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Are you a points and miles hoarder? Here’s how to get over it

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

Most personal finance advice boils down to this: Save as much as you can, and spend as little as you can.That’s the simplest way to accumulate wealth, build investment income and achieve financial independence (even if it’s not so simple in practice).Yet when it comes to travel rewards — those points and miles earned through airline, hotel and credit card programs — this conventional wisdom is turned on its head. Saving a million miles might sound impressive, but it’s generally a poor financial decision.“I hear all the time from business travelers who ‘saved their miles for retirement,’ and are devastated to learn that the purchasing power of their miles isn’t what it would have been five, ten, fifteen years ago,” Tiffany Funk, co-founder and president of travel rewards booking search tool Point.me, said in an email.“Programs have successfully made loyalty currencies feel so valuable that people are often reluctant to use them because they are afraid they are giving up too much valu...

Ticked off! @Tampa Bay Rays

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

I’m ticked off at the Tampa Bay Rays who have a stadium capacity of 31,612 and the attendance on March 2 was 2,531 yet they still make the call to charge a “Convenience Fee” (Strike 1!) and a “Per Order Fee” (Strike 2!) to ticket sales. These fees are even in the ballpark if you’re trying to see a Spring Training game (Strike 3!). That’s a real foul call in my book and I’m calling myself out of your games!My HOA is so nasty to members, primarily the “Condo Commander” who thinks she runs/owns the place and rules don’t apply to her. There is more than one way to skin a cat and to that end we need a kinder and gentler HOA board. Unfortunately, no one else wants the job.We wanted to go see “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Performing Arts Center and the cost of tickets is ridiculous! The show is a drama best appreciated in an intimate theater, not a cavernous hall from nosebleed seats. I can’t image this sh...

NFL’s Jon Bostic leading the charge for $38 million Wellington athletic complex

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

A major addition to the Palm Beach County sports scene is coming soon, and a current NFL linebacker is leading the charge.NFL linebacker Jon Bostic, who starred at Palm Beach Central High and the Florida Gators, is at the forefront of a plan to build a state-of-the-art sports complex in Wellington called the Wellington Sports Academy. Bostic, who played for the NFL’s Washington Commanders the last four seasons and is now a free agent, said it will be the biggest facility of its kind in the state.The complex, which is being built through a partnership between Bostic’s private ownership group, Wellington Athletics LLC, and the city of Wellington, will be located on a 17.2 acre site at Wellington Community Park. The plans were approved by the Wellington Village Council last year, and the expected price tag is $38 million, with Bostic and his partners contributing $5 million. The city of Wellington will pay for the rest through bonds.The complex, which is expected to be abou...

MBTA lifts systemwide 25 mph speed restriction, except for Mattapan and Green Lines

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

The MBTA lifted the global speed restriction on the Red, Blue and Orange Lines, but speeds remain capped at 25 mph on the Mattapan and Green Lines, Interim General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville said.Localized speed restrictions remain on the Red, Blue and Orange Lines in areas that have not been inspected or that do not permit normal speeds, Gonneville said at a Friday press conference.The systemwide restriction, lifted on Friday morning, was implemented at approximately 5:30 p.m. Thursday, as a result of a Red Line track inspection conducted this week by the Department of Public Utilities.“As the MBTA continues to address these issues, I’m looking for a full and complete review of the circumstances that brought us here today,” Gonneville said. “We are asking riders to please be patient and allow us until the start of service on Monday to validate repairs and verify speeds.“I understand that these actions will add additional travel time for people taking the T and we apologize for thes...

VIDEO: Man fights fire with garden hose

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A Good Samaritan tried to put out a car fire with a garden hose in the Normal Heights neighborhood on Thursday night, video shows.The incident occurred around 9 p.m. on 3400 block of El Cajon Boulevard. Fire breaks out at National City grocery store Eric Davignon said he received a call from his girlfriend who told him she saw flames near their apartment building, while she was driving home. He looked out his back balcony and saw a fire near a fence that separates their building from a parking lot.Davignon sprung into action. He said he sprinted around the building and grabbed a garden hose, which he carried to the scene. He started spraying water on a car that was on fire as well as the fence in an effort to keep the blaze from spreading to the apartment building. According to Davignon, fire crews arrived to the scene within minutes and were able to extinguish the blaze quickly. "It could have probably gotten worse, I’m glad we had that hose," said Davignon. "I don’...

Canada bans Russian steel, aluminum imports as Joly raises ‘regime change’ in Moscow

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada is banning the import of Russian steel and aluminum as part of its sanctions regime, as Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly raises the possibility of regime change in Moscow.Joly made the remarks at a Friday press conference where she discussed the importance of maintaining a diplomatic presence in Moscow.“We’re able to see how much we’re isolating the Russian regime right now — because we need to do so economically, politically and diplomatically — and what are the impacts also on society, and how much we’re seeing potential regime change in Russia,” she said.The Liberals have pushed for regime change in Iran, but Joly has not previously said the same about Russia. She said regime change is indeed the point of sanctions and pursuing accountability for alleged war crimes. “The goal is definitely to do that, is to weaken Russia’s ability to launch very difficult attacks against Ukraine. We want also to make sure that Putin a...

US says intelligence shows Russia stirring unrest in Moldova

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that people with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in hopes of toppling the Moldovan government, according to the White House.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the intelligence shows that actors, some connected with Russian intelligence, are seeking to stage and use protests in Moldova as a basis to foment an insurrection against Moldova’s new pro-Western government.Kirby said the intelligence shows that another set of Russian actors would provide training and help manufacture demonstrations in Moldova, which was granted European Union candidate status in June, on the same day as Ukraine, its war-torn neighbor. The publicizing of the alleged malign operation by Moscow in Moldova is just the latest example of the Biden administration loosening restrictions on and making public intelligence findings over the course of the grinding war in Ukraine. The administrati...

Connecticut rest stop workers due $2.7M in wages: lawsuit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut is suing the operator of the state’s 23 highway rest stops, alleging the company is refusing to pay more than $2.7 million in back wages owed to food service workers for Subway, Dunkin’ and other restaurant chains, state Attorney General William Tong announced Friday.The state labor commissioner’s lawsuit was filed against New Haven-based Project Service, which runs the service plazas along interstates 95 and 395 and Route 15. The company is responsible for any failure of its subcontractors to follow wage laws and other legal requirements, according to the lawsuit filed in Hartford Superior Court.The lawsuit alleges that from 2017 to 2019, the plaza workers were not paid the state’s “standard wage,” an amount for certain state contractor employees that typically is a few dollars per hour higher than the state’s minimum wage. A state investigation found more than 2,000 workers were underpaid, Tong said.Project Ser...

Why would Russia use hypersonic missile in strike on Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

The latest Russian missile barrage against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure has marked one of the largest such attacks in months.On Thursday, Russia fired over 80 missiles in a massive effort to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and cripple the country’s energy system.Russia has been regularly launching similar strikes since Octothe population and force the Ukrainian government ber in a bid to demoralize to bow to the Kremlin’s demands.Thursday’s strikes differed from earlier attacks, though, by including a larger number of sophisticated hypersonic missiles that are the most advanced weapons in the Russian arsenal. But just like previous such barrages it has failed to cause lasting damage to the country’s energy network, with repair crews quickly restoring power supplies to most regions.Here is a look at the latest Russian missile attack and the weapons involved.WHAT DID UKRAINIAN AND RUSSIAN OFFICIALS SAY?Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhny...

Brock grad student exploring diagnosing lower back pain with articifical intelligence

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:10 GMT

Lower back pain is a very common disorder and that’s why one Kinesiology graduate student from Brock University is trying to explore diagnosing it with artificial intelligence (AI).“With limited access in research equipment, medical imaging technology and my interest in artificial intelligence, I was inspired to create a diagnostic tool that is effective and accessible for those with lower back pain,” said student Carl Alano.Alano tore his ACL three years ago and that experience on top of other barriers that delayed the process of getting a correct diagnosis led him to his research.“That experience was pretty bad as there is very limited access to an MRI machine so with that limited access, I was misdiagnosed and re-injured 2 times after my injury and it wasn’t a year later that I was able to use the MRI machine,” explained Alano.The long wait times to get seen by doctors and overcrowded hospitals were just some problems made worse by the pandemic...