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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February. Trump, making the announcement on his Truth Social account, said, “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence , was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned. As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations. The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more before Biden leaves office in less than two months. The U.S. has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv. Trump has criticized the billions the Biden administration has spent in supporting Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is designed to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared. Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” Trump's proposed national security adviser , U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.” Kellogg featured in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens. The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times. On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory. He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.” Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!Inquiry into journalists’ trolling ordered, Senate told Senator Irfan says that they defame state institutions in world by resorting to such tactics ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Monday that the government had ordered an inquiry into targeting and social media trolling of some journalists and anchorpersons by a group on the basis of their political ideology. Law and Justice Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar shared this with the House in response to the concerns, expressed on the floor of the Senate, as PPP’s Saifullah Khan Dhareejo raised the issue of the campaign against senior journalists Syed Talat Hussain, Hassan Ayub, Muneeb Farooq and Muzamil Hussain Shah through anonymous social media accounts involving several followers of a political party. Tarar explained the matter was highlighted during a meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar besides three other cabinet members as well the information minister. The law minister lamented that the names of journalists’ children and details of their schools were being shared on social media as part of trolling and harassment campaign. Parliamentary leader of the ruling PMLN, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, regretted that in the last few years, a new trend had been set by not listening to other side’s voice and suppressing the voice of dissent in total disregard to democratic traditions, tolerance and patience. He pointed out that a party, which he did not want to name, had in a very systematic way, when it was in the government, rendered these journalists jobless by putting pressure on their respective organisations. “Such tactics no matter whosoever uses, don’t work and the voice of truth cannot be choked; You may attack the truthful journalists, target their families. These kinds of traditions needed to be eliminated. We fully express solidarity with the journalists. These are the journalists who were fired from their jobs during the tenure of this political party,” he noted. He condemned that in the cases of truthful journalists, more oppression was being done in Pakistan than in Indian Occupied Kashmir and Palestine. Senator Irfan noted that they defame the state institutions in the world by resorting to such tactics and they could not be considered Pakistan’s friends. However, he said that genuine criticism from any side was everyone’s right and this should be safeguarded. “I will also convey this matter to the prime minister. The culture of silencing voices must end. And there should be a full stop to resorting to violence in the name of peaceful protest,” he added. PTI Senator Saifullah Abro, in his speech on the recent PTI protest in Islamabad, proposed formation of a House committee without representation from his party to look into the killing of relative of a Senate employee named Mobeen on November 26. He waved a death certificate purportedly issued by the PolyClinic hospital and claimed gunshot had been mentioned as cause of death in the certificate. He pointed out the death occurred at 5:12pm when Article 245 had not been invoked. To this, the presiding officer Irfan Siddiqui said the PTI had taken the matter to the court and should present evidence there. However, Senator Abro stressed that the proposed committee should also ascertain as to who was behind putting Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Nawaz Sharif and his spouse and other prominent political leaders in jail and this be followed by the joint condemnation by the House of those responsible. He suggested that it should also be probed as to why a money-laundering case involving billions of rupees had been registered against ‘innocent Shehbaz Sharif’ during the PTI’s days in power. He continued that he would condemn if the case was found out to be concocted; Otherwise, those who played role in acquittal should be condemned. PMLN’s Khalil Tahir said he could not understand what type of freedom they wanted, as one of their leaders recently said that Donald Trump had won elections and he would now get freedom for Imran Khan, who would then liberate Pakistan. He wondered did they want freedom to dub those who had brought them as Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq and Dirty Harry. Referring to the PTI’s recent protest in Islamabad, he said it was their party’s workers who had asked Ali Amin Gandapur not to flee and had thrown shoes at him and beat him with sticks, but still “he managed to run away on a punctured vehicle from the protest”. He asked what type of people were they that their leader Omar Ayub claimed that a bullet had hit his chest and next day he was holding a news conference. He noted that Gandapur had again announced coming to the capital with guns. “If there are four arteries, and one of them is choked, then the entire system will be halted, but this would never happen by saying so,” he said. Zeeshan Khanzada of the PTI said what options were left with them after so many months, the government appeared unmoved on one of their two major demands of formation of a judicial commission on the ‘stolen mandate’. He said the government said it had not made cases against Imran Khan, then why the outside world was saying that injustice was being meted out to him. The PTI lawmaker said that the government wanted to trigger fighting within his party by talking about who had not come to the rally and who had gone away. “Our party’s support is there just because of Imran Khan as long as he is there, none can harm our party,” he declared. At the outset, the House offered Fateha for the departed souls of the martyrs of Army Public School (APS) Peshawar tragedy and senior politician and PMLN leader Siddiqueul Farooq. The Senate also warmly welcomed a delegation of Palestinian medical students in the visitor gallery, who are studying now in Pakistan to complete their education. The law minister said that the government would try to accommodate maximum number of students from Palestine as a mark of continued support to the cause of Palestinians and solidarity with them. The House referred ‘The International Institute of Technology, Culture and Health Bill, 2024’ to the Joint Sitting of the Parliament for consideration. The House will now meet on Thursday afternoon.
Trump migrant deportations could threaten states’ agricultural economiesPresident-elect Donald Trump has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term. Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration. Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was Trump's initial pick for attorney general, but he ultimately withdrew following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation he was embroiled in. Here's a look at Trump's choices: Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat. Rubio , 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His selection punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. Hegseth , 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing. Bessent , 62, is a former money manager for George Soros , a big Democratic donor, and an advocate for deficit reduction . He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been accused of echoing Russian propaganda. She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him. Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions. Bondi , 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist , Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him. The Republican U.S. House member narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states. Lutnick heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration. As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. Noem is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently, Noem faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog. She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. Ratcliffe , a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S. Kennedy , 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign. Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Rollins , 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration. She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term. Rollins previously was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry , who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years , sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate. Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. The North Dakota governor , 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. Wright said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul , would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice. Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Greer is a partner at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term. Wiles , 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. She has a background in Florida politics , helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary. Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns. Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida. A former Army Green Beret , he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025. Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with Project 2025 , a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S. Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House. Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Leavitt , 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and they were golfing at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Kellogg , 80, is a highly decorated retired three-star general and one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for Trump's second term. He has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues and served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence . Kellogg also was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and stepped in as an acting national security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned the post. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests. Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Huckabee has rejected a Palestinian homeland in territory occupied by Israel. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as White House press secretary in Trump's first term. Stefanik, 40, is a U.S. representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders dating to his first impeachment trial. She was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-highest position in House leadership, after then-Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after she publicly criticized Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. A former acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and tight end on the University of Iowa football team, Whitaker , 55, has a background in law enforcement but not in foreign policy. A fierce Trump localist, Whitaker, is also a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed for the role. That was when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close. Whitaker also faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. Oz , 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime TV talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz’s bid for elected office. Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor on Fox News. Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative after cardiac arrest, state should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Bhattacharya , 56, is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. As head of the NIH, the leading medical research agency in the United States, Trump said Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy Jr. to direct U.S. medical research and make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives. Bhattacharya is professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were causing irreparable harm. Gaetz, 42, withdrew from consideration to become the top law enforcement officer of the United States amid fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gaetz, Trump had passed over more established lawyers whose names had been floated as possible contenders for the job. Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump announced him on Nov. 13. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Farnoush Amiri, Lolita C. Baldor, Jill Colvin, Matthew Daly, Edith M. Lederer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Lisa Mascaro, Chris Megerian, Michelle L. Price, Will Weissert and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.MISSOULA — As a matter of routine last spring, University of Montana graduate student Erin Dozhier would settle into their home office on the north end of Missoula and prepare for a barrage of questions about houseplants and parrots. The queries came from public school kids hundreds of miles away, their worlds temporarily connected to Dozhier’s through a version of Zoom often utilized by therapists for virtual counseling. Usually, Dozhier would start with their most tried-and-true strategy for building rapport with young clients. “Number one, if you want students to talk to you, ask them about their pets or show them your pet,” said Dozhier, whose parrot Alfie often made appearances in such sessions. Dozhier is one of a growing number of students from UM’s social work, school counseling and mental health counseling programs who have delivered such services for K-12 children in Montana’s far-flung rural districts. What began as an experimental effort to address the mental health side of school safety has, over the past five years, evolved into a fixture both for the university’s Safe Schools Center and for the small schools it serves. Dubbed VAST — short for Virtually Assisted School Teams — the program now boasts six grad students and 22 participating districts stretching from the Bitterroot Valley to the North Dakota border. The free counseling services VAST has made available to young Montanans highlight a growing focus among leaders across the state’s education continuum on student mental health. According to Montana’s latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 43% of responding high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row, and more than a quarter had seriously considered suicide — the highest annual rate since 1991. Educators often point to rising rates of youth anxiety and depression as a contributor to the steady decline in statewide academic performance, and for schools large and small, financial and hiring difficulties frequently stand in the way of providing robust mental health resources. Even outside the K-12 system, such support for students in Montana’s more rural communities may be dozens if not hundreds of miles away. For program leader Tammy Tolleson Knee, who serves as school support liaison for UM’s Safe Schools Center, the issues VAST was crafted to address have only become more pressing since the pandemic and speak to social and societal forces at work well beyond a school’s hallways. She told MTFP that as of this week, 53 K-12 students in Montana have been referred to the program for one-on-one counseling, with more than a dozen more referrals expected. “One of the great hardships for families is just what’s happening with the economy,” Tolleson Knee said. “And when families are stressed, kids become stressed.” Some districts, including in the northeast Montana town of Bainville, have been relying on VAST for years to meet the needs of their most vulnerable students. Other districts such as the Broadus Public Schools have only recently joined the program but are already reporting an impact. Broadus school counselor Dori Phillips told Montana Free Press that in the two months since the district formalized its participation, she’s already referred six students to one-on-one tele-counseling through VAST. “I don’t know where I would be without the help with those particular kiddos,” Phillips said. When Dan Lee first envisioned the VAST program in 2019, he saw tele-counseling as the preventative prong in a larger effort to address student safety. As then-head of UM’s Safe Schools Center, Lee heard time and again from educators that shortages of mental health professionals in rural communities posed a significant hurdle to getting children the help they needed before their personal struggles reached a critical level. The challenge, Lee told MTFP, was in developing an initiative that didn’t reinforce misconceptions — tied to school shootings — about mental health as a public safety concern. “One of the concerns we had was we can’t criminalize mental health,” said Lee, now the dean of UM’s College of Education, which houses the campus’ various counseling programs as well as the Safe Schools Center. “We can’t say if you are depressed, you are a threat. You can’t do that. When you’re depressed, it doesn’t mean you’re a threat to anybody. So we didn’t like the idea of classifying mental illness as a threat to schools because it’s not.” VAST, which kicked off during the 2020-21 academic year with two participating schools, fit neatly into a collection of services Lee and his cohorts developed for Montana schools, providing a compassion-centric therapeutic tool to complement the center’s more site-specific threat assessments, staff training and its 24/7 school safety hotline. At the same time, Lee said, the initiative began giving UM students greater access to the clinical hours needed to obtain their degrees and licenses, hours that can be difficult to get. “We can’t say if you are depressed, you are a threat. You can’t do that. When you’re depressed, it doesn’t mean you’re a threat to anybody.” In the years since, VAST has increasingly filled a void in rural communities with participating schools. Tolleson Knee recalled the story of one student who had previously received counseling in a community an hour away from home, until the family’s finances could no longer sustain the costs of travel and treatment. Her colleague, Safe Schools Center Director Emily Sallee, added that even if families are able to sustain private mental health services, outside professionals may not be effective at coordinating with in-school staff. By comparison, VAST relies on teachers and school counselors — the latter a state-mandated position in public schools — to coordinate with UM-side practitioners and keep them informed about any developments in a student’s life that may go unseen or unacknowledged in a tele-counseling session. “There’s this huge wraparound piece that’s often missing when kids are accessing counseling outside of schools,” Sallee said, “and it’s a huge part of how all these people can be supporting this kiddo, not just the counselor.” For Deborah Ith, the team-centered aspect of the program has been an important facet of her VAST experience this fall. A doctoral student in UM’s school psychology program, Ith currently has three teenage students in rural schools that she meets with remotely at least once a week via a paid, HIPAA-compliant version of Zoom. Their struggles have primarily been interpersonal ones, Ith said, and on a couple of occasions have risen to the level that Ith has reached out to the school counselor and parents to develop a group plan of support. “Sometimes that means trying to support parents because that’s really scary,” Ith continued. “When you’re a parent and you have somebody call you up and be like, ‘Hey, this came up, this is going on, you need to know about it, this is what we talked about as a way to support and this is what you can do to support them,’ that’s really hard to hear sometimes.” Even as VAST participants continue to provide such day-to-day services for a growing collection of rural schools, Tolleson Knee is identifying opportunities to expand the program’s offerings even further. She told MTFP that starting this spring, the Safe Schools Center plans to try out a hybrid version of VAST in one Bitterroot Valley school that will include a monthly in-person counseling session for students on top of three monthly tele-counseling sessions. The University of Montana isn’t alone in recognizing the challenges rural schools face in providing adequate mental health support for their students. The nonprofit Montana Small Schools Alliance has developed its own 24/7 crisis support app, which mental health resources director Cindy Fouhy said has so far been accessed by more than 20,000 students across the state. In addition, the alliance — in partnership with the Montana Professional Learning Collaborative — has developed a free tele-counseling model of its own. Like VAST, the focus is primarily on Montana’s smallest and most resource-starved schools where dedicated one-on-one intervention simply isn’t available. “You go to these small schools and they may not even have a certified counselor,” Fouhy said. “If they do, he or she is also teaching classes and doing 500 other things.” The factors that make mental health support in rural communities so difficult can also fuel the very stressors that necessitate such support in the first place. Consider Broadus, a town of fewer than 500 people anchored to the vast prairie of southeastern Montana. The local K-12 school boasts a student population of roughly 225, some of whom travel up to 70 miles one way to attend Power River County’s sole high school. According to data from the Office of Public Instruction, more than a third of the student population is classified as economically disadvantaged. Politics, drought, alcohol use — there are a lot of issues influencing local families, said Broadus school counselor Dori Phillips, and those pressures “trickle to our students.” Professional help is more than 80 miles away in every direction. Stress and geographic isolation are exacerbated by a persistent social stigma around seeking mental health treatment, one that Phillips has struggled, family by individual family, to overcome. “Getting our families to commit to taking their kids for help is almost impossible in many cases,” Phillips said. “I have very few students on my caseload. I think there’s three total that actually travel out of town to get help.” Broadus Public Schools used to offer more robust mental health services for students through the state-sponsored Comprehensive School and Community Treatment program, or CSCT. But the district’s access dried up about two years ago following legislative changes to how services were administered, and the availability of a part-time school psychologist has largely served during emergencies or as a backup on days when Phillips isn’t working. So when Phillips heard of VAST in a statewide association email, she instantly saw the prospect of free, in-school tele-counseling as a carrot for local families. “I can work with kids on friendship issues, I can help kids if they’re having trouble managing homework or learning organizational skills, those types of things,” said Phillips, whose school counseling license is distinct from the licenses granted to clinical therapists. “But when you have a family who deals with the loss of a parent or a caregiver, you have a family who goes through even a nasty divorce or a child who has a lot of trauma from their early years, those are things that they really need a private counselor for. Someone who’s licensed and knows how to work with kids.” In just two months, the number of Broadus students receiving tele-counseling services through VAST has grown to six, and Phillips said she’s working to connect three more students with the program. “Getting our families to commit to taking their kids for help is almost impossible in many cases.” A few hundred miles to the north, Bainville school counselor Amy Iversen said the number of students she’s referred to VAST has grown from two students in 2022 to seven last school year. She described the ag-and-oil community as similarly small, with 172 students across all grades, and similarly isolated, with the closest larger population center lying across the state line in Williston, North Dakota. For Iversen, UM’s program came along at a critical time for several students who showed signs of behavioral issues or depression and whose families lacked the resources for private counseling. “They can come in and talk to me about it, but then you know what? They’re going to see me again in class in two days and they’re going to be like, ‘Oh, crap, is she going to say something?’” Iversen said. “They probably don’t want me to know all their secrets. I’ve got kids in the school, some of them are friends with my own kids. It’s awkward for them, so when you’re in a small school, it helps with that confidentiality.” In some cases, parents have commented to Iversen on a noticeable difference in their child’s confidence, self-esteem or coping skills as a result of ongoing therapy. And while school-based counseling has its limits — like the services provided by traditional school counselors, VAST is not offered during the summer break — Iversen hopes the mental health skills students glean during the school year can see them through the off months. “That’s better than not getting anything,” Iversen said. Dozhier, the UM grad student, didn’t have to look much further than their own childhood in a small Oregon timber town to understand the issues facing the young Montana clients they counseled last spring. Kids are smarter and more observant than people think, Dozhier said, which means when pressures like joblessness, food insecurity or substance abuse weigh on a household, children pick up on it. They may act out or isolate themselves, sometimes without knowing why, and the last thing such a student can focus on is learning. “Their thinking brains are off,” Dozhier said. Dozhier’s parrot Alfie may help break the ice, but helping a child navigate issues they may not fully understand requires more than just talking about pets and plants. In sessions with VAST, Dozhier said they primarily utilize a style of counseling called play therapy, allowing a student to play freely with whatever toys they choose. Their actions may give the counselor some subtle insight into what’s going on in their lives, Dozhier said. Fighting between toys could, for example, be indicative of difficult relationships with siblings or other family members and help guide a counselor’s questions. “Even though it looks like play, we find that pertinent themes come up in play, even without specifically saying, ‘Hey, how’s your relationship with your brother?’” Dozhier said. “It’s almost like watching a theater play that doesn’t have a lot of words and kind of using that to draw conclusions.” Ith’s work with older students this fall has also underscored the added stress coming to age in a smaller community can place on a 21st-century teen. She acknowledges that the rural nature of the schools she serves through VAST can help reinforce a sense of support, giving some students an awareness that others around them recognize the experiences they’re going through. But it’s a “double-edged sword,” she said, one that can make it difficult to find new peer groups or move past incidents of bullying. At the Montana Small Schools Alliance, Fouhy notes that social media and technology can exacerbate such issues in ways older generations may not fully understand. “The kids can’t get away from stressors,” Fouhy said. “In the 80s, kids could go home and if they had to fight at school, they wouldn’t have to worry about it again ’til Monday. But now it just goes on and on, and the conflict and the stress that’s just in their pocket is significant.” Remote delivery of the one-on-one services that can help students process such situations does pose challenges, and leaders at VAST are quick to note that the program isn’t a solution for budgetary shortfalls or hiring challenges. Dozhier and Ith both credit the effectiveness of their work to individuals in the communities they’ve served — school counselors, teachers, parents. Tele-counseling initiatives haven’t sought to replace those voices but rather to create oases in Montana’s rural desert of outside mental health services, and Tolleson Knee has heard from past participants that the anonymity of therapy was a key motivator. “When you do live in those small communities, it’s just so hard to be objective,” Tolleson Knee said. “I heard students and family saying it was so nice to know we weren’t going to like have this intense session where we’re talking about really personal stuff and then run into [the counselor] in the grocery store.” The experience of meeting such a need fits well with Dozhier’s long-term professional goal of returning to rural Oregon as a counselor, and they are slated to return to the VAST cohort of practitioners-in-training this spring as it branches into in-person service. But while the program is great at doing what it’s doing, Dozhier recognizes even private counseling has its limits. A few sessions with a therapist won’t erase the issues that arise for a child when, say, a parent is overworked, stretched thin and struggling just to put food on the table. When it comes to improving mental health, Dozhier said, the challenge is far more systematic than one school, one university or one counselor can handle alone. “The answer to all of this kid’s woes is maybe not counseling for a year,” Dozhier said. “The answer maybe to so many of these woes would be to reduce stress on the family, and that’s something that our systems aren’t set up to do.”
Zirconia Crowns Market 2024: A Decade of Phenomenal Growth Ahead 12-16-2024 07:40 PM CET | Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance Press release from: Prudent Markets Zirconia Crowns Market The Zirconia Crowns Market 2024-2023 report provides a comprehensive analysis of Types (Layered Zirconium Crowns, Monolithic Zirconium Crowns), Application (Hospitals, Dental Clinics), Analysis of Industry Trends, Growth, and Opportunities, R&D landscape, Data security and privacy concerns Risk Analysis, Pipeline Products, Assumptions, Research Timelines, Secondary Research and Primary Research, Key Insights from Industry Experts, Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2024-2032. Major Players of Zirconia Crowns Market are: Nature Dental Laboratory, Glidewell, Oceanic Dental, 3M, International Dental Arts, A&B Dental Lab, Sagemax, Dental Artistry, Zirkonzahn, HQ Dental, Shandong Maier Medical Technology, Ivoclar Vivadent Get PDF Sample Report Now! @ https://www.prudentmarkets.com/sample-request/9166157/ This report provides a deep insight into the global Zirconia Crowns market covering all its essential aspects. This ranges from a macro overview of the market to micro details of the market size, competitive landscape, development trend, niche market, key market drivers and challenges, SWOT analysis, value chain analysis, etc. The analysis helps the reader to shape the competition within the industries and strategies for the competitive environment to enhance the potential profit. Furthermore, it provides a simple framework for evaluating and accessing the position of the business organization. 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You can also get in touch with our executives on +91 83560 50278 || USA/Canada(Toll Free): 1800-601-6071 to share your research requirements. In conclusion, the Zirconia Crowns Market report is a genuine source for accessing the research data which is projected to exponentially grow your business. The report provides information such as economic scenarios, benefits, limits, trends, market growth rates, and figures. SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis is also incorporated in the report. Contact Us: Allan Carter Andheri, Maharashtra, 400102 USA/Canada(Toll Free): 1800-601-6071 Direct Line: +91 83560 50278 Mail: sales@prudentmarkets.com Web: www.prudentmarkets.com About Us: We are leaders in market analytics, business research, and consulting services for Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, financial & government institutions. Since we understand the criticality of data and insights, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. To be at our client's disposal whenever they need help on market research and consulting services. We also aim to be their business partners when it comes to making critical business decisions around new market entry, M&A, competitive Intelligence and strategy. This release was published on openPR.Police deny sitting on evidence as Netflix doc brings renewed attention to JonBenet Ramsey’s killing
The police comments came as part of their annual update on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of JonBenet’s killing.WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers, meet your latest lobbyists: online influencers from TikTok. The platform is once again bringing influencers to Washington, this time to lobby members of Congress to reject a fast-moving bill that would force TikTok's Beijing-based parent company to sell or be banned in the United States. On Tuesday, some influencers began a two-day advocacy event in support of TikTok, which arranged their trip ahead of a House floor vote on the legislation on Wednesday. But unlike a similar lobbying event the company put together last March when talks of a TikTok ban reached a fever pitch, this year’s effort appeared more rushed as the company scrambles to counter the legislation, which advanced rapidly on Capitol Hill. Summer Lucille, a TikTok content creator with 1.4 million followers who is visiting Washington this week, said if TikTok is banned, she “don’t know what it will do” to her business, a plus-sized boutique in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It will be devastating,” Lucille said in an interview arranged by the platform. In an unusual showing of bipartisanship, a House panel unanimously approved the measure last week. President Joe Biden has said he will sign the legislation if lawmakers pass it. But it’s unclear what will happen in the Senate, where several bills aimed at banning TikTok have stalled. The legislation faces other roadblocks. Former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump, who holds sway over both House and Senate Republicans, has voiced opposition to the bill, saying it would empower Meta-owned Facebook, which he continues to lambast over his 2020 election loss. The bill also faces pushback from some progressive lawmakers in the House as well as civil liberties groups who argue it infringes on the First Amendment. TikTok could be banned if ByteDance, the parent company, doesn’t sell its stakes in the platform and other applications it owns within six months of the bill’s enactment. The fight over the platform takes place as U.S.-China relations have shifted to that of strategic rivalry, especially in areas such as advanced technologies and data security, seen as essential to each country’s economic prowess and national security. The shift, which started during the Trump years and has continued under Biden, has placed restrictions on export of advanced technologies and outflow of U.S. monies to China, as well as access to the U.S. market by certain Chinese businesses. The Biden administration also has cited human rights concerns in blacklisting a number of Chinese companies accused of assisting the state surveillance campaign against ethnic minorities. TikTok isn’t short on lobbyists. Its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance has a strong lobbying apparatus in Washington that includes dozens of lobbyists from well-known consulting and legal firms as well as influential insiders, such as former members of Congress and ex-aides to powerful lawmakers, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will also be in Washington this week and plans to meet with lawmakers, according to a company spokesperson who said Chew’s visit was previously scheduled. But influencers, who have big followings on social media and can share personal stories of how the platform boosted their businesses — or simply gave them a voice — are still perhaps one of the most powerful tools the company has in its arsenal. A TikTok spokesperson said dozens of influencers will attend the two-day event, including some who came last year. The spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about how many new people would be attending this year’s lobbying blitz. The company is briefing them ahead of meetings with their representatives and media interviews. Lucille, who runs the boutique in North Carolina, says has seen a substantial surge in revenue because of her TikTok page. The 34-year-old began making TikTok content focusing on plus-sized fashion in March 2022, more than a decade after she started her business. She quickly amassed thousands of followers after posting a nine-second video about her boutique. Because of her popularity on the platform, her business has more online exposure and customers, some of whom have visited from as far as Europe. She says she also routinely hears from followers who are finding support through her content about fashion and confidence. JT Laybourne, an influencer who also came to Washington, said he joined TikTok in early 2019 after getting some negative comments on videos he posted on Instagram while singing in the car with his children. Laybourne, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, said he was attracted to the short-form video platform because it was easy to create videos that contained music. Like Lucille, he quickly gained traction on the app. He says he also received more support from TikTok users, who reacted positively to content he produced on love and positivity. Laybourne says the community he built on the platform rallied around his family when he had to undergo heart surgery in 2020. Following the surgery, he said he used the platform to help raise $1 million for the American Heart Association in less than two years. His family now run an apparel company that gets most of its traffic from TikTok. “I will fight tooth-and-nail for this app,” he said. But whether the opposition the company is mounting through lobbyists or influencers will be enough to derail the bill is yet to be seen. On Tuesday, House lawmakers received a briefing on national security concerns regarding TikTok from the FBI, Justice Department and intelligence officials. AP Journalist Didi Tang contributed to this report. This story was originally published on March 12, 2024. It was updated on December 23, 2024 to clarify a quote by TikTok content creator Summer Lucille.
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December 13, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlightedthe following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread by Delft University of Technology Scientists from the Kavli Institute of Delft University of Technology and the IMP Vienna Biocenter have discovered a new property of the molecular motors that shape our chromosomes. While six years ago they found that these so-called SMC motor proteins make long loops in our DNA, they have now discovered that these motors also put significant twists into the loops that they form. These findings help us better understand the structure and function of our chromosomes. They also provide insight into how disruption of twisted DNA looping can affect health—for instance, in developmental diseases like "cohesinopathies." The scientists published their findings in Science Advances . Imagine trying to fit two meters of rope into a space much smaller than the tip of a needle—that's the challenge every cell in your body faces when packing its DNA into its tiny nucleus. To achieve this, nature employs ingenious strategies, like twisting the DNA into coils of coils, so-called "supercoils" and wrapping it around special proteins for compact storage. Small DNA loops regulate chromosome functions However, compaction isn't enough. Cells also need to regulate the chromosome structure to enable its function. For example, when genetic information needs to be accessed, the DNA is locally read off. In particular, when it's time for a cell to divide, the DNA must first unpack, duplicate, and then properly separate into two new cells. Specialized protein machines called SMC complexes (structural maintenance of chromosomes) play a critical role in these processes. Just a few years ago, scientists at Delft and other places discovered that these SMC proteins are molecular motors that make long loops in our DNA, and that these loops are the key regulators of chromosome function. In the lab of Cees Dekker at TU Delft, postdocs Richard Janissen and Roman Bath now provide clues that help to crack this puzzle. They developed a new way to use "magnetic tweezers" by which they could watch individual SMC proteins make looping steps in DNA. Importantly, they were also able to resolve if the SMC protein would change the twist in the DNA. And strikingly, the team found that it did: the human SMC protein cohesin does indeed not only pull DNA into a loop, but also twists the DNA in a left-handed way by 0.6 turns in each step of creating the loop. A glimpse into the evolution of SMC proteins What's more, the team found that this twisting action isn't unique to humans. Similar SMC proteins in yeast behave the same way. Remarkably, all the various types of SMC proteins from humans and yeast add the same amount of twist—they turn DNA 0.6 times at every DNA loop extrusion step. This shows that the DNA extrusion and twisting mechanisms stayed the same for very long times during evolution. No matter whether DNA is looped in humans, yeast, or any other cell—nature employs the same strategy. These new findings will provide essential clues for resolving the molecular mechanism of this new type of motor. Additionally, they make clear that DNA looping also affects the supercoiling state of our chromosomes, which directly affects processes like gene expression. Finally, these SMC proteins are related to various diseases such as Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, and a better understanding of these processes is vital for tracking down the molecular origins of these serious illnesses. More information: Richard Janissen et al, All eukaryotic SMC proteins induce a twist of -0.6 at each DNA-loop-extrusion step, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adt1832 . www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt1832 Journal information: Science Advances Provided by Delft University of TechnologyBrown wins 77-54 against Stony Brook
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World-renowned health innovator will lead global collaboration and health equity work FLINT, Mich. , Dec. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Insight Health System (Insight), a physician-led organization focused on excellence in health care and community well-being, has named Dr. Maliha Hashmi , a pioneer in the fields of AI-driven prevision care, health equity and wellness advocacy, as the organization's first Global Ambassador. "Dr. Hashmi's unparalleled reputation as a health leader and innovator around the world, combined with her dedication to underserved populations and her commitment to using technology for good, aligns perfectly with Insight's mission focused on providing care that is second to none through love and compassion," said Dr. Jawad Shah , founder and chief executive officer of Insight. "Her leadership will be invaluable in helping Insight shape the future of health care." As Global Ambassador, Dr. Hashmi will be intimately involved in a range of large-scale initiatives aimed at population health, health equity, value-based care and preventative care. She will play a critical role in ensuring that Insight hospitals remain leaders in global health care innovation and advancing patient-centered care while fostering sustainable growth and economic development within the communities they serve. Her strategic vision will ensure that Insight continues to deliver health equity and forward-thinking care for generations to come. Throughout her career, Dr. Hashmi has championed the humanization of technology, ensuring advancements in health care strengthen human connection, compassion and accessibility. Her innovative approach integrates smart systems designed to enhance efficiency, elevate patient care and improve health outcomes – all under the guiding principle of "health care for everyone, everywhere." Dr. Hashmi has earned numerous accolades, including recently being ranked first among the Top 10 Female Innovators and Leaders Globally by Entrepreneur Mirror, and one of the Top 50 Most Influential Muslims in America by EqualityX. She holds advanced degrees from Harvard and MIT and has served as a World Economic Forum Global Future Expert and V20 Delegate for G20. "I am deeply honored to take on this role as Global Ambassador for Insight," said Dr. Hashmi. "My goal is to champion health care for everyone, everywhere, supporting Insight's mission to refine processes, increase efficiency and deliver patient care second to none to communities across the globe. I am excited to drive innovation, compassion and excellence in patient care, making health care accessible and dignified for all." Insight, led by Dr. Jawad Shah , is committed to serving underserved communities through a multidisciplinary approach that balances cutting-edge medical technologies with compassionate patient care. Dr. Hashmi's appointment as Global Ambassador further solidifies Insight's mission to expand the boundaries of health care innovation and equitable service delivery. Follow along with the latest from Insight Health System on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , TikTok and YouTube . Follow updates on Dr. Maliha Hashmi on the following platforms: LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/dr-maliha-hashmi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malihahashmiofficial/ About Insight Health System Insight Health System is a physician-led organization focused on pioneering excellence in health care and community well-being. Our expertise is in transforming distressed hospitals into stable, patient-centric care that is second-to-none. With a track record for innovation in health care, research and development, Insight Health System provides the communities we serve with world-class health care services at the forefront of medical technology. Our network currently includes a portfolio of entities encompassing six acute care hospitals (three of which are nonprofit), six surgery centers, 28 clinics, 580 physicians, 10 unions and 4,200 employees. Collectively, Insight Health System hospitals provide nearly 100,000 patient days annually. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/insight-health-system-appoints-dr-maliha-hashmi-as-global-ambassador-302332878.html SOURCE Insight Health SystemOver 1,000 Belizean youths participate in 9th annual GeoEducation Expo
The Chicago Cubs will need to make big changes after underachieving in 2025. They could move on from some key players to make way for young stars in the organization. While listing Cubs players who would not be on the team at the end of Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings, FanSided's Zach Pressnell predicted that second baseman Nico Hoerner would be traded. "Hoerner takes the spot at second base, blocking the Cubs top prospect from coming to the big leagues. Matt Shaw is the Cubs top prospect and he's big-league-ready. Last season, Shaw slashed .284/.379/.488 split between Double-A and Triple-A. While in Triple-A for just under 40 games, Shaw slashed an incredible .298/.395/.534," wrote Pressnell. "It's hard to imagine that somebody with his raw talent and results will stick in the minor leagues for long. He's a huge piece of Chicago's future and there's not going to be any holding him back in the minor leagues." Hoerner is a Gold Glove Award winner, but offensively the Cubs need more. He had a .273 batting average, but his OPS was .708. He does not take many walks and does not really hit home runs. He had just seven last season. Meanwhile, Matt Shaw has been great offensively. Hoerner signed a three-year, $35 million extension with the Cubs before the 2023 season. He is a great defender and could fetch a decent return in a trade. Trading him would open the door for Shaw to start on Opening Day. The Scubs would not struggle to find a trade partner. Hoerner's defense and .335 OBP should make him a target for teams in need of a second baseman. More MLB: Cubs trade proposal ships 2-time All-Star to Yankees to replace Anthony Rizzo
A telephone town hall Monday provided Idahoans the opportunity to get the governor’s perspective on key issues facing the state. With just a few weeks passed since the general election and the state’s legislative session fast approaching, Gov. Brad Little sat down with Lupe Wissel, state director of AARP Idaho, in a look ahead to the upcoming political landscape for the state and the nation. While the focus was largely on state-specific issues, many callers raised questions regarding how potential national changes implemented by the incoming Trump administration could impact the state. AARP is the nation’s largest non-profit organization and is dedicated to providing resources for individuals over the age of 50, according to the organization’s website. Callers who participated in the town hall provided their first names and the city they lived in. IMMIGRATION CONCERNS The issue most consistently raised during the call-in session was related to the realm of immigration. President-elect Donald Trump has claimed he will launch the “largest deportation program in U.S. history,” as reported by the Associated Press . Val of Meridian asked what Idaho’s plan would be to offset the potential deportation of 35,000 people — the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the state — and potential dairy staffing shortages that could follow an exodus of workers. “Their initial intent is known criminals, where they know they’re a danger to society,” Little said. “That’s the No. 1 priority, and I believe that’s going to be the case.” Little noted that the dairy industry is also putting together a proposal that would put its workers in the same category as other agricultural entities, that are able to have workers come on a permitted basis year-round. According to the International Dairy Foods Association , the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which failed to pass in Congress, sought to eliminate the seasonality requirement in the H-2A program — which allows foreign workers to enter a contract for up to 10 months of agricultural work — to expand its application into the diary sector. “There’s a lot of H-2A workers that come to Idaho, but it’s only seasonal — well, you have to milk cows all year round,” Little said. SOCIAL SECURITY TAX CUTS Paul of Eagle pointed to Trump’s proposed exemption on Social Security income taxes and the popularity this proposal has among seniors in Idaho. Little said that if this were ultimately passed by Congress, he would ensure Idaho is conforming to federal tax standards. “My position (is) always that taxes should be fair, simple, predictable and competitive, and one of the ways to make them simple is ... how you calculate your federal liability is the same way you should calculate your state liability,” Little said. Under the current standards of the Social Security Administration , a federal tax return filed by an individual with an income between $25,000 and $34,000 could pay an income tax on up to 50% of benefits. In the case of those filing jointly, the threshold shifts to between $32,000 and $44,000. These taxes currently pay into the Social Security system to maintain the program for future withdrawals and retirees. WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Amanda of Boise expressed concerns about women’s reproductive rights and how uncertainty regarding the implications of state law has led to doctors leaving the state. “There’s litigation taking place in Idaho right now to kind of clarify the issue for doctors,” Little said. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is currently scheduled to hear oral arguments on Dec. 10 regarding whether emergency abortions can be prosecuted under Idaho law. The case concerns the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law requiring medical providers that receive Medicare funds to treat and stabilize anyone in an emergency. A decision in the case will determine the validity of the state of Idaho’s argument that this federal law doesn’t supersede state law and that EMTALA does not require abortions to be conducted in emergencies, as reported by the Idaho Press . The incoming Trump administration’s position on bans similar to what is in place in Idaho is less than clear. In the past year, he has characterized an abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy as “too severe,” while also saying he would vote against Florida’s ballot measure that sought to repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban, as reported by the Associated Press .President-elect Donald Trump has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term. Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration. Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was Trump's initial pick for attorney general, but he ultimately withdrew following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation he was embroiled in. Here's a look at Trump's choices: Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat. Rubio , 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His selection punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. Hegseth , 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing. Bessent , 62, is a former money manager for George Soros , a big Democratic donor, and an advocate for deficit reduction . He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been accused of echoing Russian propaganda. She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him. Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions. Bondi , 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist , Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him. The Republican U.S. House member narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states. Lutnick heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration. As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. Noem is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently, Noem faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog. She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. Ratcliffe , a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S. Kennedy , 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign. Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Rollins , 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration. She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term. Rollins previously was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry , who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years , sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate. Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. The North Dakota governor , 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. Wright said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul , would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice. Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Greer is a partner at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term. Wiles , 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. She has a background in Florida politics , helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary. Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns. Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida. A former Army Green Beret , he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025. Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with Project 2025 , a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S. Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House. Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Leavitt , 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and they were golfing at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Kellogg , 80, is a highly decorated retired three-star general and one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for Trump's second term. He has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues and served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence . Kellogg also was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and stepped in as an acting national security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned the post. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests. Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Huckabee has rejected a Palestinian homeland in territory occupied by Israel. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as White House press secretary in Trump's first term. Stefanik, 40, is a U.S. representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders dating to his first impeachment trial. She was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-highest position in House leadership, after then-Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after she publicly criticized Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. A former acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and tight end on the University of Iowa football team, Whitaker , 55, has a background in law enforcement but not in foreign policy. A fierce Trump localist, Whitaker, is also a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed for the role. That was when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close. Whitaker also faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. Oz , 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime TV talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz’s bid for elected office. Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor on Fox News. Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative after cardiac arrest, state should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Bhattacharya , 56, is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. As head of the NIH, the leading medical research agency in the United States, Trump said Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy Jr. to direct U.S. medical research and make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives. Bhattacharya is professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were causing irreparable harm. Gaetz, 42, withdrew from consideration to become the top law enforcement officer of the United States amid fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gaetz, Trump had passed over more established lawyers whose names had been floated as possible contenders for the job. Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump announced him on Nov. 13. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Farnoush Amiri, Lolita C. Baldor, Jill Colvin, Matthew Daly, Edith M. Lederer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Lisa Mascaro, Chris Megerian, Michelle L. Price, Will Weissert and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
Messi's son debuts at Argentina youth tournament as grandparents watch