SATURDAY'S BOWL GAMES
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ORLANDO, Fla. — It was a season of Iowa State comebacks. And fittingly, that's how it ended for the Cyclones. Game MVP Rocco Becht scored from a yard out on fourth-and-goal with 56 seconds remaining and No. 18 Iowa State capped the best season in school history by rallying past No. 15 Miami 42-41 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday. Becht finished with 270 passing yards and three touchdowns for Iowa State (11-2), a program that entered this season — the 133rd year of Cyclone football — never having won more than nine games in a year. “If you look at this team, it’s really who they’ve been all year,” coach Matt Campbell said. The win marked the fourth time in 2024 that Iowa State got a winning score with less than two minutes remaining. For this one, the Cyclones rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half — with Miami quarterback Cam Ward watching after a record-setting first half — to get win No. 11. Carson Hansen rushed for a pair of touchdowns for Iowa State. And as the MVP, Becht got the honor of choosing which flavor Pop-Tart was to be sacrificed in a giant toaster. “There's only one,” Becht said. “Cinnamon roll.” Ward passed for three touchdowns in his final college game, while Damien Martinez rushed for a career-high 179 yards for Miami (10-3), which dropped its sixth straight bowl game and lost three of four games to end the season — those three losses by a combined 10 points. "Disappointed that we couldn't pull out a victory," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “These guys have always fought and always competed and this was no exception. ... It's painful. It's as painful as it gets when you don't win. But there's a lot to build on.” NEBRASKA 20, BOSTON COLLEGE 15: Dylan Raiola passed for 228 yards and a touchdown as Nebraska built an 18-point lead through three quarters and hung on for its first bowl victory since 2015. Raiola hit Emmett Johnson with a 13-yard TD pass on fourth down with 3:02 remaining in the third quarter for a 20-2 edge and the Cornhuskers (7-6) held on for the win at Yankee Stadium. Raiola completed 23 of 31 passes in front of a sizable Nebraska crowd that celebrated the team's first bowl win since topping UCLA in the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl and first winning season since 2016. Raiola completed passes to 10 receivers, including Jahmal Banks, who finished with four receptions for 79 yards. Grayson James finished 25 of 40 for 296 yards as Boston College (7-6). UCONN 27, NORTH CAROLINA 14: Joe Fagnano threw for 151 yards and two touchdowns to help the Huskies (9-4) beat the Tar Heels (6-7) at Fenway Park, embarrassing incoming coach Bill Belichick's new team in his old backyard. Mel Brown rushed for 96 yards for UConn and Skyler Bell caught three passes for 77 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown that gave the Huskies a 10-0 first-quarter lead. Chris Culliver returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, but that would be Carolina's only production in the first half. TCU 34, LOUISIANA 3: Josh Hoover passed for four touchdowns as the Horned Frogs (9-4) routed the Ragin' Cajuns (10-4) in Albuquerque. Hoover was 20 for 32 for 252 yards with an interception. Eric McAlister had eight catches for 87 yards and a TD for the Horned Frogs. TCU's defense also had a solid day, holding Louisiana-Lafayette to 209 yards, including 61 on the game's final possession. LATE FRIDAY LAS VEGAS BOWL USC 35, TEXAS A&M 31: Jayden Maiava threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Ford with eight seconds left to give Southern California the victory over Texas A&M (8-5) in the Las Vegas Bowl. A graduate of Liberty High School in nearby Henderson and a transfer from UNLV, Maiava helped the Trojans (7-6) overcome a 17-point deficit.
Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump 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. Jill Colvin, The Associated Press Dec 13, 2024 12:55 PM Dec 13, 2024 1:05 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a Time magazine Person of the Year event at the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump 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 Sunshine Protection Act , had proposed making daylight saving time permanent. The measure was sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , whom Trump has tapped to helm the State Department. “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. Some health groups , 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. Most countries 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. Jill Colvin, The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Get your daily Victoria news briefing Email Sign Up More Health Texas' abortion pill lawsuit against New York doctor marks new challenge to interstate telemedicine Dec 13, 2024 1:16 PM North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID-19 claims but against a clothing chain Dec 13, 2024 12:49 PM B.C. NDP government, Greens reach 'shared priorities' agreement Dec 13, 2024 12:14 PMBREAKING: B.C. NDP and B.C. Greens sign 'stable governance' agreement
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B.C. Premier David Eby says his party has reached an agreement in principle with the B.C. Greens to ensure "stable governance" for the next four years. The agreement, subject to annual reviews, spells out the basis on which B.C. Greens provide "confidence" to the B.C. NDP and areas where the parties will work together. They include healthcare, where the B.C. NDP will support the growth of Community Health Centres, a key proposal of the B.C. Greens during the election campaign. Other key elements include housing with the government actively supporting efforts by various groups to "protect, purchase and build 30,000 units of non-market housing" over the next four years with 7,500 units as a goal by the end of 2025. Electoral reform also makes a return with the establishment of a special commitment to "review and consider preferred methods of proportional representation" as part of deliberations designed to "increase democratic engagement, address increasing political polarization, and improve the representativeness of government." The agreement does "not lay out the full program" of government "nor does it presume support" for "initiatives and other matters not addressed within this agreement" but gives Eby's government more stability once the legislature returns next year. The agreement echoes without replicating the confidence-and-supply agreement of 2017 that allowed the B.C NDP to return after 16 years in opposition as a minority government with the help of three B.C. Greens. The B.C. NDP currently holds 47 seats, enough for a bare majority, while the B.C. Greens hold two seats. More to come...Pictures showed the Dungeness lifeboat bringing a number of people, thought to have been picked up from a small boat in the Channel, into the port at Dover. The latest arrivals follow crossings made on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and December 27 – the first time since 2018 small boats have made the journey on all of those dates. Official Government figures show 305 people arrived in the UK via small boat on Friday, bringing the total for the week to 1,163. The 407 arrivals on December 26 meant more than 150,000 people had made the crossing from France since records began on January 1 2018, prompting a political blame game over responsibility for the numbers. A Home Office source sought to blame the previous government, saying they had left “an appalling legacy of broken border security”, while Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp blamed Labour’s decision to scrap the Tories’ Rwanda scheme. After Saturday’s update to the figures, Mr Philp said the numbers represented “Labour’s appalling failure” and were “an insult to the British people”. He said: “In 2023, Conservatives cut the numbers crossing the channel by a third. But now, it’s all moving the other way. “These rising numbers are the predictable outcome of Starmer scrapping many Conservative measures to tackle this issue, like scrapping the Rwanda deterrent before it even started. We know from the experience in Australia that a deterrent would have stopped the boats if it had been allowed to start as planned in late July. “The British people deserve better than a Government that can’t, or won’t, deal with illegal channel crossings.” Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has put international co-operation with law enforcement agencies in Europe at the heart of his bid to cut the number of arrivals, having promised to “smash the gangs” smuggling people across the Channel during this year’s election. Some 22,629 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since Sir Keir became Prime Minister in July, up 25% on the same period in 2023 but down 31% on the record year of 2022. So far this year, 36,204 migrants have arrived in the UK on small boats, provisional Home Office figures show. This is up 23% on this time last year, but down 21% on 2022. Prior to the election, crossings in 2024 were up 19% compared to the same period in 2023. A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. “The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
( ) stock tumbled late Tuesday despite the computer hardware company reporting fiscal fourth quarter earnings that met expectations and better-than-expected sales. The company's profit guidance was lower than expected. HP said in a news release that it earned an adjusted 93 cents per share on sales of $14.05 billion, up 1.7% year-over-year, for the October-ended quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet projected the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company would post adjusted earnings of 93 cents per share on sales of $13.99 billion. For the same period a year earlier, HP posted adjusted earnings of 90 cents per share on sales of $13.82 billion. "We are pleased with our Q4 performance where we saw revenue growth for the second consecutive quarter, driven by steady progress in Personal Systems and Print," President and CEO Enrique Lores said in a news release. For the current quarter, HP guided for adjusted earnings of 73 cents per share at the midpoint of its range. Analysts were projecting 85 cents per share adjusted earnings for the January-ending quarter, according to FactSet. HP said in a news release that its guidance excludes 13 cents per share "primarily related to restructuring and other charges." On the , HP stock shed more than 7% to 36.09 in recent after-hours action. HP Stock Up 30% This Year Prior to earnings, HP stock fell a half-percent in regular Tuesday trading. Shares have gained 30.4% this year, helped by optimism that AI will help restart following an industry slump in 2022 and . HP's previous July-ended quarter ended a streak of eight quarters where sales declined. Coming into the report, HP stock had an IBD Composite Rating of 55 out of 99, according to . The score combines five separate proprietary ratings into one rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better. Further, HP's IBD Relative Strength Rating was 81 out of 99. The RS Rating means that HP has outperformed 81% of all stocks in IBD's database over the past year. HP stock broke out above a 39.52 consolidation pattern buy point on Monday but closed below that level Tuesday, according to .Surprising Truths About the Chinese EV Market That Everyone’s Missing
The year in money: inflation eased, optimism ticked upward
ORLANDO, Fla. — It was a season of Iowa State comebacks. And fittingly, that's how it ended for the Cyclones. Game MVP Rocco Becht scored from a yard out on fourth-and-goal with 56 seconds remaining and No. 18 Iowa State capped the best season in school history by rallying past No. 15 Miami 42-41 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday. Becht finished with 270 passing yards and three touchdowns for Iowa State (11-2), a program that entered this season — the 133rd year of Cyclone football — never having won more than nine games in a year. “If you look at this team, it’s really who they’ve been all year,” coach Matt Campbell said. The win marked the fourth time in 2024 that Iowa State got a winning score with less than two minutes remaining. For this one, the Cyclones rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half — with Miami quarterback Cam Ward watching after a record-setting first half — to get win No. 11. Carson Hansen rushed for a pair of touchdowns for Iowa State. And as the MVP, Becht got the honor of choosing which flavor Pop-Tart was to be sacrificed in a giant toaster. “There's only one,” Becht said. “Cinnamon roll.” Ward passed for three touchdowns in his final college game, while Damien Martinez rushed for a career-high 179 yards for Miami (10-3), which dropped its sixth straight bowl game and lost three of four games to end the season — those three losses by a combined 10 points. "Disappointed that we couldn't pull out a victory," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “These guys have always fought and always competed and this was no exception. ... It's painful. It's as painful as it gets when you don't win. But there's a lot to build on.” NEBRASKA 20, BOSTON COLLEGE 15: Dylan Raiola passed for 228 yards and a touchdown as Nebraska built an 18-point lead through three quarters and hung on for its first bowl victory since 2015. Raiola hit Emmett Johnson with a 13-yard TD pass on fourth down with 3:02 remaining in the third quarter for a 20-2 edge and the Cornhuskers (7-6) held on for the win at Yankee Stadium. Raiola completed 23 of 31 passes in front of a sizable Nebraska crowd that celebrated the team's first bowl win since topping UCLA in the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl and first winning season since 2016. Raiola completed passes to 10 receivers, including Jahmal Banks, who finished with four receptions for 79 yards. Grayson James finished 25 of 40 for 296 yards as Boston College (7-6). UCONN 27, NORTH CAROLINA 14: Joe Fagnano threw for 151 yards and two touchdowns to help the Huskies (9-4) beat the Tar Heels (6-7) at Fenway Park, embarrassing incoming coach Bill Belichick's new team in his old backyard. Mel Brown rushed for 96 yards for UConn and Skyler Bell caught three passes for 77 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown that gave the Huskies a 10-0 first-quarter lead. Chris Culliver returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, but that would be Carolina's only production in the first half. TCU 34, LOUISIANA 3: Josh Hoover passed for four touchdowns as the Horned Frogs (9-4) routed the Ragin' Cajuns (10-4) in Albuquerque. Hoover was 20 for 32 for 252 yards with an interception. Eric McAlister had eight catches for 87 yards and a TD for the Horned Frogs. TCU's defense also had a solid day, holding Louisiana-Lafayette to 209 yards, including 61 on the game's final possession. LATE FRIDAY LAS VEGAS BOWL USC 35, TEXAS A&M 31: Jayden Maiava threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Ford with eight seconds left to give Southern California the victory over Texas A&M (8-5) in the Las Vegas Bowl. A graduate of Liberty High School in nearby Henderson and a transfer from UNLV, Maiava helped the Trojans (7-6) overcome a 17-point deficit. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches -- the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President -- are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI," Glasgow said. "The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America's top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart's announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart's need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer's ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart." Walmart's announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.