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Northwestern women blank Saint Joseph's 5-0 to win second national championship in field hockeyPathstone Holdings LLC boosted its position in Graco Inc. ( NYSE:GGG – Free Report ) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,205 shares during the quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,502,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 54.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,502,000 after buying an additional 286,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Graco by 32.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,775,000 after buying an additional 259,819 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock. Insider Transactions at Graco In other Graco news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link . Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock. Analyst Ratings Changes View Our Latest Stock Report on GGG Graco Stock Up 1.7 % Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $91.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.73. Graco ( NYSE:GGG – Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year. Graco Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.04%. Graco Profile ( Free Report ) Graco Inc designs, manufactures, and markets systems and equipment used to move, measure, control, dispense, and spray fluid and powder materials worldwide. The Contractor segment offers sprayers to apply paint to walls and other structures; two-component proportioning systems that are used to spray polyurethane foam and polyurea coatings; and viscous coatings to roofs, as well as markings on roads, parking lots, athletic fields, and floors. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GGG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Graco Inc. ( NYSE:GGG – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Graco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Graco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own National Politics | President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peak National Politics | Inside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Maddie Zimmer and Ilse Tromp both had two goals and an assist in the first half and Northwestern beat Saint Joseph's 5-0 in the championship match of the NCAA Division-I women's field hockey tournament at Phyllis Ocker Field on Sunday. It was the second championship for the second-seeded Wildcats (23-1-0), who have played for the title in four straight seasons. Northwestern beat Liberty 2-0 in 2021 before losing to North Carolina the past two seasons. No. 4 seed Saint Joseph's (20-4-0) was in uncharted waters with its first trip to the final. The Hawks eliminated top-seeded North Carolina in the semifinals to advance. The Tar Heels have won the championship in half of their 22 trips to the final. Northwestern grabbed the lead 6:25 into the first quarter when Zimmer used an assist from Tromp to score. Zimmer had an assist on Olivia Bent-Cole's eighth goal of the season for a 2-0 advantage, and Tromp found the net with 25 seconds left with assists from Lauren Hunter and Ashley Sessa for a 3-0 lead. Hunter and Sessa again had the helpers on Zimmer's 10th goal of the campaign, and Hunter and Regan Cornelius assisted on Tromp's 11th goal of the season 2:42 later for a 5-0 lead at halftime and that was that. Annabel Skubisz finished with her school-record 14th shutout of the season for Northwestern. Zimmer and Tromp are the second duo to score multiple goals for their school in a championship match. Zimmer was named the tournament MVP. It was the second championship for Wildcats coach Tracey Fuchs. Northwestern joins North Carolina and Old Dominion as the only schools to reach the championship match in four straight seasons. Six schools have won multiple titles.Stock market today: Wall Street rises at the start of a holiday-shortened weekDAVAO CITY—Government health workers in the Bangsamoro region are set to receive P840 million in back pay for services rendered during the Covid-19 pandemic and last year. The Bangsamoro Information Office said the automous region’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has disbursed P840 million in Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) to 1,894 healthcare workers. The MOH disbursed the HEA amount on November 11-12 to cover 10 months of allowance, from October to December of 2021 and January to July of last year. “This allowance is a small way for the government to thank and provide support for their sacrifice in the midst of every community health challenge,” said Health Minister Kadil Sinolinding Jr. He added, “Healthcare workers are real heroes who served as frontliners during the pandemic. Their efforts have been the key to suppressing the spread of Covid-19.” Sinolinding said the financial support was aligned with Republic Act 11712, which mandates benefits for healthcare workers who served during the Covid-19 pandemic. Manuel T. Cayon has written about Mindanao for national newspapers for more than two decades, mostly on conflict reporting, and on the political front. His stint with TODAY newspaper in the ’90s started his business reporting in Mindanao, continuing to this day with the BusinessMirror . The multiawarded reporter received a Biotechnology journalism award in January 2019, his third. A fellow of the US International Visitors’ Program Leadership in 2007 on conflict resolution and alternative dispute resolution, Manuel attended college at the Mindanao State University and the Ateneo de Davao University.

Mbappe, Vinicius and Bellingham all on target in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Atalanta Real Madrid’s big stars turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a 3-2 win at Italian league leader Atalanta. It was only 15-time champion Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves it in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. In contrast, Liverpool leads the way after maintaining its perfect record in Europe this season after a 1-0 win against Girona. MLB investigated to ensure no early Sasaki deal in place, pitcher likely to pick team mid-January DALLAS (AP) — Major League Baseball investigated to ensure no team had an advance deal in place for Roki Sasaki, and the agent for the Japanese pitcher says picking a club will be “like the draft in reverse.” On the first day of Sasaki’s 45-day window to sign with an MLB team, agent Joel Wolfe says the 23-year-old right-hander likely will sign shortly after the 2025 international signing pool window opens on Jan. 15 and wouldn’t wait until the Jan. 23 deadline. Sasaki helped Japan win the 2023 World Baseball Classic and has a fastball clocked at 102.5 mph. Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg says cancer has returned, spread CHICAGO (AP) — Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg says the prostate cancer he thought had been eliminated by radiation has returned and spread. The Chicago Cubs great made the announcement on Instagram on Tuesday. Sandberg announced in January that he had metastatic prostate cancer and in August said he was cancer-free after chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Sandberg was the National League MVP in 1984 and a 10-time All-Star during 15 seasons for the Cubs from 1982 to 1997, with 282 home runs and 344 stolen bases. After his playing career, he served as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies from 2013 to 2015, going 119-159. Nolan Arenado open to switch from third base to first and leaving Cardinals for a team he approves DALLAS (AP) — Nolan Arenado is open to a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals, at age 33 wanting to be on a World Series contender. Agent Joel Wolfe says “it’s like his biological clock is ticking and if the team’s not winning it’s driving him crazy every day.” An eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove third baseman, Arenado is open to a switch to first base. He hit .272 with 16 homers and 71 RBIs this year, his poorest season in a decade. St. Louis acquired Arenado from Colorado ahead of the 2021 season. Athletes in $2.8 billion college lawsuit tell judge they want to create a players' association The athletes whose lawsuit against the NCAA is primed to pave the way for schools to pay them directly also want a players’ association to represent them in the complex contract negotiations that have overtaken the industry. Grant House, Sedona Prince and Nya Harrison wrote to the judge overseeing what’s known as the House Settlement, saying that although they are generally happy with the terms of the proposed settlement “there still remains a critical need for structural changes to protect athletes and prevent the failures of the past.” Analysis: The Cavs, Magic and Rockets are off to surprise starts. Maybe that shouldn't be surprising For the first time in 36 seasons, the Cleveland Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game mark. They’re 21-4, even after having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0 start. The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando is off to its best start in 16 years at 17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston, Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league’s best record. AJ Dybantsa commits to BYU, becomes school's first 5-star recruit in US PROVO, Utah (AP) — AJ Dybantsa has announced his commitment to BYU. The projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft made the announcement Tuesday on ESPN’s “First Take." He chose the Cougars over Alabama, North Carolina and Kansas. He is BYU’s first five-star high school recruit from the United States. The chance to play for first-year BYU coach Kevin Young sold Dybantsa on joining the Cougars. He pointed to the extensive NBA experience of Young and his staff and Young’s role in coaching NBA stars like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker as key factors influencing his decision. Golf shots from every club in the bag paint the picture of a big year: Analysis Every shot tells a story and there were plenty of them this year in golf. Bryson DeChambeau drove the 13th green at Pinehurst No. 2 at just the right time in the U.S. Open. Scottie Scheffler began to pull away in the Masters with a lob wedge that nearly went in the cup. Not every shot was great. Nelly Korda hit 6-iron too far in the U.S. Women's Open and made 10 on the third hole of the tournament. Brooks Koepka anticipates Ryder Cup vibe in LIV vs. PGA Tour match in Las Vegas Brooks Koepka is expecting Ryder Cup vibes when LIV Golf gets to square off against PGA Tour stars in Las Vegas next week. Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau take on world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy on Dec. 17. LIV and PGA Tour stars only get to face each other four times a year at the majors. Koepka says everyone wants to see a Ryder Cup-styled match. It's a competition between two tours with bragging rights at stake. Koepka says LIV stars would have put up a strong fight against Scheffler. But he says Scheffler still would have had a big year. SHR closure leads to a seat shakeup in NASCAR. A look at who is driving where in 2025 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — There won’t be a Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR next season now that Hall of Famer Tony Stewart has left the series and the four-car organization he co-owned with Formula 1 team owner Gene Haas. The SHR change put four drivers on the free-agent market and the future of three of its vaunted charters in limbo. The existing SHR drivers have taken seats all across the grid as Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece needed to find new jobs. Michael McDowell is on the move in 2025, as is AJ Allmendinger, and Shane Van Gisbergen will be a full-time Cup driver.NoneTechnology stocks led a broad rally on Wall Street Tuesday during a holiday-shortened trading session ahead of Christmas. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% for its third-straight gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.9%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 1.3%. While Big Tech companies, including Apple, Amazon and chip company Broadcom helped push the market higher, the gains were widespread. Advancers outnumbered decliners by more than 3-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Broadcom rose 3.2%, Apple gained 1.1% and Amazon closed 1.8% higher. Super Micro Computer climbed 6%. Tesla jumped 7.4% for the biggest gains among S&P 500 stocks. American Airlines shook off an early loss and ended with a 0.6% gain after the airline briefly grounded flights nationwide due to a technical issue. Elsewhere in the market, U.S. Steel rose 1.9% a day after an influential government panel failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the nearly $15 billion proposed sale to Nippon Steel of Japan. NeueHealth surged 74.9% after the health care company agreed to be taken private in a deal valued at roughly $1.3 billion. All told, the S&P 500 rose 65.97 points to 6,040.04. The Dow added 390.08 points to 43,297.03, and the Nasdaq rose 266.24 points to 20,031.13. Treasury yields held steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was little changed at 4.59%. European markets closed mostly higher. Markets in Asia mostly gained ground. Tuesday’s U.S. market rally comes as the stock market enters what’s historically been a very cheerful season. The last five trading days of each year, plus the first two in the new year, have brought an average gain of 1.3% since 1950. The so-called “Santa rally” also correlates closely with positive returns in January and the upcoming year. So far this month, the U.S. stock market has lost some of its gains since President-elect Donald Trump’s win on Election Day, which raised hopes for faster economic growth and more lax regulations that would boost corporate profits. Worries have risen that Trump’s preference for tariffs and other policies could lead to higher inflation , a bigger U.S. government debt and difficulties for global trade. Even so, the stock market remains on pace to deliver strong returns for 2024. The benchmark S&P 500 is up 26.6% so far this year and remains within roughly 1% of the all-time high it set earlier this month — its latest of 57 record highs this year. U.S. markets will be closed Wednesday for Christmas. Wall Street has several economic reports to look forward to this week, including a weekly update on unemployment benefits on Thursday.2 House Republicans seek to stop IVF expansion in defense bill

Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensusSunrisers Hyderabad Squad for IPL 2025: Simarjeet Singh Sold to SRH for INR 1.5 Crore at Indian Premier League AuctionFormer Democratic Oklahoma Sen. Fred Harris, who ran in 1972 and 1976 for the presidential nomination, died Saturday at age 94, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Harris’s wife, Margaret Elliston, confirmed the lawmaker’s death to AP , saying it was a result of “natural causes.” While Harris’s location of death is unknown, he was a resident of Corrales, New Mexico when he passed away, according to the outlet. “Fred Harris passed peacefully early this morning of natural causes. He was 94. He was a wonderful and beloved man. His memory is a blessing,” Elliston told the outlet in a text message. As DNC Chair, US Senator, activist, author, mentor, and so much more, Democrats everywhere will remember Fred for his unparalleled integrity and as a pioneer for instituting core progressive values of equity and opportunity for prosperity as core tenets of our party. — Democratic Party of New Mexico (@NMDEMS) November 23, 2024 Harris was first elected to the Senate in 1964, according to the outlet. He served eight years there before opting to run for president rather than another term as a senator in 1972 and again in 1976. Both campaigns were unsuccessful, with his 1972 campaign for the Democratic nomination lasting only 48 days. From 1969 to 1970, Harris chaired the Democratic National Committee in the wake of the party’s uproarious 1968 national convention in Chicago, which saw violent clashes between police and protesters of the Vietnam War. Harris was one of the youngest players in the Democratic Party at the time, according to The Washington Post . At age 25, he became the youngest state senator after finishing law school at the University of Oklahoma. (RELATED: GOP Senators React To Matt Gaetz’s Withdrawal As Trump’s Nominee) In 1968, Harris, then 37, was shortlisted in consideration for the role as Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey’s vice president, the outlet noted. Harris later became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico, AP reported. He resided in the state since then, going on to write and edit a dozen books, many about politics and Congress. The Democratic Party of New Mexico issued a statement which remembered Harris as a vocal advocate against poverty and racial discrimination. “Democrats everywhere will remember Fred for his unparalleled integrity and as a pioneer for instituting core progressive values of equity and opportunity for prosperity as core tenets of our party,” the Democratic Party of New Mexico said in a statement.

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Content creation today is as much about crisp audio as it is about crisp visuals and a well-structured script. That's where a good microphone becomes essential - especially if you're just starting out. With most good wireless microphones coming with a hefty price tag, there has been a growing demand for budget-friendly options that still deliver good performance. Enter the Crossbeats Clip M01, a microphone that claims to offer excellent audio quality at a price of around ₹ 3,000. But does it live up to the hype? I tested the Clip M01 extensively over the course of two months, and here's how it performed in the real world. Design and in-hand feel: Clip M01 comes in a plastic case with one receiver and two transmitters. There is also a USB-C and Lightning dongle inside the case to ensure connectivity with both Android and older iPhones. The case itself feels pretty cheap in hand and is also susceptible to a lot of fingerprints and scratches. I've had the Clip M01 with me for a couple of months, with the case usually lying around in an almirah or my bag, and it already looks completely worn out—which isn’t a good sign when it comes to durability. There’s also a glass-like finish on top of the case, which I initially assumed would reflect the charging percentage or connection status, but as it turns out, it’s just there for show. Instead, the charging percentage is tucked below the Crossbeats logo where it’s barely visible. Connectivity and usage: Connecting the M01 is relatively simple. Just plug the transmitter into your phone's Type-C or Lightning port and press the top button on the two microphones. Once the violet and blue lights appear on both microphones, it means they are connected to the phone. The two omnidirectional microphones can either be used in an interview-like setup or to achieve a stereo sound output. I tested the Clip M01 on two separate Android devices ( iQOO 13 and Vivo X200 ), and there were no issues with either capturing audio using a recording app or recording through the default camera app. The Clip M01 can record audio at a 48 kHz sampling rate and 24-bit depth. Crossbeats claims a range of 120 metres with the microphone, but I wouldn’t recommend taking it more than 30–40 metres away from the phone, at which point the audio starts becoming glitchy and the connection unstable. The microphone is capable of capturing decent-quality audio and can also reduce lighter background noises with ENC mode turned on. However, the Clip M01 comes with just a single noise reduction option that cannot be customised, unlike many other microphones in this range that offer three levels of noise reduction. Crossbeats claims a 10-hour battery life for the microphones and 40 hours of total charge with the case. While I wasn't able to confirm the exact battery life of the mics, I did notice the battery of the supplied case dropping significantly (around 10–12 percent in around 5 minutes) after putting the mics back following 30 minutes of use, which makes me sceptical of the battery life claims. Verdict: Should you buy Crossbeats Clip M01? With a starting price of ₹ 2,999, the Crossbeats Clip M01 can be a tempting option for someone just starting out on their content creation journey. However, the durability of the supplied case, the lack of customizable noise reduction options, and concerns about battery life prevent me from fully recommending these microphones as a definitive buy.Juan Soto is the kind of player Scott Boras , his agent, will call “generational” and not be exaggerating. That’s why this year’s class was highlighted at the top by Soto, who on Sunday landed the biggest deal in pro sports history, a 15-year, $765 million contract to join the New York Mets. But with the Winter Meetings now underway, Soto won’t be the only impact talent coming off the board. Teams looking for an ace can pursue Corbin Burnes and Japanese star Roki Sasaki. Teams hunting power can shop for Pete Alonso, Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernández. Teams wanting late-game certainty can look at the likes of Tanner Scott. Advertisement Follow along as the pieces come off the board. This is your landing page for the 2024-25 MLB offseason. It’s The Athletic ’s MLB Free Agent Big Board, made up of our top 40 rankings (a composite of individual rankings by Jim Bowden, Tim Britton, Aaron Gleeman, Chad Jennings and Keith Law), stats breakdowns, contract projections, best fits and more. And whenever any player signs, check back here for instant analysis — how the fit works for the player and the team — all offseason long. Of our top 40 players, 12 have come off the board, though more megadeals will be handed out during the Winter Meetings. As much as you’ll hear about how everyone here shouldn’t make so much money, how spending in free agency never works, check out the last two World Series champions. The Texas Rangers rode World Series MVP Corey Seager , Marcus Semien and Nathan Eovaldi to a title in 2023. The Los Angeles Dodgers were lifted by World Series MVP Freddie Freeman and NL MVP Shohei Ohtani to a trophy in 2024. (No team signed more of our top 40 free agents last year than the Dodgers.) Winning in free agency often means winning next season. Some bookkeeping: The player’s listed age is how old he’ll be on June 30 of next season (and thus what age he’s considered for the full season), the stats are from the 2024 season, the WAR is from FanGraphs, the best fits are alphabetical and you can filter through by position or search by name. Yes, yes, big spenders are listed as a fit for pretty much every free agent. We’re just being realistic here. Bookmark, star, Ctrl/Cmd+D depending on your preference, and check back in all winter. In the offseason, this page is always on. Last winter’s biggest free agents were Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the transcendent star and the talented pitcher who hit the open market at only 25. This year, Soto combines Ohtani’s all-world offense with Yamamoto’s youth; he’s the first star position player to hit free agency going into his age-26 season since Bryce Harper and Manny Machado six years ago. It's really not since Alex Rodriguez in 2001 that a free agent has hit the open market this young and this accomplished. And it helps that Soto is coming off the best season of his career and a remarkable postseason that showcased all he can do in the batter’s box. Only his teammate Aaron Judge has a higher on-base percentage over the last three seasons; Soto’s never had one that didn’t start with a four. Only six players have hit more than his 76 home runs over the last two years. The proposed deals will likely be similar to how Ohtani’s deal with Los Angeles was valued in present-day dollars, at 10 years and roughly $440 million. The question is less whether Soto reaches $500 million than whether he pushes it to $600 million. How could it be anything but a home run? Incredible. Steve Cohen gets his man, and beats the Yankees in the process, with a record-setting contract that contains no deferrals and an opt-out after five years. That may seem odd, but Soto will be only 31 then and in line for another massive payday. This one tops Shohei Ohtani’s deal with the Dodgers by over $250 million after adjusting for deferrals. And the Mets have paired the NL MVP runner-up with the AL’s third-place finisher. Traded to the Orioles last winter, Burnes delivered ace-level performance for his new team. He ranked third in the American League in innings, fourth in ERA and 10th in strikeouts. He should see his name on Cy Young ballots for the fifth straight season, and he’s the best pitcher on the open market. That said, Burnes’ once-brilliant strikeout rate has fallen in each of the last four years. When the right-hander won the Cy Young with Milwaukee in 2021, he struck out hitters 50 percent more often than the average pitcher. This past year, he struck out hitters two percent more often than the average pitcher. His trademark cutter doesn’t move with the same bite or generate as many swings-and-misses as it did when he was at his best. A team pursuing Burnes will have to balance that trend with the exceptional track record of success he’s built since 2019. If you want an ace in free agency, this is still the guy. Few Japanese pitchers have been as heralded as Sasaki, who has been coveted internationally since he was a high schooler. This is a pitcher whose fastball has been clocked in the triple digits and who, at 20, threw a 19-strikeout perfect game (and backed it up with eight perfect innings and 14 Ks the next time out). The right-hander did take a step back in 2024, compiling the highest ERA of his young career, which was still about 30 percent better than the league average in NPB. Sasaki’s overall track record over the last three seasons compares well to those of Yusei Kikuchi and Kodai Senga before they signed in the majors. The key difference is Sasaki is only entering his age-23 season, so a signing team gets the entirety of his prime. There’s a really good chance, in fact, that Sasaki ends up being the most efficient free agent to add this winter. Because he’s not yet 25, Sasaki, if posted, will follow the Shohei Ohtani model, signing a minor-league contract and working through the arbitration system in the majors before hitting real free agency at six years of service time. As such, there isn't a real bidding war here, with teams having to distinguish themselves in non-financial ways. Fried’s value isn't quite at its max, as it was following a Cy Young runner-up season in 2022. He missed chunks of time in 2023 with strains of his hamstring and forearm, and he wasn’t as consistently reliable in 2024, posting his highest ERA since 2019. Oh, that ERA was still 3.25, and even in the last two down years, Fried has been a top-10 left-handed starter in the sport. Over the last five, only Houston’s Framber Valdez has been as good a lefty as Fried. Fried’s strikeout rate was in line with that of Corbin Burnes, but the trendline isn’t a concern. This is how Fried has always worked, relying more on soft contact on the ground than swing-and-miss. That approach is often undervalued in free agency. This is a home run for Fried, who gets the fourth-largest deal in MLB history for a pitcher and the most money ever for a left-hander despite a fairly checkered injury history. Pitching prices have consistently out-paced projections this offseason, and the Yankees had to add an eighth year to beat out the Red Sox, among other teams, to pair Fried with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón atop the rotation. So here we are again. Snell is back on the market, and while he isn’t coming off a Cy Young campaign this go-around, his value in free agency should be close to what it was last winter. Snell recovered from a brutal start to his time in San Francisco, likely influenced by his late signing, to turn in another ridiculous second half. Over the last two years, in games started from July 1 on, Snell’s team is 24-6 and he has pitched to a 1.29 ERA. You’ll live with the slow starts to the season and the occasional in-game inconsistency for those bottom-line results later in the year. The left-hander owns the sport’s second-best strikeout rate for a starter over the last five years, and when he's on, he possesses unhittable stuff. (See: Aug. 2 at Cincinnati.) After his initial extension with Tampa Bay and last year’s foray into free agency, he’s now entering his age-32 season, which limits how long a deal may be. This is a massive addition for the Dodgers, who add the two-time Cy Young Award winner to what has the potential to be one of baseball’s top rotations. It’s also a win for Snell and agent Scott Boras, who settled for a one-year deal last spring once his market played out poorly. But combined with this deal, Snell winds up with a total of $214 million over six years, which would have been a great outcome all along. Adames leveled up in 2024, setting new career highs in homers (32), RBIs (112) and wins above replacement (4.8, according to FanGraphs). And the shortstop is hitting free agency going into his age-29 season, a year younger than many of his peers. The downside in 2024 came with the glove, where Adames was rated below average at short by defensive runs saved. (By outs above average, Adames went from second among shortstops in 2023 to 12th.) And a position switch, maybe sooner rather than later, will have to be baked into any long-term deal here. Buster Posey makes a big splash in his first offseason running the Giants, signing Adames to a deal that narrowly beats his own as the largest in team history. This is one year beyond our six-year, $150 million projection for Adames and very similar to Dansby Swanson’s seven-year, $177 million deal from two winters ago, which is reasonable for the clear-cut top shortstop on the market. Bregman rebounded from a difficult start to the year to look basically like himself from mid-May on: an OPS around .850 with 25 homers in his last 108 games. There was one key difference from his past years, though: the collapse of his walk rate. After years spent in the teens, Bregman’s walk rate plummeted below seven percent. He attributed that earlier in the season to swinging too much, especially at borderline pitches, which led to weaker contact. He swung more than he had in any other full season in the major leagues, and he made more contact outside the strike zone than ever before. Whether that’s an aberration or a trend will color how you feel about giving an otherwise stalwart performer a deal for six or seven years and close to $200 million. Bregman remains one of the game’s best all-around players, even if he’s five years removed from his best season, when he hit 40-plus homers and finished second in the AL MVP race in 2019. A free agent is judged by a years-long track record and thousands of plate appearances — in Alonso’s case, more than 3,600 of them. And yet, a single one of them can be the most defining. When Alonso stepped to the plate in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, he hadn’t delivered an extra-base hit in two weeks. He had just five hits in his previous 40 at-bats. He looked like a chief culprit in a first-round postseason exit. And then he smashed one of the best pitches in baseball for a go-ahead three-run homer, reminding the league what his power can do and propelling the Mets on a ride all the way to the NLCS. Alonso finished the postseason with close to a 1.000 OPS, a big course correction from a pedestrian regular season. He’s a right-right first baseman on the wrong side of 30 who doesn’t do a whole lot beyond hit home runs — and even that he did less of in 2024. But he still does that one skill about as good as anyone in baseball, and he showed in October how meaningful it can be. At this time eight years ago, Cleveland was deciding whether to protect Santander from the Rule 5 draft. They ultimately left him exposed, and the Baltimore Orioles took him with the final Major League selection of the 2016 Rule 5 draft. Santander became an Orioles mainstay and hit a career-high 44 home runs this season. He also made his first All-Star Game. Having just turned 30, Santander is again available to any team, but the price tag has gone up considerably. He’s a switch hitter who offers reliable power without an astronomical strikeout rate, having slugged .476 over the past six seasons. He’s played a little bit of first base, but is otherwise limited to the outfield corners where he has a decent arm and below-average glove. For his sake, Flaherty hopes being a postseason Game 1 starter for a World Series champion translates better in this iteration of free agency than it did for Jordan Montgomery last year. Flaherty lived the pillow-contract dream in 2024: He signed a one-year deal with Detroit, pitched like an ace for four months, got traded to Los Angeles and pitched well enough to help anchor the rotation to a title. The peripherals are really where Flaherty shined. Among free-agent starters, he owns the best strikeout-to-walk ratio and the second-best strikeout rate (behind Blake Snell). Plus, he’s the only starter hitting free agency while still in his 20s — another perk of sticking to a one-year deal last winter. Unsatisfied with the lukewarm multi-year deals he was offered last winter, Hernández signed a one-year pact with the Dodgers and delivered one of the best seasons of his career. He won the Home Run Derby, came through with a couple clutch postseason knocks, came within an RBI of a 30/100 season, cut down his strikeouts and upped his walks and thus his on-base percentage. Hernández is never going to be confused with a contact hitter or an above-average defender in the corner outfield. But he’s not necessarily a liability with the glove, and his prodigious power helps mitigate his tendency to strike out. He may not be a star, but he's a useful middle-of-the-order presence for a championship club. Who among us hasn’t stepped into the backyard, grabbed a wiffle-ball bat and mimicked a favorite stance — Gary Sheffield’s waggle or Jeff Bagwell’s crouch or Tony Batista’s look-you-straight-in-the-eye set-up? Such was the spirit animating Manaea’s decision, four months into a moderately successful bounceback campaign, to just pitch like Chris Sale. Now, when you or I pretend to be Sheffield in the backyard, we don’t become a 500-homer hitter. When Manaea started throwing like Sale, well, he started performing an awful lot like the Cy Young candidate. From that point in late July forward, he led baseball in innings, with an ERA just over 3.00 and a top-10 strikeout rate among starters. He carried that into the postseason, with excellent starts against the Phillies and Dodgers before running out of gas in the final game of the NLCS. Manaea thus re-enters free agency in a far stronger position than each of the last two winters, when he signed two-year deals with opt-outs. He’s positioned himself as a potential No. 2 starter who should sign for at least three years. Injuries have plagued Eovaldi throughout his career, but when healthy, he has been a steady starting pitcher. He’s been noticeably better in his 30s than he was in his 20s. Over the past three seasons, Eovaldi averaged 25 starts with a 3.76 ERA. He doesn’t strike out a ton of batters, but he doesn’t walk a ton either (since 2022, Eovaldi ranks 21st in strikeout-to-walk ratio, in between Cy Young winners Corbin Burnes and Sandy Alcantara). He’s coming off another solid year with a 1.107 WHIP and 3.80 ERA across 29 starts, the third-most in his career. Contenders in need of a veteran presence — but not necessarily 180-plus innings — could see Eovaldi as a mid-rotation presence whose big-game experience looms large come October. His postseason track record is impeccable, and Evoaldi has already won championships with the Red Sox and Rangers. Many questioned the Astros at the trade deadline for giving up a valuable three-prospect package for Kikuchi, who, at the time, had a 4.75 ERA with the Blue Jays. With the Astros, though, Kikuchi threw fewer curveballs and more sliders, and he delivered a 2.70 ERA over the season’s final two months. His free agent value might depend on whether teams believe that late-season change had unlocked a higher level. Prior to the end of last season, Kikuchi had been more steady than sensational. He was an All-Star in 2021 but finished that season with a slightly below-average 93 ERA+, and he has an underwhelming 91 ERA+ for his career. The past two seasons, though, Kikuchi has an above-average 105 ERA+ while making 32 starts each year. He could offer dependability with, perhaps, some upside if he can maintain those late-season improvements. Our own Tim Britton gets a homer for nailing Kikuchi’s exact contract projection at three years and $63 million. As for the deal itself, it’s a logical midpoint between the inconsistent and often mediocre pitcher Kikuchi has been for most of his MLB career and the front-line starter he was after the trade to Houston. His landing with the Angels rather than a more traditional contender is the only surprise. Christian Walker didn’t get regular playing time in the majors until age 28, but the late-blooming slugger has turned into one of MLB’s best all-around first basemen. He’s topped an .800 OPS and won a Gold Glove award in three straight seasons while averaging 32 homers per 150 games. One of baseball’s premier defenders, Walker led all NL first basemen with 14 Outs Above Average in 2024. He might be too old to secure a big long-term payday, but Walker should have a sizable short-term market and could be seen by some teams as an appealing alternative to Pete Alonso given the likely massive gap in price tag. September shoulder surgery came at the worst possible time for Kim, who was unavailable to the Padres in the playoffs and now has a big question mark attached to his free agency. He’s unlikely to be ready by Opening Day, and any loss of arm strength would put a dent in his value. At 29 years old, Kim is young enough to secure a multi-year deal as the second-best shortstop on the market behind Willy Adames. He’s an excellent fielder with a career .706 OPS that’s slightly above league average for the defense-driven position. He’s also proven to be a standout second baseman if a move is needed. It took more than a decade after he was baseball’s No. 1 prospect, but Profar finally had an All-Star season. Available for just $1 million last offseason thanks to a terrible 2023 campaign, Profar blew away his previous career highs in nearly every major category by combining elite-level hard-hit metrics with one of the league’s lowest strikeout rates. Still, most of the ex-shortstop’s defensive flexibility is long gone, and Profar still hasn’t produced an above-average OPS in consecutive years, so a sizable multi-year investment would carry a lot of risk — or at least require a lot of faith that this is his new normal. An All-Star in each of his first two Major League seasons, Torres has settled in as more of a good everyday player than a great one. He hasn’t been an All-Star since 2019, and since 2020 he ranks 12th among Major League second basemen in fWAR. He’s an above-average hitter (109 wRC+ the past five years) but has negative defensive metrics. However, a strong second half did give Torres a solid platform year heading into free agency. After struggling early in the season, Torres had a .780 OPS after the All-Star break and a .744 OPS in the playoffs. He was the Yankees’ leadoff hitter late in the season and proved himself as a capable table-setter. Torres might not be the superstar many expected, but at a position that’s relatively thin, plenty of teams could see him as a worthwhile upgrade. Tantalizing but extremely wild early in his career, Scott has emerged as one of the game’s top left-handed relievers by improving his walk rate from abysmal to merely run-of-the-mill bad. He was a first-time All-Star last season, despite walking 4.5 per nine innings, because his upper-90s fastball and high-80s slider are among the most overpowering combos in baseball. Scott has a 2.04 ERA with 188 strikeouts in 150 innings over the past two seasons while shutting down both lefties (.167) and righties (.194), making him a near-lock to secure the biggest payday of any reliever in this free-agent class, even if some teams are scared away by his erratic pre-2023 work. Bieber appeared to be back to his Cy Young-winning form by beginning the season with a 20-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 12 scoreless innings, but that came to a screeching halt with Tommy John surgery in mid-April. His rehab will likely stretch into next season, so Bieber might have to choose between a short-term deal driven by incentives or a longer-term deal for a discounted annual salary. Interested suitors will have to decide how much those two great April starts canceled out what had been a multi-year deadline in which Bieber’s strikeout rate plummeted from 41 percent in 2020 to 20 percent in 2023. At his healthiest, Bieber is one of baseball’s elite starters, but no one can be certain that version still exists. This deal makes sense for both sides and the money fits our projection. Bieber can finish his rehab and then try to rebuild his value in the pitcher-friendly environment of the only organization he’s known, with the option to stay with the Guardians for 2026 or re-enter the free-agent market — healthy and still just 30 years old — if his comeback goes especially well. It was a very fruitful October for Buehler, who shined during the Dodgers’ title run to end his comeback from Tommy John surgery on a high note after mostly struggling in the regular season. Buehler had a career 3.02 ERA with 690 strikeouts in 630 innings before going under the knife for the second time in late 2022, so some teams could view this as a chance to lock in a front-line starter to a below-market long-term deal. But he’s also still young enough to opt for a one-year deal to fully recoup his value with an eye on a huge payday next offseason. Either way, any window to sign Buehler to a bargain-rate contract surely closed after his Game 5 heroics. Health issues and inconsistent playing time have dogged O’Neill for much of his career, but when healthy, he’s provided an intriguing mix of power, speed and defense. This past season was his first outside of the Cardinals organization, and O’Neill largely returned to form with the Red Sox. He hit 31 home runs and slugged .511, but he also played only 113 games as he went on the IL three times and the Red Sox regularly limited his workload in an effort to keep him healthy. At his best, O’Neill can be a valuable run producer, and he’s won two Gold Gloves in left field. His sprint speed was down the past two years — it used to be elite — but he still moves well for a power hitter. His strikeout rate was up this season, but so was his walk rate. He has been especially productive against lefties (.923 career OPS) and won’t turn 30 until late June. O’Neill signs a contract with terms more or less as expected, and he lands with a team that desperately needed some right-handed power, and one that has the lineup depth to absorb the injury concerns and workload limits that are O’Neill’s greatest downside. Good fit for the Orioles. Good contract for O’Neill. Starters who sign for one year generally fall into two different buckets: the back-end innings eaters, and the risk/reward arms where you hope to recapture the past. The Mets thought they were getting the latter with Severino, and instead he became a high-end version of the former. Utilizing a sinker for soft contact and early outs, Severino made 31 regular-season starts and threw 182 innings — or nearly as many as he’d compiled in his previous five seasons combined. He was a reliable mid-rotation starter for New York, consistently keeping the Mets in games and taking big starts in the postseason. With his health and innings re-established, Severino thinks there’s more in the tank, notably how to bring back an elevated strikeout rate. It’s probably an overpay, but that might also be what it takes to get a veteran to commit to multiple years with a franchise this unstable. For the A’s, this deal offers stability with upside. If Severino can simply repeat his 2024 results, he’ll be a solid innings eater who gives their young offense a chance to win. If he can improve his strikeout rate, he could perhaps be a little more than that. For Severino, it’s a richer-than-expected payday that lets him be a No. 1 starter again, and if that goes especially well — if his strikeouts do improve — he can opt out before he turns 33 and try to cash in one more time. Hoffman was a bust until, quite suddenly, he wasn’t. Drafted ninth overall in 2014, Hoffman bounced through four organizations before, at age 30, signing a minor league deal with the Phillies in March of 2023. In the two years since, he’s been one of the best relievers in baseball with a 0.94 WHIP, 12 strikeouts per nine innings, and the 14th-best Win Probability Added. He’s coming off a career-best 10 saves, 2.17 ERA, and his first All-Star selection. Hoffman throws mostly fastballs and sliders, with a split finger for left-handed hitters, and despite his limited ninth-inning experience, he should be one of the most coveted relievers on the market. Hoffman’s never made more than $2.2 million a year. That’s about to change. Martinez has been so effective as a swingman since returning from Japan in 2022 that it seems inevitable he’ll get a well-paid chance at a full-time starting gig. He’s topped 100 innings with a sub-3.50 ERA in three straight seasons, making at least nine starts in each year. And while his 2.98 ERA as a multi-inning reliever is very good, his 3.62 ERA in 35 total starts is what should get Martinez paid enough to justify turning down his $12 million player option with the Reds for 2025. He received a surprising qualifying offer, which would guarantee him $21 million if accepted. Martinez isn’t without risk due to the limited track record, but he has the deep pitch mix of a starter and could have untapped upside. Of the 13 free agents to receive a qualifying offer, Martinez was the only player to accept the one-year, $21.05 million contract. He opted to return to the Reds despite reports of multi-year interest from other teams, choosing a bigger 2025 salary over a longer-term deal. It’s a good outcome for the Reds and a risk for Martinez at 34, but he’ll be a free agent next offseason without draft-pick compensation attached. Playing for his fifth team in five years, Pederson had his best season at 32 years old. Now, he’s back on the market for any contenders in need of a left-handed thump. Pederson lost a ton of speed and athleticism, and is now more of a beefed-up designated hitter than a corner outfielder, but he can always mash right-handed pitching and he’s improved his plate discipline, too. He’s one of the market’s best lefty bats, hitting .267 with an .870 OPS against righties over the past three seasons, but a lack of defensive value and platoon-worthy struggles against lefties shrink his potential options. Something similar to last winter’s one-year, $12.5 million deal makes the most sense. Acquired by the Yankees at the 2021 trade deadline, Holmes was little more than a middle-innings arm with a 5.57 career ERA. Keyword: was. He quickly blossomed into a legitimate closer, earning two All-Star nominations through his age-31 season. With a sinker/sweeper mix, Holmes had 74 saves and a 2.69 ERA in his three-plus seasons with the Yankees. He was an All-Star again in 2024, and although he lost the closer job late in the year, he returned to form in the playoffs and was crucial in getting the Yankees to the World Series. Interested teams could see him as a closer or as a veteran bridge to the ninth inning, either of which would be far more valuable than what the Yankees seemed to be getting a little more than three years ago. Back in 2021, Holmes was traded at the deadline for a couple of non-prospects. That’s all it cost to control him for the next 3 1/2 years. Now he’s signed a three-year deal at more than $12 million per season. And apparently, he’s a starter again? Holmes thrived as a late-inning reliever for the Yankees, but he hasn’t started since 2018. The Mets can always fall back on moving him back to the bullpen, but this feels like a modest gamble. We’ll grade it a single for now, but one on which the batter is running hard out of the box trying to make something happen. An All-Star closer with the Angels in 2023, Estévez was even better in 2024. His strikeout rate dipped, but his walk rate plummeted, and he did a far better job at limiting runs. The Phillies traded for him at the deadline, and he finished the campaign with 26 saves, a 2.45 ERA, and 0.91 WHIP with 8.2 strikeouts and 2.0 walks per nine. Estévez leans heavily on a 97-mph fastball and complements it with a slider and the occasional changeup. His strikeout rate has fluctuated over the years, and 2024 marked a significant improvement in his walk rate. He’s one of several free agent relievers who has experience as both a setup man and as a closer. For the first time in his career, Paul Goldschmidt was classified as a below-average hitter, after posting career-worst numbers across the board. Just two seasons removed from a 177 OPS+ MVP campaign, Goldschmidt had a 98 OPS+ over 154 games. At 37 years old, he can still hit the ball plenty hard, but his once-excellent strike-zone control has deteriorated, with his strikeout rate jumping and walk rate plummeting. That’s typically a very bad sign for a late-30s slugger, but the seven-time All-Star continued to feast on lefties and the Hall of Fame-caliber résumé should convince some contenders to pursue a bounce-back bet with a relatively modest one-year deal. After missing most of 2022 and all of 2023 with shoulder problems, Blake Treinen was back to his usual dominant self in 2024. Between the regular season and the Dodgers’ World Series playoff run, he posted a 1.98 ERA and 74-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 59 innings, overpowering hitters with his mid-90s sinker and a sweeper that can be close to unhittable. Treinen’s age and injury history will likely limit him to short-term deals, but contenders should be lining up to add him on a high-salary one- or even two-year deal. And they may have to get in line behind the Dodgers. Treinen staying with Los Angeles always made sense for both sides because of the Dodgers’ ability to limit his regular-season workload with a focus on having him at full strength for their inevitable postseason berth. They can also afford the risk of a two-year investment in a 36-year-old with Treinen’s injury history, and $11 million per season is roughly the going rate for high-end setup men. Tim Britton had projected a one-year deal worth $12 million. Pivetta is a durable innings eater who can, at times, do more than just eat innings. His strikeout rate the past two years was fourth-best in the majors among pitchers with at least 250 innings, and his 4.09 ERA the past two seasons is comparable to that of Dylan Cease (4.00), Aaron Nola (4.01) and Joe Ryan (4.10). Granted, some of Pivetta’s productivity came out of the bullpen in the second half of 2023, but his best stretches have been impressive, even if they’ve been mixed with patches of vulnerability and inconsistency. At the very least, though, Pivetta has been available. When he missed most of April with a flexor strain, it was his first extended IL stint in the big leagues. He has otherwise been healthy and capable of 30-plus starts. That half season out of the bullpen in 2023 was strong , and he was able to move quickly back into the rotation late in the year. In his 20s, Yates was a fringe Major League reliever who’d gone undrafted out of college. In his 30s, he’s been a closer and two-time All-Star, and at 37, he’s coming off one of the best seasons of his career. Pushed into ninth-inning duty after José Leclerc struggled out of the gate, Yates finished with 33 saves and a career-best 1.17 ERA with the Rangers. He was an All-Star and finished behind only Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase in Win Probability Added. Walks come with the territory, but so do strikeouts as Yates generates plenty of swing and miss without extreme velocity. He turns 38 in March, so there will be some age concern, but when healthy, Yates has been a reliable late-inning arm with plenty of ninth-inning experience. There’s nothing particularly flashy about Heaney, but he’s become a reliable back-end starter who’s good for 150-plus innings. That alone is valuable. Over his past two seasons with the Rangers, he averaged 30 starts and a 4.22 ERA. He strikes out roughly a batter an inning, and his walk rate normalized this past season after spiking in 2023. He’s a lefty, but he hasn’t had extreme left-right splits in recent years. At a time when even the World Series champs had to scramble for arms, Heaney’s value comes not in his top-of-the-rotation dominance, but in his bottom-of-the-rotation dependability. He spent the past two seasons with the Rangers, averaging 30 starts and a 4.22 ERA. Kepler’s decade-long stint with Minnesota ended with a whimper, as he sat out the Twins’ stretch run with a knee injury. He finished his 2024 season with a career-worst 91 OPS+ over 105 games, down from his 120 OPS+ in 2023. Still, Kepler remains a quality defensive right fielder, despite shedding speed. Teams will have to contend with the fact that Kepler has posted a below-average OPS in three of the past four seasons, and his once-strong plate discipline has abandoned him. His best fit is likely as a platoon bat, particularly as he has a .221/.292/.363 slash line against lefties, even as an everyday player. Minnesota has moved on, and it’s tough to imagine many contenders viewing him as more than a stop-gap option. But the mix of recent 25-homer power and a still-low strikeout rate remains somewhat enticing. A Nippon Professional Baseball right-hander, Sugano was originally posted after the 2020 season, but he didn’t land a contract and re-signed with the Yomiuri Giants. Entering his age-35 season, Sugano is once again testing the MLB market, coming off his best year since 2020. His ERA was 70 percent better than league average in Japan’s Central League, though over the two seasons prior, he was statistically a league-average arm. That track record aligns him with other NPB-turned-MLB starters like Kaz Ishii and Masato Yoshii — so a serviceable starter, but not a front-line pitcher. Sugano’s age will limit interest. The other concern will be his drop in strikeouts over the last several years. In 2024, he struck out batters less often than the league average in NPB, which features significantly fewer punchouts than in MLB. A team signing Sugano will be subjected to a posting fee, paying 20 percent of the first $25 million, 17.5 percent of the next $25 million, and 15 percent of anything over $50 million, making his contract prospects dicey. Matthew Boyd has a career 4.85 ERA and hasn’t started more than 15 games in a season since 2019, but his 11 late-season starts with the Guardians (including the playoffs) while returning from Tommy John surgery were awfully enticing. He had a 2.27 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings and was nearly all the way back to his peak fastball velocity at 91-93 mph. Boyd can miss bats with three pitches and, for two months at least, his previous homer issues weren’t a problem. He should be swimming in one-year offers and might be able to coax out a two-year deal. Boyd was projected to land a one-year deal worth $11 million. But he was able to land a two-year deal despite not throwing 80 innings in a season since 2019, contributing to an early batch of signings that suggest a strong demand for starting pitching. There’s lots of risk in the second year, but Chicago needed the mid-rotation depth and Boyd has more immediate upside than a typical rehab flier. Much like the Mets as a whole, Quintana managed to turn around his 2024 season. A mid-May ERA of nearly 5.50 became a 3.21 ERA over his final 23 starts. In the postseason, he spun a pair of outings without an earned run in postseason clinchers in the Wild Card Series and NLDS. If you’re wondering just how Quintana was able to do that, you’d be justified. Simply put, he threw fewer pitchers in the strike zone than any other NL starter. He doesn’t generate swing-and-miss, and he didn’t stop walking hitters or giving up homers, either. But he generally stays off the barrel of the bat, though it’s worth noting that his FIP was in the mid-fours, suggesting a fair bit of luck was involved. Verdugo was a key piece of the 2020 trade that sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers, and initially looked like the Red Sox’s new franchise right fielder. He certainly played the part in his first season, posting a 123 OPS+ with a 12th-place MVP finish. Verdugo’s offensive production has declined every year since, including an 83 OPS+ this past season with the Yankees. He remains a good defender in the outfield corners, and he doesn’t swing and miss or strike out much, but he also doesn’t barrel the ball very often. In the postseason, he was relegated to the Yankees’ No. 9 slot, and his left-right splits suggest he might fit best in a platoon. Scherzer spent parts of 2024 on the IL, first recovering from offseason back surgery, then shoulder fatigue and again with a strained hamstring. He’s made only one big league appearance since July 30, but he did pitch pretty well when active. In all, he made just nine starts in 2024, posting a 3.95 ERA. It marked the first full season since his debut in which he failed to make at least 23 starts (and only the second in which he failed to make at least 27). Though he turned 40 in July, Scherzer has indicated that he wants to pitch one more season, putting his Cooperstown bid on hold for the time being. His workload has meaningfully declined in recent years, and he’s surely not the 200-inning beast of his prime, but he remains Max Scherzer. We’ll soon find out what that means as he approaches his 41st birthday. While no longer the All-Star caliber 30-homer hitter he was with the Mets a half-decade ago, Conforto had a sneaky good 2024 — his best full season since 2019. A remarkable 17 of his 20 home runs came away from San Francisco’s Oracle Park, and his OPS was 220 points higher on the road (.852 vs. .632). Analytically, he made significant strides with his batted-ball data, hitting the ball harder more often, with a big jump in barrels. Conforto still stays disciplined in the strike zone and draws a fair amount of walks. He’s hitting lefties better than ever before, albeit in a still limited sample (95 at-bats). However, his outfield defense cratered in 2020 and has never really come back, so he straddles the line between a corner outfielder and a DH. It’s a home run for Conforto, who gets 70 percent more than we expected and gets to chase a World Series ring, and it’s probably a double for the Dodgers, who badly needed some outfield help and can clearly afford the upcharge. So, we’ll split the difference and call it a triple. Conforto was a really good hitter away from Oracle Park last year, and he’s a nice fit for a Dodgers team that lost Teoscar Hernández to free agency and plans to use Mookie Betts back in the infield. Last year’s attempt to use Jason Heyward for some left-handed balance fell flat. Conforto should be better. • Bowden’s rankings published Oct. 24, prior to contract option decisions. • Law’s rankings published Nov. 1; updated Nov. 4. (Top illustration of Juan Soto , Alex Bregman and Corbin Burnes: Kelsea Peterson / The Athletic ; Photos: Scott Taetsch, Meg Oliphant, Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images )

The fast food industry is no stranger to recalls. Some of the most impactful recalls in history have , with the latter infamously sparking an E. coli outbreak in the 1990s that's credited with permanently changing how the industry handled beef. One chain has managed to mostly avoid the recall spotlight: Chick-fil-A. America's favorite fast food chicken chain has maintained a shockingly clean recall record — but it's not totally spotless. With its first restaurant debuting in 1967, Chick-fil-A holds over five decades of experience in the industry. While these years have been blighted by the occasional controversy (primarily related to its history of ), few have related to food safety. In fact, we only managed to dig up a measly total of five recalls, with only three relating to its actual food and just one of these three caused by bacterial contamination. That's a pretty good history, especially when you compare it to the track record of some Chick-fil-A competitors. Here's a rundown of Chick-fil-A's relatively light recall history. Chick-fil-A Polynesian Sauce (2024) The , but its dipping sauces aren't too far behind. The chain boasts seven different flavors, with the most famous being its eponymous Chick-fil-A Sauce. On its heels is the Polynesian sauce, a sweet and sour sauce with just the right amount of tang. Back in March 2024, however, Chick-fil-A was forced to recall the sauce en masse because it had too much tang. The explanation behind the Polynesian sauce's tang was that there had been a mixup during the packaging process. Some tubs of Polynesian Sauce actually contained Chick-fil-A's sriracha. The big concern wasn't the extra heat in the sriracha sauce, but rather the fact that it contained wheat and soy, neither of which were declared on the Polynesian sauce packaging. In an effort to keep the mismatched tubs out of the hands (and mouths) of those with wheat or soy allergies, Chick-fil-A conducted a mass recall across 27 states and encouraged customers to they may have taken home between February 14 and February 27, 2024. Fortunately, the issue didn't impact the bottles of sauce sold in grocery stores, meaning customers could still get their Polynesian sauce fix until the matter was resolved. Chick-fil-A products with romaine lettuce (2018) Chick-fil-A's only contamination-related incident on this list occurred in 2018, when it was caught up in not one but two nationwide recalls. On both occasions, the FDA had tracked an ongoing E. coli outbreak in the U.S. and Canada to romaine lettuce, sparking Chick-fil-A — plus multiple other fast food restaurants — to temporarily pause sales of anything containing said lettuce. That meant (although its Deluxe Sandwich was good to go, as it uses green leaf lettuce). While the first outbreak ran from March to June, the second spanned from October to December. Both outbreaks combined saw 272 people infected and 121 hospitalized. These numbers included the illness of Eunice Cintron, a California resident who experienced gastrointestinal symptoms after ordering a Spicy Southwest Salad from a Chick-fil-A in Sacramento. She was later diagnosed with E. coli O157 with Shiga toxin and colitis, and the symptoms were severe. Cintron rated her stomach pain as a 10/10 and compared it to a "stabbing" sensation, (via ), ultimately spending seven days in hospital before returning home. This experience is all too common with E. coli, with some infections even proving fatal to those with more vulnerable immune systems. For every E. coli-related recall that ends with zero cases of illness, there's a handful more that, like this, came too late to prevent the worst. Chick-fil-A Chocolate Chunk Cookies (2016) More allergen fears triggered a Chick-fil-A recall in 2016. This time, it was the possibility that its Chocolate Chunk Cookies contained traces of peanuts that led the chain to temporarily stop selling the baked goods altogether. As per its supplier, CSM Bakery Solutions, there was a slight risk that the cookies — which are listed as nut-free in Chick-fil-A's official allergen guide — had come into contact with peanuts during production, making them potentially dangerous to those with severe allergies. Not only did Chick-fil-A press pause on cookie sales, but it also asked anyone who had purchased but not yet eaten the cookies before April 22 to return them to the store for a refund ASAP. Personally, our cookies are fully demolished within mere minutes of purchase, but we're sure there were some customers out there with stronger self-control who may have had one or two lying around. Luckily, it seems like nobody with a severe allergy did eat the cookie, as no cases were ever linked to Chick-fil-A. Unfortunately for Chocolate Chunk Cookie fans, the whole debacle did mean that they were unavailable for a week or so before returning in a limited capacity until Chick-fil-A could restore its regular stock in May. Jim Henson's Creature Shop Puppet toys (2012) Chick-fil-A's history with the LGBTQ+ community has been rocky, to say the least, and once even directly played into a massive product recall. The fast food chain has a history of , a practice that it vowed to stop for good in 2019. Seven years earlier, however, its former CEO, Dan Cathy — son of Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy — openly pledged himself against gay marriage when he told that he believed in the "Biblical definition of the family unit." Responses were overwhelmingly strong, with gay rights activist groups staging a "kiss day" at restaurants nationwide and The Jim Henson Company severing its partnership with the company. "The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years and we have notified Chick-fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors," it said on , having recently collaborated on a line of Creature Shop puppet toys for Chick-fil-A's kids' meals. "Lisa Henson, our CEO, is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-fil-A to GLAAD." A day before the statement went public, Chick-fil-A announced a mass recall of said toys and offered young customers an Icedream Cone as a replacement. While it insisted this was due to a potential safety risk, not The Jim Henson Company's decision to cut ties, not everyone was convinced by the timing. Planet Discovery Kids Meal toy (2001) Over a decade before Chick-fil-A pulled Jim Henson's Creature Shop Puppets, it performed a far-less scandalous toy recall. In 2001, the chain pulled the plug on its line of Planet Discovery toys, which had been distributed at over 800 Chick-fil-A restaurants over the course of two years. Each Planet Discovery toy was shaped like the sun, moon, or a different planet. Each came with an attached suction cup that could be used to attach it to a flat surface like tables or windows. However, the issue was that this suction cup wasn't particularly secure and could easily detach and pose a choking hazard. Chick-fil-A had received seven reports of the suction cup coming off, with one incident of a child choking on the cup until the parent managed to remove it from their mouth. Unsurprisingly, Chick-fil-A moved pretty quickly at that point. An estimated 3.8 million units of the toy (which ironically came bearing the warning "Parents: This toy has been safety-tested for children of all ages") were recalled nationwide, (via the ). Recommended

Police reportedly searched South Korea President Yoon's office on as part of an investigation into his six hour martial law declaration that has sparked massive backlash in the country. The same day, reports emerged that his already detained ex-defense minster attempted suicide. The fallout from South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law continues amid reports of his office being raided and his former defense minister attempting suicide. > 24/7 San Diego news stream: Watch NBC 7 free wherever you are Police searched the president's office on Wednesday as part of an investigation into the six-hour martial law declaration that has sparked massive backlash in political turmoil in the country, according to a report from local news agency Yonhap. Yoon was reportedly absent from the building when police arrived to gather materials. Raids were also conducted at the offices of the Seoul Metropolitan Police and the National Assembly Police Guards, police told Yonhap. Amid the raids, the chief of South Korea's Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials told reporters that it would seek to detain and arrest Yoon if the necessary conditions are met. South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik also told reporters Wednesday that he had invoked his authority to conduct a parliamentary probe into Yoon, calling for the formation of a special committee to handle the investigation. Already, Yoon's former defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, had been detained on insurrection charges related to an investigation of his part in the six hours of martial law. Money Report CNBC Daily Open: Is quantum computing viable? Jim Cramer suggests Oracle can be bought on weakness and C3.ai sold into strength On Wednesday, in his eastern Seoul detention facility, the ex-official made an attempt on his life, according to a Yonhap report . The head of the correctional center told lawmakers during a parliamentary hearing that Kim has since been placed in a protective cell and his health remains stable, the report added. The events come amid continued calls from opposition lawmakers, civil groups and protestors for Yoon to be removed from office. South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party (DP) is reportedly set to introduce a second impeachment motion against Yoon Wednesday, after the president survived an earlier parliamentary vote on Saturday. While members of Yoon's party l eft parliament ahead of the impeachment vote, its leader has since said the president would step down. Also on CNBC China ramps up Wall Street meetings as Trump inauguration looms Alaska Airlines plans new nonstop flights to Japan, Korea Surprise RBI governor pick could pave the way for India rate cut as soon as February, economists sayPresident-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he has selected Charles Kushner as his pick for ambassador to France. Mr Kushner is a real-estate developer and the father of Jared Kushner, husband of his daughter Ivanka Trump. Trump pardoned Mr Kushner during his first term, waving away a federal conviction in 2020. In a post to his social media site Truth Social, Trump said Mr Kushner is "a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests". The nomination appears to be the first administration position that Trump has formally offered to a relative since his re-election. Alongside many other presidential picks, ambassador appointments must be approved by a majority vote in the US Senate. It's not clear what role Mr Kushner's background might play in a confirmation hearing. The elder Kushner pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion, campaign finance offences and witness tampering and was sentenced to two years in prison in 2005. Among the evidence presented in court, prosecutors said Mr Kushner targeted a brother-in-law who was cooperating with authorities against him. He hired a prostitute to seduce the man, intending to intimidate him by sending video footage to his wife - Mr Kushner's sister. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in the latest Republican primary, prosecuted the case at the time and called it “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he had seen. Jared Kushner served as an advisor during the first Trump administration, when Trump extended a pardon to Charles Kushner in a batch of announcements that also included pardons for former campaign manager Paul Manafort and ex-adviser Roger Stone. In his announcement post on Saturday, Trump praised Jared Kushner's work and said he looked forward to working with Charles Kushner. "Together, we will strengthen America’s partnership with France, our oldest Ally, & one of our greatest!"Rodgers & Associates LTD Grows Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Hugo D. Almonte, Khalid’s Ex, Apologizes For “Outing” The Singer

The Ukrainian president said the use of a ballistic missile to hit Dnipro was a “clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war” and he warned that Russian president Mr Putin would attack or destabilise other countries unless stopped. Mr Putin said the use of the new weapon was in response to the UK and US allowing missiles they have supplied to Ukraine to be used to strike targets in Russia. “In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the Ukrainian defence industry,” Mr Putin said in a televised address. “One of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested in combat conditions, in this case, with a ballistic missile in a non-nuclear hypersonic warhead.” He added: “We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.” But Mr Zelensky urged world leaders – his “dear partners” – not to be cowed by Mr Putin’s actions otherwise there will be “endless Russian strikes” and “not just against Ukraine”. “A lack of tough reactions to Russia’s actions sends a message that such behavior is acceptable,” the Ukrainian president said on X, formerly Twitter. “This is what Putin is doing. Putin must feel the cost of his deranged ambitions. “Response is needed. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength. “Otherwise, there will be endless Russian strikes, threats, and destabilisation-not just against Ukraine.” The UK is believed to have allowed its Storm Shadow missiles to be used by Ukrainian forces within the Kursk region of Russia, while the US has given permission for its ATACMS weapons to be fired at targets in Mr Putin’s country. Mr Putin confirmed Russia has tested the new intermediate-range weapon in an attack on Dnipro in response. The US said the weapon was a new, experimental intermediate-range missile based on Russia’s existing RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. In Westminster, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “My understanding is that it is the first time that Russia has used a ballistic missile in Ukraine with a range of several thousand kilometres.” Defence Secretary John Healey said it was “yet another example of Putin’s recklessness”. He said: “Since the illegal invasion of Ukraine began, Russia has consistently and irresponsibly escalated the conflict while Ukraine continues to fight in self-defence for a democratic future.” The missile’s range far outstrips that of newly authorised US and British-supplied weapons, which can hit targets around 250-300km away. The distance from Moscow to London is around 2,500km, suggesting the range of the new missile could threaten the UK. Mr Healey said the UK knew Russia had been “preparing for months” to fire a new ballistic missile. Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence have repeatedly declined to comment publicly on Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow. “It risks both operational security and in the end the only one that benefits from such a public debate is President Putin,” Mr Healey told MPs. The head of the UK’s armed forces, Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, met Mr Zelensky in Kyiv to discuss the war on Thursday. Mr Zelensky said: “We discussed defence co-operation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom, focusing on developing and enhancing the technological capabilities of the armed forces of Ukraine. “Particular attention was given to Ukraine’s current military needs and the continued support from our partners.”Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreams

It's been just over three decades since Nebraska earned consecutive NCAA Tournament bids. With depth pieces such as Andrew Morgan and Connor Essegian supplementing the team's core of Brice Williams and Juwan Gary, the Cornhuskers might have what it takes to trudge through the stacked Big Ten Conference and make the NCAA field again in March. Nebraska will try to take another step toward that goal Monday night in Honolulu with a semifinal matchup in the Diamond Head Classic against the host school, Hawaii. The winner will advance to the championship game on Christmas Day against either Oakland or Oregon State, who will play in the first semifinal on Monday. Morgan and Essegian came off the bench in Sunday's 66-49 win over Murray State to combine for 27 points. Morgan, a North Dakota State transfer, collected 12 points and 12 rebounds for his first double-double with Nebraska (8-2). The 6-foot-10, 242-pound Morgan has proved to be a solid replacement for senior Rienk Mast, who's sitting out the year after sustaining a knee injury last season. "Andrew gives us a lot of the same skill level that Rienk has," Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg said. "I've been really, really impressed with Andrew and his physicality." Williams averages a team-high 17.9 points per game, even after his string of nine games in double figures to start the season was snapped Sunday as he managed just nine points. Essegian is averaging 13.2 points per game, while Gary chips in 10.8. Meanwhile, the Rainbow Warriors (7-3) earned their shot at Nebraska by dumping Charlotte 78-61 in the final quarterfinal on Sunday. Hawaii took a 44-31 halftime lead, riding the 1-2 punch of Gytis Nemeiksa and Marcus Greene to the win. Nemeiksa, a Xavier transfer, scored 24 points and is averaging a team-high 15 points per game, while Greene bagged 22 to up his season average to 12.7. Rainbow Warriors coach Eran Ganot said this summer that the 6-8 Nemeiksa would have an immediate impact despite averaging just 5.2 points per game last season. "You can see the talent and size and ability," Ganot said. "He has a tremendous work ethic and a love for the game. He's a potential all-conference player." --Field Level Media