Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SAGE) Upgraded at Royal Bank of CanadaCelebrations and taking stock as ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel takes hold
COP29: India says climate deal falls shortCelebrations and taking stock as ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel takes holdThe Tampa Bay Buccaneers head to California this week to take on the Los Angeles Chargers. They’ll do so without three key members of their defense. Via Fox Sports Greg Auman , “Bowles says Winfield, Edwards and Britt are ruled out. Irving and Izien are both questionable.” Bowles on running back Bucky Irving and defensive back Christian Izien via the team’s website , “They’re questionable right now,” said Bowles. “We’ll see as it gets closer to the game. We may have to work them out beforehand to see how they feel.” Rookie Bucky Irving has been a bright spot for the Buccaneers, rushing for 735 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns, while averaging an impressive 5.4 yards per carry. He’s also been a reliable receiver out of the backfield, hauling in 36 passes. However, Irving’s recent performances have been impacted by injuries, including a back issue that forced him to exit last Sunday’s game against the Raiders early, as well as a hip ailment he suffered the previous weekend in Charlotte. Christian Izien has been a versatile and vital component of Todd Bowles’ defense, filling various roles in the secondary amidst a slew of injuries. He’s seamlessly transitioned between slot, free safety, and outside cornerback, showcasing his adaptability. Izien’s flexibility was on full display against the Raiders, where he played multiple positions. With Antoine Winfield Jr. and Mike Edwards already sidelined for Sunday’s game, the Buccaneers’ defensive alignment against the Chargers will heavily depend on the availability of another key player, Bucky Irving . As mentioned, linebacker K.J. Britt has also been ruled out with an ankle injury. Look for the Buccaneers to use more single linebacker sets as they did against Las Vegas last week. This article first appeared on Bucs Report and was syndicated with permission.
Poet, activist and former Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni showed us that poetry could be a path to liberation. Now, it's our turn to walk that path, preacher and author F. Willis Johnson writes. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on X (Opens in new window) Most Popular Get healthier in the new year with these resources in the Williamsburg area Get healthier in the new year with these resources in the Williamsburg area Chinese student’s drone got stuck in tree near Newport News Shipbuilding, leading to Espionage Act prosecution Chinese student’s drone got stuck in tree near Newport News Shipbuilding, leading to Espionage Act prosecution James City County officer, 17-year-old injured in Christmas Eve crash James City County officer, 17-year-old injured in Christmas Eve crash Longtime Phoebus Auction Gallery to close after New Year’s Day event Longtime Phoebus Auction Gallery to close after New Year’s Day event How to dispose of natural Christmas trees in Hampton Roads How to dispose of natural Christmas trees in Hampton Roads Williamsburg leaders to prioritize funding for regional Trail757 project Williamsburg leaders to prioritize funding for regional Trail757 project ‘We’re buddies now’: William & Mary students work with dementia patients as part of new program 'We're buddies now': William & Mary students work with dementia patients as part of new program Juvenile humpback whale washes ashore on Outer Banks Juvenile humpback whale washes ashore on Outer Banks New Kent administrator’s capital improvement plan has some big ticket items New Kent administrator's capital improvement plan has some big ticket items RUSSIANS, U.S. FLY SIDE-BY-SIDE RUSSIANS, U.S. FLY SIDE-BY-SIDE Trending Nationally Body found in wheel well of plane from Chicago to Maui How Diddy and Luigi Mangione spent Christmas in Brooklyn jail Massive invasive python is freed into the Palm Beach County wilderness. Here’s why ‘Baby Driver’ actor Hudson Meek dead at 16 Pregnant woman stabbed multiple times by pizza deliverer disgruntled about tip, sheriff saysIs MSNBC For Sale? Joe Rogan Wants To 'Replace' Rachel Maddow If Elon Musk Buys ...
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office. “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” he wrote. Setting clocks forward one hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall is intended to maximize daylight during summer months, but has long been subject to scrutiny. Daylight saving time was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. Lawmakers have occasionally proposed getting rid of the time change altogether. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan bill named the , had proposed making daylight saving time permanent. The measure was , whom Trump has tapped to helm the State Department. Related Articles “Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said as the Senate voted in favor of the measure. Health experts have said that lawmakers have it backward and that standard time should be made permanent. , including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said that it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology. do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do, the date that clocks are changed varies, creating a complicated tapestry of changing time differences. Arizona and Hawaii don’t change their clocks at all.TJ Bamba led Oregon with 22 points and five assists in the Ducks' 78-68 victory over San Diego State on Wednesday in pool play of the Players Era Festival at Las Vegas. The Ducks (7-0) won both games in the "Power Group" and will play in the championship Saturday against the top team from the "Impact Group." San Diego State (3-2) will await its opponent for one of the secondary games Saturday. The matchups are based on seeding dependent on performance of the first two games. Bamba made 7 of 14 shots from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Keeshawn Barthelemy had 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and hit 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. Nate Bittle finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, Brandon Angel 12 points and six rebounds and Jackson Shelstad paired 12 points with four assists. BJ Davis led San Diego State with 18 points before fouling out. Nick Boyd finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Neither team led by more than four points until Oregon scored nine unanswered to take a 34-27 lead with 2:20 left in the first half. Barthelemy started the run with a jumper and finished it with a 3-pointer. Oregon outscored San Diego State 16-4 in the last 4:23 of the half to take a 41-31 lead into the break. Bamba and Barthelemy combined for 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting in the first half. Boyd led San Diego State with 13 points, making all three of his 3-point attempts and going 5-of-6 overall. A 7-2 run for Oregon increased its advantage to 48-35 with 17:36 remaining, but San Diego State cut the lead to 56-53 with 10:58 left following a 9-0 run. A Bamba 3-pointer closed an 8-2 stretch with 4:15 remaining to increase Oregon's lead to 73-63. San Diego State did not get closer than eight points the rest of the way. Davis fouled out with 31 seconds left and Oregon leading 77-68. --Field Level Media
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Storm Bert: Clean-up to cost millions, as thousands of premises remain without power and wind warnings still in place for several countiesMinister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has vowed to revoke the lands of anyone who acquired them illegally, regardless of their relationship with him. According to his spokesman, Lere Olayinka, Wike is prepared to take action against friends, family, and even enemies who fail to regularize their land allocation within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Speaking on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Friday, Olayinka warned that those who fail to comply with the regularization process will lose their properties. He also revealed that the Federal Capital Development Authority has published the names of 9,532 Nigerians who owe the government for failing to regularize their land allocations within the FCT. The list includes notable figures such as former President Ibrahim Babangida and former Benue Governor Samuel Ortom. Olayinka emphasized that Wike will not show favoritism to anyone, stating, “What he is saying is that he will not deal with anyone based on friendship but on doing the right thing.” READ ALSO: States, FCT Will Implement New Minimum Wage By January 2025 – FG His words: “Among the people named was former President Ibrahim Babangida and former Benue Governor Samuel Ortom. Ortom, a very close friend and political ally of the FCT Minister, had his name published. “He says that if you have legitimate land ownership, even if you are his enemy, there will be no issue. However, if you don’t have legitimate ownership, even if you are his friend or wife, you will lose the land. “I am saying this again: those whose names have been published, among the 9,532 people, should do what they need to do. If the government decides to revoke their allocation, they will go to TV stations and social media activists to speak for them. “They now have the option to regularise their ownership, and we are calling on them to do so immediately. If they don’t, they will lose those lands. The minister will not consider whether you are his friend or enemy; he will only consider the legitimacy of your claims.”City have lost their last five matches after being thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham on Saturday. Pep Guardiola admits the buck stops with him as Manchester City bid to arrest their dramatic slump in form. The champions crashed to a fifth straight defeat in all competitions – something not experienced by the club in more than 18 years – as they were thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. The loss, which was also a third in succession in the Premier League and shattered a 52-game unbeaten home run, damaged the club’s hopes of winning an unprecedented fifth title in a row. It is the worst run of Guardiola’s glittering managerial career and the City boss, who extended his contract until 2027 last week, is determined to turn the situation around. The Catalan said: “When we start to lose I say to the people I have to find a way, I have to. It’s my duty, my responsibility, to find a way to be more consistent, that our game will be better and win games. “This is what we have to do.” City have been hampered by injuries to key players in recent weeks, particularly by the absence of Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Rodri, who has been sidelined for the remainder of the season. Problems have emerged at both ends of the field with a lack of clean sheets – just five in 19 outings this term – and a shortage of goals being scored on occasions, like Saturday, when the prolific Erling Haaland has an off-day. Guardiola said: “We don’t expect to lose important players but it’s happened and you have to find a way. We have to find other abilities. “I don’t think we didn’t create enough chances. We created a lot of chances, clear ones at 0-0, 0-1, 0-2. “Of course we want a lot of players to score but it’s happened now. “I know at the Etihad when we are there and we score goals our momentum is there, but now we are not solid enough. That is the truth. “In both sides normally we are solid but we concede the goals. Now in both sides we are not good enough. “In these situations, what do you have do to? Keep going my friends, keep going. “We have done it in the past – not in terms of results being as bad as now – but we have done it and we face the situation and move forward.”
After a three-year plummet, dogecoin is blasting off again , jumping 250% since the election of Donald Trump – part of a broader wave of optimism in the industry , due to Trump’s courting of crypto advocates during his campaign. Trump’s informal appointment of Musk to what he calls the department of government efficiency – Doge for short – also helped pump the dog-themed memecoin . This isn’t the first time Musk, who styles himself as “ the Dogefather ,” has fuelled interest in dogecoin. In May 2021, its price shot up in anticipation of Musk’s guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. During one skit, Musk played a financial analyst in conversation with a Weekend Update host, who repeatedly asked him, “What is dogecoin?” After some obfuscation, Musk’s character finally admitted that it was a hustle. The price of the coin went into freefall . Just over a year later, it had shed over 90% of its peak value . The losses hit small investors hard. In 2022, one of them filed a class-action lawsuit against Musk for market manipulation and insider trading, though the case was dismissed in August 2024. Why has dogecoin – a memecoin that was never meant to be taken seriously as an investment – seen such extreme swings in value? Dogecoin was launched in 2013 to spoof bitcoin and a slew of other cryptocurrencies that were claiming to disrupt the traditional world of finance. Two strangers from across the globe met online , copied the code of an existing coin, and branded it with the already popular Doge internet meme – a picture of a Shiba Inu dog surrounded by fragments of broken English: “Wow much coin.” Although their main goal was to make the coin pointless and undesirable, it became one of the most popular and enduring cryptocurrencies on the market. Following dogecoin’s previous surge in 2021, I studied how its fervent network of influencers and everyday investors worked together to draw tremendous attention – and capital – to the joke currency. To understand the appeal of these absurd investments, you have to look at the time and energy that users invest into these networks and the rewards, both financial and social, they get in return. Memecoins are collaborative enterprises. Members of these online communities have an economic incentive to become outspoken boosters: the more the value of dogecoin rises, the more their investments grow. But they also receive social validation from other memecoin investors when they pump up the coin. In other words, behind every memecoin is a collective of strangers on a communal mission to make more money. Dogecoin and its imitators have been described by their leadership as crypto movements , shared journeys and community-owned projects. Beyond branding the assets with culturally resonant images, whether it’s a Shiba Inu dog or Pepe the Frog , successful crypto ventures are characterised by complex webs of trust. Trust in the technology. Trust in its potential for future appreciation. And trust that those holding power in the networks won’t exploit the rest. This loyalty is woven among a global network of users who collaborate around the clock to promote their coin and demonstrate their unwavering commitment to its success. In times of price appreciation, the collective buzzes with elation . During price dips, community members mutually reinforce their comrades’ – and their own – beliefs that this is just a bump in the road and that their collective efforts will eventually lead to a handsome payoff. Even in the coldest of crypto winters , this ritualistic behaviour helps these speculative communities endure. Community serves as a substitute for financial loss. The investment strategies in these communities – and the conviction in their payoff – involve repeating and reposting what others have said, like any traditional internet meme. The real value of meme coins cannot be understood in the same way as traditional assets, such as stocks and physical commodities. These types of assets have fundamentals, such as a company’s financial statements, or public demand for basic goods, from coffee to oil. Conversely, the fundamentals of memecoins are reflected in their network activity, such as daily active users, and less concrete metrics, such as social sentiment and mindshare – how much public awareness a coin has generated compared with its rivals. Of course, the valuations of traditional assets are also affected by these social factors. The difference is that memecoins offer little by way of productive activity. They add nothing to the economy. Occasionally, their leadership will build financial services around them , but these are generally added as afterthoughts, especially as a way to drum up more speculative excitement. Memecoins troll the traditional conventions of valuation and mock the edicts and dogmas of mainstream investors. And that’s exactly the point. Participation in memecoin communities – or any crypto community, for that matter – entails embracing an alternative economic experience. They are speculative sandboxes for playing outside of the conventional rules of investment. Musk is the quintessential meme coininfluencer. As the richest man in the world, he’s viewed by many as a paragon of savvy investing. His massive following extends far beyond dogecoin’s social network. And his promotional efforts are playful – so playful that the judge in his class-action case dismissed his dogecoin tweets as mere “puffery” and that “no reasonable investor could rely upon them”. Dogecoin previously reached the peak of its memetic momentum when Musk appeared on Saturday Night Live. Now, instead of sitting at the Weekend Update news desk cracking jokes, he’s sitting in Trump’s office advising the president-elect. In other words, dogecoin’s memetic resonance has ascended from pop culture to politics, helping it capture a bigger slice of the public’s mindshare. While dogecoin has specifically benefited from Musk’s proximity to Trump, the broader crypto market is leaping with optimism for a crypto-friendly administration. Speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, the GOP candidate ensured he’d make the US “ the crypto capital of the planet .” After pouring US$131-million into this election cycle , the crypto industry can now claim 274 pro-crypto members of the US house of representatives and 20 pro-crypto US senators. Between Musk buddying up with Trump and a shifting regulatory environment, the dog can once again run free. The author, Maximilian Brichta, is doctoral student of communication, University of Southern California This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original articleKobe Sanders, Nevada beat Oklahoma St. for fifth place in Charleston
As President Joe Biden's term comes to an end, social media users are falsely claiming that his administration spent billions of dollars on the construction of just a handful of electric vehicle charging stations. Multiple high-profile figures, including sitting members of Congress, have promoted the claims. The claims misrepresent funding set aside by the 2021 Infrastructure and Jobs Act , also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, for a national network of publicly available electric vehicle chargers . Biden has set a goal of creating 500,000 such chargers by 2030. Here's a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: The Biden administration spent $7.5 billion to build eight electric vehicle charging stations. THE FACTS: That's incorrect. The $7.5 billion figure refers to the total amount allocated through the 2021 law to build a network of charging stations across the U.S., not the amount that has already been spent. There are currently 214 operational chargers in 12 states that have been funded through the law, with 24,800 projects underway across the country, according to the Federal Highway Administration. A charger, often called a charging port, provides electric power to one vehicle at a time through a connector, which is plugged into the vehicle. Stations are physical locations that can have multiple chargers. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called the claims spreading online “false” in a series of X posts. “$7.5B has not been spent, nor anything like that,” he wrote, adding that federally funded chargers are built by individual states, not the federal government, and that most will be built in the second half of the 2020s. The total $7.5 billion in funding consists of $5 billion distributed through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program , or NEVI, and $2.5 billion distributed through the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program , or CFI. NEVI funds, as determined by a formula, go annually to departments of transportation in all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, from 2022 to 2026. The funds will be available until 2030. Each year, 10% of NEVI funding is set aside for states and local governments that require additional assistance. CFI provides grants to states and other localities through an application process. It funds electric vehicle charging, as well as other alternative fueling infrastructure, with a focus on underserved and disadvantaged communities. Rep. Michael Rulli, a Republican from Ohio, was among multiple high-profile figures who falsely claimed this week that the entire budget has already been spent. “Pete Buttigieg will leave his post as Transportation Secretary having spend $7.5 BILLION to build 8 EV charging stations,” he wrote in an X post that had received approximately 62,900 likes and shares as of Wednesday. “His legacy will be squandering billions on something nobody wants, while millions struggle to afford the things they need.” Rulli's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. By early this year, only four states — Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Hawaii — had opened stations funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, The Associated Press reported in March . A Washington Post article published the next day said this amounted to just seven stations . Loren McDonald, an independent analyst tracking the electric vehicle charger buildout, told the AP that when assessing the progress that's been made it's important to understand that some states have extensive experience constructing electric vehicle charging infrastructure while others have little to none. He explained that Wisconsin, for example, had to pass a new law in order to comply with federal requirements. “This is a federal program, but at the end of the day, it's completely dependent on the states,” he said. “And so the real criticism probably needs to be directed at the states that are moving slowly or how the program was structure. But I don't know how else you would have done it.” Asked whether the federal government could do anything to help states move faster, McDonald suggested that it could have provided them with more guidance on how to manage their individual buildouts. All 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have access to two rounds of NEVI funding totaling nearly $2.4 billion, according to the Federal Highway Administration. As of Friday, 37 states have access to their third round of funding, for an additional $586 million total. The agency explained, however, that this does not represent money that has already been spent — just the money that is available to fund projects. The Federal Highway Administration has announced more than $1.3 billion in awards through CFI and funds set aside by NEVI with $779 million in grants currently available under both programs. This also represents money that is available for projects rather than money that has been spent. There are currently more than 203,000 publicly available charging ports across the U.S., with nearly 1,000 being turned on every week, according to the agency. This is more than double the number available in 2021. In addition to NEVI and CFI, funding sources include federal tax incentives and private investments. Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck .