NEW YORK — Legendary British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens will 
release a new album of original songs this summer that took the “Peace 
Train” hitmaker over a decade to make and revisits familiar themes of 
togetherness.

The 12-song collection is called “King of a Land” 
and comes out in June on George Harrison-founded Dark Horse Records. The
 album cover illustration shows a boy playing guitar on top of the 
Earth, as a cat stretches and a train puffs along a track.

The 
first single is the cheerful, family friendly “Take the World Apart,” 
with the lyrics “I'll take the world apart/to find a place for a 
peaceful heart.”

“The source of musical inspiration for this song 
came from the 50s. The smoochy harmonies and chords have an enchanting 
effect on the ear. Life was simpler then: lonely hearts yearning for 
love," he said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The album 
reunites Stevens with producer Paul Samwell-Smith, who produced three 
Stevens albums between 1970-72 — “Tea for the Tillerman,” “Teaser and 
the Firecat” and “Catch Bull at Four.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/1a43c96be82d41eb8ba03e37a82fec4a">Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame member Stevens,</a>
 who also goes by Yusuf, the name he took when he converted to Islam, 
has been a respected writer since releasing his debut in 1967. He’s had a
 string of Top 40 hits, from “Peace Train” and “Wild World” to “Morning 
Has Broken.” He was just named to Glastonbury’s coveted Legends slot 
this summer.

Associated PressNEW YORK — Legendary British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens will 
release a new album of original songs this summer that took the “Peace 
Train” hitmaker over a decade to make and revisits familiar themes of 
togetherness.The 12-song collection is called “King of a Land” 
and comes out in June on George Harrison-founded Dark Horse Records. The
 album cover illustration shows a boy playing guitar on top of the 
Earth, as a cat stretches and a train puffs along a track.The 
first single is the cheerful, family friendly “Take the World Apart,” 
with the lyrics “I'll take the world apart/to find a place for a 
peaceful heart.”“The source of musical inspiration for this song 
came from the 50s. The smoochy harmonies and chords have an enchanting 
effect on the ear. Life was simpler then: lonely hearts yearning for 
love," he said in a statement to The Associated Press.The album 
reunites Stevens with producer Paul Samwell-Smith, who produced three 
Stevens albums between 1970-72 — “Tea for the Tillerman,” “Teaser and 
the Firecat” and “Catch Bull at Four.”<a href="https://apnews.com/article/1a43c96be82d41eb8ba03e37a82fec4a">Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame member Stevens,</a>
 who also goes by Yusuf, the name he took when he converted to Islam, 
has been a respected writer since releasing his debut in 1967. He’s had a
 string of Top 40 hits, from “Peace Train” and “Wild World” to “Morning 
Has Broken.” He was just named to Glastonbury’s coveted Legends slot 
this summer.

Cat Stevens to return this summer with a new album

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers that the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/refunds">Where's My Refund?</a>&nbsp;tool on IRS.gov is the most convenient way to check the status of 2022, 2021 and 2020 tax refunds. <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs2goapp">IRS2Go</a>, the mobile app, offers another way for users to check their refund status.

Information for the most current tax year filed is generally 
available within 24 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of a 
taxpayer's e-filed return. If they filed a paper return, taxpayers 
should allow four weeks before checking the status.

To use <a href="https://www.irs.gov/refunds">Where's My Refund?</a>,
 taxpayers must enter their Social Security number or Individual 
Taxpayer Identification number, filing status and the exact whole dollar
 amount of their expected refund from the original tax return for the 
year they're checking.

The IRS updates the tool once a day, usually overnight, so there's no
 need to check more often. This prevents individuals from having to 
contact the IRS for updates unless the tool requests them to call.

Where's My Refund? displays progress through three phases:

Taxpayers will get personalized refund information based on the 
status of their tax return. The tool will provide an actual refund date 
once the IRS processes the return and approves the refund.

The fastest way to get a refund is by filing <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-options">electronically</a> and using <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/the-benefits-of-having-a-tax-refund-direct-deposited">direct deposit</a>. Taxpayers who don't have a bank account can find out how to open a bank account at a <a href="https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-suite/bankfind">FDIC-insured bank</a> or the <a href="https://mapping.ncua.gov/">National Credit Union Locator Tool</a>.

Even though most refunds are issued in less than 21 days for 
taxpayers who file electronically and choose direct deposit, some 
refunds may take longer. Many different factors can affect the timing of
 a refund, such as if the return has errors, is incomplete or is 
affected by <a href="https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-central">identity theft</a> or fraud.

The IRS will contact taxpayers by mail if more information is 
needed to process a return. IRS phone and walk-in representatives can 
only research the status of a refund if:

If a taxpayer refund isn't what is expected, it may be due to 
changes the IRS made to the return. These changes could include 
corrections to the Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit amounts 
or&nbsp;an offset from all or part of the refund amount to pay past-due tax 
or debts. More information about <a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc203">reduced refunds</a> is available on IRS.gov.

Taxpayers should make IRS.gov their first stop to get information on how to file. There is information on:

As a reminder, the deadline for most taxpayers to file a tax 
return, pay any tax due or request an extension to file is Tuesday, 
April 18.

This news release is part of a series called the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-time-guide">Tax Time Guide</a>, a resource designed to help taxpayers file an accurate tax return. Additional help is available in <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf">Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals)</a>PDF.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers that the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/refunds">Where's My Refund?</a>&nbsp;tool on IRS.gov is the most convenient way to check the status of 2022, 2021 and 2020 tax refunds. <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs2goapp">IRS2Go</a>, the mobile app, offers another way for users to check their refund status.Information for the most current tax year filed is generally 
available within 24 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of a 
taxpayer's e-filed return. If they filed a paper return, taxpayers 
should allow four weeks before checking the status.To use <a href="https://www.irs.gov/refunds">Where's My Refund?</a>,
 taxpayers must enter their Social Security number or Individual 
Taxpayer Identification number, filing status and the exact whole dollar
 amount of their expected refund from the original tax return for the 
year they're checking.The IRS updates the tool once a day, usually overnight, so there's no
 need to check more often. This prevents individuals from having to 
contact the IRS for updates unless the tool requests them to call.Where's My Refund? displays progress through three phases:<ol>
 <li>Return Received.</li><li>Refund Approved.</li><li>Refund Sent.</li>
 </ol>Taxpayers will get personalized refund information based on the 
status of their tax return. The tool will provide an actual refund date 
once the IRS processes the return and approves the refund.The fastest way to get a refund is by filing <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-options">electronically</a> and using <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/the-benefits-of-having-a-tax-refund-direct-deposited">direct deposit</a>. Taxpayers who don't have a bank account can find out how to open a bank account at a <a href="https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-suite/bankfind">FDIC-insured bank</a> or the <a href="https://mapping.ncua.gov/">National Credit Union Locator Tool</a>.<h2>What to expect</h2>Even though most refunds are issued in less than 21 days for 
taxpayers who file electronically and choose direct deposit, some 
refunds may take longer. Many different factors can affect the timing of
 a refund, such as if the return has errors, is incomplete or is 
affected by <a href="https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-central">identity theft</a> or fraud.Other causes for delays:<ul>
 <li>The return may require additional review.</li><li>The return needs a correction to the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit.</li><li>The time between the IRS issuing the refund and the bank posting it
 to an account may vary since many banks do not process payments on 
weekends or holidays.</li>
 </ul>The IRS will contact taxpayers by mail if more information is 
needed to process a return. IRS phone and walk-in representatives can 
only research the status of a refund if:<ul>
 <li>21 days or more have passed since it was filed electronically.</li><li>Six weeks or more have passed since a return was mailed.</li><li>Where's My Refund?&nbsp;tells the taxpayer to contact the IRS.</li>
 </ul>If a taxpayer refund isn't what is expected, it may be due to 
changes the IRS made to the return. These changes could include 
corrections to the Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit amounts 
or&nbsp;an offset from all or part of the refund amount to pay past-due tax 
or debts. More information about <a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc203">reduced refunds</a> is available on IRS.gov.<h2>Filing a tax return</h2>Taxpayers should make IRS.gov their first stop to get information on how to file. There is information on:<ul>
 <li>IRS<a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free"> Free File</a>,</li><li>IRS <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account">Online Account</a>,</li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/help/ita">Answers to tax questions</a> and</li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing">Tips on filing a return</a>.</li>
 </ul>As a reminder, the deadline for most taxpayers to file a tax 
return, pay any tax due or request an extension to file is Tuesday, 
April 18.This news release is part of a series called the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-time-guide">Tax Time Guide</a>, a resource designed to help taxpayers file an accurate tax return. Additional help is available in <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf">Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals)</a>PDF.

Where's my tax refund? IRS online tool lets you track it

By JANIE HAR Associated Press

SAN
 FRANCISCO — Payments of $5 million to every eligible Black adult, 
the elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual 
incomes of at least $97,000 for 250 years and homes in San Francisco for
 just $1 a family.

These are just some of the recommendations made
 by a city-appointed reparations committee tasked with a thorny 
question: What would it take to atone for the centuries of U.S. slavery 
and generations of systemic racism that continue to keep Black Americans
 on the bottom rungs of health, education and economic prosperity, and 
overrepresented in prisons and homeless populations?

A first 
hearing before the city’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday could offer a 
glimpse of the board’s appetite for advancing a reparations plan that 
would be unmatched nationwide in specificity and breadth. Critics have 
slammed it as financially and politically impossible. One conservative 
analyst estimated that each non-Black family in the city would have to 
pay at least $600,000.

Some supervisors have said San Francisco 
can't afford any major reparations payments right now, given the city's 
deep deficit amid a tech industry downturn, but they still want to 
discuss the proposals and consider future solutions. The board can vote 
to change, adopt or reject any or all the recommendations.

But 
reparations committee members consider their results to be an accurate 
estimate of what it would take to begin to repair the enduring damage of
 slavery and discrimination, and they bristle at the idea that they 
should figure out how to pay for it.

“We are the harmed,” said 
Eric McDonnell, chair of San Francisco’s African American Reparations 
Advisory Committee. “If the judge ruled in our favor, the judge would 
not turn to us and say, ‘Help them figure out how to make this work.’”

The
 idea of paying compensation for slavery has gained traction across 
cities and universities. In 2020, California became the first state to 
form <a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-reparations-black-african-american-slavery-8bb885c41083748f76e4452685ce345a">a reparations task force and is still struggling to put a price tag on what is owed</a>.

The idea has not been taken up at the federal level.

Fewer
 than 50,000 Black people still live in San Francisco, and it’s not 
clear how many would be eligible. Possible criteria include having lived
 in the city during certain time periods and descending from someone 
“incarcerated for the failed War on Drugs.”

Critics say the 
payouts make no sense in a state and city that never enslaved Black 
people. Opponents generally say taxpayers who were never slave owners 
should not have to pay money to people who were not enslaved.

Advocates
 say that view ignores a wealth of data and historical evidence showing 
how long after U.S. slavery officially ended in 1865, government 
policies and practices worked to imprison Black people at higher rates, 
deny access to home and business loans and restrict where they could 
work and live.

“There’s still a veiled perspective that, candidly,
 Black folks don’t deserve this,” said McDonnell. “The number itself, $5
 million, is actually low when you consider the harm.”

Justin 
Hansford, professor at Howard University School of Law, says no 
municipal reparations plan will have enough money to right the wrongs of
 slavery, but he appreciates any attempts to “genuinely, legitimately, 
authentically” make things right. And that includes cash, he said.

“If
 you’re going to try to say you’re sorry, you have to speak in the 
language that people understand, and money is that language,” he said.

Black
 residents once made up more than 13% of San Francisco’s population, but
 more than 50 years later, they account for less than 6% of the city's 
residents — and 38% of its homeless population. The Fillmore District 
once thrived with Black-owned night clubs and shops until government 
redevelopment in the 1960s forced out residents.

John Dennis, 
chair of the San Francisco Republican Party, does not support 
reparations although he says he’d support a serious conversation on the 
topic. He doesn’t consider the board’s discussion of $5 million payments
 to be one.

“This conversation we’re having in San Francisco is 
completely unserious. They just threw a number up, there’s no analysis,”
 Dennis said. “It seems ridiculous, and it also seems that this is the 
one city where it could possibly pass.”

Led by Supervisor Shamann 
Walton, the board created the 15-member reparations committee in late 
2020, months after California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-race-and-ethnicity-government-and-politics-19c5c68059a6dd821296ac5fcc24043a">statewide task force amid national turmoil</a> after a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a Black man.

At
 Tuesday's hearing, the board could direct staff to conduct further 
research, write legislation or schedule more meetings. The committee’s 
final report is due in June.

California's task force continues to deliberate recommendations, including <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-sacramento-oakland-8941e77405b87c91b9d235f42038380e">monetary compensation</a>.
 Its report is due to the Legislature on July 1. At that point, it will 
be up to lawmakers to draft and pass legislation, often a time-consuming
 process.

The state panel made the controversial decision in March to limit <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-california-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-legislature-016079ae742956f412cc1b8c32551c8e">reparations to descendants of Black people who were</a>
 in the country in the 19th century. Some reparations advocates said 
that approach misses the ongoing harms that Black immigrants suffer.

Under San Francisco's <a href="https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-01/HRC%20Reparations%202022%20Report%20Final_0.pdf">draft recommendation</a>,
 a person must be at least 18 years old and have identified as 
“Black/African American” in public documents for at least 10 years. 
Eligible people must also meet two of eight other criteria, though the 
list may change.

Those criteria include being born in or migrating
 to San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and living in the city for least
 13 years; being displaced from San Francisco by urban renewal between 
1954 and 1973, or the descendant of someone who was; attending the 
city's public schools before they were fully desegregated; or being a 
descendant of an enslaved U.S. person before 1865.

The Chicago suburb of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/reparations-evanston-illinois-black-residents-752a6fe83c560117523d7f8abba1bfb8">Evanston became the first U.S. city to fund reparations</a>.
 The city gave money to qualifying people for home repairs, downpayments
 and interest or late penalties due on property in the city. In 
December, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-boston-slavery-government-and-6a5e36f746db813b2f42444e180be7b2">Boston City Council approved of a reparations</a> study task force.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1678817913082.jpeg" alt="A man walks near high rise buildings in the Fillmore district in San Francisco in 2008. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person. It’s unclear what actions the board will take at the Tuesday hearing. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)" />
 <figcaption>A man walks near high rise buildings in the Fillmore district in San Francisco in 2008. Supervisors in San Francisco are taking up a draft reparations proposal that includes a $5 million lump-sum payment for every eligible Black person. It’s unclear what actions the board will take at the Tuesday hearing. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)</figcaption>
 </figure>By JANIE HAR Associated PressSAN
 FRANCISCO — Payments of $5 million to every eligible Black adult, 
the elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual 
incomes of at least $97,000 for 250 years and homes in San Francisco for
 just $1 a family.These are just some of the recommendations made
 by a city-appointed reparations committee tasked with a thorny 
question: What would it take to atone for the centuries of U.S. slavery 
and generations of systemic racism that continue to keep Black Americans
 on the bottom rungs of health, education and economic prosperity, and 
overrepresented in prisons and homeless populations?A first 
hearing before the city’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday could offer a 
glimpse of the board’s appetite for advancing a reparations plan that 
would be unmatched nationwide in specificity and breadth. Critics have 
slammed it as financially and politically impossible. One conservative 
analyst estimated that each non-Black family in the city would have to 
pay at least $600,000.Some supervisors have said San Francisco 
can't afford any major reparations payments right now, given the city's 
deep deficit amid a tech industry downturn, but they still want to 
discuss the proposals and consider future solutions. The board can vote 
to change, adopt or reject any or all the recommendations.But 
reparations committee members consider their results to be an accurate 
estimate of what it would take to begin to repair the enduring damage of
 slavery and discrimination, and they bristle at the idea that they 
should figure out how to pay for it.“We are the harmed,” said 
Eric McDonnell, chair of San Francisco’s African American Reparations 
Advisory Committee. “If the judge ruled in our favor, the judge would 
not turn to us and say, ‘Help them figure out how to make this work.’”The
 idea of paying compensation for slavery has gained traction across 
cities and universities. In 2020, California became the first state to 
form <a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-reparations-black-african-american-slavery-8bb885c41083748f76e4452685ce345a">a reparations task force and is still struggling to put a price tag on what is owed</a>.The idea has not been taken up at the federal level.Fewer
 than 50,000 Black people still live in San Francisco, and it’s not 
clear how many would be eligible. Possible criteria include having lived
 in the city during certain time periods and descending from someone 
“incarcerated for the failed War on Drugs.”Critics say the 
payouts make no sense in a state and city that never enslaved Black 
people. Opponents generally say taxpayers who were never slave owners 
should not have to pay money to people who were not enslaved.Advocates
 say that view ignores a wealth of data and historical evidence showing 
how long after U.S. slavery officially ended in 1865, government 
policies and practices worked to imprison Black people at higher rates, 
deny access to home and business loans and restrict where they could 
work and live.“There’s still a veiled perspective that, candidly,
 Black folks don’t deserve this,” said McDonnell. “The number itself, $5
 million, is actually low when you consider the harm.”Justin 
Hansford, professor at Howard University School of Law, says no 
municipal reparations plan will have enough money to right the wrongs of
 slavery, but he appreciates any attempts to “genuinely, legitimately, 
authentically” make things right. And that includes cash, he said.“If
 you’re going to try to say you’re sorry, you have to speak in the 
language that people understand, and money is that language,” he said.Black
 residents once made up more than 13% of San Francisco’s population, but
 more than 50 years later, they account for less than 6% of the city's 
residents — and 38% of its homeless population. The Fillmore District 
once thrived with Black-owned night clubs and shops until government 
redevelopment in the 1960s forced out residents.John Dennis, 
chair of the San Francisco Republican Party, does not support 
reparations although he says he’d support a serious conversation on the 
topic. He doesn’t consider the board’s discussion of $5 million payments
 to be one.“This conversation we’re having in San Francisco is 
completely unserious. They just threw a number up, there’s no analysis,”
 Dennis said. “It seems ridiculous, and it also seems that this is the 
one city where it could possibly pass.”Led by Supervisor Shamann 
Walton, the board created the 15-member reparations committee in late 
2020, months after California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-race-and-ethnicity-government-and-politics-19c5c68059a6dd821296ac5fcc24043a">statewide task force amid national turmoil</a> after a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a Black man.At
 Tuesday's hearing, the board could direct staff to conduct further 
research, write legislation or schedule more meetings. The committee’s 
final report is due in June.California's task force continues to deliberate recommendations, including <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-sacramento-oakland-8941e77405b87c91b9d235f42038380e">monetary compensation</a>.
 Its report is due to the Legislature on July 1. At that point, it will 
be up to lawmakers to draft and pass legislation, often a time-consuming
 process.The state panel made the controversial decision in March to limit <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-california-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-legislature-016079ae742956f412cc1b8c32551c8e">reparations to descendants of Black people who were</a>
 in the country in the 19th century. Some reparations advocates said 
that approach misses the ongoing harms that Black immigrants suffer.Under San Francisco's <a href="https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-01/HRC%20Reparations%202022%20Report%20Final_0.pdf">draft recommendation</a>,
 a person must be at least 18 years old and have identified as 
“Black/African American” in public documents for at least 10 years. 
Eligible people must also meet two of eight other criteria, though the 
list may change.Those criteria include being born in or migrating
 to San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 and living in the city for least
 13 years; being displaced from San Francisco by urban renewal between 
1954 and 1973, or the descendant of someone who was; attending the 
city's public schools before they were fully desegregated; or being a 
descendant of an enslaved U.S. person before 1865.The Chicago suburb of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/reparations-evanston-illinois-black-residents-752a6fe83c560117523d7f8abba1bfb8">Evanston became the first U.S. city to fund reparations</a>.
 The city gave money to qualifying people for home repairs, downpayments
 and interest or late penalties due on property in the city. In 
December, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-boston-slavery-government-and-6a5e36f746db813b2f42444e180be7b2">Boston City Council approved of a reparations</a> study task force.

San Francisco reparations idea: $5 million per Black person

By DAVID BAUDER AP Entertainment Writer

NEW
 YORK — In reimagining 40 of their best-known songs, U2 recognized 
that many fans would experience them through earphones connected to a 
device in their pockets — rather than being belted out onstage.

That was one thought behind <a href="https://www.u2.com/">“Songs of Surrender,”</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/u2-ted-lasso-streaming-watch-week-211eb0a5b4f8606f313c523c790f49d1">coming out this week</a>.
 The four men of U2, now either 61 or 62 years old, revisit material 
written in some cases when they were little more than kids out of 
Dublin.

Particularly in those days, U2 songs were written 
primarily with concerts in mind. The Edge told The Associated Press in 
an interview that U2 wanted to catch the attention of people seeing the 
band for the first time, perhaps in a festival or as an opening act.

“There's
 a sort of gladiatorial aspect to live performances when you're in that 
situation,” he said. “The material has got to be pretty bold and even 
strident at times. With this reimagining, we thought it would be fun to 
see intimacy as a new approach, that intimacy would be the new punk 
rock, as it were.”

The Edge was the driving force behind “Songs of Surrender,” using pandemic down time to record much of the music at home.

Given
 that his electric guitar and Bono's voice are the musical signature of 
U2, there's a certain irony in the absence of that guitar being the most
 immediately noticeable feature of the new versions. He sticks primarily
 to keyboards, acoustic guitar and dulcimer.

The process began without a roadmap or commitment to see it through if it wasn't working.

“As
 we got into it and got into a groove, we really started to enjoy what 
was happening,” he said. “There was a lot of freedom in the process, it 
was joyful and fun to take these songs and sort of reimagine them and I 
think that comes across. It doesn't sound like there was a lot of hard 
work involved because it wasn't.”

Much of the intimacy comes 
through Bono's voice. There's no need to shout, so he sometimes uses 
lower registers or slips into falsetto.

Lyrics are often rewritten, sometimes extensively in even a recent song like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwZEIHTne58">“The Miracle of Joey Ramone.”</a>
 Some changes are more subtle but still noticeable: replacing the line 
“one man betrayed with a kiss” with “one boy never will be kissed” takes
 Jesus out of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHcP4MWABGY">“Pride (In the Name of Love).”</a>

At the same time, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is rearranged to end with a question: “where is the victory Jesus won?”

Cellos replace the driving guitar of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98W9QuMq-2k">“Vertigo.”</a> Keyboards give <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZWSrr5wFI">“Where the Streets Have No Name”</a> an ambient sound. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQiFSPboKAM">"Two Hearts Beat as One,"</a>
 the original a high-octane rock dance song, now has a slinkier, sexy 
vibe and is one of four songs where The Edge takes lead vocal.

The
 band is fairly democratic in taking songs from throughout its catalog, 
although 1981's “October” album and 2009's “No Line on the Horizon” are 
not represented. “New Year's Day,” “Angel of Harlem” and “Even Better 
Than the Real Thing” are among the songs left alone.

“We’re one of
 the only acts that has this body of work where a project like this 
would be possible, with the distance of time and experience where it 
would be interesting to revisit early songs,” The Edge said.

Throughout
 music history, bands have occasionally re-recorded material for 
contractual reasons. Taylor Swift is the most famous example, putting 
out new versions of her older songs in order to control their use. 
Squeeze's “Spot the Difference” makes sport of how they tried to make 
new recordings indistinguishable from the originals.

Live 
recordings and archive-cleaning projects like Bob Dylan's “bootleg” 
series gives fans the chance to hear familiar songs differently.

Many
 older artists don't see the point of making new music, since there's 
little opportunity to be heard and fans are partial to the familiar 
stuff, anyway, said Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone contributing editor.

“Revisiting
 your body of work in a creative way is a means of sustaining interest 
in your career,” DeCurtis said. “Older fans might not be interested in 
another collection of your hits, but reworking them in a meaningful way 
could prove enticing. Younger fans don't have the same investment in 
your classics, so these new versions offer a route into your catalog.”

The Edge encourages fans to give the new versions a try, suggesting they may even grow to prefer some of them.

“I
 don't think there's a competition between these and the original 
versions,” he said. "It's more of an additive thing than a substitution.
 If you like the new arrangements, great. If you prefer the originals, 
keep listening.

“It's no problem either way,” he said. “They're both valid.”

The Edge said he's working on new music for U2, “and we've got some great stuff in the pipeline.”

The
 quartet that met in drummer Larry Mullen Jr.'s kitchen when they 
answered an ad placed on a high school bulletin board is a remarkable 
story in longevity. A passage toward the end of Bono's book “Surrender,”
 where he talked about looking around onstage at the end of their most 
recent tour in 2019 and wondering if it was the end, raised natural 
questions about how long U2 would continue.

“There are many 
reasons why U2 has stayed together for so long, but one of the main 
reasons is that it works so well for us as individuals,” The Edge said. 
“I think we all shine the brightest as part of this collective. I 
certainly would not like to hang up the guitar.”

This year will 
provide a test for a band that can count on one hand the number of times
 it has performed without all four members. U2 has committed to a run of
 shows in Las Vegas without Mullen, who is recuperating from surgery.

Would U2 continue if one of the original quartet decides it's time to hang it up?

“I
 wouldn't rule out the possibility that we could go forward with 
different members,” The Edge said. “But also, equally, I could imagine 
us deciding not to. It would be a big challenge. But I think at the time
 we would know what felt right.”

By DAVID BAUDER AP Entertainment WriterNEW
 YORK — In reimagining 40 of their best-known songs, U2 recognized 
that many fans would experience them through earphones connected to a 
device in their pockets — rather than being belted out onstage.That was one thought behind <a href="https://www.u2.com/">“Songs of Surrender,”</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/u2-ted-lasso-streaming-watch-week-211eb0a5b4f8606f313c523c790f49d1">coming out this week</a>.
 The four men of U2, now either 61 or 62 years old, revisit material 
written in some cases when they were little more than kids out of 
Dublin.Particularly in those days, U2 songs were written 
primarily with concerts in mind. The Edge told The Associated Press in 
an interview that U2 wanted to catch the attention of people seeing the 
band for the first time, perhaps in a festival or as an opening act.“There's
 a sort of gladiatorial aspect to live performances when you're in that 
situation,” he said. “The material has got to be pretty bold and even 
strident at times. With this reimagining, we thought it would be fun to 
see intimacy as a new approach, that intimacy would be the new punk 
rock, as it were.”The Edge was the driving force behind “Songs of Surrender,” using pandemic down time to record much of the music at home.Given
 that his electric guitar and Bono's voice are the musical signature of 
U2, there's a certain irony in the absence of that guitar being the most
 immediately noticeable feature of the new versions. He sticks primarily
 to keyboards, acoustic guitar and dulcimer.The process began without a roadmap or commitment to see it through if it wasn't working.“As
 we got into it and got into a groove, we really started to enjoy what 
was happening,” he said. “There was a lot of freedom in the process, it 
was joyful and fun to take these songs and sort of reimagine them and I 
think that comes across. It doesn't sound like there was a lot of hard 
work involved because it wasn't.”Much of the intimacy comes 
through Bono's voice. There's no need to shout, so he sometimes uses 
lower registers or slips into falsetto.Lyrics are often rewritten, sometimes extensively in even a recent song like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwZEIHTne58">“The Miracle of Joey Ramone.”</a>
 Some changes are more subtle but still noticeable: replacing the line 
“one man betrayed with a kiss” with “one boy never will be kissed” takes
 Jesus out of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHcP4MWABGY">“Pride (In the Name of Love).”</a>At the same time, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is rearranged to end with a question: “where is the victory Jesus won?”Cellos replace the driving guitar of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98W9QuMq-2k">“Vertigo.”</a> Keyboards give <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZWSrr5wFI">“Where the Streets Have No Name”</a> an ambient sound. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQiFSPboKAM">"Two Hearts Beat as One,"</a>
 the original a high-octane rock dance song, now has a slinkier, sexy 
vibe and is one of four songs where The Edge takes lead vocal.The
 band is fairly democratic in taking songs from throughout its catalog, 
although 1981's “October” album and 2009's “No Line on the Horizon” are 
not represented. “New Year's Day,” “Angel of Harlem” and “Even Better 
Than the Real Thing” are among the songs left alone.“We’re one of
 the only acts that has this body of work where a project like this 
would be possible, with the distance of time and experience where it 
would be interesting to revisit early songs,” The Edge said.Throughout
 music history, bands have occasionally re-recorded material for 
contractual reasons. Taylor Swift is the most famous example, putting 
out new versions of her older songs in order to control their use. 
Squeeze's “Spot the Difference” makes sport of how they tried to make 
new recordings indistinguishable from the originals.Live 
recordings and archive-cleaning projects like Bob Dylan's “bootleg” 
series gives fans the chance to hear familiar songs differently.Many
 older artists don't see the point of making new music, since there's 
little opportunity to be heard and fans are partial to the familiar 
stuff, anyway, said Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone contributing editor.“Revisiting
 your body of work in a creative way is a means of sustaining interest 
in your career,” DeCurtis said. “Older fans might not be interested in 
another collection of your hits, but reworking them in a meaningful way 
could prove enticing. Younger fans don't have the same investment in 
your classics, so these new versions offer a route into your catalog.”The Edge encourages fans to give the new versions a try, suggesting they may even grow to prefer some of them.“I
 don't think there's a competition between these and the original 
versions,” he said. "It's more of an additive thing than a substitution.
 If you like the new arrangements, great. If you prefer the originals, 
keep listening.“It's no problem either way,” he said. “They're both valid.”The Edge said he's working on new music for U2, “and we've got some great stuff in the pipeline.”The
 quartet that met in drummer Larry Mullen Jr.'s kitchen when they 
answered an ad placed on a high school bulletin board is a remarkable 
story in longevity. A passage toward the end of Bono's book “Surrender,”
 where he talked about looking around onstage at the end of their most 
recent tour in 2019 and wondering if it was the end, raised natural 
questions about how long U2 would continue.“There are many 
reasons why U2 has stayed together for so long, but one of the main 
reasons is that it works so well for us as individuals,” The Edge said. 
“I think we all shine the brightest as part of this collective. I 
certainly would not like to hang up the guitar.”This year will 
provide a test for a band that can count on one hand the number of times
 it has performed without all four members. U2 has committed to a run of
 shows in Las Vegas without Mullen, who is recuperating from surgery.Would U2 continue if one of the original quartet decides it's time to hang it up?“I
 wouldn't rule out the possibility that we could go forward with 
different members,” The Edge said. “But also, equally, I could imagine 
us deciding not to. It would be a big challenge. But I think at the time
 we would know what felt right.”

In unusual step, U2 reinterprets 40 of its best-known songs

By JON DULIN Wealth of Geeks&nbsp;

It's
 that time of year again when college basketball's March Madness sweeps 
across the country. Whether you're an avid hoops enthusiast or just a 
casual fan, there's no reason not to get in on the fun of a tournament 
pool.

However, the problem many people have is making enough 
correct picks to participate in the cash prizes. If you are tired of 
guessing and want to increase your odds of winning, here is a winning 
formula that will make you the envy of your friends and co-workers.

The
 first step to increase your odds of winning your tournament pool is to 
fill out your bracket backward. Most people will fill out their bracket 
starting with the first round and moving to the championship game, 
meaning they must pick 64 winners.

By starting at the end and working your way back, you reduce the <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/apps-that-pay-you-to-play-games/">number of games</a>
 you have to pick the winner for. With the Final Four teams picked 
first, you already picked the winners of 12 additional games. Fewer 
picks result in fewer chances of making a mistake.

Another
 critical factor in winning is all about knowing who your competition 
is. In this case, your competition is your friends or co-workers. If you
 know one colleague who graduated from Duke and is an avid sports fan, 
chances are they will be biased towards teams in the ACC and pick them 
to go farther.

Alternatively, if you work in the South, many of 
your co-workers are familiar with teams in the SEC and might favor them 
to go the distance. Knowing these biases can help you to fill out your 
bracket differently and get an edge. If your co-worker is a Duke alum 
and they are playing a competitive game, your co-worker will default to 
picking Duke. You picking the other team could give you a competitive 
edge.

Upsets 
constantly happen in the NCAA Tournament, but not every matchup is ripe 
for an upset. Historically, a 16-seed has only once defeated a one-seed.

Here are the records of the lower seed in the first round from 1985-2021:

Knowing these stats, you should pick some upsets in the first round for all but the 14-seed and 15-seed games.

As
 much fun as it is watching lower-seeded teams pull off upsets early on,
 you must not allow your emotions to control your thinking. As 
lower-seeded teams advance into the later rounds, they play more 
formidable teams, and the odds of winning diminish.

Historically, a
 low-seeded team is unlikely to make it past the Sweet 16. Since 1985, 
of the 83 Cinderellas that made it this far, only 21 made it to the next
 round, with only four reaching the Final Four. No team seeded tenth or 
lower has reached the championship game. So while it is wise to pick 
upsets early, you need to move away from these picks in the later rounds
 if you want any chance of winning.

Recency
 bias is when we use information from the near past to persuade us into 
making incorrect choices. For example, you might think to <a href="https://www.moneysmartguides.com/tricks-to-win-the-lottery">increase your odds of winning the lottery</a>,
 you should pick numbers that have not recently won. But there is no 
reason why one of the same winning numbers will not win again.

In 
the tournament, recency bias shows up when a good team might lose early 
in its conference tournament, leading you to believe they are not as 
good as they actually are. When you begin filling out your bracket, you 
might have them losing early in the NCAA Tournament.

The opposite 
is true as well. A lousy team might go on a run and win their conference
 tournament, leading you to have them going farther in the NCAA 
Tournament, even though they are a flawed team.

To overcome this, you must look at the entire season to increase your odds of picking winning teams deeper into the tournament.

With
 most tournament pools, you earn points for every correct prediction you
 make, and the points double in value each round. In the first round, 
each correct choice earns you one point. In the second round, you earn 
two points for each correct pick. You earn four points for every correct
 pick in the Sweet 16 round, eight points for each in the Elite Eight, 
16 points for a winner in the Final Four, and 32 points for picking the 
champion.

While scoring many points the first weekend may put you 
in a good position early on, ultimately, it all comes down to the final 
two rounds because of how many points the games are worth. This is why 
using the previously mentioned tip of working backward is so powerful.

The
 last tip is to remember the tiebreaker. If a handful of people have 
picked the same champion and end up with the same number of points, the 
tiebreaker determines the winner. While the odds of needing to go to the
 tiebreaker are slim, you don't want to look back, wishing you had put 
more thought into it.

Most bracket tiebreakers are guessing the 
total points scored in the Championship game. To help you predict an 
accurate number, in the last 20 years, the median points scored was 144.
 Use this number as your guide. If you have a team in the Championship 
with a strong defense, consider picking less than this number. You might
 want to go a little higher if you have two teams with great 3-point 
shooting.

While nothing will guarantee you will win your March 
Madness tournament pool, using these tips can help you score more points
 and be in the running longer. With most pools offering a cash prize to 
the top three finishers, you might still place high enough to win back 
your entry fee, plus put some money into <a href="https://www.moneysmartguides.com/short-term-savings-options">short-term savings</a> for future use.

This article was produced by <a href="https://www.moneysmartguides.com/win-your-march-madness-pool-using-these-seven-strategies">MoneySmartGuides</a> and syndicated by <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/march-madness-pool/">Wealth of Geeks</a>.

By JON DULIN Wealth of Geeks&nbsp;It's
 that time of year again when college basketball's March Madness sweeps 
across the country. Whether you're an avid hoops enthusiast or just a 
casual fan, there's no reason not to get in on the fun of a tournament 
pool.However, the problem many people have is making enough 
correct picks to participate in the cash prizes. If you are tired of 
guessing and want to increase your odds of winning, here is a winning 
formula that will make you the envy of your friends and co-workers.Work BackwardsThe
 first step to increase your odds of winning your tournament pool is to 
fill out your bracket backward. Most people will fill out their bracket 
starting with the first round and moving to the championship game, 
meaning they must pick 64 winners.By starting at the end and working your way back, you reduce the <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/apps-that-pay-you-to-play-games/">number of games</a>
 you have to pick the winner for. With the Final Four teams picked 
first, you already picked the winners of 12 additional games. Fewer 
picks result in fewer chances of making a mistake.Size Up Your CompetitionAnother
 critical factor in winning is all about knowing who your competition 
is. In this case, your competition is your friends or co-workers. If you
 know one colleague who graduated from Duke and is an avid sports fan, 
chances are they will be biased towards teams in the ACC and pick them 
to go farther.Alternatively, if you work in the South, many of 
your co-workers are familiar with teams in the SEC and might favor them 
to go the distance. Knowing these biases can help you to fill out your 
bracket differently and get an edge. If your co-worker is a Duke alum 
and they are playing a competitive game, your co-worker will default to 
picking Duke. You picking the other team could give you a competitive 
edge.Understand Upset ProbabilitiesUpsets 
constantly happen in the NCAA Tournament, but not every matchup is ripe 
for an upset. Historically, a 16-seed has only once defeated a one-seed.Here are the records of the lower seed in the first round from 1985-2021:<ul>
 <li>15-seed vs. 2-seed: 9-135</li><li>14-seed vs. 3-seed: 22-122</li><li>13-seed vs. 4-seed: 31-113</li><li>12-seed vs. 5-seed: 51-93</li><li>11-seed vs. 6-seed: 54-90</li><li>10-seed vs. 7-seed: 57-87</li><li>9-seed vs. 8-seed: 73-71</li>
 </ul>Knowing these stats, you should pick some upsets in the first round for all but the 14-seed and 15-seed games.Be Realistic With CinderellasAs
 much fun as it is watching lower-seeded teams pull off upsets early on,
 you must not allow your emotions to control your thinking. As 
lower-seeded teams advance into the later rounds, they play more 
formidable teams, and the odds of winning diminish.Historically, a
 low-seeded team is unlikely to make it past the Sweet 16. Since 1985, 
of the 83 Cinderellas that made it this far, only 21 made it to the next
 round, with only four reaching the Final Four. No team seeded tenth or 
lower has reached the championship game. So while it is wise to pick 
upsets early, you need to move away from these picks in the later rounds
 if you want any chance of winning.Be Aware Of Recency BiasRecency
 bias is when we use information from the near past to persuade us into 
making incorrect choices. For example, you might think to <a href="https://www.moneysmartguides.com/tricks-to-win-the-lottery">increase your odds of winning the lottery</a>,
 you should pick numbers that have not recently won. But there is no 
reason why one of the same winning numbers will not win again.In 
the tournament, recency bias shows up when a good team might lose early 
in its conference tournament, leading you to believe they are not as 
good as they actually are. When you begin filling out your bracket, you 
might have them losing early in the NCAA Tournament.The opposite 
is true as well. A lousy team might go on a run and win their conference
 tournament, leading you to have them going farther in the NCAA 
Tournament, even though they are a flawed team.To overcome this, you must look at the entire season to increase your odds of picking winning teams deeper into the tournament.Picking The Champion Is ImportantWith
 most tournament pools, you earn points for every correct prediction you
 make, and the points double in value each round. In the first round, 
each correct choice earns you one point. In the second round, you earn 
two points for each correct pick. You earn four points for every correct
 pick in the Sweet 16 round, eight points for each in the Elite Eight, 
16 points for a winner in the Final Four, and 32 points for picking the 
champion.While scoring many points the first weekend may put you 
in a good position early on, ultimately, it all comes down to the final 
two rounds because of how many points the games are worth. This is why 
using the previously mentioned tip of working backward is so powerful.Don't Forget About The TiebreakerThe
 last tip is to remember the tiebreaker. If a handful of people have 
picked the same champion and end up with the same number of points, the 
tiebreaker determines the winner. While the odds of needing to go to the
 tiebreaker are slim, you don't want to look back, wishing you had put 
more thought into it.Most bracket tiebreakers are guessing the 
total points scored in the Championship game. To help you predict an 
accurate number, in the last 20 years, the median points scored was 144.
 Use this number as your guide. If you have a team in the Championship 
with a strong defense, consider picking less than this number. You might
 want to go a little higher if you have two teams with great 3-point 
shooting.While nothing will guarantee you will win your March 
Madness tournament pool, using these tips can help you score more points
 and be in the running longer. With most pools offering a cash prize to 
the top three finishers, you might still place high enough to win back 
your entry fee, plus put some money into <a href="https://www.moneysmartguides.com/short-term-savings-options">short-term savings</a> for future use.This article was produced by <a href="https://www.moneysmartguides.com/win-your-march-madness-pool-using-these-seven-strategies">MoneySmartGuides</a> and syndicated by <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/march-madness-pool/">Wealth of Geeks</a>.

Win your March Madness pool using these seven strategies

LAS VEGAS — <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness">March Madness</a>
 isn't just about filling out — and later trashing — brackets. There are
 more ways to bet the field in the NCAA Tournament, an event that will 
consume basketball fans over the next three weeks. Here's a look at the 
favorites, underdogs and longshots.

WHO’S FAVORED TO REACH THE FINAL FOUR?

Top-ranked Houston is the plus-120 favorite to emerge as the Midwest Region representative and play in Houston, according to <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/ncaab?tab=march-madness">FanDuel Sportsbook</a>. That means a $100 bet pays $120. The next top team in the region is Texas at plus-450.

No. 4 Alabama, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-2023-e8fe1bfd7964f938781458952670f51a">which is the No. 1 overall seed</a>, is plus-190 to come out of the South. Next is No, 8 Arizona at plus-440.

The
 most competitive region appears to be the West. No. 3 Kansas is a 
slight favorite at plus-320, just ahead of No. 2 UCLA at plus-350. No. 9
 Gonzaga isn't far behind at plus-400.

No. 5 Purdue is at plus-300 to come out of the East, with No. 6 Marquette next at plus-420.

Oddsmakers
 agree with the NCAA selection committee that the No. 1 seeds are the 
favorites — Houston at plus-500, Alabama at plus-800, Kansas at 
plus-1,000 and Purdue at plus-1,200.

After that, oddsmakers favor 
UCLA at plus-1,400, Gonzaga at plus 1,500, Arizona at plus-1,600, No. 7 
Texas at plus-1,900, and No. 10 Baylor and Marquette each at plus-2,100.

If you're looking for the next Saint Peter's or Loyola-Chicago, check out these options.

Sixteen
 teams are listed at plus-50,000: Colgate, Furman, Grand Canyon, Howard,
 Kennesaw State, Kent State, Louisiana, Montana State, Nevada, Northern 
Kentucky, Southeast Missouri State, Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi, Texas 
Southern, UC Santa Barbara, UNC Asheville and Vermont.

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST SPREAD DIFFERENCE?

Kansas
 is a 21 1/2-point favorite over Howard in their first-round matchup. 
Beyond that, Houston is favored by 19 1/2 points over Northern Kentucky,
 UCLA by 17 1/2 over UNC Asheville and Gonzaga by 15 1/2 over Grand 
Canyon.

The old saying is 
that life is too short to bet the under, but it's often the wise play. 
Some of these totals may give bettors second thoughts before taking the 
over, but that doesn't mean it's the wrong move. The highest totals are 
Gonzaga-Grand Canyon at 156 1/2, Missouri-Utah State at 154 1/2, Texas 
A&amp;M Corpus Christi-Southeast Missouri State at 153 1/2, Auburn-Iowa 
and Xavier-Kennesaw State each at 151 1/2 and Florida Atlantic-Memphis 
at 150 1/2.

Just because the committee 
seeds one team over another doesn't necessarily mean it's the better 
team in the minds of the oddsmakers. Here are the games where the lower 
seed is the favorite on the early line: Tenth-seeded Utah State by 2 1/2
 points over seventh-seeded Missouri, 10th-seeded Boise State a 
half-point over seventh-seeded Northwestern and ninth-seeded West 
Virginia by 2 1/2 over eighth-seeded Maryland,

Associated PressLAS VEGAS — <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness">March Madness</a>
 isn't just about filling out — and later trashing — brackets. There are
 more ways to bet the field in the NCAA Tournament, an event that will 
consume basketball fans over the next three weeks. Here's a look at the 
favorites, underdogs and longshots.WHO’S FAVORED TO REACH THE FINAL FOUR?Top-ranked Houston is the plus-120 favorite to emerge as the Midwest Region representative and play in Houston, according to <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/ncaab?tab=march-madness">FanDuel Sportsbook</a>. That means a $100 bet pays $120. The next top team in the region is Texas at plus-450.No. 4 Alabama, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-2023-e8fe1bfd7964f938781458952670f51a">which is the No. 1 overall seed</a>, is plus-190 to come out of the South. Next is No, 8 Arizona at plus-440.The
 most competitive region appears to be the West. No. 3 Kansas is a 
slight favorite at plus-320, just ahead of No. 2 UCLA at plus-350. No. 9
 Gonzaga isn't far behind at plus-400.No. 5 Purdue is at plus-300 to come out of the East, with No. 6 Marquette next at plus-420.WHO’S FAVORED TO WIN THE TITLE?Oddsmakers
 agree with the NCAA selection committee that the No. 1 seeds are the 
favorites — Houston at plus-500, Alabama at plus-800, Kansas at 
plus-1,000 and Purdue at plus-1,200.After that, oddsmakers favor 
UCLA at plus-1,400, Gonzaga at plus 1,500, Arizona at plus-1,600, No. 7 
Texas at plus-1,900, and No. 10 Baylor and Marquette each at plus-2,100.WHO IS THE BIGGEST UNDERDOG?If you're looking for the next Saint Peter's or Loyola-Chicago, check out these options.Sixteen
 teams are listed at plus-50,000: Colgate, Furman, Grand Canyon, Howard,
 Kennesaw State, Kent State, Louisiana, Montana State, Nevada, Northern 
Kentucky, Southeast Missouri State, Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi, Texas 
Southern, UC Santa Barbara, UNC Asheville and Vermont.WHAT’S THE BIGGEST SPREAD DIFFERENCE?Kansas
 is a 21 1/2-point favorite over Howard in their first-round matchup. 
Beyond that, Houston is favored by 19 1/2 points over Northern Kentucky,
 UCLA by 17 1/2 over UNC Asheville and Gonzaga by 15 1/2 over Grand 
Canyon.WHAT’S THE BIGGEST OVER/UNDER?The old saying is 
that life is too short to bet the under, but it's often the wise play. 
Some of these totals may give bettors second thoughts before taking the 
over, but that doesn't mean it's the wrong move. The highest totals are 
Gonzaga-Grand Canyon at 156 1/2, Missouri-Utah State at 154 1/2, Texas 
A&amp;M Corpus Christi-Southeast Missouri State at 153 1/2, Auburn-Iowa 
and Xavier-Kennesaw State each at 151 1/2 and Florida Atlantic-Memphis 
at 150 1/2.NOT REAL UNDERDOGSJust because the committee 
seeds one team over another doesn't necessarily mean it's the better 
team in the minds of the oddsmakers. Here are the games where the lower 
seed is the favorite on the early line: Tenth-seeded Utah State by 2 1/2
 points over seventh-seeded Missouri, 10th-seeded Boise State a 
half-point over seventh-seeded Northwestern and ninth-seeded West 
Virginia by 2 1/2 over eighth-seeded Maryland,

March Madness betting guide: Not just about brackets

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Many things about the <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards">Academy Awards</a>
 have changed over the years, but for the past six decades there has 
been at least one constant: The red carpet. The hues have varied over 
the years, but it has always been some shade of red. Until this year.

On
 Wednesday outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, workers unspooled a 
champagne-colored carpet as Jimmy Kimmel, who is hosting the 95th Oscars
 on Sunday, <a href="https://twitter.com/APEntertainment/status/1633549832601075714">presided over the occasion</a>.

“I
 think the decision to go with a champagne carpet over a red carpet 
shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed," Kimmel said.

The
 decision to change the color came from creative consultants Lisa Love, a
 longtime Vogue contributor, and Raúl Àvila, the creative director for 
the glamourous Met Gala in New York.

This year the carpet will be 
covered, in part to protect the stars and cameras from the weather, but 
also to help turn the arrivals into an evening event. For Love, there 
has always been a disconnect between the elegant black tie dress code 
and the fact that it’s mid-afternoon when people arrive to be 
photographed in the daylight. With a covered carpet, they could change 
that.

“We turned a day event into night,” Love told The Associated Press. “It’s evening, even though it’s still 3:00.”

The
 Oscars red carpet dates back to 1961, the 33rd Academy Awards held at 
the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, when Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” 
won best picture, Burt Lancaster and Elizabeth Taylor won the lead 
acting prizes, and there was still a “juvenile award,” which went to 
Hayley Mills for “Pollyanna.” It was the first televised ceremony, 
broadcast on ABC and hosted by Bob Hope. The general public wouldn’t see
 the red carpet in all its glory on television until 1966, when the 
Oscars were first broadcast in color.

There wasn’t any debate over
 the change, Love said. They just knew they had the freedom to break 
from tradition. They tried some other colors too but they seemed too 
dark with the covered tent. “We chose this beautiful sienna, saffron 
color that evokes the sunset, because this is the sunset before the 
golden hour,” Love said.

Instead they went lighter and Academy CEO Bill Kramer approved.

They weren’t especially worried about upsetting Oscars traditionalists either.

“Somebody’s
 always got a way to find something wrong with something,” Love said. 
“This is just a lightness and hopefully people like it. It doesn’t mean 
that it’s always going to be a champagne colored carpet.”

As for 
what we should call it? Love said “champagne” and “sand” are apt 
descriptions, but that there’s no reason to not default to “red carpet” 
either. It’s more metonym for the glamorous arrivals than a literal 
description of what everyone is walking on.

The 95th Oscars “red 
carpet” opens Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The ceremony is set to begin 
at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ABC.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Many things about the <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards">Academy Awards</a>
 have changed over the years, but for the past six decades there has 
been at least one constant: The red carpet. The hues have varied over 
the years, but it has always been some shade of red. Until this year.On
 Wednesday outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, workers unspooled a 
champagne-colored carpet as Jimmy Kimmel, who is hosting the 95th Oscars
 on Sunday, <a href="https://twitter.com/APEntertainment/status/1633549832601075714">presided over the occasion</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/11/1667851376804.jpeg" alt="Oscars / Associated Press" />
 <figcaption>Oscars / Associated Press</figcaption>
 </figure>“I
 think the decision to go with a champagne carpet over a red carpet 
shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed," Kimmel said.The
 decision to change the color came from creative consultants Lisa Love, a
 longtime Vogue contributor, and Raúl Àvila, the creative director for 
the glamourous Met Gala in New York.This year the carpet will be 
covered, in part to protect the stars and cameras from the weather, but 
also to help turn the arrivals into an evening event. For Love, there 
has always been a disconnect between the elegant black tie dress code 
and the fact that it’s mid-afternoon when people arrive to be 
photographed in the daylight. With a covered carpet, they could change 
that.“We turned a day event into night,” Love told The Associated Press. “It’s evening, even though it’s still 3:00.”The
 Oscars red carpet dates back to 1961, the 33rd Academy Awards held at 
the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, when Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” 
won best picture, Burt Lancaster and Elizabeth Taylor won the lead 
acting prizes, and there was still a “juvenile award,” which went to 
Hayley Mills for “Pollyanna.” It was the first televised ceremony, 
broadcast on ABC and hosted by Bob Hope. The general public wouldn’t see
 the red carpet in all its glory on television until 1966, when the 
Oscars were first broadcast in color.There wasn’t any debate over
 the change, Love said. They just knew they had the freedom to break 
from tradition. They tried some other colors too but they seemed too 
dark with the covered tent. “We chose this beautiful sienna, saffron 
color that evokes the sunset, because this is the sunset before the 
golden hour,” Love said.Instead they went lighter and Academy CEO Bill Kramer approved.They weren’t especially worried about upsetting Oscars traditionalists either.“Somebody’s
 always got a way to find something wrong with something,” Love said. 
“This is just a lightness and hopefully people like it. It doesn’t mean 
that it’s always going to be a champagne colored carpet.”As for 
what we should call it? Love said “champagne” and “sand” are apt 
descriptions, but that there’s no reason to not default to “red carpet” 
either. It’s more metonym for the glamorous arrivals than a literal 
description of what everyone is walking on.The 95th Oscars “red 
carpet” opens Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The ceremony is set to begin 
at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ABC.

In a first since 1961, the Oscars carpet will not be red

By MANDY APPLEGATE Wealth of Geeks&nbsp;

Get ready to drool! Pi Day pies are taking over social media, and the world can't get enough. From Oprah to The Big Bang Theory,
 this math-based craze inspires mouth-watering creations and fierce 
competition. Don't miss out on the sweetest sensation of the year.

Let's
 get geeky for a minute and talk about the math. Pi Day is celebrated 
annually on March 14th; it was chosen because numerically it represents 
the first three digits of pi: 3.14.

Pi is a mathematical constant 
that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its 
diameter. It is an irrational number, meaning its decimal representation
 goes on forever without repeating. Pi Day was first celebrated in 1988 
by physicist Larry Shaw at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and since
 then, it's increased in popularity each year. 2015 was particularly 
celebrated, since the last two digits of year further fit the 
calculations (3.1415926).

The baked pie is a visual representation
 of the concept of pi, as the circle shape of the pie is (hopefully!) 
similar to the shape of a circle used in calculating pi. Pi Day Pies 
have become increasingly popular in recent years, with many movies, TV 
shows, and social media trends featuring the dessert.

It's also 
made them a famous symbol of scientific and mathematical knowledge and 
appreciation. Many schools and educational institutions use Pi Day Pies 
as a fun and engaging way to teach math concepts to their students.

Celebrity-Endorsed Pi Day Pies: The Sweetest Trend on Social Media

If you're a fan of The Big Bang Theory,
 the fact that the characters celebrate Pi Day each year won't be a 
surprise. In one episode, Sheldon creates a complicated mathematical 
formula to determine the perfect ratio of crust to filling for their Pi 
Day pie, usually opting to make a fruit pie, such as cherry or <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/apple-pie/">apple pie</a> .

Pi Day Pies have also made appearances in celebrity interviews and talk shows. In a 2017 interview with <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/">The Late Show with Stephen Colbert</a>
 , actress and comedian Tina Fey revealed that she had once baked a pie 
for Pi Day but had accidentally used salt instead of sugar, resulting in
 a very salty pie. Fey also joked that the movie Waitress had inspired her to create a "Breakup Pie" that she could eat alone in her apartment.

Many
 well-known celebrities have joined the social media trend and posted 
their Pi Day pies for their followers. Oprah, Jennifer Lopez, Chrissy 
Teigen, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson have all shared their pie day 
creations; from caramel apple pie to <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/chocolate-pie/">chocolate pie</a>
 , they've been helping to fuel the trend. And as the trend continues to
 grow in worldwide popularity, we'll likely see more and more <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/celebrities-with-surprising-college-degrees/">celebrities</a> joining in on the Pi Day Pie festivities.

Pi Day Pie Craze: Social Media Challenges Ideas

The
 popularity of Pi Day Pies on social media has led to online Pi Day Pie 
baking contests and challenges, where people compete to create the most 
inventive and aesthetically pleasing Pi Day Pie. Instagram, Facebook, 
and Twitter are platforms for Pi Day Pie enthusiasts worldwide to share 
their creations and connect with other dessert fans.

Are you 
looking to join the Pi Day pie-ty on social media? Get ready to roll up 
your sleeves and join in the fun. Bake up your favorite pie, whether a 
classic lemon or indulgent <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/reeses-pie/">Reese's pie</a> , and share it with the world using #PieDay. Remember to snap a #PieSelfie with your delicious creation.

But
 the fun doesn't stop there - social media users take things to the next
 level with prank pies filled with unexpected surprises. Want to up the 
ante? Host a pie-eating or pie-decorating contest and see who comes out 
on top.

Lightsabers and pies unite. Celebrate Pi Day in style by 
choosing a theme from your favorite movies or shows. Will you join the 
rebellion with a <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/fandoms/star-wars/">Star Wars</a> pie or indulge in some medieval mischief with a Game of Thrones creation? Gather your fellow fans and let the baking begin. The possibilities are endless.

In
 a world with a holiday for everything, Pi Day pies have captured our 
hearts and appetites. They have gone beyond just a mathematical concept 
and become a cultural and social phenomenon.

The beloved dessert 
has brought people together to celebrate the beauty of mathematics and 
showcase their creativity in the kitchen. Pi Day pies have become a 
canvas for culinary innovation and social bonding, from fruity classics 
to unexpected flavor combinations and fillings. And as the social media 
craze around Pi Day pies continues to grow, it's clear that this sweet 
celebration is here to stay.

So, whether you're a math nerd or 
simply a lover of all things sweet, mark your calendars for March 14th 
and join in on the Pi Day pie-ty. It's a celebration you don't want to 
miss.

This article was produced by <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/how-pi-day-pies-became-a-social-media-sensation/">Splash of Taste</a> and syndicated by <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/pi-day-pies/">Wealth of Geeks</a>. Published courtesy Associated Press.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1678483443913.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By MANDY APPLEGATE Wealth of Geeks&nbsp;Get ready to drool! Pi Day pies are taking over social media, and the world can't get enough. From Oprah to The Big Bang Theory,
 this math-based craze inspires mouth-watering creations and fierce 
competition. Don't miss out on the sweetest sensation of the year.What is Pi Day?Let's
 get geeky for a minute and talk about the math. Pi Day is celebrated 
annually on March 14th; it was chosen because numerically it represents 
the first three digits of pi: 3.14.Pi is a mathematical constant 
that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its 
diameter. It is an irrational number, meaning its decimal representation
 goes on forever without repeating. Pi Day was first celebrated in 1988 
by physicist Larry Shaw at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and since
 then, it's increased in popularity each year. 2015 was particularly 
celebrated, since the last two digits of year further fit the 
calculations (3.1415926).The baked pie is a visual representation
 of the concept of pi, as the circle shape of the pie is (hopefully!) 
similar to the shape of a circle used in calculating pi. Pi Day Pies 
have become increasingly popular in recent years, with many movies, TV 
shows, and social media trends featuring the dessert.It's also 
made them a famous symbol of scientific and mathematical knowledge and 
appreciation. Many schools and educational institutions use Pi Day Pies 
as a fun and engaging way to teach math concepts to their students.Celebrity-Endorsed Pi Day Pies: The Sweetest Trend on Social MediaIf you're a fan of The Big Bang Theory,
 the fact that the characters celebrate Pi Day each year won't be a 
surprise. In one episode, Sheldon creates a complicated mathematical 
formula to determine the perfect ratio of crust to filling for their Pi 
Day pie, usually opting to make a fruit pie, such as cherry or <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/apple-pie/">apple pie</a> .Pi Day Pies have also made appearances in celebrity interviews and talk shows. In a 2017 interview with <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/">The Late Show with Stephen Colbert</a>
 , actress and comedian Tina Fey revealed that she had once baked a pie 
for Pi Day but had accidentally used salt instead of sugar, resulting in
 a very salty pie. Fey also joked that the movie Waitress had inspired her to create a "Breakup Pie" that she could eat alone in her apartment.Many
 well-known celebrities have joined the social media trend and posted 
their Pi Day pies for their followers. Oprah, Jennifer Lopez, Chrissy 
Teigen, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson have all shared their pie day 
creations; from caramel apple pie to <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/chocolate-pie/">chocolate pie</a>
 , they've been helping to fuel the trend. And as the trend continues to
 grow in worldwide popularity, we'll likely see more and more <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/celebrities-with-surprising-college-degrees/">celebrities</a> joining in on the Pi Day Pie festivities.Pi Day Pie Craze: Social Media Challenges IdeasThe
 popularity of Pi Day Pies on social media has led to online Pi Day Pie 
baking contests and challenges, where people compete to create the most 
inventive and aesthetically pleasing Pi Day Pie. Instagram, Facebook, 
and Twitter are platforms for Pi Day Pie enthusiasts worldwide to share 
their creations and connect with other dessert fans.Are you 
looking to join the Pi Day pie-ty on social media? Get ready to roll up 
your sleeves and join in the fun. Bake up your favorite pie, whether a 
classic lemon or indulgent <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/reeses-pie/">Reese's pie</a> , and share it with the world using #PieDay. Remember to snap a #PieSelfie with your delicious creation.But
 the fun doesn't stop there - social media users take things to the next
 level with prank pies filled with unexpected surprises. Want to up the 
ante? Host a pie-eating or pie-decorating contest and see who comes out 
on top.Lightsabers and pies unite. Celebrate Pi Day in style by 
choosing a theme from your favorite movies or shows. Will you join the 
rebellion with a <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/fandoms/star-wars/">Star Wars</a> pie or indulge in some medieval mischief with a Game of Thrones creation? Gather your fellow fans and let the baking begin. The possibilities are endless.A Slice of The PiIn
 a world with a holiday for everything, Pi Day pies have captured our 
hearts and appetites. They have gone beyond just a mathematical concept 
and become a cultural and social phenomenon.The beloved dessert 
has brought people together to celebrate the beauty of mathematics and 
showcase their creativity in the kitchen. Pi Day pies have become a 
canvas for culinary innovation and social bonding, from fruity classics 
to unexpected flavor combinations and fillings. And as the social media 
craze around Pi Day pies continues to grow, it's clear that this sweet 
celebration is here to stay.So, whether you're a math nerd or 
simply a lover of all things sweet, mark your calendars for March 14th 
and join in on the Pi Day pie-ty. It's a celebration you don't want to 
miss.This article was produced by <a href="https://www.splashoftaste.com/how-pi-day-pies-became-a-social-media-sensation/">Splash of Taste</a> and syndicated by <a href="https://wealthofgeeks.com/pi-day-pies/">Wealth of Geeks</a>. Published courtesy Associated Press.

How Pi Day pies became a social media sensation

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A swarm of earthquakes occurring over the 
past few weeks has intensified at a remote Alaska volcano dormant for 
over a century, a possible indication of an impending eruption.

The
 Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the alert level to advisory status 
for Tanaga Volcano late Tuesday after the quakes became very vigorous.

“We
 started seeing a whole lot of earthquakes occurring, one after the 
other, several per minute,” said John Power, a research geophysicist 
with the U.S. Geological Survey stationed in Anchorage at the Alaska 
Volcano Observatory.

There have been hundreds of small 
earthquakes, none larger than magnitude 2.75, but they are concentrated 
beneath the summit of the volcano, he said.

“That indicates that we’re seeing significant unrest at the volcano,” Power said.

“Whether
 or not this will lead to an eruption is something we can’t say at this 
point in time,” he said. “But we are concerned about it enough that we 
have gone and elevated the warning level.”

While the increase causes concern, he said many times earthquake activity will drop off with no eruption.

“It’s anybody’s guess as to where this particular round of earthquake activity may end up,” he said.

The
 volcano is on an uninhabited island in the western Aleutians, about 
1,250 miles southwest of Anchorage. There are no 
communities or structures there, but Adak, a city of about 170 residents
 on another island, is about 65 miles away and could 
see ashfall.

If the volcano were to erupt, the biggest threat 
would be to aircraft. The Aleutians are below the routes that jets fly 
between North America and Asia. Volcanic ash is angular and sharp and 
can cause an airplane engine to shut down. Previous eruptions had both 
ash clouds and viscous lava that moves very slowly away from the 
mountain, much like what happened at Mount St. Helens in Washington 
state in 1980.

“It’s very different than what you would see, for 
example, in Hawaii, Kilauea or Mauna Loa, where you see these beautiful 
red rivers of lava flowing down the side of the volcano," Power said.

Tanaga
 is actually part of a three-volcano complex on the island. It’s the 
tallest of the three at 5,925 feet. It sits in the 
middle, with Sajaka, a 4,443-foot volcano to its west. Sajaka had an 
older cone that collapsed into the North Pacific Ocean with a new cone 
that has emerged.

To the east of Tanaga is Takawangha, a 4,754 
-foot volcano that is mostly ice-covered except for four 
craters, the Alaska Volcano Observatory says.

The last known eruption for Tanaga was in 1914. It erupted twice in the late 1700s and again in 1829.

The
 observatory in a release said there are no known eruptions of 
Takawangha or Sajaka. However, field work has indicated that eruptions 
may have occurred from those volcanos and were attributed to Tanaga.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1678484580808.jpeg" alt="In this photo provided by the Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey is the Tanaga Volcano near Adak, Alaska, on May 23, 2021.&nbsp; (Matt Loewen/Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey via AP)" />
 <figcaption>In this photo provided by the Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey is the Tanaga Volcano near Adak, Alaska, on May 23, 2021.&nbsp; (Matt Loewen/Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey via AP)</figcaption>
 </figure>By MARK THIESSEN Associated PressANCHORAGE, Alaska — A swarm of earthquakes occurring over the 
past few weeks has intensified at a remote Alaska volcano dormant for 
over a century, a possible indication of an impending eruption.The
 Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the alert level to advisory status 
for Tanaga Volcano late Tuesday after the quakes became very vigorous.“We
 started seeing a whole lot of earthquakes occurring, one after the 
other, several per minute,” said John Power, a research geophysicist 
with the U.S. Geological Survey stationed in Anchorage at the Alaska 
Volcano Observatory.There have been hundreds of small 
earthquakes, none larger than magnitude 2.75, but they are concentrated 
beneath the summit of the volcano, he said.“That indicates that we’re seeing significant unrest at the volcano,” Power said.“Whether
 or not this will lead to an eruption is something we can’t say at this 
point in time,” he said. “But we are concerned about it enough that we 
have gone and elevated the warning level.”While the increase causes concern, he said many times earthquake activity will drop off with no eruption.“It’s anybody’s guess as to where this particular round of earthquake activity may end up,” he said.The
 volcano is on an uninhabited island in the western Aleutians, about 
1,250 miles southwest of Anchorage. There are no 
communities or structures there, but Adak, a city of about 170 residents
 on another island, is about 65 miles away and could 
see ashfall.If the volcano were to erupt, the biggest threat 
would be to aircraft. The Aleutians are below the routes that jets fly 
between North America and Asia. Volcanic ash is angular and sharp and 
can cause an airplane engine to shut down. Previous eruptions had both 
ash clouds and viscous lava that moves very slowly away from the 
mountain, much like what happened at Mount St. Helens in Washington 
state in 1980.“It’s very different than what you would see, for 
example, in Hawaii, Kilauea or Mauna Loa, where you see these beautiful 
red rivers of lava flowing down the side of the volcano," Power said.Tanaga
 is actually part of a three-volcano complex on the island. It’s the 
tallest of the three at 5,925 feet. It sits in the 
middle, with Sajaka, a 4,443-foot volcano to its west. Sajaka had an 
older cone that collapsed into the North Pacific Ocean with a new cone 
that has emerged.To the east of Tanaga is Takawangha, a 4,754 
-foot volcano that is mostly ice-covered except for four 
craters, the Alaska Volcano Observatory says.The last known eruption for Tanaga was in 1914. It erupted twice in the late 1700s and again in 1829.The
 observatory in a release said there are no known eruptions of 
Takawangha or Sajaka. However, field work has indicated that eruptions 
may have occurred from those volcanos and were attributed to Tanaga.

Swarm of quakes at Alaska volcano could mean eruption coming

The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/10/business/jobs-report-economy-news">hot U.S. labor market</a>
 is showing few signs of cooling down, with the latest jobs report 
showing continued strong gains, particularly in service industries such 
as retail and hospitality. The robust employment landscape may put 
pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise rates more than expected later 
this month in a bid to further tame inflation.

The U.S. economy <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.b.htm">added 311,000 jobs</a> in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on March 10, 2023, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-10/us-payrolls-top-estimates-while-jobless-rate-rises-wages-cool?srnd=premium&amp;sref=Hjm5biAW">higher than economists were forecasting</a>. The unemployment rate <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm">ticked up slightly to 3.6%</a>, still near the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE">lowest level in over 50 years</a>.

To better understand what all this means and why the job market remains strong despite the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/business/economy/fed-powell-interest-rates.html">most aggressive pace of interest rate hikes</a> since the 1980s, we turned to Edouard Wemy, an <a href="https://www2.clarku.edu/faculty/facultybio.cfm?id=1080">economist at Clark University</a>.

<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-employment-remains-red-hot-even-as-the-federal-reserve-tries-to-put-job-market-on-ice-201603">The Conversation</a>

What stood out for you most in the jobs report?

It’s kind of strange how the labor market remains quite strong, with 
notable gains in labor-intensive service sectors like hospitality and 
leisure, health care and retail. That’s also where wage growth in 
February was strongest.

For workers, the report is good news, since it suggests if you’re 
looking for work you’ve got a strong chance of finding a job. The Job 
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows that there are <a href="https://www.bls.gov/jlt/">almost two vacancies</a> for <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm">every unemployed worker</a>, which is pretty high compared with an <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=p9aA#">average of under 0.6 vacancies</a> per jobless person before the pandemic.

But it’s very puzzling. Why is the job growth so strong at a time 
when the Fed has been aggressively raising borrowing costs to tame the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL">highest inflation since the 1980s</a>? Typically, a sudden increase in interest rates – and the Fed has raised rates 4.5 percentage points over the past year – <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/101615/what-happens-if-interest-rates-increase-too-quickly.asp">would chill the labor market</a> and send unemployment much higher.

I believe, as is often the case in economics, it’s a question of 
supply and demand. The Fed has been focused on the latter. Raising the 
borrowing costs consumers and businesses have to pay should reduce 
consumer demand for goods and services, which in turn lowers demand for 
workers. 

But the Fed can’t do much about the supply side of the equation – 
which refers to the number of available workers in the labor market. 
That’s measured by the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART">participation rate</a>, which plunged at the beginning of the pandemic and still hasn’t fully recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels. This is <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300001">especially true for men</a>,
 who are participating in the labor market at a rate of 68%, or 1.1 
percentage point below February 2020 levels – the equivalent of about 
1.5 million men gone from the workforce.

In other words, if the reason the job market is so tight right now is
 the relatively low participation rate, then that explains why the Fed’s
 interest rate hikes are not having much of an effect. 

Economists, me included, are trying to work that out and have some theories.

The pandemic caused significant disruptions to the labor market – 
first, lockdowns caused unemployment to soar, then trillions of dollars 
in government aid meant to support the economy made it easier to get by 
without a job – and this has resulted in structural changes that persist
 today. 

<a href="https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/research-department-working-paper/2016/who-counts-as-employed-informal-work-employment-status-and-labor-market-slack.aspx#:%7E:text=Informal%20Work%2C%20Employment%20Status%2C%20and%20Labor%20Market%20Slack,-By%20Anat%20Bracha&amp;text=According%20to%20the%20Bureau%20of,week%20prior%20to%20the%20survey.">Recent research suggests</a>
 part of the explanation for the lower participation rate is that more 
younger workers may be joining the gig economy, which isn’t fully 
reflected in the government’s job and participation numbers.

What does this mean for Fed’s rate-hike campaign?

A few weeks ago markets were expecting the Fed to lift interest rates by another quarter-point <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm">when it meets on March 21-22</a>. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stocks-markets-jerome-powell-federal-reserve-rate-hikes-march-testimony-2023-3">That changed</a> after Fed Chair Jerome Powell told Congress on March 7 that the rate-hiking campaign still “has a long way to go.”

After the latest jobs report showed the strength of the labor market,
 I agree that a half-point increase is likely. But I’m hoping the Fed 
isn’t going to push up rates much more. 

If the reason for the hot jobs market is primarily a supply or 
structural issue, then higher rates aren’t going to have the effect the 
Fed seeks – and would only increase the odds of recession. So I’m hoping
 the Fed’s economists recognize this and adjust their strategy. 

I still don’t think a recession is likely, mainly because recent economic data, such as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/economy/consumers-keep-spending/index.html">solid consumer spending</a>
 along with the latest jobs report, have been so strong. But also I do 
believe the Fed will change its tune, accept inflation may be a bit 
higher than it hopes and slow the pace of rate hikes.

But if the Fed stays focused on driving inflation to near its target of 2% – from an <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm">annual pace of 6.4% currently</a> – that would greatly increase the odds of a recession this year or the next.

The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/10/business/jobs-report-economy-news">hot U.S. labor market</a>
 is showing few signs of cooling down, with the latest jobs report 
showing continued strong gains, particularly in service industries such 
as retail and hospitality. The robust employment landscape may put 
pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise rates more than expected later 
this month in a bid to further tame inflation.The U.S. economy <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.b.htm">added 311,000 jobs</a> in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on March 10, 2023, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-10/us-payrolls-top-estimates-while-jobless-rate-rises-wages-cool?srnd=premium&amp;sref=Hjm5biAW">higher than economists were forecasting</a>. The unemployment rate <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm">ticked up slightly to 3.6%</a>, still near the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE">lowest level in over 50 years</a>.To better understand what all this means and why the job market remains strong despite the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/business/economy/fed-powell-interest-rates.html">most aggressive pace of interest rate hikes</a> since the 1980s, we turned to Edouard Wemy, an <a href="https://www2.clarku.edu/faculty/facultybio.cfm?id=1080">economist at Clark University</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-employment-remains-red-hot-even-as-the-federal-reserve-tries-to-put-job-market-on-ice-201603">The Conversation</a><h2>What stood out for you most in the jobs report?</h2>It’s kind of strange how the labor market remains quite strong, with 
notable gains in labor-intensive service sectors like hospitality and 
leisure, health care and retail. That’s also where wage growth in 
February was strongest.For workers, the report is good news, since it suggests if you’re 
looking for work you’ve got a strong chance of finding a job. The Job 
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows that there are <a href="https://www.bls.gov/jlt/">almost two vacancies</a> for <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm">every unemployed worker</a>, which is pretty high compared with an <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=p9aA#">average of under 0.6 vacancies</a> per jobless person before the pandemic.But it’s very puzzling. Why is the job growth so strong at a time 
when the Fed has been aggressively raising borrowing costs to tame the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL">highest inflation since the 1980s</a>? Typically, a sudden increase in interest rates – and the Fed has raised rates 4.5 percentage points over the past year – <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/101615/what-happens-if-interest-rates-increase-too-quickly.asp">would chill the labor market</a> and send unemployment much higher. I believe, as is often the case in economics, it’s a question of 
supply and demand. The Fed has been focused on the latter. Raising the 
borrowing costs consumers and businesses have to pay should reduce 
consumer demand for goods and services, which in turn lowers demand for 
workers. But the Fed can’t do much about the supply side of the equation – 
which refers to the number of available workers in the labor market. 
That’s measured by the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART">participation rate</a>, which plunged at the beginning of the pandemic and still hasn’t fully recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels. This is <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300001">especially true for men</a>,
 who are participating in the labor market at a rate of 68%, or 1.1 
percentage point below February 2020 levels – the equivalent of about 
1.5 million men gone from the workforce. In other words, if the reason the job market is so tight right now is
 the relatively low participation rate, then that explains why the Fed’s
 interest rate hikes are not having much of an effect. <h2>Why is the participation rate still low?</h2>Economists, me included, are trying to work that out and have some theories.The pandemic caused significant disruptions to the labor market – 
first, lockdowns caused unemployment to soar, then trillions of dollars 
in government aid meant to support the economy made it easier to get by 
without a job – and this has resulted in structural changes that persist
 today. <a href="https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/research-department-working-paper/2016/who-counts-as-employed-informal-work-employment-status-and-labor-market-slack.aspx#:%7E:text=Informal%20Work%2C%20Employment%20Status%2C%20and%20Labor%20Market%20Slack,-By%20Anat%20Bracha&amp;text=According%20to%20the%20Bureau%20of,week%20prior%20to%20the%20survey.">Recent research suggests</a>
 part of the explanation for the lower participation rate is that more 
younger workers may be joining the gig economy, which isn’t fully 
reflected in the government’s job and participation numbers. <h2>What does this mean for Fed’s rate-hike campaign?</h2>A few weeks ago markets were expecting the Fed to lift interest rates by another quarter-point <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm">when it meets on March 21-22</a>. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stocks-markets-jerome-powell-federal-reserve-rate-hikes-march-testimony-2023-3">That changed</a> after Fed Chair Jerome Powell told Congress on March 7 that the rate-hiking campaign still “has a long way to go.” After the latest jobs report showed the strength of the labor market,
 I agree that a half-point increase is likely. But I’m hoping the Fed 
isn’t going to push up rates much more. If the reason for the hot jobs market is primarily a supply or 
structural issue, then higher rates aren’t going to have the effect the 
Fed seeks – and would only increase the odds of recession. So I’m hoping
 the Fed’s economists recognize this and adjust their strategy. <h2>What are the odds of a recession?</h2>I still don’t think a recession is likely, mainly because recent economic data, such as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/economy/consumers-keep-spending/index.html">solid consumer spending</a>
 along with the latest jobs report, have been so strong. But also I do 
believe the Fed will change its tune, accept inflation may be a bit 
higher than it hopes and slow the pace of rate hikes. But if the Fed stays focused on driving inflation to near its target of 2% – from an <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm">annual pace of 6.4% currently</a> – that would greatly increase the odds of a recession this year or the next.

Why employment remains red hot even as the Fed tries to put job market on ice

WASHINGTON ― With the tax deadline approaching, the IRS reminded 
taxpayers they can avoid late filing and interest penalties by 
submitting their tax return and any payments due by April 18. For 
struggling taxpayers who can't pay by the deadline, the IRS offers 
several different options to help.

The IRS also provides multiple ways for people to file for an 
extension, get information to help file their tax return and learn about
 payment options if they have trouble paying by the April 18 deadline.

Eligible individuals and families who earned $73,000 or less in 2022 can use <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">IRS Free File</a>,
 available only on IRS.gov, to electronically file their taxes. All 
taxpayers, regardless of income, who need more time to file a return can
 use IRS Free File as an easy and quick way to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/extension-of-time-to-file-your-tax-return">electronically file for a six-month extension</a> before April 18, 2023. An extension will help to avoid penalties and interest for <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/failure-to-file-penalty">failing to file on time</a>, and gives taxpayers until Oct. 16, 2023, to file. However, they still must pay what they owe by the April 18 deadline.

Except for eligible victims of recent <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-relief-in-disaster-situations">natural disasters</a>
 who have until Oct. 16 to make various tax payments, taxpayers who 
can't pay the full amount of taxes they owe by April 18 should file and 
pay what they can to reduce total penalties and interest.

There are several ways to make electronic payments, and there are options for a payment plan or agreement.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IERSWASHINGTON ― With the tax deadline approaching, the IRS reminded 
taxpayers they can avoid late filing and interest penalties by 
submitting their tax return and any payments due by April 18. For 
struggling taxpayers who can't pay by the deadline, the IRS offers 
several different options to help.The IRS also provides multiple ways for people to file for an 
extension, get information to help file their tax return and learn about
 payment options if they have trouble paying by the April 18 deadline.Eligible individuals and families who earned $73,000 or less in 2022 can use <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">IRS Free File</a>,
 available only on IRS.gov, to electronically file their taxes. All 
taxpayers, regardless of income, who need more time to file a return can
 use IRS Free File as an easy and quick way to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/extension-of-time-to-file-your-tax-return">electronically file for a six-month extension</a> before April 18, 2023. An extension will help to avoid penalties and interest for <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/failure-to-file-penalty">failing to file on time</a>, and gives taxpayers until Oct. 16, 2023, to file. However, they still must pay what they owe by the April 18 deadline.Except for eligible victims of recent <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-relief-in-disaster-situations">natural disasters</a>
 who have until Oct. 16 to make various tax payments, taxpayers who 
can't pay the full amount of taxes they owe by April 18 should file and 
pay what they can to reduce total penalties and interest.There are several ways to make electronic payments, and there are options for a payment plan or agreement.<h2>IRS Online Account</h2>An IRS <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account">Online Account</a>
 provides access to important information when preparing to file a tax 
return, pay a balance or follow up on notices. Taxpayers can view their:<ul>
 <li>Adjusted Gross Income.</li><li>Payment history and any scheduled or pending payments.</li><li>Payment plan details.</li><li>Digital copies of select notices from the IRS.</li>
 </ul>Taxpayers can also use their Online Account to securely make a same-day payment for an outstanding 2022 tax balance, pay quarterly estimated taxes for the 2023 tax season or request an extension to file a 2022 return.Interest and a late payment penalty will apply to any payments made 
after April 18. Making a payment, even a partial payment, will help 
limit penalty and interest charges.<h2>Other options to pay electronically</h2>Direct Pay, available only on IRS.gov, is the fastest and easiest way
 to make a one-time payment without signing into an IRS Online Account.<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay">Direct Pay</a>:
 Direct Pay is free and allows taxpayers to securely pay their federal 
taxes directly from their checking or savings account without any fees 
or preregistration. Taxpayers can schedule payments up to 365 days in 
advance. After submitting a payment through Direct Pay, taxpayers will 
receive immediate confirmation. 
	&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-taxes-by-electronic-funds-withdrawal">Electronic Funds Withdrawal (EFW)</a>:
 This option allows taxpayers to file and pay electronically from their 
bank account when using tax preparation software or a tax professional. 
This option is free and only available when electronically filing a tax 
return. 
	&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/eftps-the-electronic-federal-tax-payment-system">Electronic Federal Tax Payment System</a>:
 This free service gives taxpayers a safe and convenient way to pay 
individual and business taxes by phone or online. To enroll and for more
 information, taxpayers can call <a href="tel:800-555-4477">800-555-4477</a> or visit <a href="https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/">eftps.gov</a>. 
	&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-taxes-by-credit-or-debit-card">Debit or credit card or digital wallet</a>:
 Individuals can pay online, by phone or with a mobile device through 
any of the authorized payment processors. The processor charges a fee. 
The IRS doesn't receive any fees for these payments. Authorized card 
processors and phone numbers are available at <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments">IRS.gov/payments</a>.</li>
 </ul><h2>Other payment options:</h2><ul>
 <li>Cash: For taxpayers who prefer to pay in cash, the IRS offers a 
way to pay taxes at one of its Cash Processing Company services. The IRS
 urges taxpayers choosing this option to start early because it involves
 a four-step process. Details, including answers to frequently asked 
questions, are at <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-with-cash-at-a-retail-partner">IRS.gov/paywithcash</a>. 
	&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-by-check-or-money-order">Check or money order</a>: Payments made by check or money order should be made payable to the "United States Treasury." To help ensure that the payment gets credited promptly, taxpayers should also enclose a <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040v.pdf">2022 Form 1040-V</a>PDF payment voucher and print the following on the front of the check or money order:
	"2022 Form 1040"NameAddressDaytime phone numberSocial Security number</li><li>"2022 Form 1040"</li><li>Name</li><li>Address</li><li>Daytime phone number</li><li>Social Security number</li>
 </ul><h2>For taxpayers who cannot pay in full</h2>The IRS encourages taxpayers who cannot pay in full to pay what they 
can and consider a variety of payment options available for the 
remaining balance including getting a loan to pay the amount due. In 
many cases, loan costs may be lower than the combination of interest and
 penalties the IRS must charge under federal law. Taxpayers should act 
as quickly as possible: Tax bills accumulate more interest and fees the 
longer they remain unpaid. For all payment options, visit <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments">IRS.gov/payments</a>.<h2>Online self-service payment plans</h2>Most individual taxpayers qualify for a payment plan and can use <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/online-payment-agreement-application">Online Payment Agreement</a> to set up a payment plan (including an installment agreement) to pay off an outstanding balance over time.Once the online application is completed, the taxpayer receives 
immediate notification of whether their payment plan has been approved. 
Taxpayers can setup a plan using the Online Payment Agreement in a 
matter of minutes. There's no paperwork and no need to call, write or 
visit the IRS. <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/payment-plans-installment-agreements">Setup fees may apply for some types of plans</a>.<h2>Online payment plan options for individual taxpayers include:</h2><ul>
 <li>Short-term payment plan – The total balance owed is less than 
$100,000 in combined tax, penalties and interest. Additional time of up 
to 180 days to pay the balance in full.</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li>Long-term payment plan (installment agreement) – The total 
balance owed is less than $50,000 in combined tax, penalties and 
interest. Pay in monthly payments for up to 72 months. Payments may be 
set up using direct debit (automatic bank withdraw) which eliminates the
 need to send in a payment each month, saving postage costs, and 
reducing the chance of default. For balances between $25,000 and 
$50,000, direct debit is required.</li>
 </ul>Qualified taxpayers with existing payment plans may be able to 
use the Online Payment Agreement to make changes including revising 
payment dates, payment amounts or bank information for payments made by 
direct debit. Go to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/online-payment-agreement-application">Online Payment Agreement</a>&nbsp;for more information.Though interest and late-payment penalties continue to accrue on any 
unpaid taxes after April 18, the failure to pay the tax penalty rate is 
cut in half while an installment agreement is in effect. Find more 
information about the costs of payment plans on the IRS' <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/payment-plans-installment-agreements">Additional Information on Payment Plans</a> webpage.<h2>Other payment options</h2>Taxpayers struggling to meet their tax obligation may also consider these additional payment options:<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/offer-in-compromise">Offer in Compromise</a>
 – Certain taxpayers qualify to settle their tax liabilities for less 
than the total amount they owe by submitting an Offer in Compromise. To 
help determine their eligibility, they can use the <a href="https://irs.treasury.gov/oic_pre_qualifier/">Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier tool</a>. To help taxpayers prepare their own valid Offers in Compromise, the IRS created an <a href="https://www.irsvideos.gov/Business/PostFilingIssues/OfferInCompromise">Offer in Compromise video playlist</a> – also available in Spanish and Simplified Chinese – that walks them through the necessary paperwork.&nbsp;</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/temporarily-delay-the-collection-process">Temporary delay of collection</a>
 – Taxpayers can contact the IRS to request a temporary delay of the 
collection process. If the IRS determines a taxpayer is unable to pay, 
it may delay collection until the taxpayer's financial condition 
improves. Penalties and interest continue to accrue until the full 
amount is paid.</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li>Other payment plan options – Taxpayers who do not qualify 
for online self-service should contact the IRS using the phone number or
 address on their most recent notice for other payment plan options. For
 individuals and out-of-business sole proprietors who are already 
working with IRS Campus Collection and who owe $250,000 or less, one 
available option is to propose a monthly payment that will pay the 
balance over the length of the Collection Statute (usually 10 years). 
These payment plans don't require a financial statement, but they do 
require a determination for the filing of a Notice of Federal Tax Lien 
still applies.</li>
 </ul>For more information about payments, see <a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc202">Topic No. 202, Tax Payment Options</a>, on IRS.gov.<h2>Taxpayer Rights</h2>The IRS reminds taxpayers that they have rights and protections throughout the collection process. For details, see <a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxpayer-bill-of-rights">Taxpayer Bill of Rights</a> and <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1.pdf">Publication 1, Your Rights as a Taxpayer</a>PDF.Taxpayers should know before they owe. The IRS encourages all taxpayers to check their withholding with the IRS <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator">Tax Withholding Estimator</a>.This news release is part of a series called the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-time-guide">Tax Time Guide</a>, a resource to help taxpayers file an accurate tax return. Additional help is available in <a href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17">Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax</a>.

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