HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The balance of power in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is at stake for the fourth time in a year as voters next week will choose between a Democratic school board member and a Republican political newcomer in a suburban Philadelphia district.

Democrats controlled the House by one vote until Rep. John Galloway resigned in December to become a magisterial district judge, leaving the chamber split at 101-101. The race to replace him is slated for Feb. 13 in Bucks County north of Philadelphia.

The district has long been reliably Democratic and shares a county with long-time Republican areas where the GOP has been losing power over two decades. Democratic presidential candidates have won the county since the 1990s and President Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 10 percentage points in 2020 in Galloway’s district, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans three-to-two.

Even though those signs look good for Democrats, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is spending $50,000 to protect the party’s majority in the chamber.

“These races are really, really important and they deserve the attention and resources that meet the impact of the work that they’re doing,” said Heather Williams, president of the committee, the national party’s group that works to elect Democrats to state legislatures.

On the national level, the committee is planning to spend at least $60 million on statehouse races across the country this cycle. That’s its largest ever budget and will feature special emphasis on erasing GOP majorities in Arizona and New Hampshire and in the Pennsylvania Senate, while holding small Democratic majorities claimed in 2022 in Minnesota and Michigan.

Leslie Martes, the group’s vice president of political and strategic initiatives, said down-ballot legislative races in places like northeast Pennsylvania, and Tucson and Yuma in Arizona, may help actually help Biden’s reelection bid in a reverse coattail fashion. Her team is hoping to generate enough Democrat excitement in legislative races that its candidates can “push those margins” and add to vote totals for the president beyond swing states’ traditional population centers, where Democrats are already looking to run up the score, like Philadelphia and Phoenix.

“Our candidates are usually not always in these big cities where they’re focused on turnout for the president,” Martes said, adding, that “actually will help the top of the ticket cause we’ll be turning out voters on the issues that voters care about this year in the state legislative role, which will also drive them in the presidential race.”

Democrats have the governor’s office. Republicans hold the Senate. A Republican win in next week’s special election would give the GOP a majority that could advance school vouchers and constitutional amendments on issues such as abortion, voter identification and curbing the governor’s regulatory authority.

It is the Republicans’ fourth chance in a year to flip the majority back to their favor. Elections last year in February, May and September broke in Democrats’ favor, in largely Democratic areas.

House leaders scheduled no voting days for January and February while the partisan divide of the chamber is split 101-101. That will change after the Feb. 13 election between Democrat Jim Prokopiak, 49, and Republican Candace Cabanas, 45.

“It’s an interesting thing to be thrown into this because I’m not a politician, and I’m really just running to support working class families in lower Bucks County,” said Cabanas. “I’m not necessarily here to tip a majority, you know, and create like some kind of hoopla in the state House.”

She said high gas prices and rising cost of living are among her top priorities, along with education. She said there remains concerns after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools.

“It seems like Pennsylvania schools spend a fairly decent amount of money, like we’re up there with our spending,” she said, “but we underperform.”

Prokopiak, who was first elected in 2021 to the school board in a district north of Philadelphia, wants to see more funding for education — not just K-12, but vocational and skills-based learning, he said, to make sure the workforce is competitive. Affordable housing is also essential, he said, and with that comes raising the minimum wage. The Democrats who control the House passed a minimum wage hike last year, but it did not progress out of the Republican-controlled state Senate.

“No one can afford to live on the federal minimum wage in this area. If we’re going to be talking about good paying jobs and creating life sustaining jobs, the first thing we have to do is raise the minimum wage because it’s clear that is not sustaining anybody,” he said.

Women’s reproductive health — and the right to an abortion — is also a concern of his. The difference between a Republican majority and Democratic one is access, he said.

“I have two 14 year old girls who don’t have the same rights their mother had at their age, which is unconscionable,” he said.

(AP) Toby Keith, a sometimes polarizing figure in country music who crafted an identity around his macho, pro-American swagger, has died. He was 62.

The “Beer For My Horses” singer-songwriter, who was battling stomach cancer, died peacefully Monday surrounded by his family, according to a statement posted on the country singer’s website. “He fought his fight with grace and courage,” the statement said. He was diagnosed in 2022.

The 6-foot-4 singer broke out in the country boom years of the 1990s, writing songs that fans loved to hear. Over his career he publicly clashed with other celebrities and journalists and often pushed back against record executives who wanted to smooth his rough edges.

He was known for his overt patriotism on post 9/11 songs like “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” and boisterous barroom tunes like “I Love This Bar” and “Red Solo Cup.” He had a powerful booming voice, a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and range that carried love songs as well as drinking songs.

Among his 20 No. 1 Billboard hits were “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” “As Good As I Once Was,” “My List” and “Beer for My Horses,” a duet with Willie Nelson.

Keith worked as a roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma as a young man, then played semi-pro football before launching his career as a singer.

“I write about life, and I sing about life, and I don’t overanalyze things,” Keith told The Associated Press in 2001, following the success of his song “I’m Just Talking About Tonight.”

Keith learned good lessons in the booming oil fields, which toughened him up, but also showed him the value of money.

“The money to be made was unbelievable,” Keith told the AP in 1996. “I came out of high school in 1980 and they gave me this job December of 1979, $50,000 a year. I was 18-years-old.”

But the domestic oil field industry collapsed and Keith had not saved. “It about broke us,” he said. “So I just learned. I’ve taken care of my money this time.”

He spent a couple seasons as a defensive end for the Oklahoma City Drillers, a farm team for the now-defunct United States Football League. But he found consistent money playing music with his band throughout the red dirt roadhouse circuit in Oklahoma and Texas.

“All through this whole thing the only constant thing we had was music,” he said. “But it’s hard to sit back and say, ‘I’m going to go make my fortune singing music, or writing music. I had no contacts.”‘

Eventually his path took him to Nashville, where he attracted the interest of Mercury Records head Harold Shedd, who was best known as a producer for the hit group Alabama. Shedd brought him to Mercury, where he released his platinum debut record “Toby Keith,” in 1993.

“Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” his breakout hit, was played 3 million times on radio stations, making it the most played country song of the 1990s.

But label’s focus on global star Shania Twain overshadowed the rest of the roster and Keith felt that the executives were trying to push him in a pop direction.

“They were trying to get me to compromise, and I was living a miserable existence,” Keith told the AP. “Everybody was trying to mold me into something I was not.”

After a series of albums that produced hits like “Who’s That Man,” and cover of Sting’s “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying,” Keith moved to DreamWorks Records in 1999.

That’s when his multi-week “How Do You Like Me Now?!” took off and became his first song to crossover to Top 40 charts. In 2001, he won the male vocalist of the year and album of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, exclaiming from the stage: “I’ve waited a long time for this. Nine years!”

Songs like “I Wanna Talk About Me,” a spoken-word song written by Bobby Braddock about a man frustrated by a talkative partner, got him attention for its similarity to the cadence of rap, which Keith dismissed. “They’re going to call it a rap song, (although) there ain’t nobody doing rap who would call it rap,” he told “Billboard” magazine in 2001.

Keith often wore his politics on his sleeve, especially after the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in 2001, and early on he said was a conservative Democrat, but later claimed he was an independent. He’s played at events for Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the latter giving him a National Medal of the Arts in 2021. His songs and his blunt opinions sometimes caused him controversy, which he seemed to court.

His 2002 song, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” included a threat— “We’ll put a boot in your ass — It’s the American way” — to anyone who dared to mess with America.

That song got pulled from a patriotic ABC Fourth of July special after producers deemed it too angry for the show. Singer-songwriter Steve Earle called Keith’s song “pandering to people’s worst instincts at a time they are hurt and scared.”

Then there was the feud between Keith and The Chicks (formerly called the Dixie Chicks), who became a target of Keith’s ire when singer Natalie Maines told a crowd that they were ashamed of then President George W. Bush. Maines had also previously called Keith’s song “ignorant.”

Keith, who had previously claimed that he supported any artist’s freedom to voice their opinion about politics, used a doctored photo of Maines with an image of Saddam Hussein at his concerts, further ramping up angry fans.

Maines responded by wearing a shirt with the letters “FUTK” onstage at the 2003 ACM Awards, which many people believed was a vulgar message to Keith.

He also publicly called out actor Ethan Hawke, who had written a story in “Rolling Stone” that described an argument between Kris Kristofferson and an unnamed country star that sounded a lot like Keith. During a backstage press conference during an awards show, Keith was furious at Hawke (and reporters for repeating the story) for what he called a “fictitious (expletive) lie.”

Keith, who has acknowledged that he holds onto grudges, walked out of the ACM Awards in 2003 early because he had gotten snubbed in earlier categories, causing him to miss out when he was announced as entertainer of the year. Vince Gill accepted on his behalf. He came back the next year and won the top prize for a second year in a row, along with top male vocalist and album of the year for “Shock ’n Y’all.”

His pro-military stance wasn’t just fodder for songs, however. He went on 11 USO tours to visit and play for troops serving overseas. He also helped to raised millions for charity over his career, including building a home in Oklahoma City for kids and their families who are battling cancer.

After Universal Music Group acquired DreamWorks, Keith started anew again, starting his own record label, Show Dog, in 2005 with record executive Scott Borchetta, who launched his own label Big Machine at the same time.

“Probably 75% of the people in this town think I’ll fail, and the other 25% hope I fail,” he said that year.

Later the label became Show Dog-Universal Music and had Keith, Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols, Josh Thompson, Clay Walker and Phil Vassar on its roster.

His later hits included “Love Me If You Can,” “She Never Cried In Front of Me,” and “Red Solo Cup.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.

He was honored by the performance rights organization BMI in November 2022 with the BMI Icon award, a few months after announcing his stomach cancer diagnosis.

“I always felt like that the songwriting was the most important part of this whole industry,” Keith told the crowd of fellow singers and writers.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Facing calls for more public schools funding and wanting to attract big business, Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his second budget proposal to Pennsylvania lawmakers Tuesday.

The Democrat has released few details of his spending plan for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which begins July 1. He’s expected to return with bigger proposals for higher education institutions, underfunded public schools and economic development.

The governor is looking at a relatively strong fiscal position and will almost certainly propose an operating budget that goes above this year’s $45 billion. Still, Pennsylvania is running deficits again, using $1 billion in surplus cash to prop up this year’s spending. With flush reserves, Shapiro is expected to propose lowering taxes.

Shapiro will deliver his budget address to a joint session of the House and Senate this year in the ornate Capitol Rotunda. The Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House will begin budget hearings in two weeks.

Shapiro’s first budget made substantial investments in education but didn’t go as far as public schools advocates had wanted in the wake of a landmark court decision that ruled how the state funds its schools is unconstitutional.

A nonbinding recommendation to send $1.3 billion more next year to public schools, including subsidies for high-tax districts and school construction, received approval from Democratic lawmakers and Shapiro’s appointees last month, although Shapiro hasn’t said whether his budget proposal will reflect that recommendation.

Meanwhile, a $100 million school choice vouchers program — a priority of Shapiro’s and Republicans’ that helped lead to a monthslong budget stalemate — is likely to come back around. Shapiro backed the proposal to the frustration of fellow Democrats who strongly opposed the measure.

Other unfinished business for Shapiro includes raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, which Republicans have blocked in the Senate. Like 19 other states, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is at the federal minimum of $7.25.

To give the state’s economy a further boost, Shapiro wants to spend big to attract large industrial facilities, such as a microchip factory, by getting large tracts of land permitted and prepared for construction. The proposed investments in economic develop seek to address the challenges that abound: Even though Pennsylvania’s payrolls hit a record high in December, the state’s labor force has lagged behind pre-pandemic levels. The state’s economy is less dynamic than some other states, and its workforce is relatively older and slower-growing.

Shapiro also said he would propose nearly $300 million more for public transit agencies, a roughly 25% increase, and a sizable boost for state-owned universities.

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)
(Photo/BCR Archives)

Following multiple days of store closures following a water main break, The Beaver Valley Mall will fully re-open today following repairs.

The Center Township Water Authority was notified at 5:30 PM that the main water line had been repaired, and that the work was done by an outside contractor. Soon after, the Mall’s Facebook page announced that the mall would be open once again on Tuesday.

The initial cause of the water main break was not revealed. The only stores open during repairs were the anchor stores of Boscov’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, JCPenney, and Rural King.

The 2026 World Cup final will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, beating out Texas and California for soccer’s showcase game.

FIFA awarded the July 19 championship to the $1.6 billion venue, which opened in 2010, the culminating match of an expanded 48-nation, 104-game tournament that will be spread across three nations for the first time.

Located about 10 miles from Manhattan, MetLife was promoted by both New York and New Jersey, where the stadium was built in the Meadowlands marshes. The land of Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and Frank Sinatra will be the focal point of the globe on that Sunday, when either Lionel Messi’s Argentina will try to win its second straight title or a successor will emerge.

“It will be a celebration of our diversity and our values,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a telephone interview. “The bigger picture is what leads up to it and what we leave behind for the decades to come.”

FIFA made the announcement Sunday at a Miami television studio, allocating the opener of the 39-day tournament to Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca on June 11 and the finale to the home of the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had lobbied for the final to be at his AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“The competition was dealing with the perception of the coastal, of a New York, or a Los Angeles,” he said. “If this were totally being played to just America and the United States, that wouldn’t have been such a formidable thing to overcome. But internationally, that’s formidable to overcome.”

All games from the quarterfinals on are being played in the United States. Semifinals are on July 14 at AT&T and the following day at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Quarterfinals are at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on July 9, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the following day, and at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on July 11. The third-place game will be at Hard Rock on July 18.

The U.S. team will train in suburban Atlanta ahead of the tournament and open at SoFi on June 12. The Americans play seven days later at Seattle’s Lumen Field and finish the group stage at SoFi on June 25.

Since reaching the semifinals of the first World Cup in 1930, the U.S. has advanced to the quarterfinals just once, in 2002.

“It’s about making our nation proud,” American coach Gregg Berhalter said. “One way to really grow the game and to change soccer in America forever is to perform well and do something that no U.S. team has ever done before.”

Seventy-eight of 104 matches will be played in the U.S., with 13 games each in Mexico and Canada, and there as many as six matches a day.

AT&T will host a tournament-high nine matches. There will be eight each at MetLife, SoFi and Mercedes Benz; seven apiece at Hard Rock, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and NRG Stadium in Houston; and six apiece at Lumen, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

FIFA officials did not publicly explain their site-decision process.

Philadelphia’s final match will be a round-of-16 meeting on July 4, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park hosts baseball’s All-Star Game, likely on July 14.

Santa Clara is the only U.S. site that will not host a game after the new round of 32. AT&T will host two round-of-32 matches.

FIFA expanded the World Cup from 32 to 48 nations, increased matches from 64 and announced the 16 sites in 2022.

Murphy learned of the decision while at a watch party in a MetLife Stadium suite. He was not discouraged by a British tabloid report on Jan. 17 that said the final would be at AT&T.

“We did everything we could to put our head downs, focus on the job at hand, kind of push out the noise, and that turned out to be a winning formula,” Murphy said.

Mexico will play its second match at Guadalajara’s Estadio Akron on June 18 and return to Azteca on June 24. Mexico City will host five matches, with four each at Monterrey’s Estadio BBVA and Guadalajara.

Canada will play its opening first-round match in Toronto on June 12, then at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 18 and 24. Each Canada venue will host 13 games.

A nation will need to play eight matches to win the title, up from seven since 1982.

All 11 of the U.S. stadiums are home to NFL teams. Hard Rock will host this year’s Copa América final on July 14, while MetLife was the site of the 2016 Copa América final.

Both the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals were at Azteca.

When the U.S. hosted the 24-nation, 52-game tournament in 1994, the final was at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the opener at Chicago’s Soldier Field and the semifinals at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford and the Rose Bowl.

With the additional teams, the length of the tournament will grow from 29 days in the shortened 2022 schedule in Qatar and 32 days for the 2018 tournament in Russia.

Only one match will involve a team that has not had at least three off days. FIFA divided the group stage into East, Central and West regions and intended to make travel shorter for group winners.

The stadiums in Arlington, Atlanta and Houston have retractable roofs that are expected to be closed because of summer heat, and Inglewood and Vancouver have fixed roofs.

Artificial turf will be replaced by grass in Arlington, Atlanta, East Rutherford, Foxborough, Houston, Inglewood, Seattle and Vancouver.

Several of the venues are expected to widen their surfaces to accommodate a 75-by-115 yard (68-by-105 meter) playing field, including AT&T, MetLife and SoFi.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

A new face will be joining the Pittsburgh Penguins following the All-Star break.

The team announced yesterday that they have signed Jesse Puljujarvi to a two-year contract. The 25-year-old Finnish winger joined the Penguins on a tryout in December, and has since tallied four goals and five assists in 13 games for Wilkes-Barre in the AHL.

Puljujarvi was selected 4th overall by Edmonton in 2016, playing in 317 games over six seasons. He spent last season with the Oilers as well as the Carolina Hurricanes, scoring 5 goals and 16 points over 75 games.

The Penguins return from the All-Star break on Tuesday night against the Winnpeg Jets at 7:00 PM. Pittsburgh is currently in 5th place in the Metropolitan Division, five points behind the third-place Philadelphia Flyers and seven points out of a wild-card spot behind the Detroit Red Wings.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Killer Mike was arrested at the Grammy Awards on Sunday after the rapper and activist won three Grammy awards including his first in more than two decades.

In a video posted by the trade website The Hollywood Reporter, Mike was escorted in handcuffs by Los Angeles police at Crypto.com Arena after some joyous moments for him at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony on Sunday, where he won his awards in quick succession.

Police spokesperson Officer Mike Lopez said Mike being detained stemmed from an altercation inside the arena around 4 p.m. He was booked on a misdemeanor.

The rapper, whose real name is Michael Render, was released on his own recognizance at 8:37 p.m. and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 29 in Los Angeles.

A representative for Mike did not immediately respond to emails or text messages requesting a comment.

“The only thing that limits your age is not being truthful about your age or what you’re doing,” the 48-year-old Mike said backstage. He won for best rap performance, rap song and rap album.

“At 20 years old, I thought it was cool to be a drug dealer,” he said. “At 40, I started to live with the regrets and the things I’ve done. At 45, I started to rap about it. At 48, I stand here as a man full of empathy and sympathy for the things I’ve done.”

Mike’s first win came after he won for best rap performance for “Scientists & Engineers,” which also took home best rap song. The single features Andre 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane.

He won best rap album for “Michael.”

Before Sunday, Mike’s last Grammy came in 2003 when he won for “The Whole World” won for best rap performance by a duo or group.

When he collected his third award, the Atlanta-based rapper shouted out, “Sweep! Atlanta, it’s a sweep!”

As a member of Run the Jewels, Mike, along with producer El-P, pumped out four critically acclaimed albums. He made noise outside of music as a social-political activist who has spoken out against inequality for Black people, race relations and became a vocal supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

The Grammy-winner hosted Netflix’s “Trigger Warning with Killer Mike,” a 2019 documentary series about issues that affect the Black community. He also made an emotional plea to calm a protest against police brutality that turned violent in Atlanta.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

45-year-old Durrell Forston of Seven Fields pled guilty to drug and firearm charges on Friday before U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman.

The guilty plea stems from a search performed by a drug K-9 following a traffic stop of Fortson on November 16, 2022. Following the detection of controlled substances by the K-9, police obtained a search warrant of the vehicle which uncovered an air mattress containing two gallon-sized bags of cocaine, two kilogram wrappers with cocaine residue, a digital scale, and a .40 caliber handgun loaded with thirteen rounds of ammunition.

The maximum penalty for the drug distribution charge is a $1,000,000 fine and/or an imprisonment term of up to 20 years. Additionally the maximum penalty for the firearms possession charge is a $250,000 fine and/or a prison sentence of at least 5 years and up to life in prison.

Sentencing for Forston has been scheduled for June 11.

HANOVER, Pa. (AP) — Police shot and killed a man at a southern Pennsylvania gas station after they say he pointed a gun at officers who were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

An arrest warrant had been issued for 37-year-old Richard Bolen on aggravated assault and other charges after he was accused of “brandishing a firearm at officers” as he fled from a business Wednesday, authorities said.

Hanover police officers responded when Bolen’s SUV was spotted at a Sunoco gas station on Friday, the state police said in a news release. Police said as they entered the gas station store, Bolen ran out the back and then circled around to the front of the station while drawing a handgun, it said.

As Bolen reached the front of the gas station, he encountered more officers and pointed the gun them, and officers then fired several rounds, killing him, the agency said.

York County prosecutors asked state police to investigate, and the Hanover officers who fired were placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation, police said.

A message was left Sunday at a phone number listed as Bolen’s.

Stocks are mostly slipping as Wall Street pushes out forecasts for when interest rates will start easing from the strictest levels in two decades. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% Monday, coming off another all-time high and another winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 163 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower. The sharpest action was in the bond market, where yields climbed after the chair of the Federal Reserve said again that cuts to interest rates are unlikely to begin in March. Some traders pushed out their forecasts for the first rate cut beyond May to June.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

(AP) — Wall Street inched lower before the bell on Monday while Treasury yields touched one-month highs as worries grew about the possibility that the Federal Reserve might not start cutting interest until later in the year.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell more than 0.1% before markets opened.

In an interview recorded Thursday for the CBS news program “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday night, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank remains on track to cut interest rates three times this year, but probably not beginning until May.

Powell’s comments largely echoed remarks he gave at a news conference Wednesday, after the Fed decided to keep its key interest rate steady at about 5.4%, a 22-year high. To fight inflation, the Fed raised its benchmark rate 11 times beginning in March 2022, causing loans for consumers and businesses to become much more expensive.

The Fed chair reiterated that the central bank’s next meeting in March was likely too soon for a rate cut in an economy where demand is strong enough for inflation to re-emerge.

On Friday, Big Tech stocks once again carried Wall Street to a record, even though the majority of stocks fell due to renewed worries about risks of a still too-hot economy.

Stocks felt pressure from much higher yields in the bond market after a report showed U.S. employers hired many more workers last month than economists expected.

That’s great for workers and helps keep the risk of a recession at bay, but it could preserve some upward pressure on inflation and lead the Federal Reserve to wait longer before it begins cutting interest rates.

Yields on the 2-year Treasury rose to 4.44% early Monday from 4.37% late Friday. Yields on the 10-year also kept climbing, to 4.09% Monday morning from 4.02% late Friday.

In equities trading early Monday, McDonald’s shares dipped less than 1%, even after the company beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter sales and profit targets. Same-store sales came in lower than Wall Street targets however, possibly linked to protests and boycotts in the Middle East over its perceived support for Israel.

Boeing slid again after the aerospace giant said improperly drilled holes in some of its 737 fuselages could delay deliveries of about 50 aircraft. It’s the latest in a series manufacturing gaffes to plague the manufacturer, whose shares fell about 2% before the bell.

In European markets at midday, Germany’s DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris each ticked up about 0.1%.

Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5% after a report showed UK’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.9% in the three months to November, lower than an earlier estimate of 4.2% provided by the Office for National Statistics in January.

Chinese shares again led declines in Asia even after the market regulator in Beijing pledged to crack down on abuses and protect small investors.

The main index in the smaller market in Shenzhen sank 4.4% but then rapidly recovered, bouncing between losses and gains and closing 1.1% lower. The Shanghai Composite index slipped 3.5% at one point and closed 1% lower, at 2,702.19.

On Sunday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said it would redouble enforcement of measures against crimes such as market manipulation and “malicious” short selling, while guiding more medium and long-term funds into the market.

That move followed others in recent days that appear to have done little to reassure investors who have been pulling money out of the markets for months. Last week, Chinese stocks capped their worst week in five years.

Comments by former President Donald Trump, who said he might impose a tariff of more than 60% on imports of Chinese goods if he is re-elected, also hurt market sentiment.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.2% lower to 15,510.01.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.6% to 36,354.16.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 1% to 7,625.90. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.9% to 2,591.31.

In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 19 cents to $72.09 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 4 cents to $77.29 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 148.59 Japanese yen from 148.40 yen. The euro cost $1.0748, down from $1.0784.