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UK to swerve recession this year as Hunt vows ‘budget for growth’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

LONDON — Britain will duck a technical recession this year, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said, as he delivered the U.K.’s budget Wednesday with a pitch to ease the cost-of-living and turn around the country’s sluggish economic growth prospects.Introducing the “budget for growth” — the first full-fat fiscal event under prime minister Rishi Sunak — in the House of Commons, Hunt said the U.K. economy had “proved the doubters wrong” as he pointed to a smaller economic contraction this year than originally forecast. And he unveiled a plan to try and ease the eye-watering costs of childcare in the U.K., some of the highest in the world. The opposition Labour Party said the budget fell far short of the “major surgery” needed.In key measures unveiled by the U.K. chancellor Wednesday:— On childcare, shaping up to be one of the key battlegrounds of the next election, Hunt promised working parents with children under the age of 4 would be offered 30 ho...

Healey Lifting Remnants Of COVID Emergency On May 11

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

The Healey administration will lift the state’s modified COVID-19 public health emergency effective May 11, and Gov. Maura Healey on that day also plans to walk back a vaccine mandate for tens of thousands of executive branch workers. Healey’s office announced Wednesday morning it plans to end the state-level public health emergency in alignment with the May 11 end of the federal public health emergency. Former Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in March 2020, then issued a modified public health emergency in May 2021 and lifted the original state of emergency in June 2021. As part of the transition to the next phase of life with the virus, Healey said she plans to rescind a Baker executive order that required executive branch workers to undergo a primary vaccination series against COVID-19 or secure a medical or religious exemption. That policy proved controversial, prompting a legal fight with the State Police Association of Massachusetts. Baker’s o...

Key inflation measure shows wholesale prices fell last month

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

(CNN) — A key measure of inflation fell dramatically in February, according to the latest Producer Price Index, which tracks what America’s producers get paid for their goods and services.Producer price increases slowed to an annual pace of 4.6% last month, significantly down from 6% in January, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. February prices fell by 0.1% after rising 0.7% in January.Economists surveyed by Refinitiv had been expecting the 12-month rise in wholesale prices to slow to a 5.4% increase.Taking out the often volatile food and energy components, core PPI also notched some stark declines: annual price increases dropped to 4.4%, and the index was unchanged from the month before (0% growth). Those are down from January’s downwardly revised 5% annual price gain and 0.1% monthly increase.Contributing to the headline PPI decline was a 0.2% drop in final demand goods, which had spiked 1.2% in January, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The fi...

In Audit Push, DiZoglio Getting No Response From Legislature

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

One week since she formally notified them of her plan to launch the first audit of the Legislature in a century, Auditor Diana DiZoglio said Tuesday that her office still has not received any response from the House or Senate. Legislative leaders, with whom DiZoglio publicly clashed as a member of both the House and Senate, last week either ignored or mostly brushed aside the auditor’s announcement that her office intends to scrutinize the operations of the Legislature, which she said historically “has been a closed-door operation.” She said Tuesday that her office is still working to make contact. “The Legislature has yet to respond to our engagement letter. We will soon be following up to our initial engagement letter in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. Our team is still proceeding in their outreach to both chambers to schedule an entrance conference — kicking off the engagement,” DiZoglio said Tuesday in a statement to the News Se...

Mass. Banks Plan To Merge By Year’s End

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

The parent companies of Dedham Institution for Savings and Weymouth-based South Shore Bank have agreed to merge, they announced Tuesday, with both institutions planning to continue operating independently.Each bank has about $2 billion in assets and plans approved by the boards of both banks forecast a combined mutual holding company that will continue to offer traditional and digital banking services to consumers, small business and commercial customers. Dedham Savings was incorporated in 1831 and is one of the oldest banks in Massachusetts still doing business under its original charter. It has locations in Dedham, Dedham Square, East Dedham, Needham, Norwood, Sharon, South Boston, Walpole, and Westwood. Peter Brown will remain CEO and president of Dedham Savings, pending regulatory approvals expected later this year, and will become chairman and CEO of the combined mutual holding company. He noted that South Shore Bank has been serving its market for 190 years, only two fewer tha...

Connor Norby and Joey Ortiz needed to change to reach Orioles camp. The next step is the majors.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

Connor Norby was never out to make a statement at the Orioles’ major league camp.“I need to just handle my business and get better, and that’s all I need to do,” he said earlier this spring. “I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. I just want to get better.”Norby’s time as a member of the Orioles’ spring training roster ended Tuesday evening, when he, fellow infield prospects Jackson Holliday and Joey Ortiz and right-hander Kyle Dowdy were sent to minor league camp. That his exit came alongside Ortiz is somewhat fitting; both made midseason adjustments that led their 2022 performance to skyrocket about the same time, and each is ranked among Baltimore’s top 10 prospects and baseball’s top 100 while positioned to arrive in the majors at some point in 2023.It was unlikely either would do so straight out of camp, with the Orioles’ major league infield mostly set and neither having a full month of experience at T...

Justice Dept, SEC probing collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have launched investigations into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.The investigations – which are separate inquiries – are in the early stages and will also examine the actions of the bank’s senior executives, the person said.The Justice Department’s investigation involves federal prosecutors in California, along with prosecutors involved in fraud cases, the person said.The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the specific details of the ongoing investigations and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

How Devin McCourty reportedly helped the Patriots create cap space in retirement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

Last week, Devin McCourty announced his NFL retirement.But the 35-year-old former safety hasn’t filed his retirement papers yet, and there’s a good reason for that.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Jakobi Meyers explains decision to leave Patriots for team-friendly Raiders deal New England Patriots | Patriots free agency tracker and grades: Pats sign a veteran OT, move to keep Myles Bryant According to ESPN, McCourty and the Patriots agreed to tack one year onto his current contract for the veteran minimum $1.165 million, a way to create cap space for the team on the eve of free agency. McCourty’s contract had been set to expire Wednesday and saddle the Patriots with a $9 million dead cap hit because of attached void years. Instead, the Pats have created an additional $5 million in cap room this year and reduced McCourty’s dead cap hit to $6.2 million, which will be pushed to 2024 if the retirement is finalized after June ...

Credit Suisse troubles fuel more bank anxiety

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

GENEVA — Battered shares of Credit Suisse lost more than one-quarter of their value Wednesday, hitting a record low after its biggest shareholder — the Saudi National Bank — told outlets that it would not inject more money into the ailing Swiss bank.The turmoil in the Credit Suisse stock price prompted an automatic pause in trading of the bank’s shares on Switzerland’s market and brought down shares of other European banks by as much as double digits. That fanned new fears about the health of financial institutions in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States and worries about midsized lenders.Credit Suisse stock was down more than 27% at around 1.6 Swiss francs in mid-afternoon trading on the SIX stock exchange Wednesday. That’s down more than 85% from February 2021.The Swiss exchange says the drop in Credit Suisse shares triggered a temporary, automatic pause.Other European banks were taking a battering amid concerns about the sector: F...

Maura Healey ending COVID-19 public-health emergency, vaccine mandate in May

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:12:59 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey is ending the state’s COVID-19 public-health emergency and vaccine mandate on May 11, coinciding with the feds’ corresponding move.Healey said in a press release Wednesday morning that the announcement two months in advance “allows additional time for impacted organizations to prepare for the end of the public health emergency.”“Thanks to the hard work of our health care providers and communities, we’ve made important progress in the fight against COVID-19,” Healey said in a statement. “We know that we have the tools to manage this virus – vaccines, masking, testing, getting treatments and staying home when sick – and we’ve reached the point where we can update our guidance to reflect where we are now.”Throwing a bone across the aisle to her predecessor Gov. Charlie Baker, as the Democrat Healey has taken to doing with the Republican, she continued on to say that “I’d also like to acknowledge the leadership of Governor Baker and ...