This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows a a set of googly eyes placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows a pair of googly eyes placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows damage cardboard and tape following the removal of a pair of googly eyes that were placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows a a set of googly eyes placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) By CLAIRE RUSH PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Googly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show. Related Articles National News | Biden’s commutation in ‘kids for cash’ scandal angers some Pennsylvania families National News | Drones, planes or UFOs? Americans abuzz over mysterious New Jersey sightings National News | FACT FOCUS: Inspector general’s Jan. 6 report misrepresented as proof of FBI setup National News | OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment National News | Judge rejects an attempt by Trump campaign lawyer to invalidate guilty plea in Georgia election case On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called “Roundabout Art Route.” One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere. It’s not yet known who has been putting them on the sculptures. “While the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art,” the city said in its posts. The Facebook post received hundreds of comments, with many users saying they liked the googly eyes. “My daughter and I went past the flaming chicken today and shared the biggest laugh,” one user said, using a nickname for the “Phoenix Rising” sculpture. “We love the googly eyes. This town is getting to be so stuffy. Let’s have fun!” Another Facebook user wrote: “I think the googly eyes on the deer specifically are a great look, and they should stay that way.” Others said the city should focus on addressing more important issues, such as homelessness, instead of spending time and money on removing the googly eyes. Over the years, the city’s sculptures have been adorned with other seasonal decorations, including Santa hats, wreaths, leis. The city doesn’t remove those, and views the googly eyes differently because of the adhesive, Bend’s communications director, Rene Mitchell, told The Associated Press. “We really encourage our community to engage with the art and have fun. We just need to make sure that we can protect it and that it doesn’t get damaged,” she said. The post and its comments were covered by news outlets, and even made it on a segment of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert .” The city regrets that its post was misunderstood, Mitchell said. “There was no intent to be heavy-handed, and we certainly understand maybe how that was taken,” she said. “We own this large collection of public art and really want to bring awareness to the community that applying adhesives does harm the art. So as stewards of the collection, we wanted to share that on social media.” The city has so far spent $1,500 on removing googly eyes from seven of the eight sculptures impacted, Mitchell said, and has started treating some of the art pieces, which are made of different types of metal such as bronze and steel. The “Phoenix Rising” sculpture might need to be repainted entirely, she said. For some, the googly eyes — like the other holiday objects — provide a welcome boost of seasonal cheer. “I look forward to seeing the creativity of whoever it is that decorates the roundabouts during the holidays,” one social media commenter said. “Brings a smile to everyone to see silliness.”Liberty Broadband Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.44 (NASDAQ:LBRDP)Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's passing at the age of 92 triggered an outpouring of condolence messages. Narendra Modi, India's current prime minister, called Singh one of India's "most distinguished leaders." Singh played a crucial role in opening up India's economy to the world as finance minister in the 1990s and helped strengthen diplomatic ties with the U.S. Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's passing on Tuesday at the age of 92 triggered an outpouring of condolence messages and tributes from political leaders from both sides of the aisle and industry titans. > 24/7 San Diego news stream: Watch NBC 7 free wherever you are Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Singh one of India's "most distinguished leaders" in a post on X. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party defeated Singh's Congress alliance in the 2014 elections and has been in power since. Singh was a "respected economist," Modi added, who left "a strong imprint" on India's economic policy. Before he became prime minister in 2004, Singh served as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1982 and as minister of finance in 1991. As finance minister, he led a series of reforms that deregulated India's economy and opened the country to foreign investment. Facing an acute balance of payments crisis, then-Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Singh liberalized the economy that paved the way for its rapid expansion in the following decades. Money Report China's industrial profits extend decline to a fourth straight month, dropping 7.3% in November Asia markets trade mixed as investors assess Tokyo CPI, China's industrial profit data "History will forever honour his pivotal role in the transformative 1991 reforms that reshaped India and opened its doors to the world," wrote Gautam Adani, India's second-richest person and chairperson of Indian conglomerate Adani Group. Singh returned to politics in 2004 when a Congress-led coalition swept the elections, and party leader Sonia Gandhi appointed him prime minister. Under his tenure between 2004 and 2014, India's gross domestic product initially expanded rapidly, allowing Singh to deploy the new wealth to programs such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act , which guaranteed jobs for the poor. The later years of Singh's stint as prime minister were, however, marred by sclerotic growth, a stalling of reforms and allegations of corruption against certain members of the government. Singh played a pivotal role in strengthening India's ties with Washington, visiting the U.S. multiple times as prime minister. In 2006, when U.S. President George W. Bush visited India, Singh managed to broker a deal that gave India access to U.S. nuclear technology. "Dr. Singh was one of the greatest champions of the U.S.-India strategic partnership, and his work laid the foundation for much of what our countries have accomplished together in the past two decades," wrote the U.S. Department of State on Singh's passing. Apart from the U.S., Singh also strengthened India's ties with Russia. He was a regular attendee of the India-Russia Annual Summit, which began in 2000, and aims to deepen cooperation between the two countries and among BRIC nations. Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov said on X that "Dr Manmohan Singh's contribution to our bilateral ties was immeasurable." Also on CNBC Asia’s year in review: Who had it good — and who had it bad — in 2024 Nissan could face cost-cutting 'carnage' in Honda merger, Carlos Ghosn says Here’s what a blockbuster Nissan-Honda merger could mean for the auto industry

Thurston County Sheriff's Office gets federal grant to purchase two more 'Grappler Police Bumper' systems

Thailand will go up against a "totally different" Philippines side in the first leg of their Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 semi-final in Manila on Friday night. The War Elephants are the defending champions and made it to the last-four stage of the regional championship after victories over Timor Leste, Malaysia and Cambodia helped them finish at the top of Group A. The Philippines sprang a big surprise by taking second spot behind Vietnam in Group B. Thailand head coach Masatada Ishii told a pre-match press conference on Thursday in Manila that his men would have to adjust their game to suit the synthetic grass pitch at Rizal Memorial Stadium. "We are faced with a situation in which we have to play on a pitch with artificial grass and this means that every player has to adjust himself to the surface," said the Japanese tactician. "But in football you are expected to adjust to such situations and be ready for all sorts of conditions at different match venues. "We have had the opportunity to play on an artificial grass pitch back home for a couple of days and have had two days of training opportunity at the match venue. "I believe that this will help the players get ready for this new challenge." Ishii added: "We have seen the tapes of the match between the Philippines and Indonesia and there is no need to talk much about it. "From what we have seen, I can say that the Philippines now play a different brand of football. "They are a totally different team from the one we played a few months ago. Their offence and defence have both improved a great deal. "But we have trained on the artificial pitch at Rizal Memorial Stadium and I don't think there is a need to make any drastic changes to our game plan for the match." The two sides clashed in the King's Cup first round in Songkhla in October when the War Elephants dominated the Philippines 3-1. Thai left wing back Thitathorn Auksornsri said: "We have been preparing the team for quite some time and everyone is now ready for the match. "I played at this stadium during the 2019 SEA Games, but that was a long time ago. We need to adjust many things for this venue." The match will kick off at 8pm (Thai time) on Saturday and will be televised live by Thai Rath TV (32), AIS Play, TrueSport 2 (667) and the BG Sports Channel on YouTube.

JOHNSTON — More than a month after the November election, Iowa-based pollster Ann Selzer still is searching for answers. Selzer’s Iowa Poll, published by the Des Moines Register and Mediacom, had developed a reputation as one of the best polling firms in the country. But that distinction took a massive hit in the 2024 presidential election in Iowa, when the final Iowa Poll, published just days before the election, showed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris ahead in the state by 4 percentage points. Ann Selzer discusses the final Iowa Poll of the 2024 presidential election during her appearance on Iowa PBS' "Iowa Press" at Iowa PBS studios in Johnston, Iowa, on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Three days after the poll was published, Republican Donald Trump won the state by 13 percentage points. Shortly after the election, Selzer announced her company, Selzer and Co., no longer will conduct political polling — a plan she says was in place long before the election and was not influenced by the poor showing by the final Iowa Poll. People are also reading... In the meantime, Selzer has reanalyzed the poll’s data and searched for answers. She said she still sometimes awakes at 4 a.m. with a new question. And the answer is always the same. “We don’t know,” Selzer said Friday during the taping of “Iowa Press” at Iowa PBS Studios in Johnston. “Do I wish I knew? Yes, I wish I knew.” Selzer, whose polling career spans four decades, said she has not been able to identify precisely why the final Iowa Poll was so far off on the presidential race in Iowa. “If you’re hoping that I had landed on exactly why things went wrong, I have not,” she said. “It does sort of awaken me in the middle of the night, and I think, ‘Well, maybe I should check this. This is something that would be very odd if it were to happen.’ But we’ve explored everything.” The Iowa Poll stood out in the past when it strayed from other polling at the time but turned out to be correct. One such prominent example came in Iowa in 2014, when most polling on the state’s open-seat U.S. Senate campaign showed a close race between Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Bruce Braley. But the Iowa Poll late in that cycle showed Ernst ahead by 7 points, while almost all other polls showed the campaign much closer. Ernst won by 8.5 points. Polling methods Why did Selzer’s methods, which have served her so well in the past, not work in 2024? “I wish I knew the answer to that. But like I said, there wasn’t anything that we saw (in the polling data) that needed to be fixed,” Selzer said Friday. “The reality is that more people supporting Donald Trump turned out.” One staple of Selzer’s polling methodology is that she does not adjust her results to match Iowa’s partisan breakdown or previous election turnout. Her polls adjust only to match Iowa’s demographics, like age, gender and county residence. In conducting her postelection analysis, Selzer found that had her poll results been adjusted to match Iowa’s 2020 election turnout, it would have shown Trump with a 6-point advantage. That still would have been 7 points off, but certainly closer than the poll reporting Harris with a 4-point advantage. But Selzer stuck with her tried and true polling method. On Friday, she explained why. “It comes back to the question of, how do I know before the election what the future electorate looks like,” she said. “We can’t really go back and look at what the turnout was before, because that might not be the turnout again. “If we’d done that (in the past), imagine after 2012 when Barack Obama was reelected, things would look very different (in the 2016 polls when Trump emerged). So, in hindsight, you say, ‘Wow, why didn’t you do that?’ Because it’s not science.” Selzer will not conduct another election poll, but if she were preparing for 2026, she said she would not do anything differently despite the outcome of the final 2024 Iowa Poll. “That’s a question that makes me nervous because there are a lot of polling organizations that redesign their polling methodology after they’ve had a miss,” Selzer said. “So I don’t even know what I would do differently if we were going to do one more poll.” “Iowa Press” can be seen on Iowa PBS at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday, or online any time at iowapbs.org . Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.This week, the group Oklahoma United called for abolishing our state’s primary-election system and replacing it with a “jungle primary” in which the top two candidates proceed to the November general election ballot regardless of party affiliation. Oklahoma United’s proposal is substantially based on California law. If you think California politics represent the ideal, this plan is for you. But for most Oklahomans, that alone is a giant red flag. Currently, Republicans and Democrats choose party nominees in primary elections, and during the general election in November all voters choose between those two nominees and any third-party or independent candidates who run. That system has worked well for decades. But Oklahoma United argues it would be better if all candidates were placed on the same ballot in a primary, with political affiliations listed, and all voters participated. The two candidates receiving the most votes would then proceed to the general election. In practice, that system could easily lead to the effective disenfranchisement of most Oklahomans. In 2018, the last time the governor’s race involved no incumbent, 10 Republicans and two Democrats filed, providing 12 total candidates. There were 452,606 votes cast for a Republican candidate in that year’s primary and 395,494 for a Democrat. Despite the overall preference for a Republican candidate, if Oklahoma United’s top-two California system had been in place the general election would have been between Democratic candidate Drew Edmondson and Democratic candidate Connie Johnson. Why? Because the Republican primary involved so many candidates the vote was split and no Republican received more votes than the total cast for Edmondson or Johnson. Thus, Republican voters in Oklahoma—a group that represented about two in three votes cast in this year’s presidential race—would have had no option for governor in November 2018. The top-two California system was used in this year’s Tulsa mayoral race, although the municipal jungle primary did not list candidates’ partisan affiliations. Tulsa mayoral elections have shifted between the two parties over the last 20 years, meaning both parties have been competitive. But under the top-two California system, Tulsa voters wound up with two Democratic candidates for mayor in November. Monroe Nichols, the most liberal of the two, won. Those real-world examples make clear why Oklahomans should respond to Oklahoma United’s plan with a hearty, “Don’t California our Oklahoma!” Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs ( www.ocpathink.org ).By CLAIRE RUSH PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Googly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show. On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called “Roundabout Art Route.” One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere. It’s not yet known who has been putting them on the sculptures. “While the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art,” the city said in its posts. The Facebook post received hundreds of comments, with many users saying they liked the googly eyes. “My daughter and I went past the flaming chicken today and shared the biggest laugh,” one user said, using a nickname for the “Phoenix Rising” sculpture. “We love the googly eyes. This town is getting to be so stuffy. Let’s have fun!” Another Facebook user wrote: “I think the googly eyes on the deer specifically are a great look, and they should stay that way.” Others said the city should focus on addressing more important issues, such as homelessness, instead of spending time and money on removing the googly eyes. Over the years, the city’s sculptures have been adorned with other seasonal decorations, including Santa hats, wreaths, leis. The city doesn’t remove those, and views the googly eyes differently because of the adhesive, Bend’s communications director, Rene Mitchell, told The Associated Press. “We really encourage our community to engage with the art and have fun. We just need to make sure that we can protect it and that it doesn’t get damaged,” she said. The post and its comments were covered by news outlets, and even made it on a segment of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert .” The city regrets that its post was misunderstood, Mitchell said. “There was no intent to be heavy-handed, and we certainly understand maybe how that was taken,” she said. “We own this large collection of public art and really want to bring awareness to the community that applying adhesives does harm the art. So as stewards of the collection, we wanted to share that on social media.” The city has so far spent $1,500 on removing googly eyes from seven of the eight sculptures impacted, Mitchell said, and has started treating some of the art pieces, which are made of different types of metal such as bronze and steel. The “Phoenix Rising” sculpture might need to be repainted entirely, she said. For some, the googly eyes — like the other holiday objects — provide a welcome boost of seasonal cheer. “I look forward to seeing the creativity of whoever it is that decorates the roundabouts during the holidays,” one social media commenter said. “Brings a smile to everyone to see silliness.”

Ellington Financial Inc. ( NYSE:EFC – Get Free Report ) declared a monthly dividend on Friday, December 6th, NASDAQ Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.13 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Ellington Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.7% annually over the last three years. Ellington Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 96.3% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities research analysts expect Ellington Financial to earn $1.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.4%. Ellington Financial Stock Performance Shares of Ellington Financial stock opened at $12.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.87, a current ratio of 37.04 and a quick ratio of 37.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.59. Ellington Financial has a fifty-two week low of $10.88 and a fifty-two week high of $13.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.30 and a beta of 1.97. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Ellington Financial news, CIO Michael W. Vranos sold 14,000 shares of Ellington Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.48, for a total transaction of $174,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 168,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,101,120.32. The trade was a 7.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock. About Ellington Financial ( Get Free Report ) Ellington Financial Inc, through its subsidiary, Ellington Financial Operating Partnership LLC, acquires and manages mortgage-related, consumer-related, corporate-related, and other financial assets in the United States. The company acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) backed by prime jumbo, Alt-A, manufactured housing, and subprime mortgage; RMBS for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the U.S. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Ellington Financial Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ellington Financial and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .In 2024, Russia took over the Brics chairmanship. The central theme of the Russian year in Brics has been "Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security". It reflects the desire of all participants for constructive cooperation based on the principles of international law, the values of equality, mutual respect and the sovereign choice of the path of development. This year we have already worked in a renewed, expanded composition, and Russia, in its capacity as Brics chair, did everything to ensure that the new members would quickly and organically integrate into the Brics family. New participants realised that it is possible to achieve mutually beneficial results while respecting each other's interests. It is not surprising that all of them put forward useful, promising ideas and initiatives. There were tangible results in the spheres of politics and security, economics and finance, humanitarian contacts. During the Russian chairmanship more than 250 events on various levels were held, with the participation of government officials and private sector -- a lot of public events. Among them the Brics International Film Festival, the Brics Academic Forum under the motto "BRICS: New Figures on the World Chessboard", the Brics Theatre Schools, the 8th Brics Creative Business Forum. There was a meeting of foreign ministers of the Brics countries in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Maris Sangiampongsa also took part between June 10-11 in Nizhny Novgorod. More than 80 countries -- including Thailand -- took part in the Brics Sports Games in Kazan. PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, in her capacity as leader of the Pheu Thai Party, participated in the first International Political Parties Forum attended by around 40 parties from Brics and partner countries. Russia received Meeting of the Heads of the prosecutorial services, Brics Tourism Forum, Brics Twin Cities and Municipalities Forum, Meeting of the Heads of emergency services, 10th Brics Parliamentary Forum, Meeting of the Heads of the Supreme Audit Institutions, meetings of the Brics Ministers of Industry, Ministers of Labour and Employment, Ministers of Culture, Ministers of Justice, Energy Ministers, Communications Ministers, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministers, Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Health Ministers, Heads of the Customs Services, Heads of tax administrations, Heads of National Standardisation bodies and many more. Russia chaired Brics Media Summit, 1st Brics Women's Forum, Brics Digital Forum, Brics plus Fashion Summit, annual Meeting of the Brics Business Council. Innovations during the Russian chairmanship also focused on local self-governance. A municipal forum was held, featuring engaging discussions about everyday lives of citizens and how chairpersons of city and village councils address their challenges. The key event of the year was the Oct 22-24 summit in Kazan, which marked the opening of a new stage in the development of Brics. Delegations from 35 countries and six international organisations took part in it. Such a broad representation clearly demonstrated the growing interest in interaction between those countries which are actively pursuing a truly independent, sovereign policy. A common desire to strengthen coordination at international platforms was confirmed, including on issues of reforming global governance and the global monetary and financial system, combating modern challenges and threats, including terrorism, corruption, and drug trafficking. The Brics Kazan Declaration actually summarised the discussions that took place. It confirmed the commitment of all participants to building a more democratic, inclusive and multipolar world order based on international law and the UN Charter, recorded common determination to counter the practice of illegitimate sanctions. At the Brics summit the guidelines for institutional strengthening and further consolidation were outlined. The decision was made to create a category of "partner states". It is important to point out that the Kingdom of Thailand received an invitation and became a partner-state of Brics. A commitment was expressed to developing dialogue with countries of the Global Majority in the "Outreach" or "BRICS plus" format. We witnessed the Brics gradual transformation into a leading player on the world stage. Other achievements include the initiative on the creation of a grain exchange, establishment of a technological and investment platform, creation of a group for developments in the field of nuclear medicine. There are good prospects for strengthening industrial cooperation, implementation of new projects in energy, logistics, high technology and many other areas, intensification of interaction in cultural, scientific areas and sports, further promotion of contacts between civil societies and youth. In Kazan, we confirmed that Brics is not a closed format, it is open to all who share the values of Brics. Its members are ready to work on finding joint solutions without external dictates or attempts to impose narrow approaches. Brics cannot fail to respond to the growing demand in the world for precisely this kind of cooperation. Brics plays an important role in the global architecture of international relations. It represents almost 3.64 billion people, that is equivalent to more than 45% of the world population. One of its main tasks now is to maintain peace and stability, prevent the outbreak of a global war. We believe that Brics is capable of completing such tasks and will be able to help the world reach these noble goals. The results of the current year will become a solid foundation for further cooperation. Russia is handing over the Brics chairmanship functions to Brazil. We wish our Brazilian partners success in its Brics endeavours next year. Evgeny Tomikhin is Ambassador of Russia to Thailand.

Holiday shopping doesn't have to be stressfulTo The New York Times, it was a standard journalistic practice done in the name of fairness — asking someone involved in a story for comment. To the mother of the nominee for secretary of defense, it constituted a threat. On Wednesday, Pete Hegseth's mother accused the Times of making “threats” by calling about its story on an email she had sent to her son six years earlier that criticized his treatment of women. Penelope Hegseth sought and received an interview on Fox News Channel to support her son, whose confirmation chances are threatened by a series of damaging stories about his personal conduct. At one point, she said she wanted to directly tell President-elect Trump that her son “is not that man he was seven years ago.” People are also reading... Nebraska transportation director: Expressway system won't be done until 2042 At the courthouse, Nov. 30, 2024 27-year-old Beatrice man sentenced for May assault Shoplifting investigation leads to arrest for possession of controlled substance They fell in love with Beatrice. So they opened a store in downtown. Nebraska football signing day preview: Potential flips and a 5-star up for grabs Hospice foundation helps with extra support Gage County Sheriff's Office helps catch Fairbury suspect Blue Springs family to host 2025 Cattleman's Ball Mother to Mother supporting families Beatrice company seeks to break China's stranglehold on rare-earth minerals Stabler scores 22 in Lady O's season opening win At the courthouse, Nov. 23, 2024 Holiday Lighted Parade happening Saturday Shatel: Emotions are still simmering, but Nebraska delivered the bottom line for 2024 — a bowl game She also called the Times “despicable” and attacked a basic tenet of journalism: giving someone the chance to speak for a story about actions that could be seen in a negative light. The Times' story, published Saturday , quoted from a private email that Penelope Hegseth sent to her son in 2018 while he was in the midst of divorcing his second wife. She criticized his character and treatment of women, suggesting that he get some help. “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego,” she wrote to her offspring. “You are that man (and have been for many years).” She told the Times for its story that she had sent the email in a moment of anger and followed it up two hours later with an apology. She disavows its content now. When the Times called her for comment on the story, Hegseth told Fox News that, at first, she did not respond. She said she perceived the calls as a threat — “they say unless you make a statement we will publish it as is and I think that's a despicable way to treat anyone,” she said. “I don't think a lot of people know that's the way they operate,” she said, speaking about the story. She accused the newspaper of being in it "for the money. And they don't care who they hurt, families, children. I don't believe that's the right way to do things.” Charles Stadtlander, a spokesman for the Times, said Hegseth's claim “is flatly untrue,” and she was in no way threatened. “The Times did what it always does in reporting out a story, simply reaching out and asking for a comment, which we included,” he said. Such a call is the opposite of a threat — it's an attempt to be fair, said Tom Rosenstiel, a University of Maryland professor and co-author of “Elements of Journalism: What News People Should Know and What the Public Should Expect.” “She's basically saying that brake lights are a threat because they alert you that the car ahead of you is about to stop," he said. But many Americans would perceive that call as a threat, or certainly as rude and a violation of privacy, said Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the conservative Media Research Center. “She didn't write that email to be on the front page of The New York Times,” he said. A secondary question is the newsworthiness of publishing the content of the private email, one that Hegseth said she almost immediately regretted sending and doesn't reflect how she perceives her son. Graham suggested that the newspaper wouldn't do the same for the nominee of a Democratic president-elect. “The New York Times is out to destroy these nominees,” he said. In its initial story, the Times wrote that it had obtained a copy of the email “from another person with ties to the Hegseth family.” “This was a piece of independently reported journalism published in the name of public awareness of the nominee to lead the largest department in the federal government,” Stadtlander said. “We stand behind it completely.” In many circumstances, an email from a mother to her son would be considered a private matter and out of bounds to a news organization, Rosenstiel said. But in this case, Hegseth, a former Fox News weekend host chosen by Trump to lead the Pentagon, has built himself into a public figure and is up for a very important job — and one that leads the military, which involves waging war and in which character is considered a fundamental trait. “It makes this news, honestly,” Stadtlander said. The Times wrote about Penelope Hegseth's Fox interview on Wednesday, leading with her saying her son “was not the same man he was in 2018 when she fired off an email accusing him of routinely abusing women and lacking decency and character.” There was some question about whether Hegseth would appear for an interview at his former network on Wednesday, after CNN's Kaitlan Collins posted on X the night before that “multiple people” said that was expected. A Fox News representative said that no such interview had been scheduled, and the nominee was on Capitol Hill meeting with senators. He has faced a flurry of other damaging reports, including stories about a sexual assault allegation reported to police in 2017. No charges were filed then, and Hegseth said the relationship was consensual. The New Yorker magazine wrote about reports of financial mismanagement , sexist behavior and excessive drinking when Hegseth ran a veterans' organization, and NBC News wrote about people at Fox News concerned about his alcohol use. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.