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Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill a hospital director in Lebanon and wound 6 medics in Gaza
Coleraine boss Dean Shiels has strong links with Scotland Dean Shiels believes more Irish League managers will make moves into the Scottish game but says he is in no rush to be one of them. David Healy and Tiernan Lynch were offered jobs at Raith Rovers and St Johnstone respectively this season, but both opted not to take on the roles.
Keir Starmer will meet Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman , as part of a controversial trip to the region this week designed to drum up investment for his pledge to overhaul British infrastructure. In his latest overseas trip, the prime minister will head to the Gulf this weekend. He will first travel to the United Arab Emirates for a meeting with its president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, before travelling on to Saudi Arabia. Starmer will use the trip to push for a free trade deal with a group of six Gulf nations – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Wooing Saudi Arabia will prove controversial due to widely held concerns over its human rights record and activities during its war with Yemen . Prince Mohammed is believed by US intelligence to have ordered the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. In 2022, Starmer accused Boris Johnson of “going cap in hand from dictator to dictator” ahead of a visit to the kingdom that was pitched as an attempt to become less reliant on Russian energy. However, officials said that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are already big investors in the UK. Trade with Saudi Arabia is worth £17bn, supporting almost 90,000 jobs across the UK. Starmer will also use the trip to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, the release of hostages and an acceleration of aid. The government is seeking closer ties with the regimes in pursuit of investment needed to deliver the green energy Starmer has promised. Downing Street described them as among the UK’s “most vital modern-day partners” to increase investment and deepen defence and security ties. “Driving long-term growth at home requires us to strengthen partnerships abroad,” Starmer said. “That is why I am travelling to the Gulf this week, to build a network of partners for the UK that is focused on driving high-quality growth, boosting opportunities and delivering for the people at home.” The government is engaged in a concerted pursuit of Gulf state investment. Starmer’s trip comes days after the state visit to Britain by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Deals were agreed on a green energy partnership, and defence and security cooperation.Arizona trending towards roster overhaul after first day of transfer portal period
NoneTodd Lewis and Brandel Chamblee analyze Scottie Scheffler's first-round 67 at the Hero World Challenge, and hear from the defending champion regarding his new putting grip and starting the new year strong. Brandel Chamblee and Todd Lewis break down Justin Thomas' Round 1 showing at the Hero World Challenge, discussing what the 15-time PGA Tour winner did well to start things off in The Bahamas. U.S. Ryder Cup pay has become a "hot-button topic" around the PGA Tour, and Brandel Chamblee calls out how this idea could "corrupt" the nature of Ryder Cup participation in an event that is all about "patriotism." Watch highlights from Round 1 of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, taking place at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa. Justin Thomas speaks with Rex Hoggard about the birth of daughter Molly Grace and his renewed hopes for the new season after a rough 2024. Scottie Scheffler's the favorite at the Hero World Challenge as the top player in the world, defending champion, and runner-up from two years prior. Todd Lewis provides an update on his plan to play plenty of early golf. Golf Central takes a look back on the 2024 LPGA season, highlighting the top players, performances and moments -- and what it could all mean for the game moving forward. Golf Today and several guests look ahead to this year's Hero World Challenge, discussing Tiger Wood's role as host and what he wants from golf in 2025, golfers who could contend at Albany Golf Course, and more. Facing the possibility of losing his PGA Tour card for 2025, 37-year-old American Joel Dahmen had a final round to remember at the 2024 RSM Classic, shooting a dramatic 64 to secure full-time status for next season. Jeeno Thitikul sits down with the Golf Central crew after winning the CME Group Tour Championship, discussing the importance of having her coach during the event and emotions going into the 18th hole. The Golf Central crew evaluates how Angel Yin is staying collected and unbothered with a huge opportunity ahead of her with the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship.
The people that president-elect has selected to lead federal health agencies in his second administration include a retired congressman, a surgeon and a former talk-show host. All of them could play pivotal roles in fulfilling a new political agenda that could change how the government goes about safeguarding Americans' health — from health care and medicines to food safety and science research. And if Congress approves, at the helm of the team as Department of Health and Human Services secretary will be prominent environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine organizer By and large, the nominees don't have experience running large bureaucratic agencies, but they . Centers for Medicare and Medicaid pick Dr. hosted a talk show for 13 years and is a well-known wellness and lifestyle influencer. The pick for the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. and for surgeon general, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, are frequent Fox News contributors. Many on the list were critical of COVID-19 measures like masking and booster vaccinations for young people. Some of them have ties to Florida like many of Trump's other Cabinet nominees: represented the state in Congress for 14 years and is affiliated with a medical group on the state's Atlantic coast. Nesheiwat's brother-in-law is , R-Fla., tapped by Trump as national security adviser. Here's a look at the nominees' potential role in carrying out what Kennedy says is the task to “reorganize” agencies, which have an overall $1.7 billion budget; employ 80,000 scientists, researchers, doctors and other officials; and affect the lives of all Americans. The Atlanta-based CDC, with a $9.2 billion core budget, is charged with protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats. Kennedy has long attacked vaccines and criticized the CDC, repeatedly alleging corruption at the agency. He said on a 2023 podcast that there is "no vaccine that is safe and effective,” and urged people to resist . Decades ago, Kennedy found common ground with , the 71-year-old nominee to run the CDC who served in the Army and worked as an internal medicine doctor before he represented a central Florida congressional district from 1995 to 2009. Starting in the early 2000s, Weldon had a prominent part in a debate about whether there was a relationship between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism. He was a founding member of the Congressional Autism Caucus and tried to ban thimerosal from all vaccines. Kennedy, then a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, believed there was a tie between thimerosal and autism and also charged that the government hid documents showing the danger. Since 2001, all vaccines manufactured for the U.S. market and routinely recommended for children 6 years or younger have contained no thimerosal or only trace amounts, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine. Meanwhile, study after study after study found no evidence that thimerosal caused autism. Weldon's congressional voting record suggests he may go along with Republican efforts to downsize the CDC, including to eliminate the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which works on topics like drownings, drug overdoses and shooting deaths. Weldon also voted to ban federal funding for needle-exchange programs as an approach to reduce overdoses, and the National Rifle Association gave him an “A” rating for his pro-gun rights voting record. Kennedy is extremely critical of the FDA, which has 18,000 employees and is responsible for the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs, vaccines and other medical products — as well as overseeing cosmetics, electronic cigarettes and most foods. Makary, Trump’s pick to run the FDA, is closely aligned with Kennedy on . The professor at Johns Hopkins University who is a trained surgeon and cancer specialist has decried the overprescribing of drugs, the use of pesticides on foods and the undue influence of pharmaceutical and insurance companies over doctors and government regulators. Kennedy has suggested he'll clear our “entire” FDA departments and also recently threatened to fire FDA employees for “aggressive suppression” of a host of unsubstantiated products and therapies, including stem cells, , and like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. Makary's contrarian views during the COVID-19 pandemic including the need for masking and giving young kids COVID vaccine boosters. But anything Makary and Kennedy might want to do when it comes to unwinding FDA regulations or revoking long-standing vaccine and drug approvals would be challenging. The agency has lengthy requirements for removing medicines from the market, which are based on federal laws passed by Congress. The agency provides health care coverage for more than 160 million people through Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, and also sets Medicare payment rates for hospitals, doctors and other providers. With a $1.1 trillion budget and more than 6,000 employees, Oz has a massive agency to run if confirmed — and an agency that Kennedy hasn't talked about much when it comes to his plans. While Trump tried to scrap the Affordable Care Act in his first term, Kennedy has not taken aim at it yet. But he has been critical of Medicaid and Medicare for covering expensive weight-loss drugs — though . Trump said that he would protect Medicare, which provides insurance for older Americans. has endorsed expanding Medicare Advantage — a privately run version of Medicare that is popular — in during his failed 2022 bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania and in a with a former Kaiser Permanente CEO. Oz also said in a Washington Examiner with three co-writers that aging healthier and living longer could help fix the U.S. budget deficit because people would work longer and add more to the gross domestic product. Neither Trump nor Kennedy have said much about Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income Americans. Trump's first administration reshaped the program by allowing states to introduce work requirements for recipients. Kennedy doesn't appear to have said much publicly about what he'd like to see from surgeon general position, which is the nation's top doctor and oversees 6,000 U.S. Public Health Service Corps members. The surgeon general has little administrative power, but can be an influential government spokesperson on what counts as a public health danger and what to do about it — suggesting things like warning labels for products and issuing advisories. The current surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, in June. Trump's pick, Nesheiwat, is employed as a New York City medical director with CityMD, a group of urgent care facilities in the New York and New Jersey area, and has been at City MD for 12 years. She also has appeared on Fox News and other TV shows, authored a book on the “transformative power of prayer” in her medical career and endorses a brand of vitamin supplements. She encouraged COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, calling them “a gift from God” in a February 2021 Fox News op-ed, as well as anti-viral pills like Paxlovid. In a 2019 Q&A with the , Nesheiwat said she is a “firm believer in preventive medicine” and “can give a dissertation on hand-washing alone.” As of Saturday, Trump had not yet named his choice to lead the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research through grants to researchers across the nation and conducts its own research. It has a $48 billion budget. Kennedy has said he'd drug development and infectious disease research to shift the focus to chronic diseases. He'd like to keep NIH funding from researchers with conflicts of interest, and criticized the agency in 2017 for what he said was not doing enough research into the role of vaccines in autism — . Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz and Matt Perrone and AP editor Erica Hunzinger contributed to this report. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Hut 8 Operations Update for November 2024If the early stages of the transfer portal period on Monday suggest anything, the Arizona Wildcats could have a plethora of incoming transfers in head coach Brent Brennan’s second season at the helm. Potentially multiple dozens of players. As of Monday, a day that had roughly 1,200 players enter the transfer portal, according to On3’s database , 18 UA players have either entered the transfer portal or are making plans to leave Tucson, including a two-year defensive captain for the Wildcats. Arizona linebacker Jacob Manu is reportedly planning to enter the transfer portal, On3’s Hayes Fawcett reported Sunday night. Manu is the most impactful defensive Wildcat to enter the transfer portal. Arizona linebacker Jacob Manu celebrates after his tackle for a loss against New Mexico running back Eli Sanders in August. Manu played in seven games this season before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the Wildcats’ homecoming loss to the Colorado Buffaloes. Manu was one of three defensive captains to endure a season-ending leg injury, along with defensive backs Gunner Maldonado and Treydan Stukes. The 5-11, 228-pound Manu was an under-the-radar recruit coming out of Servite High School in Anaheim, California. Manu signed with Arizona in 2022 and joined his Servite teammates in quarterback Noah Fifita, wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and tight end Keyan Burnett, who also entered the transfer portal. After standing out on Arizona’s scout-team defense, Manu emerged as a starter halfway through his freshman season in 2022. Last season, Manu led the Pac-12 in tackles (116) and was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team and Associated Press All-Pac-12 First Team. Manu became the first Wildcat to lead the Pac-12 in tackles since Scooby Wright in 2014. Manu entered this season with preseason All-Big 12 honors. Arizona linebackers coach Danny Gonzales called Manu “the best linebacker in the Big 12” in the spring and during fall training camp. Arizona linebacker Jacob Manu high-steps after a tackle for loss against NAU in September. Manu missed the second half of the season with a leg injury. “I’m going to say it again, Jacob Manu is the best linebacker in the Big 12 and I proudly say that,” Gonzales said in August. “I told him, ‘I’m putting a target on your back, man. People are going to come and prove that they’re better than you. Let them prove it.’ Jacob Manu has earned that stuff. ... He’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever been around, one of the biggest alpha males I’ve ever been around. “He’s fun to coach and when you coach those guys the hardest and get after them, you got a chance. Our machine rolls when Jacob Manu is in there. When he’s not, we need to find the next man up to do that.” Before his season-ending injury, Manu had 47 tackles and a fumble recovery this season. Manu underwent surgery for his injury in November and isn’t expected to be available until the summer. It’s possible Manu, among others, could return to Arizona for the 2025 season. Other Arizona starters to enter the transfer portal include offensive lineman Wendell Moe, who also played three seasons for the Wildcats. Moe is taking an official visit to Auburn on Friday. Arizona offensive lineman Wendell Moe gets in position during the first half of the Wildcats win last season over Utah in Tucson on Nov. 18, 2023. Moe started all 13 games at left guard in Arizona’s 10-3 season in 2023, including the win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. As a starter this past season, due to injuries on Arizona’s offensive line, Moe played both left guard and right guard. Moe logged 638 snaps at left guard and 122 at right guard. He received the second-best pass-blocking grade (87) this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Moe played 1,775 snaps over his three-year career at Arizona. Arizona redshirt freshman cornerback Emmanuel Karnley reportedly entered the transfer portal, per 247Sports.com national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman. Karnley started six games for the Wildcats this season and replaced the injured Marquis Groves-Killebrew, who started the last three games of the season. Karnley was suspended for the season finale against Arizona State after he was ejected in Arizona’s previous game for spitting on a TCU player. The transfer portal closes on Dec. 28. San Jose State defensive back Michael Dansby, left, tackles UNLV wide receiver Ricky White III during the second half of an NCAA college football game Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. UA offers ex-San Jose State DB Arizona offered former San Jose State defensive back Michael Dansby on Monday. The 6-foot, 179-pound Oakland native signed with San Jose State in 2022 to play for Brennan and current Arizona cornerbacks coach Chip Viney. Dansby ended his three-year career at SJSU with 68 career tackles, 14 pass deflections, five interceptions and a touchdown. The Wildcats have added several former Spartans since Brennan’s hiring, including running back Quali Conley, who was Arizona’s leading rusher, and tight end Sam Olson, defensive end Tre Smith and offensive lineman Ryan Stewart. Valley Vista’s Damir Ilicic (15) releases the ball as Salpointe’s Keona Davis (50) goes in for the tackle during a matchup at Salpointe Catholic High School on Sept. 15, 2023 Keona Davis enters transfer portal after one season at Nebraska After one season at Nebraska, Tucson native and former Salpointe Catholic defensive end Keona Davis entered the transfer portal, he announced on Monday. Following a productive career at Salpointe Catholic, the 6-5, 255-pound Davis committed to Arizona in 2023, along with Salpointe Catholic teammate and five-star edge rusher Elijah Rushing, but both decommitted from the UA in October; Rushing flipped to Oregon. Davis signed with Washington last December, but was granted release from his national letter of intent after head coach Kalen DeBoer left to take the same role at Alabama. After interest from Michigan State and UCLA, Davis signed with Nebraska. In 11 games as a true freshman, Davis recorded nine tackles for the Cornhuskers, which finished the season 6-6 and earned a spot in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. Keyan Burnett, tight end Jai-ayviauynn Celestine, cornerback Tristan Davis, defensive line Brayden Dorman, quarterback Demetrius Freeney, cornerback Anthony Garcia, quarterback JT Hand, offensive line Jackson Holman, wide receiver Brandon Johnson, running back AJ Jones, wide receiver Emmanuel Karnley, cornerback Rayshon Luke, running back Jacob Manu, linebacker Wendell Moe, offensive lineman Reymello Murphy, wide receiver Malachi Riley, wide receiver Jonah Rodriguez, offensive line Dorian Thomas, tight end Contact Justin Spears, the Star’s Arizona football beat reporter, at jspears@tucson.com . On X(Twitter): @JustinESports Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sports Reporter
Brunswick Corp director Reginald Fils-Aime buys $17,777 in stockThe ongoing has reached the three-week mark as the two sides continue to trade proposals through a government-appointed mediator. The work stoppage centres around a variety of issues, including and weekend delivery. Here’s a snapshot of the issues underpinning the standoff between the Crown corporation and union. The , which represents 55,000 Canada Post workers, said at the start of the strike that wage increases must be kept in line with inflation, with adjustment payments rolled into the basic wage rate. The union initially called for a cumulative wage hike of 24 per cent over four years. CUPW negotiator Jim Gallant said that figure has moved since the start of negotiations, but declined to comment on the . “We have just lived through the worst cost of living crisis in a generation,” the union’s national president Jan Simpson said in a post on Tuesday. Canada Post says it has offered what it calls “competitive” wage increases totalling 11.5 per cent over four years and more paid leave. It notes labour costs rose by $242 million in 2023, or about 6.5 per cent, compared with 2022. The organization declined to comment on Thursday. One of the main snags in negotiations has been a push to expand delivery to the weekend, but the two sides are at odds over how to staff the expansion. Canada Post has pitched seven-day-a-week delivery as a way to boost revenue and “secure the future of the company” as it struggles to compete with other delivery companies. The Crown corporation says it would staff weekend delivery shifts with a mix of new permanent part-time positions and some full-time, which would “create flexibility while not adding significant long-term fixed costs.” But the union characterizes Canada Post’s proposals as “attacks on full-time work,” accusing the Crown corporation of wanting to increase the part-time mix to more than 50 per cent of the workforce. It says it is concerned some part-timers could be scheduled for as few as eight hours per week and wouldn’t be eligible for benefits until they reach 1,000 hours. “Canada Post has every ability today to deliver parcels on the weekend, inside our collective agreement at straight time,” Gallant said. “We think it can be done with full-timers ... We’re just saying, ‘Instead of hiring 10 part-timers, you can hire three full time.” The union has highlighted a number of its demands for better job security, including a request for “improved protections against technological change.” Gallant said Canada Post is “always looking for new technology” that could threaten workers’ duties. “This loading and unloading of trucks by robots is one that they’re really, really looking at (and) forklifts that drive themselves through a plant,” he said. “We’re always afraid.” When it comes to retirement, CUPW says Canada Post wants new workers to accept a defined contribution pension plan, even though its defined benefit pension plan is overfunded by 140 per cent. “All workers deserve the right to retire with dignity, and for us, that means postal workers — present and future — maintain their defined benefit pension plan,” Simpson said. Canada Post says its proposals are “focused on protecting and enhancing what’s important to current employees ... while protecting the defined benefit pension and their job security.” The union has said it wants job security rights for rural and suburban mail carriers in line with those granted to urban postal workers. It has outlined a number of issues affecting its Rural Suburban Mail Carrier bargaining unit, saying it wants an hourly rate system with appropriate time values, union involvement and “safeguards against (Canada Post’s) unilateral change.” The union says Canada Post must maximize and maintain eight-hour routes for rural workers, grant improved rights for on-call relief employees, and uphold paid meal and rest period rights. It says the Crown corporation must also ensure the bargaining unit’s involvement in service expansion projects. Earlier this week, Simpson called on Canada Post to commit to working with the union “to expand services at the post office including postal banking and electric vehicle charging stations.” The union has demanded the full elimination of Canada Post’s “separate sort from delivery” system, which entails certain employees spending the entirety of their shifts sorting mail for letter carriers to go out and deliver — as opposed to carriers performing both tasks. It says this system overburdens carriers, who as a result spend more time outdoors and potentially exposed to extreme weather events. “Postal workers suffer the second highest rate of disabling injury among workers under federal jurisdiction, behind only the road transportation sector,” Simpson said. “Growing neighbourhood mail volumes and changing work methods like separate sort-from-delivery are only making things worse.” The union has also proposed increases to short-term disability program payments and injury on duty payments, along with more paid medical days.
Judith Graham | (TNS) KFF Health News Carolyn Dickens, 76, was sitting at her dining room table, struggling to catch her breath as her physician looked on with concern. “What’s going on with your breathing?” asked Peter Gliatto, director of Mount Sinai’s Visiting Doctors Program. “I don’t know,” she answered, so softly it was hard to hear. “Going from here to the bathroom or the door, I get really winded. I don’t know when it’s going to be my last breath.” Dickens, a lung cancer survivor, lives in central Harlem, barely getting by. She has serious lung disease and high blood pressure and suffers regular fainting spells. In the past year, she’s fallen several times and dropped to 85 pounds, a dangerously low weight. And she lives alone, without any help — a highly perilous situation. This is almost surely an undercount, since the data is from more than a dozen years ago. It’s a population whose numbers far exceed those living in nursing homes — about 1.2 million — and yet it receives much less attention from policymakers, legislators, and academics who study aging. Consider some eye-opening statistics about completely homebound seniors from a study published in 2020 in JAMA Internal Medicine : Nearly 40% have five or more chronic medical conditions, such as heart or lung disease. Almost 30% are believed to have “probable dementia.” Seventy-seven percent have difficulty with at least one daily task such as bathing or dressing. Almost 40% live by themselves. That “on my own” status magnifies these individuals’ already considerable vulnerability, something that became acutely obvious during the covid-19 outbreak, when the number of sick and disabled seniors confined to their homes doubled. “People who are homebound, like other individuals who are seriously ill, rely on other people for so much,” said Katherine Ornstein, director of the Center for Equity in Aging at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. “If they don’t have someone there with them, they’re at risk of not having food, not having access to health care, not living in a safe environment.” Related Articles Health | Weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy are all the rage. Are they safe for kids? Health | Rural governments often fail to communicate with residents who aren’t proficient in English Health | Some breast cancer patients can avoid certain surgeries, studies suggest Health | Who gets obesity drugs covered by insurance? In North Carolina, it helps if you’re on Medicaid Health | How the FDA allows companies to add secret ingredients to our food Research has shown that older homebound adults are less likely to receive regular primary care than other seniors. They’re also more likely to end up in the hospital with medical crises that might have been prevented if someone had been checking on them. To better understand the experiences of these seniors, I accompanied Gliatto on some home visits in New York City. Mount Sinai’s Visiting Doctors Program, established in 1995, is one of the oldest in the nation. Only 12% of older U.S. adults who rarely or never leave home have access to this kind of home-based primary care. Gliatto and his staff — seven part-time doctors, three nurse practitioners, two nurses, two social workers, and three administrative staffers — serve about 1,000 patients in Manhattan each year. These patients have complicated needs and require high levels of assistance. In recent years, Gliatto has had to cut staff as Mount Sinai has reduced its financial contribution to the program. It doesn’t turn a profit, because reimbursement for services is low and expenses are high. First, Gliatto stopped in to see Sandra Pettway, 79, who never married or had children and has lived by herself in a two-bedroom Harlem apartment for 30 years. Pettway has severe spinal problems and back pain, as well as Type 2 diabetes and depression. She has difficulty moving around and rarely leaves her apartment. “Since the pandemic, it’s been awfully lonely,” she told me. When I asked who checks in on her, Pettway mentioned her next-door neighbor. There’s no one else she sees regularly. Pettway told the doctor she was increasingly apprehensive about an upcoming spinal surgery. He reassured her that Medicare would cover in-home nursing care, aides, and physical therapy services. “Someone will be with you, at least for six weeks,” he said. Left unsaid: Afterward, she would be on her own. (The surgery in April went well, Gliatto reported later.) The doctor listened carefully as Pettway talked about her memory lapses. “I can remember when I was a year old, but I can’t remember 10 minutes ago,” she said. He told her that he thought she was managing well but that he would arrange testing if there was further evidence of cognitive decline. For now, he said, he’s not particularly worried about her ability to manage on her own. Several blocks away, Gliatto visited Dickens, who has lived in her one-bedroom Harlem apartment for 31 years. Dickens told me she hasn’t seen other people regularly since her sister, who used to help her out, had a stroke. Most of the neighbors she knew well have died. Her only other close relative is a niece in the Bronx whom she sees about once a month. Dickens worked with special-education students for decades in New York City’s public schools. Now she lives on a small pension and Social Security — too much to qualify for Medicaid. (Medicaid, the program for low-income people, will pay for aides in the home. Medicare, which covers people over age 65, does not.) Like Pettway, she has only a small fixed income, so she can’t afford in-home help. Every Friday, God’s Love We Deliver, an organization that prepares medically tailored meals for sick people, delivers a week’s worth of frozen breakfasts and dinners that Dickens reheats in the microwave. She almost never goes out. When she has energy, she tries to do a bit of cleaning. Without the ongoing attention from Gliatto, Dickens doesn’t know what she’d do. “Having to get up and go out, you know, putting on your clothes, it’s a task,” she said. “And I have the fear of falling.” The next day, Gliatto visited Marianne Gluck Morrison, 73, a former survey researcher for New York City’s personnel department, in her cluttered Greenwich Village apartment. Morrison, who doesn’t have any siblings or children, was widowed in 2010 and has lived alone since. Morrison said she’d been feeling dizzy over the past few weeks, and Gliatto gave her a basic neurological exam, asking her to follow his fingers with her eyes and touch her fingers to her nose. “I think your problem is with your ear, not your brain,” he told her, describing symptoms of vertigo. Because she had severe wounds on her feet related to Type 2 diabetes, Morrison had been getting home health care for several weeks through Medicare. But those services — help from aides, nurses, and physical therapists — were due to expire in two weeks. “I don’t know what I’ll do then, probably just spend a lot of time in bed,” Morrison told me. Among her other medical conditions: congestive heart failure, osteoarthritis, an irregular heartbeat, chronic kidney disease, and depression. Morrison hasn’t left her apartment since November 2023, when she returned home after a hospitalization and several months at a rehabilitation center. Climbing the three steps that lead up into her apartment building is simply too hard. “It’s hard to be by myself so much of the time. It’s lonely,” she told me. “I would love to have people see me in the house. But at this point, because of the clutter, I can’t do it.” When I asked Morrison who she feels she can count on, she listed Gliatto and a mental health therapist from Henry Street Settlement, a social services organization. She has one close friend she speaks with on the phone most nights. “The problem is I’ve lost eight to nine friends in the last 15 years,” she said, sighing heavily. “They’ve died or moved away.” Bruce Leff, director of the Center for Transformative Geriatric Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, is a leading advocate of home-based medical care. “It’s kind of amazing how people find ways to get by,” he said when I asked him about homebound older adults who live alone. “There’s a significant degree of frailty and vulnerability, but there is also substantial resilience.” With the rapid expansion of the aging population in the years ahead, Leff is convinced that more kinds of care will move into the home, everything from rehab services to palliative care to hospital-level services. “It will simply be impossible to build enough hospitals and health facilities to meet the demand from an aging population,” he said. But that will be challenging for homebound older adults who are on their own. Without on-site family caregivers, there may be no one around to help manage this home-based care. ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.California to consider requiring mental health warnings on social media sites
NATO chief Rutte to visit Türkiye next week amid tensions with RussiaWASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Two of President-elect Donald Trump's most controversial nominees, Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, sought support from U.S. senators on Monday, but it remained uncertain whether they would get the near-unanimous Republican backing they will need to win confirmation. Former Fox News personality Hegseth held a second meeting with Senator Joni Ernst, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor seen as a key to the decorated Army National Guard veteran's hopes for becoming secretary of Defense. Ernst's statement afterward seemed to open the door to voting for Hegseth. She said the nominee had committed to completing a Pentagon audit and selecting an official who would address the issue of sexual assault within the ranks. "As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources," Ernst said. Hegseth faces concerns about allegations of misconduct in his professional and personal life, including accusations of sexual assault, which he denies. Several of his supporters have called for his accusers to come forward publicly. Trump has kept his support strongly behind Hegseth, predicting he will be confirmed. Hegseth told reporters the meeting with Ernst had gone well, saying, "The more we talk, the more we are reminded that we are two combat veterans and we are dedicated to defense." Trump's fellow Republicans will hold only a slim 53-47 Senate majority next year, meaning nominees can afford just three Republican no's and still be confirmed, if Democrats unite against them. Former Representative Gabbard, Trump's choice for director of national intelligence, arrived for Senate meetings as the abrupt fall on Sunday of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prompted renewed scrutiny of her 2017 visit to Damascus. Gabbard, a former Democrat who lacks significant intelligence experience, is also seen as soft on Russia, although her supporters say she has a healthy skepticism about foreign U.S. military involvement, in keeping with the America First policies of Trump, whom she endorsed this year. Her selection to be director of national intelligence in November sent shock waves through the national security establishment, adding to concerns that the intelligence community would become increasingly political. Gabbard did not respond on Monday when reporters at the Capitol asked her to respond to events in Syria. Sign up here. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Jonathan Oatis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab Thomson Reuters Patricia Zengerle has reported from more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China. An award-winning Washington-based national security and foreign policy reporter who also has worked as an editor, Patricia has appeared on NPR, C-Span and other programs, spoken at the National Press Club and attended the Hoover Institution Media Roundtable. She is a recipient of the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence.
Meta shareholders seek sanctions for Sandberg, Zients for deleting Cambridge Analytica emails
Fort Worth ISD oversight committee calls for more involvement in $1.2B bondEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Daniel Jones era in New York is over. The Giants quarterback was granted his release on Friday by the team just days after the franchise said it was benching him in favor of third-stringer Tommy DeVito. "Daniel came to see me this morning and asked if we would release him," Giants president John Mara said in a statement. "We mutually agreed that would be best for him and for the team. Daniel has been a great representative of our organization, first class in every way." Mara added he was "disappointed" at the quick dissolution of the team's relationship with Jones, who signed a four-year $160 million contract in March 2023 after leading the Giants to a playoff berth. "We hold Daniel in high regard and have a great appreciation for him," Mara continued. "We wish him nothing but the best in the future." The 27-year-old Jones told reporters Thursday that he gave the team everything he had after being taken sixth overall in the 2019 draft and he believes he still has a future in the NFL. He held himself accountable for the Giants (2-8) making the postseason once in his tenure as the starter. The Duke product took over early in his rookie season when then-coach Pat Shurmur benched two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, who was near the end of his career. Coach Brian Daboll benched Jones on Monday after the Giants returned to practice following a bye week and a 20-17 overtime loss to Carolina in Germany. Tommy DeVito will start Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Daboll hoping he can spark the team. CLEVELAND — An incompletion and the final whistle ended Thursday night's snow-covered game between the Steelers and Browns. The bad blood is still boiling. Pittsburgh wide receiver George Pickens had to be restrained from going after Cleveland cornerback Greg Newsome III after dragging him out of the back of the end zone on the last play by pulling hm by the helmet. TV cameras caught Pickens being held back from going after Newsome, who didn't hold back any words after the game. “He’s a fake tough guy,” Newsome said. “He does a lot of that. The antics and stuff. Yeah, he didn’t even go up for the ball. He was just trying to do WrestleMania with me the whole time. So that’s what happened at the end.” The Los Angeles Chargers have played their way into another prime time appearance. Justin Herbert and company have had their Week 16 home game against the Denver Broncos flexed from Sunday, Dec. 22, to Thursday night, Dec. 19. Friday's announcement makes this the first time a game has been flexed to the Thursday night spot. The league amended its policy last season where Thursday night games in Weeks 13 through 17 could be flexed with at least 28 days notice prior to the game, and teams could make more than one appearance on Amazon Prime Video's 16-game package. Only two games per season in the five-week window can be flexed. The matchup of AFC West division rivals — who are both contending for playoff spots — bumps the game between the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals to Sunday afternoon. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans will place cornerback L’Jarius Sneed on injured reserve after five missed games with a quadriceps injury. The move will become official on Saturday, according to coach Brian Callahan, and will keep Sneed out at least four more weeks. Sneed has not played since being diagnosed with a bruised quad against the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 13. The injury was initially diagnosed as a bruise, and the Titans had hoped Sneed would not miss any time. Two weeks ago, the Titans revealed that the team had also discovered that the quadriceps was strained and would need more time to heal through rest. “As I said before, it turned out that he had a quad bruise, a pretty significant quad bruise, but it didn’t get better very fast,” Callahan said. “It turns out after we did some scans on it, he had a pretty significant strain on top of it. Those things are generally a couple of weeks. I felt like we had a chance to get him back, but he has not progressed. It has been more complicated than normal.” BRIEFLY KELCE: Jason Kelce will try his hand at late-night television early next year. Kelce announced during an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Thursday night that he will host “They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce,” on ESPN. The one-hour show will tape on five straight Friday nights beginning Jan. 3. Get local news delivered to your inbox!None
A team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy Ames National Laboratory developed a magnetocaloric heat pump that matches current vapor-compression heat pumps for weight, cost, and performance. Current heating and cooling devices are based on vapor-compression technology, which is over 100 years old. They rely on refrigerants that contribute to , and when they leak the chemicals are harmful to people and the environment. Magnetocaloric heat pumps are a promising replacement for cooling and heating. They can eliminate refrigerant emissions and require less energy to operate. Until now, magnetocaloric devices have not matched vapor-compressors in all three aspects of weight, cost, and performance. Julie Slaughter, the research team leader, explained that their investigation began by building a magnetocaloric heat pump. "We first looked at what is out there, and how close the existing magnetocaloric devices are to matching compressors," she said. "Next we developed a baseline design and then asked, "Okay, now how far can we push the technology?'" The work is in the journal . A magnetocaloric heat pump works by changing the magnetic field applied to a magnetocaloric material while pumping fluid to move heat. Slaughter explained that this is typically done with permanent magnets. The core of the involves spinning permanent magnets relative to the magnetocaloric material and using magnetic steel to keep the magnetic field contained. The arrangement of these three pieces plays a major role in the team's predictions as they examined how to make the more power dense. Another part of their investigation involved evaluating the two most common magnetocaloric materials used in these heat pumps. Gadolinium and lanthanum-iron-silicon-hydride-based material. "In our baseline device, we kept it simple by using a single material, gadolinium. Lanthanum-iron-silicon materials have a higher power capability than gadolinium. So, that naturally increases the . They're just not as readily available and require multiple materials in one device to get good performance," said Slaughter. "In our evaluations, we included estimates of LaFeSi performance for the most power-dense devices." Slaughter's team focused on using space and materials more efficiently, and reducing the amount of permanent magnet material and magnetic steel needed for the pump to operate efficiently. These efforts helped to make the core system pieces match the weight of compressors available today. "We were able to show that we are competitive with the power density of some of the compressors that are out there today," said Slaughter. "The and the magnetic steel make up most of the mass rather than the expensive magnetocaloric material, and that's really helpful for affordability. We assumed, if a device weighs about the same, the cost will be about the same in mass production."
Jamiya Neal's monster game leads Creighton past UNLVDALLAS , Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) today announced that its board of directors approved the purchase of up to an additional $500 million of its outstanding shares of common stock under its existing share repurchase program, effective immediately. This repurchase program follows the substantial completion of purchases of common stock under the inaugural $250 million repurchase authorization from August 2023 . With this additional repurchase authorization, the Company anticipates executing a $250 million accelerated share repurchase ("ASR") program that will commence in the fourth quarter of 2024. "We believe our asset-lite, highly-franchised model enables industry-leading shareholder returns," commented Alex Kaleida , Chief Financial Officer. "Since becoming a public company in 2015, we have returned more than $1 billion of capital to shareholders. Our share repurchase program is another example of the long-term value creation enabled by our category of one operating model." Repurchases under the program may be made in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions or by other means, including through trading plans intended to qualify under Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and accelerated share repurchase agreements, with the amount and timing of repurchases to be determined at Wingstop's discretion, depending on market and business conditions, prevailing stock prices, and contractual limitations, among other factors. Open market repurchases will be structured to occur in accordance with applicable federal securities laws. This program does not obligate Wingstop to acquire any particular amount of common stock, or at any specific time or intervals and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time at Wingstop's discretion. Wingstop expects to fund repurchases with existing cash and cash equivalents, including the proceeds from its recently completed $500 million financing transaction which closed on December 3, 2024 . About Wingstop Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Dallas, TX , Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) operates and franchises more than 2,450 locations worldwide. The Wing Experts are dedicated to Serving the World Flavor through an unparalleled guest experience and a best-in-class technology platform, all while offering classic and boneless wings, tenders, and chicken sandwiches, cooked to order and hand sauced-and-tossed in fans' choice of 12 bold, distinctive flavors. Wingstop's menu also features signature sides including fresh-cut, seasoned fries and freshly-made ranch and bleu cheese dips. In fiscal year 2023, Wingstop's system-wide sales increased 27.1% to approximately $3.5 billion , marking the 20th consecutive year of same store sales growth. With a vision of becoming a Top 10 Global Restaurant Brand, Wingstop's system is comprised of corporate-owned restaurants and independent franchisees, or brand partners, who account for approximately 98% of Wingstop's total restaurant count of 2,458 as of September 28, 2024 . A key to this business success and consumer fandom stems from The Wingstop Way, which includes a core value system of being Authentic, Entrepreneurial, Service-minded, and Fun. The Wingstop Way extends to the brand's environmental, social and governance platform as Wingstop seeks to provide value to all guests. In 2023, Wingstop earned its "Best Places to Work" certification. The Company landed on Entrepreneur Magazine's "Fastest-Growing Franchises" list and ranked #16 on "Franchise 500." Wingstop was listed on Technomic's "Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report," QSR Magazine's "2023 QSR 50" and Franchise Time's "40 Smartest-Growing Franchises." For more information, visit www.wingstop.com or www.wingstop.com/own-a-wingstop and follow @Wingstop on X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Learn more about Wingstop's involvement in its local communities at www.wingstopcharities.org . Unless specifically noted otherwise, references to our website addresses, the website addresses of third parties or other references to online content in this press release do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on such website and should not be considered part of this release. Forward-looking Statements This news release includes statements of our expectations, intentions, plans and beliefs that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to come within the safe harbor protection provided by those sections. These statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to the discussion of our expectations concerning the implementation and execution of our share repurchase program, including the anticipated execution of a $250 million ASR and our strategic growth initiatives. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "may," "will," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "outlook," "guidance," "anticipate," "believe," "think," "estimate," "seek," "predict," "can," "could," "project," "potential" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements are accompanied by such terms. These forward-looking statements are made based on expectations and beliefs concerning future events affecting us and are subject to uncertainties, risks, and factors relating to our operations and business environments, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those matters expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Please refer to the risk factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, which can be found at the SEC's website www.sec.gov . The discussion of these risks is specifically incorporated by reference into this news release. When considering forward-looking statements in this news release or that we make in other reports or statements, you should keep in mind the cautionary statements in this news release and future reports we file with the SEC. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and we cannot predict when they may arise or how they may affect us. Any forward-looking statement in this news release speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Media Contact Maddie Lupori Media@wingstop.com Investor Contact Kristen Thomas IR@wingstop.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wingstop-announces-additional-500-million-share-repurchase-authorization-302324306.html SOURCE Wingstop Restaurants Inc.
