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Prospera Financial Services Inc lowered its holdings in CMS Energy Co. ( NYSE:CMS – Free Report ) by 13.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,843 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CMS Energy by 431.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in CMS Energy by 206.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its stake in CMS Energy by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock. Insider Buying and Selling In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total value of $136,340.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,415,439.07. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Get Our Latest Report on CMS CMS Energy Trading Up 0.4 % Shares of CMS Energy stock opened at $69.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $55.10 and a 52-week high of $72.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. CMS Energy ( NYSE:CMS – Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year. CMS Energy Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 58.86%. CMS Energy Company Profile ( Free Report ) CMS Energy Corporation operates as an energy company primarily in Michigan. The company operates through three segments: Electric Utility; Gas Utility; and Enterprises. The Electric Utility segment is involved in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. This segment generates electricity through coal, wind, gas, renewable energy, oil, and nuclear sources. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CMS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for CMS Energy Co. ( NYSE:CMS – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for CMS Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CMS Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has selected former White House aide Brooke Rollins to lead the Department of Agriculture in his second administration. Here are some things to know about Trump’s choice and the agency that Rollins would lead if she is confirmed by the Senate. She is a lawyer with agriculture ties — and a strong relationship with Trump Rollins, 52, graduated from Texas A&M University with an undergraduate degree in agricultural development before completing law school at the University of Texas. She served as domestic policy chief during Trump's first term, a portfolio that included agricultural policy. After leaving the White House, she became president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. Over the years, Rollins has forged a strong enough relationship with Trump, who has prized proven loyalty in his Cabinet and top adviser picks , that she was among the people floated as a potential White House chief of staff. That job went to Susie Wiles, Trump's co-campaign manager. Rollins, in an interview earlier this year, called Trump an “amazing boss.” USDA is about more than farms President Abraham Lincoln founded the USDA in 1862, when about half of all Americans lived on farms. The sprawling department now reaches into every American neighborhood, grocery store and school cafeteria. The USDA is the primary agency overseeing the nation’s farming, forestry, ranching, food quality and nutrition. The agency has a dual purpose of promoting and regulating agriculture practice and products. The agency oversees multiple support programs for farmers; animal and plant health; and the safety of meat, poultry and eggs that anchor the nation’s food supply. Its federal nutrition programs provide food to low-income people, pregnant women and young children. And the department sets standards for school meals. The next USDA chief could figure prominently in Trump 2.0 Trump did not offer many specifics about his agriculture policies during the campaign. But if he keeps his pledge to impose sweeping tariffs, farmers could be affected quickly — and potentially harshly. During the first Trump administration, countries like China responded to Trump’s tariffs by imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports like the corn and soybeans routinely sold overseas. Trump countered by offering massive multibillion-dollar aid to farmers to help them weather the trade war. The ripple effects could extend to consumers’ grocery bills, as well. When things are going smoothly, agriculture secretaries are not usually prominent faces of an administration. But when the nation’s food supply is at issue, it could be another story. ___ Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Bill Barrow And Adriana Gomez Licon, The Associated Press
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have emerged from their bye week a little healthier and with a mindset that is zeroed in on the old "one week at a time" mantra. Sitting at 4-6 and still in with a shot at playoff football, the Buccaneers, who are currently on a four-game losing streak, know that they must start winning games, or else the season will begin to get away from them. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Thanks for the feedback.California Gov. Gavin Newsom is preparing to wage a legal war against President-elect Donald Trump, convening a special legislative session next month to try to “Trump-proof” the state. But it appears Newsom and California legislators won’t initially include artificial intelligence safeguards in that fight, even though AI regulations were a major preoccupation of the Legislature this year. Trump has promised to immediately rescind President Joe Biden’s executive order that had imposed voluntary AI guardrails on tech companies and federal agencies. The president-elect’s administration could also, immigrant advocates say, use AI tools to assist the mass deportation he has pledged to implement. While California adopted a number of AI regulations earlier this year, other issues are likely to take priority in Newsom’s special session, legislators told CalMatters. There are signs, though, that AI could — in the not-so-distant future — go from abstract concern to prominent political cudgel between the Trump administration and California’s Democratic leaders. It could be another high-profile way to challenge Trump and his newfound tech allies, some of whom have gleefully proclaimed a new, deregulated era for artificial intelligence products. “I think Newsom and the California Legislature have an opportunity to step into the gap that the federal government is leaving — to create a model environment for safe and rights-respecting technology and deployment,” said Janet Haven, executive director of the Data & Society Research Institute, a nonprofit that studies the social implications of AI and other technologies. “On the other hand, there’s no way to get around the fact that Big Tech is right there, and will be a huge factor in whatever the California Legislature and Newsom want to advance in terms of AI legislation.” AI safety advocates told CalMatters they’re not necessarily sweating the apocalyptic AI nightmares imagined by some doomsayers. Instead, they are focused on how AI tools are increasingly used in healthcare, housing, the labor force, law enforcement, immigration, the military, as well as other industries and fields prone to discrimination, surveillance, and civil rights violations — because there’s evidence that such tools can be unwieldy, inaccurate, and invasive . “We have documentation that shows how these AI systems are likely to do all sorts of things—they’re pattern-making systems, they’re not really decision-makers, but the private sector and the public sector are using them as a substitute for decision-makers,” said Samantha Gordon, chief program officer at TechEquity. “That’s not wise.” Santa Ana Democratic Sen. Tom Umberg told CalMatters that 2024 “was a bit of a testing year” for AI bills. California lawmakers outlawed sexually explicit deepfakes and certain election-related deepfake content, required tech companies to provide free AI detection tools, and stipulated that tech companies must publicly release data about their AI training tools. Gov. Newsom ultimately signed roughly 20 AI bills into law. But he also controversially vetoed a major bill by San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener that would’ve instituted significant testing requirements on AI tools to make sure they avoid catastrophic outcomes such as major cybersecurity or infrastructure attacks, or the creation of weapons that could cause mass death. In his veto message, Newsom wrote that the bill risked curtailing innovation, but he added that he wanted to “find the appropriate path forward, including legislation and regulation.” Wiener told CalMatters he’s working on updated legislation that could garner “broader support.” Such a bill would presumably include additional buy-in from the tech sector, which the state is relying on for tax revenues , and which has a notable lobbying presence in Sacramento — Google just racked up the largest quarterly lobbying tab in a decade. Asked whether to expect more Big Tech lobbying against regulatory efforts in California, Palo Alto Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman said: “It’s going to be a good time to be a lobbyist. They’re going to do very well.” Though Wiener’s AI testing bill was batted down, as were a few other noteworthy AI bills that didn’t make it out of the Legislature, California is “far and away the center of AI regulation in the U.S,” said Ashok Ayyar, a Stanford research fellow who co-wrote a comparative analysis of Wiener’s bill against the European Union’s more comprehensive AI efforts. California is leading on AI in large part because the competition is basically non-existent. Congress hasn’t passed meaningful AI legislation. Asked about Trump and the incoming Republican majority, San Ramon Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said, “There isn’t much regulation to deregulate, to be honest.” Sans federal legislation, President Biden issued an executive order in October 2023 intended to place guardrails around the use of AI. The order built on five policy principles on the “design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public.” Biden directed federal agencies “to develop plans for how they would advance innovation in the government use of AI, but also protect against known harms and rights violations,” said Haven. Soon after Biden’s executive order, his administration created the U.S. AI Safety Institute, which is housed within the Commerce Department. Biden’s executive order relies on tech companies, many of which are based in California, to voluntarily embrace the administration’s suggestions; it also relies on agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, to be transparent and honest about how they’re using AI technology and not violate people’s civil rights. Like most executive orders, Biden’s AI edict is loosely enforceable and fairly easy to reverse. Trump has already promised to repeal Biden’s executive order on day one of his term; the 2024 Republican platform argues that the executive order “hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology.” Homeland Security and other executive branch agencies may be granted far more flexibility when Trump takes office, though advocates say the bar was already low; a June 2024 report from the nonprofit Mijente titled “Automating Deportation” argues the department hasn’t followed through on the Biden administration’s already relatively meager requests. After Trump clinched the 2024 presidential election, segments of the tech industry were jubilant about what they foresee for the AI industry—including an imminent uptick in government contracts. “Stick a fork in it, it’s over,” Marc Andreessen, the billionaire general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote on X. “The US will be the preeminent AI superpower in the world after all.” If mass deportation of undocumented immigrants come to pass, as Trump has promised, that would require a wide variety of technologies, including AI tools. Homeland Security already employs an AI system called the Repository for Analytics in a Virtualized Environment, or RAVEn, a nine-figure government contract. The department also has access to an extensive biometric database, and monitors certain undocumented immigrants outside of detention centers via a surveillance tool that utilizes AI algorithms to try to determine whether an immigrant is likely to abscond. “We know from Trump’s first administration that there are going to be fewer guardrails with the use of this tech, and agents will feel even more emboldened,” said Sejal Zota, co-founder and legal director of Just Futures Law, a legal advocacy group focused on immigration, criminal justice and surveillance issues. “That’s one area where we’re going to see increased AI use to support this mass deportation agenda.” To the best of Zota’s knowledge, there’s little California lawmakers or courts could do to prevent federal agencies from using AI tech against vulnerable populations, including undocumented immigrants. “Is it an issue? Absolutely, it’s an issue,” said Sen. Umberg. “What can we do about it? What can we do about federal agencies using artificial intelligence? We can’t do much.” Estimates show there are at least 1.8 million undocumented immigrants in California. Another potential threat to California’s AI regulations is if the majority Republican Congress passes looser AI rules of its own, preempting state law. California lawmakers, including Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan and Sen. Umberg, said they don’t think significant AI legislation will make it to President Trump for his signature. Congressional gridlock is one reason Sen. Wiener said he’s pursuing AI regulation in the California Legislature in the first place: “I was very clear that if (the issue) were being handled statutorily at the federal level, I’d be happy to close up shop and go home,” he said. “But it wasn’t happening, and it’s certainly not going to happen under Trump.” Not everyone believes Congress will remain stagnant on this issue, however, particularly with one party now dominant in Washington. “I wouldn’t underestimate the creativity of this incoming administration,” said Paromita Shah, executive director of Just Futures Law. Added Haven: “I think it’s possible that with a Republican trifecta, we’ll see an attempt to pass a very weak data privacy law at the federal level that preempts state law. Then it’s a game of whack-a-mole between the state legislature and the federal legislature.” Newsom has to date signed many AI bills but turned back others he says go too far and risk inhibiting an industry he has sought to cultivate as a government partner . A spokesperson for Newsom did not directly respond to CalMatters’ questions for this story, instead providing a statement highlighting the state’s role in shaping the future of so-called “generative AI,” a recent and innovative form of the technology behind tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Midjourney: “California has led the nation in protecting against the harms of GenAI while leveraging its potential benefits,” said spokesperson Alex Stack. President-elect Trump’s team did not respond to written questions from CalMatters. Dan Schnur, a political analyst and professor at UC Berkeley and other campuses, predicted the governor will save his political capital for other clashes. “Newsom’s incentive for strengthening his relationship with Silicon Valley is probably stronger than his need for yet one more issue to fight over with Donald Trump,” Schnur said. Florence G’Sell, a visiting professor at Stanford’s cyber policy center, cautioned Newsom against clinging to the deregulatory side of Silicon Valley. “There is really a very strong movement that wants to highlight the risks of AI, the safety questions,” G’Sell said. “If I were the governor, I wouldn’t be insensitive to this movement and the warnings.” Lawmakers are eyeing other avenues to shore up Californians’ redresses against AI technology. Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan previously told CalMatters she plans to reintroduce a stronger version of a bill, which failed to advance past the Legislature last session, to crack down on discriminatory AI practices. Another top AI priority, according to Menlo Park Democratic Sen. Josh Becker, is less sexy, but perhaps just as important: “closely monitor the implementation of this year’s regulatory framework (that we just passed),” he wrote. California’s next AI regulatory steps were always going to be intensely analyzed. That’s even more so the case now, with Trump returning to office—a challenge state lawmakers are embracing. “One of the things that is somewhat amusing to me is when folks come to me and say, ‘Whatever you do in California is going to set the standard for the country,’ Sen. Umberg said. “As a policymaker, that’s catnip. That’s why I ran for office.”AMG Critical Materials Signs Letter of Intent to Repurchase 40% Stake in its Subsidiary Graphit Kropfmühl
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NEW YORK (AP) — Federal investigators in New York are seeking records from the manufacturer of an AI-powered weapons scanner that was briefly deployed this summer in New York City’s subway system. The tech company, Evolv, revealed in a public filing that it “received a voluntary document request from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York” on Nov. 1. It was unclear what the request was seeking. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment on the request, which was first reported by the Daily News. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Evolv said the company was “pleased to cooperate with all government agencies and regulators who request information from our company.” The Massachusetts-based tech company, whose scanners have also been used at sports stadiums and schools, has faced allegations of misconduct. Last month, Evolv’s board of directors fired its chief executive following an internal investigation that found certain sales had been “subject to extra-contractual terms and conditions.” On Tuesday, the company announced it had resolved a previous probe launched by the Federal Trade Commission last year over allegations of deceptive marketing practices. The company is also under separate investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite the legal and regulatory scrutiny, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a pilot program this summer to bring a handful of scanners to the city's subways to deter gun violence. The initiative drew immediate criticism from civil liberties groups who said the searches were unconstitutional, along with questions about its efficacy. In October, the city revealed the scanners did not detect any passengers with firearms — but falsely alerted more than 100 times. At the time, a spokesperson for the New York Police Department said it was still “evaluating the outcome of the pilot” and had not entered into any contract with Evolv.
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Percentages: FG .464, FT .733. 3-Point Goals: 4-18, .222 (Baldwin 2-6, Dilione 1-4, Hicks 1-4, Carter 0-1, Dunn 0-1, Johnson 0-2). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 5 (Konan Niederhauser 3, Dilione 2). Turnovers: 16 (Baldwin 5, Dilione 4, Konan Niederhauser 3, Dunn 2, Kern, Stewart). Steals: 5 (Baldwin 2, Dilione, Dunn, Kern). Technical Fouls: None. Percentages: FG .439, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 9-19, .474 (C.Hunter 3-6, Zackery 2-2, Jones 2-3, Wiggins 2-4, Lakhin 0-1, Schieffelin 0-1, D.Hunter 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 3 (Schieffelin 2, Lakhin). Turnovers: 13 (Lakhin 5, C.Hunter 2, Schieffelin 2, Wiggins 2, D.Hunter, Zackery). Steals: 7 (Schieffelin 4, Lakhin 2, Wiggins). Technical Fouls: None. .Scheifele notches hat trick as Jets top Maple Leafs 5-2 ahead of NHL's holiday break