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Howard had 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Atlanta (4-2). Brionna Jones scored 13 points, Naz Hillmon 11 and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough 10.Dearica Hamby had 28 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals for the Sparks (2-4). Plum finished with 27 points, five assists and four steals. Azura Stevens added 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Maya Caldwell’s 3-pointer gave Atlanta a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Dream added three 3-pointers to open the second period and went on to lead 40-31 at halftime.The Sparks were as close as 51-45 midway through the third quarter after a three-point play by Plum, but Atlanta’s next three possessions resulted in a layup and short jumper by Gray and a 3-pointer from Howard for a 58-45 advantage. Atlanta went on to lead 66-53 heading to the fourth quarter.Atlanta played without Brittney Griner, who remains out with a knee injury.

Los Angeles heads to Las Vegas to face Plum’s former team, the Aces, on Friday.Atlanta visits Seattle on Friday. ___

PHOENIX (AP) — Satou Sabally scored 20 points, rookie Kitija Laksa added a season-high 18 points and the Phoenix Mercury rallied from a 16-pointdeficit in the second half and beat the winless Chicago Sky 94-89 on Tuesday night.

Alyssa Thomas had 10 points, 15 assists, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks for the Mercury. Thomas moved past Tamika Catchings (1,488) into 12th place in WNBA history with 1,503 career assists. The five-time All-Star became the first player in WNBA history with at least 10 points, five assists and five rebounds in each of the first five games of a season.The median pay package for CEOs rose to $17.1 million, up 9.7%. Meanwhile, the median employee at companies in the survey earned $85,419, reflecting a 1.7% increase year over year.

CEOs had to navigate sticky inflation and relatively high interest rates last year, as well as. But the economy also provided some tail winds: Consumers kept spending despite their misgivings about the economy; inflation did subside somewhat; the Fed

The stock market’s main benchmark, the S&P 500, rose more than 23% last year. Profits for companies in the index rose more than 9%.“2024 was expected to be a strong year, so the (nearly) 10% increases are commensurate with the timing of the pay decisions,” said Dan Laddin, a partner at Compensation Advisory Partners.