Analyst Scoreboard: 5 Ratings For Life Time Group HldgsKansas holds off Auburn for No. 1 in AP Top 25 as SEC grabs 3 of top 4 spots; UConn slides to No. 25 Kansas continues to hold the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll. Auburn is pushing the Jayhawks in the latest poll after winning the Maui Invitational and checked in at No. 2. Two-time reigning national champion UConn nearly fell out entirely after an 0-3 week at Maui, falling from No. 2 to 25th. The Southeastern Conference had three of the top four teams with No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Kentucky behind the Tigers. The poll featured six new teams, headlined by No. 13 Oregon, No. 16 Memphis and No. 18 Pittsburgh. TCU, Duke climb into top 10, Notre Dame drops in women's AP Top 25; UCLA and UConn remain 1-2 TCU has its best ranking ever in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll after a convincing win over Notre Dame. The Horned Frogs jumped eight spots to No. 9, the first time the school has ever been in the top 10. The Fighting Irish, who were third last week, fell seven spots to 10th after losses to TCU and Utah. UCLA remained No. 1, followed by UConn, South Carolina, Texas and LSU. USC, Maryland and Duke are next. Houston's Al-Shaair apologizes for hit on Jacksonville's Lawrence that led to concussion HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s Azeez Al-Shaair took to X to apologize to Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence after his violent blow to the quarterback’s facemask led to him being carted off the field with a concussion. Back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a sprained left shoulder, Lawrence scrambled left on a second-and-7 play in the second quarter of Houston’s 23-20 win on Sunday. He initiated a slide before Al-Shaair raised his forearm and unleashed on the defenseless quarterback. In the long post, Al-Shaair says "To Trevor I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening.” Philadelphia ready to go the distance with RockyFest week dedicated to 'Rocky' movies PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Rocky Balboa fans are ready to go the distance to honor Philly’s favorite fictional fighter almost 50 years after the first movie launched the enduring series of an underdog boxer persevering despite the odds. The city Rocky called home at last has a week dedicated to the box office heavyweight champion of the world a year after the inaugural Rocky Day was held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps. RockyFest officially kicks off Tuesday and a series of events dedicated to the movies series are set to be held around the city. How to sum up 2024? The Oxford University Press word of the year is 'brain rot' LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “brain rot” its word of the year. It's defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state,” especially from consuming too much low-grade online content. Oxford University Press said Monday that the phrase “gained new prominence in 2024,” with its frequency of use increasing 230% from the year before. It was chosen by a combination of public vote and language analysis by Oxford lexicographers. The five other word-of-the-year finalists were demure, slop, dynamic pricing, romantasy and lore. Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl said the choice of phrase “feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology.” Scientists gather to decode puzzle of the world's rarest whale in 'extraordinary' New Zealand study WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Scientists and culture experts in New Zealand have begun the first-ever dissection of a spade-toothed whale, the world's rarest whale species. The creature, which washed up dead on a beach on New Zealand's South Island in July, is only the seventh specimen ever found. None has ever been seen alive at sea. Almost nothing is known about it but scientists, working with Māori cultural experts, hope to answer some of the many lingering questions this week, including where they live, what they eat, how they produce sound and how this specimen died. Hong Kong launches panda sculpture tour as the city hopes the bear craze boosts tourism HONG KONG (AP) — Thousands of giant panda sculptures will greet residents and tourists starting on Saturday in Hong Kong, where enthusiasm for the bears has grown since two cubs were born in a local theme park. The 2,500 exhibits will be publicly displayed at the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, one of Hong Kong’s popular shopping districts, this weekend before setting their footprint at three other locations this month. The displays reflect Hong Kong’s use of pandas to boost its economy as the Chinese financial hub works to regain its position as one of Asia’s top tourism destinations. Violent hit on Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence 'has no business being in our league,' coach says JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence was carted off the field after taking a violent elbow to the facemask from Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair. It prompted two sideline-clearing scuffles. Lawrence clenched both fists after the hit, movements consistent with what’s referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury. Lawrence was on the ground for several minutes as teammates came to his defense and mobbed Al-Shaair. Lawrence eventually was helped to his feet and loaded into the front seat of a cart to be taken off the field. He was not transported to a hospital. He was quickly ruled out with a concussion, though. Al-Shaair and Jaguars rookie cornerback Jarrian Jones were ejected after the first altercation. Big Ten fines Michigan and Ohio State $100,000 each for postgame melee ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — The Big Ten Conference has announced it fined Michigan and Ohio State $100,000 each for violating the conference’s sportsmanship policy for the on-field melee at the end of the Wolverines’ win in Columbus .A fight broke out at midfield Saturday after the Wolverines’ 13-10 victory when Michigan players attempted to plant their flag on the OSU logo and were confronted by the Buckeyes. Police used pepper spray to break up the players, who threw punches and shoves. One officer suffered a head injury when he was “knocked down and trampled while trying to separate players fighting." The officer was taken to a hospital and has since been released. Marshall Brickman, who co-wrote 'Annie Hall' with Woody Allen, dies at 85 NEW YORK (AP) — The Oscar-winning screenwriter Marshall Brickman, whose wide-ranging career spanned some of Woody Allen’s best films, the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” and a number of Johnny Carson’s most beloved sketches, has died. He was 85. Brickman died Friday in Manhattan, his daughter Sophie Brickman told The New York Times. No cause of death was cited. Brickman was best known for his extensive collaboration with Allen, beginning with the 1973 film “Sleeper.” Together, they co-wrote “Annie Hall," “Manhattan” and “Manhattan Murder Mystery." The loosely structured script for “Annie Hall,” in particular, has been hailed as one of the wittiest comedies. It won Brickman and Allen an Oscar for best original screenplay.
The dividend yield on the average stock has fallen over the past year due to the surge in the stock market. For example, the S&P 500 's dividend yield has declined from 1.6% a year ago to around 1.2% these days, which is near its lowest level in over 20 years. However, some stocks still offer higher-yielding dividends . Enterprise Products Partners ( EPD 1.51% ) , Clearway Energy ( CWEN 0.46% ) ( CWEN.A 0.91% ) , and Brookfield Renewable ( BEP 1.59% ) ( BEPC 2.24% ) stand out to a few Fool.com contributors as great stocks to buy as we head into the new year. Here's why they're great income stocks to buy right now. Enterprise Products Partners is built to pay you well Reuben Gregg Brewer (Enterprise Products Partners): How about buying an investment-grade-rated energy company with a shockingly reliable business and a 6.5% yield? If that sounds good to you, then you may want to buy North American midstream giant Enterprise Products Partners before 2024 is over. From a business perspective, this high-yielder owns the energy infrastructure that helps move oil and natural gas around the world. The energy sector couldn't operate without the pipelines, storage, transportation, and processing assets Enterprise owns. And its customers are happy to pay the fees necessary to use Enterprise's infrastructure, making the master limited partnership (MLP) a simple toll-taker business. The big takeaway -- volatile commodity prices aren't the main driver of financial results. This is a big part of the reason it has been able to reliably increase its distribution for 26 consecutive years. Throw in an investment-grade-rated balance sheet and the fact that distributable cash flow covers the distribution by around 1.7 times, and there's a lot of room for adversity before a distribution cut would be a material risk. Sure, the lofty yield will make up most of an investor's return here, but Enterprise does have around $6.9 billion in capital investment projects underway and the size to act as an industry consolidator. Slow and steady distribution growth looks likely to continue for years to come from this high yielder. The power to grow its dividend in 2025 and beyond Matt DiLallo (Clearway Energy ): Clearway Energy currently offers investors a 6.5% dividend yield. That's a hefty payout compared to the S&P 500 , which yields around 1.2%. The clean energy infrastructure owner is having another solid year. It's on track to meet or exceed its guidance of generating $395 million of cash available for distribution (CAFD) this year. That has given it the power to increase its dividend by 7% over the course of the year, hitting its goal of delivering dividend growth toward the high end of its 5% to 8% annual target range. Clearway has already lined up a lot of growth for 2025 and beyond. It expects previously funded investments to grow its CAFD to $420 million at the mid-point of its target range. That should enable it to increase its dividend by about 6.8% over the next year. The company already has more growth lined up for 2026 and is building toward 2027. It has secured several new investments in renewable energy projects that will enter commercial service over the next year and has started securing new contracts for its natural gas-fired power plants. These initiatives should help grow CAFD per share at a 7.5% to 12.5% compound annual rate in the 2026 to 2027 timeframe from next year's baseline. That should support another 6.5% increase in the dividend in 2026 and growth toward the lower end of its target range the following year. Beyond 2027, Clearway sees the potential to continue growing its CAFD and dividend at a mid- to high-single-digit annual rate as it continues investing in new renewable energy assets. Given its already high yield, Clearway has the potential to produce high total returns in the coming years as it grows its CAFD and dividend payments . That combination of yield and growth makes it look like a great income stock to buy before this year is over. Lots more dividend growth ahead Neha Chamaria (Brookfield Renewable) : Shares of Brookfield Renewable have significantly underperformed the S&P 500 in 2024. Still, Brookfield Renewable has big growth plans, is steadily growing its funds from operations (FFO ), and is sending out bigger dividend checks to its shareholders year after year. Brookfield Renewable grew its FFO per unit by around 7% during the nine months that ended Sept. 30 and expects to grow it by more than 10% in the full year, backed by its recent acquisitions and development projects. In fact, 2024 will be the company's strongest year for investments in growth as it continues to steadily raise cash to invest from two sources: cash-flow growth and proceeds from the sale of mature assets. In 2024 alone, Brookfield Renewable expects to commission 7 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity, a record for the company. Its total development pipeline soared to a whopping 200 GW at the end of the third quarter. Brookfield Renewable expects to grow its pipeline even further in 2025 and 2026 and believes it should be able to grow its annual FFO per unit by 10% or more over the next five years and beyond. For investors, Brookfield Renewable's FFO growth should translate into bigger dividends. The company expects to grow its annual dividend by 5% to 9%. Couple that with a high dividend yield -- its corporate shares currently yield 5.1%, while units of the partnership yield 6.3% -- and Brookfield Renewable looks like a solid dividend stock to buy before 2024 draws to a close. Note that purchasing corporate shares can help investors in the U.S. avoid filing a K-1 tax form and foreign tax withholding.
MLB Rumors: Yankees, Trent Grisham Agree to $5M Contract amid Juan Soto PursuitRebel forces and allied militants launched a significant offensive last week against Syrian government forces in northwestern Syria, capturing Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city. This marks the largest escalation in Syria’s civil war since it began in 2011. Aleppo, once known as Syria’s economic capital, had been controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government since 2016, when government forces, aided by Iranian-backed militias and Russian airstrikes, drove out rebel forces from the eastern parts of the city. Multiple rebel factions and militant groups participated in the battle for Aleppo, code-named Operation Deterrence of Aggression, and headed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, an Islamist group that controls most of Idlib province in northwest Syria. Formerly known as al-Nusra Front, it was the main affiliate of al-Qaida in Syria until 2017, when it formally severed ties with the global terror group. According to Aaron Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the group’s current ideology is rooted in local rather than global goals. “I still consider them extremists. They still have some foreign fighters in their ranks, and they also backed Hamas' October 7 attack against Israel,” Zelin told VOA, referring to the attack carried out by the Palestinian militant group in 2023, which killed about 1,200 people. HTS Is estimated to have up to 30,000 fighters, largely concentrated in northwestern Syria. “They essentially situate themselves as what I describe as sort of these political jihadists, where theology no longer guides every action they do, like ISIS or al-Qaida, whereas they put in a lot more political considerations related to this, but they are still very much interested in jihad, as we can see the way that they frame this fight,” Zelin said, referring an acronym for the Islamic State. “One of the ways that I look at the issue is that they essentially went from global jihad to a local regime,” he added. Turkey-backed rebels Among the other armed groups involved in the Aleppo offensive was the Syrian National Army, or SNA, an umbrella organization for several factions backed by Turkey. The SNA was established in 2017 as the armed force of the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government, which had gained control of parts of northwestern Syria. The SNA previously took part in two Turkish-backed offensives against Kurdish forces in 2018 and 2019. Some groups aligned with the SNA have been known for their radical Islamist ideology. Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Suleiman Shah Brigade and the Hamza Division, two main factions within the SNA, for “serious human rights abuses against those residing in the Afrin region of northern Syria.” Caroline Rose, director of the Strategic Blind Spots portfolio at the Washington-based New Lines Institute, said, “It appears that there is tentative, fragile collaboration between HTS and the SNA, following years of tension and infighting. “While Turkey had belatedly intervened in the rivalry in respect to security in Syria’s northwest, it’s clear that Ankara invested in fostering greater partnership between HTS and the SNA to conduct this offensive into Aleppo,” she told VOA. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Monday during a press conference with his Iranian counterpart in Ankara that the latest escalation in Aleppo was the result of long-standing unresolved issues rather than external interventions. He attributed the violence to the Syrian government’s refusal to engage in dialogue with the opposition. As the Aleppo offensive was launched, another was simultaneously announced by the Turkey-backed SNA against U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, in the northern countryside of Aleppo province, primarily around the town of Tel Rifaat. Turkey regards the SDF a terrorist organization. Rose said these different priorities could determine whether the HTS-SNA partnership can last. “While the SNA is pushing towards Tel Rifaat against SDF forces, HTS is concentrating on establishing proto governance in strategic locations in Aleppo,” she said. “Turkey will likely play on this rivalry and use it to its advantage as it seeks to redraw battle lines and create leverage with the Assad regime, the U.S., Iran and other actors engaging in Syria.” Several other groups that operate independently are also part of the Aleppo offensive, including Ahrar al-Sham, a coalition of armed Islamist factions established at the beginning of Syria’s conflict. Another Islamist group, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, emerged in Aleppo in 2014 and has maintained close ties with HTS. This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish service.