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The Federal Reserve’s second consecutive key rate cut could mean more than just lower borrowing costs for the average consumer — state and local governments stand to benefit, too. Lower interest rates may bring changes for housing development, tax revenue, debt refinancing and bread-and-butter projects like roads, water and sewer, state and local government officials told States Newsroom. The Fed’s cut earlier this month followed an aggressive rate-hiking campaign to beat down inflation, and it came years after the last time the U.S. central bank lowered interest rates. Key borrowing rates now stand at 4.5-4.75%, and inflation has cooled to 2.7%. Economists expect another rate cut in December. “On average, the lower the interest rates are expected to help stock market returns if historical trends hold,” said Liz Farmer, who focuses on budgets, fiscal distress, tax policy and pensions at The Pew Charitable Trusts. “So generally, you would expect a more positive effect on your average pension portfolio that has a good amount invested in equities.” This change means states and localities will have lower borrowing costs, which will make it easier to make big long-term changes in infrastructure, to see higher sales tax collections as a result of more spending, and it is likely to result in better pension performance in an environment where stocks tend to respond to lower rates, fiscal policy experts at Pew say. In 2021 and 2022, states had record high revenue growth due in part to federal pandemic aid and the impact of the federal aid on workers and businesses, according to Pew. But that kind of growth was unsustainable. Recently, nearly all states have entered into a slower revenue growth environment, said Brian Sigritz, director of state fiscal studies at the National Association of State Budget Officers, a professional membership group for budget and finance officers. More than three dozen states had a fall in revenue in fiscal year 2023, Pew’s analysis found. At least five states experienced budget shortfalls in fiscal year 2024, the think tank explained. “States overall are remaining in a strong fiscal position. It’s just that we’re starting to see slower growth compared to what we did see for those a couple of years after the start of the pandemic,” he said. “That was really a unique set of circumstances where we had the additional federal aid provided by all the different Covid relief bills and at the same time where state revenue growth was growing so strongly, and that led to very strong growth in tax collections.” Sigritz said that states, which have to almost entirely use borrowing for infrastructure and capital projects, will benefit from lower borrowing costs as a result of the Fed rate cuts. David Schmiedicke, finance director for the city of Madison, Wisconsin’s finance department, said he’s hopeful that the lower cost of borrowing will reduce the cost of public infrastructure when seeking construction bids. “We’re seeing a lot of development, even with the higher rates. Madison is an attractive place to live. People from around the country are moving here,” he said. Rebecca Fleury, the city manager for Battle Creek, Michigan, said interest rates affect key services the public relies on, including fire departments. “[Interest rates] have an impact on our ability as a city of 52,000 to provide the full services that we do. Every little bit impacts us, because we have to buy fire trucks,” she said.“If there’s a decrease in one of our three largest revenue sources, we feel it.” But there are both pluses and minuses to the cut in the federal funds rate, Schmiedicke said, as it brings down the interest income states receive. “It probably will reduce the amount of investment income the city receives on its cash balances. We saw that go up dramatically in 2022 and 2023, so that’ll probably come down as the Fed cuts rates,” Schmiedicke said. Different tax policies also change how states and localities experience the Fed rate cuts. H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs and principal spokesman on fiscal and financial issues for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said that the lower interest rates are overall positive for the nation’s largest state because of the concentration of technology firms there, its progressive tax rate, and the taxing of capital gains and stock options as personal income. “When the markets are doing well, those types of firms that are concentrated in California do well and in consequence, our revenues do well,” Palmer said. The Alabama Department of Finance told States Newsroom that it is closely following the Fed’s actions as it “closely follows all actions that could impact our citizens and the State’s revenues.” But the state agency said it may take some time to see any of the effects of recent rate cuts. “While recent changes in the federal funds rate may lead to increased state revenues, absent a significant change in the rate, the impact on revenues and expenditures would not likely be seen immediately. We will continue to monitor and assess all economic indicators to ensure steady, sustainable, conservative growth for the benefit of all Alabamians,” the department said in a statement. Schmiedicke said Wisconsin is very reliant on property taxes because although state law allows a statewide sales tax and counties can impose a 0.5% sales tax, cities other than Milwaukee have not been able to do so. The state also has strict limits on property tax increases. “We could see more development in the city and that could definitely help with our overall property tax base, as well as if it results in more travel and room taxes,” he said. As states and localities wrestle with how to provide more affordable housing, with nearly half of renters having to spend more than 30% of their income on housing, lower interest rates could help spur more building. Fleury said the costs of loans and labor and materials has been “astronomical,” making it hard for developers to build. Although she said Battle Creek would love to take advantage of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, it’s challenging to fund projects. “I think that a lower interest rate could really help us get farther along in our housing plans,” she said “If you can’t get your project to pencil within what they’re able to fund or finance, we just never make the list.” Despite lower interest rates creating a better environment for affordable rent and homes, states will likely continue to spend a lot of energy on housing programs, Sigritz said. Governors’ budget proposals and state of the state speeches have prioritized affordable housing more and more in the past few years, he said, and he expects this to continue. “Housing affordability is not an issue that’s going to go away overnight, and there’s still a need for more housing,” Sigritz said. “It takes a while to build additional housing even in the lower-interest environment.”AP News Summary at 2:05 p.m. EST
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After starting 2-0 in its inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference schedule, SMU looks to make the month even more special on Sunday, hosting Longwood in Dallas, Texas. The Mustangs seek a seven-game win streak in their final nonconference test before welcoming No. 4 Duke to Dallas on Jan. 4. In recent victories over Alabama State, Virginia, LSU, and Boston College, SMU (10-2) averaged 85.3 points per game, allowed just 66.0 ppg, and climbed to No. 30 in the NET rankings. "We're a different team right now than we were earlier in the season," SMU head coach Andy Enfield said at the beginning of December, his words ringing even truer as the season progresses. "They'd never been under pressure together until recently, so they're starting to learn and figure things out." Longwood (11-3) enters its third consecutive road game, having won five of its last six overall. That includes a major 82-67 win at North Carolina Central on Dec. 20. It was only the sixth nonconference home loss for NCC since 2016, and Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich saw it as a result of his team's growing cohesiveness. "We got great contributions from so many players," Aldrich said. "We have been working to play more and more connected, and this team has really taken positive steps this week." The Mustangs' Matt Cross is among the biggest threats to Longwood's defense, which allows just 66.6 points per game. A 6-foot-7 forward, Cross had 36 points over SMU's last two wins, including a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double against LSU. What Cross does with the ball in his hands is impressive -- he is averaging 13.5 ppg in December -- but it is also what he does off the ball that increases his value. "He's extremely tough," Enfield said after Cross' performance against LSU. "His wall up in transition, where (Corey) Chest came down, was going to dunk the ball, and he stood there and took the contact. ...That's a big-time basketball play." Longwood is paced by Michael Christmas, a veteran forward in his fourth year in the program. A hard-nosed wing who can score at all three levels, Christmas is Longwood's only returner who started at least 30 games on last year's NCAA Tournament team. He is averaging a team-high 11.9 points per game. "(He) loves this university, loves this town and community," Aldrich said of Christmas. "He opted to come back here to really invest in the program." --Field Level MediaFarage: Badenoch must apologise for ‘crazy conspiracy theory’ on Reform numbers
TORONTO — Losses in the tech sector led Canada's main stock index and U.S. markets lower Friday, as investors made year-end adjustments to their holdings. The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 50.42 points at 24,796.40. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 333.59 points at 42,992.21. The S&P 500 index was down 66.75 points at 5,970.84, while the Nasdaq composite fell 298.33 points at 19,722.03. All of the markets saw larger losses earlier in the day before seeing some recovery in late trading. On the TSX, the information technology index saw the largest decline at 0.9 per cent, while utilities and industrials also fell. In the U.S., big tech names were down including Nvidia Corp., just over two per cent lower, and Microsoft Corp., down 1.7 per cent. The losses were likely more from end-of-year rebalancing than any particular outlook on the sector, said Mike Archibald, vice-president and portfolio manager with AGF Investments Inc. "Given how well stocks have done this year, there's certainly going to be some profit taking from larger pensions, institutions and other clients, to probably rebalance," he said. "I don't think there's anything too nefarious about the move today. It just happens to be, you know, a little bit of profit taking from some of the real big winners." The trend explains why the pressure can be especially seen in the magnificent seven tech stocks that have helped lead substantial gains for the year. Besides the big tech stocks, other more speculative bets like bitcoin and micro-cap stocks have also seen a retreat recently, showing a potential easing of risk appetite, said Archibald. "In the last couple of weeks we've seen a bit of a rollover in some of those assets, so we continue to watch those as they can be a bit of a tell for short-term trading patterns," he said. "So we'll see what that means as we move towards 2025." The Canadian dollar traded for 69.37 cents US, compared with 69.51 cents US on Tuesday. The February crude oil contract was up 98 cents at US$70.60 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up six cents at US$3.38 per mmBTU. The February gold contract was down US$22 at US$2,631.90 an ounce and the March copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.12 a pound. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2024. Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Jayden Daniels connected with Zach Ertz in overtime for his third touchdown pass of the game to get the Washington Commanders into the playoffs by beating the Atlanta Falcons 30-24 on Sunday night in a back-and-forth prime-time showdown between highly drafted rookie quarterbacks. Daniels ran for a season-high 127 yards and completed 24 of 36 passes for 227 yards and had two TD passes to Ertz and another to Olamide Zaccheaus to make the playoffs in his rookie year. In his latest comeback performance in a season full of them , Daniels shook off an interception and a 10-point halftime deficit and led the winning drive in overtime that was capped with the 2-yard pass to Ertz. The Commanders (11-5) could move up to the sixth seed in the NFC and set up a wild-card round game at Tampa Bay or the Los Angeles Rams if they win their regular-season finale at Dallas next weekend. They otherwise would be seventh and visit division-rival Philadelphia unless Green Bay loses to Chicago. The Falcons (8-8) lost control of their chances of winning the NFC South and ensuring a home playoff game. They now need to beat Carolina and for the Buccaneers to lose to New Orleans to qualify altogether. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
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Qatar tribune Mohammad Hosseini As science continues its evolution, discoveries and technologies can act like a master key that opens doors that lead to novel advancements. Artificial intelligence is one such key, making innovations possible by solving complex problems, automating tasks and enabling research that would have been impossible, or very time-consuming, without it. But do we want to do research on all topics, and shall we try the AI master key on every door? To explore this question, let’s consider the use of AI by genomics experts as an example. In recent years, genomics experts have added unbelievable depth to what we know about the world and ourselves. For example, genetics researchers have revealed facts about when certain animals and plants were domesticated. In another example, DNA found in 30,000-year-old permafrost was used to create fertile samples of a plant called narrow-leafed campion. Importantly, genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPR facilitate extraordinary advances in the treatment of complicated conditions, such as sickle-cell anemia. Thanks to AI developments, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in the pace and scalability of genomic techniques, which will allow researchers to embark on exploratory journeys — and at the same time, add urgency to already-existing ethical issues. AI companies are also most interested in the scientific implications of this technology. We see this demonstrated in a recent interview between Harvard Business School officials and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In response to the question, “What are the pieces of AI that you are most excited about?” Altman said: “Greatly increasing the rate of scientific discovery is what I’m most excited about.” However, given the risks and possible consequences of AI use in science, should we rush headlong into using AI in all kinds of projects? One relevant example is research on Neanderthals, our closest relatives, who lived until about 40,000 years ago. Neanderthals have been studied for several years now through genetic investigation of their fossils and their DNA. Genetic engineering can potentially use ancient DNA and genome editing methods to re-create a Neanderthal or aspects of a Neanderthal’s genetics and physiology. To do this, scientists could start by figuring out the DNA sequence of a Neanderthal by comparing it with the DNA of modern humans, since they are closely related. Then, scientists could use CRISPR to swap out parts of human DNA with Neanderthal DNA. This process would require a lot of trial and error and might not succeed soon, but based on what we know about genetics, if something is possible, AI can help make it happen faster, cheaper and with less effort. Scientists are excited about these developments because they could facilitate new discoveries and open up many new research opportunities in genetic research. With or without AI, research on Neanderthals will proceed, but the extraordinary power of AI could give the final push to these discoveries and facilitate this kind of resurrection. At that point, the scientific community must develop norms and guidelines about how to treat these resurrected beings with dispositions very similar to humans. We would need to carefully consider their rights and well-being almost in the same way as when humans are involved and not as research subjects or artifacts of scientific curiosity. These ethical issues are discussed in more detail in a new paper published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence. A more holistic question to consider is: Should we prioritize the use of resource-intensive AI, researchers’ time and public funds to resurrect extinct beings? Or should we invest these resources into conserving species that are critically endangered today to prevent biodiversity from more degradation? (Mohammad Hosseini, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.) Copy 29/12/2024 10Some 140 years after its first trailblazing luxury train chugged out of Paris’s Gare de l’Est bound for Constantinople, the Orient Express is having something of a rebirth. Arguably the most interesting in a flurry of announcements from the brand is the launch of Orient Express Silenseas, a new collection of yachts that are a collaboration between three French giants: global hospitality group Accor, luxury goods titan LVMH and shipbuilders Chantiers de l’Atlantique. Orient Express Corinthian is the world’s largest sailing yacht. The finished product looks like the lovechild of the fanciest superyacht and the most elegant sailing boat. The first yacht to be completed, Orient Express Corinthian, which at 220m long, with three 100m-high sails, is the world’s largest sailing yacht, won’t be taking paying guests until 2026, but the first images of its interiors have been released. Luxury hotel groups such as Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Aman have all announced launches of luxury yachts this year . But while they may be fabulous, they are smallish cruise ships, not yachts. Evrima, for example, the first in the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, offers 224 suites. Then there’s Four Seasons, whose first “yacht”, when it launches in 2026, will have 14 decks and 95 suites. With just 50 cabins, Aman at Sea, which launches in 2027, is the closest of the offerings to a superyacht and also in scale to the 54-suite Orient Express Corinthian. But what Orient Express Corinthian has that none of the others do is sails. The interiors team took inspiration from classic French liners such as SS Normandie. There’s something much cooler and more adventurous-seeming about a great big yacht with sails than an all-bling one with just an engine. This is something that hasn’t escaped Jeff Bezos, who spent $500 million on his three-masted boat Koru , which at 127 metres was the world’s largest sailing yacht – until now. Inspired by the golden age of the French Riviera, Orient Express Corinthian has been designed by French architect and designer Maxime d’Angeac, who has also worked on a new Orient Express train that will launch in France around the same time. The two will combine on certain itineraries. Sustainability was central to the design process, seen through the minimal use of leather, no plastic and lots of walnut wood panelling. “The pillars of Orient Express are art deco, geometric patterns and strong colours, which both train and boat have,” says d’Angeac. “Train interiors can be much darker as this makes them feel cosy and luxurious. The boat [has] much more space and height, so its design feels more Riviera, like a villa on the Côte d’Azur. I’ve also replaced the really small windows you usually get in yacht cabins with huge, durable windows.” Orient Express Corinthian will have five restaurants, eight bars including a speakeasy, two swimming pools including a lap pool, an amphitheatre cabaret space and a private recording studio. In-room spa treatments and meditation sessions will also be available. The boats will spend summers in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic and winters in the Caribbean, with dining, shopping and cultural experiences offered at multiple stop-offs along the way. Sustainability has been at the forefront of the design process, as has working out how to be beautiful but also functional. For example, there is hardly any leather, no plastic and lots of walnut wood panelling, which as well as being elegant and warm is durable and lightweight. The team examined classic French liners such as SS Normandie for inspiration. There are lovely details at every turn: a long, daybed window seat that lifts up to reveal a wooden games box stocked with chess, dominoes and playing cards; luxurious velvet headboards and bathrooms lined in the most decadent-looking Violetta Calacatta marble with crimson walls behind. All of this will be accompanied by Orient Express service, with butlers on hand around the clock. The luxurious bathrooms feature Violetta Calacatta marble. Sustainability was central to the design process, seen through the minimal use of leather, no plastic and lots of walnut wood panellingThe luxurious bathrooms feature Violetta Calacatta marble “The in-room bar,” replies d’Angeac, when I ask him to name a small detail he particularly likes. “When I arrive at a hotel, I’m always excited to see what has been chosen. We are still deciding but I can tell you it will be the best artisan cocktails and chocolate, as opposed to big names. We will simply use small French companies offering the best things.” Silenseas is also debuting groundbreaking wind-harnessing technology that has been 20 years in the making: SolidSail, a rigid, foldable carbon sail and mast system that will provide more than 50 per cent of the yachts’ propulsion. “Wind technology is the future of cruising, everyone knows that,” says d’Angeac. “We can’t just go on producing bigger and bigger boats with enormous polluting engines. Using less gasoline is really important to us, so we will adapt our routes to ensure we follow the wind, which will all be part of the experience.” This hybrid system will combine wind power with an engine running on liquified natural gas (LNG – typically at least 85 per cent methane). While LNG is by no means the perfect option, it is much cleaner than other fossil fuels such as coal, gas or oil, so makes for a better alternative while the infrastructure needed to handle fully renewable energy is still being developed. It was said that Orient Express founder Georges Nagelmackers was first inspired to design a luxury train on a transatlantic crossing to America in 1867, revelling in its luxurious suites, social scene and general grandeur. “I think he would have gone into luxury cruising eventually, had he not died so young,” says d’Agneac. Either way, this feels like a full-circle moment. The Telegraph, London
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Information minister, Blueprint editor, others grace wedding Fatia for NOA DG’s daughterHJ Shipbuilding & Construction (HJSC) is setting new standards in the eco-friendly shipping industry. The company announced that it has obtained Approval in Principle (AIP) from Lloyd’s Register (LR) in the UK for the design concept of an 88,000m3 Very Large Ammonia Carrier (VLAC), marking a significant advancement in next-generation decarbonization vessel development. Ammonia, a clean fuel with no carbon dioxide emissions, is garnering attention alongside hydrogen as a key fuel for the carbon-neutral era. Building on its technological expertise gained through developing LNG dual-fuel (LNG DF) and methanol-fueled container ships, HJSC successfully completed the basic design for the ammonia carrier, meeting all design load conditions required by the classification society. In July, HJSC and Lloyd’s Register signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly develop the next-generation ammonia carrier. Over six months of intensive research led to the creation of a design that meets classification society requirements, opening a new chapter in eco-friendly shipbuilding technology. With this AIP for its design concept, HJSC plans to actively respond to the growing demand in the decarbonization vessel market. Beyond ammonia-powered ships, the company aims to lead the market by focusing on developing diverse eco-friendly vessels, including carbon capture and storage (CCS) ships, hydrogen-powered ships, and liquefied carbon dioxide carriers. HJSC CEO Yoo Sang-chul remarked, “The development of eco-friendly fuel-powered container ships aligned with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) 2050 carbon-zero goals has translated into tangible orders, receiving positive market feedback. Moving forward, we will continue to enhance our technological capabilities through ongoing research and development, cementing our position as a leader in the green shipping industry.”
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