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How to budget with a fluctuating income

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

By Chanelle Bessette | NerdWalletIf you’ve ever lived off of tips or commissions, you may be familiar with the up-and-down paychecks common in certain industries. Service jobs, sales jobs, creative careers and project-based work can all have fluctuating income, where seasonality, events or the general economy might affect your earnings.When you can’t depend on a regular paycheck amount or paycheck timing, it can be hard to know how you’ll make ends meet when money isn’t as abundant. With some planning, budgeting and creativity, however, it can become easier to weather a varying income.Create a budgeting planLawrence Sprung, a certified financial planner and author of the book “Financial Planning Made Personal,” works with several financial clients who are romance novelists. These authors live off of book deals and royalties and often have to budget differently depending on their publication cycle. Sprung and his firm help these clients determine their expenses so they can figure out...

Escaped Pennsylvania inmate stole rifle, fled homeowner’s gunfire and remains at large, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Escaped murderer Danelo Souza Cavalcante stole a rifle from a garage and fled a homeowner’s gunfire, authorities said Tuesday as police closed roads in a rural stretch of southeastern Pennsylvania, told residents to lock their doors and set up a new search area in the nearly 2-week-old manhunt.Cavalcante entered the open garage late Monday in the search area northwest of Philadelphia, stole a .22-caliber rifle and ammunition, and fled when the homeowner who was in the garage drew a pistol and shot at him several times, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said at a news conference Tuesday morning.The developments came in the days after Cavalcante slipped out of an earlier search area to the south, stole a dairy delivery truck and went to the homes of onetime work associates in what police say is Cavalcante’s desperate quest for help.About 500 law enforcement personnel are now searching or guarding an 8- to 10-square mile area in northern...

‘White-hot angry’: Eby vows investigation of Chinatown stabbing suspect’s release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — British Columbia Premier David Eby says he is “white-hot” angry over the day release of a man from a forensic psychiatric hospital before he was arrested for a triple stabbing in Vancouver’s Chinatown.Eby said the decision to release the man boggles the mind, and he wants to get to the bottom of how it occurred.He said the government “will ensure an independent person looks into the specifics of this case. The decision-making process. How we arrived at this awful place.”He added that work on that was “already underway.”Blair Evan Donnelly, who’s 64 years old, has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault and remains in custody after Sunday’s attack at the Light Up Chinatown! festival.Donnelly was found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder for stabbing his teenage daughter to death in 2006. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital, but Eby said the man was released in 2009 and “we...

Environment minister must unblock Rebel News founder Levant on X under court order

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

OTTAWA — Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault must unblock Rebel News founder Ezra Levant on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, under the terms of a court order.The order issued by Federal Court Justice Russel Zinn ends an action Levant filed two years ago claiming the Liberal minister was violating his constitutional rights by blocking him.Levant argued that his inability to see or respond to Guilbeault’s posts on the platform limited his ability to engage in debate on matters of public concern.Lawyers in the case wrote to Zinn on Sept. 7 consenting to an order that would resolve the matter.Under the order, the minister must ensure his X account unblocks Levant immediately and for as long as Guilbeault remains a member of Parliament.University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist, who has followed the case, says while the order does not affirm a constitutional right, it sends a strong signal about the state of the law.This report by The Canadian Press was ...

Massachusetts city gets 11 inches of rain, flooding homes, jeopardizing dam

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — Heavy rainfall has flooded parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with one city declaring a state of emergency as water poured into homes, creating moats around their foundations and leading to boat rescues of residents. Concern about a dam listed in poor condition led to more evacuations.More storms were in the forecast for Wednesday, and although it was still early, winds and flooding from Hurricane Lee were expected to affect Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, southeastern New Hampshire and central and coastal Maine during the weekend, forecasters said.Up to 300 people were evacuated by Tuesday morning in Leominster, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Boston, Mayor Dean Mazzarella said. That included residents of a high-rise apartment building and a nursing home. All schools were closed and two shelters were opened.Mazzarella said the city has not seen such widespread damage since a hurricane in 1936. He said most buildings downtown flooded a...

Houston Rockets’ Kevin Porter Jr. fractured girlfriend’s vertebra in NYC assault, prosecutors say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr.’s alleged attack on his girlfriend in a New York City hotel room left the woman with a fractured neck vertebra and a deep cut above her right eye, prosecutors revealed at his arraignment Tuesday.Porter, 23, is charged with felony assault and strangulation in connection with the incident early Monday at the Millennium Hilton near the United Nations in Manhattan. Prosecutors said he didn’t stop until his girlfriend, former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick, ran out into the hallway covered in blood.Porter was not required to enter a plea during his brief court appearance.The NBA star, who had been in police custody since his arrest around 6:45 a.m. Monday, was ordered to post $75,000 cash or obtain a $100,000 bond to secure his release. He was also ordered to stay away from Gondrezick.“This is a serious domestic violence case,” Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Mirah Curzer said in court.According to Curzer, Porter has ...

What’s ahead now that Republicans are opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he is launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, yielding to mounting pressure from former President Donald Trump and his allies in what’s shaping up as an election-year clash between Congress and the White House.In a statement Tuesday, McCarthy said the House investigations into the Biden family this year have uncovered a “culture of corruption” that demands deeper review. “These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption,” McCarthy said.McCarthy said he will direct the chairmen of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees to lead the impeachment inquiry. The panels have been working together for months on various probes related to the Biden family. A look at what happens next as House Republicans inch closer to possible impeachment charges against Biden: WHAT IS AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY? An impeachment inquiry is an investigation of possible wrongdoing by a ...

TKO Group, which houses WWE and UFC, begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

Shares of TKO Group, the new company that houses WWE and UFC, opened at $102 per share in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. has closed its previously announced deal with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. The pairing of WWE with the company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship creates a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company.In a presentation after the deal was announced in April, the WWE and Endeavor said that they will cross-promote to drive brand awareness and deepen penetration of their overlapping fan base of more than 700 million UFC fans and 1.2 billion WWE fans worldwide. Endeavor has a 51% controlling interest in the new company. Existing WWE shareholders hold a 49% stake.“With UFC and WWE under one roof, we will provide unrivaled experiences for more than a billion passionate fans worldwide,” Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor and TKO Group, said in a statement. Jefferies analyst Randal Konik likes t...

High rent prices near University of Guelph drives family to almost resort to van living for their son

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

A dire student housing situation has almost forced one GTHA family to take unorthodox measures for their son. The mother of a University of Guelph student says rent for off-campus housing is so high, their son has planned to live in a van while going to school. Melissa and Jim, who are from Caledonia, have a converted van that the couple use for camping adventures. Up until a week before the start of the school year, their son would have called the van home while attending classes this year.He has since luckily found an actual room to rent.A combination of OSAP, scholarships, and money from a summer job helped their son stay in residence in his first year. This year, however, the housing situation was tougher.“I’m thinking maybe $550, $600 for a room but they were not. Anything that you wanted fairly close to the university was going to be at least $850 or more,” said Melissa. “Plus the bills on top of that,” added Jim. “So you’re getting up...

Guatemalan authorities raid electoral facilities, open boxes of votes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:02 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Agents from Guatemala’s Attorney General’s office on Tuesday opened dozens of boxes of votes and photographed their contents in another raid on facilities of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.Luis Gerardo Ramírez, spokesman for the tribunal, said the body had not given permission to open the boxes and said the raid was being carried out by the Attorney General’s office with the order of a judge.The Attorney General’s office had asked to review at least 160 boxes of votes from various parts of the country, Ramírez said.The raid was apparently part of some of the various ongoing investigations related to the national elections that culminated last month with the election of Bernardo Arévalo.Anti-corruption prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, who has been investigating Arévalo’s Seed Movement party, was leading the operation. Curruchiche has been sanctioned by the United States government for allegedly obstructing the fight against corruption.The Attorney General’s office...