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Traffic police yet to recover ₹98 crore in finesBUFFALO, N.Y. — For our Most Buffalo Story of the Day, we're telling you about an opportunity to volunteer to help people in our own community. Friends of Night People in Buffalo serves hot meals 365 days a year, and does a whole lot more. "We serve diner every night of the year. We have about 65-hundred volunteer opportunities every year. So we always need a hand," said Patty Krehbiel, Friends of Night People Relationship Manager. Friends of Night People relies on volunteers year-round. Without them, they wouldn't be able to serve all of those hot meals or keep the clothing closet stocked and sorted. "Volunteers are what gives the place life. Without them, it would be a very, very, I'm going to say, quiet place. You know, they bring the light. They also give the people what they need," said Joslyn Briggins, Friends of Night People Case Manager. People like Cornelius, who visits Friends of Night People for breakfast and sometimes dinner, too. "It's not just the food. They help with clothing. Help with toiletries, things like that, too, as well," said Cornelius. They also help people find employment, get interviews, get phones, and more. "Unfortunately, most people, I don't think you realize, are about one to two paychecks away from this situation. You know, just don't have the savings there, the safety nets aren't there, and housing is really expensive," said Patty Krehbiel. Patrick Ceron goes to Friends of Night People for breakfast every day. "Thankfully for this place, I can come here and have a nice, hot meal," said Patrick Ceron. Ceron was homeless for about a year and just moved into a new apartment on Christmas Eve. "The homeless people need the help of volunteers in order to serve the food, in order to have clean clothes to change into, in order to take showers. They also provide showers here, and it's very important for volunteers to be here and help out," said Patrick Ceron. "I think that it can be a New Year's resolution. You can come with your friends. I'm here with my sister today. It was just something we wanted to do. So I think it's so important to have a consistent thing, and they get to see familiar faces, and you get to learn their names, and get to know more about them. I think it just makes it more meaningful," said volunteer Fiona Kavcic. "We really are grateful for everybody that comes in. They are just the backbone of what we do. Our donors, our volunteers are amazing, and we wouldn't be here without them," said Patty Krehbiel.Hyperconnected employees experiencing ‘dark side’ of digital work
Musk vs. MAGA: Trump supporters battle over role of immigrant labor and American workers
OTTAWA — Two senior members of the federal cabinet were in Florida Friday pushing Canada's new $1.3 billion border plan with members of Donald Trump's transition team, a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself appeared to finally push back at the president-elect over his social media posts about turning Canada into the 51st state. Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Affair Minister Melanie Joly shared few details of their meetings in Palm Beach, simply saying in a statement the U.S. officials they met with took notes and agreed to relay messages to Trump. "Minister LeBlanc and Minister Joly had a positive, productive meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Howard Lutnick and Doug Burgum, as a followup to the dinner between the prime minister and President Trump last month," wrote Jean-Sébastien Comeau, a spokesman for LeBlanc. Lutnick is Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, and Burgum is the former governor of North Dakota and current nominee for secretary of the interior. When announcing Lutnick as his commerce pick Trump said the chief executive of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald would be in charge of the Trump "tariff and trade agenda." "Both Ministers outlined the measures in Canada’s Border Plan and reiterated the shared commitment to strengthen border security as well as combat the harm caused by fentanyl to save Canadian and American lives." He added the ministers agreed to continue the discussions in the coming weeks. Joly is also expected to meet in Florida with senator Lindsay Graham Friday evening. This trip comes less than four weeks before Trump is sworn in again as president. He has threatened to impose a new 25 per cent import tariff on Canada and Mexico the same day over concerns about a trade imbalance, as well as illegal drugs and migration issues at the borders. The broad strokes of Canada's new border plan were made public Dec. 17, including a new aerial intelligence task force to provide round-the-clock surveillance of the border, and improved efforts using technology and canine teams to seek out drugs in shipments leaving Canada. Comeau said earlier Friday morning the ministers would also emphasize the negative impacts of Trump's threatened tariffs on both Canada and the U.S. Comeau said the ministers were to build on the discussions that took place last month when Trudeau and LeBlanc met Trump at Mar-a-Lago just days after Trump first made his tariff threat. It was at that dinner on Nov. 29 when Trump first raised the notion of Canada becoming the 51st state, a comment LeBlanc has repeatedly since insisted was just a joke. But Trump has continued the quip repeatedly in various social media posts, including in his Christmas Day message when he said Canadians would pay lower taxes and have better military protection if they became Americans. He has taken to calling Trudeau "governor" instead of prime minister. It isn't clear if LeBlanc raised the issue with Trump's team in Palm Beach Friday. Trudeau had not directly responded to any of the jabs, but on Thursday posted a link to a six-minute long video on YouTube from 2010 in which American journalist Tom Brokaw "explains Canada to Americans." "Some information about Canada for Americans" was all he wrote in the post. The video, which originally aired during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, explains similarities between the two countries, including their founding based on immigration, their trading relationship and the actions of the Canadian Army in World War 2 and other modern conflicts. "In the long history of sovereign neighbours there has never been a relationship as close, productive and peaceful as the U.S. and Canada," Brokaw says in the video. Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who is at the centre of some of Trudeau's recent domestic political troubles, also called out Trump's antics on X Thursday, calling it "casual disrespect" and "carrying the 'joke' too far." "Time to call it out, stand up for Canada, and build a true North American partnership," said Carney, who Trudeau was courting to join his cabinet before Chrystia Freeland resigned as finance minister last week. Freeland's sudden departure, three days after Trudeau informed her he would be firing her as finance minister in favour of Carney, left Trudeau's leadership even more bruised than it already was. Despite the expectation Carney would assume the role, he did not and has not made any statements about it. LeBlanc was sworn in as finance minister instead the same day Freeland quit. More than two dozen Liberal MPs have publicly called on Trudeau to resign as leader, and Trudeau is said to be taking the holidays to think about his next steps. He is currently vacationing in British Columbia. He did not make a public statement about the meeting as of publication. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2024. Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
JK Cong pays tributes to capable, honest PM Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Friday held a condolence meeting here to pay tributes to former prime minister Manmohan Singh and remembered the veteran politician and eminent economist as a great statesman who upheld the pluralistic ethos of the nation. State Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra expressed profound grief over Singh’s demise, calling him a great son of the country, the finest economist, statesman par excellence and the most humble and gentlemanly prime minister. The Congress leaders offered floral tributes to Singh and remembered him for his integrity and economic policies. Speaking on the occasion, Karra highlighted Singh’s unwavering commitment to addressing the challenges of the nation. He lauded the former prime minister’s dedication to preserving India’s religious, cultural, linguistic and regional diversity and his recognition of the federal structure as the cornerstone of the Constitution and the country’s polity. Karra emphasized Singh’s immense contributions, particularly in the field of economics, both as the finance minister during a challenging period and as the prime minister for two consecutive terms. He said, “Dr Singh brought great honour to the nation, not only as a renowned economist but also as a capable, honest and humble prime minister.” Under Singh’s leadership during UPA I and II, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed significant financial packages, economic growth, infrastructure development and major political initiatives aimed at fostering peace and normalcy, Karra added. Former deputy chief minister Tara Chand noted that Singh had introduced several transformative schemes and policies that aligned with the Directive Principles of State Policy. “Dr Singh created a high-growth economy on one hand and a safety net for the vulnerable on the other,” he added. Former minister and JKPCC working president Raman Bhalla also praised Singh as a statesman par excellence, great economist and veteran politician who believed in the pluralistic strength of the nation. “Dr Singh practised and preached unity in diversity throughout his life, even influencing those with different ideologies. He was a true asset to the nation, admired by people from all walks of life,” he said. The gathering observed a two-minute silence.Austria wants to send Syrians home. Refugees and their advocates say it's too soon
RTX 5090 with 32GB GDDR7 Spotted on ZOTAC Website, Along with 5080 and 5070Using public funds for trips to the 2022 Gator Bowl, consistent overspending and “questionable” financial transactions by a University of South Carolina office and its affiliates, are among findings in a critical new report by the state’s Legislative Audit Council . The University of South Carolina in Columbia. The audit — which investigated USC’s Office of Economic Engagement and its work with the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator and the South Carolina Research Foundation — was performed at the request of a bipartisan group of lawmakers in 2022. An investigation spanning 26 months found that the university’s Office of Economic Engagement had misspent $1.7 million of grant money and potentially violated state ethics codes. USC’s Office of Economic Engagement , which is a self-proclaimed intersection of industry, research and policy with the goal of innovating and meeting industry needs, had other problems, too, the audit showed. The incubator’s role is to support Columbia-area businesses. Though connected, the incubator is independent from the university. The USC office failed to comply with federal grant regulations, failed to disclose a conflict of interest, consistently exceeded its budget by thousands of dollars and spent taxpayer money on football bowl games and golf tournaments for an employee, according to the Dec. 5 report . Local news has never been this personal. Free to download. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access. And despite receiving more than $10 million in grant funding between 2018 and 2023, the office never had a grant administrator to properly manage its money, instead relying on other university factions, like the College of Engineering and Computing. But the university doesn’t agree with all of the audit’s findings, including the time it took to perform the audit and “the methodology employed, and a number of the findings and recommendations contained in the (report),” USC President Michael Amiridis wrote, as the university had already moved to correct many of the problems identified in the report. South Carolina received $48,467,924 in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief funds by the U.S. Department of Education to provide assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, $6 million of which was given to USC to establish Apple computer labs statewide. USC’s Office of Economic Engagement was responsible for the project, and the S.C. Department of Administration was supposed to monitor any expenditures. The university did open eight computer labs in across the state, though the audit said it failed to consider counties will less access to reliable broadband internet. But about $1.7 million of the that money was spent on “questionable” transactions, the report found. $400,000 for marketing the labs, some of which was spent in 2023 to market the office itself $286,553 for salaries and benefits for eight office employees who said they never worked on the grant, despite previously signing reports that they had $237,500 for a computing systems membership, which benefited USC, instead of the computer labs for which the money was intended $149,835 for a research database and expert portal that was not fully accessible as of June 2024 $4,589 for Apple Watches for 11 staff members of USC’s Palmetto College. According to the report, the money USC spent on marketing was through a contract with a public relations firm whose chairman and former CEO was a friend of the Office of Economic Engagement’s management. USC’s Office of Economic Engagement was also consistently over budget, the audit found. In five of the six years studied, the office had expenses that exceeded its funding, with deficits as high as $846,647 one year. It would have topped $1 million, if it hadn’t been for the governor’s emergency funding, the audit said. The report also noted that six of 162 travel reimbursements paid to office employees from 2019 through 2023 were for one employee to attend two galas and four sporting events, including golf tournaments and the 2022 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. The office claimed that the gala trips were “reasonable travel expenses” for outreach and networking for USC; that the golf tournament trips promoted corporate and industry engagement; and that the trip to the Gator Bowl was justified because the employee had hosted a businessperson and their family to discuss internship opportunities and potential partnership at the university’s future health sciences campus. According to the report, that businessperson denied attending the 2022 Gator Bowl. Five other reimbursements were paid to an employee who lived out-of-state to attend meetings in Columbia. The university said it will follow-up on the audit’s conclusions regarding this spending. USC and the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator have worked together since 2015, via a partnership of shared ideas, resources and personnel time, according to the audit, and used memorandums of understanding. Agreements between the two led to “vague” financial boundaries, allowing them to transfer money to each other without sufficient oversight, including two instances of the Incubator’s incorrect use of USC procurement cards. Employee compensation and responsibilities between the two were also murky. The report was also critical of the incubator’s practices, and claimed it had little oversight by its board of directors and had a “poor graduation rate” of its member businesses. The incubator, according to the report, failed to comply with nonprofit best practices and IRS guidelines. And its tax filings have been consistently filed late, have missing information and discrepancies. The incubator’s facilities also fell into disrepair and the city of Columbia terminated its lease. Member businesses complained of health and safety issues like rats, faulty wiring, broken smoke alarms, mold, loiterers and “human excrement” outside of building. The university has “disengaged” with the incubator for the time being. The State has reached out to the incubator for comment. Despite the issues found in the audit, the council concluded that USC’s Office of Economic Engagement does not need to be eliminated. In a six-page letter dated Dec. 4, Amiridis wrote that while the university welcomes reviews of its practices to identify potential waste or abuse of taxpayer resources, the university disagreed with some of the findings. The university argued that the grant expenditures questioned in the audit were “permissible and appropriate,” and that many of the recommendations in the report apply to outside organizations, not USC itself. Between the time Amiridis began his tenure as USC’s president in July 2022 and when the audit was requested that September, he had already implemented new leadership and changes to the business practices of the Office of Economic Engagement. More than half of the audit’s recommendations did not apply directly to the university, the university pointed out. “Regardless, USC accepts responsibility for and has already resolved the issues giving rise to the substance of (the Legislative Audit Council’s) Recommendations,” Amiridis wrote. University spokesman Jeff Stensland declined to comment further on the report, citing the president’s letter as the university’s official response. “The University of South Carolina is committed to prudent use of taxpayer funds,” Amiridis wrote. “The important work of (the Office of Economic Engagement) in forging new business partnerships and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship is essential to the University’s mission of serving the State.” Amiridis wrote that necessary changes had already begun prior to the audit, and new leadership is working to make the office “more efficient and more productive.” Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox.