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OAKLAND — The race to be Oakland’s next mayor may have officially kicked off Monday, but the starting line is eerily quiet — and may continue to be until Rep. Barbara Lee makes up her mind about whether to run. Lee, the longtime East Bay congresswoman and stalwart of progressive politics, said late last week in a social media post that she will announce her decision in early January, noting the decision was “not one I take lightly.” In the meantime, Lee has held numerous private meetings with city officials about the issues affecting Oakland, from the ongoing budget crisis to homelessness to policing, two sources with direct knowledge of those conversations told this news organization. The policy “deep dive,” as a source not authorized to speak publicly put it, might offer reassurance to skeptics who worry that the retiring legislator, who has represented Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley and San Leandro in Congress since 1998, would struggle to adapt to running a city full-time. But the larger consequence of Lee’s decision-making timeline is that the run-up to the April 15 special election to replace Mayor Sheng Thao has largely stalled. Most candidates are holding off until Lee makes a move. Hours after the formal start on Monday of the candidate filing period, which lasts until Jan. 17, only two people had scheduled appointments to pull papers for the office — Peter Liu and Mindy Ruth Pechenuk , a pair of fringe prospects who are unlikely to make a dent in the race. Loren Taylor, the runner-up in the 2022 mayoral election, said Monday he plans to pull papers in the coming days, noting in an interview that his desire to help Oakland grow as a city won’t be affected by whom he’s running against. But others, such as former Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente and lobbyist Isaac Kos-Read, have said they’re holding off. “To be candid, I’m getting a little restless — but out of respect I have to wait,” De La Fuente said Monday in an interview. “Hopefully, she’ll make a decision soon.” An open letter published last week by numerous Oakland leaders urging Lee to run included sign-offs from City Council members Nikki Fortunato Bas, Treva Reid and Dan Kalb, as well as prospective candidate Kos-Read. The letter included signatures from both labor leaders and local political figures who otherwise have often clashed on issues like crime and public spending. “We need someone who can bring the new ideas, policies, resources and opportunities that the people of Oakland deserve,” the letter read. “That person is Barbara Lee.” There are other examples of weighty political races symbolically put on hold amid “will they, won’t they” tension involving potential candidates, including late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s indecision to run for California governor in 1998. But the upcoming special election in Oakland is unique in how strongly some local leaders seem to be thinking past the election entirely in their overtures to Lee, said political expert Dan Schnur. “These communities and business and labor leaders aren’t begging her to run because they think she’s the only one who can win,” Schnur said. “They think she’s the only one who can govern.” The clearest sign of how many in the city view Lee — who has often weighed in on local affairs to oppose Thao’s recall or support striking teachers or chastise the departing A’s — might be a billboard that popped up in recent weeks along Interstate 880 in East Oakland. “Thank You, Barbara Lee,” it reads, “for bringing over half a billion dollars of federal funds into Oakland in 2024!” The billboard, hoisted near the highway’s High Street exit, also links to a website, thankyoubarbaralee.com, which lists some of Lee’s accomplishments and includes a sign-up form “to add your name to our letter of gratitude!” Both the physical and digital ads were created by the East Oakland Youth Development Center. Selena Wilson, the nonprofit’s CEO, said the gesture had nothing to do with the upcoming special election and was solely intended to honor the congresswoman for her longtime support of the center. Nationally, Lee is perhaps best known for being the only member of Congress to oppose the use of military force following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Her entry into the race would bring a layer of gravitas to the top political office in Oakland, a city whose reputation took a hit after crime rose and the economy declined during the pandemic. But it may also bring back memories of the mayoral tenure of the late Rep. Ron Delllums, whose decorated legacy was hurt by the perception that he was an absentee leader during the Great Recession, or former Gov. Jerry Brown, whose time as mayor coincided with the infamous Riders police brutality scandal. Taylor, meanwhile, is steadfast about wanting to lead, an ambition that has not diminished in the two years since his loss to Thao by fewer than 700 ranked-choice votes. “I think the fact that the others are playing a game of political calculus,” he said, “is indicative of where their leadership commitment is and how confident they are in what they’re bringing to the table.”FLARE-CARRYING ultras from Greek giants Panathinaikos are about to invade Shrewsbury. At least 900 of the Athens giants’ fans look set to descend on the Shropshire town to watch their club take on Welsh Premier League minnows The New Saints at The Croud Meadow. The Greek side’s Gate 13 ultras are famous for the noise, passion and atmosphere they create home and away . TNS are playing their Conference League games at the home of the League One club because their own Park Hall Ground in Oswestry does not meet Uefa regulations. And 19 miles along the A5, the locals are gearing up for tonight’s showdown in the hope that Craig Harrison’s players will smash some plates in their history-making campaign. As SunSport paid a visit, the only proper Greek restaurant in Shrewsbury — Exo Poli, just over a mile away from the ground — promises “a little bit of Crete” for customers heading to the match. Closer still is the Charles Darwin pub, named after the “theory of evolution” naturalist who was born in the town. Manager Katy Hutchings coped with plenty of visiting supporters after 1,800 Swedes descended on Shrewsbury for last month’s visit of Djurgarden. Those fans left The Croud Meadow in a mess — despite the visitors winning 1-0 — with graffiti sprayed on three sides of the ground and damage in Smithy’s Bar while two dozen seats were ripped out. But in the Charles Darwin there were no problems. Hutchings said: “We had some bouncers on the doors but we didn’t need them. “And I’m pretty good at throwing customers out myself anyway! “We’re well-used to visiting fans coming in here for Shrewsbury’s games and the Swedish lads were fine. “These games are great for the local economy — and in this town we’re proud of the way we always welcome visitors.” At the Oxon Priory pub close to the Roman Road, general manager Pam Hayward said: “The more the merrier. We’ll have extra staff in. “And we look forward to entertaining as many Greeks as want to join us before the game. Everybody around here is hoping The New Saints stay in the competition.” The Croud Meadow safety officer Lawrence Ellerby added: “There was talk on social media that there might be as many as 4,000 Panathinaikos fans coming. What we know is about 900 visitor tickets have been sold, with plenty of Greek ex–pats here buying them. “Damage done by Djurgarden fans was disappointing but we know how to cope with big numbers at this club. “We’ve had the likes of Liverpool and West Ham and never had any big problems. “We’re looking forward to the Panathinaikos game and their fans and good luck to TNS, we’re happy to give them a temporary home.” The campaign is not just a money-spinner for the town but also for 16-time domestic champs TNS — the first-ever Welsh League club to qualify for a European competition proper — as they made £4.1million in reaching the league stage. Goals from Rory Holden and Declan McManus gave them a 2-0 victory over Astana from Kazakhstan at The Croud Meadow to register another first by a Welsh outfit in a major European competition and a £330,000 win bonus. There was the TNS trip of a lifetime to Florence and a 2–0 loss to Fiorentina plus the 2-1 Dublin defeat to Shamrock Rovers . But a win over 20-time Greek title winners Panathinaikos would open the way to another Welsh League first — qualification for a European knockout stage. Last up is a visit to Celje in Slovenia and TNS are just one point off the Conference League’s play-off zone. Boss Harrison said: “Panathinaikos is huge for this club but if we could even come away from our last two games with four points to reach a total of seven we could have a chance of going through. “We’ve lost games but we haven’t conceded more than two in any — goal difference could be the deciding factor, if we can get seven points or more!”No secrets as Bucs visit Dave Canales, Panthers for NFC South showdown
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The “College Report” is back and will appear on a more regular basis moving forward. Today’s column will focus on football, sprint football and volleyball from the fall sports season. The next column will include a list of all known commitments/signings made by current high school students and recaps of the remaining fall sports (golf, soccer, tennis, cross country). Winter sports will be recapped in late December or early January. Among the most decorated fall athletes in football, sprint football and volleyball are: • St. Mary-of-the-Woods had five sprint football players to receive all-Midwest Sprint Football League honors. Former Riverton Parke standout running back Derron Hazzard was named to the first-team offensive squad after rushing for 605 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore. Named to the first-team defense were Parke Heritage grad Austin Petrillo, a junior defensive back who had three interceptions and ranked third on the team in tackles. The other players honored are Sullivan grads — linebacker Joshua Wence on the first team (led team with 52 tackles) and second-team choices Lane Sluder (junior defensive lineman) and Kyle Vernelson (junior wide receiver). Also honored was Terre Haute South grad Courtney Jones, a junior at Lipscomb University who was named to the all-ASUN Conference first team. She was a third-team all-ASUN choice last year. Jones led her team in kills and had 17 games with double-figure kill totals for the second straight year. • South Vermillion grad Augustus Shryock was a second-team all-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference choice on the defensive line. • Linton grad Gentry Warrick, a junior at Miami (Ohio), had a solo block in a loss to Northern Illinois this season to tie her for 10th all time in school history with 54 solo blocks. A few other notes that popped up during player research: • Terre Haute North and Indiana State graduate Steve Englehart is slowly turning around the Presbyterian College football program. The Blue Hose were just 1-10 in his first year, but improved to 4-7 last year and finished 6-6 this year. The team’s backup quarterback this year is redshirt sophomore Ty Englehart, son of the head coach who completed 20 of 39 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns in four games of action. In high school, Englehart set the single-season touchdown record at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy and earned offensive player of the year honors. He is majoring in Pre-Allied Health Sciences at Presbyterian. • Sullivan grad Lucas Copenhaver redshirted at the University of Indianapolis last year and entered his name in the transfer portal. Copenhaver, a 6-2, 290-pound interior offensive lineman, bucked the trend of players needing to go down a level or two to find a new place to play. Copenhaver landed with Division I Marshall. The Thundering Herd is 8-3 with one game left against James Madison this weekend, and will play in a bowl game later this year. Copenhaver has not seen a lot of action yet, but is one to keep an eye on with his size and strength. See lists of fall athletes and coaches with Wabash Valley connections online at www.tribstar.com . Joey Bennett can be reached at jbblkc@gmail.com . Please send any additions or corrections to him at this email address.Sex workers and former addicts in Czech Republic’s capital show tourists city’s dark sidePARSIPPANY, NJ – November 25, 2024, Nov. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ: LINC), a national leader in specialized technical training for more than 75 years, announces the graduation of eight new technicians from its specialized Johnson Controls International (JCI) Academy program at the Denver, CO campus. This is the first group to graduate from the Denver location; the JCI Academy has also operated at Lincoln’s Columbia, MD campus since the Fall of 2022. Since the inception of Lincoln Tech’s partnership with JCI in 2018, more than 500 students have graduated from Lincoln schools and gone straight to work at JCI locations across the country. “Our partnership with Johnson Controls enables us to broaden our innovative training programs, providing graduates with hands-on experience and direct pathways to careers that align with market needs,” says Scott Shaw, Lincoln Tech’s President and CEO. “We are proud to contribute to building a future-ready talent pool that ensures the efficient and sustainable operation of our building systems.” The graduating class celebrated its milestone on Friday, November 15th at the Denver campus – when the ribbon was also officially cut on the Johnson Controls Academy classroom. The graduates – six of whom had previously attended Lincoln Tech, along with two current JCI employee who were advancing their skill sets – will move into positions at JCI branches in Alaska, Illinois, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. As entry-level technicians, they’ll begin careers installing, troubleshooting, repairing and maintaining fire and security alarm systems on JCI-operated buildings. Marcus Biart, a graduate of the Electrical and Electronic Systems Technology program at Lincoln Tech’s Mahwah campus, enrolled in the JCI Academy to further his training and will go on to a position at JCI’s Fort Worth, TX location. “I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” he told his fellow graduates when speaking at Friday’s ceremony. “JCI’s instructors were willing to teach me, and I was eager to learn. Thank you for giving a young man like me a chance.” Mike Schade, VP of Human Resources at Johnson Controls, was among the speakers to congratulate the graduates on their successes. “You all wanted to do something unique and exciting with your life,” Schade said. You had a vision. And vision is an important word here – at Johnson Controls not only do we want to have great technicians and help build their careers, we want to help build the trades for our economy and our country. The work we do saves lives and saves the planet.” The JCI Academy at Lincoln Tech provides six weeks of intensive hands-on training designed to close the skilled labor gap and prepare future technicians for security and fire installation and service roles. On-site housing for the duration of the program and relocation expenses upon completion are supported by Johnson Controls. To ensure smooth onboarding, graduates of the Johnson Controls Academy receive support from a retention coach for one year post-graduation. The collaboration between Johnson Controls and Lincoln Tech began in 2018, enhancing classroom experiences with cutting-edge equipment and technology. Johnson Controls is dedicated to workforce development from the K-12 level and throughout employees' careers. Through the partnership with Lincoln Tech and initiatives like the Community College Partnership Program, STEM 101, and HVAC learning labs, Johnson Controls equips schools with vital resources to develop smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings, benefiting students along the way. There are more than 800,000 positions projected to open nationwide for electricians and electronic systems technicians by 2033*, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. * Career growth projections can be found at onetonline.org for the years 2023-2033 and are current as of November 18, 2024. ### About Lincoln Educational Services Corporation Lincoln Educational Services Corporation is a leading provider of diversified career-oriented post-secondary education. Lincoln offers recent high school graduates and working adults career-oriented programs in five principal areas of study: automotive technology, health sciences, skilled trades, information technology, and hospitality services. Lincoln has provided the workforce with skilled technicians since its inception in 1946. Lincoln currently operates 22 campuses in 13 states under four brands: Lincoln Technical Institute, Lincoln College of Technology and Euphoria Institute of Beauty Arts and Sciences. Lincoln also operates Lincoln Culinary Institutes in both Maryland and Connecticut.For more information, go to lincolntech.edu . Contact Information Lincoln Educational Services Corporation Scott Watkins swatkins@lincolntech.edu About Johnson Controls At Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI), we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet. Building on a proud history of nearly 140 years of innovation, we deliver the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through OpenBlue, our comprehensive digital offering. Today, with a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of building technology and software as well as service solutions from some of the most trusted names in the industry. Visit www.johnsoncontrols.com for more information and follow @Johnson Controls on social Platforms. Contact Information Johnson Controls International Kari Pfisterer (414) 217-1488 kari.b.pfisterer@jci.com Attachment Scott Watkins, VP Marketing Lincoln Tech 973.766.9656 Swatkins@lincolntech.eduSimone Biles faces a lonely Christmas without Jonathan Owens
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Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who was aggressive in his oversight of cryptocurrencies and other financial markets, will step down from his post on Jan. 20. Gensler pushed changes that he said protected investors, but the industry and many Republicans bristled at what they saw as overreach. President-elect Donald Trump had promised during his campaign that he would remove Gensler. But Gensler on Thursday that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated. Bitcoin since Trump’s victory. It hit new highs Thursday and was nearing $100,000. Bitcoin moved notably higher still after Gensler's resignation was announced. Gensler's stance on the rise of cryptocurrencies was captured during a speech he gave during the first year of his chairmanship in 2021 where he described the market as “the Wild West.” “This asset class is rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications,” he said in a speech at the Aspen Security Forum. “There’s a great deal of about how crypto assets work. In many cases, investors aren’t able to get rigorous, balanced, and complete information.” Under Gensler, the SEC brought actions against players in the crypto industry for , wash trading and other violations, including as recently as last month when the commission brought fraud charges against three companies purporting to be market makers, along with nine individuals for trying to manipulate various crypto markets. Yet access to cryptocurrencies became more widespread under Gensler. In January, the SEC approved exchange-traded funds that track the spot price of bitcoin. With such ETFs, investors could get easier access to bitcoin without the huge overlays required to buy it directly. Gensler, however, acknowledged the SEC had denied earlier, similar applications for such ETFs, including Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, among the first to eventually be approved by the SEC. “Circumstances, however, have changed,” Gensler said, pointing to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that said the SEC failed to adequately explain its reasoning in rejecting Grayscale’s proposal. Even there, Gensler made sure not to endorse the merits of bitcoin. He pointed to how ETFs that hold precious metals are tracking prices of things that have “consumer and industrial users, while in contrast bitcoin is primarily a speculative, volatile asset that’s also used for illicit activity including ransomware, money laundering, sanction evasion, and terrorist financing.” Gensler was tested early in his tenure with the rise of the meme stock phenomenon that shocked the financial system in early 2021. Earlier this year, the SEC under Gensler pushed Wall Street to speed up how long it takes for trades of stocks to settle, one of the areas where the commission’s staff recommended changes following the reckoning created by , one of the first meme stocks. In the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, hordes of smaller-pocketed and novice investors suddenly piled into the stock of the struggling video-game retailer. During the height of the frenzy, several brokerages barred customers from buying GameStop after the clearinghouse that settles their trades demanded more cash to cover the increased risk created by its highly volatile price. In May 2024, new rules meant broker-dealers have to fully settle their trades within one business day of the trade date, down from the previous two. Critics of the SEC under Gensler have called many of the agency's proposals overly burdensome. The investment industry, for example, is pushing against a proposal to force some advisers and companies disclose more about their environmental, social and governance practices, otherwise known as ESG. Critics say the proposal is overly complex and increases the risk of investor confusion, while imposing unnecessary burdens and costs on funds. On Thursday, Gensler stood by the SEC's track record under his direction. “The staff and the Commission are deeply mission-driven, focused on protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and ensuring that the markets work for investors and issuers alike," Gensler said in prepared remarks. “The staff comprises true public servants." Gensler previously served as Chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, leading the Obama Administration’s reform of the $400 trillion swaps market. He also was senior advisor to U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes in writing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) and was undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance and assistant secretary of the Treasury from 1997-2001.
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