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Veteran college football coach expects former boss Bill Belichick to turn North Carolina aroundDemocrats seek to force release of bombshell Matt Gaetz ethics reportOral Model Resin Market Outlook and Future Projections for 2030

A man is facing several drug trafficking and firearm related charges after RCMP in Hay River, N.W.T., discovered a post on social media. According to a news release issued Monday afternoon, the post contained a firearm and alluded to drug trafficking occurring at an apartment on Woodland Dr. in Hay River. Police executed a warrant on Nov. 22 and discovered 17 grams of crack cocaine, 14 grams of fentanyl, a handgun, ammunition and over $3,000 in cash. RCMP arrested five people, four of which were released without charge. Only 39-year-old Savy You of Toronto was charged and arrested. This is his third drug trafficking arrest in a year. The release says that You has previously failed to attend court and was subject to an arrest warrant. He was also required to reside in Toronto. You was charged for trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, possessing an unauthorized restricted weapon as well as a firearm with a tampered serial number. He was also charged with failing to attend court and failing to comply with a release order. The investigation is ongoing, the release says and You will remain in custody.The West Coast Customs Experience and Monterey Motorsports Festival Concours Bring Unique Exhibition Features to the 2024 Los Angeles Auto Show

Veteran college football coach expects former boss Bill Belichick to turn North Carolina aroundEditorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters. ’Tis the season for year-end Top Ten lists, which I consume with gusto, even knowing annoyance lies ahead. Somebody’s list of top movies will contain films I thought were stupid; a new-restaurant Top Ten will invariably contain a place whose appeal baffled me. So, with the knowledge that my daily immersion in news and hot topics in no way guarantees universal agreement, here are my Top Ten stories of 2024, with “story” defined deliciously loosely, as either a single event, a series of developments or a compelling theme of this unforgettable year. 10. THE CRAZY DRONE STORY As I mulled this list exercise last month, I told myself that if these flying enigmas were still a source of concern after Christmas, they would make the cut. The top theories are mysterious tech that is ours, something from some other nation or, a recurring favorite, from some other planet. I’m a hard no on aliens, and I’m willing to hear from my government that they are ours and secrecy is a national security concern. But absent that, and since a foreign ally would probably own up to them, that leaves the prospect of sinister intent from a global villain. No matter how this shakes out, weeks of non-responsive befuddlement have been completely unacceptable. 9. THE UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR Weeks away from the third anniversary of the Russian invasion , most Americans have grown numb to a conflict that, to the credit of the Ukrainians and frustration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, shows no sign of a definitive conclusion on the battlefield. But the stage is now set for an attempt at a negotiated settlement, as Americans grow weary of further years of additional billions of insufficiently accountable taxpayer dollars funneled toward the noble but wildly unrealistic goal of forcing Russia from Ukrainian soil. 8. THE INEXORABLE MARCH OF AI Artificial intelligence is a technological miracle with the potential to yield innumerable benefits for our economy and our daily lifestyles. It also strikes fear with the threats it poses to human jobs and human creativity. Enthusiasm seems appropriate, and so do acute concerns. The modern world often develops the knack for doing things before we figure out the morality and efficacy of doing them. It is hard to imagine an area with higher stakes for getting it right. 7. THE RISE OF ELON MUSK A social media kingpin, an electric car pioneer or a private-sector space trailblazer would each dominate the news. Make them the same guy, then give him one of the most noticed roles in a new administration, and he constantly makes headlines — moving forward on the issues of online free speech, American tech, and in his Department of Government Efficiency role , federal spending. 6. ISRAEL’S WAR After more than a year of mixed American posturing and spotty support for one of our most vital allies, our approach toward this war may change as suddenly as the Ukraine conflict will on Jan. 20. Donald Trump has demanded that Hamas release Israeli hostages before his inauguration. Whether that happens or not, the Middle East is another part of the world that will notice a stark change as the new presidency begins. Halftime pause and spoiler alert: The Trump election victory is the obvious top story of the year, but its subplots were all so individually impactful that the whole package constitutes the top five. 5. TRUMP COURT WINS The dismissal of two federal cases and the collapse of the election-interference prosecution in Georgia adds to the mockery of the New York hush money case and a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity to create a historic backfire. Prosecutions which were supposed to shatter his electability actually accrued to his benefit, as supporters found fresh energy in the desire to make a statement against what they saw as political persecutions. 4. HARRIS HANDED THE REINS A candidate whose 2020 campaign did not make it out of 2019 was then awarded the vice presidency, rendering Kamala Harris immovable in 2024 as Democrats scrambled for a Plan B when Joe Biden’s infirmities became undeniable . A campaign of stunning ineptitude unfolded, featuring a nominee whom no one had voted for. 3. THE BIDEN EXIT RAMP People who said his performance and cognition were in decline were mocked until they were proved right. Biden promised to stay in the presidential race right up to the moment he got out. Was it his decision or a bloodless coup? Once the die was cast, the odd plot thickened as an already semi-present president virtually vanished from the visible scene, except to issue a wave of controversial pardons. From absolving his son Hunter to a wave of roughly 1,500 other pardons and commutations, Biden racked up the broadest sweeping clemency in presidential history. 2. TRUMP ASSASSINATION FAILS The bullet that came inches from killing him on July 13 instead left Trump able to rise from a bloodied stage to exhort the crowd to “Fight! Fight! Fight!” with a clenched-fist determination that even some harsh critics had to admire. The resulting imagery was emblematic of the trait that has fueled his constant popularity among Republicans and drove the definitive election victory — he is a fighter, taking aim at the people, institutions and opponents at home and abroad that he identifies as inimical to the American future he has described and pursued for a decade 1. A WIN LIKE NO OTHER Nov. 5 itself is the obvious capper, and while Grover Cleveland also regained the presidency after a defeat, our 22nd and 24th president was not shot at, hounded by weaponized prosecutions and vilified by a media culture that lapsed into daily full-blown activism against him. Nor did Cleveland power his way back with solid gains in several demographics he had lost before. Our 45th president soon becomes our 47th , certain to occupy several spots in the Top Ten of 2025. Yes, Trump’s Cabinet picks are shaking up Washington. 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Artificial intelligence is changing the way companies do business—helping programmers write code and fielding customer service calls with chatbots. But the pharmaceutical industry is still waiting to see whether AI can tackle its biggest challenge: finding faster, cheaper ways to develop new drugs. Despite billions poured into research, new medicines still typically take a decade or more to develop. Founded in 2018, Insitro is part of a growing field of AI companies promising to accelerate drug discovery by using machine learning to analyze huge datasets of chemical and biological markers. The South San Francisco-based company has signed deals with drugmakers like Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb to help develop medicines for metabolic diseases, neurological conditions, and degenerative disorders. CEO and founder Daphne Koller spoke about what AI brings to the challenges of drug discovery. "One of the things that has been happening in parallel to the AI revolution is a much quieter revolution in what I call quantitative biology, which is the ability to measure biological systems with unprecedented fidelity. You can measure systems like proteins and cells with increasingly better measurements and technology," she says. "But if you give that data to a person, their eyes will just glaze over because there's only so many cells someone can look at and only so many subtleties they can see in these images. People are just limited in their ability to perceive subtle differences." That, she says, is where AI can be really useful. See the full interview at the .

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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are rising toward more records Wednesday after tech companies talked up how much of a boost they're getting from artificial intelligence . The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to add to what looks to be one of its best years of the millennium. It’s on track to set an all-time high for the 56th time this year after coming off 10 gains in the last 11 days . The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 252 points, or 0.6%, with an hour remaining in trading, while the Nasdaq composite was adding 1.2% to its own record. Salesforce helped pull the market higher after delivering stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit fell just short. CEO Mark Benioff highlighted the company’s artificial-intelligence offering for customers, saying “the rise of autonomous AI agents is revolutionizing global labor, reshaping how industries operate and scale.” The stock of the company, which helps businesses manage their customers, rose 9.3%. Marvell Technology jumped even more after delivering better results than expected, up 23.2%. CEO Matt Murphy said the semiconductor supplier is seeing strong demand from AI and gave a forecast for profit in the upcoming quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. They helped offset a 9.8% drop for Foot Locker, which reported profit and revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations. CEO Mary Dillon said the company is taking a more cautious view, and it cut its forecasts for sales and profit this year. Dillon pointed to how keen customers are for discounts and how soft demand has been outside of Thanksgiving week and other key selling periods. Retailers overall have offered mixed signals about how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain. Their spending has been one of the main reasons the U.S. economy has avoided a recession that earlier seemed inevitable because of high interest rates brought by the Federal Reserve to crush inflation. But shoppers are now contending with still-high prices and a slowing job market . This week’s highlight for Wall Street will be Friday’s jobs report from the U.S. government, which will show how many people employers hired and fired last month. A narrower report released on Wednesday morning may have offered a preview of it. The report from ADP suggested employers in the private sector increased their payrolls by less last month than economists expected. Hiring in manufacturing was the weakest since the spring, according to Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. The report strengthened traders’ expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again when it meets in two weeks. The Fed began easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high in September, hoping to offer more support for the job market. The central bank had appeared set to continue cutting rates into next year, but the election of Donald Trump has scrambled Wall Street’s expectations somewhat. Trump’s preference for higher tariffs and other policies could lead to higher economic growth and inflation , which could alter the Fed’s plans . Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank can afford to cut its benchmark rate cautiously because inflation has slowed significantly from its peak two years ago and the economy remains sturdy. A separate report on Wednesday said health care, finance and other businesses in the U.S. services sector are continuing to grow, but not by as much as before and not by as much as economists expected. One respondent from the construction industry told the survey from the Institute for Supply Management that the Fed’s rate cuts have not pulled down mortgage rates as much as hoped yet. Plus “the unknown effect of tariffs clouds the future.” In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.18% from 4.23% late Tuesday. On Wall Street, Campbell’s fell 6% for one of the S&P 500’s sharper losses despite increasing its dividend and reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, and the National Football League’s Washington Commanders hired Campbell’s CEO Mark Clouse as its team president. Campbell’s said Mick Beekhuizen, its president of meals and beverages, will become its 15th CEO following Clouse’s departure. Gains for airline stocks helped offset that drop after JetBlue Airways said it saw stronger bookings for travel in November and December following the presidential election. It said it’s also benefiting from lower fuel prices, as well as lower costs due to improved on-time performance. JetBlue jumped 8.3%, while Southwest Airlines climbed 2.8%. In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.4% following a night full of drama in Seoul. President Yoon Suk Yeol was facing possible impeachment after he suddenly declared martial law on Tuesday night, prompting troops to surround the parliament. Yoon accused pro-North Korean forces of plotting to overthrow one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. The martial law declaration was revoked about six hours later. Samsung Electronics fell 0.9% in Seoul. The country’s financial regulator said it was prepared to deploy 10 trillion won ($7.07 billion) into a stock market stabilization fund at any time, the Yonhap news agency reported. In the crypto market , bitcoin climbed back above $97,000 after Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins , a cryptocurrency advocate, to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.What We Learned: Loss to ECU showed UNT’s defensive issues persist

The Nasdaq Composite is one of the most widely followed stock indexes in the U.S. The tech-focused index tracks the performance of more than 3,000 stocks listed on its exchange. The Nasdaq-100 is a subset of the index, tracking the performance of approximately 100 of the largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq stock exchange. To be included in the Nasdaq-100, a company must meet the following criteria: Be listed exclusively on the Nasdaq exchange. Be highly liquid. Been listed on an eligible exchange for at least three full calendar months. A minimum of 10% of its outstanding shares must be available for trading. Must not have filed for bankruptcy. The index announced its annual rebalancing on Dec. 13 after the market close. Palantir Technologies ( PLTR 3.92% ) was selected to join the Nasdaq-100, "which will be effective prior to the market open on Monday, Dec. 23." Since generative artificial intelligence (AI) went viral early last year, Palantir stock has surged 1,090%. Its decades of experience with AI made it the go-to for AI solutions, likely easing its admission to the index. After its recent surge, some investors are reluctant to buy the stock, particularly given its frothy valuation. One Wall Street analyst believes that view is myopic. Let's review the circumstances behind Palantir's recent parabolic move higher and see whether there's additional upside ahead. AI before it was fashionable Palantir was born from the rubble of 9/11, with the idea that the right AI algorithms could piece together seemingly unconnected bits of information that would uncover a terrorist plot before it could come to fruition. The company soon gained a following among the U.S. intelligence community and our allies, and military and law enforcement agencies quickly adopted its solutions. Over time, the company expanded its offerings to bring its data mining, analytics, and AI know-how to enterprise customers, providing data-driven solutions. The advent of AI early last year brought customers in droves looking for solutions. Palantir swiftly developed a multipurpose tool to answer the call. The Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) was the fruit of its labor. By connecting AI to a company's operational data, AIP can provide real-time, company-specific solutions to real-world problems. To counter the knowledge gap existing at most companies, Palantir created boot camps where customers work one-on-one with Palantir engineers to develop these custom-made solutions. Evident in Palantir's financial results, this removes the most common hurdle for businesses wanting to adopt AI. Digital display In the third quarter, Palantir generated revenue of $726 million, which grew 30% year over year and 7% sequentially. At the same time, earnings per share (EPS) of $0.06 soared 100%, marking its eighth consecutive quarter of profitability. As impressive as that is, it only tells part of the story. Palantir's U.S. commercial segment, which includes much of its AIP revenue, grew 54% year over year, pushing its remaining deal value (similar to backlog) up 73%. When backlog is growing faster than revenue, it provides insight into future potential, which is rapidly improving. The segment's customer count also soared, jumping 77%. Let's not forget Palantir's foundational government revenue, which grew 40% year over year and 15% quarter over quarter. Another key indicator is the accelerating number of contracts the company is signing. In Q3, Palantir inked 104 deals worth at least $1 million. This included 36 deals worth $5 million or more and 16 worth at least $10 million. It's telling that many of these agreements were reached just weeks after a customer participated in one of Palantir's boot camps. The company has likely only scratched the surface of the tidal wave of demand. According to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the generative AI market is expected to be worth between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion over the next 10 years. Palantir is well positioned to profit from these brisk secular tailwinds. The elephant in the room While there's little question Palantir has a bright future, some investors fear the stock has gotten ahead of itself, and Wall Street seems to agree. Of the 20 analysts who offered an opinion in December, only four rate it a buy or strong buy, nine rate it a hold, and the remaining seven rate it underperform or sell. Those who are bearish on the stock almost universally cite its valuation as the catalyst for their dower outlook. The numbers seem to support that view. The stock is currently selling for 380 times earnings and 69 times sales -- both of which are egregious by any stretch of the imagination. However, the most commonly used metrics fall far short when evaluating a high-growth company. For example, Palantir's forward price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio -- which factors in the company's accelerating growth -- clocks in at 0.63, while any number less than 1 is the standard for an undervalued stock. Wedbush veteran tech analyst Dan Ives remains bullish , maintaining an outperform (buy) rating on Palantir with a $75 price target, though the stock recently eclipsed that target. The analyst expressed "increased confidence in the game-changing AIP strategy with use cases for AI taking hold over the next 12-18 months." He went on to say that Palantir will see "unprecedented demand" as more enterprises adopt and expand the use of the company's AI solutions. Furthermore, while Palantir currently has a market cap of roughly $172 billion, Ives believes Palantir could be "the next Oracle." Given Oracle 's market cap of $494 billion, that suggests potential upside of 188% for Palantir. While that's a bold proclamation , it does illustrate the opportunity that exists. To be clear, that vision will take some time to play out if it does. I'm not unsympathetic to the conundrum represented by the conflicting views. For those who still feel Palantir is too expensive, one strategy is to buy a small position that won't break the bank and add to it next time the stock takes a nosedive -- as it undoubtedly will. Another is to employ dollar-cost averaging , which involves buying set dollar amounts of the stock at specific intervals, which results in a lower average cost. Palantir Technologies won't appeal to every investor. However, for those willing to take on some additional risk for potentially explosive gains, Palantir sits at the crossroads of a vast opportunity that could make for a very profitable investment.

A man who hit a woman to the head with a wooden stick causing serious injuries that required surgery has been released on parole despite an assessment showing the risk of him re-offending was “high”. Brendan James Cotter, 49, was granted parole from November 11 with special conditions including that he wear an electronic monitoring device, be electronically monitored and “not contact, approach, threaten, follow, stalk, harass or keep under surveillance the registered victim/s of your offending”. He was sentenced to five years’ jail in 2021 after being convicted on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm in Hobart. “This offending involved a serious incident, in which the applicant tracked down the victim, after forming a grievance against her and choosing to seek retribution and attacked her in a residence she had been temporarily staying at, with a wooden stick he used as a weapon,” the Parole Board said in its decision. “The victim sustained serious injuries to her head and body, requiring surgical repair. “The judge described the offending as premeditated, serious violence, which is abhorrent and of great concern to the community.” Legalities of tying the knot. It said Cotter served three-and-a-half years of his sentence and “there has been some prison offending reported”. The board said that while he was in prison he had reflected on his actions and he recognised the lasting effects his offending will have on his victim. It said given concerns by community corrections and the board about Cotter’s risk of re-offending, a psychological report and risk assessment was requested from Dr Amy Washington. “Regarding the risk of re-offending, Dr Washington reported this was high but would be reduced if the applicant can recommence his employment in the community, if he maintains support for alcohol use and attempts to maintain pro-social networks,” the board said. Prior to his imprisonment it said Cotter was self-employed running two businesses relating to water proofing. “The applicant has suitable accommodation, good prospects of suitable work in the community, and is willing and motivated to change his life, by amongst other things continuing to engage in appropriate counselling to address his alcohol use,” the board said in its decision. It said community corrections had assessed Cotter as suitable for parole and have supported his release and the “board agrees with this assessment”. susan.bailey@news.com.au Originally published as Brendan James Cotter granted parole after hitting woman with stick causing serious injuries Tasmania Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News. More related stories Tasmania Nothing cheesy about ‘super gold’ win Tasmanian cheeses are ‘standing proud’ on the world stage — particularly one unique Bruny Island product that recently won a prestigious award. Why it stands out from the crowd. Read more Tasmania Heroes who saved children in traumatic rescue honoured When a young constable jumped in the water to save several drowning children, he says he was filled with adrenaline. He was one of 110 police officers honoured with awards and medals. Read more

Shortly after completing a 31-year tenure as the coach of the Towson men’s lacrosse program, Carl Anthony Runk was celebrated widely for his accomplishments. He was inducted into the Towson Hall of Fame in 2007, the Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018, the University of Arizona Men’s Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2019 and received the John F. Steadman Lifetime Achievement Award from the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022. But according to his son, Keith Runk, Mr. Runk downplayed the accolades. “He would say, ‘I haven’t cracked an egg in my life, and they’re recognizing me with this,’” his son said. “He never did anything for the recognition. He did it for the love of it.” Mr. Runk, who shepherded the Tigers from NCAA Division II to Division I status and the 1974 Division II national championship, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Baltimore. He was 88. From 1968 to 1998, Mr. Runk compiled a 262-161 record that included that national title against Hobart, seven consecutive College Division Tournament berths from 1973 to 1979, an appearance in the 1991 Division I Tournament final against North Carolina, five East Coast Conference championships and 24 seasons with winning records. Tony Seaman, who succeeded Mr. Runk at Towson and met him as rivals when the former coached at Penn and Johns Hopkins, described his predecessor’s legacy as “long-lasting.” “I’ll always remember how well his teams were coached and how well his players played for him,” Seaman said. “They loved him, and they’d give everything in the world. You knew that you would get a game from beginning to end anytime you played against a Carl Runk team.” One of 13 children raised by George and Anna Runk and Josephine McGill in Highlandtown, Mr. Runk grew up working on tugboats and picking beans on farms on the Eastern Shore, according to his son. “They kicked and scratched for everything they got,” Keith Runk said. “Just making ends meet to get through and help the family out.” After graduating from Patterson Park High, Mr. Runk attended the University of Maryland on a football scholarship for a year-and-a-half, but then transferred to the University of Arizona, where he was an offensive tackle. Already married to the former Joan Johns who also graduated from Patterson Park, Mr. Runk squeezed in earning a master’s degree and teaching at an area high school between two stints coaching men’s lacrosse for the Wildcats. After the births of sons Carl, Keith and Curt, Mr. and Mrs. Runk decided to return to Maryland after Curt contracted spinal meningitis and lost his hearing. Upon his return, Mr. Runk joined what was formerly known as Towson State College to coach lacrosse. Mr. Runk added football to his coaching responsibilities when the coach quit before the program’s debut in 1969. In three seasons, the Tigers went 11-14-1 under Mr. Runk, who handed the reins to one of his assistant coaches, Phil Albert. Lacrosse is where Mr. Runk made his greatest impact. From 1968 to 1979, Mr. Runk amassed a 115-63 at the NCAA Division II level with only one losing season. His crowning achievement was shaping the 1974 squad into a group that outlasted Hobart, 18-17, in overtime for the NCAA Division II championship. Tom Moore, a midfielder and co-captain of that 1974 team, said Mr. Runk insisted on a culture absent of favoritism. “The ones that didn’t buy into the culture, they had to work harder to get into the starting lineup,” he said. “Some of them did, and some of them decided to quit. The bottom line was we expected everybody to work really hard and we expected everybody to be a team player.” Keith Runk, who played goalkeeper for the Tigers from 1979 to 1982, said his father extended that expectation to his son. “There was no special treatment,” he said. “When I was on the field, I was a player. I wasn’t his son. I was no better or no worse. But on the way home, it was different. He was Dad.” Members of Towson and Hobart and their parents dined together on the eve of the 1974 title game. While the Hobart coach praised his players’ efforts and dedication, Mr. Runk took a different approach. “Coach Runk got up there in front of our parents, and he started making fun of all of us. He was saying, ‘I don’t know how these kids got into school because their SAT scores weren’t really that good,’” Moore said with a laugh. “This was one of the most intense moments we all had because we were looking at the guys we had to fight against the next day, and he’s got everybody in tears and laughing by making fun of us. And we didn’t mind it because we knew he was doing it to just have a good time.” Mr. Runk had a certain command of his teams. Tensions always ran high between Towson and Maryland. So when a skirmish broke out during a scrimmage between the area rivals in 1980, the Tigers players were more than willing to jump into the fray. “Our entire bench started to run out on the field, and Coach Runk turned around and put up his hand, and you never saw 40 guys stop on a dime like that in your life,” said former Baltimore Sun sports editor Gerry Jackson, who was a defenseman for Mr. Runk from 1978 to 1981. “The kind of respect he had from the team was amazing.” After back-to-back 5-7 records in 1997 and 1998, Mr. Runk was not retained by Towson, which hired Seaman after he had been let go by Johns Hopkins. While Seaman quipped that Mr. Runk was too upset with the administration to take out his anger on Seaman, the latter said Mr. Runk was always supportive. “We were such good friends that it never came up,” said Seaman, who had known Mr. Runk since Seaman was a coach at a high school on Long Island where Mr. Runk often visited to recruit players. “He never felt bitter toward me. He knew that I needed the job.” Mr. Runk enjoyed playing musical instruments such as the guitar, banjo and harmonica and was a member of a barbershop quartet while he was a student at Arizona. But next to lacrosse, he prioritized his family. In 1978, Mr. Runk took a partial sabbatical to enroll at Gallaudet University and sign up for classes in sign language, audiology and the sociology of deafness. The following year, he taught basic sign language at Towson at least once per semester for 20 years. “It was important for him to teach people how to communicate with those who were hard of hearing,” his son said. “It was a tribute to the care that he had for the family and for people in similar positions. It wasn’t just about us or him.” Mr. Runk is survived by three sons (Carl of Burke, Virginia, Keith of Bel Air, and Curt of Jacksonville, South Carolina), one daughter (Brenda Parker of Ocean City), three brothers (Alfred of Forest Hill, David of Tampa, Florida, and Ted of San Francisco, California), two sisters (Joan of Daytona, Florida, and Donna of Port Richey, Florida), 11 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. The family will hold a private service. A celebration of Mr. Runk’s life is planned for a later date. Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com , 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun .Elon Musk ’s brain implant company Neuralink announced on Tuesday that it is launching a study to test its implant for a new use: allowing a person to control a robotic arm using just their thoughts. “We’re excited to announce the approval and launch of a new feasibility trial to extend BCI control using the N1 implant to an investigational assistive robotic arm,” Neuralink said in a post on Musk’s social media platform X . A BCI, or brain-computer interface , is a system that allows a person to directly control outside devices with their brain waves. It works by reading and decoding intended movement signals from neurons. Neuralink’s BCI involves a coin-sized device dubbed N1 that is surgically implanted in the brain by a robot. The company is currently evaluating the safety of its BCI , as well as its ability to control a computer in individuals with paralysis. Moving a computer or prosthetic arm is not a new feat for BCIs. In 2008 , a team led by Andrew Schwartz at the University of Pittsburgh showed that a monkey could control a robotic arm to feed itself using signals from its brain. After that, researchers moved on to human volunteers. In a 2012 study published in the journal Nature , two people paralyzed due to stroke were able to guide a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects simply by thinking about it. One was able to serve herself coffee for the first time in 14 years. In another study from 2016 , a man with a BCI regained a sense of touch using a robotic arm. The BCIs used in those studies were clunky setups that required running a cable from the research participants’ head to a computer that decodes brain signals. By contrast, Neuralink’s system is wireless. On social media earlier this year , Neuralink demonstrated that its BCI can be used to control a computer cursor. In a video on X , study participant Noland Arbaugh was shown using the Neuralink device to play chess and other games on a computer. Arbaugh, who became a quadriplegic after a swimming accident in 2016, spoke with WIRED earlier this year about how the implant has given him a sense of independence. Arbaugh underwent brain surgery in January to receive the Neuralink implant, but a few weeks later, the device started to malfunction . The implant has 64 thin, flexible wire threads that penetrate the brain tissue. Each thread contains 16 electrodes that collect neural signals. In a blog post from May, Neuralink said several threads had retracted from Arbaugh’s brain, causing him to temporarily lose cursor control. Neuralink was able to restore Arbaugh’s control by modifying its brain recording algorithm to be more sensitive and changing how it translates neural signals into cursor movements. Neuralink’s second participant, Alex, received the implant in July. In a company update issued prior to the surgery, Neuralink executives said they took steps to reduce the likelihood of thread retraction, including reducing brain motion during the surgery and reducing the gap between the implant and the surface of the brain. The new robotic arm study, according to the Neuralink post on X, “will enable cross-enrolling participants from the ongoing PRIME Study.” No additional details about the robotic arm study are available yet on Neuralink’s website or clinicaltrials.gov , an online repository of medical studies involving human participants. “We congratulate Neuralink on receiving approval for their feasibility trial,” says Marcus Gerhardt, CEO and co-founder Blackrock Neurotech, the company that manufactures the Utah array , the brain implant used in previous studies of mind-controlled robotic limbs. “Every advancement in neurotechnology moves us closer to empowering individuals with neurological disorders.” Brian Dekleva, a research scientist at the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs at the University of Pittsburgh, says the biggest challenge in achieving BCI control of an assistive robotic arm is the need for calibration. “The more complicated the control, the more degrees of freedom you add, the longer the calibration is going to take in general,” he says. “People don't want to sit and do a half hour calibration at the beginning of each day so that they can use their device.” If that limitation can be overcome, BCIs that control robotic arms could allow people with paralysis to carry out simple daily tasks without assistance.Franklin Resources Inc. Has $1.27 Million Position in DXC Technology (NYSE:DXC)