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The Jeep Cherokee is one of the oldest compact SUVs on the market, its current generation dates back to the 2014 model year. However, it still stands out for its good off-road capabilities, especially in the Trailhawk version, and its naturally aspirated V6 3.2 engine – Liter engine – a rarity in the class – capable of towing loads of up to 4,500 pounds.

The mystery still hangs over the arrival of a new generation. Some rumors point to the middle of the decade, which is still a long way off. In short, if you’re considering a used Jeep Cherokee, it’s not going to go out of style overnight.

Now, what about its weaknesses and things to look out for before deciding to buy one? We’ll get to that here, but before we go any further, you should know that the Cherokee’s most significant update is for the 2019 model year. You’ll easily recognize it by its more conventional front end with slimmer headlights. .

Photo: William Clavey

Limited space

The biggest weakness of this compact SUV is undoubtedly its interior volume, which is less lavish than that of the competition. Rear seat clearance is disappointing, as is cargo space, which is hampered by a trunk sill that is far too high. Not ideal for family, always compared to the competition.

On the front, the abundance of plastic elements and the arrangement of the controls leave a lot to be desired. In addition, the thickness of the windshield pillars impairs visibility on the road.

Photo: William Clavey

Three mechanics, one true choice

The Jeep Cherokee has the advantage of offering multiple mechanics, but only one really stands out. Under the Cherokee’s hood, the small 2.4-liter four-cylinder, which produces around 180 hp, has long proved insufficient and surly. It’s only suitable if you don’t get home quickly or if fuel economy is your top concern.

The second option is the 3.2-liter Pentastar V6 (271 hp) mentioned at the beginning. It has proven itself and delivers a yield of great suppleness. Obviously, this engine has a bigger appetite than the four-cylinder, but you can still maintain an average fuel consumption of around 11L/100km.

Photo: William Clavey

Since 2019 there is also a 2-liter four-cylinder turbo engine (270 hp). However, it turns out to be noisy and not as reliable as the V6, needs the best fuel available and will certainly cost more to maintain and repair if it breaks down. It’s a risky choice, especially since it offers no real advantage over the V6.

Happy owners

The Jeep Cherokee owners we speak to are generally happy with their vehicle. Of course, the 2014-2015 models’ transmission problems were serious. However, if one tends towards a newer copy, the question of reliability does not arise so much.

Photo: William Clavey

Last important point: the Cherokee is one of the 10 long-recall-listed vehicles we brought to your attention two years ago. There are about thirty of them in Canada, imagine! It is therefore important to ensure that all Jeep-recommended repairs have been carried out before making a purchase and, of course, that the mechanical inspection does not reveal a major problem.

In the Studio: When is the new Jeep Cherokee coming?

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a finding by the Trump administration that the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer does not pose a serious health risk and is “unlikely” to cause cancer in humans.

The California-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to review its 2020 finding that glyphosate poses no health risk to people exposed to it in any way — on farms, yards, or roadsides, or as residues on food plants.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the world’s most widely used herbicide. Pharmaceutical giant Bayer, which acquired the herbicide’s original maker Monsanto, in 2018, is facing thousands of lawsuits from people who say Roundup exposure caused their cancer.

CONTINUE READING: Jury orders Monsanto to pay $2 billion in weed killer cancer case

Roundup will continue to be available for sale. According to an agency spokesman, EPA officials are reviewing the 54-page ruling “and will decide on next steps.”

Judge Michelle Friedland, writing for a unanimous panel of three judges, said the EPA’s finding of no risk to human health “was not supported by valid evidence.” It also ruled that EPA had failed in its obligations under the Endangered Species Act by inadequately researching glyphosate’s effects on animal species and vegetation.

Legal critics said the EPA “evaded its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. We agree and refer to the agency for further investigation,” wrote Friedland, a candidate for former President Barack Obama.

The Center for Food Safety, one of the groups challenging the decision, called Friday’s ruling “a historic victory for farm workers and the environment.”

The decision “gives a voice to those suffering from glyphosate cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” said Amy van Saun, lead counsel for the center.

“The EPA’s ‘no cancer’ conclusion did not stand up to scrutiny,” she said. “The court agreed that the EPA must ensure the safety of endangered species before giving the green light to glyphosate.”

CONTINUE READING: What you need to know about a popular weed killer’s alleged link to cancer

While the EPA said it found no evidence of a cancer risk from glyphosate, California and other states have listed it as a cancer risk, and local governments across the country have restricted its use. In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as “probably carcinogenic.”

Bayer announced last year that it would phase out glyphosate from the U.S. lawn and garden market by 2023.

Bayer said in a statement Friday night that the EPA’s 2020 conclusion “is based on a rigorous assessment of more than 40 years of extensive science.” The company believes the EPA “will continue to conclude, as it and other regulatory agencies have consistently concluded for more than four decades, that glyphosate-based herbicides are safe to use and non-carcinogenic,” the statement said .

Last year, Bayer committed $4.5 billion to deal with claims that glyphosate causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer. The company had previously accepted nearly $10 billion in fees for previous lawsuits.

“EPA’s failure to act on the basis of the science described in the lawsuit has real adverse health consequences for farmworkers, the public and ecosystems,” said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, a plaintiff in the case . “Due to this lawsuit, the obstruction of the regulatory procedure by the authority must not continue.”

With the return of vinyl, VHS could see a similar surge in popularity. At least that’s what a recent auction suggests, where a VHS of Back to the Future sold for $75,000 (CAD$97,760).

This is a new auction record for this 1986 videocassette that was sealed and in perfect condition.

However, this VHS was special in that it belonged to actor Tom Wilson, who played the character of Biff Tannen in the legendary 80’s film.

The tape was originally put up for sale on eBay, but given the overwhelming response, the actor chose to hire Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas to hold the auction.

In addition to this format of the first film, other videotapes of the rest of the trilogy were also made available for sale. To make the collection extra special, Tom Wilson offered to put a note on each VHS and sign each shipment.

It was a New York collector who managed to get his hands on the version of the first film at a price that “is the highest ever paid for a sealed and graded VHS tape at auction,” Heritage said Auctions to CNN.

“We had no idea what was going to happen – nobody had done this before and to see the success is amazing,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena told the outlet. “When you see that, it’s a great sense of accomplishment, not even the financial aspect, just a moment of ‘I knew it! I knew nostalgic VHS tapes would be good.”

And many collectors would fight for these video relics, while large sums of money were already being paid for VHS films such as “Jaws” or “Ghostbusters”.

The day after Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg met with leading airlines to question them about widespread flight disruptions, his own flight was canceled and he ended up flying from Washington to New York.

“It happens to a lot of people, and that’s why we’re paying close attention here to what can be done and how to make sure the airlines are delivering,” Buttigieg said in an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday.

Buttigieg said he is urging airlines to stress test their summer plans to ensure they can operate all of their scheduled flights with their staff and to hire customer service agents. That could put pressure on airlines to further cut their summer flight schedules.

Buttigieg said his department can take enforcement action against airlines that fail to meet consumer protection standards. But first, he said, he wants to see if there are any major flight disruptions over the July 4 bank holiday weekend and the rest of the summer.

Enforcement actions can result in fines, although these are usually small. Air Canada last year agreed to pay a $2 million fine for slow refunds.

During Thursday’s virtual meeting, airline executives described steps they are taking to avoid a repeat of Memorial Day weekend, when about 2,800 flights were canceled. “Now we’ll see how those moves pan out,” Buttigieg said.

Travel is back. More than 2.4 million people passed through security at US airports on Friday, arriving in about 12,500 to break the pandemic-era high recorded on Sunday after Thanksgiving last year.

The record would certainly have been broken if airlines hadn’t canceled 1,400 flights, many because of thunderstorms battering parts of the east coast. A day earlier, airlines cleaned more than 1,700 flights, according to tracking service FlightAware.

Weather is always a wild card when it comes to summer flying, but airlines have also acknowledged staffing shortages as travel fell faster than expected due to the pandemic lows. Airlines are scrambling to hire pilots and other workers to replace employees they encouraged to quit after the pandemic hit.

The story goes on

It takes months to hire and train a pilot to meet federal safety standards, but the Department of Transportation sees no reason why airlines can’t immediately add customer service representatives to help passengers rebook if their flight is cancelled.

The government has its own staffing challenges.

Bottlenecks at the Federal Aviation Administration, part of Buttigieg’s division, have contributed to flight delays in Florida. The FAA promises to increase staff there. The Transportation Security Administration, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, has created a roving force of 1,000 screeners who can be dispatched to airports where checkpoint queues are getting too long.

Bitcoin’s price has fallen below the key $20,000 mark for the first time since November 2020, threatening to trigger a new sell-off and deepening the crisis in the digital asset space.

The largest cryptocurrency, which serves as a benchmark for the broader crypto market, plunged below $18,000 on Saturday, down around 14 percent, before recovering slightly. That took it below the top level of the previous crypto markets bull run in 2017, erasing years of gains for long-term holders.

Traditional financial markets were shaken this week after a trio of major central banks led by the US Federal Reserve hiked borrowing costs in a bid to stem soaring inflation. Global equities endured their worst week since the pandemic’s darkest days in March 2020, as traders feared the aggressive action could hurt global growth or even trigger a recession.

The crypto market is under particularly severe pressure as the race for yield, sparked by massive stimulus efforts by central banks and governments at the height of the pandemic, abruptly reverses.

Investors and executives have watched bitcoin price with concern over the past few days, fearing that a dip below $20,000 could lead to forced liquidations of large leveraged bets in the markets, which could further pressure the price and worsen the credit crunch, which has already hit major crypto lenders and traders.

Over the last week, two crypto lending companies, Celsius and Babel Financial, blocked withdrawals, while Three Arrows failed to meet lenders’ demands to raise additional funds to cover bad bets. Last month, Luna and Terra — two tokens popular with crypto traders seeking ultra-high returns — collapsed.

“The dominoes are falling now,” Conor Ryder, an analyst at research and data provider Kaiko, said on Friday. “With more dominoes there is likely to be more price action to the downside, which is likely to snowball with these liquidations.”

Bitcoin has lost more than 70 percent of its value since its peak last fall as investors flee more speculative assets as central banks around the world tighten monetary policy. The total crypto market value has fallen below $1 trillion from a high of $3.2 trillion. The price of ether has also fallen below $1,000, posting a more than 70 percent drop this year. Bitcoin price fell to around $17,600 on Saturday, according to data from CryptoCompare.

Smaller lenders have also reduced or suspended withdrawals, while Toronto-listed crypto platform Voyager inked a deal on Friday to borrow more than $200 million from trading firm Alameda.

“Today’s actions give Voyager more flexibility to mitigate current market conditions,” said Stephen Ehrlich, Chief Executive.

“The credit facilities will only be used by Voyager when necessary to protect customer assets,” he added.

Ryder anticipates that as markets continue to fall, it will put further pressure on other lenders and dealers.

“If we get one more leg down, it’ll become clear pretty quickly who was just clinging for life,” he said.

Additional reporting by Adam Samson in Milan

Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom underwent surgery on his left hip earlier this week.

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The club, which plays in the American capital, confirmed this on Saturday via its Twitter account. The Swede also underwent surgery in Belgium.

Backstrom struggled with hip problems during the 2021-22 season, which caused him to miss several games. And even though he played in the playoffs, his hip still hurt.

He finished the season with 31 points in 47 games before adding six points in as many playoff games.

“My hip will never be 100% again,” he admitted during the Capitals’ end-of-season evaluation interviews, still not sure if surgery was necessary at the time. Some days it goes well, other days it doesn’t. So life is.”

Without specifying the exact length of his rehabilitation period, the Capitals mentioned that it would be a “very long recovery process”.

In 2022-2023, the 34-year-old athlete – who turns 35 in November – will complete the third year of a five-year contract worth $46 million. In 1,058 National League games, all with the team that targeted him in the 2006 fourth round, Backstrom has amassed 1,011 points.

The cryptocurrency market collapsed on Saturday as most currencies are now trading in bear market territory. And more importantly, the market is still looking for a bottom.

Billionaire investor and Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary, however, is not overly concerned about the predicament.

Pullback Buy Opportunity in These Cryptos: O’Leary said he expects the current crypto bear market to provide long-term support for the entire crypto sector, Market Insider said, citing an exclusive interview with the venture capitalist.

He reportedly said he will be doubling tokens, including Bitcoin BTC/USD and ether ETH/USD as well as various Web3 projects.

Although he conceded that not all of his bets would win, he hinted that he “sells nothing”.

“In the long run, you just have to endure it. You have to understand that you’re going to get volatility and that some projects aren’t going to work,” O’Leary allegedly said.

Related Link: Is There a Safe Haven With the Crypto Market in Freefall?

O’Leary’s Crypto Stakes: The billionaire holds about 32 positions in digital assets, according to Business Insider. His crypto holdings include Solana SOLUSD and polygon MATIC/USD, the publication added.

However, the sell-off in the crypto market has reduced its digital currency holdings from 20% six months ago to 16% now, the report said.

Bullish outlook: O’Leary sees the recent crypto crashes as events that can teach investors caution and further improve the technology behind digital assets, the report said.

The billionaire also addressed the positives that came out of the stablecoin’s collapse Terra USD LUNA/USD.

“It’s nothing, a rounding error in the context of a government asset. It’s bad for investors, but they’ve educated the market on what not to do. It’s a good thing,” O’Leary said.

The failure of the smaller projects, according to the investor, will help strengthen the crypto market even if the stalled projects no longer exist, he added.

Another supporting point for staying bullish on cryptocurrencies is that the “best intellectual capital” is working to solve bad outcomes on-chain, the report states.

At last check, Bitcoin fell 14.20% to $17,717.99, according to Benzinga Pro data. Ethereum fell below $1,000 to trade up 18.03% at $1,896.11.

Photo: Courtesy of the Ontario Chamber of Comm on Flickr

The current FINA World Championships are synonymous with firsts for artistic swimmer Audrey Lamothe. The 17-year-old Montrealer, who made the leap to the seniors this year, finished 10th in the technical solo on Saturday in sunny Budapest, Hungary.

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The day’s sole Canadian representative, Lamothe, amassed 83.0909 points in her first appearance in a Senior Worlds final, but also in her first major competition presented outdoors.

“I set a goal to be in the finals and my mission was accomplished,” she said in an interview with Sportcom. I wanted to have fun and gain experience. I’m so happy to finish in the top 10! That is really a great achievement.”

Japan’s Yukiko Inui (92.8662) won the gold medal ahead of Ukraine’s Marta Fiedina (91.9555 points) and Evangelia Platanioti (89.5110) from Greece.