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fortune gems 2 jili By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased for the third week in a row, a welcome trend for prospective home buyers during what’s typically a less competitive time of the year for the housing market. The rate dropped to 6.6% from 6.69% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.95%. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also eased this week. The average rate fell to 5.84% from 5.96% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.38%, Freddie Mac said. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now at its lowest level since Oct. 24, when it was at 6.54%. “The combination of mortgage rate declines, firm consumer income growth and a bullish stock market have increased homebuyer demand in recent weeks,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While the outlook for the housing market is improving, the improvement is limited given that homebuyers continue to face stiff affordability headwinds.” Elevated mortgage rates and rising home prices have kept homeownership out of reach of many would-be home buyers . U.S. home sales are on track for their worst year since 1995. Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the moves in the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to price home loans. The yield, which was below 3.7% as recently as September, has mostly hovered around 4.2% this month. It was at 4.3% at midday Thursday. The recent decline in rates follows a mostly upward climb since the average rate on a 30-year mortgage slid to a two-year low of 6.08% in late September after the Federal Reserve cut its main interest rate from a two-decade high. While the central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, its actions and the trajectory of inflation influence the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield. Many economists and traders on Wall Street expect that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again at its policy meeting next week. Home shoppers and homeowners seeking to refinance their existing mortgage to a lower rate are taking advantage of the recent pullback in home-loan borrowing costs. Mortgage applications rose 5.4% last week from a week earlier, the fifth straight increase, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinance loan applications climbed 27%. “Purchase applications have increased on an annual basis every week except for one over the past three months, a positive sign for the mortgage market to close out this year,” said MBA CEO Bob Broeksmit. With home prices near all-time highs and still rising nationally, albeit more slowly, many prospective home buyers are likely holding out for mortgage rates to ease further in coming months. But there may not be much relief, given that many housing economists predict the average rate on a 30-year mortgage will remain above 6% next year. Be civil. Be kind.Then Paige Greco busted a move in 3-on-3 overtime to give the Union women’s hockey team a 3-2 win over RPI. Replicating a stickhandle/shot sequence she had been working on in practice for two weeks, Greco beat RPI goalie Reese Keating at 3:39 on a play that started with a tough save by Sophie Matsoukas at the other end and advanced on a lead pass from Ashley Adams to Greco for an undefended shot from the left circle on the rush. “I’ve been really honing down on this one move, and it came to life today,” the senior from Burlington, Ontario, said. “The second I saw that puck get chipped to me, I knew right away that I was going to do it.” The Garnet Chargers improved to 4-3-0 for 12 points in ECAC Hockey, 7-9-0 overall, and avoiding a split of three points with the Engineers (2-4-1, 8-7-2), who came back from a 2-0 deficit and killed a two-minute minor penalty with 2:05 left in the third period to get to overtime. Also, Union won at Houston Field House for just the third time in 27 games all-time. Union carried the play in the first 10 minutes of regulation, scoring twice on long possessions down low with a grinding forecheck. On the first goal, Mikayla Blomquist pitched forward to the ice while crossing the blueline on the right wing, and in doing so, she blocked a clearing attempt. She subsequently helped Union maintain possession and pressure on the RPI goalmouth, and after two shot attempts from in close, she flipped a backhand over Keating’s left shoulder to make it 1-0 at 2:54. Union’s second goal also came from solid puck possession around the RPI net, and Maren Friday got it in the right circle and had time to slide to her left into the slot for a wrist shot off the right post for a 2-0 lead at 8:42. RPI got one back quickly when Aylah Cioffi scored at 10:26 to get within 2-1. “We’ve been working on our O-zone stuff trying to get on teams quicker, create those turnovers low so that we can have some of those quicker plays down low,” Union head coach Tony Maci said. “They did a pretty good job of stretching us out after the first 10 minutes and getting us out of our comfort zone.” “Union played really well,” RPI head coach Bryan Vines said. “They played with great pace and put us under pressure with their forecheck. We fed into that a little bit early in the game, but were able to adjust as the game went on. Then it was a back-and-forth, grinding rivalry type of game that you’d expect.” The best scoring chance of the second period came just as the period was ending, on a partial breakaway by the Garnet Chargers’ Maddie Leaney, who was thwarted by RPI captain Taylor Larsen with a nifty stick check from behind as Leaney tried to shoot. The Engineers wasted no time tying it in the third. Morgann Skoda got behind the defense on the rush and slide the puck under Matsoukas just 59 seconds into the period. “I was proud of our resilience,” Vines said. “It’s not easy going down two-nothing that quickly, especially to your rival, especially in a game like this, where you’ve got a thousand kids in the stands screaming and going crazy, which was great to see. “I like how we settled down. We started managing the puck better and found a way to at least get it to overtime and get a really, really valuable league point.” After Keating made a tough save on Leaney in overtime, Matsoukas matched it at the other end on a high shot by Ellie Kaiser, and Adams was able to use that for a lead pass to Greco. When Greco got close to Keating, she dragged the puck to her right, then flipped a shot over Keating’s right shoulder for the game-winner. “It’s hard in OT. It’s only 3-on-3, so there’s people flying everywhere,” Matsoukas said. “The girl kind of opened up and came down for a shot, so I tried to challenge her as much as I could, and then she shot high, so it kind of went off my neck and went up. “Then Ash beat her to it for the breakaway, and we scored.” “Ash made a nice chip to me, and I’ve been practicing this move for awhile in practice and in some shootouts we’ve been doing,” Greco said. “I knew when I got the puck that I was going to pull and go short side high. “So it was a really exciting moment, and I’ve been waiting to get a goal like this for awhile. I only have one goal this year, so I’ve really been waiting for a moment like this.” “We know that our skill sessions are going to kind of replicate themselves in games,” Maci said. “For it to actually come to fruition maybe a day or two after she actually was doing it all the time speaks volumes to the effort she’s putting in.” The loss for the Engineers was compounded by the fact that their captain was injured 55 seconds before Greco scored. Larsen went down in the corner of RPI’s defensive end and eventually was helped off the ice without putting weight on her right skate. “It’s an unfortunate part of our game,” Vines said. “It was just kind of a nothing play. She got tangled up a little bit. It’s never easy to see your captain go down, especially in a big moment, 3-on-3 against your crosstown rival. We’ll hope for the best moving into Sunday against Assumption.” Union 2 0 0 1 — 3 RPI 1 0 1 0 — 2 First period — 1, Union, Blomquist 2 (Mauracher), 2:54. 2, Union, Friday 4 (Bourque, Mauracher), 8:42. 3, RPI, Cioffi 6 (Bailey), 10:26. Penalties — Kenttala, UNI (body checking), 15:08. Second period — None. Third period — 4, RPI, Skoda 5 (Erbenova, Keating), :59. Penalties — Mackay, RPI (tripping), 10:26; Trnkova, RPI (elbowing), 17:55. Overtime — 5, Union, Greco 2 (Adams), 3:39 Shots on goal — Union 10-8-10-3 — 31; RPI 8-6-5-2 — 21. Power-play Opportunities — Union, 0 of 2 ; RPI, 0 of 1. Goaltenders — Union, Matsoukas 6-7-0 (21 shots-19 saves); RPI, Keating 5-7-1 (31-28). A — 1,960. Referees — Jason Englehart, Dan Gosselin. Linesmen — Matthew White, Marc Silva.Panasonic Announces Two New Cameras: Compact Micro Four Thirds LUMIX G97 And Pocket-Sized Travel Zoom LUMIX ZS99

Trump will return to power with a raft of tools at his disposal.New images appear to show suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO killer in back of taxiCampaign finance records show Harris' $1 million payment to Oprah's production companyMan United coach Amorim says argument between Hojlund and Diallo a 'very good sign'

By SARAH PARVINI, GARANCE BURKE and JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make life-altering decisions for immigrants, including whether they should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency’s supervision. The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden’s AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how they plan to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, “limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people “may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.Ralph Dangelmaier Annual Scholarship for Fintech Innovators Announces Opportunity for Aspiring Financial Technology Leaders 12-12-2024 09:20 PM CET | Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance Press release from: Getnews / PR Agency: Talley Digital Media Image: https://www.getnews.info/uploads/1734023638.jpeg Ralph Dangelmaier WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS - The Ralph Dangelmaier [ https://ralphdangelmaier.com/ ] Annual Scholarship for Fintech Innovators is proud to announce its initiative to support and inspire the next generation of leaders in the financial technology (fintech) industry. This annual scholarship, valued at $1,000, will be awarded to an undergraduate student who demonstrates a deep passion for fintech, a strong understanding of emerging technologies, and a forward-thinking mindset. Along with this, the winner will also be awarded business consultation by Ralph and Payments Advisory Team. The scholarship is now open for applications, with a submission deadline of August 15, 2025. The winner will be announced on September 15, 2025. The Ralph Dangelmaier [ https://ralphdangelmaierscholarship.com/ ] Annual Scholarship is founded and administered by Ralph Dangelmaier, a visionary leader in the fintech sector with over three decades of experience driving innovation in financial technology. As the CEO and Board Member of BlueSnap, Inc., Ralph Dangelmaier has been instrumental in expanding the company's global reach. Under his leadership, BlueSnap emerged as one of the first payment facilitators to provide a seamless way for B2B and B2C merchants to accept payments anywhere in the world. BlueSnap's Payment Orchestration Platform Trademark supports access to hundreds of global payment types and currencies across more than 200 countries, solidifying its reputation as a trusted global brand in over 40 countries for payments. Throughout his illustrious career, Ralph Dangelmaier [ https://twitter.com/rdangelmaier ] has been a driving force in fintech innovation. He pioneered internet banking during his tenure at P&H Solutions and played a pivotal role in scaling ACI Worldwide, growing the company's revenue from $300 million to $1 billion. Recognized as one of the Top 50 SaaS CEOs, he has also been a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year. Additionally, Ralph Dangelmaier was honored as the Boston Business Journal's Innovator of the Year, underscoring his leadership and contributions to financial technology. With a deep commitment to mentoring the next generation, he continues to inspire aspiring fintech professionals worldwide. The Ralph Dangelmaier [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphdangelmaier/ ] Annual Scholarship for Fintech Innovators aims to support undergraduate students who share Ralph Dangelmaier's dedication to innovation in fintech. To qualify, applicants must be enrolled as undergraduate students at an accredited institution and demonstrate a keen interest in pursuing a career in financial technology. Ideal candidates will exhibit originality and an understanding of emerging fintech trends such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and decentralized finance. To apply, students must submit an essay in response to the following prompt: "How can emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, or decentralized finance shape the future of the financial industry? Describe an innovative fintech solution you would create to solve a pressing financial challenge." This prompt invites students to explore the transformative potential of fintech technologies, a field Ralph Dangelmaier has profoundly influenced. By encouraging applicants to envision groundbreaking solutions to real-world financial challenges, the scholarship fosters creativity and innovation aligned with Ralph Dangelmaier's career values. The Ralph Dangelmaier [ https://www.instagram.com/rdangelmaier/?hl=en ] Annual Scholarship is open to undergraduate students worldwide, reflecting the global nature of the fintech industry. With a strong focus on identifying creative thinkers ready to make significant contributions to the evolving world of financial technology, the scholarship offers a unique opportunity for students aspiring to shape the future of the industry. Ralph Dangelmaier is committed to nurturing future leaders who will drive fintech forward, just as he has throughout his remarkable career. By offering this scholarship, he hopes to provide deserving students with the support they need to achieve their educational and professional goals in this dynamic and rapidly expanding field. This annual scholarship underscores Ralph Dangelmaier's dedication to mentoring young talent and giving back to the fintech community that has fueled his success. His belief in the power of innovation, mentorship, and collaboration is at the heart of this initiative, which aims to ensure that the future of fintech is bright and full of opportunity. To learn more about the Ralph Dangelmaier Annual Scholarship for Fintech Innovators and to apply, please visit https://ralphdangelmaierscholarship.com/ About Ralph Dangelmaier Ralph Dangelmaier is a distinguished leader in the financial technology industry, with over 30 years of experience scaling organizations, driving innovation, and transforming global payment systems. As the CEO and Board Member of BlueSnap, Inc., he has expanded the company's presence to more than 40 countries, delivering unparalleled payment solutions to businesses worldwide. His visionary leadership has earned him numerous accolades, including recognition as one of the Top 50 SaaS CEOs and a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year. Ralph Dangelmaier remains a passionate advocate for aspiring fintech professionals, mentoring the next generation of innovators in the field. Media Contact Company Name: Ralph Dangelmaier Scholarship Contact Person: Ralph Dangelmaier Email: Send Email [ http://www.universalpressrelease.com/?pr=ralph-dangelmaier-annual-scholarship-for-fintech-innovators-announces-opportunity-for-aspiring-financial-technology-leaders ] City: Waltham State: Massachusetts Country: United States Website: https://ralphdangelmaierscholarship.com This release was published on openPR.The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the promotion of 11 Commissioners of Police (CPs) and 16 Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) to their next ranks. Mr Ikechukwu Ani, the Head of Press and Public Relations of PSC, made this announcement in a statement on Monday in Abuja. The 11 CPs were promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIG), while the 16 DCPs were elevated to the rank of CP. Ani explained that the promotions were approved at the Commission’s second plenary meeting, where the senior officers underwent both written and oral examinations. He added that the Chairman of the Commission, Mr Hashimu Argungu, emphasised that from now on, written and oral examinations would be a pre-requisite for promotions at all levels within the Nigeria Police Force. The PSC chairman further encouraged police officers to continually improve and expose themselves to global best practices, including proficiency in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The 11 newly promoted AIGs are: Umar Nadada, Mustapha Bala, Abayomi Oladipo, Taiwo Adeleke, Ibrahim Abdullahi, Nwonyi Emeka, Akinwale Adeniran, Zubairu Abubakar, Fom Joseph, Emuobo Ekokotu, and Garba Yusuf. The 16 newly promoted CPs include: Kayode Ojapinwa, Emmanuel Ighodalo, Bose Akinyemi, Barayimil Samaila, Martin Nwogoh, Shetima Mohammed, Ibrahim Gotan, Rabiu Mohammed, and Olugbenga Abimbola. The others promoted to CP are: Adepoju Adewale, Bello Yahaya, Ibrahim Bakori, Hauwa Jibrin, Abayomi Shogunle, Mohammed Baba, and Ezekiel Husseini. Ani also stated that Mr Taiwo Lakanu, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Police Promotions at the PSC, led the promoted officers through a rigorous oral interview. Lakanu advised the newly promoted officers to focus on the responsibilities that come with their new positions and urged them to serve the nation with dedication He assured that the Commission would continue to ensure that promotions were timely and based on merit.

EDMONTON, Alberta, Dec. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capital Power Corporation (TSX: CPX) is proud to announce its Genesee Repowering project is now complete as Genesee Unit 2 achieved combined cycle commercial operations today, resulting in Genesee Units 1 and 2 becoming Canada’s most efficient natural gas combined cycle facility. Completion of this industry-leading project increases overall capacity at the Genesee Generating Station by 512 megawatts (MW) and reduces CO 2 emissions by 3.4 million tonnes annually – representing a ~60% increase in capacity while reducing emissions by ~40%. “Our Genesee Repowering project is immensely impactful for North American power generation, demonstrating there is a valuable life after coal for legacy facilities. As we’re witnessing a drastic rise in energy demands in tandem with coal facilities coming offline, there has never been a bigger need or a better time for innovation of this scale,” said Avik Dey, President and CEO of Capital Power. “Our investment in Genesee ensures we can continue to reliably power Alberta’s economy during the harshest winter nights and hottest summer days, while also unlocking major opportunities to power the many drivers of the energy expansion. This is a proud moment in our history that we’re incredibly excited to build on.” “It is incredibly exciting to see the Genesee Repowering project be fully completed. This additional clean natural gas-powered generation is yet another big step towards ensuring Alberta’s electricity is affordable, reliable, and sustainable for generations to come. I commend Capital Power for their continued innovation in Alberta's power market,” said Honourable Nathan Neudorf, Minister of Affordability and Utilities, Government of Alberta. The approximately $1.6 billion project began construction in summer 2021 requiring more than 5.8 million hours of labour with a peak of ~1,250 workers on site. Located entirely within the footprint of the existing Genesee Generating Station, the project involved installing two new Mitsubishi M501JAC gas-fired combustion turbines and Vogt triple-pressure heat recovery steam generators, while utilizing the units’ existing steam turbine generators. In June 2024, the project achieved simple cycle operations for both units which resulted in the facility becoming 100% natural gas fueled – moving Capital Power and Alberta off coal five years ahead of government mandate. The Genesee Generating Station is now capable of delivering up to 1,857 MW of reliable, affordable and cleaner power for Alberta’s thriving economy. The significant baseload generation available on the 26,000+ acre site supports grid-wide reliability while presenting opportunities for future development, energizing the Alberta advantage for new technologies, industries and growth. With the project now complete, Capital Power will be referring to the Genesee Generating Station as a single facility in our portfolio (30 total facilities instead of 32 when counting all three units separately). More information: https://www.capitalpower.com/operations/genesee-generating-station Media Resources Media are welcome to use the following photos and videos for use when reporting on the Genesee Generating Station: https://capitalpower.mediavalet.com/galleries/9cd4d151-7f8f-48f9-8c1b-abc7392dbf49_956eea99-84ea-48b2-9973-b5febf8e5048-ExternalUser Other uses require written permission from Capital Power – please contact kperron@capitalpower.com for more information or to arrange an interview. Territorial Acknowledgement In the spirit of reconciliation, Capital Power respectfully acknowledges that we operate within the ancestral homelands, traditional and treaty territories of the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island, or North America. Capital Power’s head office is located within the traditional and contemporary home of many Indigenous Peoples of the Treaty 6 region and Métis Nation of Alberta Region 4. We acknowledge the diverse Indigenous communities that are located in these areas and whose presence continues to enrich the community. About Capital Power Capital Power (TSX: CPX) is a growth-oriented power producer with approximately 9,800 MW of power generation at 30 facilities across North America. We prioritize safely delivering reliable and affordable power communities can depend on, building clean power systems, and creating balanced solutions for our energy future. We are Powering Change by Changing PowerTM.Huddle for Hearts Life Saving Mission Expands Nationwide

Quick Links SkyWest's business model has remained the same post-pandemic So what exactly has been behind the carrier's success this year? So what's the bottom line? Airlines, which have historically seen relatively mild (if not weak) returns for investors, have had an impressive year in 2024, despite industry volatility and an environment that has still seen high fuel prices and high interest rates. According to data from Yahoo Finance, the commercial airline sector has seen calendar-year returns of 33.4%, despite being relatively flat over the past month . Get all the latest aviation news from Simple Flying! What is interesting about these returns is not just the fact that they are positive in a difficult macroeconomic environment, but rather the fact that the S&P 500 has seen returns of 14.58%, less than half that of the commercial airline industry. Across the board, everyone from legacy airlines to regional subcontractors to aircraft lessors has seen impressive success in a year when projections were likely low, except for low-cost airlines which saw returns on par with the market (or worse) . One specific airline has seen an impressive year, one that will certainly go down as one of the best in the company's history. Regional subcontractor SkyWest Airlines has seen year-to-date returns of over 110%, the second-highest in the US airline industry after United Airlines, a carrier that has also seen one of the best years on record when it comes to stock performance. The nation’s largest regional carrier is in hot water with the federal government, the Association of Flight Attendants, and its own inflight workers. The airline's performance has been remarkable With such impressive performance, SkyWest has certainly captured the headlines this year, and it certainly has strong ambitions for growth over the next twelve months. Nonetheless, industry observers continue to examine the company's keys to success and evaluate what has led to such bullish growth over the past year. Let's take a deeper look at SkyWest's impressive year so far, and what might be behind the airline's performance. SkyWest's business model has remained the same post-pandemic In the United States, full-service commercial airlines are restricted from operating aircraft beneath a certain takeoff weight, which typically limits them from operating anything smaller than a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 family jet. However, there are often smaller markets that do not have enough demand to routinely fill aircraft this large, creating a system in which legacy carriers operate regional subsidiaries, which contract flights out to regional operators. Each airline and its regional subsidiary are as follows: Legacy airline: Regional subsidiary: United Airlines United Express Delta Air Lines Delta Connection American Airlines American Eagle SkyWest is one of the largest regional subcontractors, and it operates flights for the three main legacy carriers . That is to say that, if you are flying on Delta, American, or United's regional subsidiary, you could be flying on a flight operated by SkyWest. The airline continues to drive profits from charging airlines like Delta, American, and United to operate these kinds of flights. SkyWest's operating model has remained the same while the airline industry has changed significantly since the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. The carrier has continued expanding its fleet while growing its partnerships and optimizing its cost structures. So what exactly has been behind the carrier's success this year? While there are likely many factors that have influenced the company's success over the past year, two major moves made by the airline are likely to have a strong influence on its positive financial performance. Early last year, SkyWest purchased a 25% ownership stake in Contour Airlines, an independent regional airline with hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Nashville, Phoenix, and Philadelphia . This purchase gave SkyWest access to Contour's assets and operational capabilities, while it launched its operations under a Part 135 license, which is given to airlines operating non-scheduled charter flights. SkyWest will also offer Contour support, by providing the airline with CRJ200 aircraft and working alongside the carrier to assist in the recruitment of young pilots. It will also attempt to help older pilots find opportunities in the workplace outside the cockpit, according to FlightGlobal . The airline also signed an agreement in March with United Airlines, which would allow the carrier to operate an additional 20 Embraer 175 aircraft for the airline. This new arrangement would be unique, as SkyWest would not be supplying its own aircraft, with United financing the fleet, according to a different FlightGlobal report . So what's the bottom line? At the end of the day, SkyWest has had an impressive year, and its growth has likely been driven by a decision made by the carrier which saw it expand both its footprint and its industry influence. For starters, the airline has grown through its acquisition, much in line with the mergers and purchases that have helped the company grow over time. The airline will also continue to further its partnership with United Airlines, which accounts for a large portion of SkyWest's business. Currently, the airline operates over 180 aircraft for United Express, flying to destinations across the United States. This deal has likely had a positive effect on market sentiments surrounding SkyWest, given the fact that United Airlines has continued to give hints that it will likely be reducing its regional operations in years to come, but seems steadfast in its relationship with SkyWest. Despite its success, the airline will likely have some challenges to face in the coming years. Essential Air Service funding , which forms a significant portion of SkyWest's funding in the form of route subsidies given to airlines that serve regional routes, could be eliminated in the coming years, with a President about to take office that promises large-scale budget cuts.

Trump's lawyers rebuff DA's idea for upholding his hush money convictionAs expected, that take aged like milk. Jackson is one of the best quarterbacks in the league while Jones is out of a starting job and off the Giants after they cut him on Friday. Former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber is getting roasted for a previous take that he had about quarterback Daniel Jones. He explained on WFAN Sports Radio in New York in late 2022 that he'd rather have Jones than Lamar Jackson heading into the 2023 season. No, he was not kidding. Fans are having a field day with this on social media. "Welcome to Giants Twitter. Jones was better than Herbert man told me," one tweet read . "Was this a real take?? Tiki took one too many ;bonks on the head' when he was playing apparently," another fan tweeted . "This is Tiki we're talking about. Just another bad take," another tweet read . "Colin Cowherd would be proud," another fan tweeted . pic.twitter.com/8jwnLkkvRB As expected, that take aged like milk. Jackson is one of the best quarterbacks in the league while Jones is out of a starting job and off the Giants after they cut him on Friday. Jones asked for his release on Friday morning and the Giants granted him his wish, knowing that they had to move on from him as their quarterback. He finished his Giants tenure with 14,582 yards through the air, 70 touchdowns, and 47 interceptions. Theo Wargo/Getty Images Jones was with the Giants for six seasons but will get a fresh start with a different team at some point. Meanwhile, Tommy DeVito will be the Giants' starting quarterback for the rest of the season before they look for a new QB1 during the offseason. Related: Breaking: Giants Release Daniel Jones Just Days After Benching Him

Trump's lawyers rebuff DA's idea for upholding his hush money convictionTrump's lawyers rebuff DA's idea for upholding his hush money conviction

DES MOINES — Gov. Kim Reynolds named Sen. Chris Cournoyer as her new lieutenant governor Monday, filling the role that was left open since former Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg resigned from the position in September. The governor said Cournoyer, a LeClaire Republican who has served as a state senator since 2019, was her choice after months of consideration because of her work on issues like education and technology. “Her first instinct isn’t just to wonder ‘why’ something isn’t working right or to complain, it’s actually to get in there and fix the problem herself,” Reynolds said. “She takes responsibility, she gets her hands dirty and she does the work. And the people of Iowa couldn’t ask for more in a lieutenant governor, and neither can I.” Cournoyer took the oath of office Monday, administered by Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen, officially taking the position as lieutenant governor. She thanked Reynolds for appointing her to the position, and said she was ready to help serve the state from the executive branch. “It’s an honor, and somewhat surreal, to be standing at this podium as Iowa’s lieutenant governor,” Cournoyer said. “... This is a humbling responsibility for me, and Iowans can be confident that I will always approach it with the seriousness that it deserves. That’s why I want to thank you, Governor. Reynolds, for placing your trust in me.” In addition to serving in the Iowa Senate, Cournoyer was formerly president of the Pleasant Valley Community School District School Board, member of Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and previously worked as a senior consultant in the technology division of the Chicago-based Andersen Consulting — a firm that later became Accenture. Reynolds praised Cournoyer’s experience in these roles, saying she will play an important role as lieutenant governor in tackling issues like artificial intelligence and expanding STEM opportunities in Iowa schools. “Chris’ qualifications go far beyond an impressive resume,” Reynolds said at the news conference held in the governor’s office Monday. “In fact, I believe they get to the heart ... of what it takes to be a lieutenant governor. First and foremost, she’s someone that Iowans can trust to serve as governor if I were ever unable to. I have complete confidence in her character, her judgment and her ability. It’s these same qualities that also make her ideally suited to serve as a member of my team.” Cournoyer will serve as Reynolds’ second-in-command for the remainder of the governor’s current term of office, until 2026 — the time of the next Iowa gubernatorial election. Though Reynolds has not made any announcement regarding another reelection campaign, she is expected to run for another term in the next election. Iowa Republicans and state leaders sent congratulations to Cournoyer for her appointment to the position. Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver released a statement Monday saying Cournoyer had “proven herself over the last 6 years as a smart, capable conservative” as a member of the Iowa Senate Republicans. “During her tenure in the Iowa Senate, she was a leading advocate for legislation to secure Second Amendment rights, protections for law enforcement, historic income tax relief, and every other common sense conservative priority the Senate has advanced,” Whitver said. “She will be missed, but I am happy for her and I look forward to watching her succeed in her new role as Lieutenant Governor.” Alongside her role in the gubernatorial line of succession, the lieutenant governor is also assigned duties by the governor. For Gregg, that meant initiatives like the Empower Rural Iowa Initiative. Gregg, who became the Iowa Bankers Association’s president and CEO in September after resigning as lieutenant governor, said that he chose to leave public office to spend more time with his family. He had held the position since Reynolds took office in 2017 after former Gov. Terry Branstad vacated the governor seat to serve as U.S. ambassador to China during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office. When Gregg was appointed to serve as the state’s executive second-in-command by Reynolds in May 2017, his role was limited. Former Attorney General Tom Miller issued a legal opinion in 2017 that Reynolds had technically not vacated her position as Branstad’s lieutenant governor when she ascended to the governorship, meaning that she could not formally appoint her own lieutenant governor. Gregg did not officially take the position until he and Reynolds won reelection in 2018. Reynolds did not face the same challenges appointing a person to fill Gregg’s position in 2024, as Reynolds, who won reelection in 2022, has the power as governor to fill the vacancy for the remainder of her term. Additionally, Iowans approved a constitutional amendment in the 2024 general election that changed language in the Iowa State Constitution to clarify that a vacancy is created in the lieutenant governor’s position when a lieutenant governor takes the position of governor. The largest difference in being officially appointed to the lieutenant governor’s position lies in the gubernatorial line of succession. When Gregg held the position unofficially prior to the 2018 election, Whitver, then-Senate president, would have become governor if Reynolds vacated the governor’s office at that time. For the past few months without a sitting lieutenant governor, Senate President Amy Sinclair has been next in line to serve as Iowa governor. Reynolds will need to call a special election to fill Cournoyer’s seat in the Iowa Senate. The governor’s office has not yet shared details about their plans to fill the vacancy.By HILLEL ITALIE NEW YORK (AP) — Even through a year of nonstop news about elections, climate change, protests and the price of eggs, there was still time to read books. Related Articles Column: Meet Mark Vancil, the sportswriter who’s old friends with Michael Jordan Nikki Giovanni, poet and literary celebrity, has died at 81 Percival Everett, 2024 National Book Award winner, rereads one book often A British musician traced an unusual sound to CT. You wouldn’t guess what the instrument is made of. Gift books for 2024: What to give, and what to receive, for all kinds of readers U.S. sales held steady according to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the print market, with many choosing the relief of romance, fantasy and romantasy. Some picked up Taylor Swift’s tie-in book to her blockbuster tour, while others sought out literary fiction, celebrity memoirs, political exposes and a close and painful look at a generation hooked on smartphones. Here are 10 notable books published in 2024, in no particular order. Asking about the year’s hottest reads would basically yield a list of the biggest hits in romantasy, the blend of fantasy and romance that has proved so irresistible fans were snapping up expensive “special editions” with decorative covers and sprayed edges. Of the 25 top sellers of 2024, as compiled by Circana, six were by romantasy favorite Sarah J. Maas, including “House of Flame and Shadow,” the third of her “Crescent City” series. Millions read her latest installment about Bryce Quinlan and Hunter Athalar and traced the ever-growing ties of “Maasverse,” the overlapping worlds of “Crescent City” and her other series, “Throne of Glass” and “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” If romantasy is for escape, other books demand we confront. In the bestselling “The Anxious Generation,” social psychologist Jonathan Haidt looks into studies finding that the mental health of young people began to deteriorate in the 2010s, after decades of progress. According to Haidt, the main culprit is right before us: digital screens that have drawn kids away from “play-based” to “phone-based” childhoods. Although some critics challenged his findings, “The Anxious Generation” became a talking point and a catchphrase. Admirers ranged from Oprah Winfrey to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, who in a letter to state legislators advocated such “commonsense recommendations” from the book as banning phones in schools and keeping kids off social media until age 16. Bob Woodward books have been an election tradition for decades. “War,” the latest of his highly sourced Washington insider accounts, made news with its allegations that Donald Trump had been in frequent contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin even while out of office and, while president, had sent Putin sophisticated COVID-19 test machines. Among Woodward’s other scoops: Putin seriously considered using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, and President Joe Biden blamed former President Barack Obama, under whom he served as vice president, for some of the problems with Russia. “Barack never took Putin seriously,” Woodward quoted Biden as saying. Former (and future) first lady Melania Trump, who gives few interviews and rarely discusses her private life, unexpectedly announced she was publishing a memoir: “Melania.” The publisher was unlikely for a former first lady — not one of the major New York houses, but Skyhorse, where authors include such controversial public figures as Woody Allen and Trump cabinet nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And its success was at least a minor surprise. Melania Trump did little publicity for the book, and offered few revelations beyond posting a video expressing support for abortion rights — a break from one of the cornerstones of GOP policy. But “Melania” still sold hundreds of thousands of copies, many in the days following her husband’s election. Taylor Swift was more than a music story in 2024. Like “Melania,” the news about Taylor Swift’s self-published tie-in to her global tour isn’t so much the book itself, but that it exists. And how well it sold. As she did with the “Eras” concert film, Swift bypassed the established industry and worked directly with a distributor: Target offered “The Eras Tour Book” exclusively. According to Circana, the “Eras” book sold more than 800,000 copies just in its opening week, an astonishing number for a publication unavailable through Amazon.com and other traditional retailers. No new book in 2024 had a better debut. Midnight book parties are supposed to be for “Harry Potter” and other fantasy series, but this fall, more than 100 stores stayed open late to welcome one of the year’s literary events: Sally Rooney’s “Intermezzo.” The Irish author’s fourth novel centers on two brothers, their grief over the death of their father, their very different career paths and their very unsettled love lives. “Intermezzo” was also a book about chess: “You have to read a lot of opening theory — that’s the beginning of a game, the first moves,” one of the brothers explains. “And you’re learning all this for what? Just to get an okay position in the middle game and try to play some decent chess. Which most of the time I can’t do anyway.” Lisa Marie Presley had been working on a memoir at the time of her death , in 2023, and daughter Riley Keough had agreed to help her complete it. “From Here to the Great Unknown” is Lisa Marie’s account of her father, Elvis Presley, and the sagas of of her adult life, notably her marriage to Michael Jackson and the death of son Benjamin Keough. To the end, she was haunted by the loss of Elvis, just 42 when he collapsed and died at his Graceland home while young Lisa Marie was asleep. “She would listen to his music alone, if she was drunk, and cry,” Keough, during an interview with Winfrey, said of her mother. Meanwhile, Cher released the first of two planned memoirs titled “Cher” — no further introduction required. Covering her life from birth to the end of the 1970s, she focuses on her ill-fated marriage to Sonny Bono, remembering him as a gifted entertainer and businessman who helped her believe in herself while turning out to be unfaithful, erratic, controlling and so greedy that he kept all the couple’s earnings for himself. Unsure of whether to leave or stay, she consulted a very famous divorcee, Lucille Ball, who reportedly encouraged her: “F— him, you’re the one with the talent.” A trend in recent years is to take famous novels from the past, and remove words or passages that might offend modern readers; an edition of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” cuts the racist language from Mark Twain’s original text. In the most celebrated literary work of 2024, Percival Everett found a different way to take on Twain’s classic — write it from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. “James,” winner of the National Book Award, is a recasting in many ways. Everett suggests to us that the real Jim was nothing like the deferential figure known to millions of readers, but a savvy and learned man who concealed his intelligence from the whites around him, and even from Twain himself. Salman Rushdie’s first National Book Award nomination was for a memoir he wished he had no reason to write. In “Knife,” he recounts in full detail the horrifying attempt on his life in 2022, when an attendee rushed the stage during a literary event in western New York and stabbed him repeatedly, leaving with him a blinded eye and lasting nerve damage, but with a spirit surprisingly intact. “If you had told me that this was going to happen and how would I deal with it, I would not have been very optimistic about my chances,” he told The Associated Press last spring. “I’m still myself, you know, and I don’t feel other than myself. But there’s a little iron in the soul, I think.”Indy Classic 2024 returns to Gainbridge Fieldhouse

First on Scripps News: Biden administration details plan to combat Islamophobia

NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump's lawyers urged a judge again Friday to throw out his hush money conviction, balking at the prosecution's suggestion of preserving the verdict by treating the case the way some courts do when a defendant dies. They called the idea "absurd." The Manhattan district attorney's office is asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to "pretend as if one of the assassination attempts against President Trump had been successful," Trump's lawyers wrote in a 23-page response. In court papers made public Tuesday, District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office proposed an array of options for keeping the historic conviction on the books after Trump's lawyers filed paperwork this month asking for the case to be dismissed. They include freezing the case until Trump leaves office in 2029, agreeing that any future sentence won't include jail time, or closing the case by noting he was convicted but that he wasn't sentenced and his appeal wasn't resolved because of presidential immunity. Former President Donald Trump appears May 30 at Manhattan criminal court during jury deliberations in his criminal hush money trial in New York. Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove reiterated Friday their position that the only acceptable option is overturning his conviction and dismissing his indictment, writing that anything less will interfere with the transition process and his ability to lead the country. The Manhattan district attorney's office declined comment. It's unclear how soon Merchan will decide. He could grant Trump's request for dismissal, go with one of the prosecution's suggestions, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump's parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court, or choose some other option. In their response Friday, Blanche and Bove ripped each of the prosecution's suggestions. Halting the case until Trump leaves office would force the incoming president to govern while facing the "ongoing threat" that he'll be sentenced to imprisonment, fines or other punishment as soon as his term ends, Blanche and Bove wrote. Trump, a Republican, takes office Jan. 20. The prosecution's suggestion that Merchan could mitigate those concerns by promising not to sentence Trump to jail time on presidential immunity grounds is also a non-starter, Blanche and Bove wrote. The immunity statute requires dropping the case, not merely limiting sentencing options, they contend. Attorney Todd Blanche listens May 30 as his client Donald Trump speaks at Manhattan criminal court during jury deliberations in his criminal hush money trial in New York. Blanche and Bove, both of whom Trump tapped for high-ranking Justice Department positions, expressed outrage at the prosecution's novel suggestion that Merchan borrow from Alabama and other states and treat the case as if Trump died. Blanche and Bove accused prosecutors of ignoring New York precedent and attempting to "fabricate" a solution "based on an extremely troubling and irresponsible analogy between President Trump" who survived assassination attempts in Pennsylvania in July and Florida in September "and a hypothetical dead defendant." Such an option normally comes into play when a defendant dies after being convicted but before appeals are exhausted. It is unclear whether it is viable under New York law, but prosecutors suggested that Merchan could innovate in what's already a unique case. "This remedy would prevent defendant from being burdened during his presidency by an ongoing criminal proceeding," prosecutors wrote in their filing this week. But at the same time, it wouldn't "precipitously discard" the "meaningful fact that defendant was indicted and found guilty by a jury of his peers." Prosecutors acknowledged that "presidential immunity requires accommodation" during Trump's impending return to the White House but argued that his election to a second term should not upend the jury's verdict, which came when he was out of office. Longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. Other world leaders don't enjoy the same protection. For example, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on trial on corruption charges even as he leads that nation's wars in Lebanon and Gaza. President-elect Donald Trump attends a Dec. 7 meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Trump has fought for months to reverse his May 30 conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors said he fudged the documents to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier, which Trump denies. Trump's hush money conviction was in state court, meaning a presidential pardon — issued by Biden or himself when he takes office — would not apply to the case. Presidential pardons only apply to federal crimes. Since the election, special counsel Jack Smith ended his two federal cases, which pertained to Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and allegations that he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. A separate state election interference case in Fulton County, Georgia, is largely on hold. Trump denies wrongdoing in each case. Trump was scheduled for sentencing in the hush money case in late November, but following Trump's Nov. 5 election win, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed the former and future president's sentencing so the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office. Among President-elect Donald Trump's picks are Susie Wiles for chief of staff, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, former Democratic House member Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Susie Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. Trump named Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state, making a former sharp critic his choice to be the new administration's top diplomat. Rubio, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket last summer. Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement. The announcement punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator called a “con man" during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals. For instance, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, now supports Trump's plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations. Pete Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth lacks senior military or national security experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year. Trump tapped Pam Bondi, 59, to be attorney general after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration. She was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She also was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist, she served as part of a Trump-allied outside group that helped lay the groundwork for his future administration called the America First Policy Institute. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appears on Fox News and has been a critic of the criminal cases against him. Trump picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a well-known conservative who faced sharp criticism for telling a story in her memoir about shooting a rambunctious dog, to lead an agency crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda. Noem used her two terms leading a tiny state to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. South Dakota is usually a political afterthought. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions that other states had issued and instead declared her state “open for business.” Trump held a fireworks rally at Mount Rushmore in July 2020 in one of the first large gatherings of the pandemic. She takes over a department with a sprawling mission. In addition to key immigration agencies, the Department of Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. The governor of North Dakota, who was once little-known outside his state, Burgum is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump, and spent months traveling to drum up support for him, after dropping out of the race. Burgum was a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice this summer. The two-term governor was seen as a possible pick because of his executive experience and business savvy. Burgum also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump made the announcement about Burgum joining his incoming administration while addressing a gala at his Mar-a-Lago club, and said a formal statement would be coming the following day. In comments to reporters before Trump took the stage, Burgum said that, in recent years, the power grid is deteriorating in many parts of the country, which he said could raise national security concerns but also drive up prices enough to increase inflation. “There's just a sense of urgency, and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration,” Burgum said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president as a Democrat, than as an independent, and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential campaign. The nomination of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Scott Bessent, 62, is a former George Soros money manager and an advocate for deficit reduction. He's the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,” he said then. Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her reelection bid this month, but received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, she would oversee the Labor Department’s workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in or paying dues to unions that represent workers at their places of employment. Scott Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Sean Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Write is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Wright also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. Wright also won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. President-elect Donald Trump tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency Trump promised to dismantle. McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she expressed support for charter schools and school choice. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Brooke Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as White House domestic policy chief during his first presidency. The 52-year-old is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. She previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Trump chose Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary, a position in which he'd have a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. Trump made the announcement Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration. Both are tasked with putting forward candidates for key roles in the next administration. The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial. FILE - Former Rep. Doug Collins speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. Karoline Leavitt, 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps. Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, was a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term before she became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by Trump to be director of national intelligence, keeping with the trend to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities rather than veteran professionals in their requisite fields. Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic House member who unsuccessfully sought the party's 2020 presidential nomination before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him this fall. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community,” Trump said in a statement. Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions. Trump has picked John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during his first administration, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his next. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump's first term, leading the U.S. government's spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation's highest Intelligence positions,” Trump said in a statement, calling him a “fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans” who would ensure “the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Kash Patel spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration’s attention as a staffer on Capitol Hill who helped investigate the Russia probe. Patel called for dramatically reducing the agency’s footprint, a perspective that sets him apart from earlier directors who sought additional resources for the bureau. Though the Justice Department in 2021 halted the practice of secretly seizing reporters’ phone records during leak investigations, Patel said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters. Trump has chosen former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency . Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added. During his campaign, Trump often attacked the Biden administration's promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referring to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often told his audiences during the campaign his administration would “Drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.” Trump has named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband. Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission. Carr made past appearances on “Fox News Channel," including when he decried Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' pre-Election Day appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” He wrote an op-ed last month defending a satellite company owned by Trump supporter Elon Musk. Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a “proven leader for common sense regulations.” In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation. “He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The commission oversees U.S. securities markets and investments and is currently led by Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated — Jan. 20, 2025. Atkins began his career as a lawyer and has a long history working in the financial markets sector, both in government and private practice. In the 1990s, he worked on the staffs of two former SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt. Jared Isaacman, 41, is a tech billionaire who bought a series of spaceflights from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk . He is the founder and CEO of a card-processing company and has collaborated closely with Musk ever since buying his first chartered SpaceX flight. He took contest winners on that 2021 trip and followed it in September with a mission where he briefly popped out the hatch to test SpaceX’s new spacewalking suits. Rep. Elise Stefanik is a representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment. Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine begun in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah. President-elect Donald Trump says he's chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO. Trump has expressed skepticism about the Western military alliance for years. Trump said in a statement Wednesday that Whitaker is “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.” The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is as a lawyer and not in foreign policy. President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China, saying in a social media post that the former CEO “brings valuable expertise to help build our relationship with China.” Perdue lost his Senate seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff four years ago and ran unsuccessfully in a primary against Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Perdue pushed Trump's debunked lies about electoral fraud during his failed bid for governor. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. “In my Second Term, Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said in a statement announcing his choice. “He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role.” Trump will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against the Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah. “He loves Israel, and likewise the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Trump has been praised by some in this important Republican voting bloc for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Guilfoyle is a former California prosecutor and television news personality who led the fundraising for Trump's 2020 campaign and became engaged to Don Jr. in 2020. Trump called her “a close friend and ally” and praised her “sharp intellect make her supremely qualified.” Guilfoyle was on stage with the family on election night. “I am so proud of Kimberly. She loves America and she always has wanted to serve the country as an Ambassador. She will be an amazing leader for America First,” Don Jr. posted. The ambassador positions must be approved by the U.S. Senate. Guilfoyle said in a social media post that she was “honored to accept President Trump’s nomination to serve as the next Ambassador to Greece and I look forward to earning the support of the U.S. Senate.” Trump on Tuesday named real estate investor Steven Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and was golfing with him at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Witkoff “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy,” Trump said of Witkoff in a statement. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud." Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as National Security Advisor to Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. For the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups formed after Trump left office to help lay the groundwork for the next Republican administration, Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) Trump asked Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, Trump announced in a statement Tuesday. The move puts Waltz in the middle of national security crises, ranging from efforts to provide weapons to Ukraine and worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah. “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda,” Trump's statement said, "and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump's priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump's first administration. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the United States illegally. Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security. Thomas Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border, an issue Trump made central to his campaign. Though Homan has insisted such a massive undertaking would be humane, he has long been a loyal supporter of Trump's policy proposals, suggesting at a July conference in Washington that he would be willing to "run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Democrats have criticized Homan for his defending Trump's “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings during his first administration, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Customs and Border Protection, with its roughly 60,000 employees, falls under the Department of Homeland Security. It includes the Border Patrol, which Rodney Scott led during Trump's first term, and is essentially responsible for protecting the country's borders while facilitating trade and travel. Scott comes to the job firmly from the Border Patrol side of the house. He became an agent in 1992 and spent much of his career in San Diego. When he was appointed head of the border agency in January 2020, he enthusiastically embraced Trump's policies. After being forced out under the Biden administration, Scott has been a vocal supporter of Trump's hard-line immigration agenda. He appeared frequently on Fox News and testified in Congress. He's also a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Former Rep. Billy Long represented Missouri in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2023. Since leaving Congress, Trump said, Long “has worked as a Business and Tax advisor, helping Small Businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations.” Former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler was appointed in January 2020 by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and then lost a runoff election a year later. She started a conservative voter registration organization and dived into GOP fundraising, becoming one of the top individual donors and bundlers to Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign. Even before nominating her for agriculture secretary, the president-elect already had tapped Loeffler as co-chair of his inaugural committee. Dr. Mehmet Oz, 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime television talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz's bid for elected office. Elon Musk, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an Oct. 27 campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trump on Tuesday said Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added the move would shock government systems. It's not clear how the organization will operate. Musk, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump. Trump said the two will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Russell Vought held the position during Trump’s first presidency. After Trump’s initial term ended, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Vought has also previously worked as the executive and budget director for the Republican Study Committee, a caucus for conservative House Republicans. He also worked at Heritage Action, the political group tied to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Trump says he’s picking Kari Lake as director of Voice of America, installing a staunch loyalist who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor and a Senate seat to head the congressionally funded broadcaster that provides independent news reporting around the world. Lake endeared herself to Trump through her dogmatic commitment to the falsehood that both she and Trump were the victims of election fraud. She has never acknowledged losing the gubernatorial race and called herself the “lawful governor” in her 2023 book, “Unafraid: Just Getting Started.” Dan Scavino, deputy chief of staff Scavino, whom Trump's transition referred to in a statement as one of “Trump's longest serving and most trusted aides,” was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 campaign, as well as his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino had run Trump's social media profile in the White House during his first administration. He was also held in contempt of Congress in 2022 after a month-long refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. James Blair, deputy chief of staff Blair was political director for Trump's 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump's economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign this year, a driving force behind the candidate's “Trump can fix it” slogan and his query to audiences this fall if they were better off than four years ago. Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump's 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Budowich also had served as a spokesman for Trump after his presidency. Jay Bhattacharya, National Institutes of Health Trump has chosen Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya is a physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, and is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He promoted the idea of herd immunity during the pandemic, arguing that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. The National Institutes of Health funds medical research through competitive grants to researchers at institutions throughout the nation. NIH also conducts its own research with thousands of scientists working at its labs in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Marty Makary, Food and Drug Administration Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Surgeon General Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor to Fox News. Dr. Dave Weldon, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative state after cardiac arrest, should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Jamieson Greer, U.S. trade representative Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council Trump is turning to two officials with experience navigating not only Washington but the key issues of income taxes and tariffs as he fills out his economic team. He announced he has chosen international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council. While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these picks reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely hinge on restoring the public’s confidence in the economy. Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.” Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017. Ron Johnson, Ambassador to Mexico Johnson — not the Republican senator — served as ambassador to El Salvador during Trump's first administration. His nomination comes as the president-elect has been threatening tariffs on Mexican imports and the mass deportation of migrants who have arrived to the U.S.-Mexico border. Johnson is also a former U.S. Army veteran and was in the Central Intelligence Agency. Tom Barrack, Ambassador to Turkey Barrack, a wealthy financier, met Trump in the 1980s while helping negotiate Trump’s purchase of the renowned Plaza Hotel. He was charged with using his personal access to the former president to secretly promote the interests of the United Arab Emirates, but was acquitted of all counts at a federal trial in 2022. Trump called him a “well-respected and experienced voice of reason.” Andrew Ferguson, Federal Trade Commission Ferguson, who is already one of the FTC's five commissioners, will replace Lina Khan, who became a lightning rod for Wall Street and Silicon Valley by blocking billions of dollars worth of corporate acquisitions and suing Amazon and Meta while alleging anticompetitive behavior. “Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History.” Jacob Helberg, undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment Dan Bishop, deputy director for budget at the Office of Budget and Management Leandro Rizzuto, Ambassador to the Washington-based Organization of American States Dan Newlin, Ambassador to Colombia Peter Lamelas, Ambassador to Argentina Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

US to require passenger vehicles to sound alarms if rear passengers don't fasten their seat beltsNRL Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News. A shock new club has emerged as a possible destination for wantaway Tigers forward John Bateman after a surprising development involving the Rabbitohs. According to Code Sports, Bateman advised Souths in recent days that he isn’t interested in a deal, despite his close relationship with new coach Wayne Bennett. Watch every ball of Australia v India LIVE & ad-break free during play in 4K on Kayo | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer > With Souths now out of the running, the North Queensland Cowboys have emerged as the new front runner. The Cowboys and Bateman have reportedly been engaged in talks over a possible deal, however nothing has eventuated yet. In Townsville, Bateman would provide plenty of experience to a young, promising room of back rowers including Heilum Luki and Jeremiah Nanai. North Queensland lost a talented edge forward in Kulikefu Finefeuaki to the Dolphins in the offseason, so Bateman would be a welcome addition. At this stage, Bateman plans to return to Tigers training early next month even though the joint venture club are keen to release the forward from his contract two years early. Bateman is on the way out. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images) NEW CLUB ENTERS RACE FOR GUN PROP AMID TITANS’ CRISIS TALKS The Canberra Raiders have reportedly entered the race for promising Titans prop Josiah Pahulu amid the young gun’s contract stand-off with the Gold Coast. Pahulu, who won the 2024 Titans Rookie of the Year award, is said to be disgruntled with the club and is pushing to be released from his contract immediately. The dispute stems from Pahulu being rested for the Gold Coast’s final game of the 2024 season. Had he played in that, the 20-year-old would have received a bonus worth $40,000. The Bulldogs are monitoring the situation closely, as is the Raiders according to Sydney Morning Herald reporter Danny Weidler. Canberra have set their sights on Knights prop Leo Thompson , who goes off contract at the end of 2025, but according to Weidler, Pahulu is the Green Machine’s ‘Plan B’. Pahulu is reportedly frustrated with the club. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images) “I know Mal Meninga was up there (at the Titans) for a while and Mal is now at Canberra and he reckons this kid’s got it and he’s another Josh Papali’i, so that’s how good he is potentially,” Weidler said on the Footy Talk podcast. The Raiders are keen to bolster their front row stocks with Papali’i expected to hang up the boots at the end of next season. While rival clubs are circling, the Titans aren’t keen on letting a player with such potential like Pahulu leave without a fight. Weidler’s SMH colleague Michael Chammas said on the Footy Talk podcast that Gold Coast brass will meet with the forward later in the week. More Coverage Entire nation humiliated as Aussie quits Tyson Otto Bombshell ‘China clause’ threatens NRL deal James Dampney Originally published as Shock new club enters race for wantaway Tiger amid stunning development More related stories NRL Man loses toes after accident with NRL star A rising NRL star has been sentenced in court over his role in a car accident that resulted in a man having two toes amputated. Read more NRL NRL finally ticks off on Ben Hunt, Broncos contract The Brisbane Broncos announced Ben Hunt’s signature over two weeks ago, today the NRL has finally approved the details of his new deal. DAVID RICCIO explains the delay. Read more