>>Fed Chair: Too Soon To Say When To Expect Rate Cuts
(Atlanta, GA) -- Investors say the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates, but the Fed Chair warns them not to speak so soon. Jerome Powell said in remarks at Spelman College in Atlanta last week that the Fed is "moving forward carefully, as the risks of under- and over-tightening are becoming more balanced." He said it would be "premature to conclude with confidence" that interest rates won't rise. Experts say rate cuts could come mid-2024, but Powell joins other officials saying they're not thinking about that yet. His comments come weeks before the central bank's policy meeting, where the Federal Reserve is general expected to hold rates steady.
>>Alaska Airlines To Acquire Hawaiian Airlines For $1.9 Billion
(SeaTac, WA) -- Alaska Airlines is set to acquire Hawaiian Airlines for one-point-nine-billion dollars. The airline companies announced the deal Sunday, and will take up to 18 months to be completed. Headquarters will be located in Seattle, with Honolulu a key hub. The merger will mean a fleet of 365 planes and 12-hundred destinations now for Alaska Airlines.
>>Median Law Enforcement Salaries: California 1st, Arkansas Last
(Undated) -- When it comes to pay for law enforcement officers, California ranks first and Mississippi is last. The non-profit organization USA Facts used 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics data to determine the median salary for U.S. states and metro areas. Adjusting for each state's cost of living, the median salary for law enforcement officers in California was 93-thousand-169-dollars. California also had 16 of the 20 top-paying metro areas for police, with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara leading the way at 132-thousand-930-dollars. The adjusted median salary for law enforcement officers in Mississippi was just over 43-thousand-dollars. Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina joined Mississippi as the only four states with an adjusted median salary below 50-thousand-dollars for police, sheriff's department and other agency officers.
>>Four Year College Degree Requirements Are Disappearing For Many Corporations
(New York, NY) -- Nearly half of US companies intend to eliminate Bachelor's degree requirements for some job positions next year. According to a survey by Intelligence-dot-com of 800 US employers, 55-percent said they'd already eliminated degree requirements this year. It comes after Walmart, IBM, Accenture, Bank of America and Google announced similar plans. Walmart eliminated college degrees as a requirement for hundreds of its corporate roles, saying it would get rid of 'unnecessary barriers' that prevent career advancement. The growing trend of cutting degrees requirements has been described as 'an essential step in reducing inequity in the American labor market.'
>>Beyonce Concert Film Tops Box Office
(Hollywood, CA) -- For the second time this year, a concert film debuts on top of the weekend box office. "Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce" took in an estimated 21-million-dollars to join "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" in hitting number one in its opening week. "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" finished second at 14-million-dollars after spending its first two weeks at number one. A classic monster opened in third place as "Godzilla Minus One" took in eleven-million-dollars.
