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Cowen: Harvard can learn a lot from Olive Garden

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

The evidence continues to accumulate that America’s nonprofit sector is failing the country in some basic ways. Specifically, it is not doing enough to break down unjust inequalities and barriers to opportunity.Consider nonprofit hospitals. According to the data, nonprofit hospitals barely behave differently than for-profit hospitals. They do not charge systematically lower prices or somehow do more to help people. Some studies show slight differences, but it’s hard to argue that non-profit hospitals are more charitable or have more altruistic priorities.Another example: prestigious universities. At Harvard, for example, more than two-thirds of the undergraduates come from the top 20% of the income distribution, while only 4.5% come from the bottom 20%. Given that Harvard has an endowment of roughly $50 billion and enjoys tax-free status, it might be expected to distribute its benefits more evenly — if only to avoid the bad publicity. (Disclosure: I work at a nonprofit university an...

Lowry: Yes, President Harris is a legitimate issue

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

Kamala Harris is one of the most prominent people in the United States, with the potential that at any moment she could inherit some of the most fearsome powers on Earth, but no one is supposed to notice.Republicans are deemed unhealthily fixated on Harris for saying that a vote for the increasingly rickety President Joe Biden is a vote to make Kamala Harris president.“Why are Republicans so obsessed with Harris?” asked a Boston Globe columnist.Jemele Hill, the former ESPN journalist currently with The Atlantic, rapped Nikki Haley in lurid terms for warning of a President Harris: “So part of the reason racism is such a terrible sickness in this country is because politicians like this know they can rally a certain base with the fear of OH MY GOD A BLACK WOMAN MIGHT BE PRESIDENT IF YOU DON’T VOTE FOR ME.”Hill then connected Haley’s sentiment with racist violence. Q.E.D.It is simply a fact that, should Joe Biden win a second term, Kamala Harris has ...

Summer sips: Cutwater Tiki Rum Mai Tai

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

Do you ever want a drink that feels like you are sitting at the beach but don’t want to go through all the hassle of making one? Then you may welcome a simple can of Cutwater Tiki Rum Mai Tai, made with two shots of rum (both white rum and barrel-aged) and the flavors of pineapple, coconut and citrus.Drink it right out of a can by the pool or on a float trip, or pour it in a glass with ice and garnish with pineapple and a little umbrella for that beachy feel.$12.49 for a 4-pack of 12-ounce cansTribune News Service

Business (almost) as usual at Venice Film Festival

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

For it’s 80th edition Wednesday, the Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest, has surmounted the complication of Hollywood’s ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes to have what looks remarkably like business as (almost) usual.In its 10-day run, Venice boasts an enviable first look line-up of the awards’ season’s most high-profile premieres. The buzz hopefully translates into awards bait as the calendar year ends and Oscars loom.Once it became apparent the strikes would not end before Venice began, the festival lost only one entry – “Challengers,” a tennis comedy with Zendaya, was pulled from its opening night slot and postponed until April 2024.That means this 80th edition is embarking on uncharted territory, for never has Venice been starless on its red carpet.However, because the Directors Guild of America settled a new contract last spring, boldface filmmakers can – and will — be here when the actors cannot.That means Sofia Coppola can offer “Priscilla,” her biopic of the te...

Dear Abby: Hubby’s wandering eye an open secret

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

Dear Abby: My husband and I have been married for 18 years. It’s a second marriage for both of us. He cheated on his ex with me. Soon after we were married, he told me that, given the chance, he would cheat on me, but that I shouldn’t worry because no really pretty woman would ever want him.Six years into our marriage, I needed to find something on his phone and saw he had signed up on a dating website for married people looking to cheat. We went to counseling. He said he wasn’t planning on following through; he just wanted to see what was out there.Not long afterward, I noticed he had checked a website for dating foreign women, but he needed a credit card, so he gave up. Off to counseling again. I told him that was strike two.Last month, I went on vacation with my daughter. Last week, he accidentally deleted something on his phone and asked me to find it. What I also found were emails from women offering their services, all of them sent while I was away. (“S...

Idalia predicted to hit Florida as Category 4 hurricane with ‘catastrophic’ storm surge

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave as Hurricane Idalia gained steam in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and authorities warned of a “catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds” when the storm moves ashore Wednesday morning.Idalia grew into a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon, with sustained winds of 110 mph (177 kph) by Tuesday night. It was projected to make landfall early Wednesday as a Category 4 storm with winds of at least 130 mph (209 kph) in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian.The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.On the island of Cedar Key, Commissioner Sue Colson joined other city officia...

Stock market today: Asian shares boosted by Wall Street rise on consumer confidence and jobs

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rose Wednesday, boosted by a Wall Street rally that came on positive reports on consumer confidence and job openings. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.9% in morning trading to 32,529.72. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6% to 2,567.44. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4% to 18,563.39, while the Shanghai Composite inched up less than 0.1% to 3,137.72. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.4% to 7,310.60, after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the monthly Consumer Price Index indicator rose 4.9% in the 12 months to July. That was lower than the expected 5.2%, marking the first time since February 2022 that the indicator fell below 5%. “But given that it is still a distance away from the RBA’s 2% to 3% target, the central bank may continue to maintain its hawkish-pause stance for some policy flexibility, although we are likely seeing the end of its tightening process,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG. On Wall Street, the...

Typhoon Saola strengthens as it passes Taiwan on its way to China

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Saola strengthened overnight as it continued its path across the Pacific early Wednesday and headed for China’s southern coast. The typhoon was moving northwest with sustained winds of 191 kph (118 mph) and gusts of up to 234 kph (145 mph), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau and is now considered a strong typhoon. The typhoon’s eye won’t hit Taiwan’s mainland, but will hit the island’s southern cities with its outer bands.The weather bureau also warned of heavy rain and strong winds in Taiwan’s southern cities, and especially southern Pingtung county. The typhoon is currently traveling directly south of Taiwan, in the Bashi Channel, the band of ocean that separates Taiwan and the Philippines. So far the storm has not caused major damage as it passed by the Philippines earlier this week, though thousands were displaced when it brought heavy rains and flooded low-lying areas in northern Philippines. The typhoon is expected to hit sou...

2 killed in Kyiv as Russia accuses Ukraine of biggest drone attack on its soil since fighting began

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian attack on Kyiv killed two people early Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, while Russia accused Ukraine of launching what appeared to be the biggest drone attack on Russian soil since Moscow sent troops there 18 months ago. Drones hit an airport in Russia’s western Pskov region near the border with Estonia and Latvia, and started a massive fire, the governor and local media reported. More drones were shot down over Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan, Kaluga and the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the Defense Ministry.Pskov regional Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport in the region’s namesake capital canceled Wednesday so the damage could be assessed during daylight.The airport strike, which was first reported minutes before midnight, damaged four Il-76 transport aircraft, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over th...

As Trump and Republicans target Georgia’s Fani Willis for retribution, the state’s governor opts out

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:25:44 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Some Republicans in Washington and Georgia began attacking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis immediately after she announced the Aug. 14 indictment of former President Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. But others, including Gov. Brian Kemp, have been conspicuous in their unwillingness to pile on.Kemp, who had previously survived scathing attacks from Trump over his refusal to endorse the former president’s false claims about the election, declined to comment on the indictment of Trump and 18 others at a conservative political conference hosted by radio host and Kemp ally Erick Erickson. Noting that he had been called before a special grand jury to testify during the investigation, Kemp stated forcefully that Democratic President Joe Biden was the rightful winner of Georgia’s 16 electoral votes and said swinging the spotlight to Trump’s legal troubles would be a mistake.“Democrats want us to be focused on th...