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Record Thursday: Dow hits 40,000-point mark, all three indexes look set to extend record highs
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National, The Street

Record Thursday: Dow hits 40,000-point mark, all three indexes look set to extend record highs

By Martin Baccardax | The Street U.S. stocks nudged higher Thursday as investors looked to extend a springtime rally that has lifted all three major benchmarks to all-time highs following a muted inflation report and renewed bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 40,000-point mark for the first time on record, while also setting an all-time best for the time it took to rise 10,000 points. The Dow passed the 30,000 point mark on November 24, 2020, or 1,269 days ago. That's just inside the 1,442 days the Average took to climb from 20,000 points, which it hit on December 13, 2016.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE STREET
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Why don’t U.S. medical schools produce more medical doctors?
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Heritage Foundation, National

Why don’t U.S. medical schools produce more medical doctors?

By Jay Greene, PhD | Heritage Foundation What would happen if the U.S. military needed 1 million people in the Armed Forces but decided to cap domestic enlistment at 750,000 U.S. citizens and to recruit the rest abroad? Or what would happen if U.S. policy was designed to import 25 percent of its lawyers or teachers from elsewhere in the world, not because this country lacks people who are interested in and capable of pursuing those professions, but simply because the U.S. would rather hire foreigners for those jobs? That would be absurd—and it happens to be exactly how the system for training and hiring doctors in America operates today. To become a board-certified and licensed doctor in the United States, one must complete medical school and then be placed in a residency program for...
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S&P 500 hits record high, Dow eyes 40,000 for first time on slowing inflation data
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National, The Street

S&P 500 hits record high, Dow eyes 40,000 for first time on slowing inflation data

By Martin Baccardax | The Street U.S. stocks powered higher Wednesday while Treasury yields and the dollar slipped, as investors picked through a crucial April inflation report that could add further fuel to the market's recent spring rally. The S&P 500 is now trading 0.71% higher on the session at 5,283.90 points, with a new intra-day peak of 5,284.50 points, while the Nasdaq is up 0.84% at 16,165.17 points. The Dow is now just 233 points from breaching the 40,000 mark, having risen 0.5% from last night's close, with Salesforce CRM, Home Depot HD and UnitedHealth Group UNH pacing gains.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE STREET
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Greszler: Counting on Social Security to fund your retirement? Think again
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Commentary, National

Greszler: Counting on Social Security to fund your retirement? Think again

By Rachel Greszler | Heritage Foundation In just nine years, the oldest Gen-Xers will reach Social Security’s normal retirement age of 67. But they have a rude awakening when they learn that the program’s trust fund is empty, leaving it able to pay out only as much in benefits as it takes from the paychecks of those then working. That’s straight from the Social Security trustees 2024 report. It also notes that without congressional action, benefits will have to be cut by 21 percent across the board—including for those already retired—beginning in 2033. For the average beneficiary, who receives about $22,000 a year from Social Security, that 21 percent cut will translate into a loss of $4,600 per year. As Social Security benefits will grow faster than payroll taxes for the foreseea...
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Paralegal testifies Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office tampered with evidence
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National, The Federalist

Paralegal testifies Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office tampered with evidence

By BRIANNA LYMAN | The Federalist Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s paralegal testified on Friday that his office deleted from their evidence three pages of phone records between convicted liar Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson without notifying former President Donald Trump’s legal team, according to reports. Trump attorney Emil Bove questioned paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider on Friday about three pages of 2018 phone records between Davidson and Cohen that Bragg’s office had deleted, according to CNN. Additional phone records between Daniels manager Gina Rodriguez and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard regarding Daniels’ claim about her alleged affair were also deleted, according to The Epoch Times. The altered call records were submitt...
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Planet Fitness makes a risky pricing move that can discourage membership
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National, The Street

Planet Fitness makes a risky pricing move that can discourage membership

By Patricia Battle | The Street Planet Fitness  (PLNT) is making a major change that it hasn’t made in 26 years, and customers may not be too happy about it. The company announced during a recent earnings call that it will be hiking the price for its cheapest membership by $5 after piloting the change in different markets and hinted that more price increases may be on the way. “For the past several months, we have had three different groups of stores testing three different prices for our Classic Card membership,” said Planet Fitness Chief Financial Officer Tom Fitzgerald during a May 9 earnings call. “Based on those test results, we have decided to increase the price from $10 to $15 to further enhance the average unit volumes for our stores.” The price in...
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Trump-era tax cuts becoming important 2024 election year issue
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National, The Center Square

Trump-era tax cuts becoming important 2024 election year issue

By Casey Harper | The Center Square The sweeping Trump-era tax cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are set to expire next year, setting up the tax debate as a potentially key political issue this election year. While illegal immigration and inflation top Americans’ list of concerns, both parties are increasingly talking about the Trump-era tax cuts, which President Joe Biden has said he will allow to expire next year. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has promised more tax cuts if elected. “You’re all getting the biggest tax cuts because we’re doing additional cuts and a brand new Trump economic boom like you’ve never seen before,” Trump told supporters at a South Carolina rally in February. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE CENTER SQUARE
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Southwest Airlines makes a huge change to its loyalty program
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National, The Street

Southwest Airlines makes a huge change to its loyalty program

By Daniel Kline | The Street Southwest Airlines does not offer some of the perks that other airlines offer.  The airline does not offer business- or first-class seating, so it can't reward its most loyal passengers by bumping them up to better seats. In fact, the airline has built its entire system around a fairly democratic seating policy, where everyone gets treated mostly the same. Nobody gets an assigned seat and most passengers get their places in the three-tiered regular boarding system when they check in 24 hours before their flights. Top-tier members of Rapid Rewards, the airline's loyalty program, do get checked in earlier than other passengers. And if an A-List or higher member does not get an A group boarding position, they can board after the As and before the ...
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Fentanyl coming to U.S. becoming more deadly, DEA says
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Colorado Springs Gazette, National

Fentanyl coming to U.S. becoming more deadly, DEA says

By Brett Rowland | Colorado Springs Gazette The illicit fentanyl coming from Mexican cartels is becoming more dangerous, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The purity level of illicit fentanyl in the U.S. drug market has increased and the amount of fentanyl found in counterfeit prescription pills has increased, making the nation's top drug threat even more dangerous, according to the DEA's most recent National Drug Threat Assessment. A lethal dose of the potent opioid is about 2 milligrams, depending on the opioid tolerance of the user. In 2022, the average fentanyl pill contained 2.4 milligrams of fentanyl, according to analysis by DEA forensic chemists who test random samples of the fentanyl seized in the U.S. Overall, the tested samples ranged from a low of .0...
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Terrorist watch list apprehensions at northern border continue to break records
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National, The Center Square

Terrorist watch list apprehensions at northern border continue to break records

By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square The number of known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) apprehended at the northern border in the first six months of fiscal 2024 continue to outpace those apprehended at the southwest border. There have been 143 KSTs apprehended at the northern border through the first six months of this fiscal year compared to 92 at the southwest border, according to the most recent CBP data. Those apprehended are known to law enforcement and in the national Terrorist Screening Dataset, a federal database that contains sensitive information on terrorist identities. It originated as a consolidated terrorist watchlist “to house information on known or suspected terrorists but evolved over the last decade to include additional individuals who represent a pote...
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