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Banc of California to buy troubled PacWest Bancorp, which came close to failing earlier this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Banc of California has agreed to buy PacWest Bancorp in an all-stock transaction, bringing an end to months of speculation about whether PacWest could survive on its own after the failures of three other regional banks this spring. The deal announced Tuesday got help from Warburg Pincus and Centerbridge Partners, two large private equity firms, which are investing $400 million to help shore up and restructure the balance sheet of the combined bank. Centerbridge Partners has a long history as an investor in distressed companies, The deal is a bit of good news for PacWest, the parent of Pacific Western Bank, and its shareholders. The company’s stock has fallen by nearly two-thirds this year on fear that PacWest could be the next bank to fail after the earlier failures of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic and Signature Bank. Based on Tuesday’s closing prices, PacWest shareholders will receive Banc of California shares valued at $9.60. A year ago the sh...

Outside experts’ last report raises questions about military’s role in disappearance of 43 students

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The last report submitted by a panel of outside experts Tuesday raised further questions about the Mexican military’s role in the 2014 disappearance of 43 students. The panelists said they had located photos of two dead bodies with the heads or hands bound in a way that was similar to the method Mexican marines used on other suspects. They also found photos of suspects in the students’ abduction who have not been heard from since they were detained. It has long been acknowledged that prosecutors and military personnel tortured some of the original suspects into confessing; many of those suspects later had charges against them dismissed. The experts were asked in 2015 to investigate the abduction of the students, who attended a rural teacher’s college in southern Mexico, after police, prosecutors and the military botched the investigation into their fate. Corrupt local police abducted the students from buses in Iguala on Sept. 26, 2014, and turned them over t...

Transgender patients sue the hospital that provided their records to Tennessee’s attorney general

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt University is facing a class action lawsuit accusing its medical center of violating the privacy of its transgender clinic patients by turning their records over to Tennessee’s attorney general.Two patients sued Monday in Nashville Chancery Court, saying they were among more than 100 people whose records were sent by Vanderbilt to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. His office has said it is examining medical billing in a “run of the mill” fraud investigation that isn’t directed at patients or their families. Vanderbilt has said it was required by law to comply.The patients say Vanderbilt was aware that Tennessee authorities are hostile toward the rights of transgender people, and should have removed their personally identifying information before turning over the records.Tennessee has stood out among conservative-led states pushing myriad laws targeting transgender people, enacting some of the nation’s most anti-LGBTQ restriction...

B.C. ranchers struggle as drought sends hay prices soaring

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

British Columbia rancher Suzanne Fradette had just got off the phone with a hay broker who had grim news amid an ongoing drought that has sent feed prices soaring: “It’s bad out there.”“We’ve got a fairly small herd, like 140 head, but we are thinking it’s going to be about $100,000 this year for hay,” said Fradette. That’s a 30-per-cent jump compared to recent years, and a painful price for a relatively small ranch. Fradette runs the Back Valley Ranch ranch with partner Jerry Steves in the Deadmans’ area between Savona and Cache Creek, about 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.Fradette said they are just “keeping their heads above water,” getting by one day at a time. Feeding their herd costs about $700 per day. Fradette and Steves aren’t alone in their plight, with drought conditions pushing up feed prices across much of the country. Agriculture Canada’s most recent drought monitor report says 76 per c...

Three found dead at campsite were members of Colorado Springs family who planned to live ‘off grid’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

The decomposed and partially mummified bodies of three people who were recently found at a remote western Colorado campsite were two adult sisters and one woman’s 14-year-old son, Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes said.The deceased are Christine Vance, 41; Rebecca Vance, 42, and Rebecca’s son, all from Colorado Springs. Two were found in a tent down the road from a campsite in the Gunnison National Forest about nine miles (14.5 kilometers) from Ohio City, Colorado, Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes said in an interview Tuesday. Officials have not named the son because he is a minor.Their bodies showed signs of malnourishment, with two in the tent and one outside. Though a cause of death has yet to be determined while authorities wait for toxicology reports to be processed, the group may have succumbed to starvation, freezing temperatures or carbon monoxide poisoning from trying to make fire to stay warm, Barnes said.The three likely started camping in July 2022...

House Republicans plan to hold Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is threatening to hold Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress for failing to supply documents related to an investigation into supposed censorship by tech companies of conservatives.Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the Judiciary Committee, said the panel plans to hold a hearing Thursday to vote on a contempt report detailing how Zuckerberg has “willfully refused” to comply with a February subpoena. The measure is likely to pass the GOP-controlled committee. It would then be up to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to hold a full House vote on the contempt resolution as early as this fall, after the August recess. If the House were to hold Zuckerberg in contempt, the Justice Department would decide whether to prosecute him.Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, said the company has delivered more than 50,000 pages of both internal and external documents to the committee since February. He added that they also have ...

August concert calendar: 10 of the best Chicago shows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

CHICAGO — It's been a massive summer for live music in Chicago and it's not slowing down next month with Lollapalooza and an assortment of great shows.Let's take a look at ten of the best below, starting with the iconic festival in Grant Park.8/3-8/6 — LollapaloozaOriginally beginning as a touring festival in 1991 from the brain of Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, Lollapalooza found a permanent home in Grant Park beginning in 2005.Gradually moving from more rock acts to pop over the years, the fest brings in heavy hitting headliners Billie Eilish, Karol G, Kendrick Lamar, The 1975, Odesza, Tomorrow X Together, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lana Del Ray. Lollapalooza 2023: What to know before you go If the large crowds aren't your thing, several awesome aftershows are taking place.Listen in: No Time Die by Billie EilishSAO PAULO, BRAZIL - MARCH 24: Billie Eilish performs live on stage during day one of Lollapalooza Brazil at Autodromo de Interlagos on March 24, 2023 in Sao Paul...

What to know about the first 2023 Cubs-White Sox City Series

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

CHICAGO — It's that time of year when Chicago's two Major League Baseball franchises meet on the field to earn some city bragging rights.Once again, it will feature a pair of two-game sets, with the first on the south side starting this evening.The White Sox will play host to the first City Series of 2023 at Guaranteed Rate Field as they'll face the Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. Here are a few things to know before the teams match up this week.(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)Where things stand in the City SeriesSince the regular season series began in 1997, the White Sox hold a 73-65 advantage in the head-to-head match-ups with the Cubs. That includes winning the season series the last two years, taking 5-of-6 in 2021 and then 3-of-4 in 2022. The north siders last won the City Series back in 2018 after the teams tied in 2019 and 2020.Here are the pitching matchups for this week.Tuesday - Kyle Hendricks (Cubs) vs Michael Kopech (White Sox)Wednesday - Marcus Stroman (...

Bipartisan efforts aim to ban stock trading in Congress

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are coming together to try to ban members of Congress from trading stocks. They argue the practice itself creates a conflict of interest.Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri are teaming up to ban stock trading at the highest levels of the federal government."Members of Congress and senior members of the executive branch officials should be serving the American people, not lining their pockets,” said Gillibrand."This is long overdue,” said Hawley.The bill would only allow officials and their family members to own broad-based mutual funds. Hawley said lawmakers and other federal officials have early access to valuable information that might affect stock prices."It may not technically be inside trading legally, but it's still an incredible advantage to get the kind of information and then make millions of dollars on that,” said Hawley.Gillibrand helped pass the 2012 STOCK...

Austin's 18-day streak of consecutive 100° days is the 7th-longest in recorded history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:34 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin is currently experiencing one of the longest stretches of triple-digit heat in recorded history.Camp Mabry, Austin's official weather reporting site, has reached 100° or hotter every day since July 8.That means, as of Tuesday, temperatures have reached the century mark for 18 days in a row. With records dating back to the 1890s, that ties as the seventh-longest stretch of triple-digit temperatures ever recorded in Austin. MORE HEAT RECORDS: What is Austin's hottest month ever? The KXAN First Warning Weather team is currently forecasting at least seven more days at or above 100°, which would extend the streak to 25 days, the second-longest of all time. How often does Austin hit 100°? Here’s a breakdown by date, month, year and decade The record streak currently stands at 27 days, set between July 17 and Aug. 12, 2011. That summer went on to have a record-breaking 90 days of triple-digit heat.