USA

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s Legislature passed a $1.1 billion tax relief package Saturday at the close of its annual session as lawmakers tapped a financial windfall from oil production in efforts to break through entrenched cycles of poverty with tax refunds to working families with children, reduced tax rates and increased incentives for private industry.

In the hours after some of Silicon Valley Bank’s biggest customers started pulling out their money, a WhatsApp group of startup founders who are immigrants of color ballooned to more than 1,000 members.

Questions flowed as the bank’s financial status worsened. Some desperately sought advice: Could they open an account at a larger bank without a Social Security Number? Others questioned whether they had to physically be at a bank to open an account, because they’re visiting parents overseas.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that his arrest is imminent and issued an extraordinary call for his supporters to protest as a New York grand jury investigates hush money payments to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president.

Even as Trump’s lawyer and spokesperson said there had been no communication from prosecutors, Trump declared in a post on his social media platform that he expects to be taken into custody on Tuesday.

CHICAGO (AP) — Before they were rivals to be Chicago’s next mayor, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson both worked in education, though their career paths — like their views on the city’s future — were very different.

Vallas was CEO of Chicago Public Schools, appointed by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley after Illinois lawmakers in the 1990s gave control of the troubled district to City Hall. Vallas came to be known as a turnaround expert in Chicago and in other U.S. school districts, supporting charter schools and voucher programs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.

The data had long been sought by retired military aviators who have raised alarms for years about the number of air and ground crew members they knew who had cancer. They were told that earlier military studies had found they were not at greater risk than the general U.S. population.

18 Mar 2023; AA: Former US President Donald Trump and his family failed to report foreign gifts worth nearly $300,000 during his presidency, according to a report by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released on Friday.

More than 100 unreported foreign gifts include items from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other foreign government officials.

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - A Republican proposal to cancel unspent COVID-19 relief money could undercut healthcare for military veterans and pensions for blue-collar workers while doing little to improve the U.S. fiscal picture, a Reuters review of federal spending figures found.

March 17 (Reuters) - European Central Bank supervisors see no contagion for euro zone banks from recent sector turmoil, a source said on Friday, after U.S. lenders threw First Republic Bank (FRC.N) a $30 billion lifeline and tapped record amounts from the Federal Reserve.

Large U.S. banks on Thursday swooped in to rescue the San Francisco-based lender, which was caught up in market volatility triggered by the collapse of two other mid-size U.S. banks.

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - A Republican U.S. senator's accusation on Thursday that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had lied during a tussle over the future of the Social Security program obscured behind-the-scenes talks between the White House and lawmakers that have been underway for months, according to sources.

NEW YORK, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street's major averages advanced on Thursday, bolstered by solid gains in tech-related stocks and bank shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 371.98 points, or 1.17 percent, to 32,246.55. The S&P 500 added 68.35 points, or 1.76 percent, to 3,960.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 283.23 points, or 2.48 percent, to 11,717.28.