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winph99 com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Ian Schieffelin had 18 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in leading Clemson to a 75-67 win over Penn State on Tuesday and the championship of the Sunshine Slam Beach Division. Chase Hunter added 17 points, Chauncey Wiggins 14 and Del Jones 10 for the Tigers (6-1), who shot 44% and made 9 of 19 3-pointers led by Hunter's three. Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 20 points and had 11 assists, Yanic Konan Niederhauser added 14 points and Nick Kern Jr. 11 for the Nittany Lions (6-1), who shot 46% and were just 4 of 18 from the arc. Neither team had a double-digit lead in the game and it was tied with seven minutes to go. But Penn State had a six-minute drought without a field goal while committing three turnovers and the Tigers went up by six. A hook shot from Schieffelin with a minute to go made it a five-point lead and free throws sealed it from there. The eight-point final margin was the largest of the game. Konan Niederhauser's dunk to open the second half tied the game but a Hunter 3-pointer gave the lead back to Clemson. Penn State took its first lead of the second half on a 9-0 run, seven coming from Baldwin, to go up 57-54 with midway through the period. Penn State had its largest lead of seven in the first half but three consecutive 3s put Clemson ahead with three minutes to go and the Tigers led at 38-36 at halftime. Clemson had a 16-9 edge on points off turnovers. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up . AP college basketball: and The Associated PressSunny Bliss Plumbing & Air Enhances Plumbing and Gas Line Services in Miami, FL

Ludhiana: Police have thwarted a murder plot targeting a village sarpanch by arresting two suspects and seizing illegal weapons and ammunition from them. Authorities revealed on Saturday that the accused, driven by a long-standing grudge, had planned the attack with three accomplices who were now on the run. Two days after recovering three illegal pistols, ammunition, and a Thar vehicle, police unveiled this chilling plot to kill a sarpanch, orchestrated by two arrested suspects and their three accomplices. The arrested individuals, Jashandeep Singh and Gagandeep Singh, both from Lalton Kalan, were taken into custody during a routine police patrol on Pakhowal Road. A manhunt is on for three of their associates — Akashdeep Singh Pannu of Badala Kharar, Gagandeep Singh Gyani of Lalton Kalan, and Ketan of Haryana. Akashdeep Singh, previously involved in seven cases, was released from New Nabha Jail on Dec 22, 2022. Jashandeep Singh was released on bail on Oct 6, following the election-related clash. Gagandeep Singh Gagan is out on bail since April 28, 2020. Commissioner of Police (Crime) Amandeep Brar said the duo was arrested on Pakhowal Road after police intercepted them in a vacant plot. Two illegal pistols and ammunition were seized during the arrest, and a third weapon was recovered from their jeep parked nearby, which was also impounded. The investigation is focused on apprehending the remaining accused and identifying the network supplying illegal firearms. We also published the following articles recently Two from MP arrested with illegal pistols Udaipur police, along with SOG and ATS, apprehended two men from Madhya Pradesh, seizing nine illegal pistols and thirteen cartridges. Tosif, residing in Udaipur, and Ajaz, from Ratlam, were arrested. Tosif had procured the weapons from Ajaz and other suppliers. Investigations link them to previous pistol supply cases, including one involving Bada Mewati. Murder accused arrested after police encounter in Deoria dist Deoria police apprehended Deepak Mishra, the prime suspect in the Nihal Singh murder case, during a Saturday encounter in Suroli. Mishra, injured in the leg during the confrontation, is currently receiving medical treatment. Five other accused were previously arrested following the November 7th shooting of Singh, a Musaf Colony resident. Digital arrest scam: Andhra Pradesh police arrest five cybercrooks and seize cash and gold from accused Vizianagaram police apprehended five Maharashtra residents involved in a digital extortion racket. The gang swindled Rs 40 lakh from a retired lecturer by falsely implicating her in a narcotics case. Swift police action led to the recovery of Rs 10 lakh in cash and Rs 9.2 lakh worth of gold jewelry. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches -- the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President -- are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI," Glasgow said. "The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America's top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart's announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart's need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer's ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart." Walmart's announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” He said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have “record participation” of more than 1,400 companies in 2025." Alexandra Olson And Cathy Bussewitz, The Associated Press

Bayern Munich entered its Champions League showdown with Paris Saint-Germain knowing that it needed to put away the French powerhouse. It was a wild game, but the Bavarians did — finally — get that signature win that they desperately needed. Let’s talk about how it all went down and more on the Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show. This is what we have on tap: A look at the starting XI. A rundown of the scoring and substitutions. If you were looking for entertainment, the first half had you covered with its frantic pacing. Kingsley Coman cannot hit the broad side of a bard, but he was giving PSG fits. Ousmane Dembélé’s sloppy play got him two yellow cards, which allowed Bayern Munich to just grind away at PSG. Some final thoughts and takeaways on the match. Support Bavarian Podcast Works on Patreon! If you like our podcasts and want more, or just want to listen our episodes ad-free, then support us on Patreon! Every single dollar will be used to help boost the coverage of the team we all love. Mia San Mia. DONATE NOW! Be sure to stay tuned to Bavarian Podcast Works for all of your up to date coverage on Bayern Munich and Germany. Check us out on Patreon and follow us on Twitter @BavarianFBWorks, @BavarianPodcast @TheBarrelBlog, @BFWCyler, @IredahlMarcus, @2012nonexistent, @TommyAdams71 and more.NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Justin Thomas was long off the tee and made a few long putts on the back nine to overtake Scottie Scheffler with a 6-under 66 and build a one-shot lead Saturday over golf’s best player going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Thomas is trying out a 46-inch driver — a little more than an inch longer than normal — that he previously used for practice at home to gain speed and length. He blasted a 361-yard drive to 8 feet on the par-4 seventh hole and led the field in driving distance. But it was a few long putts that put him ahead of Scheffler, who had a 69. Thomas was on the verge of falling two shots behind when he made an 18-foot par putt on the par-3 12th hole. On the reachable par-4 14th, he was in a nasty spot in a sandy area and could only splash it out to nearly 50 feet. He made that one for a most unlikely birdie, while behind him Scheffler muffed a chip on the 13th hole and made his lone bogey of a windy day. Scheffler never caught up to him, missing birdie chances on the reachable 14th and the par-5 15th. Thomas hit his approach to 3 feet for birdie on the 16th after a 343-yard drive. Scheffler made an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th to close within one. RELATED COVERAGE Scottie Scheffler goes on a run of birdies in the Bahamas and leads by 2 Scottie Scheffler has new putting grip and trails Cameron Young by 3 in Bahamas Kevin Kisner will be the lead analyst for NBC’s golf coverage Scheffler missed birdie chances on the last two holes from the 10-foot and 15-foot range, while Thomas missed an 8-foot birdie attempt at the last. “I had a stretch at 13, 14, 15 where I felt like I lost a shot or two there, but outside of that I did a lot of really good things today,” Scheffler said. Thomas hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, and a victory at Albany Golf Club wouldn’t count as an official win. But the two-time major champion has made steady progress toward getting his game back in order. “I’m driving it great. I’ve had a lot of confidence with it,” Thomas said of his longer driver. “I feel like I’ve been able to put myself in some pretty good spots going into the green. I’m still not taking advantage of some of them as much as I would like, but that’s golf and we’re always going to say that.” Thomas was at 17-under 199 and will be in the final group Sunday with Scheffler, who is trying to end his spectacular season with a ninth title. Tom Kim put himself in the mix, which he might not have imagined Thursday when he was 3 over through six holes of the holiday tournament. Kim got back in the game with a 65 on Friday, and then followed with 12 birdies for a 62. He had a shot at the course record — Rickie Fowler shot 61 in the final round when he won at Albany in 2017 — until Kim found a bunker and took two shots to reach the green in making a double bogey on the par-3 17th. Even so, he was only two shots behind. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (68) was four back. “Feel like I’ve been seeing signs of improvement, which is what you want and that’s all I can do,” Thomas said. “I can’t control everybody else or what’s going on, I’ve just got to keep playing as good as I possibly can and hope that it’s enough come Sunday.” ___ AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

John Prescott: Tony Blair leads tributes to Labour giant1 2 3 Ludhiana: In a landmark action against environmental violations, two residents of Basant Avenue have been charged with chopping down park trees and stealing the wood. The case, prompted by complaints from local environental activists that have also fought for clean water in the Buddha Dariya, marks one of the first instances of legal action for tree felling in the city, highlighting growing concerns over diminishing green cover. Basant Avenue residents B D Goyal and Tarsem Singh, are charged with stealing and damaging public property by cutting down four park trees in violation of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984. Environmental activist dentist Dr Amandeep Bains had filed this complaint on behalf of his team from the Public Action Committee that had planted these trees two decades ago. On Dec 5, hired workers hacked down these fully grown trees and carried away their wood allegedly on the orders of the two accused. Dr Bains claimed to have witnessed this chopping incident and confronted the contractor, who gave him the names of the individuals responsible. Dr Bains said in his police statement that: “This is not just tree cutting but a theft and a blatant disregard for public property.” Environmental activists welcomed the police action, describing it as a breakthrough in their efforts to curb illegal tree felling. “This is likely the first FIR (first-information report) of its kind in Ludhiana,” said Kapil Arora, another activist involved in the case. “Despite multiple complaints in the past, no action was taken. This step will set a precedent and discourage people from cutting down trees.” Arora emphasised the urgent need to protect Ludhiana’s shrinking green cover. “Tree felling has become alarmingly common because there’s little fear of consequences. This FIR shows that such acts will no longer go unpunished,” he added. Background, implications The trees in question were part of a park in Basant Avenue, a space meant to enhance the neighbourhood’s environment. Activists had raised the issue on social media before filing the complaint. They allege that the accused not only damaged public property but also hired contractors to dispose of the felled trees. The FIR highlights the growing awareness and activism around environmental conservation in urban areas like Ludhiana, where rapid development has taken a toll on green spaces. We also published the following articles recently Activist climbs tree to protest corruption in Girnanagar gram panchayat A gram panchayat member and RTI activist, Sunil Tukaram Sonawane, climbed a tree outside the Nashik Zilla Parishad office to protest alleged corruption. He claimed inaction on his complaints against the Girnanagar gram panchayat sarpanch. Police and fire brigade personnel rescued him after a 20-minute standoff. Sonawane alleges illegal appointments within the panchayat. No charges were filed against him. HC sends petition against tree felling to larger bench, stay on govt order remains The Madhya Pradesh High Court has referred a case challenging the state government's order permitting the felling of 53 tree species to a larger bench. This follows a previous dismissal of a similar petition by the Indore High Court bench. The petitioners argue this exemption contradicts a Supreme Court ruling and leads to deforestation. Navi Mumbai: Trees near Belapur fort cut for buildings, Centre orders action Residents of Navi Mumbai's Kille Gaonthan are celebrating a victory in their fight to protect trees slated for removal due to a residential project near the historic Belapur fort. Following citizen complaints, including one by Anuradha Shenoy, the Union forest ministry has intervened, directing state officials to investigate the tree felling and proposed highway widening. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .

Iowa turns to former walk-on QB to start against MarylandBuffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott reacts with his players during the first half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) AP Ryan Talbot | rtalbot@nyup.com The Buffalo Bills were not in action in Week 12. Buffalo (9-2) will return to action on Sunday night when they host the San Francisco 49ers (5-6). The Bills are perfect coming off of their bye week under Sean McDermott, but the team will be tested on Sunday Night Football against a 49ers team that is better than their record. Before looking ahead to their Week 13 matchup, here’s a look at where the Bills currently sit in various national power rankings as well as analysis from the sites. Offense ranking: 3 Defense ranking: 10 Special teams ranking: 18 Currently riding a six-game winning streak, the Bills’ FPI rankings reflect just how well this team is performing despite dealing with injuries and changes on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Josh Allen and the offense are second in points margin per game (9.6), and the team leads the league in turnover margin (14). There are still some areas to monitor, as reflected in Tyler Bass being 25th in field goal percentage (86.4%) and missing four extra point attempts so far. My friend and fellow Power Ranking enthusiast Dan Hanzus over at Heed the Call is very much against the bye week drop for teams. I’m for it within reason. I would say if this iteration of the Power Rankings had a final poll of the season I probably would have left Buffalo at No. 2. But we’re talking about a living, breathing entity and right at this very second I think the Eagles could beat almost any team in the NFL. Will I feel differently next week? Almost certainly. Their next three games are against NFC opponents, so losing one – at Detroit on Dec. 15? – won’t hurt the Bills too badly in the tiebreaker department, especially as they try to get better in the team health department. It’s the annual Chris Berman Super Bowl prediction from pretty much every year of the 1990s, when the 49ers come to town. The Bills could be getting them at the perfect time. The Bills had to be rooting hard for the Panthers on Sunday. They’re going to need a Chiefs loss at some point to get the No. 1 seed, and Kansas City flirted with it on Sunday. All Buffalo can do is keep winning and hope some close game doesn’t go the Chiefs’ way. They went into their bye having scored 30 points or more in five straight games. This is one team that has to hope the bye didn’t slow them down. Buffalo got to sit back on its Week 12 bye with a 9-2 record, having won six straight, culminating with a big win over Kansas City. Part of the Bills’ bye-week viewing likely included the Chiefs’ struggles to put the Panthers away, which had to make the week of rest even better. Buffalo all but has the AFC East wrapped up, and it still has a puncher’s chance to wrestle away the AFC’s top seed from Kansas City, thanks to the head-to-head win and a stretch run that is far easier than the Chiefs’. Buffalo will come out of the bye with a home game against the suddenly sinking 5-6 49ers. There also are games left against the Rams, Jets and Patriots (twice), as well as a showdown against the Lions in Detroit that could serve as a Super Bowl sneak peek. All told, the Bills are in great shape, and they appear to be getting a little healthier, too. There’s nothing better than hitting the bye week after a huge win. That’s how things worked out for the Buffalo Bills, who knocked the Kansas City Chiefs from the ranks of the unbeaten. Quarterback Josh Allen is a legitimate MVP candidate at this point in the season. But Bills legend Buce Smith told TMZ Sports that individual accolades aren’t as important as the ultimate goal—a trip to New Orleans in February for Super Bowl XLIX. “Josh has my [MVP] vote thus far,” Smith said. “He needs to finish strong, but keep in mind, winning the MVP but not having an opportunity to play and win in a Super Bowl, I just look at that as, obviously a personal statistic is always great to have, but you want to have that opportunity to go to the Super Bowl and become the MVP in the Super Bowl, win the Super Bowl. All of those things that make history, and I think this gives us a great shot. What took place [against the Chiefs] showed a lot of character about this team.” Analyst’s Take Perhaps the most impressive part about Allen’s play this year is that he hasn’t really had a true go-to receiver—yes, Buffalo traded for Amari Cooper, but he’s still acclimating to his new home. Allen has spread the ball around, running back James Cook is playing well and Buffalo’s defense is steadily improving. The Bills haven’t lost since all the way back in Week 5, but the team faces a challenging three-game stretch post-bye—home against San Francisco, at the Rams and then a trip to Ford Field for a potential Super Bowl preview. More buffalo bills Buffalo Bills vs. SF 49ers first-look betting preview: NFL Week 13 on Thanksgiving Weekend NFL superstar fined $14K for ‘violent gesture’ at Buffalo Bills game Watch: Southwest employee delivers hilarious welcome to Buffalo for Chiefs fans Brock Purdy injury: Could 49ers QB miss Buffalo Bills matchup in Week 13? Steelers defender takes shot at Josh Allen, says Buffalo Bills QB is not MVP candidate

An archbishop's knock formally restores Notre Dame to life as winds howl and heads of state look onST. LOUIS (AP) — Jason Zucker scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 9:30 remaining and the Buffalo Sabres notched their third straight victory by beating the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Sunday. Jiri Kulich extended Buffalo’s lead with a breakaway goal that went between Blues goalie Jordan Binnington’s legs with 3:41 to play. Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist against his former team as the Sabres won in St. Louis for just the second time in 12 years to sweep the season series. Zucker had a goal and an assist, and Jack Quinn had two assists for Buffalo. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 35 shots. Brayden Schenn and Nathan Walker scored for the Blues. Binnington had 12 saves. Buffalo scored on two of its first three shots, including its first of the game. Takeaways Buffalo: After a 13-game losing streak (0-10-3), the Sabres have scored 17 goals while winning three straight. St. Louis: The Blues, who are tied for an NHL-low five power-play goals at home, went 0 for 4 with the man advantage. Key moment After Walker pulled the Blues even with 14:04 left in the game, rookie Zack Bolduc took a cross checking penalty midway through the third period that led to the decisive goal. Key stat The Sabres had scored on only six of 43 road power plays (14%) this season before going 2 for 3 on Sunday. Buffalo ranked 27th out of 32 NHL teams. Up next The Blues play Chicago in the Winter Classic on Tuesday at Wrigley Field. Buffalo will play at Dallas on Tuesday night. ___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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Laura Benanti has slammed her former Broadway co-star Zachary Levi over comments he made about the recent death of their late colleague, Gavin Creel. Benanti, 45, and the Shazam! star, 44, co-led the wildly successful revival of the musical She Loves Me in 2016 alongside Creel, who died in September at the age of 48 from cancer. Benanti spoke about her feelings towards Levi during this week’s episode of That’s a Gay Ass Podcast , hosted by Eric Williams. “I never liked [Levi]. Everyone was like, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not. He’s sucking up all the f***ing energy in this room. He wants to mansplain everybody’s part to them,’” Benanti said. “He really sucked everybody in with his dance party energy, like, ‘We’re doing a dance party at half-hour.’ I was like, ‘Good luck, have fun.’” During a pro-Donald Trump rant on Instagram Live in October, Levi baselessly suggested that Creel’s death may have been tied to Covid vaccinations. The Tony Award winner’s death was caused by a metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma, a type of nerve cancer that the actor learned he had in July. “I know that this is going to offend some people and make some people mad, and I wish it didn’t. A few weeks ago, my friend Gavin Creel died. He was 48 years old, and he was one of the healthiest people I knew. ... You better believe that, with everything in me, I believe that if these COVID vaccinations were not forced on the American public...” Levi said before trailing off. The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute have both debunked theories that the Covid vaccine causes cancer. Speaking about Levi spreading the misinformation, an emotional Benanti told Williams: “For him to use Gavin’s memory — a person he was not friends with — to use his memory for his political agenda and to watch him try to make himself cry until he had one single tear, which he did not wipe away, I was like, ‘F*** you forever.’” Levi was widely criticized by other Broadway stars at the time. Wicked alum Jenna Leigh Green wrote in the comments of Levi’s post: “Gavin deserved better. What has happened to you to have flown so far from decency and sanity? It’s just so sad.” “So incredibly disappointed you would politicize Gavin’s death ,” wrote two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz. “Really tried to give you the benefit here. Made it halfway through, which was hard as hell. But was utterly heartbroken, as he would have been, that you felt the need to use his life and legacy to promote this awful platform.” In September, Levi endorsed Trump for president after his first choice, anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr. , dropped out of the race . Appearing at the Republican’s rally in Michigan, the DC actor said: “We’re here to make sure that we are going to take back this country, we are going to make it great again, we are going to make it healthy again. And so, I stand with Bobby, and I stand with Tulsi, and I stand with everyone else who is standing with President Trump. Because I do believe, of the two choices that we have, and we only have two, Donald Trump, President Trump is the man that can get us there. And he’s gonna get us there because he’s gonna have the backing and the support and the wisdom and the knowledge and the fight that exists in Robert Kennedy Jr and former representative Tulsi Gabbard.” In January 2023, two months before the release of Shazam! Fury of the Gods , Levi shocked fans with his response to a tweet asking if Covid-19 vaccine maker Pfizer was “a real danger to the world.” “Hardcore agree,” he wrote. While the first Shazam! (2019) film was warmly received, the second was such a critical and financial bomb that the film’s director David F Sandberg vowed to leave the world of superheroes behind . Levi subsequently made a number of public statements decrying the treatment Fury of the Gods received from critics.

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Jimmy Carter: A brief bioPLAINS, 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.” 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.

On Wednesday afternoon in Rio Grande City, Texas, cement trucks, construction workers and semi-trucks loaded with pieces of border wall could be seen entering a plot of land on FM 1430. What was once a family farm is quickly becoming a main cog in Texas’ immigration fight. The 1,402.4-acre piece of land was acquired by the Texas General Land Office and Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham on Oct. 24 from Sheerin Real Properties LLC. At the time, the General Land Office put out a press release, saying, “Texas General Land Office (GLO) has acquired a 1,402-acre ranch along the Rio Grande at Starr County’s border with Mexico. This property’s frontage on the Rio Grande makes it a crucial location for enhanced border security and placement of a border wall.” “For too long, the federal government has abdicated its job to secure our southern border,” Buckingham said in the release from late October. “This is why I am stepping up and acquiring this 1,402-acre property in the heart of the border crisis. (O)ur agency will take matters into our own hands and partner with the State of Texas to secure this section of Starr County by building a fortified 1.5-acre mile wall.” According to the General Land Office, this large piece of land along the river was being used for farming row crops such as onions, canola, sunflowers, sorghum, corn, cotton and soybeans. Originally, the plan from the General Land Office was to continue the farming operations, with the proceeds benefitting the schoolchildren of Texas through the Permanent School Fund, which funds primary and secondary public schools. Now, that plan seems cloudy. On Tuesday, the General Land Office offered the expensive plot of land to the incoming Trump administration to aid in its efforts to accomplish the largest mass deportation operation in the history of the country. Buckingham wrote a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump and his team on Tuesday, saying she is “fully prepared” to assist federal agencies and “to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.” Gov. Greg Abbott went on Fox News on Tuesday evening and expressed his support for this plan, saying it is the next step in securing the border. As of Wednesday, some things are still unclear. For starters, who owned the land is still in question. The General Land Office purchased it from Sheerin, but other documents indicate the land could have belonged to a local family. In Buckingham’s letter to Trump, she said, “The previous owner had refused to allow the wall to be built and actively blocked law enforcement from accessing the property.” One thing is for sure at this point — the race to secure the southern border seems to have already started before the President-Elect is sworn into office. Content from The National Desk is provided by Sinclair, the parent company of FOX45 News.The Commercial Bank of Ceylon won the Gold as Sri Lanka’s ‘Green Brand of the Year’ at the 2024 Brand Excellence Awards of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) in a fitting recognition of the Bank’s uncompromising commitment to sustainability. The award recognises the substantial investments and noteworthy progress the Bank has made in advancing the cause of sustainability beyond its own operations to encompass nationally-significant initiatives that engage with communities across the country. Prominent among these initiatives was the launch in 2023, and the completion in just 12 months, of the planting of 100,000 trees in ecologically important locations under the Bank’s ‘Trees for Tomorrow’ programme, and the Bank’s commitment to plant another 100,000. Sri Lanka’s first carbon neutral bank – an achievement of 2021 – Commercial Bank’s sustainability journey began 25 years ago and has steadily gained momentum over the last four years. It has generated several sustainability-linked firsts for the Bank as well as the country. In the year assessed for the SLIM Green Brand of the Year award, Commercial Bank reduced its CO2 emissions by a further 233,918 tonnes, reduced paper usage by 47.57%, recycled 286,240 kgs of paper, and increased the number of branches powered by solar energy to 82. Among other significant achievements of the year was the launch of Sri Lanka’s first Green Home Loans scheme and surpassing 1 million customers for its flagship ComBank Digital app, promoting sustainable banking practices. Notably, Commercial Bank commenced 2024 with the launch of its evolved logo featuring a green element to represent the Bank’s multifaceted commitment to sustainability, encompassing diversity, inclusivity, good governance, transparency, social equity, accountability and eco-friendly banking solutions.