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Highest savings yields are topping inflation. Here’s why that’s important for savers

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

Matthew Goldberg | Bankrate.com (TNS)Personal finance fact: Your money loses purchasing power over time, especially if it’s in a savings account that isn’t earning interest.But there’s good news for savers: For the sixth straight month, the top savings yield is outpacing inflation, according to Bankrate data.The current savings rate environment features many top savings account annual percentage yields (APYs) actually outpacing 3.7% inflation. That wasn’t the case a year ago, when inflation was more than two times higher than it is now.Inflation peaked at 9.1% last summer. And you weren’t going to earn 9% on cash back then,“But over time, you want your cash earnings to be in the same zip code as inflation, just so you’re preserving your buying power,” says Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate chief financial analyst.Here are seven reasons why keeping up with inflation matters.1. A dollar today won’t buy as much as it will in the futurePrices generally increase over time.Money that isn’t keep...

Ask the Pediatrician: What to know about mental health in teen athletes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

By Dr. Drew Watson, American Academy of PediatricsMental illness is an extremely common and important issue among teenagers. Although sports and physical activity have tremendous mental health benefits, young athletes are not exempt from the ongoing mental health crisis.In fact, some potential effects of being a competitive athlete, like perfectionism, external pressures to perform or severe injuries, may increase the risk of mental illness. Improving mental health and well-being can not only help make young athletes feel better, it can even have important benefits for performance and reducing illness and injury risk.The single most important thing parents can do is create a safe environment for your child that promotes ongoing conversations about mental health.Assure your child that they can tell you anything, without judgment. Recognize and communicate to your child that mental health is health. The goal is to normalize conversations about it. Bring up the topic of mental health y...

Mayo Clinic Minute: Surprising sources of added sugar

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

By DeeDee Stiepan, Mayo Clinic News NetworkAdded sugar in foods not only adds extra calories, it also can have direct toxic effects, such as tooth decay and even a risk for heart disease. Minimizing the amount of added sugar in your diet is important. However, you may not even realize how much added sugar you consume. That’s because some unsuspecting foods you may think are healthy contain added sugar.In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Donald Hensrud, a Mayo Clinic physician specializing in nutrition and the editor of “The Mayo Clinic Diet,” explains what to look out for when trying to avoid added sugar.“Anytime food is processed, there are certain things that are added. And it’s often sugar or salt,” says Dr. Hensrud.When trying to identify how much added sugar is in packaged food, look at the nutrition food label. You might be surprised by what you find.“Many things you wouldn’t even suspect — some sauces, some dips, some spreads — ther...

5 credit card scams to watch out for this holiday season

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

By Jae Bratton | NerdWalletIn the list of things you want to be doing around the holidays, fending off scam artists has to be at the bottom. And yet, the holidays can be a prime time for scammers hoping to take advantage of the busy season. One fraudulent transaction is easily overlooked in a bank statement full of gift purchases, and there may not be time to dispute suspicious charges when you’re hosting out-of-town guests.Research-based advisory firm Javelin Strategy & Research defines an identity fraud scam as a tactic that a criminal uses to steal someone’s personal information for the purpose of illegal financial gain. Consumers lost $43 billion in 2022 to these scams, according to Javelin’s 2023 Identity Fraud Study.If there’s good news, it’s that there were fewer reported victims of identity fraud in 2022 as compared with 2021, with a 17% decrease in the amount of money lost to scams. The bad news is that scammers have become more sophisticated in their methods and have a...

New health, sexual education guidelines pass state board unanimously

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education unanimously passed the state’s first health and sexual education guideline changes in 25 years Tuesday morning — revising the framework to include more LGBTQ+ inclusive language, update sexual health and consent standards, bring in media and technology considerations, and more.“The overarching goal of this framework is to foster healthy, safe, equitable and inclusive learning environments that enable success in school and in life for students of all identities and backgrounds,” said DESE Student and Family Support Associate Commissioner Rachelle Engler Bennett, presenting the 2023 revised framework to the board Tuesday.The vote is the culmination of a review of the 1999 Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Framework launched in June 2018 under the Baker administration. The Healey administration announced the draft of the framework update convened by about 50 review panelists of various backgrounds in June, followe...

Ukraine complains to WTO about Hungary, Poland and Slovakia banning its food products

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Ukraine is filing a complaint at the World Trade Organization against Hungary, Poland and Slovakia after they banned grain and other food products coming from the war-torn country, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Tuesday.It heightens a political showdown pitting farmer against farmer and widens a rift between Ukraine, a major global food supplier, and three members of the European Union, which has been a pivotal backer of Kyiv as it works to fight off Russia’s invasion.In a break with the wider EU, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia last week announced bans on imports of Ukrainian food to their local markets. They were joined Tuesday by Croatia. But all four will keep allowing those products to move through their borders to parts of the world where people are going hungry. The four countries, two of which have elections within the coming weeks, say the bans are needed to protect their farmers from a supply glut that drives down local prices and hurts liveli...

‘It was effective’: Police defend use of conducted energy weapon on girl, 12, at Oshawa school

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

A Durham regional police spokesperson defended an officer’s use of a conducted energy weapon on a 12-year-old at an Oshawa school on Monday morning saying it effectively halted an ongoing assault and didn’t cause any serious injuries.Police were called to Sir Albert Love Catholic School in the Hillcroft Street and Wilson Road North area around 11:30 a.m. for reports of a female student assaulting staff and students.Sgt. Joanne Bortoluss told reporters on Tuesday that when police arrived the girl was inside a classroom armed with scissors.“They immediately tried to de-escalate the situation,” she explained. “They requested that she drop the scissors, which she complied with.”But Bortoluss said the girl, who she described as “irate” suddenly ran through an unlocked door into the schoolyard, where she allegedly began assaulting a staff member.“She was violently assaulting a staff member at the school, to stop that assault the office...

Police are investigating the death of a man following an ‘incident’ at a New England Patriots game

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Police are investigating the death of a New Hampshire man following an “incident” in the stands at a New England Patriots home game over the weekend, a county attorney’s office said. Police and personnel responded to the upper deck at Gillette Stadium shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday. Dale Mooney, 53, of Newmarket, New Hampshire, “was in apparent need of medical attention,” the Norfolk County district attorney’s office said in a news release Monday. Mooney was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the news release said.Results of an autopsy were expected Tuesday, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said. Further information was not provided.“The death of a 53-year old New Hampshire man following an incident in the 300’s tier of Gillette Stadium during the September 17, 2023 game is, according to normal protocol, under investigation by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office,” the rel...

Fighting flares again in a breakaway region in the Caucasus Mountains

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Azerbaijan’s forces rained artillery fire on Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, and local officials reported at five civilians were killed and scores wounded in shelling around the breakaway region’s capital. Authorities in Azerbaijan accused the other side of killing a civilian.Ethnic Armenian authorities in the Caucasus Mountains region urged Azerbaijan to sit down for talks, but Azerbaijan’s presidential administration said what it called the “anti-terrorist operation” will continue until “illegal Armenian military formations” surrender and the separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh dismantles itself.The reports raised concerns that a full-scale war in the region could resume between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have faced off for more than three decades in a conflict over the mountainous territory. The most recent heavy fighting there occurred for six weeks in 2020.Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry announced the start of ...

Network of ancient American Indian earthworks in Ohio named as UNESCO World Heritage sites

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:11:36 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A network of ancient American Indian ceremonial and burial mounds in Ohio described as “part cathedral, part cemetery and part astronomical observatory” was added Tuesday to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Preservationists, led by the Ohio History Connection, and indigenous tribes, many with ancestral ties to the state, pushed to recognize the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks for their good condition, distinct style and cultural significance — describing them as “masterpieces of human genius.” The application process for the heritage designation was slowed by a protracted court battle to restore public access to the earthworks site leased to Moundbuilders Country Club, whose members-only golf course sits inside it. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee approved the application during a meeting in Saudi Arabia. The massive earthworks join a list of famed sites that includes Greece’s Acropolis, Peru’s Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China. “Pure excitement ...