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Democratic President Rebuilds Economy, Just In Time To Hand It Off To Trump — AgainNEW YORK (AP) — Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S. but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected. Then Wednesday's targeted fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk thrust the executive and his business into the national spotlight. Thompson, who was 50, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group Inc for 20 years and run the insurance arm since 2021 after running its Medicare and retirement business. As CEO, Thompson led a firm that provides health coverage to more than 49 million Americans — more than the population of Spain. United is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run versions of the U.S. government’s Medicare program for people age 65 and older. The company also sells individual insurance and administers health-insurance coverage for thousands of employers and state-and federally funded Medicaid programs. The business run by Thompson brought in $281 billion in revenue last year, making it the largest subsidiary of the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group. His $10.2 million annual pay package, including salary, bonus and stock options awards, made him one of the company's highest-paid executives. The University of Iowa graduate began his career as a certified public accountant at PwC and had little name recognition beyond the health care industry. Even to investors who own its stock, the parent company's face belonged to CEO Andrew Witty, a knighted British triathlete who has testified before Congress. When Thompson did occasionally draw attention, it was because of his role in shaping the way Americans get health care. At an investor meeting last year, he outlined his company's shift to “value-based care,” paying doctors and other caregivers to keep patients healthy rather than focusing on treating them once sick. “Health care should be easier for people,” Thompson said at the time. “We are cognizant of the challenges. But navigating a future through value-based care unlocks a situation where the ... family doesn’t have to make the decisions on their own.” Thompson also drew attention in 2021 when the insurer, like its competitors, was widely criticized for a plan to start denying payment for what it deemed non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms. “Patients are not medical experts and should not be expected to self-diagnose during what they believe is a medical emergency,” the chief executive of the American Hospital Association wrote in an open letter addressed to Thompson. “Threatening patients with a financial penalty for making the wrong decision could have a chilling effect on seeking emergency care.” United Healthcare responded by delaying rollout of the change. Thompson, who lived in a Minneapolis suburb and was the married father of two sons in high school, was set to speak at an investor meeting in a midtown New York hotel. He was on his own and about to enter the building when he was shot in the back by a masked assailant who fled on foot before pedaling an e-bike into Central Park a few blocks away, the New York Police Department said. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said investigators were looking at Thompson's social media accounts and interviewing employees and family members. “Didn’t seem like he had any issues at all,” Kenny said. "He did not have a security detail.” AP reporters Michael R. Sisak and Steve Karnowski contributed to this report. Murphy reported from Indianapolis.
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BELLVILLE — DJ Sanders doesn’t like attention. But as the Bellville senior stood in front of a packed gym on Wednesday morning to sign to play college football during the early signing period, all eyes were on the 6-foot-3, 315-pound defensive lineman. Interview after interview, phone call and texts after another, Sanders maintained himself. He’s been that way through the entire recruiting process, Bellville head coach Grady Rowe told the crowd. “If you know DJ Sanders, you know what I mean,” Rowe said to a student body of 741 in a town with a population of 4,200. Ultimately, Sanders signed with Texas A&M on Wednesday. The four-star prospect has been committed to the Aggies since August. He’s A&M’s highest-rated defensive lineman in the Aggies’ 24-member 2025 class, which is ranked eighth nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings. A late push to flip his pledge came from rival Texas, though. The Longhorns stayed on him all the way up until Wednesday morning when he got a call from a staff member in Austin. Sanders told the Texas coach he was going to stick with A&M because he’s a man of his word. Sanders admits it was hard to keep, but he stayed strong. A&M announced he had signed at 8:30 a.m. “My family, they always say be true to your word,” Sanders said, “so I had to stand by that.” A&M head coach Mike Elko said Wednesday that Sanders was a player who was heavily sought after during the recruiting process as Sanders held more than 20 offers. Elko and his staff were excited when Sanders put pen to paper on Wednesday. “We had a lot of kids in this class who committed to us early that we set out to get early, DJ certainly is one of them, that a lot of schools never stopped [recruiting],” Elko said. “I think as the process goes on, it becomes a money grab. You see people throwing more and more and more to try to get kids to try and change their mind. We want kids that are about value. We want kids that are about a little bit more than that. “I think it validates when all of those kids sign with us that we picked the right character kids, the right character families. You have a group of kids that are committed to coming here to play at Texas A&M to win championships, to go to the NFL. I think finding kids that that is the main focus in this day-and-age with all of this is really critical and I think we were able to do that.” The biggest kid in the room Sanders has always been a big kid. After all, he was born 10 pounds, 8 ounces. Howard Bryan, Sanders’ maternal grandfather, coached DJ and his younger brother, DD Murray, who signed to play running back at Arkansas State on Wednesday, for youth football and basketball. “If it’s a dream, we don’t want to wake up,” Bryant said. “It’s been wonderful. It means a lot, something we talked about with the boys when they were like 8 years old.” Rowe first noticed Sanders had special talent when he watched him dribble a basketball in elementary school. Sanders hit a growth spurt in middle school. His mother, Connie Sanders-Franklin, said she was surprised how big and tall Sanders got. When Sanders reached high school, Rowe spoke with his family and had a simple message: Get ready. It’s going to get crazy. Soon after in a scrimmage, Bellville was missing a defensive end. Rowe called up Sanders. When Sanders beat a Navasota offensive tackle like there was nobody there, Rowe turned to his coaches and told them, “Boys, we got one.” Bellville’s field is nicknamed “The Pasture of Pain.” Sanders made it painful place for his opponents to play. As a four-year letter winner, he had over 300 tackles, 42.5 tackles for loss and 36.5 sacks. Bellville won four straight district titles and made a Class 4A Division II state championship game appearance in 2023. It was during Sanders’ sophomore year of high school that Bryant realized his grandson was becoming a special talent. He noticed the way Sanders loved the game. “He loved being around it and that’s what he wanted to do," Bryant said. A hectic process Although Rowe anticipated Sanders’ recruitment would get crazy, he said nobody in Sanders’ circle was aware how crazy it would actually get, right down to the wire. Rowe recalled how from the beginning though, Sanders was clear on one thing: When he committed, that was the school he was going to attend. When A&M hired Elko last November, the Aggies’ new head coach showed up to Bellville during his first week on the job and made it clear that Sanders was a priority target. Over the coming months, Sanders built relationships with A&M’s defensive line coaches — Tony Jerod-Eddie and Sean Spencer — that were different from other coaches. Sanders-Franklin said A&M was the school her son visited the most throughout the process. Bryant was there for every one of them. Sanders took an official visit to A&M in June. Mom shared advice along the way. “Don’t go where the money takes you,” Sanders-Franklin said. “Go where you’re happy, where you’ll have fun and enjoy college years. That’s what I really instilled in him." When Sanders announced his commitment on Aug. 7, he texted Sanders-Franklin early in the day that he had made a decision. She immediately went home and asked him if he was sure he wanted to do this. He did. A simple announcement came via social media at around 10 p.m. that night. “A guy that didn’t want to be live-streamed when he committed and just didn’t want all the attention on him is rare,” Rowe said. “It’s special. He had college coaches not knowing what was going on, and then you throw in the media that goes along with it, at times it was kind of fun because they couldn’t figure anything out and I would tell them, ‘Hey, there’s nothing to figure out. This is DJ.’” The battle was far from over, though. Schools sought Sanders for the next four months up until Wednesday. “They didn’t back off until the very end,” Sanders-Franklin. “They kept it going. They didn’t give up.” But Sanders never wavered. “Up until the last minute,” Rowe said, “he stuck to his guns when there were reasons possibly not to.” A hard-working family man During A&M’s in-house signing day show, Jerod-Eddie said Sanders is built like a brahma bull, but is light on his feet like a ballerina. He added that Sanders moves with grace and has versatility. “This guy’s got tremendous upside,” Spencer added. “Humble kid, great family. Mrs. Connie, Mr. Howard, it’s just a great family and really built for the Aggies.” Sanders projects to play defensive tackle at A&M. He said he likes the way Elko and the Aggie defensive coaches move players around the line. “He’s going to be a guy that’s going to line up, next play, go, then go to the next play and he’s going to give them all he has, but you’re not going to see a whole bunch of me, me, me stuff,” Rowe said. Nothing comes before family to Sanders’ kin. Sanders-Franklin was born and raised in Bellville. Her family lives all over the place, but she stayed in Bellville because of her boys. They wanted to grow up and play football there. More than a dozen of them gathered inside the Bellville High School gym on Wednesday to not only celebrate Sanders, but Murray as well. After dozens of pictures were taken with family, friends, coaches and classmates, Sanders shared he was excited to be done with the process. Sanders-Franklin said she thought her son made the right decision for himself. Sanders described himself as a leader and faithful. He stayed faithful to the Aggies on Wednesday. Not doing so would have brought attention upon himself. And that’s not DJ Sanders. “Let his word be his word,” Bryant said. “That’s what he promised and that’s what he did.”Mink Ventures Grants Stock Options
Crews battled a two-alarm blaze Monday afternoon at 710 James St. in Sinking Spring. The fire was reported about 2:40 p.m. Reports said the fire originated when an air fryer caught fire in a second-floor apartment in the building, but the cause is still under investigation by the state police fire marshal, according to Jared Renshaw, fire commissioner with the Western Berks Fire Department. Renshaw noted that emergency services were called to evaluate one firefighter whose helmet was damaged during the operation. “He’s okay...he didn’t have any burns,” Renshaw said of the firefighter. “Luckily the equipment we provided did its job.” Crews arriving at the scene reported heavy fire and smoke from the second floor. Images posted to social media show a large plume of smoke billowing from the apartment building. A second alarm was struck after crews began operation, with firefighters running lines from a hydrant outside, and opening the roof to contain the flames. Renshaw said the fire was contained to the kitchen and living room area of a single apartment in the complex, with the apartment underneath sustaining some water damage. He said the fire was under control in about 20 minutes, with crews then performing overhaul operations to ensure the fire’s remnants didn’t spread through an attic space connecting multiple apartments. “We laid in from a hydrant (outside),” Renshaw said. “One of the (crews) cut two ventilation holes in the roof.” The family living in the apartment is displaced, and Renshaw said he wasn’t sure what their plans were.
John R SchindlerNEW YORK (AP) — Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S. but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected. Then Wednesday's targeted fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk thrust the executive and his business into the national spotlight. Thompson, who was 50, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group Inc for 20 years and run the insurance arm since 2021 after running its Medicare and retirement business. As CEO, Thompson led a firm that provides health coverage to more than 49 million Americans — more than the population of Spain. United is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run versions of the U.S. government’s Medicare program for people age 65 and older. The company also sells individual insurance and administers health-insurance coverage for thousands of employers and state-and federally funded Medicaid programs. People are also reading... Trump, Musk can learn from North Carolina, Raleigh writer says Statesville native Tomlin leads Delaware State to MEAC volleyball title, NCAA berth Top vote-getter Houpe: Why am I not chairman of Iredell board of commissioners? Letter to the editor: Charging kids to play baseball at Jennings Park is poor idea Iredell-Statesville Schools closed Tuesday due to snow, ice Iredell-Statesville Schools nutrition department receives award 'The Message' religious sect sprouts destructive groups across globe North Dakota man brings shed-building expertise to Troutman 4 pounds of marijuana, gun seized by Mooresville police officers Tiny, 4 more dogs seeking homes at Iredell County Animal Services New school chairman rules 2 fellow board members out of order in Iredell Lake Norman residents voice concerns with Marshall Steam Station changes 3 Eagle Scouts and 1 grateful Iredell County resident Women report widespread misogyny in churches tied to religious group 'The Message' Iredell County woman celebrates $100,000 scratch-off win The business run by Thompson brought in $281 billion in revenue last year, making it the largest subsidiary of the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group. His $10.2 million annual pay package, including salary, bonus and stock options awards, made him one of the company's highest-paid executives. The University of Iowa graduate began his career as a certified public accountant at PwC and had little name recognition beyond the health care industry. Even to investors who own its stock, the parent company's face belonged to CEO Andrew Witty, a knighted British triathlete who has testified before Congress. When Thompson did occasionally draw attention, it was because of his role in shaping the way Americans get health care. At an investor meeting last year, he outlined his company's shift to “value-based care,” paying doctors and other caregivers to keep patients healthy rather than focusing on treating them once sick. “Health care should be easier for people,” Thompson said at the time. “We are cognizant of the challenges. But navigating a future through value-based care unlocks a situation where the ... family doesn’t have to make the decisions on their own.” Thompson also drew attention in 2021 when the insurer, like its competitors, was widely criticized for a plan to start denying payment for what it deemed non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms. “Patients are not medical experts and should not be expected to self-diagnose during what they believe is a medical emergency,” the chief executive of the American Hospital Association wrote in an open letter addressed to Thompson. “Threatening patients with a financial penalty for making the wrong decision could have a chilling effect on seeking emergency care.” United Healthcare responded by delaying rollout of the change. Thompson, who lived in a Minneapolis suburb and was the married father of two sons in high school, was set to speak at an investor meeting in a midtown New York hotel. He was on his own and about to enter the building when he was shot in the back by a masked assailant who fled on foot before pedaling an e-bike into Central Park a few blocks away, the New York Police Department said. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said investigators were looking at Thompson's social media accounts and interviewing employees and family members. “Didn’t seem like he had any issues at all,” Kenny said. "He did not have a security detail.” AP reporters Michael R. Sisak and Steve Karnowski contributed to this report. Murphy reported from Indianapolis. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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Trump says he can't guarantee tariffs won't raise US prices and won't rule out revenge prosecutions WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump says he can’t guarantee his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won’t raise prices for American consumers. And he's suggesting once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned. The president-elect made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday. He also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere. Trump often mixed declarative statements with caveats, at one point cautioning “things do change.” Europe's economy needs help. Political chaos in France and Germany means it may be slower in coming BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe's economy has enough difficulties, from tepid growth to trade tensions with the U.S. Dealing with those woes is only getting harder due to the political chaos in the two biggest European countries, France and Germany. Neither has a government backed by a functioning majority, and France could take a while yet to sort things out. But some problems aren't going to wait, such as what to do about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's America First stance on trade and how to fund stronger defense against Putin's Russia. ‘Moana 2’ cruises to another record weekend and $600 million globally “Moana 2” remains at the top of the box office in its second weekend in theaters as it pulled in another record haul. According to studio estimates Sunday, the animated Disney film added $52 million, bringing its domestic total to $300 million. That surpasses the take for the original “Moana” and brings the sequel's global tally to a staggering $600 million. It also puts the film in this year's top five at the box office. “Wicked” came in second place for the weekend with $34.9 million and “Gladiator II” was third with $12.5 million. The 10th anniversary re-release of Christopher Nolan's “Interstellar” also earned an impressive $4.4 million even though it played in only 165 theaters. Federal appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in the US A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok as soon as next month, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law - which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — is constitutional, rebuffing TikTok’s challenge that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and unfairly targeted the platform. TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. Executive of Tyler Perry Studios dies when plane he was piloting crashes in Florida ATLANTA (AP) — The president of Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios has died when the small plane he was piloting crashed on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The studio confirmed on Saturday that Steve Mensch, its 62-year-old president and general manager, had died Friday. The crash happened in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Photos from the scene show the plane having come to rest upside down on a road. Mensch helped advocate for Georgia’s film tax credit of more than $1 billion a year. Perry hired Mensch to run his namesake studio in 2016. Mensch died as Perry released his war drama, “The Six Triple Eight." The film was shot at the Atlanta studio. US added a strong 227,000 jobs in November in bounce-back from October slowdown WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s job market rebounded in November, adding 227,000 workers in a solid recovery from the previous month, when the effects of strikes and hurricanes had sharply diminished employers’ payrolls. Last month’s hiring growth was up considerably from a meager gain of 36,000 jobs in October. The government also revised up its estimate of job growth in September and October by a combined 56,000. Friday’s report also showed that the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% in October to a still-low 4.2%. The November data provided the latest evidence that the U.S. job market remains durable even though it has lost significant momentum from the 2021-2023 hiring boom, when the economy was rebounding from the pandemic recession. Stock market today: Wall Street hits more records following a just-right jobs report NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to records after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so strong that it raises immediate worries about inflation. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, just enough top the all-time high set on Wednesday, as it closed a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to set its own record. Treasury yields eased after the jobs report showed stronger hiring than expected but also an uptick in the unemployment rate. Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO spotlights complex challenge companies face in protecting top brass NEW YORK (AP) — In an era when online anger and social tensions are increasingly directed at the businesses consumers count on, Meta last year spent $24.4 million to surround CEO Mark Zuckerberg with security. But the fatal shooting this week of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. And experts say the task of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them is getting more difficult. One of the primary worries are loners whose rantings online are fed by others who are like-minded. It’s up to corporate security analysts to decide what represents a real threat. Days after gunman killed UnitedHealthcare's CEO, police push to ID him and FBI offers reward NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly four days after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, police still do not know the gunman’s name or whereabouts or have a motive for the killing. But they have made some progress in their investigation into Wednesday's killing of the leader of the largest U.S. health insurer, including that the gunman likely left New York City on a bus soon after fleeing the scene. The also found that the gunman left something behind: a backpack that was discovered in Central Park. Police are working with the FBI, which on Friday night announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. USDA orders nationwide testing of milk for bird flu to halt the virus The U.S. government has ordered testing of the nation’s milk supply for bird flu to better monitor the spread of the virus in dairy cows. The Agriculture Department on Friday said raw or unpasteurized milk from dairy farms and processors nationwide must be tested on request starting Dec. 16. Testing will begin in six states — California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The move is aimed at eliminating the virus, which has infected more than 700 dairy herds in 15 states.Santa Clara, CA and Kyoto, Japan, Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ROHM Co., Ltd. (ROHM) today announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership with TSMC on the development and volume production of gallium nitride (GaN) power devices for electric vehicle applications. The partnership will integrate ROHM's device development technology with TSMC's industry-leading GaN-on-silicon process technology to meet the growing demand for superior high-voltage and high-frequency properties over silicon for power devices. GaN power devices are currently used in consumer and industrial applications, such as AC adapters and server power supplies. TSMC, a leader in sustainability and green manufacturing, supports GaN technology for its potential environmental benefits in automotive applications, such as on-board chargers and inverters for electric vehicles (EVs). The partnership builds on ROHM and TSMC’s history of collaboration in GaN power devices. In 2023, ROHM adopted TSMC’s 650V GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMT), a process increasingly being used in consumer and industrial devices as part of ROHM's EcoGaNTM series, including the 45W AC adapter (fast charger) "C4 Duo" produced by Innergie, a brand of Delta Electronics, Inc. “GaN devices, capable of high-frequency operation, are highly anticipated for their contribution to miniaturization and energy savings, which can help achieve a decarbonized society. Reliable partners are crucial for implementing these innovations in society, and we are pleased to collaborate with TSMC, which possesses world-leading advanced manufacturing technology" said Katsumi Azuma, Member of the Board and Senior Managing Executive Officer at ROHM. “In addition to this partnership, by providing user-friendly GaN solutions that include control ICs to maximize GaN performance, we aim to promote the adoption of GaN in the automotive industry.” “As we move forward with the next generations of our GaN process technology, TSMC and ROHM are extending our partnership to the development and production of GaN power devices for automotive applications,” said Chien-Hsin Lee, Senior Director of Specialty Technology Business Development at TSMC. “By combining TSMC's expertise in semiconductor manufacturing with ROHM's proficiency in power device design, we strive to push the boundaries of GaN technology and its implementation for EVs.” About TSMC TSMC pioneered the pure-play foundry business model when it was founded in 1987 and has been the world’s leading dedicated semiconductor foundry ever since. The company supports a thriving ecosystem of global customers and partners with the industry’s leading process technologies and portfolio of design enablement solutions to unleash innovation for the global semiconductor industry. With global operations spanning Asia, Europe, and North America, TSMC serves as a committed corporate citizen around the world. TSMC deployed 288 distinct process technologies and manufactured 11,895 products for 528 customers in 2023 by providing broadest range of advanced, specialty and advanced packaging technology services. The company is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan. For more information, please visit https://www.tsmc.com . About ROHM Established in 1958, ROHM provides IC and discrete semiconductors characterized by outstanding quality and reliability for a broad range of markets, including the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets via its global development and sales network. In the power and analog field, ROHM proposes the suitable solution for each application with power devices such as SiC driver ICs to maximize their performance and peripheral components such as transistors, diodes, and resistors. Further information on ROHM can be found at https://www.rohm.com . EcoGaNTM is a trademark or registered trademark of ROHM Co., Ltd. Attachment Keng Ly ROHM Semiconductor (248) 348-9920 kly@rohmsemiconductor.com Heather Savage BWW Communications (408) 507-4398 heather.savage@bwwcomms.com