Semiconductor manufacturer SkyWater Technology will receive up to $16 million in federal funding to upgrade its Bloomington facility, yet another Minnesota business tapped to help increase domestic production of the critical technology. Officials announced the funding as part of a preliminary agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, passed in 2022 to strengthen the U.S.’s semiconductor industry and supply chains. Bloomington-based SkyWater will use a total of $127 million — including $19 million in matching funds from the state — through the next five years to improve its infrastructure and cybersecurity systems, among other upgrades, CEO Thomas Sonderman said during a news conference Friday at the company’s headquarters. The funding will enable SkyWater to increase its production capacity by 30% and create an estimated 70 jobs, he said. The company’s semiconductors are parts of cutting-edge technologies in computing, biomedical and thermal imaging. “With these awards, we’re enhancing our capabilities to invest in the future,” Sonderman said. “SkyWater is helping to strengthen U.S. supply chains, develop new technologies and create a resilient infrastructure that supports both national security and commercial progress. The CHIPS Act is the United States’ attempt to combat China’s efforts to dominate the global semiconductor market, a prospect that policymakers fear could jeopardize national security and the economy. The U.S. now accounts for 12% of global chip manufacturing, down from 37% in 1990. In addition to billions of dollars in direct aid to manufacturers, the legislation offers a 25% tax credit to companies that invest in chip plants in the U.S., which officials said SkyWater plans to claim. Earlier this year, SkyWater pulled the plug on plans to build a $1.8 billion semiconductor production and research facility in Indiana, a project that sought CHIPS support. The company cited concerns of potential financial and operational risks in an earnings report at the time. A month later in May, Bloomington-based Polar Semiconductor r eceived $120 million in CHIPS funding for an expansion. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who worked on the CHIPS Act as a senior Democrat on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said several other Minnesota companies have applied for funding. As U.S. President Joe Biden’s tenure at the White House winds down, she said she is unsure which firms — if any — could be next in line for direct aid. “This is a major win for Minnesota, once again,” she said. “But we also know that we can expand. And that we shouldn’t just be thinking tech in California and tech in New York. We should also be thinking Minnesota.” When Biden announced the bill, Klobuchar added, he held a chip from SkyWater. Sonderman said the funding will complement more than $320 million in ongoing facility and equipment upgrades planned to run through 2026. The company expanded its facility in 2020 with the help of a $170 million grant from the Department of Defense to boost production of chips for the military. Control Data, one of the nation’s leading makers of mid-range and mainframe computers and Minnesota’s dominant technology firm for decades, originally built SkyWater’s plant in the 1980s. It later sold the plant to Cypress Semiconductor, which sold it to the private investors who formed SkyWater in 2017. Since then, SkyWater has grown from 280 to more than 700 employees and listed as a publicly traded firm in 2021. The Commerce Department announced two other awards Friday, both to companies in Texas. Coherent will receive up to $33 million to modernize its facility in Sherman, and X-Fab will receive up to $50 million to improve and expand its silicon carbide plant in Lubbock. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act is making targeted investments to meet market demands for technology critical to our national and economic security,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “Today’s proposed investments across Texas and Minnesota would help bolster domestic chip production and help secure our supply chain for decades to come.”None
Boeing advances safety and quality plan, FAA notesLaura Benanti is not a fan of former Broadway costar Zachary Levi — and she doesn’t care who knows it. “I never liked him,” Benanti, 45, said of Levi, 44, during an appearance on the Wednesday, December 4, episode of the “ That’s a Gay Ass Podcast .” “Everyone was like, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not,'” she recalled. “He’s sucking up all the f—ing energy in this room.” Benanti further claimed that Levi wanted to “mansplain everybody’s part to them” while they were members of the same cast. The actress alleged Levi tried to get their She Loves Me castmates to have dance parties before each show, which she never enjoyed. (Benanti played Amalia Balash in the 2016 production while Levi portrayed Georg Nowach.) “He really sucked everybody in with his, like, dance party energy. Like, ‘We’re doing a dance party at half-hour,’” Benanti remembered. “I was like, ‘Good luck. Have fun.’” Benanti’s comments came after Levi made headlines in September when he claimed that their late She Loves Me costar Gavin Creel ’s death earlier this year was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. “To use his memory for his political agenda and to watch him try to make himself cry until he had one single tear, which he did not wipe away, I was like, ‘F— you forever,’” Benanti said on Wednesday, referring to Levi’s comments about Creel. Us Weekly confirmed in September that Creel died at the age of 48 . The Tony Award winner’s cause of his death was metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma. Creel was diagnosed with the very rare form of cancer in July, a mere two months prior to his passing. According to Mayo Clinic, Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors are a form of cancer that starts in the spinal cord and spreads throughout the body via nerves. Following his death, Levi conducted an Instagram Live where he made controversial statements about Creel. “I know that this is going to offend some people and make some people mad, and I wish it didn’t,” Levi said at the time via Just Jared , calling Creel one of the “healthiest” people he knew. Levi then claimed that the COVID vaccination led to Creel’s death. “I, without a shadow of a doubt, I believe that Gavin Creel would be alive right now — right f—ing now — he would still be alive if that stuff didn’t get put into his body,” he concluded. You have successfully subscribed. By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly Check our latest news in Google News Check our latest news in Apple News Like Benanti, many people responded with outrage over Levi’s statement, including Broadway star Norbert Leo Butz . “So incredibly disappointed you would politicize Gavin’s death. Really tried to give you the benefit here. Made it halfway through, which was hard as hell,” Butz, 57, replied in the comments section. “But [I] was utterly heartbroken, as he would have been, that you felt the need to use his life and legacy to promote this awful platform💔.” Benanti, meanwhile, honored Creel’s legacy in a touching social media post in September. “Anyone who has ever met Gavin remembers a moment (or many) when he made them feel seen and special,” she wrote . “A moment (or many) when they basked in his reflected glow. A moment (or many) when that glow made its way into their hearts and remained there forever. Gavin was the brightest light in any room. Long may he shine.”Congressional Democrats have privately proposed a deal to Republicans that would extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies by one year, with lawmakers worried by new estimates that 2.2 million people will otherwise lose health coverage, according to five people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the proposal. The move accompanied a broader package of health-care proposals submitted to Republicans on Thursday night ahead of year-end spending negotiations. Lawmakers are fiercely hammering out a bill to fund the government, and health-care leaders are pushing to add priorities to one of the final pieces of legislation this Congress. Negotiations are also occurring on other measures, such as more funding for community health centers, proposals to address bipartisan frustrations about pharmacy benefit managers and other extensions of ongoing health-care programs, four of the people said. A one-year deal to extend the expiring ACA subsidies would avoid what was expected to be a bruising battle for both parties. Democrats, who crafted the subsidies and have fought to defend them, are set to lose control of the Senate and the White House next year, complicating their ability to make policy. Republicans, who are set to gain control of Washington, are wary of being punished by voters for any perception that they are rolling back health-care coverage, with the backlash to their ACA repeal efforts still fresh in many lawmakers’ minds. GOP leaders have repeatedly said they are skeptical of the subsidies, which expanded long-standing ACA tax credits to millions of Americans, and the influential House Republican Study Committee has called to end the nearly four-year-old initiative. It is not yet clear whether Republican leaders, who control the House, will agree to any of the proposals. Spokespeople for Republicans on the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees declined to comment. Democrats have prioritized the ACA subsidies given the number of people affected. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Illinois) and other Democrats have repeatedly pushed to extend the subsidies, which lower the cost of plans sold through the ACA’s insurance markets. The expansion of subsidies, which began as a pandemic-era effort to ensure that more Americans received health coverage, has been credited for helping increase ACA enrollment to a record 21 million people this year. “Sen. Shaheen strongly supports extending these vital tax credits in the end of year package so millions of Americans can keep their insurance and taxes and costs don’t increase on working families,” Brendan Duff, a spokesman for the senator, said in a statement. Democrats on Thursday night proposed paying for the one-year extension of the ACA subsidies by offsetting it with automatic spending cuts, invoking what is known as the budget sequester, according to the people with knowledge of the proposal. Republicans have decried the tax credits as an expensive federal giveaway, saying they distort the purpose of the ACA by subsidizing Americans who don’t need the assistance. Before the enhanced tax credits took effect, people with incomes above 400 percent of the federal poverty line - about $58,000 for an individual or $120,000 for a household of four people - were not eligible for assistance with ACA premiums. Ahead of their proposal to Republicans, Democrats cited estimates released Thursday by the Congressional Budget Office, lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper, that projected a significant jump in the nation’s uninsured rate if the ACA credits are allowed to expire. “Without a permanent extension, CBO estimates, the number of uninsured people will rise by 2.2 million in 2026, by 3.7 million in 2027, and by 3.8 million, on average, in each year over the 2026-2034 period,” Phillip L. Swagel, the CBO’s director, wrote to lawmakers. “These savings are a lifeline, but if we don’t act now, Americans will see higher health care costs when these popular tax credits expire in 2025,” Underwood said in a statement Thursday. Other estimates by outside groups have predicted even larger spikes in the uninsured rate. The Urban Institute, a think tank focused on economic policy, last month projected that 4 million people would lose coverage if the tax credits expire. The CBO earlier this year projected that permanently extending the tax credits would cost the federal government about $335 billion during the next 10 years. Advocacy groups have ramped up efforts to raise awareness of the subsidies and the risks of letting them expire. “Democrats stand ready to extend the tax credits to ensure everyone has access to affordable health care,” Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Democrat-aligned advocacy group Protect Our Care, said in a statement Thursday. “It’s time for Republicans to get on board.” Democrats also offered health-care proposals as part of their broader year-end package, including two-year extensions for several provisions set to expire at the end of 2024, according to three of the people with knowledge of the proposals. Those extensions would include a pandemic-era policy expanding the scope of Medicare coverage for telehealth and more funding for hospitals that treat a significant number of low-income patients. Meanwhile, Democrats’ proposals include taking aim at pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which have faced bipartisan investigations from lawmakers who contend the industry middlemen are driving up the cost of medication. The Democrats’ proposal would address what they regard as an incentive for PBMs to steer patients toward higher-cost drugs. Under the plan, certain payments to PBMs would not be based on the price of drugs, according to two people familiar with the proposal - a measure some lawmakers in both parties believe would help reduce drugs costs. Democrats are additionally seeking to add measures aimed at improving the country’s mental health care. Related Content
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