Summary List Placement If you've been thinking about investing in bitcoin, you're not alone. But is it wise? We asked a financial planner, who recommended paying off debt and saving for retirement before considering bitcoin. If you're going to buy bitcoin, she advised keeping it to 5% or less of your portfolio. A trusted advisor will help you build your wealth and invest with confidence. Get a custom plan from a low-cost financial advisor. Start Now » Bitcoin made headlines throughout 2020 as its value rose by 288% and hit an all-time high of $40,000 in early 2021. Those are big numbers — and you're not alone if they've piqued your interest in the cryptocurrency. In 2020, 81% of financial advisors surveyed by Bitwise Asset Management said their clients had asked about cryptocurrencies....

Summary List PlacementJoe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as president and vice president, setting the stage for Democratic control of Congress and the presidency. That scenario, dubbed a "Biden Blue Wave," is expected to provide a major catalyst for the US cannabis industry, according to analysts. Cowen analyst Vivien Azer has previously said that with a Democratic-controlled government, cannabis-related legislation — like the STATES Act and MORE Act — would have a better chance of passing, creating big opportunities for the US industry. Democrats control the Senate because both of Georgia's Democratic candidates won their seats earlier this month. In December, the US House of Representatives, where Democrats are also in control, voted for the first time on a bill to decriminaliz...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration (all times local): 12:50 p.m. Calm prevailed outside heavily fortified state capitol buildings across the U.S. as Joe Biden was sworn in as president. The FBI had warned of the possibility for armed demonstrations leading up to the inauguration after President Donald Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed the election was stolen from him. Fewer than a half-dozen demonstrators showed up outside the capitols in Concord, New Hampshire, and Lansing, Michigan. A lone protester wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat stood outside a chain-link fence surrounding the California Capitol in Sacramento, as dozens of police officers and National Guard troops guarded every entrance. Three protesters were outside the Nebraska Capitol i

Kamala Harris is sworn in as U.S. Vice President as her husband Doug Emhoff looks on at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today’s inauguration ceremony Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States. | GettyThe moment was steeped in history and significance in more ways than one. She was escorted to the podium by Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, the officer who single-handedly took on a mob of Trump supporters as they tried to breach the Senate floor during the Capitol insurrection that sought to overturn the election results. WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris broke the barrier Wednesday that has kept men at the top ranks of American power for more than two centur

RICHMOND — The Contra Costa District Attorney’s conviction integrity unit is reviewing whether to overturn the murder conviction of a Bay Area man in connection with a 1992 robbery and fatal shooting, after two key witnesses submitted sworn statements either recanting or changing their testimony. The unit will decide the fate of 46-year-old Ricky Godfrey, who was 18 when he was arrested and charged with murdering Harvey Norfleet in Richmond. Godfrey is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in California State Prison, Solano, and has lobbied for years for a new trial. “I do realize that some and or many of you may have heard similar stories like mine’s, but let me be clear and assure you that my outcry is one of total sincerity,” he wrote in a statement that has since b...

By JONATHAN LEMIRE, ZEKE MILLER and ALEXANDRA JAFFE WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, declaring that “democracy has prevailed” as he took the helm of a deeply divided nation and inherited a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors. Biden’s inauguration came at a time of national tumult and uncertainty, a ceremony of resilience as the hallowed American democratic rite unfurled at a U.S. Capitol battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks ago. The chilly Washington morning was dotted with snow flurries, but the sun emerged just before Biden took the oath of office, the quadrennial ceremony persevering even though it was encircled by security forces evocative of a war zone and devoid of crowds becau

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE AND ALEXANDRA JAFFE WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris broke the barrier Wednesday that has kept men at the top ranks of American power for more than two centuries when she took the oath to hold the nation’s second-highest office. Harris was sworn in as the nation’s first female vice president — and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold the role — in front of the U.S. Capitol by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The moment was steeped in history and significance in more ways than one. She was escorted to the podium by Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, the officer who single-handedly took on a mob of Trump supporters as they tried to breach the Senate floor during the Capitol insurrection that sought to overturn the election res

As Donald Trump boarded Air Force One shortly after 8am ET and left the White House for the final time, Hollywood took to social media in droves to celebrate the end of Trump’s presidency. Mark Ruffalo, one of the most vocal Trump detractors in Hollywood, sent a message to his seven million Twitter followers proclaiming, “The golden toilet presidency is over!” While Ruffalo took a final jab at Trump by calling him “a turd,” he also looked to the future to assure his followers that a better future is right around the corner. “He is finally gone,” Ruffalo wrote. “The nightmare has come to its fitful end. A bunch of trump elite criminals pardoned in the shroud of night. The Golden Toilet Presidency is over. A turd is a turd no matter where it lays. We are going to be okay. From the wreckage

An earthquake of magnitude 3.5 was widely felt from Beverly Hills to Long Beach on Wednesday morning. The quake, at 8:31 a.m., was centered in Los Angeles’ Willowbrook neighborhood, 8 miles south of downtown along the Harbor Freeway, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The hundreds of responses to the USGS Did You Feel It website came from across the Los Angeles Basin, and dozens from the San Fernando Valley. ...read more Source:: The Mercury News – Latest News...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration (all times local): 12:20 p.m. More than a hundred people stood in the cold waiting to get through a security checkpoint to reach Pennsylvania Avenue, where they hoped to catch a glimpse of the presidential procession. People watched the inauguration ceremony on their phones Wednesday, cheering as Vice President Kamala Harris, then President Joe Biden took the oath. “I feel so hopeful, so thankful,” said Karen Jennings Crooms, a D.C. resident waiting in line with her husband. “It makes us sad that this is where we are but hopeful that democracy will win out in the end. That’s what I’m focusing on.” Her husband, Vernal Crooms, who attended Howard University at the same time as Harris but didn’t know her, said he was happy

INDIANAPOLIS — When Philip Rivers first started tossing footballs as a high-school ball boy, he heaved them any way he could. The throwing motion stuck – and success soon followed. Rivers used that strange, shot put-like style to land a college scholarship, become a first-round draft pick and eventually string together one of the greatest 17-year careers in NFL history. On Wednesday, the 39-year-old Indianapolis Colts quarterback announced his retirement. “Every year, Jan. 20 is a special and emotional day,” Rivers said in a statement posted on the team’s website. “It is St. Sebastian’s Feast day, the day I played in the AFC championship without an ACL, and now the day that after 17 seasons, I’m announcing my retirement from the National Football League. Thank you God for allowing me to li

Summary List PlacementThere are few sadder phrases than those two little red words your iPhone displays when a message fails to send: "Not Delivered." Those words, along with that exclamation point in a circle, mean your charming photo or witty comment didn't go through. Fortunately, as in life, with the iPhone: the simplest answer is usually the correct one. If your iPhone is not sending messages, first make sure you have a connection to either a Wi-Fi or cellular network, and make sure your phone is not set to Airplane Mode. SEE ALSO: The best iPhone for every type of person and budget How to troubleshoot your iPhone if it isn’t sending messages If these quick fixes below don't do the trick, the solution will be a bit more involved, but you can usually get messages sending again wi...

Summary List PlacementOutgoing-President Donald Trump had one major stated goal throughout his tenure in office: To make America great again. But according to a new poll from Morning Consult and Politico, the majority of voters believe he failed in that promise. Among all voters, 39% thought he made America great again, while 57% thought he did not. The view that Trump achieved the aim of his longtime slogan was held by a majority of Republicans, but a minority of Independents and just 15% of Democrats.  The poll, which was conducted Jan. 15-17, 2021, surveyed 1,993 registered voters, and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points, found that 21% of respondents considered Trump one of the best presidents, 13% above average, 8% about the same as others, 9% below average, and 46% — a p...

EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZPresident Trump had one last pardon up his sleeve in the last hour of his presidency—for the ex-husband of one of his favorite Fox News hosts. On Wednesday, Trump pardoned Albert Pirro Jr., ex-husband of Judge Jeanine Pirro, The Daily Beast confirmed. Albert Pirro, a real-estate development lawyer and a top Republican fundraiser in New York state, served just over a year in prison after being convicted of conspiracy and tax evasion in 2000. Pirro had represented Trump—himself one of the nation’s most famous real-estate developers before his presidency—in some of his deals. at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here ...read more Source:: The Daily Beast...