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nuebe gaming agent LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Golden Knights go head-to-head against the Montreal Canadiens for the first time this season this Saturday at 4 p.m. Bonjour 😁📺: Vegas 34📲: KnightTime+📻: FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340 | Deportes Vegas 1460📰: https://t.co/GOujUILu1P pic.twitter.com/3iEcKfFXYP — Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 23, 2024 The head coach Bruce Cassidy reached his 400th win as a NHL coach with Thursday's victory. Brett Howden signed a five-year contract extension through the 2029-30 NHL seaso on Friday, Nov.22. Jack Eichel is tied for the fifth in NHL scoring with 29 points (6G, 23A). VGK won the first game of their five-game road trip against the Ottawa Senators, 3-2, on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre. KEYS TO THE GAME: Head coach Bruce Cassidy says it's important to allow the players to get comfortable in their play and not put yourself in a situation where you are chasing the game.

AP Business SummaryBrief at 5:13 p.m. ESTFORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Josh Hoover threw for 252 yards and a touchdown and JP Richardson had 149 all-purpose yards and a 38-yard touchdown reception to lead TCU over Arizona 49-28 on Saturday. On the first play from scrimmage, Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita was intercepted by Bud Clark. TCU scored five plays later on Trent Battle’s 4-yard run. The Horned Frogs scored touchdowns on five straight drives, going at least 75 yards on nine or more plays on three of the possessions. TCU (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) drove 75 yards in 12 plays in the final 1:55 of the first half to take a 21-13 lead on Savion Williams’ 20-yard run. Hoover completed five passes on the drive, including gains of 24, 19, and 24 yards to set up Williams’ score with 20 seconds left in the half. The Horned Frogs took the second-half kickoff and drove 76 yards in nine plays to build a 28-13 lead on Battle’s 1-yard run. Richardson’s 33-yard punt return to the Arizona 34 set up a third touchdown in three possessions. He caught a short pass over the middle from Hoover and raced untouched 38 yards for the score and a 35-13 lead. Richardson led TCU with six catches for 107 yards. Four TCU running backs scored a touchdown, including Williams, who rushed for 80 yards and two scores. Battle also rushed for 28 yards and two scores. Fifita was 29 of 44 for 284 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for Arizona (4-7, 2-6). Tetairoa McMillan made nine catches for 115 yards. Scoop and score Arizona defensive lineman Sterling Lane II picked up a fumble from TCU backup quarterback Ken Seals with just over a minute left in the game and ran it 70 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring. Nipped in the Bud Clark leads the Horned Frogs with three interceptions, including one in each of the past two games. He is tied for fifth-most in the Big 12. The takeaway Arizona: The Wildcats, who started the season in the AP Top 25 poll, will not be bowl eligible this season with a game remaining under first-year coach Brent Brennan. A year ago under coach Jedd Fisch, who is now at Washington, Arizona advanced to the Alamo Bowl for the first time since 2017. TCU: The Horned Frogs, who became bowl eligible two weeks ago, won their third consecutive game at Amon Carter Stadium after losing two in a row to UCF and Houston. TCU has won four of its past five, the only blemish a 37-34 last-second loss at Baylor. Up next TCU: At Cincinnati on Saturday. Arizona: Hosts Arizona State on Saturday. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: andIn the current session, Adobe Inc. ADBE is trading at $447.22, after a 0.65% decrease. Over the past month, the stock decreased by 13.71% , and in the past year, by 23.25% . With performance like this, long-term shareholders are more likely to start looking into the company's price-to-earnings ratio. Adobe P/E Compared to Competitors The P/E ratio measures the current share price to the company's EPS. It is used by long-term investors to analyze the company's current performance against it's past earnings, historical data and aggregate market data for the industry or the indices, such as S&P 500. A higher P/E indicates that investors expect the company to perform better in the future, and the stock is probably overvalued, but not necessarily. It also could indicate that investors are willing to pay a higher share price currently, because they expect the company to perform better in the upcoming quarters. This leads investors to also remain optimistic about rising dividends in the future. Compared to the aggregate P/E ratio of the 96.7 in the Software industry, Adobe Inc. has a lower P/E ratio of 36.42 . Shareholders might be inclined to think that the stock might perform worse than it's industry peers. It's also possible that the stock is undervalued. In conclusion, the price-to-earnings ratio is a useful metric for analyzing a company's market performance, but it has its limitations. While a lower P/E can indicate that a company is undervalued, it can also suggest that shareholders do not expect future growth. Additionally, the P/E ratio should not be used in isolation, as other factors such as industry trends and business cycles can also impact a company's stock price. Therefore, investors should use the P/E ratio in conjunction with other financial metrics and qualitative analysis to make informed investment decisions. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

NEW YORK (AP) — A slide for market superstar Nvidia on Monday knocked Wall Street off its big rally and helped drag U.S. stock indexes down from their records. The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, coming off its 57th all-time high of the year so far. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 240 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite pulled back 0.6% from its own record. Nvidia’s fall of 2.5% was by far the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after China said it’s investigating the company over suspected violations of Chinese anti-monopoly laws. Nvidia has skyrocketed to become one of Wall Street’s most valuable companies because its chips are driving much of the world’s move into artificial-intelligence technology. That gives its stock’s movements more sway on the S&P 500 than nearly every other. Nvidia’s drop overshadowed gains in Hong Kong and for Chinese stocks trading in the United States on hopes that China will deliver more stimulus for the world’s second-largest economy. Roughly three in seven of the stocks in the S&P 500 also rose. The week’s highlight for Wall Street will arrive midweek when the latest updates on inflation arrive. Economists expect Wednesday’s report to show the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling remained stuck at close to the same level last month. A separate report on Thursday, meanwhile, could show an acceleration in inflation at the wholesale level. They’re the last big pieces of data the Federal Reserve will get before its meeting next week on interest rates. The widespread expectation is still that the central bank will cut its main interest rate for the third time this year. The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to offer more help for the slowing job market, after bringing inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower interest rates can ease the brakes off the economy, but they can also offer more fuel for inflation. Expectations for a series of cuts from the Fed have been a major reason the S&P 500 has set so many all-time highs this year. “Investors should enjoy this rally while it lasts—there’s little on the horizon to disrupt the momentum through year-end,” according to Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, though he warns stocks could stumble soon because of how overheated they’ve gotten. On Wall Street, Interpublic Group rose 3.6% after rival Omnicom said it would buy the marketing and communications firm in an all-stock deal. The pair had a combined revenue of $25.6 billion last year. Omnicom, meanwhile, sank 10.2%. Macy’s climbed 1.8% after an activist investor, Barington Capital Group, called on the retailer to buy back at least $2 billion of its own stock over the next three years and make other moves to help boost its stock price. Super Micro Computer rose 0.5% after saying it got an extension that will keep its stock listed on the Nasdaq through Feb. 25, as it works to file its delayed annual report and other required financial statements. Earlier this month, the maker of servers used in artificial-intelligence technology said an investigation found no evidence of misconduct by its management or by the company’s board following the resignation of its public auditor . All told, the S&P 500 fell 37.42 points to 6,052.85. The Dow dipped 240.59 to 4,401.93, and the Nasdaq composite lost 123.08 to 19,736.69. In the oil market, a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rallied 1.7% to settle at $68.37 following the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, who sought asylum in Moscow after rebels. Brent crude, the international standard, added 1.4% to $72.14 per barrel. The price of gold also rose 1% to $2,685.80 per ounce amid the uncertainty created by the end of the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule. In stock markets abroad, the Hang Seng jumped 2.8% in Hong Kong after top Chinese leaders agreed on a “moderately loose” monetary policy for the world’s second-largest economy. That’s a shift away from a more cautious, “prudent” stance for the first time in 10 years. A major planning meeting later this week could also bring more stimulus for the Chinese economy. U.S.-listed stocks of several Chinese companies climbed, including a 12.4% jump for electric-vehicle company Nio and a 7.4% rise for Alibaba Group. Stocks in Shanghai, though, were roughly flat. In Seoul, South Korea’s Kospi slumped 2.8% as the fallout continues from President Yoon Suk Yeol ’s brief declaration of martial law last week in the midst of a budget dispute. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.19% from 4.15% late Friday. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — John Poulakidas’ 22 points helped Yale defeat Fairfield 91-66 on Saturday. Poulakidas shot 7 for 8, including 6 for 7 from beyond the arc for the Bulldogs (4-3). Nick Townsend scored 16 points and added seven rebounds and five assists. Samson Aletan shot 5 of 9 from the field and 5 for 6 from the line to finish with 15 points. Makuei Riek led the Stags (2-4) in scoring, finishing with 13 points. Fairfield also got 13 points and two steals from Noah Best. Louis Bleechmore also had 11 points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein will be activated from injured reserve and will play against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich announced Friday that Zuerlein is returning after missing seven games with a knee injury to his left, non-kicking leg. He had been shaky before the injury, but the Jets have since been unsettled at the position, with Riley Patterson, Spencer Shrader and Anders Carlson all filling in. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Broncos are 0-4 in Las Vegas, but in a matchup of teams heading in opposite directions, Denver has more at stake than trying to end a series skid. A victory over the Raiders puts the Broncos that much closer to an unexpected playoff berth, playing with a rookie quarterback and just a year after they went 8-9. The Broncos are 6-5 and coming off a 38-6 victory over the Atlanta Falcons , and would be in the playoff field if the season ended entering Week 12. Not bad for a team given a win total of 5 1/2 games at BetMGM Sportsbook. “Everyone understands the significance of where we are at this point in the season,” Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. The situation is quite different for the Raiders. They are 2-8, on a six-game losing streak and decimated by injuries. Las Vegas could enter this game without its top two running backs and a reshuffled line on offense, and defensively, the Raiders could have two linemen, three cornerbacks and a safety out of action. “Just been having some bad breaks, but nobody feels sorry for us,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. "Nobody feels sorry for me. You’ve got to roll out there with 11 players, and that’s what we’re going to do come Sunday.” The Raiders are badly in a need of a franchise quarterback and are in a logjam for the top pick in next year's NFL draft. Denver showed with this year's draft how valuable landing such a QB can be to an organization. Bo Nix was selected 12th — one spot ahead of the Raiders — and he is pushing for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was this week's top AFC player and rookie after completing 28 of 33 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns in the rout of the Falcons. “I think as we’ve gone on, Coach (Sean Payton) and I have found a good rhythm of what we both like, what we can kind of put out there on the field and what we can execute," Nix said. "Then the guys have kind of adapted to it, found our roles within the offense and executed at a high level. It’s just all about slowing the game down and processing things in a manner that you can handle.” Raiders tight end Brock Bowers also could have a say in who wins the season's top offensive rookie award. He is second in the NFL with 70 catches and his 706 yards receiving is 10th among all receivers. His numbers from a historical perspective are even more impressive. Bowers, the 13th pick in this year's draft , is fourth all time among all tight ends in catches through the first 11 weeks and he and Jeremy Shockey in 2002 are the only rookies at that position to have more than one game with at least 10 receptions. “This week's a brand new week,” Bowers said. “I've always got something to prove.” Payton still isn't entirely comfortable splitting carries between running backs Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and rookie Audric Estime. Asked how he determines the right balance in his rotation, Payton said, “That's the $6 million question. It’s difficult. We know kind of what we have with those three players. I think it’s always hard to feed three. "I'm used to — and it’s easy — to feed two. So we kind of do that a little bit. I thought Javonte had some really good runs (last week). Certainly the game ends and we’re like, ‘Gosh, we have to get Jaleel more touches.’ So it’s a tough, but a good problem to have.” With injuries to running backs Alexander Mattison (ankle) and Zamir White (quadriceps), 10-year veteran Ameer Abdullah could get the start for the Raiders this weekend. He has just 17 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown this season and started just one game his previous six seasons. “I see myself as a starter,” Abdullah said. “I think every guy in the room does. I consider myself the best back on this team just like every back does. This is my opportunity to go out there and put my best foot forward.” Patrick Surtain II had a pair of interceptions, including one he returned for 100 yards and a touchdown, in the team's first meeting this season and that fueled the Broncos' 34-18 win in Denver . Both of the passes were intended for Bowers, who caught a 57-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Surtain isn't expecting the Raiders to avoid him Sunday, however. “You don't want to go into a game thinking they're not gonna throw it your way,” Surtain said, “because it's the pros at the end of the day, everybody's ready, everybody's capable.” AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton in Englewood, Colorado, contributed to this report. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflIt’s almost a new year, and that means it’s almost time for a bevy of new state laws to go into effect. For the 2023-24 legislative session that just wrapped up (each session spans two years) Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 1,017 bills into law, according to Chris Micheli, a veteran Sacramento lobbyist. That’s a tick more than one-fifth of t he 4,821 bills introduced over that two-year span . Most of the new laws are slated to kick in on Jan. 1. From new parking rules to health care coverage and more, here is a quick look at just 10 of those new laws: Local jurisdictions could give the green light to permit certain cannabis retailers to prepare and sell drinks and food that do not contain cannabis. The law, signed by the governor in late September , also allows the retailers to host ticketed live events on the premises. The idea is to pave the way for a version of Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes, where people can use cannabis with others while also consuming coffee, sandwiches and live music, for example. The new law “will allow cannabis retailers to diversify their business and move away from the struggling and limited dispensary model,” Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat who championed the effort in the legislature, said in a news release . Newsom vetoed similar legislation last year over concerns from public health advocates. This bill included additional provisions meant to reduce health risk, including letting employees wear employer-provided masks and allowing local governments to require filtration and ventilation systems to prevent smoke from permeating nearby buildings. Minors who make money by producing online content should get some extra financial protection as a result of two bills the governor signed this year. One expands the Coogan Act , a longtime California law that requires parents to open a trust and set aside at least 15% of their child actor’s gross earnings. The new rules have been expanded to include “kidfluencers” — or, as the bill describes them, “child influences in paid online content or internet websites, social networks and social media” — as part of the creative or artistic services that would trigger a Coogan trust account. Another extends those financial protections to children who appear in vlogs, or video blogs. Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, noted the Coogan Act covers children under contract — not necessarily children who appear in their parents’ online content. This new law requires content creators to set aside a percentage of total gross earnings in a trust for the child (to be accessed when they become an adult) if the minor is in at least 30% of their content within a month. Several education bills were signed into law this year, ranging from rules to protect young people from being outed against their will to rules that require elementary schools to offer free menstruation products . Other new laws cover what is taught in the classroom, including a bipartisan measure that ensures students are being taught accurately how Native Americans in California were treated during the Gold Rush era and the Spanish colonization of California. “Classroom instruction about the Mission and Gold Rush periods fails to include the loss of life, enslavement, starvation, illness and violence inflicted upon California Native American people during those times,” said Assemblymember James Ramos, D-San Bernardino. “These historical omissions from the curriculum are misleading.” California public schools also will be required to teach Mendez v. Westminster , a landmark court case involving an Orange County family and local school districts that helped bring about the end of segregation laws in local schools around the country. Selling a device, often called a “tuning kit,” that can modify the speed capability of an electric bicycle so that it is no longer defined as an e-bike will be prohibited . California law already has speed guidelines for e-bikes. For example, a Class 1 bike has a motor that kicks in when a rider is pedaling and tops out at 20 mph; a Class 3 motor is meant to stop at 28 mph, and those bikes include speedometers. Modifying the speed of e-bikes is already illegal and unsafe, Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, said in an analysis of her bill. The new law specifically bans the sale of products that can make the alterations. Tenants soon will have more time to respond to an eviction notice. California law originally dictated that a landlord could not file an eviction lawsuit until after serving their tenant with a three-day notice — which excludes Saturdays, Sundays and judicial holidays — to pay. Tenants then had five days after they were served to file their defense in court. If they failed to do so, a judge could award a default judgment to the landlord. The new law doubles those five day-windows to 10 days. Responding to eviction lawsuits is not necessarily a simple feat, supporters of the new law have argued , particularly for people struggling to pay their rent. Tenants need to obtain hard-to-find legal aid or an expensive attorney to complete their defense filing accurately, and then they have to find the means to travel to the courthouse. Certain insurers must cover fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, in 2025. This law, which won’t take effect until July 2025 , will require large group health care service plans to cover up to three oocyte (egg) retrievals. It also prohibits health care service plans from imposing different conditions or coverage limitations on fertility medications or services. Sen. Caroline Manjivar, D-San Fernando Valley, said her bill being signed into law is “a triumph for the many Californians who have been denied a path toward family-building because of the financial barriers that come with fertility treatment, their relationship status or are blatantly discriminated against as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.” Medical debt will no longer be shared with credit reporting agencies , meaning that debt will not show up on credit reports. That said, medical debts still must be paid. In her analysis of the bill Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, noted that the new rules doesn’t forgive medical debt or restrict the collection of it. Instead, she said, the new rules are meant to help “lift the credit scores of people who have been inaccurately and unfairly saddled with medical debts on their credit reports, opening opportunities for access to healthier financial products, better housing and more employment opportunities.” A new law may make it easier to opt out of pesky automatic subscription renewals. Companies will now have to obtain the “express affirmative consent” to automatically renew subscriptions entered into after July 1, 2025. Consumers also will need to be sent annual reminders about automatic renewals, what the charges are, and information about how to cancel the service. Think you’ve finally found an open parking spot? If it’s within 20 feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk, then you may want to find a new spot. Starting in 2025, motorists could be ticketed for parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk — even if there is no sign posted. The no-parking zone decreases to 15 feet if there is a curb extension present, the law says. Newsom OK’d this law in 2023 — the bill is part of the two-year legislative session that ended in 2024 — and technically it already is in effect. However, the law only allowed jurisdictions to begin ticketing offenders starting Jan. 1, 2025. Residential treatment facilities (also called short-term residential therapeutic programs) that provide services for minors, must report certain information to the child, their parent or guardian, and California’s Department of Social Services when seclusion or restraints are used. These facilities are allowed to use seclusion or restraints when staff believe the patient may be a danger to themselves or others, said Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, who championed this law. The new law mandates that children must be informed of their rights — including the right to contact state social service workers and the California Office of the Foster Care Ombudsperson — within one day of seclusion or restraints being used. Those minors also must be given an oral and written description of the incident, including who approved the disciplinary actions and the rationale behind them. That written information must be given to Dept. of Social Services within seven days, leaving it up to the state to review and determine if any laws were potentially violated by using seclusion and restraints, therefore warranting an investigation. Beginning in 2026, the department will need to publicly post information about these incidents, so parents and guardians can be better informed about where they send their children. The effort to bring more transparency to what punishments are used in youth residential facilities was championed by actress and activist Paris Hilton, who has detailed the “continuous torture” she faced while attending a boarding school as a teenager. Hilton has championed similar laws in other states related to what’s been dubbed the troubled teen industry as well as at the federal level . “For too long, these facilities have operated without adequate oversight, leaving vulnerable youth at risk,” said Hilton. “After being abused in a California facility in my teens, it is validating to see California taking a stand to protect our youth, and I hope our state is the standard for transparency and accountability in these facilities moving forward.” Related Articles

Pelham town taxes climbing 4.84%The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) — Elijah Lewis and Josh Pascarelli both scored 14 points as Marist beat New Hampshire 54-49 on Saturday. Lewis added six rebounds for the Red Foxes (4-1). Pascarelli shot 5 of 11 (2 for 4 from 3-point range). Jaden Daughtry finished 4 of 5 from the field to finish with nine points. The Wildcats (2-7) were led in scoring by Davide Poser, who finished with 11 points. Khalil Badru added 10 points and six rebounds for New Hampshire. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Smith scores 18 in Bellarmine's 80-68 win against Bowling Green

Nokia Corporation Stock Exchange Release 27 December 2024 at 22:30 EET Nokia Corporation: Repurchase of own shares on 27.12.2024 Espoo, Finland – On 27 December 2024 Nokia Corporation (LEI: 549300A0JPRWG1KI7U06) has acquired its own shares (ISIN FI0009000681) as follows: * Rounded to two decimals On 22 November 2024, Nokia announced that its Board of Directors is initiating a share buyback program to offset the dilutive effect of new Nokia shares issued to the shareholders of Infinera Corporation and certain Infinera Corporation share-based incentives. The repurchases in compliance with the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR), the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 and under the authorization granted by Nokia’s Annual General Meeting on 3 April 2024 started on 25 November 2024 and end by 31 December 2025 and target to repurchase 150 million shares for a maximum aggregate purchase price of EUR 900 million. Total cost of transactions executed on 27 December 2024 was EUR 3,740,926. After the disclosed transactions, Nokia Corporation holds 220,370,243 treasury shares. Details of transactions are included as an appendix to this announcement. On behalf of Nokia Corporation BofA Securities Europe SA About Nokia At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together. As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs. With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future. Inquiries: Nokia Communications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com Maria Vaismaa, Global Head of External Communications Nokia Investor Relations Phone: +358 40 803 4080 Email: investor.relations@nokia.com Attachment Daily Report 2024-12-27

( MENAFN - EIN Presswire) Empowering students through mentorship and real-world applications, e29 iGNITE bridges the gap between academic learning and industry innovation. TAMPA, FL, UNITED STATES, December 23, 2024 /EINPresswire / -- ELEMENT 29 LLC , a leader in advanced engineering solutions, is proud to unveil the "e29 iGNITE" (innovation, Growth, and Networking in Industry and Technology Education) initiative. This initiative exemplifies ELEMENT 29's commitment to fostering local collaboration by uniting universities, technology providers, and industry leaders. e29 iGNITE bridges academic knowledge with practical applications, preparing students to address industry challenges while advancing innovation and regional partnerships. Advancing Innovation Through Community Partnerships "The e29 iGNITE initiative demonstrates ELEMENT 29's dedication to uniting academia and industry," said Bill Cassidy, President & CEO. "By connecting universities, technology providers, and industry leaders, we empower students to address complex challenges while strengthening communities and advancing engineering and technology." The initiative offers students and teams a comprehensive platform to apply academic knowledge to real-world engineering challenges. Designed to enhance senior capstone projects and foster professional development, the initiative provides impactful mentorship, advanced resources, and hands-on opportunities. e29 iGNITE, Bridging Academics and Practice: -Mentorship and Development: Comprehensive guidance from seasoned professionals to refine methodologies, improve outcomes, and develop professional-grade presentations. -Resource Access: Utilize ELEMENT 29's cutting-edge tools, technologies, and collaborations, including the NASA Technology Transfer Program, to enhance project outcomes. -Real-World Applications: Engage in projects tailored to industry needs, fostering measurable results and practical expertise. -Community Engagement: Contribute to regional collaborations that strengthen ecosystems and address local and global challenges. -Career Preparation: Gain training in high-demand engineering competencies, ensuring participants are prepared to excel in a competitive job market. Core Competencies of e29 iGNITE The e29 iGNITE initiative provides specialized training and practical experience across multiple engineering disciplines: -AI & Digital Technology: Leveraging autonomous systems and AI-driven solutions to optimize industrial efficiency, safety, and productivity. Includes applications in predictive analytics, machine learning, and advanced robotics. -Process and Chemical Engineering: Developing and refining processes and chemical systems for enhanced efficiency, sustainability, and product quality in industrial and manufacturing settings. -Automation and Controls: Designing and implementing automated systems to streamline operations and improve productivity through advanced control strategies and technology integration. -Instrumentation Engineering: Applying advanced programming and instrumentation to monitor, measure, and control systems effectively, ensuring precision and operational reliability. -Electrical Engineering: Innovating in power systems, renewable energy integration, and sustainable solutions, including energy distribution, grid optimization, and smart technology implementation. -Mechanical Engineering: Designing and fabricating advanced machinery and mechanical systems to improve energy efficiency, durability, and overall performance in diverse industrial applications. -Civil and Structural Engineering: Planning and designing resilient infrastructure and sustainable buildings, incorporating advanced materials and environmental considerations to meet modern engineering demands. -Cybersecurity: Safeguarding critical systems against evolving digital threats by designing robust security frameworks, protecting data integrity, and ensuring system continuity. Application Process Eligibility Requirements: -Applicants must be enrolled in an ABET-accredited engineering program at a university. -Students must be in their second academic year or beyond. -Applications are open to individuals and teams. Submission Guidelines: Applications must be emailed to ... with the subject line: "e29 iGNITE Application: [Your Full Name/Team Name]" and include: Personal or Team Video Statement: -A 3-5 minute video introducing yourself or your team. -Highlight academic backgrounds, engineering interests, and career goals. -For teams, introduce each member and describe collaborative strengths. Supplementary Documentation: Resumes or CVs showcasing relevant experience and coursework. About ELEMENT 29 Based in Tampa, FL, ELEMENT 29 LLC is a global leader in engineering consulting with expertise in civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, chemical, and process engineering. Committed to sustainability and innovation, the company partners with private and government sectors to deliver tailored engineering solutions that address complex challenges. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies in automation, cybersecurity, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence, ELEMENT 29 empowers future engineers and drives impactful, real-world solutions. Bill Cassidy ELEMENT 29 +1 813-279-1898 email us here Visit us on social media: LinkedIn Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above. MENAFN23122024003118003196ID1109025229 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.Virgo Daily Horoscope Today, December 06, 2024 predicts booming businessTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Bucky Irving isn’t choosy. The rookie running back relishes any opportunity he gets to contribute to the success of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have rebounded from a tough stretch to climb back into a tie for first place in the NFC South. Irving leads NFL rookies in rushing with 732 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry while sharing the workload with starter Rachaad White and third-stringer Sean Tucker, who have combined to ease some of the burden on quarterback Baker Mayfield. A fourth-round draft pick out of Oregon, Irving is coming off rushing for a season-best 152 yards and a touchdown in last week’s 26-23 overtime win over the Carolina Panthers. He had another 33 yards receiving, giving him a rookie-leading 1,017 total yards from scrimmage through 12 games. The Bucs (6-6) on Sunday host the Las Vegas Raiders (2-10), who have an outstanding newcomer of their own with Brock Bowers on the verge of breaking the league's record for catches by a rookie tight end. Bowers leads all players, regardless of position, with 84 receptions. He's fourth with 884 yards receiving and second behind Irving among rookies with 895 total yards from scrimmage. “I don’t really like taking all the credit. It’s those guys up front,” Irving said, deferring to Tampa Bay’s improved offensive line. “I think I have to do something special for those guys for Christmas because they’re getting the job done.” The Bucs are eighth in the NFL in rushing at 137.2 yards per game. They’ve gained 100-plus yards on the ground in nine of 12 games after only doing it nine times in 34 games over the past two seasons. Irving, whose ability to make defenders miss and accelerate in the open field, has provided a spark to an offense that sputtered without injured wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin during a four-game losing streak. It doesn’t seem to bother the rookie that he still sits behind White on the depth chart. The starter had a 38-yard run in overtime to set up the winning field goal last week. Coach Todd Bowles continues to stress that the Bucs, tied with Atlanta for the NFC South lead, need both Irving and White to be successful. “In our room, all our success is one,” said Irving, who in the past two weeks became the first rookie since Miles Sanders in 2019 to string together consecutive games with 150-plus yards from scrimmage. “If I’m having success,’’ Irving added, “everybody in the room is having success.” Tampa Bay’s porous secondary figures to be tested by Bowers, the first tight end to lead the league in catches after Week 13 since Todd Christenson in 1986. The first-round draft pick out of Georgia needs three receptions to break Sam LaPorta’s season record (86 in 2023) for catches by a tight end. He’s 116 yards away from joining Mike Ditka (1,076 in 1961) and Kyle Pitts (1,026 in 2021) as the only rookie tight ends to finish with 1,000-plus yards receiving. “I thought he was one of the best tight ends coming out in a long time – not just this draft, but in a long time,” Bowles said. “He’s living up to expectations. He can play wideout, he can play tight end, he can do some fullback, he can run jet sweeps,” the Bucs coach added. “They do a lot of things with him and he’s a very talented guy.” The last time the Raiders went against Mayfield was two seasons ago when he came off a plane to play for the Los Angeles Rams. Despite having minimal time with the playbook and just one brief practice, Mayfield rallied the Rams to a 17-16 victory on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left. Raiders coach Antonio Pierce was the team’s linebackers coach at the time. “He plays the game kind of like Brett Favre, who I played against in (the) league,” Pierce said. “He’s very fiery. He’ll do whatever it takes to make a play. The play’s never dead with him. You’ve got to keep your eyes on him and then stay in coverage, so that’ll be a challenge.” Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell didn’t look as though he had missed nearly six weeks because of a broken thumb when he almost led Las Vegas to a victory at Kansas City last week. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns in the Raiders’ 19-17 loss to the Chiefs. But O’Connell had a hard time looking at the positives given how close the Raiders came to beating the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. “Definitely some good plays, but it just stinks more than anything,” O’Connell said. “It was just a really hard loss. Even sometimes when you have a game right after, it’s easier to move on. But we had a longer week this week and so kind of really got to sit in it and it’s no fun.” AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this report. NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

US actress Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment, hostile work environment and embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation with claims of a targeted social media campaign. The legal complaint states that Baldoni, 40, hired crisis communications specialist Melissa Nathan, the same publicist who actor Johnny Depp is said to have hired during his high-profile defamation trial against Heard in 2022. In a statement given to NBC News, Aquaman star Heard said: “Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying, a lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on. “I saw this first-hand and up close. “It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.” Depp successfully sued ex-wife Heard over a 2018 article she wrote for The Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse, which his lawyers said falsely accused him of being an abuser. At the time, Heard said the jury’s verdict “sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated”. Bryan Freedman, a lawyer representing Baldoni and the other named defendants, said Lively’s claims were “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious”, adding that the studio “made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film”. It Ends With Us, based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name, is about a woman’s pursuit of a loving and healthy relationship, with Lively playing lead character Lily Bloom and Baldoni as her love interest Ryle Kincaid amid a backdrop of domestic violence. After the legal action was filed, Hoover appeared to voice support for 37-year-old Lively, writing on her Instagram stories: “@blakelively you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. “Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. “Never change. Never wilt.” Hoover posted a link to a New York Times article titled We Can Bury Anyone: Inside A Hollywood Smear Machine. Lively’s former cast members from the 2005 film The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel, also released a joint social media statement to defend their long-time friend. “As Blake’s friends and sisters for over 20 years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation,” the statement said. “Throughout the filming of It Ends With Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice.” They added: “We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment,” the statement continues. “We are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others.”Maoists kill two on suspicion of being police informers in T’gana: Cops

Over 100,000 Florida Workers Get 3 Extra Days Off This Year: Who's Affected

How to watch the NFL’s Christmas Day games – and Beyoncé’s halftime show, of course | CNNSri Lanka is facing a severe rice shortage, and the situation is bound to take a turn for the worse unless remedial action is taken forthwith. The country has produced enough paddy, according to the Department of Agriculture, and the government itself has said there are sufficient stocks of paddy! If so, why has a rice shortage occurred? Minister of Trade and Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe told Parliament on Wednesday that rice millers had agreed to release 200,000 kilos of rice daily to be sold at the maximum retail price (Rs. 220 a kilo) through the Sathosa retail outlets. Implying that all necessary action had been taken to break the back of the rice crisis, Samarasinghe claimed that a banking issue that had prevented millers from increasing the amount of rice released to the market had been sorted out with a presidential intervention. He should have revealed what that issue was. The NPP leaders are beginning to sound like apologists for the powerful millers, just as their predecessors did. Sathosa has only 443 retail outlets countrywide, and obviously they cannot cater to more than 22 million people belonging to about 5.1 million families. The Ministry of Agriculture informs us that Sri Lanka’s daily rice consumption is about 6,500 MT and the amount of rice the millers have reportedly offered to release a day is woefully inadequate to meet the demand for rice. The harebrained manner in which successive governments have sought to tackle the rice issue exemplifies a local saying; what they have been doing is ‘like using a loincloth to control dysentery’. The government says it has decided to lift restrictions on rice imports temporarily and the State Trading Corporation and Sathosa will import 70,000 MT of rice urgently. When imported rice stocks will arrive here is anyone’s guess, and the possibility of private importers colluding to keep the price of imported rice artificially high cannot be ruled out; the paucity of regulations as well as the impotence of governments and the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) allows anti-competitive practices to thrive at the expense of consumers. In October 2024, addressing an NPP election rally in Polonnaruwa, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared that there were sufficient stocks of rice in the country and ruled out the possibility of importing rice. A senior economist attached to the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute, reportedly informed President Dissanayake at a meeting, in October, that the country had sufficient rice stocks, according to the Agriculture Department database, and there was no need for rice imports. He brought to the notice of the President that rice shortages occurred whenever millers were asked to adhere to the prices stipulated by the CAA. Minister Samarasinghe and NPP MP and National Organiser of the All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation, Namal Karunaratne, have also confirmed that the country has sufficient rice stocks. Thus, it is clear that the large-scale millers have created an artificial shortage of rice to jack up prices. On listening to President Dissanayake and other NPP stalwarts during their election campaigns, people must have expected them to get tough with the millers, after forming a government, and ensure that the interests of consumers and farmers would prevail. But the action they have taken to solve the rice crisis is anything but tough. The President’s recent meeting with a group of powerful rice millers responsible for market manipulations looked like a convivial confab. When rice imports get underway, the large-scale millers usually release more rice to the market, as we have seen over the years, and imported rice remains unsold as Sri Lankans prefer local rice varieties. Most of all, changes in market dynamics cause paddy prices to fall during harvesting periods much to the detriment of farmers’ interests. Millers laugh all the way to the bank. Everything possible must be done to prevent unsold imported rice stocks from ending up as animal feed. The government must summon courage to grasp the nettle if it is genuinely desirous of safeguarding the interests of rice consumers and paddy farmers. Ad hoc remedies and mere rhetoric won’t do.FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein will be activated from injured reserve and will play against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich announced Friday that Zuerlein is returning after missing seven games with a knee injury to his left, non-kicking leg. He had been shaky before the injury, but the Jets have since been unsettled at the position, with Riley Patterson, Spencer Shrader and Anders Carlson all filling in. “He came back, looked healthy, kicked the ball well this week,” Ulbrich said of Zuerlein. “So, he’ll be our guy going forward here.” Zuerlein is officially listed as questionable to play, but was a full participant the final two practices. Wide receiver Davante Adams is also questionable , but likely to play after participating on a limited basis Friday because of a hip ailment that held him out Thursday. Adams, acquired from Las Vegas in October, has 56 receptions for 719 yards and six touchdowns on 94 targets in nine games for the Jets. He’s 72 yards away from his fifth straight 1,000-yard season and sixth of his career. “I think at this point, it would be a crying shame to not be able to get that,” he said. Adams and Aaron Rodgers are also tied with Miami’s Dan Marino and Mark Clayton for the third-most TD connections (82), including playoffs, by a quarterback-wide receiver duo. Rodgers needs one touchdown pass to become the fifth player in NFL history to get 500 in the regular season — and Adams said he would “love” to be on the receiving end of the milestone. “I got 200, I got 400," he said of Rodgers' TD passes while they were teammates in Green Bay. “So it would be dope to get 500 as well. I think his 200th was my first, so we got some special connections in the past, so it'd be great.” Adams said he was injured early in the game against the Rams, but was still able to catch seven passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. He said he was optimistic about his chances of playing at Buffalo. “We’re still working on it,” Adams said. “We’re treating it, trying to get it right so we can hopefully be there and ready by game time.” Cornerback Sauce Gardner is also questionable with a hamstring injury that sidelined him in the second half of New York's loss to the Los Angeles Rams . Zuerlein, who re-signed with the Jets last offseason on a two-year deal, made just nine of 15 field goal attempts and missed one extra point in the first eight games this year. He had been one of the NFL's most consistently reliable kickers the previous two seasons with the Jets. Patterson kicked in one game after the Jets placed Zuerlein on IR. Shrader also kicked in one game before he was signed off the practice squad by Kansas City. Carlson had been the kicker the past five games, but missed a field goal and an extra point against the Rams and the Jets signed Greg Joseph to the practice squad to provide competition. Ulbrich said earlier in the week Zuerlein would also be in the mix after a long layoff. "I think sometimes that can be powerful, an opportunity just to take a deep breath, get his body healthy again and get a restart," Ulbrich said. “So I’m excited for him to do his thing these last two games and really demonstrate to everybody who he is as a kicker.” Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams could return after missing last week with a hamstring injury. He was listed as questionable and was limited at practice all week. Also questionable but expected to play are right tackle Morgan Moses (knee), safety Tony Adams (ankle), cornerback Michael Carter II (back), defensive end Haason Reddick (neck) and defensive lineman Braiden McGregor (ankle). Defensive tackle Leki Fotu was ruled out with a knee injury. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLPresident-elect Donald Trump “should not be threatening his political opponents with jail time,” Sen. Adam Schiff — one of those being threatened — said Tuesday. During an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said Sunday that members of the special House committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection should go to jail. He said the committee destroyed its records, which Vice Chair Liz Cheney said is a “ridiculous and false” charge. But in fact, Trump said, “Cheney was behind it. And so is Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee,” he said. “For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker he would not direct his FBI director or attorney general to send them to jail. “Not at all,” he said, but added, ‘They’ll have to look at that.” Schiff, then a Los Angeles-area congressman, was a member of the committee. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was chairman and former Rep. Cheney, R-Wy., was vice chairman. The committee had two Republicans and seven Democrats, and it gained widespread publicity as it held hearings and revealed details about the involvement of Trump and his allies in their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. It issued its final report two years ago. Schiff, sworn in as California’s junior U.S. senator Monday afternoon, was appearing at a news conference Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who was introducing him. They were asked about Trump’s threats . Schumer was quick to defend Schiff. “Look, bottom line is we all know Sen. Schiff did a very good job on the hearings. He broke no laws whatsoever. The truth stands for itself,” Schumer said. Schiff weighed in, saying of Trump’s comments: “That’s not the kind of talk we should hear from the president in a democracy nor do I think that a pardon is necessary for members of the Jan. 6 committee.” The White House has been considering preemptive pardons for some who could be subject to Trump administration investigations. Schiff has said repeatedly he’s not interested in a pardon. He reiterated he was “proud of the work we did on that committee. It was a fundamental oversight obligation, to investigate the first attempt to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power in our history.” ©2024 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Visit mcclatchydc.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Barclays fires over a dozen bankers, traders before Christmas — without giving them bonuses: sourcesKroger ( KR 1.33% ) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Dec 05, 2024 , 10:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Good morning and welcome to The Kroger Co. third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Rob Quast, senior director, investor relations. Please go ahead. Robinson C. Quast -- Senior Director, Investor Relations Good morning. Thank you for joining us for Kroger's third quarter 2024 earnings call. I am joined today by Kroger's chairman and chief executive officer, Rodney McMullen; and interim chief financial officer, Todd Foley. Before we begin, I want to remind you that today's discussions will include forward-looking statements. We want to caution you that such statements are predictions, and actual events or results can differ materially. A detailed discussion of the many factors that we believe may have a material effect on our business on an ongoing basis is contained in our SEC filings. The Kroger Company assumes no obligation to update that information. After our prepared remarks, we look forward to taking your questions. In order to cover a broad range of topics from as many of you as we can, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question, if necessary. I will now turn the call over to Rodney. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I'd like to provide an outline of our discussion topics this morning. I will start by sharing a recap of our third quarter performance and highlight how we continue to advance our go-to-market strategy, which powers our value creation model and drives long-term sustainable growth for our shareholders. Then Todd will cover our financial results for the third quarter and walk through updates to our full year guidance. And finally, I will close with some comments on our pending merger with Albertsons. Turning first to our performance. We delivered strong third quarter sales results, led by our pharmacy and digital performance, which reflects the versatility of our model. Customer engagement remains strong. Our convenient seamless shopping experience, along with incredible customer value through low prices, personalized offers, and great quality Our Brands products, drove growth in both total and loyal households. As we entered the last quarter of 2024, we are focused on providing the quality, fresh, and affordable products that make holiday celebrations special. Customer spending habits continue adjusting to current macroeconomic factors. As inflation normalizes, our premium and mainstream households are feeling more confident and are returning to their pre-pandemic shopping patterns more quickly. Mainstream households are the primary driver of our positive customer engagement trends. While overall consumer settlement remains low, expectations are improving, which positions us well for the holidays and into next year. As we said, near term, some customers are managing macroeconomic uncertainty. Spending from budget-conscious households remained under pressure as the effects of multiyear inflation and higher interest rates have had a larger impact on these households. Therefore, we expect it will take longer for these households to feel the benefits of economic improvement. Kroger is delivering on its long-standing commitment to provide customers with the value they are seeking. We are helping customers save in multiple ways, including competitive shelf prices and loyalty discounts, personalized offers, fuel rewards, and an expanded multitiered Our Brands portfolio. Digital offers are an important way we deliver savings to customers, and engagement continues to grow with 5% more digital offer clips so far this year, and that has led to 14% more savings for Kroger customers. We are always creating additional ways for our customers to save. This quarter, we celebrated and thanked our customers with a customer appreciation week, offering new great deals. And to help our customers enjoy a memorable Thanksgiving, we lowered the price of Thanksgiving meals for the third consecutive year by creating a meal bundle that served a group of 10 people for less than $5 per person. We are focused on executing our go-to-market strategy to deliver a differentiated customer experience through our focus areas of fresh, Our Brands, personalization, and seamless. We appreciate our associates' continued efforts to elevate the customer experience and bringing this strategy to life by improving on our key priorities of full, fresh, and friendly again this quarter. I would now like to cover how we are enhancing our go-to-market strategy. We are seeing long runways for growth in many areas of our strategy, starting with fresh. Customers connect strongly to our Fresh for Everyone brand promise, which is a key differentiator for Kroger. Improvements across the supply chain as part of our end-to-end fresh initiative are increasing days of freshness. For example, bagged salads now offer customers more than seven days of freshness. Customers are noticing, and it has led to identical sales in produce of more than 3% this quarter. In addition, we constantly evaluate new ways to apply data and technology to provide an even better fresh experience and deliver more days of freshness for our customers. One of the ways we are doing this is through recent implementation of RFID-embedded labels on bakery items. These labels provide us with greater insights into our fresh inventory, resulting in consistently fresher items and higher in-stock levels. We have seen encouraging results, including higher sales in locations and categories where we have piloted the RFID labels, and we look forward to scaling this to more stores. Turning to Our Brands, I would like to step back and talk about the significant investments we've made in Our Brands and how those investments are delivering value to both customers and shareholders. For years, the grocery industry offered private label products, with the primary goal of creating products at lower price points. Several years ago, we recognized an untapped opportunity for growth in these products and envisioned a future where our private label products would match or exceed the innovation, quality, and recognition of national brands, which is why we coined the phrase Our Brands. Guided by that vision, our teams built distinct and recognizable brands that our customers want and love, providing more value and meeting unique product needs that national brands cannot fill. Recently, we focused in on refining Our Brand architecture to optimize the portfolio and ensure each brand plays a unique role on the shelf. The successful addition of Smart Way, our new opening price point brand, played an important role in rounding out our multitiered portfolio and offering an attractive alternative to national brands at every price point. The next phase of the work involved refreshing designs and packaging, enhancing brand equity, and reinforcing quality and improving the shopability. For example, to reinforce our long-standing guarantee of quality and freshness, we are placing guarantees on labels across our Kroger-branded products. Innovation remains a driving force for Our Brands' growth. We utilize our data and insights to understand customer trends and meet increasing demands by consistently introducing new items to our portfolio, with a focus on growth areas, including free-from, organic, and multicultural. This innovation enables us to differentiate ourselves from both national brands and other private label brands, creating destination items that help build customer loyalty. Our manufacturing capabilities will continue to be an important advantage for Our Brands. With oversight over the quality and the supply, we can develop unique and differentiated products while keeping costs low, allowing us to pass the savings to customers while preserving our ability to grow margins. A true win-win for customers in Kroger. This quarter, Our Brands continued to deliver strong financial results, which Todd will cover in more detail. Next, to personalization. Our Kroger Plus program provides our loyal customers access to savings and rewards that, in turn, drive traffic to our seamless experience. As customers become more engaged, we gain deeper insights into customer trends while creating the data that enables us to grow Kroger Precision Marketing and deliver more effective promotions and relevant product recommendations. We are working to grow Boost, the next level of our loyalty program, through new benefits. And this quarter, we announced the addition of Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN+ streaming benefits with Boost annual memberships. Turning to seamless. Digital sales grew 11%, driven by an increase in both households and traffic. Within digital, delivery sales grew at 18% and continues to outpace other channels. Boost is one of the important ways we are increasing e-commerce penetration, providing customers an affordable membership model for free delivery. Increasing e-commerce penetration is important to our model as households who shop with us digitally and are in our stores are our most loyal customers and increase retail media monetization opportunities as well. As our digital business grows, particularly in our delivery network, it continues to have a larger impact on our financial results. Improving profitability is a key priority and becoming even more important to our financial model. Over nearly a decade, we made significant investments in our digital capabilities: building out our own properties, creating distribution channels in both pickup and delivery, investing in automation, enhancing personalization, and introducing an industry-leading retail media network. While each of these capabilities required significant investments, we now have a unique digital experience that our customers enjoy. Moving forward, we are committed to growing volumes, utilizing automation, and introducing new technology that will create efficiency gains while helping us narrow the profitability gap between online and in store. Narrowing that gap will generate meaningful operating margin benefits and help drive shareholder value over the next several years. By executing our go-to-market strategy, we are building loyalty, increasing customer engagement, and creating more growth opportunities. First, with alternative profit businesses, which had another solid quarter, Kroger Precision Marketing continued to deliver the most significant growth from our alternative profit businesses. Next, in health and wellness, as the pharmacy industry continues to transform, Kroger has a unique opportunity to play a bigger role in helping patients live healthier lives while growing our share of the industry. We are excited about this area of the business, and its performance this quarter demonstrates we can grow this business profitably in a way that supports our customers to live healthier lives. Sales and profitability this quarter were well ahead of last year, led by growth in both GLP-1s and vaccines. Our strong growth in vaccines reflect patient trust in Kroger to vaccinate them and their families during the start of the cold and flu season, the peak quarter of the year for vaccinations. Our health and wellness teams did an excellent job this quarter in building awareness around our vaccine capabilities, growing share, and administrating significantly more vaccines this year versus a year ago. These helped offset the product mix pressures from GLP-1s. Our vaccine efforts are leading to new patient scripts, which is important as these customers are more likely to become loyal households and spend more across the store. We appreciate our associates for their continued efforts to elevate the customer experience by delivering on our key priorities of full, fresh, and friendly. Team consistency leads to a better customer experience, and we are excited about another quarter of improvement in retention. Our focus on retention reflects a holistic strategy, including investments in wages and benefits, as well as enhancing the associate experience through training, technology, and career development opportunities. With that, I will hand it over to Todd to take you through our third quarter financial results. Todd. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Rodney, and good morning, everyone. Kroger's third quarter results reflect the durability of our model, with strong pharmacy results that helped offset lower fuel profitability as we cycled strong fuel results from a year ago. As we head into the final quarter of the year, we are narrowing the ranges on our identical sales without fuel, adjusted FIFO operating profit, and adjusted EPS guidance. The strength of our model gives us confidence in our ability to deliver on this full year guidance. Before I walk through our third quarter financial results, I would like to start off by covering a couple of items from the quarter that affected our financial results. First, during the third quarter, we finalized the sale of our Kroger Specialty Pharmacy business for $464 million. The sale reduced total company sales in the third quarter by approximately $340 million compared to the same period last year, and annualized sales will be approximately $3 billion lower going forward. KSP was a low-margin business. As a result, the sale of the business increased both Kroger's gross margin and operating general and administrative costs as a rate of sales. It had no material effect on operating profit. Second, on a year-over-year basis, the combined hurricane season and port strike had approximately a 20-basis-point favorable impact on sales as customers stocked up in anticipation of these events. These events had an unfavorable impact on OG&A. Together, this did not have a material impact on total operating profit. I'll now take you through our third quarter financial results. We achieved identical sales without fuel growth of 2.3%. As Rodney mentioned earlier, identical sales without fuel were led by strong pharmacy and digital sales. We're also encouraged by the continuation of positive customer metric trends, including increases in total and loyal households. Our Brands had a strong quarter with sales outpacing national brands again this quarter, led by mid-single-digit growth in our most premium brand, Private Selection. Customers continue to demand premium products but, at the same time, are looking for value. Our Private Selection brand is a perfect solution by offering our customers premium quality at an attractive price. These results demonstrate the breadth of Our Brands portfolio and the ability to meet customers' needs for quality and value. Digital sales delivered another quarter of double-digit growth, led by 18% growth in delivery solutions, driven by our customer fulfillment centers. The CFCs are offering customers a superior digital experience with excellent in-stocks, fresh items, and a white-glove on-time delivery. CFC growth was driven by a significant increase in households and trips, as well as an increase in basket size. Our third quarter identical sales without fuel results were affected by the Boar's Head recalls that began in the second quarter. We acted quickly with the safety of our customers in mind as soon as we became aware of the situation. Boar's Head is a strategic supplier, with brand-loyal customers that are an important driver of our deli sales. As a result, some customers have temporarily migrated away from the category. It will take some time for those customers to resume their prior purchasing behavior, and we expect this to remain a headwind to sales in the near term. The unfavorable sales effect from Boar's Head this quarter was largely offset by the favorable sales impact from the hurricane and port strike. Turning to margins. Gross margin was 22.9% of sales, and our FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, increased 51 basis points compared to last year and was ahead of expectations. The increase in rate was primarily attributable to the sale of Kroger Specialty Pharmacy, Our Brands performance, and lower shrink, partially offset by lower pharmacy margins. The result reflected Kroger's ability to improve margin while being competitive on price and helping customers manage their budgets. The OG&A rate, excluding fuel and adjustment items, increased 22 basis points, driven by the sale of Kroger Specialty Pharmacy and increased incentive plan costs, partially offset by the continued execution of cost savings initiatives. Excluding the sale of Kroger Specialty Pharmacy, fuel, and adjustment items, our OG&A rate to sales would have been nearly flat year over year, demonstrating that our model can leverage expenses when we achieve our long-term id sales without fuel goal of 2% to 4%. This is made possible by our relentless focus on productivity and cost savings initiatives, which remain an essential part of our model. These initiatives are focused on simplification and utilizing technology to enhance the associated experience without impacting the customer experience. This quarter, we launched a new, internally developed, generative AI-powered sell-through tool, which helps us better manage inventory in both fresh and center store departments through real-time insights tracking sales and shipments. This enables our teams to increase freshness on shelves and prioritize sell-through, optimizing both sales and margins. Looking ahead, we plan to further enhance the AI capabilities on this platform by extending into improved forecasting and end-to-end inventory management. During the third quarter, we recorded a LIFO charge of $4 million, compared to a charge of $29 million for the same period last year, due to lower expected year-over-year inflation. Adjusted FIFO operating profit was 1.02 billion, and adjusted EPS was $0.98 per diluted share, an increase of 3% compared to last year. Fuel is an important part of our strategy. Fuel rewards through our Kroger Plus program help build customer loyalty. Fuel sales were significantly lower this quarter compared to last year, attributable to a lower average retail price per gallon. Fuel profitability was also meaningfully behind a year ago as a result of fewer gallons sold and lower cents per gallon margin. I wanted to provide a brief update on inflation as it remains a topic of interest for many investors. Inflation was down slightly in the third quarter compared to the second quarter but remains around 1%. We expect inflation to remain consistent in the fourth quarter. I would now like to provide a brief update on associates and labor relations. During the third quarter, we ratified new labor agreements for Dillons Columbia and Missouri clerks; Central Division, Ottawa, and Streator clerks; Northern Illinois meat clerks; Fred Meyer Portland retail stores; and the Foods Co. contract in Northern California, all covering nearly 13,000 associates. We respect associates' right to collectively bargain. We're also communicating to local unions. And coming to the table with proposals that do not balance investing in associates with keeping groceries affordable for our customers and supporting a growing and profitable business model are untenable. These proposals stand in the way of operating our business in a way that ensures job security and advancement opportunities for associates. Turning to cash flow. Kroger continues to generate strong adjusted free cash flow or consistent operating results. Free cash flow generation is an important part of our model and is enabling us to invest in our business for growth. At the end of the third quarter, Kroger's net total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.21, compared to our target range of 2.3 to 2.5. Our strengthened balance sheet provides us flexibility to pursue growth and enhance shareholder value. We continue to take a disciplined approach to deploying capital, prioritizing the highest growth opportunities that strengthen our business and deliver solid returns for our shareholders. We're committed to maintaining our investment-grade debt rating, increasing our dividend over time, subject to board approval, and returning excess capital to shareholders when we are able to do so. I would now like to provide some additional color on our outlook for the rest of the year. After delivering solid third quarter results, we're narrowing the ranges of identical sales without fuel, adjusted FIFO operating profit, and adjusted EPS guidance. Additionally, we have updated our guidance for adjusted effective tax rate and expect it to be 22.5%. We now expect identical sales without fuel for the year to be in the range of 1.2% to 1.5%, with quarter-to-date trends signaling we will be near the midpoint of this range. Identical sales without fuel results year to date have largely been in line with our expectations, with Q3 being slightly ahead of expectations due the favorable effects from the hurricanes, the port strike, and strong vaccine growth during the peak season for immunizations. Our expectations for fourth quarter identical sales without fuel are consistent with our forecast at the beginning of the year. We expect Q4 identical sales to remain strong but sequentially lower than third quarter, partially due to the cycling of weather benefits from the fourth quarter of 2023 that are not built into our current forecast for Q4 2024. We now expect adjusted FIFO operating profit to be in the range of $4.6 billion to $4.7 billion, and adjusted net earnings per diluted share is expected to be in the range of $4.35 to $4.45. Looking to next year, we are in the process of finalizing our 2025 business plan. While we still have many unknowns, we do expect Kroger to deliver FIFO operating profit growth on a stand-alone basis. During our fourth quarter earnings call, we plan to share our full year 2025 outlook in more detail. In closing, we are happy to deliver another quarter of strong results, which reflect the resilience of our value creation model. While macroeconomic conditions remain uncertain, our model has multiple levers, which enable us to navigate any environment, including grocery, health and wellness, fuel, and alternative profit businesses. This gives us flexibility in the ways we create shareholder value and confidence in our ability to generate attractive and sustainable returns for shareholders. I will now turn the call back to Rodney. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Todd. Before I open it up to Q&A, I'd like to speak briefly about our pending merger with Albertsons. First, I would like to express my appreciation for our associates and their incredible commitment. It has been a long journey, and our associates have done an excellent job serving customers and running the day-to-day operations of our business while also preparing for the merger. I would like to extend a special thanks to those who supported the litigation in federal and state courts, both the associates who testified and the teams who prepared a compelling case about the meaningful and measurable benefits of the merger. Our teams are ready to ensure a seamless transition for our customers and associates from day one. It is exciting to see the complementary strengths of both Kroger and Albertsons organizations. And we look forward to combining these strengths to provide customers with an even better experience. As we await the court rulings in the regulatory challenges to the merger, we remain confident in the facts and the strengths of our position. The retail industry continues to be more competitive. And we know how our customers shop. Every day, they are making decisions on where to eat and where to buy their groceries. They shop at a wide range of competitors, from Costco to Amazon to dollar stores, and they eat at restaurants. They shop digitally and brick and mortar. And as I've said before, we remain committed to closing the merger because it will provide meaningful and measurable benefits for customers, for associates, and for communities across the country. And we look forward to bringing these commitments to life. Regardless of the outcome of the trials, Kroger is operating from a position of strength. And we are optimistic about our future. Our business is more diverse than ever, and our value creation model provides us with multiple ways to drive sustainable growth. Our strong free cash flow and strengthened balance sheet provides us with the ability to invest in our business and enhance shareholder value. With that, Todd and I look forward to taking your questions. Because we are still in litigation, we will not be taking questions on the merger this morning. Questions & Answers: Operator Thank you. [Operator instructions] Our first question for today comes from Simeon Gutman of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Simeon Gutman -- Analyst Good morning, Rodney, Todd. My question is on the P&L for 2024. If you take out the extra week lap and then you pull out some of the merger-related costs, the big ones, it looks like the core business is growing pretty nicely on EBIT and really nicely, potentially mid-single, even high single-digit percentage. And that's despite lower fuel profitability, and the environment has been pretty tough. So, first, is that a fair characterization? And is it mixing the way you would have thought between the core business and the alternative? Thanks. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Great question, Simeon. Thanks for that. And I think that's a fair read on how you've described it. You know, we were obviously very happy with the results that we've seen coming from not only the core business but inclusive of pharmacy. We're particularly pleased with the results we saw in the pharmacy. You heard Rodney talk about it today. So, despite that lever in fuel giving us a headwind this quarter, we were pleased with the core growth coming from the core business and see that continuing. The mix relative to alternative and core business, I think the growth expectations that we have around the alternative profit business are relatively consistent to what we expected to see. And so, I think that those are -- continue to be as balanced as we expected going into the quarter. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer And, you know, longer term, as everyone knows, the alternative business -- profit businesses, we continue to see a great opportunity, and the margins on that business is meaningfully higher than the supermarket business. And the whole flywheel between our brick-and-mortar business and our seamless business, pickup and delivery, is the engine behind driving that continuation there, which we're very excited about. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer That's a great call, Rodney. We saw the digital growth, again, at low double-digit growth, which is an important part of the growth that you talked about, Simeon. And that -- again, when you talk about mix in our business and our omnichannel, that low double-digit growth is right on what we expected and helps drive both the core business and the alternative profit, as Rodney described. Simeon Gutman -- Analyst And the one follow-up, this is more toward a comment Rodney made. All year, we talked about the mainstream, the premium, and the lower end. It felt like there may have been an inflection whereas the mainstream has been resilient and the premium has been healthy. I thought your comments today on mainstream inflected a little more positively. I'm not sure if that's reading too much in. Lower income sounds about the same. Curious if that's fair. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, the mainstream customers certainly performed -- connected with us better in the third quarter than the second quarter. How much of that is driven because of things we did and how much they're just feeling better, we don't know. Now, they're telling us they feel better. And certainly, customers that are on a budget continue to be under a lot of strain. And the cumulation of inflation and other aspects and higher interest rates have affected -- continue to affect them more. And I think the other thing that's always important to remember is that customer, in many cases, are starting out in careers and things and they don't have as many physical assets on -- you know, a house or a little bit of savings and those things, and those inflation obviously affects that person a little harder than others. Thanks, Simeon. Operator Our next question comes from Rupesh Parikh of Oppenheimer. Rupesh, your line is now open. Please go ahead. Rupesh Parikh -- Analyst Good morning and thank you for taking my question. So, just going back to your guidance, so you did narrow the operating profit range to the lower end of the range for the full year. So, just curious what's driving that. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Todd, I'll let you start. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Yeah. Well, you know, with one quarter left, Rupesh, we wanted to try to narrow the range because there should be less variability in our expectations. When you look at the sales part of the guidance, down at 1.2 to 1.5, I think that's pretty consistent with what we've been thinking for the year. The midpoint on that range is a tick higher than I think what we have been thinking before. And frankly, when you look at where we expect to be in Q4, I think that's right on how we've been thinking about it all year, relative to all of that. Q3 actually is the one that was really strong. And we talked about -- Rodney talked about the pharmacy and the digital growth there, particularly in the vaccine space. We were really pleased. We've been working hard to grow our vaccine business, and we saw that throughout the quarters early in this year. But with Q3 being that key vaccine -- you know, Super Bowl season for vaccines, we were really pleased to see that that growth continue and that it paid off in that point in time. So, that's where we saw Q3 being really strong and that Q4 guidance being really what we expected. When you look at it on the EPS side of our guidance, Rupesh, again, we narrowed the range there. We took a nickel off the top side and the bottom side. And really, that midpoint of the range is pretty consistent with where we've been thinking about it for the year. As we think about that range and some of the key factors for that range in the fourth quarter, a couple of key things that we're keeping an eye on. One is weather. We alluded to it in our prepared comments. There were several meaningful weather events a year ago that, you know, drove some benefits. And we just don't forecast weather, you know, on a forward-looking basis. So, if we see the number and magnitude of weather events in the fourth quarter this year, I think that would be something that could push us toward the higher end of that range. And then the other one is fuel. Certainly, we -- you know, fuel tends to be pretty volatile, and we've seen that this year. And really, we have fuel expectations to be pretty in line with where they were last year. And frankly, from a gallon trend and from a cents per gallon trend, in the fourth quarter, we're pretty consistent sequentially from where we've been performing over the last few periods. So, if we have variance in the fuel profitability, either positive or negative, I think that could lean us toward the top or the bottom end of that range, respectively. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Todd said this, but I think it's important to just highlight it. You know, if you look at the range for the year, fuel in the third quarter was a tougher quarter than what we expected it to be, and that really -- relative to the top side. And the other thing that Todd mentioned, we don't budget weather because we just don't know. Obviously, there's been some major storms, but those storms haven't been in places where we operate stores. So, it really hasn't affected us so far. And generally, that's a positive when we have weather because people eat at home as opposed to going to restaurants. Rupesh Parikh -- Analyst And then my very quick follow-up question, just on the Boost membership, you added the Disney perk as well, just, you know, overall, are you guys happy with the signups that you're seeing and the retention with that program? W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer I would say we're very happy, but the thing that I guess I get more excited about is the potential because it's an incredible value for customers and customers love it and they -- and we have a high renewal rate and a high NPS score. So, our job is to continue to educate more customers on it. So, I'm really more excited about, you know, the opportunity going forward and the overall deeper connection with customers. So, great question. Thanks, Rupesh. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Leah Jordan of Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Leah Jordan -- Analyst Good morning. Thank you for taking my question and thanks for the commentary on inflation this morning and how you're thinking about it in the fourth quarter. But as you plan with your vendors, seeing if you can add more color on how you're thinking about inflation into next year. You know, what are you seeing across categories in hearing from those partners? Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Yeah. No, a great question. Maybe still a little early to think about next year. But, you know, if you think about where we were this year, obviously, coming into the year, we were coming out of that crazy disinflation that we had a year ago. And inflation has played out more or less the way we expected. It's maybe a little bit less than what we expected, but it's been relatively stable at just under 1%, maybe even saw, I think, a slight step back in Q3 relative to Q2, which, as we said, we expect to see for next year. As we look to next year at this point, looking at, you know, both some of the macro and governmental studies, as well as conversations with vendors, again, it's still early to tell and we might see a slight expansion to inflation next year but really don't expect to see anything meaningfully different or inconsistent with what we're kind of seeing right now with inflation. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer We are continuing to see CPGs be a little more aggressive on trade dollars. And, you know, over time, you know, that obviously affects inflation a little bit as well. Leah Jordan -- Analyst Great. Thank you. And I just wanted to follow up on some of your fresh initiatives. I know you've been working on improving days of freshness in produce for a while, so great to see some improvement there. But it seemed like the RFID tags within bakery is new to me. You know, just wanted more color there. You know, what degree of lift are you seeing when you add that to the category? How many of your stores have it today and how should we think about the rollout over time? W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Well, we are -- you know, as I mentioned, we're testing it. We're happy with the initial result. The benefits are as much helping our associates be able to do their job a little bit easier. And, you know, it's too early -- it's early enough to be excited about the potential. It's too early to say, you know, this much we can budget in terms of what we would do. But, you know, the thing that we're excited about for our customers, it's helping us make sure we have fresher product for the customer and stay in stock better. And, you know, it's super exciting. You know, we will look at other areas of the store to see what kind of opportunity it is. The cost per tag is still higher than we would like. So, we still need to continue to work on focusing on the getting the cost per tag down. But positive early results really early in the process and excited about the potential. Thanks, Leah. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Ken Goldman of J.P. Morgan. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Ken Goldman -- Analyst Hi. Thank you. I wanted to follow up on the topic of next year, I appreciate it's too early to -- for specifics, and I'm not asking for any numbers. But to Simeon's question, you agreed that it's a fair read that the core underlying business is doing very well -- I think those were the words -- despite when you ex out the merger cost and the digital mix and fuel and so forth. And you talked a little bit about inflation being sort of steady and predictable and consistent in that low single-digit range. Are there any other unusual tailwinds or headwinds that we should consider, just directionally, as we think about next year? Just trying to get a sense for what would kind of throw you off from having another, you know, reasonably good year. You did say that operating profit would be up, but you didn't kind of tell us how much, and your longer term amount goes 3% to 5%, of course. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, and it's -- it would be way too early to tell you specifics. And obviously, we're awaiting for the ruling on the merger, which will affect guidance as well. The other thing that -- I guess, from a positive standpoint that I'm excited about, in the third quarter, we opened or expanded the most number of stores that we've done I think it's actually in a quarter in seven years. And as you know, last year, we talked about it that we will open more stores this year than we have in several years, and we would expect to continue to open more stores. And so far, the stores that we've opened, we're happy with the way they're connecting with customers and we're happy in terms of the volumes they're creating and the early read on, you know, the profitability of the stores as well. So, over time, we would hope that that would continue to be a tailwind. And obviously, on seamless, we continue to see that as really critical to our five- or 10-year future to be awesome there. And we still have a lot of work to do to make -- where we're indifferent, whether somebody shops with us online or in store, and we'll continue to put a lot of effort there. In terms of headwind, Todd, I'll let you -- anything that you can think of that's -- Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer I can't think of anything unusual headwinds or tailwinds as we sit here today, frankly, Ken. But, you know, going into next year, part of what has us optimistic and feeling good about the strength of our value creation model is a lot of the momentum we have in the things that are in our high-growth areas today. We've talked about a lot of them already. It's pharmacy. It's our digital business. It's our alternative profit. And we have good momentum in those spaces and are executing on those. And from a headwind standpoint, we're going to continue to invest in the business, we're going to invest in price. You've heard Rodney say it before, we assume every year is going to be more competitive than the last, and that view hasn't changed. And so, we'll continue to engage in customers, make sure we're delivering value to them by investing in price and investing in their shopping experience. And we're committed to continue to invest in wages. So, some of those are headwinds. They're just the parts of our model that is we deliver the value in our model through all their different value propositions, we're able to use that to invest in the business to keep the flywheel moving. Ken Goldman -- Analyst OK. Thank you for that. And then speaking about price investments, you know, Rodney, you mentioned that CPGs continue to be a little bit more aggressive on trade dollars. Your largest competitor or -- you know, in food retail -- we'll see if the judges agree that it's a competitor or not. But your largest competitor in food retail had more kind of commentary last week or this week about, you know, how they would like to see more of those price investments from key vendors. Rodney, your tone, you know, since I've known you has always been more sort of agnostic about that. You know, if investor -- if your vendors don't invest with that, you'll be happy to sell customers more private label. I'm just curious where you stand in terms of are you content with the level of price investment or are you more just sort of agnostic and saying, look, whatever our vendors want, it'll play out either way beneficially for you. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Yeah. I guess a little bit of both. The -- if you look at tonnage growth in CPGs, there's a lot of CPGs that cannot be satisfied with their tonnage growth. And I believe that trade dollars and being more aggressive on partnering with us to make sure the right customer gets access to those benefits is good long term for the customer, long-term benefit for both of us on tonnage. If they're not willing to do that, it really gets back to the comment that we talked about. Our Brands, and, you know, Todd and I both mentioned it, had a strong quarter. The profitability of Our Brands is, you know, several 100 basis points higher than national brand. And if the CPGs are willing to continue to give up share to Our Brands, we're OK with that because what we find is once a customer tries Our Brands, the repeat rate of customers coming back is incredibly high because what they find is they have -- there's no compromise on quality and they have a great value for the money. So, you know, at the end of the day, the customer wins when they buy Our Brands. But it really is -- we try to run a business where the customer decides what they want to buy as opposed to forcing them to buy something. Thanks, Ken. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Ed Kelly of Wells Fargo. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Edward Kelly -- Analyst Hi. Good morning, everyone. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Good morning. Edward Kelly -- Analyst Curious about the gross margin. You've had a couple of good quarters, you know, on the gross margin front. I think you admit this quarter was better than expected. How are you thinking about gross margin in Q4, and then, you know, even like into -- I don't know, you're not going to get next year, but sort of like the outlook for the gross margin? And I'm talking like ex-Spec Pharma divestiture and maybe, you know, just talk about the puts and takes around that. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Yeah. No, great question, Ed, and I think you hit on a key part of thinking about it, excluding KSP. You know, we talked about, you know, it was a strong quarter in gross margin, and about half of that year-over-year benefit was a result of the divestiture. But the other piece of it really came -- we highlighted both of them. Rodney -- layers in well with what Rodney was just talking about -- was our growth in Our Brands. We continue to have Our Brands sales growth outpacing national brands, and that is always going drive, you know, solid margin expansion. And so, that's certainly what we saw again in the third quarter, very similar to what we saw in the second. And then shrink had another nice quarter. So, we've got, you know, cautiously optimistic on the progress we're making there, but we are making progress in the shrink space that really helped us in the third. As we look to the fourth, I think, you know -- excluding KSP, I think, overall, we'll probably be slightly favorable in the fourth. Reflecting KSP, when you pull that out, I think we'll probably be relatively flat on that, relative to some of the puts and takes, again, if we over-indexed in things like Our Brands and whatnot, but we may be a little bit favorable. But overall, I think we'll be relatively consistent, relatively flat year over year on the margins in Q4. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer I totally agree with everything Todd said, and Todd said the big pieces. I would also add a couple of smaller pieces that's helping on gross margin that should continue is, if you look at our warehouse and transportation costs, we continue to make some progress there. And the customer continue to buy more value-added product, and fresh continues to grow as well. So, those are things that help on mix, in addition to things that Todd talked about. Edward Kelly -- Analyst And just to -- Rodney, a quick follow-up. This one is for you, and you kind of hinted at it or talked about it. But, you know, Albertsons would be a transformational deal. How do you feel about Kroger's position, you know, if the deal is rejected? And do you need to hunt for something else more transformational or is it just simply more prudent to double down on what you have and reward shareholders for their patience with return of capital? W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, it's a great question. You know, if you look at the balance sheet capacity that we have, there's probably no -- nothing else that would be transformational that would use the balance sheet capacity that we would have. So, I don't know that we would be out there trying to find what's the next Albertsons. As you know, and you just said it, we try -- we've always made sure that we don't need to do mergers to make our business successful. And that was one of the reasons that we've always been proud of what Kroger has done. We're super excited about Albertsons and the potential, and we believe we will be able to add a ton of value for giving customers better value. The people there, we'll be able to provide security, and grow our business and create additional career opportunities and support communities. But if it doesn't happen, we'll continue to go on. As you know, we always will continue to look at how -- ways to grow the business. Mergers is always one of those ways of growing the business. But we try to make sure that we only do a merger when it makes sense. And we're not chasing something, and we won't get in a position where we are having to chase something. So, great question, and thanks, Ed. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Michael Lasser of UBS. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Michael Lasser -- Analyst Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my question. As of the second quarter, Kroger had made a point in its presentation that it was on track to deliver more than 20% media growth this year, and that line was removed this quarter. So, is it right to interpret that the media growth, which is an important driver of the alternative revenue stream, is starting to slow perhaps as there are more platforms for advertisers to choose and direct its advertising dollars? And if that's the case, how does Kroger accelerate that element of its algorithm in order to support the long-term outlook for the business? Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Yeah, let me start there, Michael. Thanks for the question. It's a good call. We do still expect to see our retail media growth be in that 20% range for the year. It's still a fast-growing part of our business, and the outcomes that we're seeing continue to demonstrate that we're well-positioned for that growth. You know, as we look at those CPGs that are advertising with us, we see the outsized return on ads spend that they're generating. And so, that's why I say we're able to demonstrate and we're seeing those results. And not coincidentally, the sales for those CPGs at Kroger are strong. And so, I think the proof points continue to be there, but as you say, there's a proliferation of options as everybody's kind of got their own flavor of what this is. So, I think we just need to continue to demonstrate that to CPGs because I think the proof will be in the results. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Todd's last point, to me, and if CPGs are listening, and that's the only reason why I'm adding on top, the CPGs that increased spending the most had the highest tonnage growth with us on -- which, to me, is it shows you the power of our platform. And, you know, Todd said it. I just wanted to double down on it. Michael Lasser -- Analyst OK. And my follow-up question is what do you need to drive -- what do you need to happen in order to drive the -- back -- Kroger to achieve the sales piece of its long-term algorithm in 2025? This year, there's been a contribution from the GLP-1 drug, some storm-related spending. Perhaps don't -- won't -- those won't be as meaningful contributors next year. So, is it that you would be banking on, A, market share stabilizing and is that realistic; and B, some acceleration in inflation to offset what have been driving the -- some of the comp this year? W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, we wouldn't -- we would not be dependent on inflation. And it's really -- we continue to double down on the customer experience. And when we find that we improve the customer experience, our business follows that or the customer rewards us for that. And it's -- you know, it really gets back to -- you've heard us say it a million times -- full, fresh, and friendly. The other thing that we're increasingly supporting is allocating capital to growth areas, and that would be, you know, storing; obviously, continuation of seamless. Our online business continues to have outside growth. And then specific projects that support cost reductions and sales opportunities. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Yeah, I agree with everything you said, Rodney, especially the storing, which you hit on earlier as well. You mentioned GLP-1, and that certainly has been part of this year. But as we sit here today, I think we continue to expect to see growth in that area as more manufacturers get in the mix and the supply continues to become more available and more and more patients continue to utilize that drug. So, I think we'll still see -- expect to see growth in the GLP-1 space as well for the -- at least near future -- foreseeable future. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Michael. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from John Heinbockel of Guggenheim Partners. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. John Heinbockel -- Analyst Hey, Rodney, can you talk about the -- you referenced in your release the initiatives -- productivity initiatives on in-store order selection. How broadly is that rolled out? And when I think about how much you can take the cost per order down, can you take that down double digit from where we are today? W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Over time, we would certainly expect to take it down double digit from where we are today. And when I talk about over time, I'm talking about over the next two or three years. And it's -- we still have a reasonable amount to roll it out. Now, as you -- you followed Kroger long enough to know that we will start -- whenever we roll something out, we start with the biggest opportunity places first. So, it's the highest volume locations and those kind of things. The thing that I think is fascinating and exciting is if you look at the fundamental things behind the software, we're learning that we can actually use that same technology in other areas of the business. And I would hope that we'll continue to find those kind of opportunities. So, I feel, you know, confident and comfortable that, certainly, well, you know, double-digit-type stuff of improvement. But, you know, our team is not going be satisfied until they get to where it's indifferent, how somebody shops with us. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Michael Montani of Evercore ISI. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Michael Montani -- Analyst Yes. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I just wanted to ask first, did I miss the fuel CPG contribution for this quarter? Wondering if you could give some added color there. And then just had a follow-up. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Yeah. Thanks, Michael. We don't typically -- we stopped a few quarters ago given -- giving details around CPG. You did catch on to the point that -- I think that Rodney brought out that both gallons and CPG were down in the third quarter, again, with some of the volatility in fuel. But as we looked at the fourth quarter relative to our expectations versus a year ago, we think fuel will be a little bit -- our expectation is that fuel will be a little bit more stable year over year in Q4, and that's supported by some of the trends that we've seen over the last few periods in both gallons and margins. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Rob Dickerson of Jefferies. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Robert Dickerson -- Analyst Great. Thanks so much. Rodney, you know, I know you said upfront and it seems like consumer settlement is still low, but maybe, you know, there are some green shoots. Maybe it's improving a little bit. So, I'm just wondering kind of as you got through the Thanksgiving holiday and then as we're kind of, you know, in a real time in the current holiday season, like have you seen any, you know, incremental, almost like sequential traffic improvement in the actual retail stores? W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer We feel good about where we are. The thing I guess I would say that we still don't quite under -- it'll take time as there's five less shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, we feel good about where we are. We're tracking a little bit better than where we thought we would be. But we still are cautious because of the five less shopping days and how does that play out. And as you mentioned, we are seeing the customer -- most of the customers are starting to feel a little bit more relaxed and comfortable in terms of where they stand and what's coming, what -- how things look going forward. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Jacob Aiken-Phillips of Melius Research. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Jacob Aiken-Phillips -- Melius Research -- Analyst Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the question. I just wanted to go back to inflation a little bit. So, you showed that you were able to kind of leverage SG&A given, like, flat comps, excluding KSP. How do we think about that relationship going forward in terms of wage inflation and wage investment? And then also, with tariffs, aware of the view that it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy in terms of, like, people buying stuff and causing inflation, even if there aren't actually tariffs happening. I just wanted your thoughts on that. Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Yeah, I'll start with the wage investments. It's a great question. You -- we've talked a lot about how important it is for us to invest in our associates because they're so critical in delivering our customer experience. But, you know, we will continue to balance those wage investments with the other profitability enhancement items that we say. So, in any inflationary environment and in any sales leverage environment, you know, we've demonstrated that our model enables us to pull the levers to be able to balance those wage increases accordingly over time. So, given the comments that we've said with fairly balanced inflation, we think we'll be able to leverage our SG&A, including wage investments. Rodney, I don't know if you want to comment on tariffs. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Tariffs, for us, you know, first of all, you know, the effect on us is probably a little less than most companies. And we buy products internationally, but it's pretty modest. If you look in the fresh departments, it's, you know, less than 20% of the stuff. If you look in the center store, it's a fraction of that. So, we would see the tariffs affecting others generally more than us, and we feel like we'll be able to manage whatever is done because our competitors will have to deal with the same thing. Thanks, Jacob. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Chuck Cerankosky of Northcoast Research. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Chuck Cerankosky -- Analyst Good morning, everyone. Rodney, you mentioned that the mainstream and premium customers were pretty close to spending how they had been before COVID. But they are also, from what I can observe, the groups that are more likely to be going to restaurants, which seem to be doing fairly well right now. How do you sort of offset that with Kroger's prepared food offerings and maybe what changes are you making in those categories? W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Well, first of all, we believe that that's a huge opportunity. You know, our market share -- you know, half of meals bought at a restaurant is consumed in a car or at home. Actually, I think it's a little over half. So, we see that as a huge opportunity. I would say we're trying a lot of different things. We've -- we're working with a couple of outside companies trying to help us there. But, you know, to me, it's more of a -- we -- in the future, we have a bigger opportunity than we've been able to unlock so far, and we believe it's a huge opportunity because what we've found is that a customer can buy a meal from us and it's usually the cost is one-third to one-fourth versus going out to a restaurant. So, it's -- for us, it's a great opportunity, but we're just scratching the surface. Operator Thank you. At this time, we'll take no further questions, so I'll hand it back to Rodney for any further remarks. W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Thank you for all the questions. And as always, we have a lot of our associates listening in. First, I would like to send our thoughts and prayers to those impacted by the recent hurricanes. I would also like to take a moment to express my gratitude and appreciation for our dedicated team of associates, especially during this time. They just did amazing things on supporting communities. And as you know, our stores are vital to each community we serve. And during these types of times, our customers rely on us to provide them with food and other essential items. And I am so proud of our associates who have stepped up to be there for our customers, communities, and each other. Thank you for everything that you do for Kroger and our customers and thank you for everyone joining us today. We wish you a very happy holiday season, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. Operator [Operator signoff] Duration: 0 minutes Call participants: Robinson C. Quast -- Senior Director, Investor Relations W. Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Todd Foley -- Interim Chief Financial Officer Rodney McMullen -- Chair and Chief Executive Officer Simeon Gutman -- Analyst Rupesh Parikh -- Analyst Leah Jordan -- Analyst Ken Goldman -- Analyst Edward Kelly -- Analyst Ed Kelly -- Analyst Michael Lasser -- Analyst John Heinbockel -- Analyst Michael Montani -- Analyst Robert Dickerson -- Analyst Jacob Aiken-Phillips -- Melius Research -- Analyst Chuck Cerankosky -- Analyst More KR analysis All earnings call transcripts

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MINNEAPOLIS — Two prospective marijuana business owners who were barred from participating in a license lottery are suing Minnesota cannabis regulators. The Office of Cannabis Management announced Friday, Nov. 22, that it will hold a drawing on Tuesday to determine who will operate the state’s first legal marijuana businesses. The OCM turned to a lottery because more than 1,800 applicants had sought 282 licenses. The first to apply are those considered social equity applicants under the law. They include people who live in high-poverty areas, those harmed by the war on drugs, and military veterans. This week, regulators disqualified two-thirds of the applicants for a variety of reasons. In a lawsuit, Jodi Connolly alleges that OCM gave no reason for denying her application. Connolly’s co-plaintiff, Cristina Aranguiz, said she received only a cursory explanation. The two call the rejections “arbitrary and capricious,” and they want a judge to stop the lottery while their lawsuit is pending. In an email to MPR News on Friday, a spokesperson for the Office of Cannabis Management said he cannot comment on the litigation, but OCM and still plans to move ahead with the scheduled lottery. This story was originally published on MPRNews.orgBack in 2008, Charlotte the sea turtle got hit by a boat, leaving him with spinal damage and a paralyzed set of back flippers. The tragic accident resulted in a funny-sounding but also still tragic medical problem. Bubble Butt Syndrome is a delightfully childish name for a rather sad condition. It’s when a turtle has air trapped in their shell after sustaining some kind of physical trauma. Charlotte, a green sea turtle who calls Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium his home, was left floating in awkward positions that had her butt sticking out the top of the surface of the water. Imagine one of the ways you get your food is by diving below the surface of the water, only you can’t because you have a flotation device around your waist keeping your lower half hovering around the surface. That was Charlotte’s life. Videos by VICE Charlotte’s veterinary team tried all sorts of ideas to get him swimming again. They tried adding weights to his body. When that didn’t work, they added a fabric sling that added a little bit more weight to his rear end. They got caught on a wall and torn off. Nothing was working until someone had the ingenious idea of bringing some modern 3D printing technology into the fold. Sea Turtle Swimming Thanks to 3D-printed Harness In collaboration with 3D printing companies Formlabs and Adia, along with New Balance Athletics, the team was able to design and print a lightweight, flexible, and adjustable harness that allows Charlotte to swim more naturally. When the harness was finally ready, they strapped it to Charlotte, who quickly took to the new weight and balance it provided. After years of struggling with Bubble Butt, Charlotte was finally swimming like a normal sea turtle again. In time, more weight will be added to the harness to increase its buoyancy. So far, the harness is working so well that Formlabs is working out how to scale the project so aquariums around can upload a scan of a turtle suffering from Bubble Butt and, using an online design tool, export a file that allows them to customize, print, and assemble a harness specifically for their own ailing sea turtles .New Video Emerges of UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Suspected Killer

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