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Quake prompts brief tsunami warning on the West Coast. Here's what to know about tsunamisStock market today: Wall Street edges back from its records as bitcoin briefly pops above $100,000MILWAUKEE , Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of WEC Energy Group WEC today announced that it is planning to raise the quarterly dividend on the company's common stock to 89.25 cents per share in the first quarter of 2025. This would represent an increase of 5.75 cents per share, or 6.9 percent. The directors expect to declare the new dividend at their regularly scheduled meeting in January. The dividend — which would be equivalent to an annual rate of $3.57 per share — would be payable March 1, 2025 , to stockholders of record on Feb. 14, 2025 . "The board's review today is consistent with our ongoing plan targeting a dividend payout ratio of 65 to 70 percent of earnings," said Scott Lauber , president and CEO. "The projected dividend for 2025 is in line with the company's longer-term objective to grow earnings per share at a 6.5 to 7 percent compound annual growth rate." In addition, the company introduced earnings guidance for 2025. Calendar year 2025 earnings are expected to be in a range of $5.17 to $5.27 per share. The midpoint of the range is $5.22 per share. This represents growth of 7.6 percent from the midpoint of the company's 2024 adjusted guidance of $4.85 per share. WEC Energy Group WEC , based in Milwaukee , is one of the nation's premier energy companies, serving 4.7 million customers in Wisconsin , Illinois , Michigan and Minnesota . The company's principal utilities are We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, Michigan Gas Utilities, Minnesota Energy Resources and Upper Michigan Energy Resources. Another major subsidiary, We Power, designs, builds and owns electric generating plants. In addition, WEC Infrastructure LLC owns a growing fleet of renewable generation facilities in states ranging from South Dakota to Texas . WEC Energy Group ( wecenergygroup.com ) is a Fortune 500 company and a component of the S&P 500. The company has approximately 34,000 stockholders of record, 7,000 employees and more than $45 billion of assets. Forward-looking statements Certain statements contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning management's expectations and projections regarding earnings, earnings growth rates, dividend payments and future results. In some cases, forward-looking statements may be identified by reference to a future period or periods or by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "guidance," "intends," "may," "objectives," "plans," "possible," "potential," "projects," "should," "targets," "will" or similar terms or variations of these terms. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions, including business and competitive conditions in the company's service territories; timing, resolution and impact of rate cases and other regulatory decisions, including rider reconciliations; the company's ability to continue to successfully integrate the operations of its subsidiaries; availability of the company's generating facilities and/or distribution systems; unanticipated changes in fuel and purchased power costs; key personnel changes; unusual, varying, or severe weather conditions; continued industry restructuring and consolidation; continued advances in, and adoption of, new technologies that produce power or reduce power consumption; energy and environmental conservation efforts; electrification initiatives, mandates and other efforts to reduce the use of natural gas; the company's ability to successfully acquire and/or dispose of assets and projects and to execute on its capital plan; terrorist, physical or cyber-security threats or attacks and data security breaches; construction risks; labor disruptions; equity and bond market fluctuations; changes in the company's and its subsidiaries' ability to access the capital markets; changes in tax legislation or our ability to use certain tax benefits and carryforwards; federal, state, and local legislative and regulatory changes, including changes in rate-setting policies or procedures and environmental standards, the enforcement of these laws and regulations and changes in the interpretation of regulations or permit conditions by regulatory agencies; supply chain disruptions; inflation; political or geopolitical developments, including impacts on the global economy, supply chain and fuel prices, generally, from ongoing, escalating, or expanding regional conflicts; the impact from any health crises, including epidemics and pandemics; current and future litigation and regulatory investigations, proceedings or inquiries; changes in accounting standards; the financial performance of American Transmission Company as well as projects in which the company's energy infrastructure business invests; the ability of the company to obtain additional generating capacity at competitive prices; goodwill and its possible impairment; and other factors described under the heading "Factors Affecting Results, Liquidity and Capital Resources" in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and under the headings "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information" and "Risk Factors" contained in the company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 , and in subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as may be required by law, the company expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wec-energy-group-announces-plan-to-increase-dividend-by-6-9-percent-302324331.html SOURCE WEC Energy Group © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks took a bumpy path to sole possession of first place in the NFC West. Sunday's 26-21 win over the Jets featured several special teams miscues, including a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by New York. On the flip side, the Seahawks got their second pick-6 in as many weeks and just enough production by Geno Smith and the offense. The Seahawks' uneven performance was characteristic of a season in which they started 3-0, then lost five of six before winning another three in a row to take command of their underachieving division. Seattle (7-5) leads Arizona by one game, with a matchup against the Cardinals looming next weekend. Zach Charbonnet gave Seattle its first lead of the day on an 8-yard touchdown run with 5:37 to go, and the Seahawks' defense capped another strong outing with a game-sealing stop on fourth down. After a sack by Leonard Williams gave the Jets a fourth-and-15 at the 34-yard line, Aaron Rodgers threw a desperation pass to Garrett Wilson that fell incomplete, giving Seattle the ball with 33 seconds left. Williams is on a tear. After losing out on NFC defensive player of the week honors last week to teammate Coby Bryant despite 2 1/2 sacks and four quarterback hits, “Big Cat” had an even better game. Williams finished with two sacks, three tackles for loss, a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown that was the longest pick-6 in NFL history by a defensive lineman, and a blocked extra point. The touchdown was the first of Williams’ career. He became the first player since 1982 with multiple sacks, an interception return for a touchdown and a blocked kick in a game. Maybe this week the league will agree he was the NFC's best defender. The special teams could not have been much worse in the first half. The Seahawks fumbled three kickoffs, losing two, and allowed Kene Nwangwu's 99-yard kickoff return for a TD. Dee Williams fumbled on a kickoff in the first quarter to give New York the ball at the 27-yard line, and four plays later, Rodgers hit Isaiah Davis for a touchdown to give the Jets a 14-0 lead. Laviska Shenault Jr. muffed two kicks and fumbled at the Seattle 38-yard line in the second quarter. Seattle also had an extra point blocked. Smith led his third game-winning drive of the season and his 11th since he became Seattle’s starting quarterback in 2022. Facing the team that drafted him in 2013, Smith went 20 of 31 for 206 yards and a touchdown. For the first time in five weeks, he was not intercepted. The Seahawks trailed by 14 points on two occasions, but Smith brought Seattle back while avoiding the untimely picks that dogged him recently. He threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Barner in the second quarter, and led the Seahawks on a go-ahead nine-play, 71-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter. Coach Mike Macdonald and his staff have to address the problem with their kick returners, Shenault and Dee Williams. Two lost fumbles and several muffs could have easily cost Seattle the game. WR DK Metcalf left the game briefly with a knee issue but returned. ... P Michael Dickson was unavailable in the fourth quarter because of back spasms. 38 — The Seahawks decided to go for it on fourth-and-6 at their own 33-yard line with 9:34 left in the game. A primary reason was that Dickson was unavailable to punt because of back spasms. The Jets were flagged for having 12 men on the field after sending a punt returner out, which gave Seattle fourth-and-1 at the 38. The Seahawks got a first down after Jets cornerback Quantez Stiggers was flagged for pass interference on Metcalf, and eight players later, Charbonnet scored to put Seattle ahead. Without going for it on fourth down from their own 38, the Seahawks likely would’ve lost. The Seahawks will seek a season sweep of the Cardinals. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflOn December 3, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that “the export of dual-use items such as gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States will not be permitted.” This announcement likely means that over 20 mineral items – encompassing both metals and chemicals – are banned from being exported from China to the United States. Many of these items are important to U.S. national security. For example, antimony is found in bullets and artillery rounds; gallium is used in integrated circuits for advanced radar systems ; and germanium is needed for night-vision and thermal-sensing systems . Without adequate supplies of these elements, the defense industrial base could be delayed in manufacturing the downstream munitions and weapons systems, undermining the warfighting capabilities of the U.S. military. Critically, China – the United States’ “most consequential strategic competitor” according to the 2022 National Defense Strategy – is the largest source of U.S. imports for antimony metal and oxide , as well as germanium metal . China is also the second largest source of U.S. imports for gallium . Since China’s export ban takes immediate effect, the U.S. defense industrial base could experience short-term mineral shortages and higher prices. This should not be taken lightly: mineral shortages can impede defense manufacturing and undermine the strength of the military, just as the United States experienced during World War II . The resulting supply disruptions from China’s new export ban could also have a multi-billion-dollar impact on the U.S. economy. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey recently calculated that if China blocked all exports of gallium alone, U.S. gross domestic product could decline by up to $8.2 billion. Importantly, firms in third-party countries that import antimony, gallium, and germanium from China and then export them to the United States would violate China’s export ban and “will be held accountable according to [the] law.” While firms in other countries do themselves produce these minerals, these firms may not have enough production and uncontracted capacity to fully replace U.S. imports from China. For instance, China has a near monopoly on gallium production, producing about 98 percent of the world’s gallium annually. In the long term, however, the impact on the U.S. defense industrial base could be positive if U.S. firms develop more resilient supply chains that exclude foreign adversaries and if the U.S. government financially backs mineral projects that help fill these supply gaps. Yet, in the interim, China could expand its export bans to include other minerals on its dual-use export control list. These minerals include the following: aluminum, beryllium, bismuth, calcium, graphite, hafnium, magnesium, nickel (powder), rhenium, titanium, tungsten, zinc, and zirconium. The U.S. Defense Logistics Agency has designated many of these elements as “ materials of interest .” The incoming Trump administration is well aware of the United States’ mineral vulnerability. The first Trump administration issued Executive Order 13953 , which declared a national emergency concerning U.S. reliance on foreign adversaries – namely China – for critical minerals. To reduce this dependence, the administration increased mineral stockpiling and financial support for U.S. mining and processing projects. The incoming Trump administration could go further. Under the first Trump administration, the Department of Commerce recommended stockpiling to reduce vulnerability to mineral supply disruptions, and the Department of Defense took steps to increase the U.S. government’s stockpile of rare earth elements. Notably, the incoming Trump administration will have over $300 million in existing funds to boost the volume and scope of minerals in the National Defense Stockpile . The first Trump administration also increased financial support for U.S. mining and processing projects. Trump’s Department of Energy issued guidance making U.S. mining and processing projects eligible for loan guarantees under the Title 17 program and U.S. processing projects eligible for direct loans under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program. As of October 31, 2024, the Title 17 program has over $62 billion remaining in loan authority, and the ATVM program has over $45 billion remaining. The incoming administration could prioritize quickly disbursing these funds to U.S. mineral projects. Additionally, the first Trump administration’s Department of Defense, under Title III of the Defense Production Act, awarded grants to rare earth element projects. As of December 3, 2024, the Defense Production Act fund has nearly $1.1 billion in unobligated funds. The incoming administration could, for example, disburse these grants to U.S. alumina refineries for building capabilities to extract gallium and to U.S. zinc smelters for building capabilities to extract germanium. In sum, China’s new export ban on antimony, gallium, and germanium could severely disrupt supply chains for the U.S. defense industrial base. The United States relies heavily on China for other minerals, too, so export bans by China on other minerals could prove similarly damaging. Now is the time for the U.S. government to deploy its whole arsenal of policy tools to reduce U.S. mineral dependence on foreign adversaries and bolster U.S. supply chains of critical minerals.
Knox Prowash Offering Pressure Washing Services to Knoxville, TNSAN DIEGO, Dec. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maravai LifeSciences Holdings, Inc. (“Maravai” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: MRVI), a global provider of life science reagents and services to researchers and biotech innovators, announced that Carl Hull will retire from his position as Executive Chairman of the Board and that the Board of Directors has unanimously elected R. Andrew Eckert to succeed him as Chairman of the Board, effective December 5, 2024. Carl Hull founded Maravai in 2014 and served as Chief Executive Officer, assuming the role of Executive Chairman in October 2022. “Leading Maravai has been the single most rewarding experience in my career. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished together over the past 10 years,” stated Carl Hull. “I extend my sincere thanks to Trey Martin, our CEO, the rest of our leadership team and to the dedicated employees across the world who enthusiastically serve our customers and their communities every day. I am excited about the company’s future prospects and am confident that Maravai has the team, the talent, and the technology to deliver on its long-term objectives.” "On behalf of the entire Board, I thank Carl for his incredible commitment to Maravai since he founded the Company in 2014.” said Constantine (“Dean”) Mihas, Board member and Co-CEO of GTCR. “I congratulate him for his distinguished career and deeply appreciate his vision and unwavering service to building Maravai and positioning the company for long-term success. He has been a model of corporate leadership and integrity in our industry and beyond, and we wish him well in his well-deserved retirement." Mihas continued, “We also want to welcome Andy as our new Chair and Board member. Andy is a healthcare industry veteran with extensive experience as an executive officer of several healthcare companies. He brings deep knowledge of operations, strategic planning, product development and marketing to our Board and has valuable corporate governance insight gained from having served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of publicly held companies. We look forward to leveraging his impressive executive experience to help guide Maravai to achieve significant scale.” “I'm honored to join the Board of Directors at Maravai, a company dedicated to innovation to help our customers improve human health,” said Eckert. “I look forward to contributing to the success and transformative impact of this remarkable organization while concurrently driving long-term shareholder value." About R. Andrew Eckert Mr. Eckert is a Senior Adviser to Permira, a global private equity leader. Prior to Permira, he served as CEO of Zelis, a healthcare payments and cost containment business. Before Zelis, he served as CEO of wound care leader Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI) from 2017 until its sale to 3M in 2019. Prior to joining KCI, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Valence Health, an emerging leader in value-based healthcare, until its sale in 2016. Andy previously served as Chief Executive Officer of TriZetto, a leader in payer information technology (acquired by Cognizant), and as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CRC Health Group, a leading behavioral health treatment provider (acquired by Acadia). Earlier in his career, he was Chief Executive Officer of Eclipsys Corporation from 2005 to 2009, and Chief Executive Officer of SumTotal Systems from 2002 to 2005. Andy began his career at ADAC Laboratories, including four years as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until its sale to Philips Medical Systems in 2000. Andy has served on several corporate boards and is currently the Chairman of Kipu Health, Lead Director at Fortrea (NASDAQ: FTRE), and a Director at Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX). He was Chairman of Varian Medical Systems for seven years until its acquisition by Siemens Healthineers in 2021. He has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, both from Stanford University. About Maravai Maravai is a leading life sciences company providing critical products to enable the development of drug therapies, diagnostics, and novel vaccines and to support research on human diseases. Maravai’s companies are leaders in providing products and services in the fields of nucleic acid synthesis and biologics safety testing to many of the world's leading biopharmaceutical, vaccine, diagnostics and cell and gene therapies companies. Forward-looking Statements This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical statements constitute forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements related to the expectation that Mr. Eckert will help Maravai achieve scale and drive long-term shareholder value, constitute forward-looking statements identified by words like “plan,” “will,” “expect,” “may,” “anticipate,” or “could” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties described in greater detail in the “Risk Factors” section of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not rely upon them. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views and we do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof except as required by law.IShowSpeed hits back at Tyreek Hill’s $100K race challenge with even bigger wagerLudhiana: The Congress party released the first list of 63 candidates for the upcoming Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections on Tuesday. Besides prominent loyalists, the Congress has also included several first-timers in the list. Interestingly, the list also features the name of former councillor from ward number 88, Raghubir Singh Bira , who has been associated with AAP North constituency MLA Madan Lal Bagga for decades. What makes this strange is that Bira joined the Congress just two days back after Bagga chose someone else as candidate over him. Immediately after joining, Bira applied for nomination and has now been announced a candidate. The party has also tried to bank on famous former councillors such as Mamta Ashu from ward number 60, Sushil Kapoor from ward number 58, Loveleen Kaur Toor from ward number 67, Dipika Bhalla from ward number 69 , former senior deputy mayor Sham Sunder Malhotra from ward number 84 and Harwinder Pal Singh from ward number 68. Woman relatives of former councillors have been named as candidates in a few wards. They include Bhupinder Kaur, mother of former councillor Gurpreet Singh Gopi from ward number 93, Rekha Deepak Hans, wife of Deepak Hans from ward number 89, Seema Jai Prakash, wife of Jai Prakash Sharma from ward number 91 and Leena Sharma, wife of Narinder Sharma Kala, from ward number 71. The list of 63 candidates also includes three former members of the Lok Insaaf Party, which has merged with the Congress. Former LIP leaders showed their enthusiasm by filing nominations from all 95 wards. We also published the following articles recently Ward strikes right notes English hockey star Samuel Ward, 33, is set to make his Hockey India League (HIL) debut with UP Rudras, starting December 28. Recovering from a near career-ending eye injury in 2019, Ward's resilience is key for the Rudras. He's excited to play alongside Olympic medalists and learn from young captain Hardik Singh. BJP braces for GMC bypolls in 2 wards Ghaziabad gears up for crucial civic body bypolls in two wards on December 17th. These elections were necessitated by the deaths of two sitting councillors. Nine candidates are vying for the seats, with major parties BJP, Congress, and SP in the fray. The BJP, currently holding 77 seats in the 100-member house, aims to strengthen its majority. Bypoll to 31 wards in local bodies tomorrow Byelections for 31 local body wards across 11 districts in Kerala, India, are scheduled for December 10, 2024. Over 150,000 voters will choose from 102 candidates, with polling open from 7 am to 6 pm. Results will be declared on December 11 and available online. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .