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Existing home sales fell to their lowest point in 28 years in 2023, while the median price of a home reached a record high, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales of previously owned homes dropped to 4.09 million last year, marking the lowest annual level of home sales since 1995, the report found. The median price of an existing home, on the other hand, rose to an all-time high of $389,800. Home sales fell 1 percent last month alone and fell 6.2 percent compared to December 2022, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate...

Jan. 12 (UPI) — U.S. wholesale prices declined to end 2023 but was up overall for the year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday. The Producer Price Index measure of wholesale inflation, seasonally adjusted, declined 0.1% for December and rose 1% for all of 2023 compared to 6.4% wholesale inflation for 2022. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the decline for December was driven by a 0.4% fall in goods prices. The unadjusted index for final demand goods fell 0.4% in December, the third consecutive decline, according to the BLS.

President Joe Biden sported a mystery mark on his right cheek bone on Monday at event with actress Selma Blair to celebrate the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The mark wasn’t visible on Sunday when the president spoke to reporters about the deal to fund the government. But it could be seen on his face Monday as he, Blair, and her service dog Scout paid tribute to the landmark legislation for people with disabilities. Video below:

A Burger King franchisee in Florida, was ordered to pay nearly $8 million to a customer who allegedly slipped and fell at the restaurant and needed surgery for his injuries. Richard Tulecki, 48, “suffered lower back injuries resulting in surgery” after he slipped on a “foreign substance” near the restroom of a Burger King location in Hollywood, Fla., according to court documents. The fall caused “serious injuries” which required surgery, and Tulecki suffered a postoperative perforated colon, according to his attorneys. The lawsuit, filed in January 2021, accused Burger King of negligence for “failing to ensure that the area and...

Home prices fell for the fourth straight month as high interest rates and stubborn inflation dampen the housing market, according to data released Tuesday. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, a gauge of home prices across the country, fell 0.3 percent in October from September after seasonal adjustments. It was the fourth consecutive monthly decline for the index after home prices peaked in June, said Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a Tuesday release. “Despite considerable regional differences, all 20 cities in our October report reflect these trends,” Lazzara said. “Prices declined...

Consumer prices rose at slower rates in October, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. The annual inflation rate fell to 7.7 percent in October from 8.2 percent in September, according to the consumer price index (CPI), a closely watched inflation gauge. Prices rose 0.4 percent last month alone.

NOW - People seen holding on to a plane as it prepares to take off from Kabul Airport, where at least 3 people fell to their death. https://twitter.com/ThorDeplorable/status/1427251455933698051

Cases of the flu detected in a Wisconsin hospital system fell by over 99% this flu season, a new study findsHospital system recorded 4,800 cases every month in 2019, compared to only 12 a month in 2020Researchers say asking and social distancing mandates put in place because of COVID seem to have killed the fluExperts believe cases of the flu are likely to spike in the coming months as many restrictions around the country are lifted Cases of the flu and other seasonal viruses fell by more than 99 percent last year, a new study suggests. Researchers at the University...

CHILLIWACK, B.C. — A former British Columbia hang-glider pilot whose passenger fell 300 metres to her death during a flight that was an anniversary gift pleaded guilty Friday to criminal negligence causing death. William Jon Orders was charged in the death of 27-year-old Lenami Godinez-Avila, who plunged from Orders’ hang glider shortly after takeoff during a flight above B.C.’s Fraser Valley on April 28, 2012. Orders was also charged with obstruction of justice over allegations he swallowed a memory card that may have contained video of the incident. It wasn’t immediately clear what would happen to that charge.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. households suffered a record-large 9 percent drop in wealth and pared debt in the fourth quarter as a deepening recession battered confidence and finances, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday. Household net worth dropped by $5.1 trillion from the prior quarter to $51.5 trillion. For the full year, net worth dropped by $11.2 trillion, reflecting steep declines in the housing and stock markets. The declines in household net worth were the largest since quarterly and annual records began in 1951 and 1946, respectively, the Fed said. Since a second-quarter 2007 peak of $64.4 trillion, household wealth...

UNITED NATIONS - The woman who died after falling from the U.N.'s Secretariat Building was a 44-year-old employee of the World Health Organization's International Computing Center, a U.N. spokeswoman said Monday. U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe identified the woman who fell from the 19th floor Sunday as Maria Gabriela Di Biase. Police and U.N. security officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the woman had jumped from a window after showing up to work early in the morning. Okabe said there was no suspicion of foul play. The police...

An institute of higher education should be a pillar in our community. A university should not be average, but it should shine bright. It should be looked upon with reverence, integrity and above all else, it should be held to a higher standard. I believe many of our colleges and universities not only meet these high standards, but exceed them. Unfortunately, when one university or one school system, does something inappropriate, and then tries to cover it up, then all universities are impacted by the one who dropped below public expectations. Of course, I am talking about the Office of...

Through her aggressive fund raising for San Francisco politicians, Julie Lee transformed herself from grassroots activist to City Hall insider and political power broker. But that same largesse and the power it brought her have written the most bitter chapter of Lee's career, leading to the resignation from office of one of her biggest benefactors, Kevin Shelley, as California secretary of state -- and now felony charges said to have been filed against her by the state attorney general Thursday. Lee coveted insider access, say those who worked closely with her, and she quickly learned that campaign contributions opened the...

Tax Receipts Fell $6 Billion After Sept. 11, Report Says By IAN URBINA Published: April 5, 2005 The Sept. 11 attacks cost New York almost $6 billion in city and state tax revenue through the fiscal year 2003, according to a federal report being released today that gives the most authoritative accounting yet of their impact on public coffers. New York City faces an additional loss of $550 million in taxes annually for fiscal years 2004 and 2005, according to the report, which is based on estimates from the New York City Office of Management and Budget. The numbers are...

Thousands Marooned by Blizzard at Airports 15 minutes ago By THEO EMERY, Associated Press Writer Residents dig out as a blizzard dumps some two feet of snow in the area, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005, in Boston. Whiteout conditions grounded airplanes and sent fleets of plow and salt trucks trundling through snow-clogged roadways before the storm began to ebb at midday.(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) BOSTON - A howling blizzard slammed the Northeast on Sunday with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane-strength wind gusts, halting air travel for thousands of people, keeping others off slippery highways and burying parked cars under...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Archaeologists, anthropologists and ethnographers work hand in hand with historians. Their job is to present information that protects and preserves political history. As a unified group these folks soundly condemn the work of Dr. Fell. They do so without basis in fact and a vengence undeserved. (See Dr. Norman Totten's response here.) His revelation that the Celtic, Arabic and other People visited, emigrated and traded with Native Americans is simple truth. History hides these facts from the general population. They would rather keep the idea that the Native Americans were illiterate savages, incapable of civilized behavior. Nothing could be farther...

Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Maritime Spice Route Between India, Egypt Archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Delaware have unearthed the most extensive remains to date from sea trade between India and Egypt during the Roman Empire, adding to mounting evidence that spices and other exotic cargo traveled into Europe over sea as well as land. "These findings go a long way toward improving our understanding of the way in which a whole range of exotic cargo moved into Europe during antiquity," said Willeke Wendrich, an assistant professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and co-director of the project....

Ancient vessel retraces voyages of the past By Stefanos Evripidou IT LOOKS like a tree house stuck on a bamboo banana. In reality it's the incarnation of a pre-Pharaonic reed boat, designed and built to unravel the mysteries of prehistoric navigation. The Abora II drifted in to Larnaca marina yesterday. Weighing in at six- tonnes, the vessel is a totra-reed boat. It is 11.5 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. The man responsible for building the huge boat is Dominique Goerlitz, a biology teacher at a school in Germany. As a student, Goerlitz was fascinated by the...

Sky 'fell in' on Everest By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent (Filed: 27/05/2004) The eight climbers killed on the single deadliest day on Everest may have been victims of the "sky falling in", according to a study. An analysis of weather patterns in May 1996 suggests the mountaineers died when the stratosphere sank to the level of the summit, 29,000ft above sea level. The freak weather caused pressure and oxygen levels to plunge within the "death zone" - the area above 26,000ft where the oxygen is extremely thin. Normally Everest's summit lies just below the atmospheric layer. But on May 10,...