THE Dragons already have no margin for error in the Challenge Cup after paying the price for a shocking start and missed opportunities against Montpellier in the Newport wind and rain. The Rodney Parade club slipped to a 18-14 defeat in their tournament opener, meaning they will need at least one win on the road if they are to make the knockout stages. It was another missed opportunity to add to the frustrating home disappointments in the first block of the United Rugby Championship, and means Filo Tiatia’s men are right up against it after just one round. The Dragons trailed 18-14 at the break after fighting back from a nightmare start to get back in it through tries by centurion flanker Taine Basham and full-back Angus O’Brien. It was a poor game littered with errors, not all of them down to the weather, and it became all about the result as the gap remained four points into the final quarter. The Dragons had their chances – and were held up over the line – but were unable to get their noses in front in a dramatic finale inside the Top 14 side’s 22. With away games at Newcastle and the Lions either side of the home encounter with Pau, this was almost a must-win opening fixture in the bid for the knockout stages. The Dragons accomplished that last season when striking late against Oyonnax for a five-point haul before letting a promising position slip through their fingers. This time they are playing catch-up already and need to conjure something special either at Kingston Park or Ellis Park. Montpellier headed to Newport with a team largely made up of fringe players and academy talent but they were still hefty and presented a stiff challenge for what was far from the strongest, on paper at least, Dragons XV. There were opportunities in the tight five for loosehead Josh Reynolds, hooker James Benjamin, and lock Joe Davies, who all made first starts of the season (another opportunity for tighthead Dmitri Arhip was shelved due to illness). Livewire Morgan Lloyd was handed the 9 jersey for the first time at professional level while Will Reed – given his first start after almost always having 10 on his back last season – joined him to form a young half-back partnership in horrendous weather. The Dragons put themselves under pressure with a knock on from the kick-off but defended strongly until giving away a penalty that Aurelien Barreau put between the posts in the fourth minute. The fly-half repeated the trick in the ninth minute to make it 6-0; it was a kick that would normally be simple but not in these conditions. Montpellier’s dream start continued when, after an impressive claim of a high ball by full-back Julien Tisseron, a cross-kick to the right found centre Thomas Darmon who offloaded to Tambwe. The speedster beat last man Reed and slide over down the right for an 11-0 lead after 12 minutes. The Dragons needed a response and kicked a penalty to the corner to hunt one only for lock Davies to fail to gather the slippery ball in the throw. That failure was followed by a second French try that was way, way too easy. Firstly they won a five-metre scrum thanks to sloppy blindside defence that led to captain Angus O’Brien having to hack the ball behind. Then, after an early engagement, Marco Tauleigne took a quick tap and slid over with ease, Barreau making it 18-0 after a shambolic first quarter for the hosts. Thankfully the next score was for the men in bright yellow with Montpellier errors leading to a quick tap from five metres out and then a try on his 100th appearance for Basham. O’Brien converted. The game then had a scrappy spell until the Dragons struck just before the break to make it a four-point game. An overthrown lineout was gathered by Reed and the attack continued for lock Davies, of all people, to break through and slip the ball to his captain. O’Brien slide over down the left and then expertly added the extras to make cut the gap to 18-14 but then missed a penalty six minutes after the restart. The Dragons then got out of jail with half an hour to go when a Montpellier driving lineout went close and then, bizarrely, the backs called for the ball and a grubber through was covered by replacement scrum-half Dane Blacker. The errors were racking up with the slippery ball, making it a tense encounter with the next score (if it was to come) crucial. The game entered the final quarter without any second half scorers, the Dragons unable to get prime attacking territory and Montpellier’s game management letting them down. The hosts’ big chance came after 66 minutes when they forced Montpellier to hack the ball out five metres from their line. The shove came on, the ball was held up with replacement prop Aki Seiuli just loosing grip of the ball to allow a defender to get under him. The Dragons again pushed as the clock ticked into the 70s and a botched Montpellier lineout allowed them to hammer at the line with five to go... only for a knock-on to gift an escape. A penalty in the 78th minute was hammered to the 22 by O’Brien for one last chance, then another penalty was kicked even closer with the clock in the red, then another penalty was awarded. The Dragons opted for a quick tap but then knocked on, with TMO footage showing that there was no offence to allow one last charge. Dragons: O’Brien (captain), Dyer, Wilson, Owen, E Rosser (J Rosser 49), Reed (C Evans 56), Lloyd (Blacker 39); Reynolds (Seiuli 54), Benjamin (Scarfe 42), Coleman, J Davies (Nott 54), Screech (Langton-Cryer 69), Woodman, Basham, Wainwright. Scorers: tries – Basham, O’Brien; conversions – O’Brien (2). Montpellier scorers: tries – Tambwe, Tauleigne; conversion – Barreau; penalties – Barreau (2). Referee: Morne Ferreira (South Africa). Attendance: 4,012 (tickets issued).
HOUSTON (AP) — Rockets forward Amen Thompson threw Heat guard Tyler Herro to the floor to trigger an altercation that resulted in six ejections in the closing minute of Miami's 104-100 victory over Houston on Sunday. Thompson and Herro became entangled with Miami about to inbound the ball leading 99-94 with 35 seconds left. Thompson grabbed Herro by the jersey and tossed him, with referee Marc Davis describing it as Thompson “body slams Herro .” “I didn’t see it live, but I re-watched it,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “They were in each other’s face, bumping chests a little bit, and one guy’s stronger than the other.” Herro, Thompson, and Udoka were ejected, as were Heat guard Terry Rozier, Rockets guard Jalen Green, and Rockets assistant coach Ben Sullivan. Davis said Green and Rozier escalated the altercation, while Sullivan was assessed a technical foul and ejected for unsportsmanlike comments as the referee was trying to redirect the Rockets' Alperen Sengun. The altercation occurred after Miami had come from 12 points down in the second half to regain the lead with the help of Houston missing 11 straight shots in the fourth quarter. Herro keyed the comeback, leading all scorers with 27 points and adding nine assists and six rebounds. He believed that's what frustrated Thompson. “Guess that’s what’s happens when someone’s scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing,” Herro said. “I’d get mad, too.” Herro said he had never spoken to Thompson, who did not talk to reporters after Sunday’s game, so there was no previous bad blood between the two. “Just two competitors going at it, playing basketball,” Herro said. “It was a regular game that we were playing throughout.” Houston's Fred VanVleet had been ejected just before the fight, with Davis saying VanVleet made contact with him after being called for a 5-second violation. The win for Miami came 24 hours after losing 120-110 in Atlanta. The Heat were missing second-leading scorer Jimmy Butler for a fifth straight game, so Herro was proud of his team played against one of NBA’s best teams this season. “They’re top two, three in the West,” Herro said. “Very good defense. Got a bunch of young, athletic guys that can really play, so that’s a good win for us. That’s a stepping stone. We go 2-1 on the road. Put ourselves in a position to win yesterday, and I like how it’s going. We just got to continue to keep getting better.”Xtract One Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Results
THERE was a double spike in religious hate crime over the Middle East war and Southport killings, figures show. The largest police forces in the country recorded a rise in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic offences. Home Office minister Diana Johnson yesterday called for an end to hatred being stirred up by a minority of fanatics. The rises came after Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023. Israel retaliated by invading Gaza . In July there was far-right anti-immigrant riots after three girls were stabbed to death in Southport, Merseyside . Greater Manchester Police recorded 85 anti-Semitic cases in October last year and 68 the following month, up from just 13 a month earlier in the year. read more on politics Islamophobic offences were averaging 39 a month before spiking to 85 in August. The West Yorkshire force saw anti-Semitic offences rise from six a month to 44. Islamophobic offences went up from 33 a month to 94. London’s Met saw a hike in anti-Semitic cases from 54 per month to 517. Dame Diana said: “These numbers are deeply troubling. Most read in The Sun “We are determined to stamp out the toxic vitriol which is spread by a minority of people. “We must have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and every other form of heinous hate in Britain.”
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WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed a $895 billion measure that authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending this fiscal year and would give a double-digit pay raise to about half of the enlisted service members in the military. The bill is traditionally strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers opposed the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization. It passed by a vote of 281-140 and next moves to the Senate, where lawmakers sought a bigger boost in defense spending than the current measure allows. The Pentagon and the surrounding area is seen Jan. 26, 2020, from the air in Washington. Lawmakers are touting the bill's 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military. Those serving as junior enlisted personnel are in pay grades that generally track with their first enlistment term. Lawmakers said service member pay failed to remain competitive with the private sector, forcing many military families to rely on food banks and government assistance programs to put food on the table. The bill also provides significant new resources for child care and housing. "No service member should have to live in squalid conditions and no military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children, but that's exactly what many of our service members are experiencing, especially the junior enlisted," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "This bill goes a long way to fixing that." The bill sets key Pentagon policy that lawmakers will attempt to fund through a follow-up appropriations bill. The overall spending tracks the numbers established in a 2023 agreement that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached with President Joe Biden to increase the nation's borrowing authority and avoid a federal default in exchange for spending restraints. Many senators had wanted to increase defense spending some $25 billion above what was called for in that agreement, but those efforts failed. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is expected to serve as the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the overall spending level was a "tremendous loss for our national defense," though he agreed with many provisions within the bill. "We need to make a generational investment to deter the Axis of Aggressors. I will not cease work with my congressional colleagues, the Trump administration, and others until we achieve it," Wicker said. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., speaks with reporters Nov. 21 on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Republicans don't want to go above the McCarthy-Biden agreement for defense spending and are looking to go way below it for many non-defense programs. They are also focused on cultural issues. The bill prohibits funding for teaching critical race theory in the military and prohibits TRICARE health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under 18 if that treatment could result in sterilization. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said minors dealing with gender dysphoria is a "very real problem." He said the treatments available, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, have proven effective at helping young people dealing with suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression. "These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives," Smith said. "And in this bill, we decided we're going to bar service members' children from having access to that." Smith said the number of minors in service member families receiving transgender medical care extends into the thousands. He could have supported a study asking medical experts to determine whether such treatments are too often used, but a ban on health insurance coverage went too far. He said Speaker Mike Johnson's office insisted on the ban and said the provision "taints an otherwise excellent piece of legislation." Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ban a step in the right direction, saying, "I think these questions need to be pulled out of the debate of defense, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States of America without having to deal with social engineering debates." Smith said he agrees with Roy that lawmakers should be focused on the military and not on cultural conflicts, "and yet, here it is in this bill." Branden Marty, a Navy veteran who served for 13 years, said the loss of health coverage for transgender medical treatments could prompt some with valuable experience to leave the military, affecting national security because "we already struggle from a recruiting and retention standpoint." He also said the bill could regularly force service members into difficult choices financially. "It will be tough for a lot of them because of out-of-pocket expenses, especially enlisted members who we know already struggle with food insecurity," said Marty, the father of a transgender teenager. "They don't get paid very much, so they're going to be making a lot of choices on a day-to-day, tactical level." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., responds to reporters Dec. 6 during his weekly news conference at the Capitol in Washington. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said his team did not tell Democrats how to vote on the bill. "There's a lot of positive things in the National Defense Authorization Act that were negotiated in a bipartisan way, and there are some troubling provisions in a few areas as well," Jeffries said. Overall, 81 Democrats voted for the bill and 124 against it. On the Republican side, 200 voted for the bill and 16 against it. "It's disappointing to see 124 of my Democrat colleagues vote against our brave men and women in uniform over policies that have nothing to do with their intended mission," Johnson, R-La., said. The defense policy bill also looks to strengthen deterrence against China. It calls for investing $15.6 billion to build military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration requested about $10 billion. On Israel, the bill, among other things, includes an expansion of U.S. joint military exercises with Israel and a prohibition on the Pentagon citing casualty data from Hamas. The defense policy bill is one of the final measures that lawmakers view as a must-pass before making way for a new Congress in January. Rising threats from debt collectors against members of the U.S. armed forces are undermining national security, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal watchdog that protects consumer rights. To manage the impact of financial stress on individual performance, the Defense Department dedicates precious resources to improving financial literacy, so service members know the dangers of notorious no-credit-check loans. “The financial well-being of service members and their families is one of the Department’s top priorities,” said Andrew Cohen, the director of financial readiness in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. But debt collectors are gaining ground. Last quarter, debt collection complaints by U.S. military service members increased 24% , and attempts to collect on “debts not owed” surged 40%. Complaints by service members against debt collectors for deceptive practices ballooned from 1,360 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 1,833 in the first quarter of 2024. “There’s a connection between the financial readiness and the readiness of a service member to perform their duty,” said Jim Rice, Assistant Director, Office of Servicemember Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Laws exist to protect the mission readiness of U.S. troops from being compromised by threats and intimidation, but debt collectors appear to be violating them at an alarming pace. “If they’re threatening to call your commander or get your security clearance revoked, that’s illegal,” says Deborah Olvera, financial readiness manager at Wounded Warriors Project, and a military spouse who’s been harassed herself by a collection agency that tried to extort money from her for a debt she didn’t owe. But after she requested the name of the original creditor, she never heard from them again. “The financial well-being of service members and their families is one of the Department’s top priorities.” —Andrew Cohen, Director of Financial Readiness at the Pentagon Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, it’s illegal for debt collectors to threaten to contact your boss or have you arrested because it violates your financial privacy. The FDCPA also prohibits debt collectors from making false, deceptive, or misleading representations in connection with the collection of a debt, even for borrowers with bad credit scores. But according to the data, debt collectors are increasingly ignoring those rules. “Debt collection continues to be one of the top consumer complaint categories,” said a spokesperson at the Federal Trade Commission. The commission released a report earlier this year revealing that consumers were scammed $10 billion in 2023, a new benchmark for fraud losses. In his book Debt: The First 5,000 Years, David Graeber argues that debt often creates a relationship that can feel more oppressive than systems of hierarchy, like slavery or caste systems because it starts by presuming equality between the debtor and the creditor. When the debtor falls into arrears, that equality is then destroyed. This sense of betrayal and the subsequent imbalance of power leads to widespread resentment toward lenders. Photo Credit: Olena Yakobchuk / Shutterstock The debt collector reportedly harassing military service members most was Resurgent Capital Services, a subsidiary of collection giant Sherman Financial Group. The company tacks on accrued interest and junk fees and tries to collect on debts purchased for pennies on the dollar from cable companies, hospitals, and credit card companies, among others. Sherman Financial Group is run by billionaire Benjamin Navarro, who has a reported net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. Sherman Financial also owns subprime lender Credit One Bank and LVNV Funding, which outsource collections to Resurgent Capital. According to CFPB data, the second worst offender is CL Holdings, the parent company of debt-buyer Jefferson Capital Systems. The company has also been named in numerous complaints to the Better Business Bureau for alleged violations of the FDCPA, such as failing to properly validate debts or update credit reports with accurate information. Under the leadership of CEO David Burton, Jefferson Capital Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CompuCredit Corporation, which markets subprime credit cards under the names Aspire, Majestic, and others. The third most referenced debt collector is publicly traded Portfolio Recovery Associates [NASDAQ: PRAA], which was forced to pay $27 million in penalties for making false representations about debts, initiating lawsuits without proper documentation, and other violations. Portfolio Recovery Associates is run by CEO Vikram Atal. Fourth place for alleged worst offender goes to Encore Capital Group [NASDAQ ECPG], which was required to pay $42 million in consumer refunds and a $10 million penalty for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Encore collects under its subsidiary Midland Credit Management Group. These debt collectors all operate under a veritable shell game of company and brand names, almost none of which are disclosed on their websites, sending consumers on a wild goose chase to try and figure out how they’re related to each other. But despite their attempts to hide their tracks behind a smoke screen of subsidiaries, a leopard can’t change its spots, and the CFPB complaint database makes it harder for them to try. Photo Credit: Bumble Dee / Shutterstock Although widely considered a consumer-friendly state, complaints spiked most in California, which saw a 188% increase in complaints filed from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. California is home to 157,367 military personnel, making it the most populous state for active-duty service members. The second-largest increase in debt collection complaints was in Texas, which saw a 66% jump from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. The U.S. Department of Defense reports 111,005 service members stationed in the Lone Star State, which is the third-most populous state for active-duty military. The rising trends do not correlate to the number of military personnel by state. Complaints against debt collectors in Virginia, the second most populous state with 126,145 active duty personnel, decreased by 29% in the same quarter-over-quarter period. And complaints filed quarter-over-quarter in North Carolina, the fifth most populous state with 91,077 military personnel, decreased by 3% in the same period. The third largest percentage increase in debt collection complaints was from service members stationed in Maryland, where alleged harassment reports jumped 112% from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. Maryland ranks number 12 with just 28,059 active duty service members. Fourth place goes to Ohio – the 28th most populous active-duty state – where complaints doubled, followed by Arizona – the 15th most populous military state – where complaints were up 70% in the same quarter-over-quarter period. Photo Credit: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A / Shutterstock In 2007, Congress passed the Military Lending Act to cap the cost of credit to a 36% annual percentage rate, inclusive of junk fees and late charges, for active duty military service members. That rate is still considerably higher than average credit card rates, which range from 8% for borrowers with excellent credit scores to as high as 36% for borrowers with bad credit. But lenders still get hauled into court for violating the MLA. Don Hankey, the billionaire subprime auto lender who funded Donald Trump’s $175 million appeal bond , is among those violators. His company, Westlake Financial, which markets high-interest car loans for bad credit, has been sued twice by the Department of Justice for harassing military service members. In 2017, the DoJ alleged Hankey’s Westlake Financial illegally repossessed at least 70 vehicles owned by military service members. Westlake Financial paid $700,000 to settle the charges. In 2022, Westlake Financial paid $250,000 for allegedly cheating U.S. troops out of interest rates they were legally entitled to. Westlake Financial continues to receive complaints from military service members alleging abusive debt collection practices on its no-credit-check loans. A steady year-over-year increase in the number of complaints filed against Westlake Financial continued from 2020 to 2023. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data shows a 13% increase in the number of complaints against the company from 2020 to 2021, a 28% increase from 2021 to 2022, and a torrential 119% surge from 2022 to 2023. The numbers suggest systemic complaint-handling processes and inadequate customer service resources. Photo Credit: Cynthia Shirk / Shutterstock On May 16, 2024, a deceptively named predatory lending industry front group dubbed the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) lost a legal attempt to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In an effort to deprive Americans of essential consumer protections, the lobby group argued that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure was unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court denied its claim. In a 7-2 ruling, the Court held that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure is indeed constitutional. That means the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot be defunded, but it does not mean the agency cannot be defanged. The New York Times suggested that Hankey’s incentive to finance Trump’s $175 million bond could have been a reciprocity pledge to neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if Trump wins the upcoming U.S. presidential election. If Trump wins a second term, he could replace Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra, an American consumer advocate, with a predatory lending advocate. In 2020, the Trump Administration secured a Supreme Court ruling that made it easier for the president to fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The ruling struck down previous restrictions on when a president can fire the bureau’s director. Like other federal agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has also been confronted for overstepping its bounds, pushing too far, and acting unfairly against entities it regulates. Photo Credit: Lux Blue / Shutterstock Seasonality and rising interest rates do not explain the increase in debt collection complaints from service members. The surge in complaints is not tied to predictable seasonal fluctuations or changes in interest rates. The increase in debt collection complaints by service members may point to underlying systemic issues, such as aggressive and predatory debt collection practices that exploit the unique financial vulnerabilities of service members, who face frequent relocations and deployments. Debt Complaints by Service Members The 24% spike in debt collection complaints exhibits no correlation to fluctuations in interest rates. 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Pandemic stimulus checks were also not a factor. COVID-19 relief benefit checks went through three major rounds during the pandemic. The final round of Economic Impact Payments went out in March 2021 . To better understand the rising trend of debt collection complaints, we calculated the increase in the total number of complaints and the percentage increase quarter-over-quarter. For example, New Jersey has the second largest percentage increase in complaints quarter-over-quarter, but the total number of complaints increased by just 16. The data for this study was sourced from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaint database. The dataset specifically targeted complaints filed by U.S. military service members, identified using the tag “Servicemember” within Q4 2023 and Q1 2024. Readers can find the detailed research methodology underlying this news story in the accompanying section here . For complete results, see U.S. Troops Face Mounting Threats from Predatory Debt Collectors on BadCredit.org . Homelessness reached record levels in 2023, as rents and home prices continued to rise in most of the U.S. One group was particularly impacted: people who have served in the U.S. military. "This time last year, we knew the nation was facing a deadly public health crisis," Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said in a statement about the 2023 numbers. He said the latest homelessness estimates from the Department of Housing and Urban Development "confirms the depth of the crisis." At least 35,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness in 2023, according to HUD. While that's about half of what it was in 2009—when the organization began collecting data—things have plateaued in recent years despite active efforts to get that number to zero. Although they make up just 6.6% of the total homeless population, veterans are more likely to be at risk of homelessness than Americans overall. Of every 10,000 Americans, 20 were experiencing homelessness. Of veterans living in the United States, that number jumps to 22, HUD data shows. Complicated by bureaucracy, family dynamics, and prejudice, the path from serving in the military to homelessness is a long one. According to a 2022 study by Yale School of Medicine researchers, homelessness typically occurs within four years of leaving the military, as veterans must contend with the harsh reality of finding a job in a world where employers struggle to see how skills on the battlefield transfer to a corporate environment. These days, veterans also deal with historically high rent and home prices, which causes many to rely on family generosity while figuring out a game plan. Stacker examined academic studies, analyzed government data, and spoke with members of the Biden administration, experts, and former members of the armed forces to see the struggles members of the military face when leaving the armed forces. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers transition assistance to the roughly 250,000 service members who leave each year. However, those programs can be burdensome and complex to navigate, especially for those who don't have a plan for post-military life. Only a small portion of veterans have jobs lined up when they leave, according to 2019 Pew Research. Many also choose to live with relatives until they get on their feet, which can be longer than anticipated. Some former service members are unsure what kind of career they'd like to pursue and may have to get further education or training, Carl Castro, director of the Military and Veteran Programs at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California, told Stacker. "It takes years for that kind of transition," Castro said. Many have trouble finding a job after leaving the service, even if they are qualified. Some employers carry misconceptions about those who have served. A 2020 analysis from the journal Human Resource Management Review found that some veterans face hiring discrimination due to negative stereotypes that lead hiring managers to write them off as a poor culture fit. Underemployment, or working low-wage jobs below their skill level, is also an issue. While the unemployment rate for veterans was 3% in March 2024, a study released by Penn State at the end of 2023 found three years after leaving the service, 61% of veterans said they were underemployed because of perceived skill mismatches . This phenomenon can have long-term economic effects, and eventually, that frustration can boil over, strain relationships, and potentially lead to housing instability. Working, especially a low-wage job, is not protection against homelessness. A 2021 study from the University of Chicago found half of people living in homeless shelters and 2 in 5 unsheltered people were employed, full or part-time. High rents make it difficult to save up, even when applying for a VA loan—a mortgage backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs that typically has more favorable terms. While the VA does not require a downpayment, some lenders, who ultimately provide the loan, do. They're not entirely risk-free either, and veterans can still lose their homes if they are unable to keep up with their mortgages. In November 2023, the VA put a six-month pause on foreclosures when an NPR investigation found thousands of veterans were in danger of losing their homes after a COVID forbearance program ended. Biden officials pointed to high rents and the end of COVID-era housing restrictions like eviction moratoriums to explain the spike in Americans experiencing homelessness. In the last year, homelessness rose 12%—to more than 650,000 people—the highest level since data began being collected in 2007. Overall, more than half of people experiencing homelessness in 2023 live in states with high living costs. Most were in California, followed by New York and Florida. Western states, including Montana and Utah, experienced massive population growth during the pandemic, becoming hubs for remote workers who drove home prices and rents even further. For veterans, housing costs certainly play a role, but those who leave the military also face systemic barriers. "It's worrying there are people that continue to fall through the cracks," said Jeanette Yih Harvie, a research associate at Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. Just under a quarter of adults experiencing homelessness have a severe mental illness , according to 2022 HUD survey data. They are also likely to have chronic illnesses but are unable to maintain preventative care, which only exacerbates these problems. Veterans facing homelessness are more likely to have experienced trauma , either before or after joining the military, according to Yale researchers who analyzed the 2019-2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Childhood trauma was among the most significant commonalities among vets who become homeless. Substance use disorder is also widespread and can indicate an undiagnosed mental illness . Racial and ethnic disparities are at play, too. A 2023 study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research showed that Hispanic and Black veterans were more likely to screen positive for PTSD, and Hispanic veterans were more likely to report having suicidal ideation. Overall, access to mental health care has improved in the last decade or so. In December 2023, the VA announced it would open nine additional counseling centers. However, the stigma of getting help remains, especially after years of being conditioned to be self-reliant and pull oneself up by their bootstraps. That help, in the form of public policy, is slowly working to catch up to the need. In 2023, the Biden administration invested millions into research programs and studies on suicide prevention by the VA office in addition to a proposed $16 billion to improve quality and lower-cost mental health care services for veterans. And, in February of this year, HUD and the VA announced they would give up to $14 million in vouchers to public housing agencies for veterans experiencing homelessness. The program would also offer case management and other services. Still, with a culture that pushes people to keep going, it can be challenging for servicemembers to take advantage of these opportunities, Harvie said. "When you've been doing that for the last 15 or 20 years, it's difficult to stop and say, 'I'm the person that needs help.'" Story editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. 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UK study warns of perils in AI-driven ‘intention economy’New Mexico's two national laboratories are banding together with higher education institutions to bring the state to the national forefront of artificial intelligence development. The seven-member New Mexico AI Consortium is the first of its kind to unify industry with educational institutions, according to Melanie Moses, computer science professor at the University of New Mexico and the university's leader within the AI Consortium. Its aim is to combine the research and education of the state's universities and colleges with the experience and computational power of Los Alamos and Sandia national labs. While many educational institutions have AI programs — including state-funded AI-literacy programs for K-12 students — the new partnership represents an expansion of the state's AI’s capabilities in regard to science, specifically, according to a UNM news release Monday. “We think New Mexico can be a real powerhouse in AI research and AI education by combining the universities with the labs' long history of working in AI and high performance computing,” Moses said in an interview. The consortium isn't interested in making the next ChatGPT or any other traditional language model. Instead, it's focused on using AI’s strength to recognize patterns among large amounts of data for research purposes — such as designing improved antibiotic drugs, or conducting material analysis on energy technology like batteries and solar panels. The newly formed union brings together Los Alamos and Sandia with UNM, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology, Central New Mexico Community College and the educational research nonprofit New Mexico Consortium to create a “pipeline,” to bolster the state’s AI research and employment opportunities. The consortium was formed during a recent meeting held by LANL that brought educational institutions together with lab leaders to discuss the state’s future in artificial intelligence. “In that meeting, it became clear that if we want to invest specifically in AI in the state, we really need to pool resources,” Moses said. It was a natural partnership, Moses said. Industry has the resources to develop AI for profit, while universities need more resources to research AI’s ethical and social implications. “So, we said, ‘Why don't we just see what we can do to pull people together?’ And everybody was excited to join this,” said Moses, who said she expects more colleges and institutions to join the coalition as it expands throughout the state. At the meeting, Moses sat alongside Los Alamos National Laboratory's AI Office Council Director Jason Pruet and Sandia's Director of Computing Research Jennifer Gaudioso, who testified in June before the congressional Joint Economic Committee on “artificial intelligence and its potential to fuel economic growth and improve governance.” In that hearing, Gaudioso said data from the U.S. Department of Energy would go a long way in training AI models. Moses, whose specialization is in biology-inspired computation, cited another recent example. The use of AI to predict the protein shape produced by a string of DNA, what she called, “an open problem in biology for the last five decades,” which was solved in just a few years by AI. The discovery came about as a result of an AI tool called AlphaFold, made by the Google Deep Mind team, which successfully mapped the predicted shape for all 200 million known proteins, earning the team the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. “That’s millions and millions of hours of human labor just taken care of. It’s done. The problem is essentially solved,” she said. There are some drawbacks to using AI, though. One of the largest is the lack of transparency, or the “black box” effect, referring to the fact that most AI models are unable to explain exactly why they arrived at a given conclusion. “It's a huge problem,” said Moses. “As a scientist, you're not very satisfied when it just says, ‘The answer is 42.’ You want explainability. Everyone understands that this black box nature of AI is not ideal.” Elimination or reduction of this black box effect is an early top priority for the consortium, said Moses, and for good reason. Not only is AI being looked at for hard scientific research applications in areas such as biomedicine and chemistry, but also within social sciences. Political scientists using AI to examine election infrastructure and law specialists using it to analyze legal codes and deliver proposed verdicts are just a couple of examples of the about 60 faculty members that Moses said are engaged in AI research at UNM. That expansion of AI applications has also given rise to those raising caution. Specifically in the form of an algorithmic justice team between UNM and the Santa Fe Institute, developed before the consortium, which is focused on ensuring AI provides tangible explanations, especially if an AI decision could affect a person’s livelihood. As one consortium-proposed solution, Sandia is “looking to the architecture of the human brain for a better model of how to build these sort of artificial neural networks,” said Moses, both as a method of reducing the black box effect and aiming to reduce the traditionally high energy expenditure of AI models. While the coalition is focused on bringing AI-interested students to the labs, it is also trying to expand the labs' role in the classroom, adding to the already-strong cohort of adjunct faculty with a background in the labs. While Moses recognized some jobs could be threatened by AI, having AI skills will “empower people to be more productive and to have secure, interesting jobs in the future,” she said. "This consortium is trying to foster all of us being able to apply for very large grants that will really bring funding into the state and to build this kind of ecosystem that'll attract AI startups and things of that nature," said Moses. "This right now is the seedling stage, and I'm hoping that we'll really grow into something that benefits all of the state."
Elway: Remorse over passing on Allen mitigated by play of NixBy far the most legendary restaurant in Alabama is The Bright Star in Bessemer. The famous establishment is iconic for not only its fabulous food but also for its hospitality. It is a landmark of Alabama history. The Bright Star is the place to see and be seen. Anybody who is famous and well connected in Alabama politics eats at The Bright Star when they are in Birmingham. It is a regular place to gather for Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Walker County politicos. Steve Flowers It has also been the favorite eating location for legendary Alabama football coaches Paul “Bear” Bryant and Nick Saban. In fact, there are private dining booths named the Bear Bryant Room and Nick Saban Room. In recent years Alabama basketball coach, Nate Oats, has become a regular. He has become close friends with the heir apparent owner, Andreas Anastassakis. Greek families have been the Lords of all the famous restaurants in Alabama. The Bright Star may be the brightest star in the history of Alabama’s fine dining. However, if they have had a rival in past years, it was the magnificent Elite Restaurant in downtown Montgomery. The Elite was run by the Xides family. Ed Xides ran an impeccable restaurant. They and the famous Sahara Restaurant in Montgomery were excellent but both closed decades ago. The Bright Star continues to shine. It makes every culinary list of favorite Birmingham Restaurants every year. It dominates every list in every category. Two brothers, Jimmy and Nicky Koikos, have continued the magnificent heritage of excellence at the Bessemer landmark for the last 50 years. Jimmy passed away from cancer a few years ago. Nicky continues to manage the fine eatery. He is there every day at age 78. The Bright Star is in its 118th year. The restaurant opened in 1907 with only a horseshoe shaped bar. It opened its doors to the bustling coal mining community of Jefferson County that year. It moved three times in the early years. The Bright Star moved to its present location in downtown Bessemer in 1915. The original marble floors and marble walls exist today. Can you imagine how majestic and elegant this place was to diners in early 20th century Bessemer? Another unique interior feature at The Bright Star is its array of murals painted by a European artist passing through Bessemer and restored to their original brightness in 2010. Good service and high-quality cuisine have perpetuated The Bright Star’s reputation for excellence. Fresh seafood is delivered daily from the Gulf Coast. Only the finest cuts of steak available are served. The Bright Star’s longtime dedication to culinary excellence was recognized on the national stage in 2010, when it was named one of “America’s Classics” by the James Beard Foundation at a ceremony in New York City. The fine food and service make it a delightful place to eat, but what I love about the place is its history and family legacy. When you see Nicky Koikos, you can look over his shoulder at portraits of his mother and father, who ran the restaurant for decades prior to Nicky and Jimmy. Jimmy and Nicky Koikos took over the reins in the 1970s. They were keeping it in the family. Nephew Andreas Anastassakis and niece Stacey Cocoris Craig have come on board to take over. Andreas is also the Chief Master Chef. The walls of the great Bright Star are adorned with photographs of some of the most famous people in America, like Sandra Bullock. However, it is practically a museum of University of Alabama football legends, who ate there regularly, including legends that won lots of national Championships like Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, Gene Stallings, and greats like Joe Namath, Johnny Musso, John Hannah to name a few. Even the legendary Bright Star maître d of 46 years, Marlon, is cousins with Marlon Humphrey and Bobby Humphrey. Bryant used to call him “Speedy.” Some of my fondest memories are having dinner at The Bright Star, with two of our iconic U.S. Senators, Judge Howell Heflin and Senator Richard Shelby. Shelby and Heflin both considered The Bright Star their favorite Alabama restaurant. It is a merry place to visit at Christmas. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steve@steveflowers.us . Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!