circus arts

Apple’s bad week has suddenly gotten worse. Just a few days after the FBI warned iPhone users to stop texting Android users , given the lack of encryption in RCS, the Bureau has now confirmed that U.S. law enforcement want access to encrypted iPhone content . And now, with perfect timing, Apple is being sued for not scanning encrypted user content for dangerous material, playing right into the FBI’s hands. The net result is that the security all iPhone, iPad and Mac users rely on to keep their content safe and secure is under attack. The risk is the forced addition of backdoors into encrypted content. And once that line is crossed, there’s no going back. This new lawsuit comes at the worst possible time. According to the filing lawyers, the class action is “on behalf of thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse for [Apple] knowingly allowing the storage of images and videos documenting their abuse on iCloud and the company’s defectively designed products. The lawsuit alleges that Apple has known about this content for years, but has refused to act to detect or remove it, despite developing advanced technology to do so.” The claims relate to Apple’s proposal to scan on-device imagery for known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) before its upload to iCloud, using hashes of known images to flag matches on phones for manual review. An unsurprising backlash followed, and Apple withdrew its proposal before it was ever released. Just a few hours before details of the lawsuit were first published in the New York Times , the FBI told me that “law enforcement supports strong, responsibly managed encryption. This encryption should be designed to protect people’s privacy and also managed so U.S. tech companies can provide readable content in response to a lawful court order.” The stories are different but the point is the same. U.S. law enforcement wants to force U.S. big tech to police the content on its platforms. The lawsuit claims that “the images and videos of the plaintiffs’ childhood sexual abuse, which have been stored thousands of times, would have been identified and removed had Apple implemented its 2021 “CSAM Detection” technology.” As I commented at that time, the issue is not scanning for CSAM, the issue is introducing screening of any content on one side of Apple’s end-to-end encryption . Right now, Apple can tell China, Russia and others that it does not have the technology to monitor for political dissent or religious or sexual behaviors, but bring in a backdoor for CSAM and there’s no impediment to its expansion. Apple and others defend decisions such as the removal of certain apps as compliance with local laws. You can see the risks as to where this might go if Pandora’s box is opened . Realistically, the new lawsuit is just a sideshow to the real debate that will take place under the new Trump administration. During the last Trump presidency, Deputy U.S Attorney General Rod Rosenstein introduced the concept of “ responsible encryption ,” which aims to tackle ‘warrant-proof’ encryption, where tech platforms don’t hold any decryption keys, which law enforcement describes as “going dark.” As The New York Times explains, “the lawsuit is the second of its kind against Apple, but its scope and potential financial impact could force the company into a yearslong litigation process over an issue it has sought to put behind it. And it points to increasing concern that the privacy of Apple’s iCloud allows illegal material to be circulated without being as easily spotted as it would be on social media services like Facebook. For years, Apple has reported less abusive material than its peers, capturing and reporting a small fraction of what is caught by Google and Facebook. It has defended its practice by saying it is protecting user privacy, but child safety groups have criticized it for not doing more to stop the spread of that material.” Now the FBI has reopened the debate into “responsibly managed encryption,” under the guise of Salt Typhoon hacking U.S. telco networks and the consequent warnings for American citizens to use encrypted messaging and calls where they can. The lawsuit makes the same point in a different way, but at the same time. And there’s a third leg to this stool—Europe. EU regulators and lawmakers are still fighting amongst themselves over the proposal to resolve this problem differently. Again, taking CSAM as its starting point, the EU proposal is to introduce “chat control,” essentially making tech platforms responsible for the illegality of the content they transmit, forcing them to monitor content without actually participating in the monitoring itself. Users would need to agree to such content screening to install and use end-to-end encrypted platforms. This does not yet have the votes and sponsorship it needs amongst EU member states to proceed, but that could change. A perfect storm could now be brewing for Apple and the 2 billion users that rely on its market-leading end-to-end encryption across much of its ecosystem to secure their data—even Apple, Apple says, cannot access their data under any circumstances. But if the new Trump administration wants to push the FBI point, that “U.S. tech companies can provide readable content in response to a lawful court order,” and if Europe does the same, and if there’s a sensitive lawsuit exposing the risks in such encryption running in the background, then 2025 could prove difficult. For all those Apple’s users this is a huge risk. Any breaks in the end-to-end encrypted enclave change it completely. If you’re an Apple user, you need to take this seriously. 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At Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, more than a year of war has taken its toll. Global airlines have canceled flights, gates are empty and pictures of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip guide the few arriving passengers to baggage claim. But one check-in desk remains flush with travelers: the one serving flights to the United Arab Emirates, which have kept up a bridge for Israelis to the outside world throughout the war. The Emirati flights, in addition to bolstering airlines’ bottom lines, have shined a light on the countries’ burgeoning ties — which have survived the wars raging across the Middle East and could be further strengthened as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to office. “It’s a political and economic statement,” said Joshua Teitelbaum, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. “They are the main foreign airlines that continue to fly.” Since the wars began with Hamas’ initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, many international airlines have halted, restarted and halted again their flights into Israel’s main gateway to the rest of the world. The concern is real for the carriers, who remember the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine 10 years ago and Iran shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 after takeoff from Tehran in 2020. But FlyDubai, the sister airline to the long-haul carrier Emirates, has kept up multiple flights daily and kept Israel connected to the wider world even as its other low-cost competitors have stopped flights. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad has continued its flights as well. While maintaining the flight schedule remains politically important for the UAE after its 2020 diplomatic recognition of Israel, it also provided a further shot in the arm for revenues — particularly for FlyDubai. Since the Israeli’s wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon started, international carriers such as Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, Germany’s Lufthansa and other major airlines halted their flights. Some resumed, only to stop again after Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel and Israel’s Oct. 26 retaliatory strike on the Islamic Republic. Tehran has threatened to strike Israel again. That’s brought major business to Israel’s national carrier El Al, which had struggled in the coronavirus pandemic and prior years. The airline posted its best-ever half-year results this year, recording a $227 million profit as compared to $58 million profit in the same period last year. El Al stock has risen by as much 200% over the past year, as compared to a 29% rise in the wider Tel Aviv 125 stock market index. El Al, however, lacks the routes and connections of major international carriers. Low-cost carriers as well have stopped flying into Israel during periods of the war, sending the price of El Al tickets ever higher. Passenger numbers through Ben Gurion halved compared to the same period the year before, El Al said in its second-quarter financial results. However, FlyDubai has kept flying. The carrier has operated more than 1,800 flights to Israel since October 2023, cancelling only 77 flights overall, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. In September alone, it flew more than 200 flights. As a line snaked toward the FlyDubai check-in counters at Ben Gurion Airport, UAE-bound Motti Eis said the flights were “a symbol that the Emirates countries decided to keep the peace.” FlyDubai declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about the flights. Etihad, the flag carrier for Abu Dhabi, has kept flying into Tel Aviv, but the number of its flights has been dwarfed by FlyDubai. FlyDubai had 3.6% market share at Ben Gurion, compared to El Al’s 43.2% in the second half of 2024. However, at least two of the foreign low-cost airlines with greater market, Wizz Air and Blue Bird, stopped flying for extended periods this year. Etihad said it maintains a close watch on the situation in the region, but continues its daily flights to and from Tel Aviv. “Ben Gurion International Airport remains open, employing best practices in safety and security practices, enabling Etihad and other airlines to provide essential air connectivity as long as it is secure to do so,” the airline said in a statement. Beyond the financial impact, the decision also takes root in the UAE’s decision to recognize Israel in 2020 under agreements brokered by President Donald Trump known as the Abraham Accords. While Abu Dhabi has repeatedly expressed concern and outrage at Israel’s conduct during the wars, Israel’s consulate in Dubai and embassy remain open in the country. And while Dubai, broadly speaking, remains focused on business in the country, Abu Dhabi’s focus long has been on its geopolitical aims — which since the 2011 Arab Spring have been squarely focused on challenging Islamist movements and those who back them in the wider region. The UAE, a hereditary autocracy, long has viewed those groups as serious challenges to its power. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Hail Flutie: BC celebrates 40th anniversary of Miracle in Miami

NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke down the broadcast issues that occurred with FloSports airing the South Carolina 400. On Dale Jr. Download , Earnhardt explained why the event at Florence Motor Speedway was challenging to watch. “Flo had a lot of issues with the broadcast. There’s a lot of reasons why that was probably the way it was,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “This is a facility that manages probably anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 on a great night. They have what they need in terms of internet and all of those things. Steve [Zacharias] and his team have everything they need to function week in and week out. I don’t think they could have prepared for what they were going to have in terms of how much the system would be loaded by not only the fans that were there if anybody was using the wifi. “...Flo is the streaming partner (of NASCAR). They’re the front end of the broadcast that you are going to connect to. But the production, the editing and the directing is all NASCAR productions. In some scenarios like this one, Flo and NASCAR productions work together to bring this broadcast to you. I just don’t think they really anticipated how stressed and overstressed that system would be.” FloSports and NASCAR extend media partnership The FlorSports issues at the South Carolina 400 came after NASCAR and FlorSports announced a multi-year extension of its media partnership . FloRacing covers and distributes more than 1,000 race events annually. “NASCAR is the number one name in motorsports and an unbelievable partner that cares about short track racing,” Mark Floreani, Co-Founder and CEO of FloSports, said in a press release. “This agreement will allow us to work alongside NASCAR to provide our customers with more marquee events and series throughout the year, ensuring that a FloRacing subscription is the best value in all of motorsports.” “Our partnership with FloSports has helped NASCAR to continue our unparalleled investment into grassroots racing – the foundation of our sport,” NASCAR EVP, Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer Ben Kennedy said. “We look forward to delivering fans the best in short track racing, but also to re-investing in the grassroots community to keep stock car racing thriving.” This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

The United States Space Force (USSF) was established just a short, five years ago on December 20th, 2019. Since that day, the youngest branch of the US armed forces has been steadily growing and developing as a fully independent arm of the American military. As a split off from the US Air Force, the Space Force has almost 10,000 men and women in uniform today. Known as Guardians, they steadfastly defend America’s interests in the domain of space and expand the limits of what is possible to safeguard national defense through space power. 6 Creation of the Space Force Where it all started When the US Space Force was created, it marked a transformative shift in the United States’ approach to space as a distinct domain of warfare. The establishment of the USSF aimed to unify and streamline space operations through a dedicated organization. From its inception, the Space Force was tasked with creating a unified command to manage and protect space assets while ensuring readiness to respond to emerging threats. Transforming departments of the US Air Force laid the foundation for the Space Force’s organizational structure. Building off an established pool of skills and resources enabled them to operate autonomously and integrate with existing military branches easily from the outset. The creation of the Space Force recognized space as a strategic frontier with unique operational and strategic specialization, focusing on resources and personnel to address the unique challenges it presents. 5 First Space Operations Squadron activation Taking action to secure the final frontier The First Space Operations Squadron is a component of Delta 9, headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado. The squadron was first activated October 5th, 1987, and officially integrated on June 19, 2020. In comments to Defense.gov , Gen B. Chance Saltzman reflected on half a decade of accomplishments: "On average, we have tripled in size every year for the last five years in personnel, an astounding growth rate for any government organization. We have reimagined operations, redefined policies [and] reworked processes from the ground up to forge a service purpose-built for great power competition. All of this in just five years." Space Force squadrons manage vital national defense assets like communication satellites, navigation satellites, and space reconnaissance platforms. Their role is imperative to many layers of American defense and infrastructure. 4 Launching the GPS III satellites Renewed power for a legacy of excellence The USSF took over responsibility for the Global Positioning System (GPS) when they separated from the USAF and continued the program to launch the GPS 3 modernization project with Lockheed Martin . Just a few days ago, on December 16th , the Space Force and Lockheed Martin successfully launched the seventh satellite in the new GPS 3 network. With the first launches in 2020, the third-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) is more robust, accurate, and resilient than the satellites that came before them. Integrating state-of-the-art technologies into the legacy GPS system has enabled the Space Force to achieve new levels of operational readiness for the Department of Defense (DOD): “GPS III vehicles provide three times greater accuracy and eight times greater anti-jamming capability over existing satellites in the constellation. To better address mission needs and emerging threats, Lockheed Martin intentionally created GPS III with a modular design, allowing new technology and capabilities to be added in the future.” The constellation of GPS satellites that circle the globe provides an essential navigation service for more than just the military. Commercial aircraft, ships, smartphones, and countless other devices rely on GPS to get from point “A” to point “B.” GPS is a household name because billions of people use it every day. Thanks to the Guardians of the US Space Force, we can count on it to always be there when we need it. 3 Space Domain Awarenesss Building the complete picture The Space Force has made it a primary mission to integrate a comprehensive network of observation, surveillance, and tracking systems into a complete network under the banner of Space Domain Awareness . This program covers an umbrella of over 60 ground and space-based systems. Some of the functions of this network include tracking debris and satellites in orbit and identifying hostile actions such as anti-satellite weapon tests and cyber intrusions targeting space systems. The newly centralized command of all these systems provides a consolidated and streamlined organization capable of providing real-time data about the orbital environment. This network can also accumulate historical data for analysis, enhancing its ability to anticipate and respond to threats. 2 Integration of Space Force with joint operations One team, one fight As a new service branch, forging a position in the combined strategy of the armed forces is not a simple task. Seamless integration with other military branches is essential for the Space Force to execute coordinated defense strategies effectively. Embedding space operations within joint missions ensures that space capabilities are leveraged across all domains of warfare. Integration entails collaboration on joint exercises, intelligence sharing, and the development of interoperable tactics and technologies. The Space Force ensures its assets are fully utilized to support ground, air, maritime, and cyber operations. This holistic approach not only maximizes the utility of space-based resources but also reinforces the strategic importance of space in achieving military objectives. The US Space Force protects its spacecraft from adversaries. 1 Key milestones Creation of the Space Force (December 20, 2019) First Space Operations Squadron Activation (June 18, 2020) Launch of the GPS III Satellites (2020-2024) Space Domain Awareness Initiatives (2019-2024) Integration of Space Force with Joint Operations (2019-2024) A quick review of the US Space Force's Boeing-built X-37B spacecraftAs open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans continues through Jan. 15, you’re likely seeing fewer social media ads promising monthly cash cards worth hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars that you can use for groceries, medical bills, rent and other expenses. But don’t worry. You haven’t missed out on any windfalls. Clicking on one of those ads would not have provided you with a cash card — at least not worth hundreds or thousands. But you might have found yourself switched to a health insurance plan you did not authorize, unable to afford treatment for an unforeseen medical emergency, and owing thousands of dollars to the IRS, according to an ongoing lawsuit against companies and individuals who plaintiffs say masterminded the ads and alleged scams committed against millions of people who responded to them. The absence of those once-ubiquitous ads are likely a result of the federal government suspending access to the ACA marketplace for two companies that market health insurance out of South Florida offices, amid accusations they used “fraudulent” ads to lure customers and then switched their insurance plans and agents without their knowledge. In its suspension letter, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cited “credible allegations of misconduct” in the agency’s decision to suspend the abilities of two companies — TrueCoverage (doing business as Inshura) and BenefitAlign — to transact information with the marketplace. CMS licenses and monitors agencies that use their own websites and information technology platforms to enroll health insurance customers in ACA plans offered in the federal marketplace. The alleged scheme affected millions of consumers, according to a lawsuit winding its way through U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale that seeks class-action status. An amended version of the suit, filed in August, increased the number of defendants from six to 12: — TrueCoverage LLC, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based health insurance agency with large offices in Miami, Miramar and Deerfield Beach. TrueCoverage is a sub-tenant of the South Florida Sun Sentinel in a building leased by the newspaper in Deerfield Beach. — Enhance Health LLC, a Sunrise-based health insurance agency that the lawsuit says was founded by Matthew Herman, also named as a defendant, with a $150 million investment from hedge fund Bain Capital’s insurance division. Bain Capital Insurance Fund LP is also a defendant. — Speridian Technologies LLC, accused in the lawsuit of establishing two direct enrollment platforms that provided TrueCoverage and other agencies access to the ACA marketplace. — Benefitalign LLC, identified in the suit as one of the direct enrollment platforms created by Speridian. Like Speridian and TrueCoverage, the company is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. — Number One Prospecting LLC, doing business as Minerva Marketing, based in Fort Lauderdale, and its founder, Brandon Bowsky, accused of developing the social media ads that drove customers — or “leads” — to the health insurance agencies. — Digital Media Solutions LLC, doing business as Protect Health, a Miami-based agency that the suit says bought Minerva’s “fraudulent” ads. In September, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in United States Bankruptcy Court in Texas, which automatically suspended claims filed against the company. — Net Health Affiliates Inc., an Aventura-based agency the lawsuit says was associated with Enhance Health and like it, bought leads from Minerva. — Garish Panicker, identified in the lawsuit as half-owner of Speridian Global Holdings and day-to-day controller of companies under its umbrella, including TrueCoverage, Benefitalign and Speridian Technologies. — Matthew Goldfuss, accused by the suit of overseeing and directing TrueCoverage’s ACA enrollment efforts. All of the defendants have filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit. The motions deny the allegations and argue that the plaintiffs failed to properly state their claims and lack the standing to file the complaints. The Sun Sentinel sent requests for comment and lists of questions about the cases to four separate law firms representing separate groups of defendants. Three of the law firms — one representing Brandon Bowsky and Number One Prospecting LLC d/b/a Minerva Marketing, and two others representing Net Health Affiliates Inc. and Bain Capital Insurance Fund — did not respond to the requests. A representative of Enhance Health LLC and Matthew Herman, Olga M. Vieira of the Miami-based firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, responded with a short message saying she was glad the newspaper knew a motion to dismiss the charges had been filed by the defendants. She also said that, “Enhance has denied all the allegations as reported previously in the media.” Catherine Riedel, a communications specialist representing TrueCoverage LLC, Benefitalign LLC, Speridian Technologies LLC, Girish Panicker and Matthew Goldfuss, issued the following statement: “TrueCoverage takes these allegations very seriously and is responding appropriately. While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we strongly believe that the allegations are baseless and without merit. “Compliance is our business. The TrueCoverage team records and reviews every call with a customer, including during Open Enrollment when roughly 500 agents handle nearly 30,000 calls a day. No customer is enrolled into any policy without a formal verbal consent given by the customer. If any customer calls in as a result of misleading content presented by third-party marketing vendors, agents are trained to correct such misinformation and action is taken against such third-party vendors.” Through Riedel, the defendants declined to answer follow-up questions, including whether the company remains in business, whether it continues to enroll Affordable Care Act clients, and whether it is still operating its New Mexico call center using another affiliated technology platform. The suspension notification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services letter cites several factors, including the histories of noncompliance and previous suspensions. The letter noted suspicion that TrueCoverage and Benefitalign were storing consumers’ personally identifiable information in databases located in India and possibly other overseas locations in violation of the centers’ rules. The letter also notes allegations against the companies in the pending lawsuit that “they engaged in a variety of illegal practices, including violations of the (Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations, or RICO Act), misuse of consumer (personal identifiable information) and insurance fraud.” The amended lawsuit filed in August names as plaintiffs five individuals who say their insurance plans were changed and two agencies who say they lost money when they were replaced as agents. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of 55 counts of wrongdoing, ranging from running ads offering thousands of dollars in cash that they knew would never be provided directly to consumers, switching millions of consumers into different insurance policies without their authorization, misstating their household incomes to make them eligible for $0 premium coverage, and “stealing” commissions by switching the agents listed in their accounts. TrueCoverage, Enhance Health, Protect Health, and some of their associates “engaged in hundreds of thousands of agent-of-record swaps to steal other agents’ commissions,” the suit states. “Using the Benefitalign and Inshura platforms, they created large spreadsheet lists of consumer names, dates of birth and zip codes.” They provided those spreadsheets to agents, it says, and instructed them to access platforms linked to the ACA marketplace and change the customers’ agents of record “without telling the client or providing informed consent.” “In doing so, they immediately captured the monthly commissions of agents ... who had originally worked with the consumers directly to sign them up,” the lawsuit asserts. TrueCoverage employees who complained about dealing with prospects who called looking for cash cards were routinely chided by supervisors who told them to be vague and keep making money, the suit says. When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began contacting the company in January about customer complaints, the suit says TrueCoverage enrollment supervisor Matthew Goldfuss sent an email instructing agents “do not respond.” The lawsuit states the “scheme” was made possible in 2021 when Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The act made it possible for Americans with household incomes between 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level to pay zero in premiums and it enabled those consumers to enroll in ACA plans all year round, instead of during the three-month open enrollment period from November to January. Experienced health insurance brokers recognized the opportunity presented by the changes, the lawsuit says. More than 40 million Americans live within 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level, while only 15 million had ACA insurance at the time. The defendants developed or benefited from online ads, the lawsuit says, which falsely promised “hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars per month in cash benefits such as subsidy cards to pay for common expenses like rent, groceries, and gas.” Consumers who clicked on the ads were brought to a landing page that asked a few qualifying questions, and if their answers suggested that they might qualify for a low-cost or no-cost plan, they were provided a phone number to a health insurance agency. There was a major problem with the plan, according to the lawsuit. “Customers believe they are being routed to someone who will send them a free cash card, not enroll them in health insurance.” By law, the federal government sends subsidies for ACA plans to insurance companies, and not to individual consumers. Scripts were developed requiring agents not to mention a cash card, and if a customer mentions a cash card, “be vague” and tell the caller that only the insurance carrier can provide that information, the lawsuit alleges. In September, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the claims. In addition to denying the charges, they argued that the class plaintiffs lacked the standing to make the accusations and failed to demonstrate that they suffered harm. The motion also argued that the lawsuit’s accusations failed to meet requirements necessary to claim civil violations of the RICO Act. Miami-based attorney Jason Kellogg, representing the plaintiffs, said he doesn’t expect a ruling on the motion to dismiss the case for several months. The complaint also lists nearly 50 companies, not named as defendants, that it says fed business to TrueCoverage and Enhance Health. Known in the industry as “downlines,” most operate in office parks throughout South Florida, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit quotes former TrueCoverage employees complaining about having to work with customers lured by false cash promises in the online ads. A former employee who worked in the company’s Deerfield Beach office was quoted in the lawsuit as saying that senior TrueCoverage and Speridian executives “knew that consumers were calling in response to the false advertisements promising cash cards and they pressured agents to use them to enroll consumers into ACA plans.” A former human resources manager for TrueCoverage said sales agents frequently complained “that they did not feel comfortable having to mislead consumers,” the lawsuit said. Over two dozen agents “came to me with these complaints and showed me the false advertisements that consumers who called in were showing them,” the lawsuit quoted the former manager as saying. For much of the time the companies operated, the ACA marketplace enabled agents to easily access customer accounts using their names and Social Security numbers, change their insurance plans and switch their agents of record without their knowledge or authorization, the lawsuit says. This resulted in customers’ original agents losing their commissions and many of the policyholders finding out they suddenly owed far more for health care services than their original plans had required, the suit states. It says that one of the co-plaintiffs’ health plans was changed at least 22 times without her consent. She first discovered that she had lost her original plan when she sought to renew a prescription for her heart condition and her doctor told her she did not have health insurance, the suit states. Another co-plaintiff’s policy was switched after her husband responded to one of the cash card advertisements, the lawsuit says. That couple’s insurance plan was switched multiple times after a TrueCoverage agent excluded the wife’s income from an application so the couple would qualify. Later, they received bills from the IRS for $4,300 to cover tax credits issued to pay for the plans. CMS barred TrueCoverage and BenefitAlign from accessing the ACA marketplace. It said it received more than 90,000 complaints about unauthorized plan switches and more than 183,500 complaints about unauthorized enrollments, but the agency did not attribute all of the complaints to activities by the two companies. In addition, CMS restricted all agents’ abilities to alter policyholders’ enrollment information, the lawsuit says. Now access is allowed only for agents that already represent policyholders or if the policyholder participates in a three-way call with an agent and a marketplace employee. Between June and October, the agency barred 850 agents and brokers from accessing the marketplace “for reasonable suspicion of fraudulent or abusive conduct related to unauthorized enrollments or unauthorized plan switches,” according to an . The changes resulted in a “dramatic and sustained drop” in unauthorized activity, including a nearly 70% decrease in plan changes associated with an agent or broker and a nearly 90% decrease in changes to agent or broker commission information, the release said. It added that while consumers were often unaware of such changes, the opportunity to make them provided “significant financial incentive for non-compliant agents and brokers.” But CMS’ restrictions might be having unintended consequences for law-abiding agents and brokers. A story on Nov. 11 quoted the president of the Health Agents for America (HAFA) trade group as saying agents are being suspended by CMS after being flagged by a mysterious algorithm that no one can figure out. The story quotes HAFA president Ronnell Nolan as surmising, “maybe they wrote too many policies on the same day for people who have the same income or they’re writing too many policies on people of a certain occupation.” Nolan continued, “We have members who have thousands of ACA clients. They can’t update or renew their clients. So those consumers have lost access to their professional agent, which is simply unfair.”PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter’s in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter’s path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That’s a very narrow way of assessing them,” Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn’t suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he’d be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter’s tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter’s lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor’s race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama’s segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival’s endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King’s daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters’ early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Related Articles Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan’s presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan’s Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.

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5 Of The Best Non-Samsung Android Phones You Can BuyNewcastle's No.1 Sportsground is one step closer to hosting top-flight sport after the council approved a planned $3.65 million upgrade of its grandstand. Login or signup to continue reading However, the upgrade is likely still some time away given City of Newcastle chief executive Jeremy Bath said the project was not yet budgeted for and the council would pursue a state or federal government grant. The council l odged plans in January for long-awaited improvements, the second stage of works designed to attract elite games. The project, which includes a new two-storey addition on the back of the grandstand to accommodate new change rooms and a glass-walled hospitality room upstairs, was given the green light at council's final meeting of the year on Tuesday night. The plans won unanimous approval from councillors. Ward once councillor Peter Gittins voiced his support of the project and highlighted the need for an upgrade to a venue which has not hosted first-class cricket since 2015. "I had a conversation two months ago with the CEO where we both expressed our desire to see Newcastle once again have a quality facility that can host cricket for all genders, rugby league, rugby union, whatever sport," councillor Gittins said. "This renovation will enable us to do that, and having played a lot of football on that sportsground many years ago, it is great to see that it's back in the limelight, that we can lay claim to a facility in the future that will enable Newcastle to host competitive sport at a regional, state and hopefully international level." An $8 million first stage of works at No.1 Sportsground completed in 2022 included improving and expanding the playing surface to the minimum size for high-level AFL and cricket fixtures as well installation of new floodlights. But it still left the inner-city venue short of meeting modern-day requirements to host elite sporting fixtures. It is hoped stage two, which Bath said would ultimately cost more than $5 million, will make it fit for purpose. The plans include new ground-level change rooms, two umpire rooms, two doctor rooms, two massage rooms, two multi-purpose spaces, three store rooms, a lift, the upstairs social room with kitchen, servery and cool room, and two team viewing rooms upstairs. The new upstairs kitchen, servery and "social room" will reduce the grandstand's seating capacity by 122 to 588. When works will begin, however, are not yet known. "This DA allows us to obviously commence construction," Bath said before approval was gained. "There is no funding in the current year's capital works program for this project. "As an organisation, we're just starting the process now of working on next year's capital works program. "I'm not in a position tonight to be able to comment that funding will be in next year's capital works program for the budget. "But, what it does do, if the council ultimately decide to approve the DA is it opens up a range of grant opportunities where the grants are conditional upon the project having an approved DA." Ward one councillor Charlotte McCabe noted a previous grant application for the proposed upgrade had been unsuccessful but said council's approval would allow the project to be "shovel-ready". "It would allow council to continue to apply for grants to the NSW government," councillor McCabe said. Renee Valentine is a sports journalist with more than 20 years of experience in Newcastle. She is passionate about increasing the visibility of sportswomen in the media. Got a sports story, email Renee at r.valentine@newcastleherald.com.au Renee Valentine is a sports journalist with more than 20 years of experience in Newcastle. 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