(The Center Square) – Legislators in Washington, D.C., have taken a number of steps over the past few days to push for insurance and pharmaceutical reforms to be passed before the end of the year. On Wednesday, a bicameral group of Republican and Democrat lawmakers held a press conference discussing the need for pharmacy benefit manager reform to protect small pharmacies across the country and “save lives.” “Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or an independent, we all want the same thing. We want accessible, affordable, quality health care,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga. “We’re not here today to just discuss one bill or to discuss just one patient’s story. We're here because there's broad, bipartisan pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, reform that is needed to save lives.” Pharmacy benefit managers are the middlemen responsible for managing the drug prices covered by health insurance plans. According to the Harvard Political Review , the problem with pharmacy benefit managers is that they “have vertically integrated with pharmacy chains and health insurers through massive conglomerates.” That then allows them to abuse their power to cut out small pharmacies and increase prices. Carter also signed a letter that was released last week calling on the Department of Justice to dig into the role pharmacy benefit managers played in the opioid epidemic. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., Deborah Ross, D-N.C., and Cliff Benz, R-Ore., all joined him in signing that letter. “The opioid crisis has devastated communities in North Carolina and across the country, and PBMs may have fueled it by prioritizing profits over people,” Ross said on social media . “That’s why I joined a letter calling on the DOJ to investigate their role and hold these bad actors accountable.” The letter looked at recent reports on the largest pharmacy benefit managers, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx which state that they “colluded and conspired to steer patients towards OxyContin in exchange for $400 million.” OxyContin is a trade name for the narcotic oxycodone hydrochloride, a painkiller available by prescription only. This and the general “lack of transparency” is just one of the many complaints that legislators aired on Wednesday. “My colleagues who are joining me today, Democrats and Republicans ... all recognize that PBMs are decreasing the accessibility, the affordability, and therefore the quality of health care in America,” Carter said. “We have an opportunity, right now, to advance bipartisan legislation that increases reporting requirements, which would heighten transparency and shine a light on the opaque practices of these PBMs.” Carter was also joined by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who is leading the effort to get legislation passed in the U.S. Senate. “This year, we're losing about one pharmacy a day in America,” Lankford said. “We want leadership to be able to take this up and to bring it up in the end-of-year package ... Stop holding up legislation that is bipartisan, bicameral, and solving a problem that Americans need solved.”

Should You Buy Snowflake Stock After Its Spectacular Earnings Results?Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is checking off another item on her bucket list: Broadway. Jackson will appear in a one-night performance of the musical comedy “& Juliet” on Saturday, according to an Instagram post from the Broadway show. The role is a walk-on, which does not typically include any lines of dialogue. Jackson will also participate in a special “talkback” after the performance, according to the social media post. RELATED STORY | Could Democrats pressure Justice Sotomayor to step down for replacement? In her recently published memoir, "Lovely One," Jackson wrote about her dreams of becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court and appear on a Broadway stage. Now, it seems that her once-teenage dreams will come true. The show begins at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 14 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York City.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A machinists strike. Another safety problem involving its troubled top-selling airliner. A plunging stock price. 2024 was already a dispiriting year for Boeing, the American aviation giant. But when one of the company's jets crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it brought to a close an especially unfortunate year for Boeing. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and aviation experts were quick to distinguish Sunday's incident from the company’s earlier safety problems. Alan Price, a former chief pilot at Delta Air Lines who is now a consultant, said it would be inappropriate to link the incident Sunday to two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. In January this year, a door plug blew off a 737 Max while it was in flight, raising more questions about the plane. The Boeing 737-800 that crash-landed in Korea, Price noted, is “a very proven airplane. "It’s different from the Max ...It’s a very safe airplane.’’ For decades, Boeing has maintained a role as one of the giants of American manufacturing. But the the past year's repeated troubles have been damaging. The company's stock price is down more than 30% in 2024. The company's reputation for safety was especially tarnished by the 737 Max crashes, which occurred off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019 and left a combined 346 people dead. In the five years since then, Boeing has lost more than $23 billion. And it has fallen behind its European rival, Airbus, in selling and delivering new planes. Last fall, 33,000 Boeing machinists went on strike, crippling the production of the 737 Max, the company's bestseller, the 777 airliner and 767 cargo plane. The walkout lasted seven weeks, until members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed to an offer that included 38% pay raises over four years. In January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight. Federal regulators responded by imposing limits on Boeing aircraft production that they said would remain in place until they felt confident about manufacturing safety at the company. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved the 737 Max. Acting on Boeing’s incomplete disclosures, the FAA approved minimal, computer-based training instead of more intensive training in flight simulators. Simulator training would have increased the cost for airlines to operate the Max and might have pushed some to buy planes from Airbus instead. (Prosecutors said they lacked evidence to argue that Boeing’s deception had played a role in the crashes.) But the plea deal was rejected this month by a federal judge in Texas, Reed O’Connor , who decided that diversity, inclusion and equity or DEI policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in choosing an official to oversee Boeing’s compliance with the agreement. Boeing has sought to change its culture. Under intense pressure over safety issues, David Calhoun departed as CEO in August. Since January, 70,000 Boeing employees have participated in meetings to discuss ways to improve safety.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, once called a 'pretty good Canadian,' dies at 100 Jimmy Carter, the self-effacing peanut farmer, humanitarian and former navy lieutenant who helped Canada avert a nuclear catastrophe before ascending to the highest political office in the United States, died Sunday at his home in Georgia. James McCarten, The Canadian Press Dec 29, 2024 2:19 PM Dec 29, 2024 2:20 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks after him and his wife Rosalynn, received honorary degrees from Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., on Wednesday Nov. 21, 2012. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Nobel Peace Prize winner has died at 100. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg Jimmy Carter, the self-effacing peanut farmer, humanitarian and former navy lieutenant who helped Canada avert a nuclear catastrophe before ascending to the highest political office in the United States, died Sunday at his home in Georgia. He was 100, making him the longest-lived U.S. president in American history. Concern for Carter's health had become a recurring theme in recent years. He was successfully treated for brain cancer in 2015, then suffered a number of falls, including one in 2019 that resulted in a broken hip. Alarm spiked in February 2023, however, when the Carter Center — the philanthropic organization he and his wife Rosalynn founded in 1982 — announced he would enter hospice care at his modest, three-bedroom house in Plains, Ga. Rosalynn Carter, a mental health advocate whose role as presidential spouse helped to define the modern first lady, predeceased her husband in November 2023 — a death at 96 that triggered a remembrance to rival his. "Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished," the former president said in a statement after she died. "As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me." Conventional wisdom saw his single White House term as middling. But Carter's altruistic work ethic, faith-filled benevolence and famous disdain for the financial trappings of high office only endeared him to generations after he left politics in 1981. "The trite phrase has been, 'Jimmy Carter has been the best former president in the history of the United States,'" said Gordon Giffin, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada who sits on the Carter Center's board of trustees. "That grated on him, because it distinguished his service as president from his service — and I literally mean service — as a former president." His relentless advocacy for human rights, a term Carter popularized long before it became part of the political lexicon, included helping to build homes for the poor across the U.S. and in 14 other countries, including Canada, well into his 90s. He devoted the resources of the Carter Center to tackling Guinea worm, a parasite that afflicted an estimated 3.5 million people in the developing world in the early 1980s and is today all but eradicated, with just 13 cases reported in 2022. And he was a tireless champion of ending armed conflict and promoting democratic elections in the wake of the Cold War, with his centre monitoring 113 such votes in 39 different countries — and offering conflict-resolution expertise when democracy receded. Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, nearly a quarter-century after his seminal work on the Camp David Accords helped pave the way for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979, the first of its kind. "His presidency got sidelined in the historic evaluation too quickly, and now people are revisiting it," Giffin said. "I think his standing in history as president will grow." A lifelong Democrat who never officially visited Canada as president, Carter was nonetheless a pioneer of sorts when it came to Canada-U.S. relations and a close friend to the two Canadian prime ministers he served alongside. One of them, former Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, once called Carter a "pretty good Canadian" — a testament to the former commander-in-chief's authenticity and centre-left politics, which always resonated north of the Canada-U.S. border. The pair were reunited in 2017 at a panel discussion in Atlanta hosted by the Canadian American Business Council, and seemed to delight in teasing the host when she described Clark as a "conservative" and Carter as a "progressive." "I'm a Progressive Conservative — that's very important," Clark corrected her. Piped up Carter: "I'm a conservative progressive." In 2012, the Carters visited Kingston, Ont., to receive an honorary degree from Queen's University. Instead of a fancy hotel, they stayed with Arthur Milnes, a former speech writer, journalist and political scholar who'd long since become a close friend. "He became my hero, believe it or not, probably when I was about 12," said Milnes, whose parents had come of age during the Cold War and lived in perpetual fear of the ever-present nuclear threat until Carter took over the White House in 1977. "My mother never discussed politics, with one exception — and that was when Jimmy Carter was in the White House. She'd say, 'Art, Jimmy Carter is a good and decent man,'" Milnes recalled. "They always said, both of them, that for the first time since the 1950s, they felt safe, knowing that it was this special man from rural Georgia, Jimmy Carter, who had his finger on the proverbial button." While Richard Nixon and Pierre Trudeau appeared to share a mutual antipathy during their shared time in office, Carter got along famously with the prime minister. Indeed, it was at the express request of the Trudeau family that Carter attended the former prime minister's funeral in 2000, Giffin said. "The message I got back was the family would appreciate it if Jimmy Carter could come," said Giffin, who was the U.S. envoy in Ottawa at the time. "So he did come. He was at the Trudeau funeral. And to me, that said a lot about not only the relationship he had with Trudeau, but the relationship he had in the Canada-U.S. dynamic." It was at that funeral in Montreal that Carter — "much to my frustration," Giffin allowed — spent more than two hours in a holding room with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a meeting that resulted in Carter visiting Cuba in 2002, the first former president to do so. But it was long before Carter ever entered politics that he established a permanent bond with Canada — one forged in the radioactive aftermath of what might otherwise have become the country's worst nuclear calamity. In 1952, Carter was a 28-year-old U.S. navy lieutenant, a submariner with a budding expertise in nuclear power, when he and his crew were dispatched to help control a partial meltdown at the experimental Chalk River Laboratories northwest of Ottawa. In his 2016 book "A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety," Carter described working in teams of three, first practising on a mock-up of the reactor, then on the real thing, in short 90-second bursts to avoid absorbing more than the maximum allowable dose of radiation. "The limit on radiation absorption in the early 1950s was approximately 1,000 times higher than it is 60 years later," he wrote. "There were a lot of jokes about the effects of radioactivity, mostly about the prospect of being sterilized, and we had to monitor our urine until all our bodies returned to the normal range." That, Carter would later acknowledge in interviews, took him about six months. Carter and Clark were both in office during the so-called "Canadian Caper," a top-secret operation to spirit a group of U.S. diplomats out of Iran following the fall of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979. The elaborate ploy, which involved passing the group off as a Canadian science-fiction film crew, was documented in the Oscar-winning 2012 Ben Affleck film "Argo." Carter didn't think much of the film. "The movie that was made, 'Argo,' was very distorted. They hardly mentioned the Canadian role in this very heroic, courageous event," he said during the CABC event. He described the true events of that escapade as "one of the greatest examples of a personal application of national friendship I have ever known." To the end, Carter was an innately humble and understated man, said Giffin — a rare commodity in any world leader, much less in one from the United States. "People underestimate who Jimmy Carter is because he leads with his humanity," he said. "I read an account the other day that said the Secret Service vehicles that are parked outside his house are worth more than the house. How many former presidents have done that?" This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec, 29, 2024. James McCarten, The Canadian Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? 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Dave & Buster's: Fiscal Q3 Earnings SnapshotProposed cuts to the Internal Revenue Service's funding, long considered by Republicans in Congress, could bolster the federal deficit by an additional $140 billion within the next decade, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo announced this Tuesday. He highlighted that the IRS's capacity for detailed audits of large businesses would diminish. Addressing reporters, Adeyemo explained that the IRS faces a potential $20 billion funding shortfall over ten years unless Congress intervenes to address the budget anomaly outlined in the September continuing resolution. The cuts would hinder the IRS's modernization and increase call wait times, he warned. Adeyemo also noted that without necessary funds, IRS enforcement measures targeting affluent individuals and major corporations could decelerate, potentially affecting initiatives that have already recuperated $1.3 billion. Furthermore, less funding for technological advancements would complicate intensive enforcement tasks. (With inputs from agencies.)MITCHEL FIELD, N.Y., Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Frequency Electronics, Inc. ("FEI" or the "Company") (NASDAQ-FEIM) is reporting revenues for the three and six months ended October 31, 2024, of approximately $15.8 million and $30.9 million, respectively, compared to revenues of $13.6 million and $26.0 million, for the same period of fiscal year 2024, ended October 31, 2023. Operating income for the three and six months ended October 31, 2024 was $2.6 million and $5.0 million, respectively, compared to operating income of $0.9 million and $3.0 million for the same period of fiscal year 2024. Net Income from operations for the three and six months ended October 31, 2024 was $2.7 million or $0.28 per diluted share and $5.1 million or $0.53 per diluted share, respectively, compared to a net income from operations for the three and six months ended October 31, 2023 of $0.8 million or $0.08 per diluted share and $2.9 million or $0.30 per diluted share, respectively. FEI President and CEO, Tom McClelland commented, "By all financial metrics the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 performance was excellent. For both the quarter and year to date, revenue, gross margin, and operating income have grown substantially. The backlog is also holding strong; at $81 million (an all-time high) compared to $70 million at the end of the first quarter, and $78 million at the end of last fiscal year. The results reflect continued solid growth in our core businesses, which show every indication of continuing. We are well into the execution phase of several key programs won over the last two years, and our gross margins (48% for the quarter, and 46% for the first half of FY2025) reflect our successful efforts to obtain work, and deliver it successfully. Our ability to perform at high operational standards on our heritage satellite programs allows us to pursue new developments (especially for proliferated small satellites), which at least initially may be at lower margins. As we have been successful obtaining a mix of heritage and new development work, we anticipate continued profitability going forward, though the mix in any given quarter could potentially cause variability. Nonetheless, we believe that the operational improvements we have made over the past few years will allow us to generally achieve higher, more consistent margins than we have experienced in the past. "In October, FEI hosted a 'Quantum Sensor Summit' in New York City, a technical conference bringing together experts from around the world to share insights and expectations regarding this rapidly developing area of technology. This event was well attended, and we have obtained a lot of positive feedback from it. Quantum sensors is a rapidly developing market, one which FEI is well positioned to participate in based on our existing expertise, and one which we are actively pursuing as an avenue to continued growth well into the future. To support this effort we pursue external development funding where possible, but are also using internal R&D funding as necessary. This year internal R&D expenditures are up significantly (10% of revenue) as we work to stay competitive in this arena, but we remain debt-free and are confident in our ability to invest for profitable growth, reward our employees for serving our customers and maintain flexibility for shareholder-oriented initiatives, such as the two special dividends we have paid over the past two years. "All and all, I am happy with our performance, excited about our future, and proud to lead a workforce of talented and very dedicated individuals who are the real reason behind our success." Fiscal Year 2024 Selected Financial Metrics and Other Items For the three and six months ended October 31, 2024, revenues from satellite payloads were approximately $9.4 million, or 59%, and $17.7 million or 57%, respectively, of consolidated revenues compared to approximately $4.7 million, or 35%, and $9.5 million or 37%, respectively, for the same periods of the prior fiscal year. For the three and six months ended October 31, 2024, revenues for non-space U.S. Government/DOD customers were approximately $5.8 million, or 37%, and $12.1 million or 39%, respectively, of consolidated revenues compared to approximately $8.2 million, or 60%, and $15.1 million, or 58%, respectively, for the same periods of the prior fiscal year. For the three and six months ended October 31, 2024, revenues from other commercial and industrial sales accounted for approximately $0.6 million, or 4%, and $1.1 million or 4%, respectively, of consolidated revenues compared to approximately $0.7 million, or 5%, and $1.4 million, or 5%, respectively, for the same periods of the prior fiscal year. Net cash provided by operating activities was approximately $2.4 million in the six months of fiscal year 2025, compared to net cash used in operations of $3.0 million for the same period of fiscal year 2024. Backlog at October 31, 2024 was approximately $81 million compared to $78 million at April 30, 2024. Investor Conference Call As previously announced, the Company will hold a conference call to discuss these results on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at 4:30 PM Eastern Time. Investors and analysts may access the call by dialing 1-888-506-0062. International callers may dial 1-973-528-0011. Callers should provide participant access code: 685880 or ask for the Frequency Electronics conference call. The archived call may be accessed by calling 1-877-481-4010 (domestic), or 1-919-882-2331 (international), for one week following the call (replay passcode: 51761). Subsequent to that, the call can be accessed via a link available on the Company's website through March 10, 2025. About Frequency Electronics Frequency Electronics, Inc. (FEI) is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of high precision timing, frequency generation and RF control products for space and terrestrial applications. FEI's products are used in satellite payloads and in other commercial, government and military systems including C4ISR and electronic warfare, missiles, UAVs, aircraft, GPS, secure communications, energy exploration and wireline and wireless networks. FEI-Zyfer provides GPS and secure timing capabilities for critical military and commercial applications; FEI-Elcom Tech provides Electronic Warfare ("EW") sub-systems and state-of-the-art RF and microwave products. FEI has received over 100 awards of excellence for achievements in providing high performance electronic assemblies for over 150 space and DOD programs. The Company invests significant resources in research and development to expand its capabilities and markets. www.frequencyelectronics.com FEI's Mission Statement: "Our mission is to transform discoveries and demonstrations made in research laboratories into practical, real-world products. We are proud of a legacy which has delivered precision time and frequency generation products, for space and other world-changing applications that are unavailable from any other source. We aim to continue that legacy while adapting our products and expertise to the needs of the future. With a relentless emphasis on excellence in everything we do, we aim, in these ways, to create value for our customers, employees, and stockholders." Forward-Looking Statements The statements in this press release regarding future earnings and operations and other statements relating to the future constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, our inability to integrate operations and personnel, actions by significant customers or competitors, general domestic and international economic conditions, reliance on key customers, continued acceptance of the Company's products in the marketplace, competitive factors, new products and technological changes, product prices and raw material costs, dependence upon third-party vendors, other supply chain related issues, increasing costs for materials, operating related expenses, competitive developments, changes in manufacturing and transportation costs, the availability of capital, the outcome of any litigation and arbitration proceedings, and failure to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting. The factors listed above are not exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2024, filed on August 2, 2024 with the Securities and Exchange Commission includes additional factors that could materially and adversely impact the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations, as such factors are updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are accessible on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov . Moreover, the Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to predict the impact of all these factors on the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not rely on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Any or all of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release and any other public statement made by the Company or its management may turn out to be incorrect. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Contact information: Dr. Thomas McClelland, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steven Bernstein, Chief Financial Officer; TELEPHONE: (516) 794-4500 ext.5000 WEBSITE : www.freqelec.com Frequency Electronics, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands except per share data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended October 31, October 31, (unaudited) (unaudited) 2024 2023 2024 2023 Revenues $ 15,820 $ 13,575 $ 30,898 $ 25,984 Cost of revenues 8,201 9,245 16,580 16,786 Gross margin 7,619 4,330 14,318 9,198 Selling and administrative 3,388 2,552 6,234 4,853 Research and development 1,613 840 3,101 1,347 Operating income 2,618 938 4,983 2,998 Interest and other, net 175 (135 ) 373 (146 ) Income before Income Taxes 2,793 803 5,356 2,852 (Benefit) provision for Income Taxes 139 6 272 13 Net income $ 2,654 $ 797 $ 5,084 $ 2,839 Net income per share: Basic and diluted income per share $ 0.28 $ 0.08 $ 0.53 $ 0.30 Weighted average shares outstanding Basic and diluted 9,585 9,399 9,562 9,392 Frequency Electronics, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands) October 31, 2024 April 30, 2024 (unaudited) ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents $ 9,698 $ 18,320 Accounts receivable, net 4,088 4,614 Contract assets 12,092 10,523 Inventories, net 25,480 23,431 Other current assets 1,590 1,233 Property, plant & equipment, net 6,274 6,438 Other assets 11,935 11,713 Right-of-use assets – operating leases 5,276 6,036 Restricted cash 1,342 945 $ 77,775 $ 83,253 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Lease liability - current $ 1,301 $ 1,640 Dividend Payable - - Contract liabilities 22,659 21,639 Other current liabilities 5,548 7,517 Other long-term obligations 8,030 8,096 Operating lease liability – non-current 4,044 4,545 Stockholders' equity 36,193 39,816 $ 77,775 $ 83,253 © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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