training — on Christmas Eve — to dump him into a universe where he never existed and show him how important his life is.— “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022): After years of hints and slivers, including an emerging plotline in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021), Marvel goes full-on multiverse in this exploration of how realities can collide and start bleeding into each other.— “Sliding Doors” (1998): Gwyneth Paltrow m...

Trump, other Republicans conjure a familiar enemy in attacking Democrats as ‘Marxists,’ ‘communists’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:18:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Lashing out after his arraignment on federal charges last week, Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden and Democrats with language that seemed to evoke another era: He was being persecuted, he said, by “Marxists” and “communists.”Trump has used the labels since he first appeared on the political scene, but it lately has become an omnipresent attack line that also has been deployed by other Republicans. The rhetoric is both inaccurate and potentially dangerous because it attempts to demonize an entire party with a description that has long been associated with America’s enemies.Experts who study political messaging say associating Democrats with Marxism only furthers the country’s polarization — and is simply wrong: Biden has promoted capitalism and Democratic lawmakers are not pushing to reshape American democracy into a communist system.That hasn’t mattered to Trump and other Republicans, who for years have used hyperbolic references to the a...