99bet slot login
99bet slot login
Superheroes can save the day, but when it comes to business, it may be a bit of a struggle. At Collected: Your Pop Culture Headquarters, a small business in southwest Fort Worth, owner Ron Killingsworth said his retail store has maintained its steady customers, although sales are down 15% from last year. Inflation — including rising prices of food and other necessities — has prompted customers to scale back on their discretionary purchases such as comic books and graphic novels. “You can’t really eat comics, so people have cut back on some items,” he said. “Traffic is still pretty steady, but sales are down quite a bit from last year.” The 13-year-old business at 2823 Alta Mere Drive is gearing up for Small Business Saturday, set for Nov. 30, with a slew of pre-holiday sales on new and vintage comics, action figures, games and other products intended to prompt customers to buy items as gifts for themselves and others. “We follow the retail trends of Black Friday sales and Small Business Saturday, so those do help us,” Killingsworth said. Get essential daily news for the Fort Worth area. Sign up for insightful, in-depth stories — completely free. Comic books are still the No. 1 seller at Killingsworth’s store, which also buys collectible pop culture items. However, the sales decline has prompted him to carefully monitor his stock since the new comics he buys at wholesale are nonreturnable items. “We’re always buying but you only have so much shelf space, so we have to make smart choices,” he said. “You have to listen to your customers. You have to make sure you’re ordering for your customers and not yourself.” Killingsworth, 61, said he recently purchased several Golden Age comics — including The Marvel Family No. 36 , printed in 1949 — to add to his stock. Board game sales, which soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, are now down, but other items related to anime have brought in more female customers, as books and TV shows in that popular genre have created demand for mainstream audiences. Small Business Saturday, which started in 2010 to help local stores and restaurants recover from the Great Recession, has become a Thanksgiving weekend tradition. The U.S. Small Business Administration, which became a co-sponsor in 2011, said the special retail event has boosted holiday sales — totaling $17 billion in 2023 — for small businesses nationwide. Jeff Burdett, Texas state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said small businesses play a vital role in shaping and enriching local communities. “In addition to creating good-paying jobs and strengthening the local economy, small businesses shape our communities by volunteering their time and financially supporting charitable organizations,” Burdett said in a statement. “A recent NFIB report highlights how small business owners and their employees benefit their communities, beyond operating their business.” As the holiday retail season starts, he said, “I encourage all Texans to shop small, especially on Small Business Saturday, and thank a small business owner for how they enrich your community.” Fort Worth chambers of commerce also encourage residents to shop local on Nov. 30. “Small Business Saturday is more than just a day of shopping — it’s a celebration of the hard-working entrepreneurs who form the backbone of our local economy,” Anette Landeros, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said. “Small businesses create jobs, spark innovation and foster a sense of community that large retailers often cannot replicate.” “In Fort Worth, where our diverse small business community reflects our city’s unique culture and talent, supporting these enterprises means investing in our neighbors, friends and families, said Landeros, who will leave the Hispanic chamber Dec. 13 to become chief strategic officer of the Trinity Metro transit agency . “Small Business Saturday is a reminder to think local and to recognize that every customer plays a vital role in helping our small businesses thrive, not just during the holiday season but year-round.” Mia Moss, who recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of opening Black Coffee at 1417 Vaughn Blvd. in east Fort Worth, said Small Business Saturday helps shine a light on local businesses. “It has been great for Black Coffee because people go out of their way to support us by grabbing coffee before they shop with other local businesses or grab gifts with us for the coffee lover in the family,” Moss said. “This day lets people know that they have options and we love it!” For Killingsworth, adapting to economic trends is a priority for his pop culture business. That includes advertising and posting videos on social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook. “You just have to change, although it may not be what you planned,” he said. “You just want to keep going and adapt. For me, it is a fun industry.” Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org . News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here . Your support makes TWICE the impact today. As November draws to a close , time is running out to double your impact. Thanks to the generosity of the Nicholas Martin Jr. Family Foundation, every dollar you give will be matched—up to $15,000. Will you give today to help trusted, local reporting thrive in Fort Worth and Tarrant County? Related Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative for adhering to standards for ethical journalism . Republish This Story Republishing is free for noncommercial entities. Commercial entities are prohibited without a licensing agreement. Contact us for details. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License . Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). Do not copy stories straight from the front-end of our web-site. You are required to follow the guidelines and use the republication tool when you share our content. The republication tool generates the appropriate html code. You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. You can’t sell or syndicate our stories. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. If you use our stories in any other medium — for example, newsletters or other email campaigns — you must make it clear that the stories are from the Fort Worth Report. In all emails, link directly to the story at fortworthreport.org and not to your website. If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @FortWorthReport on Facebook and @FortWorthReport on Twitter. You have to credit Fort Worth Report. Please use “Author Name, Fort Worth Report” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Fort Worth Report” and include our website, fortworthreport.org . You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. You can’t sell or syndicate our stories. You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @FortWorthReport on Facebook and @FortWorthReport on Twitter. by Eric E. Garcia, Fort Worth Report November 23, 2024How the Rangers players rated in the exhilarating 1-1 Europa League draw with Tottenham at Ibrox
After Trump's Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key rolesThe suspect in the high-profile killing of a health insurance CEO that has gripped the United States graduated from an Ivy League university, reportedly hails from a wealthy family, and wrote social media posts brimming with cerebral musings. Luigi Mangione, 26, was thrust into the spotlight Monday after police revealed he is their person of interest in the brutal murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a father of two, last week in broad daylight in Manhattan in a case that laid bare deep frustration and anger with America's privatized medical system. News of his capture in Pennsylvania -- following a tip from a McDonald's worker --triggered an explosion of online activity, with Mangione quickly amassing new followers on social media as citizen sleuths and US media tried to understand who he is. While some lauded him as a hero and lamented his arrest, others analyzed his intellectual takes in search of ideological clues. A photo on one of his social media accounts includes an X-ray of an apparently injured spine. No explicit political affiliation has emerged. Meanwhile, memes and jokes proliferated, many riffing on his first name and comparing him to the "Mario Bros." character Luigi, sometimes depicted in AI-altered images wielding a gun or holding a Big Mac. "Godspeed. Please know that we all hear you," wrote one user on Facebook. "I want to donate to your defense fund," added another. According to Mangione's LinkedIn profile, he is employed as a data engineer at TrueCar, a California-based online auto marketplace. A company spokesperson told AFP Mangione "has not been an employee of our company since 2023." Although he had been living in Hawaii ahead of the killing, he originally hails from Towson, Maryland, near Baltimore. He comes from a prominent and wealthy Italian-American family, according to the Baltimore Banner. The family owns local businesses, including the Hayfields Country Club, its website says. A standout student, Mangione graduated at the top of his high school class in 2016. In an interview with his local paper at the time, he praised his teachers for fostering a passion for learning beyond grades and encouraging intellectual curiosity. A former student who knew Mangione at the Gilman School told AFP the suspect struck him as "a normal guy, nice kid." "There was nothing about him that was off, at least from my perception," this person said, asking that their name not be used. "Seemed to just be smiling, and kind of seemed like he was a smart kid. Ended up being valedictorian, which confirmed that," the former student said. Mangione went on to attend the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, where he completed both a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science by 2020, according to a university spokesperson. While at Penn, Mangione co-led a group of 60 undergraduates who collaborated on video game projects, as noted in a now-deleted university webpage, archived on the Wayback Machine. On Instagram, where his following has skyrocketed from hundreds to tens of thousands, Mangione shared snapshots of his travels in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. He also posted shirtless photos flaunting a six-pack and appeared in celebratory posts with fellow members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. However, it is on X (formerly Twitter) that users have scoured Mangione's posts for potential motives. His header photo -- an X-ray of a spine with bolts -- remains cryptic, with no public explanation. Finding a coherent political ideology has also proved elusive, though he had written a review of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto on the online site goodreads, calling it "prescient." Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, carried out a string of bombings in the United States from 1978 to 1995, a campaign he said was aimed at halting the advance of modern society and technology. Mangione called Kaczynski "rightfully imprisoned," while also saying "'violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators." According to CNN, handwritten documents recovered when Mangione was arrested included the phrase "these parasites had it coming." Mangione has also linked approvingly to posts criticizing secularism as a harmful consequence of Christianity's decline. In April, he wrote, "Horror vacui (nature abhors a vacuum)." The following month, he posted an essay he wrote in high school titled "How Christianity Prospered by Appealing to the Lower Classes of Ancient Rome." In another post from April, he speculated that Japan's low birthrate stems from societal disconnection, adding that "fleshlights" and other vaginal-replica sex toys should be banned. ia/nro/dw
PHILADELPHIA and PERTH, Australia , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Arcadium Lithium plc ALTM LTM ", Arcadium Lithium", )), a leading global lithium chemicals producer, today announced that it has obtained all requisite shareholder approvals in connection with the proposed acquisition by Rio Tinto previously announced on October 9 , 2024. "Today's vote of support by our shareholders confirms our shared belief that with Rio Tinto, we will be a stronger global leader in lithium chemicals production. Together, we enhance our capabilities to successfully develop and operate our assets while supporting the clean energy transition. We are confident that this transaction will provide future benefit to our customers, employees and the communities in which we operate, and I am excited by the path ahead," said Paul Graves , president and chief executive officer of Arcadium Lithium. The final voting results of Arcadium Lithium's special meetings will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a Form 8-K and will also be available at https://ir.arcadiumlithium.com . Regulatory Update As of this release, merger control clearance has been satisfied or waived in Australia , Canada , China , the United Kingdom and the United States (Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976). Additionally, investment screening approval has been satisfied in the United Kingdom . The proposed transaction is still expected to close in mid-2025, subject to the receipt of remaining regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. Arcadium Lithium Contacts Investors: Daniel Rosen +1 215 299 6208 daniel.rosen@arcadiumlithium.com Phoebe Lee +61 413 557 780 phoebe.lee@arcadiumlithium.com Media: Karen Vizental +54 9 114 414 4702 karen.vizental@arcadiumlithium.com About Arcadium Lithium Arcadium Lithium is a leading global lithium chemicals producer committed to safely and responsibly harnessing the power of lithium to improve people's lives and accelerate the transition to a clean energy future. We collaborate with our customers to drive innovation and power a more sustainable world in which lithium enables exciting possibilities for renewable energy, electric transportation and modern life. Arcadium Lithium is vertically integrated, with industry-leading capabilities across lithium extraction processes, including hard-rock mining, conventional brine extraction and direct lithium extraction (DLE), and in lithium chemicals manufacturing for high performance applications. We have operations around the world, with facilities and projects in Argentina , Australia , Canada , China , Japan , the United Kingdom and the United States . For more information, please visit us at www.ArcadiumLithium.com . Important Information and Legal Disclaimer: Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, we have identified forward-looking statements by such words or phrases as "will likely result," "is confident that," "expect," "expects," "should," "could," "may," "will continue to," "believe," "believes," "anticipates," "predicts," "forecasts," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "intends" or similar expressions identifying "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the negative of those words and phrases. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current views and assumptions regarding future events, future business conditions and the outlook for Arcadium Lithium based on currently available information. There are important factors that could cause Arcadium Lithium's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including the completion of the transaction on anticipated terms and timing, including obtaining required regulatory approvals, and the satisfaction of other conditions to the completion of the transaction; potential litigation relating to the transaction that could be instituted by or against Arcadium Lithium or its affiliates, directors or officers, including the effects of any outcomes related thereto; the risk that disruptions from the transaction will harm Arcadium Lithium's business, including current plans and operations; the ability of Arcadium Lithium to retain and hire key personnel; potential adverse reactions or changes to business or governmental relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the transaction; certain restrictions during the pendency of the transaction that may impact Arcadium Lithium's ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions; significant transaction costs associated with the transaction; the possibility that the transaction may be more expensive to complete than anticipated, including as a result of unexpected factors or events; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the transaction, including in circumstances requiring Arcadium Lithium to pay a termination fee or other expenses; competitive responses to the transaction; the supply and demand in the market for our products as well as pricing for lithium and high-performance lithium compounds; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the integration of the businesses of Livent and Allkem or of any future acquisitions; our ability to acquire or develop additional reserves that are economically viable; the existence, availability and profitability of mineral resources and mineral and ore reserves; the success of our production expansion efforts, research and development efforts and the development of our facilities; our ability to retain existing customers; the competition that we face in our business; the development and adoption of new battery technologies; additional funding or capital that may be required for our operations and expansion plans; political, financial and operational risks that our lithium extraction and production operations, particularly in Argentina , expose us to; physical and other risks that our operations and suppliers are subject to; our ability to satisfy customer qualification processes or customer or government quality standards; global economic conditions, including inflation, fluctuations in the price of energy and certain raw materials; the ability of our joint ventures, affiliated entities and contract manufacturers to operate according to their business plans and to fulfill their obligations; severe weather events and the effects of climate change; extensive and dynamic environmental and other laws and regulations; our ability to obtain and comply with required licenses, permits and other approvals; and other factors described under the caption entitled "Risk Factors" in Arcadium Lithium's 2023 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 29, 2024 , as well as Arcadium Lithium's other SEC filings and public communications. Although Arcadium Lithium believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, Arcadium Lithium cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither Arcadium Lithium nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Arcadium Lithium is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this news release to conform its prior statements to actual results or revised expectations . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arcadium-lithium-announces-shareholder-approval-of-proposed-rio-tinto-transaction-and-provides-regulatory-update-302338409.html SOURCE Arcadium Lithium PLC © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
