Author: KnowledgeHippo

A year ago, the government and America’s biggest banks joined forces in a rare moment of optimism.They were forced into action after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, 2023, quickly followed by two other lenders, Signature Bank and First Republic. Faced with the threat of a burgeoning crisis that could threaten the banking industry — the worst since 2008 — rivals and regulators have raised a massive bailout fund. All three troubled banks were declared insolvent by the government and sold off.The biggest banks emerged from the period even bigger, having taken accounts from their smaller rivals. But they…

Kathy Goldman, who dedicated her career as a civic leader to establishing food banks, pantries and free breakfast and lunch programs in public schools to sustain low-income New Yorkers, died March 5 in Brooklyn. He was 92 years old.Her daughter, Julie Goldman, said the cause of death, at a hospital, was congestive heart failure.Ms. Goldman was determined to confront the collective indifference she felt had contributed to the Holocaust. Over five decades she worked with many partners to successfully lobby for federal subsidies such as food stamps and nutritional assistance for women, children and infants. build partnerships between corporate supply…

When Wafaa al-Kurd was about to give birth, she said, she weighed less than before she became pregnant and survived on rice and artificial juice.She gave birth to a nearly six-pound girl, named Tayma, just two weeks ago, she said. Since then, her husband has spent his days scouring the markets in northern Gaza, where the family lives, trying to find enough food for his wife to breastfeed and keep Tayma alive.Nearly 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from malnutrition, dehydration and a lack of proper healthcare, according to Gaza’s health ministry. In a statement on Friday, the ministry said…

The Scantron bubbles were gone. So were the long passages and the pressure to read quickly. #2 pencils? Optional and for note taking only.On Saturday, students across America took the latest version of the SAT, which was shorter, faster — and most importantly, all online. Some exams were briefly plagued by technical glitches, but even so, many test-takers had positive views of the new format. They were particularly relieved at the shortness of the exam – which was reduced from three hours to just over two hours – as well as being able to set their own pace as they…

William Whitworth, who wrote revealing profiles in The New Yorker giving voice to its idiosyncratic subjects and handled the prose of some of the nation’s best-known writers as an associate editor before transplanting that magazine’s arduous standards to The Atlantic, where he was editor-in-chief for 20, died Friday in Conway, Ark., near Little Rock. It was 87.His daughter, Kathryn Whitworth Stewart, announced the death. He said he was being treated after several falls and operations at a hospital.As a young college graduate, Mr. Whitworth abandoned a promising career as a jazz trumpeter to pursue a different kind of improvisation as…

Jool Baby, a brand of baby products, has recalled about 63,000 baby cribs sold at Walmart stores and online because they pose a suffocation risk, federal safety regulators said.The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday that the Jool Baby Nova Baby Infant Swing marketed, intended or designed for infant sleep poses a suffocation risk because it had an angle of inclination greater than 10 degrees.The product violated the Commission’s regulation of infant sleep products and the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, the agency said.A study cited in the federal regulation of infant sleep products found that infants who sleep…

On the front lines just outside Bakhmut, Ukraine, a 32-year-old commander of a Ukrainian artillery platoon rocked back and forth in the passenger seat of a battered Lada as another soldier drove the car through a dense forest, sometimes mowing down young trees. When they reached their destination, a small village less than two miles from the Russian lines, all that remained were ruined houses, their broken roofs visible in the moonlight.The commander, a female soldier using the call sign Witch, is a former lawyer who, along with two of her brothers and her mother, joined the army the day…

“The really striking thing about Musk is the confusion between his big public persona and his very, very minimal philanthropic presence,” said Benjamin Soskis, who studies philanthropy at the Urban Institute. Where other billionaires aim for a broad impact on society, Mr. Soskis said Mr. Musk’s foundation lacks “any direction or real focus, outside of his business ventures.”Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.A school for his childrenMr. Musk and his younger brother, Kimball, started the Musk Foundation in 2001, a year before PayPal, the online payments company he co-founded, was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion. He…

Several Kansas City Chiefs fans who attended a playoff game on a cold January day in Missouri suffered frostbite that required amputations, according to the hospital that treated them.A dozen people — including some football fans inside Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 13 — had to undergo amputations involving mostly fingers and toes, the hospital, Research Medical Center in Kansas City, said in a statement Saturday.The center said it treated dozens of patients who suffered frostbite during an 11-day cold spell. Not all amputation patients attended the Chiefs game. Some were people working outdoors in the extreme cold, the hospital said.The…

President Biden said Thursday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were headed for a “come to Jesus meeting” on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to an audio clip of the president’s remarks posted on social media Friday.Mr Biden’s comment underscores rising tensions between him and Mr Netanyahu in recent weeks, as the civilian death toll in Gaza has risen inexorably and Mr Biden has come under political pressure at home and abroad to do more to force Israel to agree to a ceasefire.In recent days, Mr. Biden had expressed hope that a ceasefire agreement of at least…