By Patrick Clark | Bloomberg The largest owner of U.S. rental houses isn’t seeing any let-up in demand, or in its ability to increase rents. Invitation Homes, which owns more than 80,000 single-family rentals, raised prices by nearly 11% in the third quarter, according to a statement. The company boosted rents by 8% on renewals and 18% when leasing homes to new tenants. Rates are rising fastest in the Southwest, where rents increased 30% on new leases in Las Vegas, and 29% in Phoenix. “It’s a little bit crazy,” Chief Executive Officer Dallas Tanner said on a conference call with investors Thursday. “There just isn’t enough quality housing available right now.” Rising rents have been a staple of the economy since early Covid lockdowns lifted in the middle of last year. Surging purchase pri...
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RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 3: Fans devastated as Snatch Game elimination twist serves up huge shock in episode 6
RuPaul was not amused at the end of the lip sync (Picture: BBC)Warning: spoilers ahead for episode 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 3. The Snatch Game episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 3 was eventful to say the least, with the queens reading each other to filth in the mini challenge, delivering some iconic celebrity impersonations in the maxi challenge and showcasing fruity fashion on the runway. However, the biggest shock came right at the end of the episode, when Ru revealed she had decided to eliminate both of the queens in the bottom two with a brutal double sashay away. After their Snatch Game performances and runway looks were assessed, Choriza May and River Medway were selected as the bottom two queens of the week. Ru explained that she was ‘splitting hairs’ decid
Read MoreUnder new rules, California’s fish and wildlife department may prohibit use of crab traps during part of the upcoming Dungeness recreational season. Agency director Charlton Bonham on Wednesday announced the protocol for determining gear restrictions. On Monday, Nov. 1, a hearing will assess data on populations of humpback whales and Pacific leatherback sea turtles off California’s coast. If that data suggests there’s a substantial risk of those animals getting entangled in crab traps’ lines and buoys, then the traps may be prohibited when the recreational Dungeness season opens on Nov. 6. Any mid-season restrictions will also be announced five days in advance. Additionally, the new regulations adopted by the state’s fish and game commission stipulate each crab trap may have only one ma...
Read MoreRonnie O’Sullivan reckons an unlikely source has been behind some of his snooker success (Picture: Getty Images)Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed that playing pool is ‘a little secret’ behind some of his snooker success and has encouraged players of all cue sports to take up a variety of disciplines. The Rocket has a bit of history with nine-ball pool, playing for Team Europe in the 1996 Mosconi Cup, and he says that the smaller table has helped him to his unprecedented levels of success in snooker. The six-time world champion and 37-time ranking event winner says that pool practice is his ‘little secret’ to finding his best form on the snooker table, and hes explained why. ‘It is a little secret I let people in on, I actually played some of my best snooker because I played nine-ba...
Read MoreUtah Air National Guard medic Stephanie Young gives Max Lind, 12, a COVID-19 vaccine during a Utah County Health clinic at Equestrian Park in Highland on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret NewsFDA expected to authorize shots for children as young as 5 With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expected Friday to authorize COVID-19 shots for children as young as 5 years old, it’s not too soon for parents to be thinking about how they’ll talk about the vaccinations with their children. Final federal approval to begin vaccinating children 5 to 11 years old with the Pfizer vaccine could come by the middle of next week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Utah Department of Health preordered 109,000 pediatric doses of the vaccine that should begin arri
Read MoreObviously the royal marriage that makes the most headlines these days is that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. (Some say the Sussexes' global popularity was the primary reason they attracted such enmity in London, but that's a conversation for another time.) But with change in the air at Buckingham Palace, Prince William and Kate Middleton are once again attracting the arttention of royal-watchers. These days, the focus is primarily on their family -- two sons and a daughter -- and their future, as barring some unforeseen tragedy, William will ascend to the throne some time within the next couple of decades. (Realistically, his coronation probably isn't 20 years off, but longevity seems to be a dominant trait in the Windsor clan.) And with Will and Kate back in the spot...
Read MoreAfter his home was bombed in 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. applied for a permit to carry a gun. Despite the potentially deadly threats that King faced as a leader of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, the county sheriff, Mac Sim Butler, said no. Next week, the Supreme Court will consider a challenge to a New York law similar to the Alabama statute that empowered local officials like Butler to decide who could exercise the constitutional right to bear arms. The briefs urging the court to overturn New York’s statute include several from African American organizations that emphasize the long Black tradition of armed self-defense, the racist roots of gun control laws, and their disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities. “I went to the sheriff to get a permit for those people wh
Read MoreAlex Wareing is taking on a running challenge of more than 100 miles for a charity that helps his family care for son Jack (Picture: Alex Wareing)A dad is set to run more than 100 miles in one go for a ‘lifeline’ charity that helped his four-year-old son cope with a severe form of incurable epilepsy through the lockdowns. Alex Wareing is taking on the equivalent of four back-to-back marathons after Momentum Children’s Charity supported the family, who live in ‘constant anxiety’ that Jack will go into a fit. The primary schooler has a rare neurological condition called Dravet syndrome, which encompasses treatment-resistant epilepsy, intellectual disability and a spectrum of associated conditions. Alex, 35, a tree surgeon and former Ibiza DJ from Dorking, Surrey, is taking on a seri
Read MoreSeen on the screen of a device in Sausalito, Calif., Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. Zuckerberg talked up his latest passion — creating a virtual reality “metaverse” for business, entertainment and meaningful social interactions. | APSkeptics point out that the rebranding also appears to be an attempt to change the subject from the Facebook Papers. OAKLAND, Calif. — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company is rebranding itself as Meta in an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future, what Zuckerberg calls the “metaverse.” Skeptics point out that it also appears to be an attempt to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, a leaked document trove that has revealed the ways Facebook ignor...
Read MoreBBC confirms release of Freddie Mercury documentary detailing ‘extraordinary final chapter’ of his life
Freddie Mercury: The Final Act is the latest BBC2 documentary which will explore the final years of the global icon (Picture: PA)BBC Two is set to release a special documentary exploring the final years of global superstar Freddie Mercury. The feature film, which will be released next month, will mark 30 years since the Queen singer’s tragic death from complications of Aids. The one-off special will also feature interviews from former bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor, as well as Mercury’s sister Kashmira Bulsara and May’s wife Anita Dobson. The documentary, which is titled Freddie Mercury: The Final Act, will also show viewers the lead-up to Queen’s infamous tribute concert at Wembley Stadium 1992. BBC Music TV’s head of commissioning, Jan Younghusband said: ‘James Rogan’s
Read MoreENCINO — Authorities are investigating a home invasion robbery that targeted “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Dorit Kemsley. The crime occurred about 10:50 p.m. Wednesday on the 17000 block of Adlon Road, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Three men took undisclosed items from the residence and fled, police said. No injuries were reported. The LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division was handling the investigation. According to TMZ.com, the suspects “stormed her bedroom, threatened her life and fled with a ton of very expensive possessions.” “Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star was asleep around 11 p.m. Wednesday when the men broke into her LA-area home. We’re told Dorit begged for her life, shouting, ‘Don’t kill me!’” TMZ reported. “Our ...
Read MoreReal Housewives of Beverly Hills star Dorit Kemsley ‘robbed at gunpoint by three men’ during home invasion
RHOBH’s Dorit Kemsley was a victim of armed robbery on Wednesday night (Picture: Arturo Holmes/WireImage)Reality star Dorit Kemsley was robbed at gunpoint by three men who broke into her California mansion, according to multiple reports. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hill star reportedly has her life threatened by the group after they broke into her Encino Hills mansion in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Her children, seven-year-old Jagger and five-year-old Phoenix, were at home and sleeping at the time of the robbery, Page Six reports. The Daily Mail, which first reported the news, claimed the men broke in by smashing through the children’s classroom door that has often featured on RHOBH. A spokesman for the LAPD told The Sun that the home invasion robbery took place at Kemsley’s...
Read MoreKimberly Kessler disrupts another court hearing as judge aims to proceed with December trial
The judge presiding over the Nassau County murder case against Kimberly Kessler, who is accused of killing her co-worker Joleen Cummings, is determined to proceed with a December trial, even as the defense files more motions challenging aspects of the state’s case. At Thursday’s status conference, Kessler was wheeled in and immediately began chanting, as she has done in recent hearings, “Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin” — an accusation about one of her defense attorneys that has been proven untrue. She yelled it out eleven times before she was wheeled back out of court The defense this week filed motions asking the state to give a detailed transcription of the hundreds of jail calls Kessler has made and asking that the state reveal what weapon was used to kill Cummings, whose body has nev...
Read MoreRobby Krieger, guitarist in the iconic L.A. band the Doors, tells the story of those strange days in his new memoir, “Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors.” (Image courtesy of Little, Brown and Company) Robby Krieger, guitarist in the iconic L.A. band the Doors, tells the story of those strange days in his new memoir, “Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors.” Here he’s seen playing with the doors at the London Fog on the Sunset Strip, the first club to give the band regular gigs. (Photo by Nettie Pena) Robby Krieger, guitarist in the iconic L.A. band the Doors, tells the story of those strange days in his new memoir, “Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors.” (Photo by Jill Jarrett)...
Read MorePeter Simmons, 27, pretended to be a fake investment banker called ‘Paul Newman’ to make almost 600 bank transfers (Picture: SWNS)A conman who pretended to be an investment banker to steal his dad’s life savings has been ordered to pay back £1. Peter Simmons, 27, posed as a fake investment banker called ‘Paul Newman’ to make almost 600 bank transfers from his dad’s account between 2015 and 2018. He took a total of £450,000, using the money to gamble and splash out on items such as an £80,000 Range Rover. But the fraudster, who was jailed for three and a half years in May, must pay back just £1 after a judge ruled he has no assets. It all came to light when Simmons’ dad, Peter Simmons Snr, went to the bank with his other children. When he discovered the fraud his son phoned...
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