NoneWell over a hundred billion dollars worth of major public transit projects are currently being planned or under construction across Canada. However, many of these projects are experiencing steep escalating costs. According to the findings of a brand-new landmark study released last week by the University of Toronto’s (UT) School of Cities, the spiralling costs cannot be alone blamed on the pandemic-induced inflation of the market price of construction equipment, labour, and materials. Although the study focuses on the woes of Metrolinx — Ontario’s provincial Crown corporation responsible for managing transportation infrastructure, including most of the $80 billion provincial investment in expanding and improving public transit within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area — the issues and lessons are increasingly applicable to other cities across the country. It should also be noted that the study team is also led by individuals who are researchers and planners with Metrolinx. Moreover, the study specifically examines and compares rail rapid transit projects in the Toronto region with similar projects around the world, highlighting a key difference: significantly lower construction costs per kilometre in these other projects, including projects elsewhere in the world that are far more complex. Examining the data from 60 countries, Canada now has the ninth-highest average cost per km for rail rapid transit construction — an average of $396 million per km. This is considerably higher than the global average of $242 million per km, based on 1,083 street-level LRT, metro/subway, and mainline rail projects worldwide. “Over the past two decades, the cost of building new transit infrastructure in Toronto (and across Canada) has increased significantly, at a rate far beyond inflation,” reads the study. “Unfortunately, the alarming rise of transit construction costs in Toronto is being replicated in many cities across the nation. As explored further in this chapter, cost estimates for rapid transit projects across Canada’s largest cities have skyrocketed in recent years, making them among the most expensive (per kilometre) in the world.” The study warns that the rising pace of such costs must be meaningfully addressed. Otherwise, various levels of government across the country may be forced to downsize the scope of their projects to fit available budgets — potentially leading to detrimental measures such as removing stations or shortening lines. In some scenarios, the projects could be cancelled entirely. Canadian public transit projects are increasingly at risk of delivering less in both quality and quantity, while costing significantly more. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest urban centres face a critical need for attractive, fast, reliable, and high-capacity rail transit networks. These networks are essential for attracting higher ridership, reducing private vehicle use, and meeting the demands of rapid population growth driven by urban densification and high levels of immigration. “If the current trend of cost escalation continues, our rate of transit expansion will grind to a halt, and we will be unable to close the infrastructure gap and serve the transportation demands of Canada’s fast-growing urban populations,” reads the study. Within Metro Vancouver, the — spanning a length of 16 km with eight new stations, entirely on an elevated configuration — saw its , ahead of the start of major construction work following the awarding of contracts. While the design and scope of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain was not reduced to lower costs, the same could not be said for the City of Calgary’s Green Line LRT project. In , due to further cost escalation, the Green Line LRT’s scope was significantly shortened to a 10 km route and scaled back with just seven stations — approximately half the original route length and nearly half the number of stations. And even after scaling back the project so significantly, City estimated it will still cost even more to build: $6.2 billion. Calgary’s new Green Line LRT was originally planned as an 18 km-long route across the city, with 13 stations primarily running along street level, a two-kilometre-long tunnel for the approach into downtown Calgary, and a one-kilometre-long elevated guideway segment. Before the pandemic, the project had a preliminary cost estimate of roughly $4.6 billion, and as recently as 2023, it was pegged at $5.5 billion. Also, the resulting downsized Green Line LRT project would see an average of 32,000 boardings upon opening — a decrease of 42% compared to the previous design’s 55,000 daily boardings. Previously envisioned as a transformative project, this would set Calgary’s public transit ambitions back by decades. In more recent months, the Government of Alberta has intervened in the municipal government’s Green Line LRT, with provincial officials expected to reveal before the end o this month their new proposal for the design of the segment running through downtown Calgary. It also threatened to cut the provincial funding due to the City’s approach. There is also Toronto’s new Ontario Line, which will be similar to Metro Vancouver’s SkyTrain, as it will also be a fully grade-separated driverless system, with a combination of elevated, tunnelled, and at-grade segments. It will span 16 km, feature 15 stations, and serve as a much-needed relief for the existing subways into downtown Toronto. In 2019, the Ontario Line’s construction cost was pegged at $10.9 billion. The latest available cost estimate of $27.2 billion, as of Summer 2024, is not a direct comparison, as it not only includes the construction costs, but also larger contingency funds, financing costs, and the operations and maintenance costs over 30 years of the public-private partnership — similar to SkyTrain’s Canada Line. According to the study by UT’s School of Cities, 23 Canadian street-level LRT and metro/subway projects with actual or projected complete dates between 2002 and 2034 had an average per km cost of $751 million per km if over 50% of the route is tunnelled. For projects with less than 50% of tunnelling, this figure is $137 million per km. The average cost for fully grade separated projects — elevated and/or tunnelled — is $557 million per km. Projects that are not fully grade separated and run on street level through intersections, for example, have an average cost of $154 million per km. However, the study’s findings point to how Milan in Italy was able to complete its highly complex M5 Metro line project in 2013 at a cost of $108 million per km, which is completely tunnelled and fully driverless. The costs were much lower than Canada’s street-level LRT projects, which are much simpler to achieve. The study has found that the “soft costs” of such projects have grown significantly in recent years and are disproportionate to the types of costs of other projects compared across the world. Soft costs are types of costs incurred that do not directly relate to the actual construction work, including planning and design work, consultants and professional services, project management, contingency funds, and land acquisition. In some Canadian jurisdictions, especially in Metro Vancouver, the soft costs for land acquisition needs may be particularly higher due to higher property values. Conversely, the “hard costs” deal with the actual construction work, such as the direct equipment, labour, and materials needed to build tunnels, viaducts, embankments, stations, systems, equipment, operations and maintenance facilities, and the procurement of new trains. Typically, the hard costs should be proportionally much larger than the soft costs. According to the study, Metrolinx’s soft costs for key projects have now reached 55.8%, while its hard costs are now 44.2%. This is deemed to be highly problematic. Metrolinx’s soft costs entail 17.1% for professional services, 19.3% for contingency to cover unexpected costs/delays, 13.7% for escalation from market inflation, 4.4% for property acquisition, and 1.2% for taxes, while the hard costs entail 17.9% for stations, 14.2% for line works, 5.7% for systems, and 6.4% for facilities. This is based on the total costs of the Metrolinx projects of Eglinton Crosstown West, Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway, and the Yonge North subway extension. In steep contrast, the Italian metro projects of the Milan M5 and Turin M1 lines not only have a lower total cost figure, but their soft costs are significantly smaller at a proportion of 23.9%. Their hard costs account for the vast majority of their project costs, including 27.2% for stations, 19.4% for line works, 21.1% for systems, and 8.5% for facilities. As governments and public transit authorities are increasingly relying on third-party expertise, the soft costs for such projects have gone up drastically in recent years. Instead of employing, retaining, and relying on in-house expertise at a lower cost, public transit authorities like Metrolinx are now depending more on contracting external consultants for the design, planning, engineering, and management experience needs for a high project. Departing from the previous approach decades ago, there is now a substantially reduced in-house capacity by the public sector to execute projects, relying on the work of private companies and contractors that charge a premium. Furthermore, for Metrolinx projects, the proportion of white-collar labour costs (17.1%) is now nearing the entire soft-cost proportion (23.9%) observed in the Italian examples. To reduce costs, there is a need for governments and public transit authorities to rebuild their workforce of in-house staff with expertise. “The abnormally high proportion of professional services does not seem to stem from a lack of in-house personnel. Rather, the heavy reliance on external consultants impedes the retention of knowledge and expertise within the organization, leading to a scenario where there is minimal learning and an excessive managerial focus among public servants,” reads the study. There is also a “lack of internal reflection” within such organizations on this growing trend, and the over-reliance on consultants can make the project management process far more complicated and less efficient. The study also recommends detailed design and engineering work should be led by in-house staff, such as in the lower-cost cities of Paris, Milan, and Istanbul, where bidding for major contractors is only performed when in-house staff have completed 30% to 70% of the design. “Advancing project design in-house empowers civil servants to take ownership of and make decisions on projects, increasing cost confidence and controlling soft costs by minimizing change orders and delays,” reads the study. The study points to the additional major issue of the size of contingency funds becoming far too large. Contingency funds can be used to cover the higher construction costs from delays, unexpected soil conditions, and other unexpected factors. In the case of Metrolinx, there is an additional separate secondary contingency fund for the “escalation” in market prices from inflation. Metrolinx’s combined total contingency/escalation fund accounts for 33% of the budget — far higher than the 7% to 12% contingencies allotted to projects in Italy and Turkey, including projects that are far more complex. The study paints a picture of Canadian rapid transit projects using up their inflated contingency fund, instead of using contingencies in moderation, improving risk management, and resisting growing costs. With the built-in plan in the budgets to allow for major cost overruns, there appears to be a lack of incentive to prioritize controlling costs. “Excessively large contingencies can lead to ‘budget laxism,’ where the incentive to control costs over a project life cycle is low and money, having been allocated, is unnecessarily spent,” reads the study. “While allocating contingency funds may seem prudent, the way Canadian agencies perceive and manage risk is at odds with the concept of contingency itself. Theoretically, contingencies should never be entirely spent, and should shrink as project risks are managed through the design and engineering process.” According to the study, some other startling examples of excessive contingency funds include the Los Angeles Southeast Gateway Line LRT, which has a budget of over 40% being contingency, and the Montreal LRT project of the “Projet structurant de l’est tramway,” which sets aside $10.5 billion of its $18 billion cost for contingencies. It is suggested that a smaller contingency fund would incentivize public sector agencies to try to control the absolute cost of a project. Authoritarian countries, such as China, are known for significantly lower project costs due to major factors such as expedited project planning, easier land acquisition, and lower labour costs. But the study’s researchers note that in their analysis, there are also developed countries with high gross domestic products, similar to Canada and the United States, that have low project costs. “Some people would say, ‘Well, you know, it’s cost of living and labour, right? Like, Toronto is an expensive city. Canada is an expensive country to live in. Well, if we look at the Nordic countries like Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, they have some of the most robust welfare states in the world,” said Jedwin Mok, a research fellow at Metrolinx and one of the study’s authors, during his presentation of the study’s findings at the TAL-CATTS Symposium at UT last week. “They have incredibly high wages, but also incredibly high cost of living, and yet, they can also deliver projects at one-fifth to one-tenth the cost that we do here in Canada.” Mok also highlighted that while building projects in Canada’s highly urbanized areas, such as downtown Toronto, can be challenging due to underground utilities, far larger and more complex projects in Italy manage even greater challenges at a fraction of the Canadian cost — such as constructing metro lines beneath historic cities that are thousands of years old. He adds that high costs are not inevitable, as Canada does not follow the best global practices for planning and building rapid transit projects. But the spiralling costs are increasingly forcing more projects to downsize their scope and perform excessive value engineering to reduce costs, such as reducing necessary train system capacities, reducing the number of stations and the length of a new line, and reconfiguring a project to run at street level within highly urban areas as opposed to a fully grade-separated solution for improved speed, travel times, and reliability — such as the Green Line LRT in Calgary. Such projects with higher costs and lower benefits become increasingly politically difficult to justify, attract lower ridership, result in poorer economic benefits (cost-benefit ratios), and reduce public and political support for future investment in more rail rapid transit projects. The study suggests Anglophone countries — nations with English as the primary nature — are far more likely to practice non-optimal project planning and governance, producing exceptionally high costs. “These nations share a common institutional history, exchange ideas, and learn from one another. As such, our benchmarking investigation concurs with other studies of global transit costs, strongly indicating that national costs are associated most closely with project delivery practices, policies, and governance,” reads the study. “High costs in Canada and other English-speaking nations aren’t a result of factors inherent to these places (like cost of living, governance, or wealth); rather, they are the result of ineffective planning, costing, procurement, stakeholder engagement, and governance practices, some of which can be observed in Metrolinx projects.” The study lists three Canadian rail rapid transit projects that are outliers in not being high-cost projects. In fact, it deems the 2019-built ION LRT in Kitchener, SkyTrain’s Canada Line in Vancouver, and the to be examples of “low-cost transit construction [that] demonstrate that effective project delivery is possible in the Canadian context.” These three projects “were all built at costs comparable to global averages at their time of completion.” In 2009, just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 19-km-long fully grade-separated driverless project of the Canada Line reached completion with 16 stations. About half of the line’s length and number of stations is elevated, while the other half is primarily elevated, with two bridges over a major river and a short segment that is at-grade at Vancouver International Airport. As well, it also included the construction of the Bridgeport operations and maintenance centre. The Canada Line’s construction costs came to $2.05 billion ($108 million per km) in 2009 dollars or $2.89 billion ($152 million per km) in 2024 dollars when adjusted for inflation. The northernmost end of the Canada Line, the segment between Olympic Village Station and Waterfront Station, a distance of about three km, was achieved as a bored tunnel due to the challenging geographic (False Creek) and urban conditions. But for the remaining six km of tunnelled route under Cambie Street between Olympic Village Station and Marine Drive Station, the tunnel was constructed using the cut-and-cover method of an open trench that is later filled in, which is also overall quicker and less expensive to achieve than tunnel boring. Of course, there were some big tradeoffs to this controversial low-cost method for the Canada Line, with the prolonged open trench construction process on Cambie Street significantly impacting businesses and cross-town accessibility. The controversies and legal challenges surrounding the cut-and-cover construction of the Canada Line directly influenced the decision to use the tunnel boring method to build the five-km-long tunnel segment between Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station and Arbutus Station for SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Broadway extension, which will open in Fall 2027. But there has also been criticism that in the effort to control costs, the , particularly with its 40-metre-long station platforms (some station platforms were built to a 50-metre length, while all 40-metre-long station platforms have the built-in capability to be extended by a further 10 metres with relative ease). These platform lengths are considered very short in the global context, especially for a major growing urban region with promising public transit ridership growth. Such short station platforms limit the Canada Line’s system capacity, with an over-reliance on increasing train frequencies before performing a modest train lengthening of one additional car, which is the current limit with 50-metre-long platforms. Longer trains well beyond 50 metres would require significant reinvestment. As well, some of these station interior layouts are under-sized for egress and ingress of the increasing volume of passengers. The Canada Line was achieved as a public-private partnership, with a private consortium led by Atkins Realis (previously known as SNC-Lavalin) and other investors — including the Quebec pension fund of CDPQ — holding an operations and maintenance contract through 2044. With immensely strong ridership, well ahead of original forecasts, CDPQ saw strong financial returns from its investment in the Canada Line, and this subsequently led them to create a new transportation infrastructure investment arm, which partnered with Quebec’s provincial government to spearhead the construction of the REM network in Montreal. Unlike its time-limited contract for the Canada Line, CDPQ is both the owner and operator of the with 26 stations. The REM’s design and operations are inspired and based on CDPQ’s learnings with the Canada Line. The , and the remainder of the network — including the segment between Montreal-Pierre Trudeau International Airport (YUL) and downtown Montreal — will open by 2027. As of November 2024, the full cost of constructing the REM network has risen to $9.4 billion from the previous figure of $7 billion in 2018, when major construction work first began. But even with the budget escalation, this still represents a low-cost project, with an average cost of about $147 million per km — far lower than other comparable metro projects being built in Vancouver and Toronto this decade. Moreover, CDPQ is achieving 67 km of fully grade-separated rail rapid transit in a relatively very short period of time, with construction spanning only a decade. In contrast, the existing 80-kilometre-long length of the SkyTrain network took decades to achieve in gradual increments. This is partly due to the REM’s design, which repurposes existing railway rights-of-way, utilizes a highway median for an at-grade route, minimizes new tunnelling, and standardizes station designs. To a certain degree, the higher costs for other Canadian projects are due in part to “overbuilding” and “overdesign,” such as building larger, deeper, and wider tunnels and stations than necessary. Some of this is performed to placate impacted residents and businesses — who may complain about noise and aesthetics — and other project critics, but this sets a poor precedent for cost-effective design. “Instead of tunnelling, they choose low-cost tunnelling methods, and they avoid tunnelling wherever possible with stations. They try to build as small of a station as possible to reduce the amount of excavation with right of ways. They try to acquire as much existing right of way and reduce the amount of land acquisition,” said Mok. “That’s how the Montreal REM was so cheap and its standardization, of course. They standardized so that lessons can be transferred within the project, but also to other projects in the product delivery pipeline.” Molk suggested how private sector practices focusing on financial accountability and efficiency were able to get the Canada Line’s construction costs done “so cheap.” Under the public-private partnership, the consortium led by Atkins Realis had “so much risk and they needed to keep the product on their budget.” So during the detailed design phase after awarding the contract to the consortium, they were permitted to perform the lower-cost tunnelling method of cut-and-cover construction along the length of Cambie Street. “I guess it depends on who the decision makers are, and are they also accountable for the risks?” he said. “CDPQ, for example, is delivering the REM in Montreal. They are the decision-makers, and they are accountable for the risk, and they’re able to deliver projects.” Furthermore, unlike the 35-year operating and maintenance agreement for the Canada Line, Atkins Realis’ full perpetual ownership of the REM gives CDPQ a much stronger impetus and incentive to prioritize the REM’s long-term design quality and capacity performance from the project’s get-go to optimize operations and minimize maintenance and the need for certain types of major reinvestment. “The lowest cost projects in Canada, like the Canada Line and REM, were both extremely privatized in terms of risk, where we gave away all the risks to the private sector,” continued Mok. But the inverse is true for many other Canadian projects, given how procurement practices by the public sector have evolved. He suggests there is now a compounding effect on the budgets, with an inflated budget for one project subsequently impacting future projects — setting a new benchmark for where costs start, with this cycle repeating with every new project. “When we put a cost estimate out to procurement, the market usually comes in higher because they know exactly how we cost our project, and because the next set of projects is based on the cost estimates of the previous projects,” he added. “That’s how we end up in this cycle of cost.”
By Vanessa G. Sánchez, KFF Health News (TNS) LOS ANGELES — President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations and tougher immigration restrictions is deepening mistrust of the health care system among California’s immigrants and clouding the future for providers serving the state’s most impoverished residents. At the same time, immigrants living illegally in Southern California told KFF Health News they thought the economy would improve and their incomes might increase under Trump, and for some that outweighed concerns about health care. Community health workers say fear of deportation is already affecting participation in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income residents, which was expanded in phases to all immigrants regardless of residency status over the past several years. That could undercut the state’s progress in reducing the uninsured rate, which reached a record low of 6.4% last year. Immigrants lacking legal residency have long worried that participation in government programs could make them targets, and Trump’s election has compounded those concerns, community advocates say. The incoming Trump administration is also expected to target Medicaid with funding cuts and enrollment restrictions , which activists worry could threaten the Medi-Cal expansion and kneecap efforts to extend health insurance subsidies under Covered California to all immigrants. “The fear alone has so many consequences to the health of our communities,” said Mar Velez , director of policy with the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. “This is, as they say, not their first rodeo. They understand how the system works. I think this machine is going to be, unfortunately, a lot more harmful to our communities.” Alongside such worries, though, is a strain of optimism that Trump might be a boon to the economy, according to interviews with immigrants in Los Angeles whom health care workers were soliciting to sign up for Medi-Cal. Since Election Day, community health worker Yanet Martinez said, people are more reluctant to hear her pitch for subsidized health insurance or cancer prevention screenings. “They think I’m going to share their information to deport them,” Martinez said. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Clinics and community health workers encourage immigrants to enroll for health coverage through Medi-Cal and Covered California. But workers have noticed that fear of deportation has chilled participation. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Community health workers like Yanet Martinez encourage people to enroll for health benefits. But many California immigrants fear that using subsidized services could hurt their chances of obtaining legal residency. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Since Election Day, community health worker Yanet Martinez said, people are more reluctant to hear her pitch for subsidized health insurance or cancer prevention screenings. “They think I’m going to share their information to deport them,” Martinez said. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Selvin, 39, who, like others interviewed for this article, asked to be identified by only his first name because he’s living here without legal permission, said that even though he believes Trump dislikes people like him, he thinks the new administration could help boost his hours at the food processing facility where he works packing noodles. “I do see how he could improve the economy. From that perspective, I think it’s good that he won.” He became eligible for Medi-Cal this year but decided not to enroll, worrying it could jeopardize his chances of changing his immigration status. “I’ve thought about it,” Selvin said, but “I feel like it could end up hurting me. I won’t deny that, obviously, I’d like to benefit — get my teeth fixed, a physical checkup.” But fear holds him back, he said, and he hasn’t seen a doctor in nine years. It’s not Trump’s mass deportation plan in particular that’s scaring him off, though. “If I’m not committing any crimes or getting a DUI, I think I won’t get deported,” Selvin said. Petrona, 55, came from El Salvador seeking asylum and enrolled in Medi-Cal last year. She said that if her health insurance benefits were cut, she wouldn’t be able to afford her visits to the dentist. A street food vendor, she hears often about Trump’s deportation plan, but she said it will be the criminals the new president pushes out. “I’ve heard people say he’s going to get rid of everyone who’s stealing.” Although she’s afraid she could be deported, she’s also hopeful about Trump. “He says he’s going to give a lot of work to Hispanics because Latinos are the ones who work the hardest,” she said. “That’s good, more work for us, the ones who came here to work.” Newly elected Republican Assembly member Jeff Gonzalez, who flipped a seat long held by Democrats in the Latino-heavy desert region in the southeastern part of the state, said his constituents were anxious to see a new economic direction. “They’re just really kind of fed up with the status quo in California,” Gonzalez said. “People on the ground are saying, ‘I’m hopeful,’ because now we have a different perspective. We have a businessperson who is looking at the very things that we are looking at, which is the price of eggs, the price of gas, the safety.” Related Articles National Politics | Mexico tests cellphone app allowing migrants to send alert if they are about to be detained in US National Politics | Healey vs. ICE: Massachusetts’ sanctuary status under fire National Politics | Trump wants mass deportations. For the agents removing immigrants, it’s a painstaking process National Politics | Maura Healey says Massachusetts is ‘not a sanctuary state,’ shelter costs will decrease National Politics | Immigration agency deports highest numbers since 2014, aided by more flights Gonzalez said he’s not going to comment about potential Medicaid cuts, because Trump has not made any official announcement. Unlike most in his party, Gonzalez said he supports the extension of health care services to all residents regardless of immigration status . Health care providers said they are facing a twin challenge of hesitancy among those they are supposed to serve and the threat of major cuts to Medicaid, the federal program that provides over 60% of the funding for Medi-Cal. Health providers and policy researchers say a loss in federal contributions could lead the state to roll back or downsize some programs, including the expansion to cover those without legal authorization. California and Oregon are the only states that offer comprehensive health insurance to all income-eligible immigrants regardless of status. About 1.5 million people without authorization have enrolled in California, at a cost of over $6 billion a year to state taxpayers. “Everyone wants to put these types of services on the chopping block, which is really unfair,” said state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat and chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus. “We will do everything we can to ensure that we prioritize this.” Sen. Gonzalez said it will be challenging to expand programs such as Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace, for which immigrants lacking permanent legal status are not eligible. A big concern for immigrants and their advocates is that Trump could reinstate changes to the public charge policy, which can deny green cards or visas based on the use of government benefits. “President Trump’s mass deportation plan will end the financial drain posed by illegal immigrants on our healthcare system, and ensure that our country can care for American citizens who rely on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to KFF Health News. During his first term, in 2019, Trump broadened the policy to include the use of Medicaid, as well as housing and nutrition subsidies. The Biden administration rescinded the change in 2021. KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News, found immigrants use less health care than people born in the United States. And about 1 in 4 likely undocumented immigrant adults said they have avoided applying for assistance with health care, food, and housing because of immigration-related fears, according to a 2023 survey . Another uncertainty is the fate of the Affordable Care Act, which was opened in November to immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and are protected by the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals program. If DACA eligibility for the act’s plans, or even the act itself, were to be reversed under Trump, that would leave roughly 40,000 California DACA recipients, and about 100,000 nationwide , without access to subsidized health insurance. On Dec. 9, a federal court in North Dakota issued an order blocking DACA recipients from accessing Affordable Care Act health plans in 19 states that had challenged the Biden administration’s rule. Clinics and community health workers are encouraging people to continue enrolling in health benefits. But amid the push to spread the message, the chilling effects are already apparent up and down the state. “¿Ya tiene Medi-Cal?” community health worker Yanet Martinez said, asking residents whether they had Medi-Cal as she walked down Pico Boulevard recently in a Los Angeles neighborhood with many Salvadorans. “¡Nosotros podemos ayudarle a solicitar Medi-Cal! ¡Todo gratuito!” she shouted, offering help to sign up, free of charge. “Gracias, pero no,” said one young woman, responding with a no thanks. She shrugged her shoulders and averted her eyes under a cap that covered her from the late-morning sun. Since Election Day, Martinez said, people have been more reluctant to hear her pitch for subsidized health insurance or cancer prevention screenings. “They think I’m going to share their information to deport them,” she said. “They don’t want anything to do with it.” This article was produced by KFF Health News , which publishes California Healthline , an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation . ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Toronto Sceptres open PWHL season with 3-1 comeback win over Boston FleetWASHINGTON — As senators prepare to consider President-elect Donald Trump's picks for his Cabinet, they will likely be doing so without a well-established staple of the confirmation process: an FBI background check. The Trump transition team so far has not signed the requisite agreements with the White House or Justice Department to allow the FBI to screen his personnel choices , both for the process of obtaining security clearances and meeting the Senate's usual standards for nominations. That means the Senate could be asked to vote on Trump's picks without the usual rigorous background checking meant to uncover personal problems, criminal histories or other red flags that would raise questions about a nominee's suitability for the job. There already are questions about problematic issues related to a number of the people Trump wants in his administration. "There are very real liabilities on the security side if you don't get this right," said Dan Meyer, a Washington lawyer at the Tully Rinckey law firm who specializes in background checks, security clearances and federal employment law. President-elect Donald Trump arrives Tuesday before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Boca Chica, Texas. At issue is a memorandum of understanding under which a president — or in this case, an incoming one — submits requests for name and background checks and the FBI commits to flagging any adverse information uncovered during the process. That document has not yet been signed, with the Trump transition team relying instead on internal campaign aides, allied groups and law firms on the outside to support the personnel effort. Trump regards FBI leadership with suspicion, in part because of the Russian election interference investigation that shadowed his first term and more recently because of FBI investigations into his hoarding of classified documents and his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election that led to his indictment last year. A Justice Department spokesperson said Wednesday that discussions were ongoing with the Trump transition team about signing the memo. Last week, the department said it was "committed to ensuring an orderly and effective transition" to the next administration. "We are prepared to deliver briefings to the transition team on our operations and responsibilities, and we stand ready to process requests for security clearances for those who will need access to national security information," its statement said. For those appointees whose jobs involve a security clearance, a background check would be required. However, once Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, he could simply order that people be given a security clearance, as he was reported to have done for son-in-law Jared Kushner during his first term. "The president is the head of the personnel security system," Meyer said. "The director of national intelligence is his executive agent for that. The president could issue an executive order and he could change the security system in two seconds. It's all his." Lawmakers are complaining about what they see as insufficient screening of the picks they're being asked to consider. Two Democratic House members, Don Beyer of Virginia and Ted Lieu of California, introduced a bill Tuesday that would codify the FBI's role in the background check process for political appointees of the president. The issue is of particular relevance given the eyebrow-raising backgrounds of some of Trump's picks. Trump's choice for attorney general, former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, faced a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation into allegations involving underage girls that ended with no federal charges against him. There was also a House Ethics inquiry into whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct — allegations he denies. Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration Thursday after those issues cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation's chief federal law enforcement officer. Later in the day, Trump said he will nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the role instead. Pete Hegseth walks to an elevator Dec. 15, 2016, for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York. Pete Hegseth, picked for defense secretary, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women's event in Monterey, California, but was not charged after a police investigation. His lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, described the sexual encounter as consensual and confirmed that Hegseth paid the woman a sum as part of a confidential settlement. Hegseth did so to head off a threatened lawsuit, according to Parlatore, who said his client was the victim of "blackmail." Democrats signaled their interest in rigorous exploration of potential problem areas. "If there's a cursory background check, like we call 20 people — that's not going to be appropriate," said Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He will be the committee's top Democrat next year, as Republicans regain the majority, when it takes up Hegseth's nomination. The selection of former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence alarmed U.S. intelligence analysts who point to her past criticism of Ukraine, comments supportive of Russia and secret meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad, a close ally of Russia and Iran. Tulsi Gabbard speaks Oct. 27 before then-Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Senate has a responsibility to closely examine Gabbard and should not approve the confirmation just because Republicans feel a loyalty to Trump, said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., his party's ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee. "The Republican senator who votes to confirm Matt Gaetz or Robert Kennedy or Tulsi Gabbard will be remembered by history as somebody who completely gave up their responsibility to Donald Trump," Himes said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." 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. 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. 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. Doug Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial, which centered on U.S. assistance for Ukraine. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was acquitted by the Senate. Collins has also served in the armed forces himself and is currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. "We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need," Trump said in a statement about nominating Collins to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. 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.” 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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.” 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. 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. 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. McGinley was White House Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration, and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. In a statement, Trump called McGinley “a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda, while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement.” Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
As It Happens 6:09 This Canadian is the new world champion of Excel spreadsheets It was down to the final 30 seconds at the Microsoft Excel World Championships in Las Vegas, and the crowd was going wild. Canada's Michael Jarman was in the lead, his eyes fixed on the scoreboard, desperately hoping nobody would come up from behind and snatch victory from his grasp. When the clock ran out, Jarman leapt from his computer and threw his hands up in celebration, as the spectators in the HyperX Arena erupted in cheers. Jarman, a Toronto financial modelling director, unseated Australia's three-time winner Andrew (The Annihilator) Ngai on Dec. 4 to become the undisputed world champion of managing spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel. "It was an amazing feeling," Jarman told As It Happens guest host Peter Armstring. "It's definitely, you know, a really great memory for me, and will be for a long time." WATCH | Microsoft Excel World Championships: For his efforts, Jarman took home a $5,000 US ($7,033 Cdn.) cheque, and the event's signature pro-wrestling style championship belt. "We're thinking about how to put up on the wall," he said. Not enough spreadsheets at work You would think Jarman, who works for the project finance consulting firm Operis, would be sick of spreadsheets. But as he's risen through the ranks at work, he says he rarely has the opportunity to get down and dirty in the rows and cells anymore. "I'm very much at the stage of my career where I no longer do the modelling myself. I have to leave that for the juniors to do, while I go to meetings," he said. "So I'd say, actually, it placates me a little bit." Jarman competing in the 2024 Microsoft Excel World Championships in Las Vegas. (Financial Modeling World Cup/YouTube) Plus, the Excel World Championships' spreadsheets tend to be more exciting than the ones he sees at the office. The event is an offshoot of the more business-focused Financial Modelling World Cup. It's billed as an esports event, akin to competitive gaming, and sponsored by Excel maker Microsoft. "No finance, just Microsoft Excel and logical thinking skills," reads the competition's description. "Excel esports transforms a common office tool into a dynamic sport." Competitors are usually asked to build spreadsheets to perform tasks and solve problems based around a specific theme or game. Excel with orcs? This year's final battle involved using Excel to track stats in a simulated game of World of Warcraft (WoW), a long-running and wildly popular online video game featuring fantastical creatures like dragons, elves and orcs. "I mean, I'm not a WoW player myself, but it was pretty cool," Jarman said. "We were given an eight-page instruction manual before going on stage to read, so we had some idea of what was going on." To add a competitive edge the player with the lowest score is eliminated every five minutes, alluded to in the chorus of of the event's epic rock theme song: "It's the Excel World Championship / Who's going to win? / It's the Excel World Championship / Who's going in the spreadsheet bin?" As the competitors typed furiously into Excel, the spectators appeared enthralled. "The crowd was really quite electric this year," Jarman said. Jarman estimates there were a few hundred people watching in the arena. Another 60,000 people watched the YouTube livestream . As It Happens Harvard undergrad cracks code of knotted Inca rope used as 'an ancient Excel spreadsheet' As It Happens 'Pixel by pixel': MS Paint artist mourns his medium as Microsoft pulls the plug This is Jarman's fourth time competing, and his first time coming out on top. In the last three competitions, he finished second to Australia's Andrew Ngai. After 2023's championships, he told As It Happens : "Next year, it will be my year." He was proven right. But he's not done yet. Now that the belt is his at last, he's got his eyes on another goal. "The next vision is to ... win three more to break Andrew's record," he said. "I think that's virtually impossible to do, but you've got to give it a go."Heavy snowfall in Himachal Pradesh's Manali and surrounding areas, including Solang Nala and Atal Tunnel, has led to a massive traffic jam. The traffic jam led to the stranding of over 1,000 tourist vehicles. According to the news agency IANS, a 6-kilometre-long traffic jam was formed on the Manali-Solang Nala route as tourists' vehicles got stuck in the snow. A video showing the traffic jam has also gone viral on social media. Himachal Pradesh Weather Forecast: IMD Issues Orange Alert for Cold Wave, Heavy Snowfall. Watch: Heavy snowfall in Manali and surrounding areas, including Solang Nala and Atal Tunnel, has led to a traffic jam, stranding over 1,000 tourist vehicles. A 6-kilometer-long jam formed on the Manali-Solang Nala route as tourists’ vehicles got stuck in the snow pic.twitter.com/CoADiIRT0W — IANS (@ians_india) December 27, 2024 (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter (X), Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)Facing far-right ultimatum, French finance minister says budget can still be improvedNone
Valley shelter reopens to families in need of housing
IWV Burros compete at Valley Youth Football League Super BowlSEATTLE , Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN) today reported third quarter net earnings of $46 million , or earnings per diluted share ("EPS") of $0.27 , and earnings before interest and taxes ("EBIT") of $83 million . Excluding a charge related to accelerated technology depreciation, the Company reported adjusted EBIT of $97 million and adjusted EPS of $0.33 .[1] For the third quarter ended November 2, 2024, net sales increased 4.6 percent versus the same period in fiscal 2023, and total Company comparable sales increased 4.0 percent. Gross merchandise value ("GMV") increased 5.3 percent. Anniversary Sale timing, with one week shifting from the third quarter to the second quarter, had a negative impact of approximately 100 basis points on net sales compared with 2023. During the quarter, Nordstrom banner net sales increased 1.3 percent and comparable sales increased 4.0 percent. Net sales for Nordstrom Rack increased 10.6 percent and comparable sales increased 3.9 percent. "The continued sales growth across the company and strong gross margin in the third quarter indicate our team's focus and efforts are working," said Erik Nordstrom , chief executive officer of Nordstrom, Inc. "Our customers have a lot of choices, and our results give us encouragement that we're on the right path. Looking ahead, we'll continue to improve our shopping experience as we strive to maintain the positive momentum we've worked towards all year." In the third quarter, women's apparel and active had double-digit growth, and shoes, men's apparel and kids were up mid to high single-digits, versus 2023. Growth in women's apparel, shoes and men's apparel accelerated sequentially from the second quarter. "Our third quarter results demonstrate that our strategic focus on curating a compelling brand assortment is resonating with customers," said Pete Nordstrom , president of Nordstrom, Inc. "Our actions throughout this year have led to this moment, and we feel well-positioned for a successful holiday season and look forward to helping our customers celebrate the moments that matter. I'm grateful to our dedicated team for consistently delivering the high level of service our customers have come to expect from Nordstrom." As previously announced, the board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share, payable on December 18, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 3, 2024. THIRD QUARTER 2024 SUMMARY STORES UPDATE To date in fiscal 2024, the Company has opened 23 stores: City Location Square Footage (000s) Timing of Opening Nordstrom Rack Pinole, CA Pinole Vista Crossing 23 March 7, 2024 Snellville, GA Presidential Markets 35 March 7, 2024 Kennesaw, GA Barrett Place 25 March 21, 2024 Macedonia, OH Macedonia Gateway 28 April 11, 2024 Gilroy, CA Gilroy Crossing 25 April 25, 2024 Jacksonville Beach, FL South Beach Regional 30 May 2, 2024 Queen Creek, AZ Queen Creek Marketplace 28 May 16, 2024 Elk Grove, CA The Ridge Elk Grove 25 May 30, 2024 Wheaton, IL Danada Square East 29 May 30, 2024 Oceanside, CA Pacific Coast Plaza 32 June 6, 2024 Bay Shore, NY Gardiner Manor Mall 24 June 13, 2024 San Antonio, TX Bandera Pointe 24 September 5, 2024 Franklin, TN Cool Springs Market 24 September 5, 2024 San Mateo, CA Bridgepointe Shopping Center 36 September 12, 2024 San Diego, CA Clairemont Town Square 25 September 19, 2024 Mooresville, NC Mooresville Crossing 28 September 26, 2024 Houston, TX Meyerland Plaza 34 September 26, 2024 Mason, OH Deerfield Towne Center 30 October 3, 2024 Raleigh, NC Triangle Town Place 32 October 10, 2024 Fort Myers, FL Bell Tower 31 October 17, 2024 Noblesville, IN Hamilton Town Center 25 October 17, 2024 Omaha, NE Village Pointe 30 October 24, 2024 Tarzana, CA Village Walk 25 November 1, 2024 The Company has also announced plans to open the following stores: City Location Square Footage (000s) Timing of Opening Nordstrom Rack Davis, CA The Davis Collection 25 Spring 2025 Matthews, NC Sycamore Commons 25 Spring 2025 Geneva, IL Randall Square 25 Spring 2025 Manalapan Township, NJ Manalapan Commons 26 Spring 2025 Apple Valley, MN Fischer Marketplace 30 Spring 2025 Houston, TX Westchase Shopping Center 30 Spring 2025 Morrisville, NC Park West Village 25 Spring 2025 Coral Springs, FL Pine Ridge Square 31 Fall 2025 Surprise, AZ Prasada North 26 Fall 2025 Holbrook, NY The Shops at SunVet 27 Fall 2025 Hyannis, MA The Landing at Hyannis 25 Fall 2025 Prosper, TX The Gates of Prosper 26 Fall 2025 Melbourne, FL The Avenue Viera 24 Fall 2025 Meridian, ID The Village at Meridian 25 Fall 2025 Lakeland, FL Lakeside Village 30 Fall 2025 Sarasota, FL Sarasota Pavilion 27 Spring 2026 The Company had the following store counts as of quarter-end: November 2, 2024 October 28, 2023 Nordstrom Nordstrom 93 93 Nordstrom Local service hubs 6 6 ASOS | Nordstrom — 1 Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom Rack 280 258 Last Chance clearance stores 2 2 Total 381 360 Gross store square footage 26,874,000 26,305,000 During the third quarter, the Company closed one Nordstrom Rack store. FISCAL YEAR 2024 OUTLOOK The Company updated its financial outlook for fiscal 2024, which reflects the estimated accelerated technology depreciation impacts expected in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024: CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION The Company's senior management will host a conference call to provide a business update and to discuss third quarter 2024 financial results and fiscal 2024 outlook at 4:45 p.m. EST today. To listen to the live call online and view the speakers' prepared remarks and the conference call slides, visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's corporate website at investor. nordstrom .com . An archived webcast with the speakers' prepared remarks and the conference call slides will be available in the Quarterly Results section for one year. Interested parties may also dial 201-689-8354. A telephone replay will be available beginning approximately three hours after the conclusion of the call by dialing 877-660-6853 or 201-612-7415 and entering Conference ID 13750079, until the close of business on December 3, 2024. ABOUT NORDSTROM At Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN), we exist to help our customers feel good and look their best. Since starting as a shoe store in 1901, how to best serve customers has been at the center of every decision we make. This heritage of service is the foundation we're building on as we provide convenience and true connection for our customers. Our interconnected model enables us to serve customers when, where and how they want to shop – whether that's in-store at more than 350 Nordstrom, Nordstrom Local and Nordstrom Rack locations or digitally through our Nordstrom and Rack apps and websites. Through it all, we remain committed to leaving the world better than we found it. Certain statements in this press release contain or may suggest "forward-looking" information (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that involves risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different from expectations. The words "will," "may," "designed to," "outlook," "believes," "should," "targets," "anticipates," "assumptions," "plans," "expects" or "expectations," "intends," "estimates," "forecasts," "guidance" and similar expressions identify certain of these forward-looking statements. The Company also may provide forward-looking statements in oral statements or other written materials released to the public. All statements contained or incorporated in this press release or in any other public statements that address such future events or expectations are forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2024, our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended May 4, 2024 , our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended August 3, 2024 and our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended November 2, 2024 , to be filed with the SEC on or about December 5, 2024 . In addition, forward-looking statements contained in this release may be impacted by the actual outcome of events or occurrences related to the Company's announcement of the exploration of possible avenues to enhance shareholder value, including consideration by a special committee of the board of directors of a proposal brought forward by members of the Nordstrom family to take the Company private. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date made, and, except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events, new information or future circumstances. In addition, the actual timing, price, manner and amounts of future share repurchases, if any, will be subject to the discretion of our board of directors, contractual commitments, market and economic conditions and applicable Securities and Exchange Commission rules. This earnings release includes references to websites, website addresses and additional materials, including reports and blogs, found on those websites. The content of any websites and materials named, hyperlinked or otherwise referenced in this earnings release are not incorporated by reference into this earnings release or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to such websites and materials are intended to be inactive textual references only. The information on those websites is not part of this earnings release. NORDSTROM, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF EARNINGS (unaudited; amounts in millions, except per share amounts) Quarter Ended Nine Months Ended November 2, 2024 October 28, 2023 November 2, 2024 October 28, 2023 Net sales $3,347 $3,200 $10,353 $9,926 Credit card revenues, net 117 120 339 347 Total revenues 3,464 3,320 10,692 10,273 Cost of sales and related buying and occupancy costs (2,156) (2,080) (6,760) (6,488) Selling, general and administrative expenses (1,225) (1,163) (3,680) (3,466) Canada wind-down costs — 25 — (284) Earnings before interest and income taxes 83 102 252 35 Interest expense, net (26) (24) (79) (78) Earnings (loss) before income taxes 57 78 173 (43) Income tax (expense) benefit (11) (11) (45) 43 Net earnings $46 $67 $128 $— Earnings per share: Basic $0.28 $0.41 $0.78 $— Diluted $0.27 $0.41 $0.76 $— Weighted-average shares outstanding: Basic 164.6 162.0 164.0 161.5 Diluted 169.8 163.6 168.1 161.5 Percent of net sales: Gross profit 35.6 % 35.0 % 34.7 % 34.6 % Selling, general and administrative expenses 36.6 % 36.3 % 35.5 % 34.9 % Earnings before interest and income taxes 2.5 % 3.2 % 2.4 % 0.4 % NORDSTROM, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (unaudited; amounts in millions) November 2, 2024 February 3, 2024 October 28, 2023 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $397 $628 $375 Accounts receivable, net 544 334 322 Merchandise inventories 2,780 1,888 2,626 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 311 286 392 Total current assets 4,032Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 1,431 Shares of Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY)
BEREA, Ohio (AP) — The Cleveland Browns have again restructured quarterback Deshaun Watson's massive contract to create salary-cap space and give them future flexibility, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Friday. Watson has been limited to just 19 games in three seasons because of an NFL suspension and injuries with the Browns, who signed him to a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract in 2022. The restructuring allows the team to spread out the salary-cap hit after the 2026 season, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team does not disclose contract specifics. The 29-year-old Watson has two years remaining on his contract with an average of $46 million a year. The move to restructure his deal will not preclude the Browns from adding talent at the quarterback position in 2025, the person said. Watson played in only seven games this season before suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon. He's 9-10 as a starter with Cleveland. The Browns (3-12) have been a major disappointment this season after making it to the playoffs a year ago behind Joe Flacco, who was signed as a free agent after Watson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Watson had surgery in October and is expected to make a full recovery. While the team hasn't disclosed its plans at quarterback, it's assumed Watson will be in the mix to be the starter next season. It's also possible the Browns will draft a quarterback in the first round. The team hasn't had a first-round pick the past three years after trading three to the Houston Texans to acquire Watson, who was once considered one of the league's elite QBs. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Copyright 2024 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.