After a quiet summer, homebuyers were no longer on the fence in October due to a steep decline in mortgage rates. The National Association of Realtors reports that sales of previously owned homes increased 3.4% from September to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 3.96 million units last month. For the first time in over three years, sales increased by 2.9% over October of the previous year. Since this number is based on contracts that have been signed, the majority of the transactions took place in August and September. The average rate on the widely used 30-year fixed mortgage was decreasing at the time. According to Mortgage News Daily, it began August at roughly 6.6% and fell to a low of 6.11% by the middle of September. According to a report from the NAR's chief economist, Lawre...

Due to prosecution concerns, the state's top court overturned the actor Jussie Smollett's 2019 conviction for fraudulently reporting a hate crime to Chicago police. The Illinois Supreme Court considered Smollett's case and decided on Thursday that the former "Empire" star shouldn't have been charged following his signing of a non-prosecution agreement with the Cook County State Attorney's Office. In 2022, Smollett was found guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct and given a sentence of 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation. Because he is Black and gay, the actor was viciously attacked in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood, and he told authorities in January 2019 that he was the victim of a hate crime. Olabingo and Abimbola Osundairower, brothers who worked on the "Empir...

On Thursday, Colin Gray, the father of alleged Georgia school shooter Colt Gray, entered a not guilty plea to charges pertaining to the September mass shooting at Apalachee High School, which claimed four lives. Colin Gray's lawyers showed up in court Thursday morning and pleaded not guilty on his behalf. A formal arraignment was also waived. He didn't attend the hearing. According to online court records, the older Gray was indicted by a Barrow County grand jury in October on 29 counts, including reckless conduct, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, and second-degree cruelty to children. According to Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith, Colin Gray's accusations were the first time a father of a suspected school shooter had ever been charged in the state. In the Septembe...

A definitive version of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's announcement that it will soon oversee nonbank companies that provide financial services including wallet apps and payments was released on Thursday. The examination, which is intended to make sure the newer entrants follow the same rules that banks and credit unions do, would apply to tech titans and payments companies that process at least 50 million transactions a year, the CFPB announced in a release. Seven nonbanks are eligible for the further inspection, according to the CFPB. This would include peer-to-peer services like Venmo and Zelle, fintech companies like PayPal and Block, and payment systems from Apple, Google, and Amazon. The new rule enables the CFPB to treat tech companies more like banks, even though it pre...

The father of JonBen Ramsey, who said on Thursday that he welcomed the fresh pop culture spotlight on the nearly 28-year-old murder, still holds out hope that his daughter's killer will be apprehended. According to 80-year-old John Ramsey, police in Boulder, Colorado, can use new DNA technology to investigate the murder that attracted international notice around Christmas 1996. Ramsey said, "So we want to keep the case alive and in front of people," on the "TODAY" program on NBC. "If the cops accept assistance from outside their system, I think it can be resolved. For twenty-five years, that has been the fault. Ramsey appeared on "TODAY" alongside Joe Berlinger, the director of Cold Case: Who Killed JonBen T. Ramsey, a Netflix documentary series that premieres next week. According to Berli...

A U.S. official and a military officer with knowledge of the situation informed NBC News that Russia did not launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward Ukraine on Thursday, refuting a claim made by Kyiv. In what would have been the first known use of an ICBM in an ongoing conflict and the most recent escalation by the Kremlin, Ukraine accused Moscow of launching the ICBM at the eastern city of Dnipro in a nocturnal attack. According to U.S. officials, the weapon was an experimental ballistic missile with an intermediate range, and Russia has a limited stock of that type of missile. The normal range of an intermediate-range ballistic missile is less than 3,500 miles. It's unknown why the Kremlin would have utilized an ICBM against its neighbor given that they usually have a ...

Authorities on Wednesday identified the suspected killer of a 17-year-old girl as a man who cleared him of raping and killing her in 1979 after passing a lie detector test. On February 10, 1979, Esther Gonzalez's body was discovered in a snowfall off a roadway close to Banning, California, according to a news release from the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. According to the district attorney's office, she was murdered the day before as she was making her way from her sister's home in Banning to her parents' home in Beaumont. Lewis Randolph "Randy" Williamson was identified as her suspected murderer. According to the news release, forensic genealogy was used to locate him. In 2014, Williamson passed away in Florida. Gonzalez was found to have been raped and killed by bludgeonin...

Target is already giving discounts on clothing, tech, holiday décor, and other items as Black Friday draws near. Additionally, you can save 50% off your first year of Target Circle 360 membership during this time. Throughout the year, I often cover Target sales and offers as an associate reporter for NBC Select. I looked through sales on well-known companies for this sale and put up some good ones I think you should be aware of. Every product has a high rating and is discounted by at least 20%. Note that stock availability can change at any time. Since more and more things will be on sale as Black Friday approaches, I'll also be updating this post. GO Ahead and SkipNBC Select offers the best early Black Friday Target deals, more early Black Friday Target sales, and reasons to trust them. ...

The father of JonBen Ramsey, who said on Thursday that he welcomed the fresh pop culture spotlight on the nearly 28-year-old murder, still holds out hope that his daughter's killer will be apprehended. According to 80-year-old John Ramsey, police in Boulder, Colorado, can use new DNA technology to investigate the murder that attracted international notice around Christmas 1996. Ramsey said, "So we want to keep the case alive and in front of people," on the "TODAY" program on NBC. "If the cops accept assistance from outside their system, I think it can be resolved. For twenty-five years, that has been the fault. Ramsey appeared on "TODAY" alongside Joe Berlinger, the director of Cold Case: Who Killed JonBen T. Ramsey, a Netflix documentary series that premieres next week. "There's a whole n...

Numerous actors from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Eddie Redmayne, immediately spoke out in favor of trans and nonbinary rights and identity when J.K. Rowling first came out in June 2020 about her belief that transgender women are men and transgender men are women. MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron, two of the largest Harry Potter fan communities, condemned Rowling's opinions and cut off communication with the author's upcoming projects. While excluding Rowling and trans and nonbinary individuals, Warner Bros. released a well-crafted statement stating that "a diverse and inclusive culture has never been more important to our company and to our audiences around the world." This statement at least created a rhetorical s...