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NCAA Officials Facing Serious Backlash for 'Terrible' Penalty Call in High-Profile Bowl GameThe Public Education Foundation (PEF) will proudly host its annual Golden Apple Gala on January 4, 2025, at Paris Las Vegas. The highly anticipated evening will launch the Clark County School District (CCSD) Alumni of the Year Awards, highlighting the achievements of CCSD graduates. In the inaugural year, PEF will celebrate the excellence and positive impact of the 2025 CCSD Alumni of the Year with impressive records of positively impacting our community: Bo Bernhard, Ph.D., Vice President of Economic Development at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and Alex Bybee, Founder and Principal of Bybee Co. PEF will also recognize Adrian Gonzalez, founder of Country Bars, as the 2025 Emerging CCSD Alumni of the Year. “By celebrating leaders who graduated from our local public schools, we also celebrate the excellence found throughout CCSD that has prepared some of our community’s most successful business leaders, policy-makers, and community advocates,” said Peter Guzman, Chair of the PEF Board of Directors and President and CEO of the Latin Chamber of Commerce. “It is because of these visionaries and changemakers that the next generation of CCSD graduates are inspired to dream big and achieve more. “While it is clear that we have much work to do as a community to improve our public schools, there are also untold numbers of hard-working educators and students and a strong base of CCSD Alumni who are transforming our community,” Guzman said. PEF is honored to recognize the 2025 CCSD Alumni of the Year: Bo Bernhard, Ph.D., Vice President of Economic Development at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), graduated from Bonanza High School and has since built an extraordinary career in research, education, and community impact. His projects have been featured in prominent media outlets such as The New York Times, The History Channel, and all three major U.S. networks. His dedication and impact have earned him numerous awards, including the World Affairs Council’s International Educator of the Year Award, the Harry Reid Silver State Research Award, and myriad other prestigious honors. Alex Bybee, Founder and Principal of Bybee Co., has driven positive change in Nevada for over a decade. He is a graduate of Bonanza High School in the Clark County School District and the University of Nevada, Reno, where he received his B.A. in Political Science and served in student government. He often consults on issues such as public education, climate, social services, and mass-violence recovery. Having previously served as Chief Strategy Officer for Communities In Schools Of Nevada, he helped secure $25 million in funding and triple the organization’s budget. Adrian Gonzalez is the founder of Country Bars, a soap company he founded as part of his senior year project at Northwest Career and Technical Academy. Adrian is a 2024 CCSD graduate and will be honored as the first Emerging Alumni of the Year. Major contributors to the gala include the NV Energy Foundation, Siriwan Singhasiri and Kenneth Lin Foundation, Select Health, Caesars Entertainment, Alan and Christy Molasky Family Foundation, Warner Bros. Discovery, Raiders, FanDuel, Intermountain Health, Don & Dee Snyder, The KeyState Companies, Cox Communications, Station Casinos, Bernhard Family, Acceleration Academies, Wynn Resorts, and MGM Resorts International. While media are invited to attend the event on January 4, PEF can offer interviews with Board Chairman Peter Guzman and the inaugural CCSD Alumni of the Year recipients in advance of the Golden Apple Gala. Please email riley.caspersen@thepef.org if you would like to coordinate interviews. To learn more about the Public Education Foundation, please visit thepef.org . About Public Education Foundation The Public Education Foundation (PEF) unites the community to inspire support of our public schools. In partnership with the Clark County School District (CCSD), PEF helps guide effective investments in education to meet the immediate, critical needs of our students, families, and educators. For more information about PEF, please visit www.thepef.org . Follow us on Facebook @ThePublicEducationFoundation, X/Twitter @ThePEFtoday, and Instagram @ThePEFtoday. Related
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School principal suspended in Akwa Ibom over poor feeding of studentsUS President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by January 19 while the government emphasised its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Mr Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case. The filings come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for January 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute, leading TikTok to appeal to the Supreme Court. The brief from Mr Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office”.
Amazing Disney Robot Dances! See the Future of Lifelike MovementNot Purdy: 49ers hit Green Bay with backup QB, no Bosa(The Center Square) – Prosecutors introduced secretly recorded audio and video along with a troubled star witness at the public corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Former Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis returned to the Everett McKinley U.S. Courthouse Monday. Solis is facing one federal count of bribery under a deferred prosecution agreement. The ex-alderman began cooperating with federal investigators in 2016. U.S. government attorney Diane MacArthur first introduced a recording of Madigan and Solis nearly two years before the alderman started cooperating with the government. The recording involved a conversation with Chinese developer, See Wong, who wanted to build a hotel on a parcel of land in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. The land was owned by the state of Illinois at the time, but Solis said a zoning change would be required from the city in order for a hotel to be built. At Madigan’s request, Solis said he facilitated the meeting on Aug. 8, 2014, at Madigan’s law firm, Madigan and Getzendanner, about the land along Wentworth Avenue between Archer Avenue and Cermak Road. Madigan’s law partner, Bud Getzendanner, discussed how successful the firm had been in working with hotels to make sure they were not taxed more than necessary. ”A large component of your expense for hotels is real estate taxes,” Getzendanner said during the recorded meeting. Getzendanner said the firm charged 12.5% of the tax savings obtained. Madigan told Wong and an interpreter about the quality of service his firm provided. “We don’t take a second seat to anybody,” Madigan said. The developer then asked for a picture with Madigan and Solis. Solis told the group that Wong would benefit from working with Madigan. “If he works with the Speaker, he will get anything he needs for that hotel,” Solis said on the recording. Solis testified that he meant the city would provide the zoning change the developer needed from the city if the developer hired Madigan’s law firm. Solis said the zoning change was approved, but the proposed hotel was never built. MacArthur asked Solis about the bribery charge he is still facing, which Solis said involved the redevelopment of a property in Chicago from a restaurant to a residential building in 2015. Solis said two problems prevented the project from moving forward: labor unions’ perceived lack of representation in the development and residents' concerns in the ward. The former alderman admitted that he solicited a campaign contribution from the developer or from one or more of the developer’s vendors while the project’s zoning change was still under consideration. Solis said he believed the developer was on board and that he would be getting donations from the developers’ vendors. The zoning change was approved by the city council, Solis said. He testified he solicited and accepted campaign contributions from other developers who had matters pending before the city council’s zoning committee. Solis then testified about about a variety of things like massages that turned sexual, trips to Las Vegas, tickets to professional sporting events, no-paperwork six-figure loans he'd paid back. He even admitted to an extramarital affair he had with an interpreter. Solis said he was separated from his wife for about five years and their house went into foreclosure. He also confessed that he lied to a collection agency by saying he was out of work. MacArthur asked Solis about his sister, Patti Solis Doyle, who worked on campaigns for former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, D-New York. Solis Doyle also managed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008. Solis said his sister was involved in a hotel project in which the developer offered her $100,000. Solis said his sister offered to split the sum with her brother. As chairman of the city’s zoning committee, Solis said he told his sister he could not accept money regarding a hotel development. Solis said his sister told him there would be another way she could compensate him. The former alderman said he did receive funds from his sister for referring her to his friend Brian Hynes’ state vendor assistance program. Monday afternoon, Solis testified that FBI agents visited his home on June 1, 2016, and played audio and video recordings. After considering an attorney, Solis said he decided to cooperate with the FBI a few days later and agreed to let investigators tap his phone. Solis also said he told an attorney friend that he was cooperating with the FBI in regard to an investigation of an organization he was involved in. Solis said he made recordings for several investigations he was involved in as part of his deferred prosecution agreement. He began communicating with Madigan after receiving a voicemail message on June 12, 2017. Solis said he discussed the Chinatown land deal, his interest in getting a state board appointment, and referring clients to Madigan’s law firm while cooperating with the government from June 2016 to December 2017. Solis admitted that he was not really interested in a state board appointment, but he raised the issue with Madigan at the direction of law enforcement. Solis said he began communicating with Madigan codefendant Michael McClain about the Chinatown parcel in the fall of 2017. He said he had to continue to perform his duties as an alderman while cooperating with the FBI because of “the farce” that he was involved in. Solis discussed a 2017 redevelopment project that required a zoning change involving a Union West development in Chicago’s West Loop. MacArthur played a recording, dated June 12, 2017, of Madigan asking Solis about the development. During the call, Solis told the speaker he would try to arrange an introduction for Madigan with the developers. In a subsequent call, Solis promised to arrange a meeting and said, “I think these guys get it, the quid pro quo and how it works.” When MacArthur asked Solis why he said that, Solis said he didn’t know and said it was “dumb.” MacArthur asked Solis if he used the words “quid pro quo” at the direction of law enforcement. “No,” Solis said. Union West developer Andrew Cretal agreed to meet with Madigan and told Solis, “confidentially,” that his company was working with Goldman Sachs as an equity partner and that he would “circle back” with Solis. MacArthur played a recording of Madigan privately telling Solis not to use the words, “quid quo pro.” The conversation immediately preceded the meeting Cretal and the Union West group had at Madigan's and Getzendanner’s law office. During the meeting, Madigan repeated to Cretal’s group what he had said to See Wong. “We don’t take a second seat to anybody,” Madigan said. Solis said he met with Madigan again privately after the meeting with the intention of discussing the Chinatown parcel. Solis said he had been having frequent meetings about the land with potential developers. During the recording, Solis said that nothing could really happen until the state transferred the land. Connie Mixon, professor of Political Science and director of the Urban Studies Program at Elmhurst University, served as an expert witness at the corruption trial of longtime Chicago Democrat Ed Burke, who served on the city council from 1969 to 2023. A jury convicted Burke in December 2023 on 18 counts of racketeering, bribery, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity. Mixon said that Solis also testified as a cooperating witness during Burke’s trial. “It seemed as if, in the sentencing for the Burke trial, the judge did take a bit of exception to the fact that Solis, who also had potential criminal charges, was essentially getting away without any sort of repercussions,” Mixon told The Center Square. Mixon described Solis as a damaged witness. “He’s absolutely damaged, but as much as he’s damaged, you have the words on the wiretap. Having the defendants’ words played in the courtroom, they are really the witness against themselves when you have those wiretaps,” Mixon explained. Before the jury was seated Monday morning, prosecutors said they would provide the court with revised jury instructions by Dec. 3. Judge John Robert Blakey said he could deny admittance of new materials after that date if he deemed them to be untimely. Madigan and McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct. The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning in Chicago.
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Blackhawks fire coach Luke Richardson in his 3rd season after league-worst startJACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Greg McGarity had reason to be concerned. The Gator Bowl president kept a watchful eye on College Football Playoff scenarios all season and understood the fallout might affect his postseason matchup in Jacksonville. What if the Southeastern Conference got five teams into the expanded CFP? What if the Atlantic Coast Conference landed three spots? It was a math problem that was impossible to truly answer, even into late November. Four first-round playoff games, which will end with four good teams going home without a bowl game, had the potential to shake up the system. The good news for McGarity and other bowl organizers: Adding quality teams to power leagues — Oregon to the Big Ten, Texas to the SEC and SMU to the ACC — managed to ease much of the handwringing. McGarity and the Gator Bowl ended up with their highest-ranked team, No. 16 Ole Miss, in nearly two decades. "It really didn't lessen our pool much at all," McGarity said. "The SEC bowl pool strengthened with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. You knew they were going to push traditional SEC teams up or down. Texas ended up pushing just about everyone down." The long waiting game was the latest twist for non-CFP bowls that have become adept at dealing with change. Efforts to match the top teams came and went in the 1990s and first decade of this century before the CFP became the first actual tournament in major college football. It was a four-team invitational — until this year, when the 12-team expanded format meant that four quality teams would not be in the mix for bowl games after they lose next week in the first round. "There's been a lot of things that we've kind of had to roll with," said Scott Ramsey, president of the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. "I don't think the extra games changed our selection model to much degree. We used to look at the New York's Six before this, and that was 12 teams out of the bowl mix. The 12-team playoff is pretty much the same." Ramsey ended up with No. 23 Missouri against Iowa in his Dec. 30 bowl. A lot of so-called lesser bowl games do have high-profile teams — the ReliaQuest Bowl has No. 11 Alabama vs. Michigan (a rematch of last year's CFP semifinal), Texas A&M and USC will play in the Las Vegas Bowl while No. 14 South Carolina and No. 15 Miami, two CFP bubble teams, ended up in separate bowls in Orlando. "The stress of it is just the fact that the CFP takes that opening weekend," Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti said. "It kind of condenses the calendar a little bit." Bowl season opens Saturday with the Cricket Celebration Bowl. The first round of the CFP runs Dec. 20-21. It remains to be seen whether non-CFP bowls will see an impact from the new dynamic. They will know more by 2026, with a planned bowl reset looming. It could include CFP expansion from 12 to 14 teams and significant tweaks to the bowl system. More on-campus matchups? More diversity among cities selected to host semifinal and championship games? And would there be a trickle-down effect for everyone else? Demand for non-playoff bowls remains high, according to ESPN, despite increased focus on the expanded CFP and more players choosing to skip season finales to either enter the NCAA transfer portal or begin preparations for the NFL draft. "There's a natural appetite around the holidays for football and bowl games," Kurt Dargis, ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisitions, said at Sports Business Journal's Intercollegiate Athletics Forum last week in Las Vegas. "People still want to watch bowl games, regardless of what's going on with the playoff. ... It's obviously an unknown now with the expanded playoff, but we really feel like it's going to continue." The current bowl format runs through 2025. What lies ahead is anyone's guess. Could sponsors start paying athletes to play in bowl games? Could schools include hefty name, image and likeness incentives for players participating in bowls? Would conferences be willing to dump bowl tie-ins to provide a wider range of potential matchups? Are bowls ready to lean into more edginess like Pop-Tarts has done with its edible mascot? The path forward will be determined primarily by revenue, title sponsors, TV demand and ticket sales. "The one thing I have learned is we're going to serve our partners," Saccenti said. "We're going to be a part of the system that's there, and we're going to try to remain flexible and make sure that we're adjusting to what's going on in the world of postseason college football." Get local news delivered to your inbox!By HALELUYA HADERO, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case. The filings come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute , leading TikTok to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”By HALELUYA HADERO, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case. The filings come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute , leading TikTok to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Greg McGarity had reason to be concerned. The Gator Bowl president kept a watchful eye on College Football Playoff scenarios all season and understood the fallout might affect his postseason matchup in Jacksonville. What if the Southeastern Conference got five teams into the expanded CFP? What if the Atlantic Coast Conference landed three spots? It was a math problem that was impossible to truly answer, even into late November. Four first-round playoff games, which will end with four good teams going home without a bowl game, had the potential to shake up the system. The good news for McGarity and other bowl organizers: Adding quality teams to power leagues — Oregon to the Big Ten, Texas to the SEC and SMU to the ACC — managed to ease much of the handwringing. McGarity and the Gator Bowl ended up with their highest-ranked team, No. 16 Ole Miss, in nearly two decades. "It really didn't lessen our pool much at all," McGarity said. "The SEC bowl pool strengthened with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. You knew they were going to push traditional SEC teams up or down. Texas ended up pushing just about everyone down." The long waiting game was the latest twist for non-CFP bowls that have become adept at dealing with change. Efforts to match the top teams came and went in the 1990s and first decade of this century before the CFP became the first actual tournament in major college football. It was a four-team invitational — until this year, when the 12-team expanded format meant that four quality teams would not be in the mix for bowl games after they lose next week in the first round. "There's been a lot of things that we've kind of had to roll with," said Scott Ramsey, president of the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. "I don't think the extra games changed our selection model to much degree. We used to look at the New York's Six before this, and that was 12 teams out of the bowl mix. The 12-team playoff is pretty much the same." Ramsey ended up with No. 23 Missouri against Iowa in his Dec. 30 bowl. A lot of so-called lesser bowl games do have high-profile teams — the ReliaQuest Bowl has No. 11 Alabama vs. Michigan (a rematch of last year's CFP semifinal), Texas A&M and USC will play in the Las Vegas Bowl while No. 14 South Carolina and No. 15 Miami, two CFP bubble teams, ended up in separate bowls in Orlando. "The stress of it is just the fact that the CFP takes that opening weekend," Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti said. "It kind of condenses the calendar a little bit." Bowl season opens Saturday with the Cricket Celebration Bowl. The first round of the CFP runs Dec. 20-21. It remains to be seen whether non-CFP bowls will see an impact from the new dynamic. They will know more by 2026, with a planned bowl reset looming. It could include CFP expansion from 12 to 14 teams and significant tweaks to the bowl system. More on-campus matchups? More diversity among cities selected to host semifinal and championship games? And would there be a trickle-down effect for everyone else? Demand for non-playoff bowls remains high, according to ESPN, despite increased focus on the expanded CFP and more players choosing to skip season finales to either enter the NCAA transfer portal or begin preparations for the NFL draft. "There's a natural appetite around the holidays for football and bowl games," Kurt Dargis, ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisitions, said at Sports Business Journal's Intercollegiate Athletics Forum last week in Las Vegas. "People still want to watch bowl games, regardless of what's going on with the playoff. ... It's obviously an unknown now with the expanded playoff, but we really feel like it's going to continue." The current bowl format runs through 2025. What lies ahead is anyone's guess. Could sponsors start paying athletes to play in bowl games? Could schools include hefty name, image and likeness incentives for players participating in bowls? Would conferences be willing to dump bowl tie-ins to provide a wider range of potential matchups? Are bowls ready to lean into more edginess like Pop-Tarts has done with its edible mascot? The path forward will be determined primarily by revenue, title sponsors, TV demand and ticket sales. "The one thing I have learned is we're going to serve our partners," Saccenti said. "We're going to be a part of the system that's there, and we're going to try to remain flexible and make sure that we're adjusting to what's going on in the world of postseason college football." Get local news delivered to your inbox!HSE denies holding onto land in a housing crisisNokia completes the share buyback program launched in March
