WARREN, Mich. (AP) — While the growing expansion of casinos and state-sanctioned sports betting steal the spotlight, state lotteries have nearly doubled in size over the past two decades, increasing business at convenience stores. Once rare, lotteries now operate in all but five states. Driven by more than a half-billion dollars in annual ad spending, [...]
WASHINGTON — The economy is healthy and shows little sign of an imminent recession, and can withstand higher interest rates, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said this week. Financial markets are flashing signs that an economic downturn could arrive sometime next year, as Americans grapple with the highest inflation in four decades and [...]
There’s always been a taste for antique furnishings. These days, a widely acquired taste. Antiques are hot partly because of supply chain delays and higher prices for many custom or mass-market pieces. There’s also the public’s turn toward sustainability: Environmentally-conscious buyers are averse to throwaway furniture, and are trying to reuse and recycle. Pop culture, [...]
PETERSBURG, Fla. — The mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., is reopening talks about the future of the Tropicana Field site where baseball's Tampa Bay Rays play their home games. Mayor Ken Welch said recently that two previous proposals for the 86-acre downtown location are being scrapped, with a new round of plans to be solicited [...]
The drowning of a 19-year-old northeast Ohio man, who reportedly was intoxicated at the time of his death, has spurred a lawmaker in the Ohio House of Representatives to introduce a bill to increase the penalty for providing alcohol to a minor. Trevor’s Law, named to memorialize Trevor Pacek of Brunswick, would raise the penalty [...]
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — When Antonio McGowan left the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman after serving 17 years, he was free for the first time since he was 15, but as an adult finally out from behind bars, he immediately found himself confined to menial labor. McGowan needed stable work, for a paycheck and to [...]
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When the Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund bought $25 million in cryptocurrencies, with the fund’s chief investment officer touting their potential, retired fire Capt. Russell Harris was concerned. Harris, 62, has attended the funerals of 34 firefighters killed in the line of duty. He was already worried about his pension after [...]
ANADARKO, Okla. (AP) — Native American tribal elders who were once students at government-backed Indian boarding schools testified July 9 about the hardships they endured, including beatings, whippings, sexual assaults, forced haircuts and painful nicknames. They came from different states and different tribes, but they shared the common experience of having attended the schools that [...]
WASHINGTON — About 1,000 Air National Guard troops who are assigned to space missions are mired in an identity crisis. Torn between the Air Force, where they have historically been assigned, and the military’s shiny new Space Force where they now work, their units have become orphans, according to commanders, as state and federal leaders [...]
WASHINGTON — For the first time, a pharmaceutical company has asked for permission to sell a birth control pill over the counter in the United States. HRA Pharma's application sets up a high-stakes decision for health regulators amid legal and political battles over women's reproductive health. The company says the timing was unrelated to the [...]