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It's usually not difficult to find a compelling growth stock to step into. Choosing a growth stock you're confident holding onto for a decade or more, however, is a different story. Some story stocks just don't have enough proven potential for investors to make a long-term commitment to them. Are You Missing The Morning Scoop? Wake up with Breakfast news in your inbox every market day. Sign Up For Free » Still, investments that fit that bill are out there. If you can stomach the risk, these three stocks have the potential to be monster winners for investors who buy and hold for at least 10 years. Iovance Biotherapeutics Investing in drug companies can be a tricky business. If you dive in too early, you may learn the hard way that the potential miracle drug in development is actually a bust. If you wait too long, you could miss out on the bulk of a stock's gains. With that in mind, risk-tolerant investors should look at Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: IOVA) while shares are still down more than 80% from their early 2021 peak. Such pullbacks aren't particularly unusual for the biopharma industry's younger names. Iovance soared when its flagship drug first started showing promise in clinical trials back in 2019 and 2020. Investors got a bit ahead of themselves though. The first regulatory approval of its cancer-fighting Amtagvi didn't materialize until February of this year. While the market rewarded the company for that accomplishment with a bounce in the share price, most of the bullish euphoria had already worn off by then. And most of the gains the stock booked earlier this year have since evaporated. But you can use the stock's current weakness to your advantage. While Amtagvi's FDA-approved uses may be relatively narrow in scope right now -- it is approved only for the treatment of certain types of solid tumors -- this T-cell therapy is a potential treatment for a much wider range of cancers. The drug is being tested in 12 other clinical trials at this time, and a handful of them are promising late-stage trials. But even without any future approvals, Iovance is already doing pretty well with Amtagvi. Last quarter's $58.6 million in revenue was a marked improvement on what was effectively inaugural revenue of $31.1 million in Q2, putting the company en route to a full-year top line of roughly $160 million. Sales next year are expected to rise to between $450 million and $475 million. That's just the beginning though. The analyst community is predicting revenue of more than $700 million in 2026, while research outfit GlobalData believes annual sales of Amtagvi could eclipse $1 billion by 2030. There are risks for investors to keep in mind, though. Chief among them is the massive amount of money Iovance is still losing despite strong initial demand for its flagship T-cell therapy. Although there's nothing unusual about early losses within the biopharma industry, there's no clear picture as to when the company will work its way out of the red and into the black. Even analysts don't anticipate an actual profit until 2027 at the earliest. Much can happen between now and then, so you want to carefully consider the size of any position in this stock. Amtagvi needs time to reach its proverbial cruising speed, so the challenge for investors will be having the patience to allow Iovance to make the most of the opportunity. Palo Alto Networks As long as there are internet-connected computers and networks, there will be criminals looking to digitally exploit them. Indeed, cybersecurity outfit Check Point Software reports that weekly cyberattacks surged a record-breaking 75% year over year during the third quarter, up from Q2's 30% increase. This problem isn't going away anytime soon, but Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) stands ready to answer the call. In simplest terms, Palo Alto helps enterprises of all shapes and sizes protect themselves from cybercrime and other types of digital disruption. From threat detection to malware defense to phishing protection to remote employee logins (and more), this company can meet almost any cybersecurity need. And it can do so with easy-to-use turnkey solutions that allow for a minimal number of user interfaces. That's one of the reasons why, in 2024, Palo Alto was once again ranked by technology market research outfit Gartner as a leader in the endpoint protection platform market. Moreover, for the eleventh year in a row, Gartner rated Palo Alto as a leader in the network firewall market. The company is good at what it does. This is evident in its fiscal results too. Not only has its revenue grown in every quarter for more than a decade, but its operating income and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) have grown almost as reliably. Then, there's the detail about this progress that isn't readily apparent: Palo Alto Networks' profit margins are expanding too. Whether its software is sold to 100 customers or 1,000, the cost of coding and deploying it is about the same. That's the power of scale. The recurring revenue it books from subscription-based access to its tools doesn't hurt either. Palo Alto is positioned to capitalize on growth across the cybersecurity industry as analysts expect the company to deliver 14% top-line growth in its fiscal 2025 before accelerating to nearly 16% the following year. Wolfspeed Finally, add Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF) to your list of potential monster stocks that you may want to hold onto for the next 10 years. Unless you're an electrical engineer, the term "silicon carbide" probably won't mean much to you. It will in the foreseeable future, though, and Wolfspeed will have its time in the spotlight as a result. The layman's explanation: Nearly all electrically powered devices require the use of at least some silicon-based components. In the past, ordinary silicon was entirely good enough to meet the needs of the technology of the times. Things are changing, though. Thanks to dramatic improvements in other technologies, the silicon of yesteryear is no longer power-efficient enough, nor capable of efficiently handling the higher voltages needed by heavy-duty equipment like electric vehicles or data center power platforms. Enter Wolfspeed, which has mastered (and patented) the art and science of adding carbon to silicon to make the material more efficient as well as capable of handling higher electrical loads. While its potential uses are vast, silicon carbide's most practical application today is on the heavy machinery and industrial front. Wolfspeed's technology is increasingly found in electric vehicles as part of their powertrains as well as within their charging apparatuses, leading to 80% less power loss than most commonly used battery/inversion/motor combinations currently suffer. You'll also find its tech inside a growing number of construction vehicles, agricultural machinery, and even locomotives. At the other end of the size scale, you'll find its silicon carbide inside the chips and components attached to circuit boards in HVAC equipment and data center power supplies, where its offerings can achieve up to 99% energy efficiency at half the size of ordinary silicon. Although the benefits of silicon carbide are clear, not every would-be customer is consistently on board with Wolfspeed's products. After its revenue rose by 24% in fiscal 2023 (ended June 2023) growth came to a near-halt in fiscal 2024, extending a pattern of top-line inconsistency that's been frustrating investors for over a decade. Wolfspeed is reporting steep losses as a result. The analyst community doesn't see net profitability returning until fiscal 2027 when the next generation of EVs hits the roads and when the company finally puts several restructuring charges and significant capital expenditures in the rearview mirror. All this strategic maneuvering and spending is a big reason shareholders have experienced a wild roller coaster ride. If you can stomach the continued volatility, however, this stock is worth it. Analysts expect Wolfspeed to report 44% sales growth in fiscal 2026, which the company itself believes will be enough to produce breakeven operating cash flow. And management believes the company can swing back to EBITDA profitability during the second half of this year, en route to the return to profitability in fiscal 2027. And longer term, Global Market Insights believes the world's silicon carbide market is likely to grow at a compound annual rate of more than 30% through 2032. But most of this growth is only set to materialize in the latter half of this timeframe when the technology becomes industry-standard. Owning this high potential stock means living with above-average near-term risk. Investors have to remain focused on how well this silicon carbide leader can navigate the industry's long-term potential. The market should start rewarding Wolfspeed's progress toward profitability in the meantime. Should you invest $1,000 in Palo Alto Networks right now? Before you buy stock in Palo Alto Networks, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now... and Palo Alto Networks wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $872,947 !* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of December 2, 2024 James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Iovance Biotherapeutics and Wolfspeed. The Motley Fool recommends Gartner and Palo Alto Networks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . 3 Monster Stocks to Hold for the Next 10 Years was originally published by The Motley Fool
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Lebawit Lily Girma | (TNS) Bloomberg News When winter rolls around, travelers predictably turn their attention to beaches. And this year, it’s the destination that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” that’s experiencing outsize demand from Americans planning a warm island vacation. Talk about trashing stereotypes. Related Articles Travel | TSA braces for more than 1 million holiday travelers at DIA Travel | Would you pay $700 a night to sleep under the stars at this Colorado resort? Travel | Thailand’s starring role in ‘The White Lotus’ is about to pay off Travel | 5 under-the-radar travel destinations the UN says you should visit Travel | Gift ideas for people planning their next trip Puerto Rico has recovered overseas visitors (excluding those from Canada and Mexico) faster than any U.S. state or territory — a staggering 85% increase over its 2019 overseas inbound visitor levels as of 2023, according to an October study from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office. There are now more daily flights from the U.S. West Coast, and hotel bookings are 6% higher so far in this last quarter of 2024 year-over-year. It’s a trifecta of tourism growth: more visitors, but also longer stays and a higher spend that reached a record $9.8 billion in 2023, boosting small businesses as well as major brands. “We don’t have a slow season in Puerto Rico anymore,” says Brad Dean, chief executive officer at Discover Puerto Rico. Even if they’re not booking, people are dreaming about “La Isla.” By tracking flight searches for trips between November 2024 and February 2025, a measure of “inspirational” demand, tourism intelligence company Mabrian Technologies reports Puerto Rico is up 9% compared with the same period last year and leads Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas in the Caribbean proper. Only Costa Rica ranked higher in the wider region. Dean attributes Puerto Rico’s ongoing tourism growth to a strategic effort to reposition the island’s brand as more than a sun-and-sea destination, starting back in 2018. That led to the Live Boricua campaign, which began in 2022 and leaned heavily on culture, history and cuisine and was, Dean says, “a pretty bold departure” in the way Puerto Rico was showcased to travelers. He adds that at least $2 billion in tourism spend is linked to this campaign. “We (also) haven’t shied away from actively embracing the LGBTQ+ community, and that has opened up Puerto Rico to audiences that may not have considered the Caribbean before,” Dean says. Hotels are preparing to meet this growing demand: A number of established boutique properties are undergoing upgrades valued between $4 million and more than $50 million, including Hotel El Convento; La Concha, which will join the Marriott Autograph Collection; Condado Vanderbilt Hotel; and the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar. That’s in addition to ultra-chic options that are coming online in 2025, including the adults-only Alma San Juan, with rooms overlooking Plaza Colón in the heart of Old San Juan, and the five-star Veranó boutique hotel in San Juan’s trendy Santurce neighborhood. The beachfront Ritz-Carlton San Juan in Isla Verde will also be reopening seven years after Hurricane Maria decimated the island. The travel industry’s success is helping boost employment on the island, to the tune of 101,000 leisure and hospitality jobs as of September 2024, a 26% increase over pre-pandemic levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Efforts to promote Puerto Rico’s provinces beyond the San Juan metro area — such as surfing hub Rincón on the west coast, historical Ponce on the south coast and Orocovis for nature and coffee haciendas in the central mountains —have spread the demand to small businesses previously ignored by the travel industry. Take Sheila Osorio, who leads workshops on Afro-Puerto Rican bomba music and dance at Taller Nzambi, in the town of Loíza, 15 miles east of San Juan; or Wanda Otero, founder of cheese-producing company Vaca Negra in Hatillo, an hour’s drive west of Old San Juan, where you can join a cheese-making workshop and indulge in artisanal cheese tastings. “The list of businesses involved in tourism has gone from 650 in 2018 to 6,100, many of which are artists and artisans,” Dean says. While New Yorkers and Miami residents have always been the largest visitor demographic, Dean says more mainland Americans now realize that going to Puerto Rico means passport-free travel to enjoy beaches, as well as opportunities to dine in Michelin-rated restaurants, hike the only rainforest in the U.S. and kayak in a bioluminescent bay. Visitors from Chicago and Dallas, for example, have increased by approximately 40% from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, compared with the same period in 2022-2023, and more travelers are expected from Denver now that United Airlines Holdings Inc. has kicked off its first nonstop service to San Juan, beginning on Oct. 29. Previously, beach destinations that were easy to reach on direct flights from Denver included Mexico, Belize and California, but now Puerto Rico joins that list with a 5.5-hour nonstop route that cuts more than two hours from the next-best option. Given United Airlines’ hub in San Francisco, it could mean more travelers from the Golden State in the near future, too. In December, U.S. airlines will have 3,000 more seats per day to the territory compared with the same period last year, for a total of 84,731 — surpassing even Mexico and the Dominican Republic in air capacity, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, the island’s primary gateway, is projecting a record volume of 13 million passengers by year’s end — far surpassing the 9.4 million it saw in 2019. As for Hinchcliffe’s “floating island of garbage” line, Dean says it was “a terribly insensitive attempt at humor” that transformed outrage into a marketing silver lining, with an outpouring of positive public sentiment and content on Puerto Rico all over social media. Success, as that old chestnut goes, may be the best revenge. “It was probably the most efficient influencer campaign we’ve ever had,” Dean says, “a groundswell of visitors who posted their photos and videos and said, ‘This is the Puerto Rico that I know.’” ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) — John Buggs III's 15 points helped East Tennessee State defeat Austin Peay 79-57 on Saturday night. Buggs shot 4 for 7 (3 for 5 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line for the Buccaneers (6-2). Jaden Seymour scored 13 points and added 11 rebounds. Quimari Peterson had 13 points and went 6 of 11 from the field. The Governors (4-4) were led in scoring by LJ Thomas, who finished with 15 points. Austin Peay also got 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals from Tate McCubbin. Tekao Carpenter also had eight points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Appalachian State hires South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains as head coachA melee broke out at midfield of Ohio Stadium after Michigan upset No. 2 Ohio State 13-10 on Saturday. After the Wolverines' fourth straight win in the series, players converged at the block "O" to plant its flag. The Ohio State players were in the south end zone singing their alma mater in front of the student section. When the Buckeyes saw the Wolverines' flag, they rushed toward the 50-yard line. Social media posts showed Michigan offensive lineman Raheem Anderson carrying the flag on a long pole to midfield, where the Wolverines were met by dozens of Ohio State players and fights broke out. Buckeyes defensive end Jack Sawyer was seen ripping the flag off the pole and taking the flag as he scuffled with several people trying to recover the flag. A statement from the Ohio State Police Department read: "Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation. During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games and will continue to investigate." Michigan running back Kalel Mullings on FOX said: "For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. It's bad for the sport, bad for college football. At the end of the day, some people got to learn how to lose, man. "You can't be fighting and stuff just because you lost the game. We had 60 minutes and four quarters to do all that fighting. Now people want to talk and fight. That's wrong. It's bad for the game. Classless, in my opinion. People got to be better." Once order was restored, officers cordoned the 50-yard line, using bicycles as barriers. Ohio State coach Ryan Day in his postgame press conference said he wasn't sure what happened. "I don't know all the details of it. But I know that these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren't going to let that happen," he said. "I'll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field and certainly we're embarrassed at the fact we lost the game, but there's some prideful guys on our team that weren't just going to let that happen." The Big Ten has not yet released a statement on the incident. --Field Level Media
BOONE, N.C. — South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains has been hired as head coach at Appalachian State and will receive a five-year contract, athletic director Doug Gillin announced Saturday. The 44-year-old Loggains replaces Shawn Clark, who was fired Monday after the Mountaineers finished 5-6 for their first losing season since 2013. Loggains was South Carolina's offensive coordinator for two seasons and an assistant at Arkansas, his alma mater, for two seasons before that. He spent 16 years in the NFL as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Tennessee, Cleveland, Chicago, Miami and the New York Jets. “He brings experience as a leader and play-caller at the highest levels of professional and college football," Gillin said. "He is a great recruiter and believes strongly in building relationships. He is aligned with our core values of academic integrity, competitive excellence, social responsibility and world-class experience. This is a great day for App State.” Loggains' offense at South Carolina featured LaNorris Sellers, one of the nation's top dual-threat quarterbacks, and running back Raheim “Rocket” Sanders. Sellers and Sanders led the Southeastern Conference's third-ranked rushing offense. Loggains spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons as Arkansas' tight ends coach, and he worked with Sam Darnold, Jay Cutler, Mitchell Trubisky, Brian Hoyer and Vince Young during his time in the NFL. The Mountaineers, the preseason favorites in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division, tied for fifth with a 3-5 record in league play. App State was 40-24 under Clark, but the Mountaineers have failed to reach a bowl game two of the past three seasons.
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NDP ready to open 'gates' to pass Liberal GST holiday bill separate from $250 rebateThis story was published as part of Billboard’s music technology newsletter ‘Machine Learnings.’ Sign up for ‘Machine Learnings,’ and Billboard’s other newsletters, here . Let’s get the news out of the way: on Monday (Nov. 24) Drake initiated legal action against Universal Music Group — the parent company of his record label — and Spotify over allegations that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.” This, he says, was done through a variety of allegedly illegal promotional methods, like UMG — which also is the parent company to Kendrick’s label — accepting a royalty reduction in exchange for boosting streams; payola via independent radio promotions; and paid but undisclosed influencer campaigns. (For their part, Universal called these claims “ offensive and untrue .”) Longtime readers of Machine Learnings know that most of the topics presented in Drake’s case are ones we’ve covered extensively in this newsletter. I don’t take the issues of streaming fraud and shady digital marketing tactics lightly, and if these allegations are true, it would be a bombshell that one of the world’s biggest artists called out the world’s largest music company for partaking in it. (And trust me, I’d be all over reporting that!) But while Drake’s allegations could still hold some merit, this particular court document seems to be backed up with questionable evidence and — it seems — some level of misunderstanding about the way music promotion works today. So let’s break it down. Here are a few key quotes from Monday’s court document, with commentary. “In his memo to staff reflecting on the highlights of 2021, the CEO of UMG, Lucian Grainge, remarked on it being ‘harder than ever for artists to break through the noise: sixty thousand songs are added to Spotify every day. ’” Maybe I’m splitting hairs by pointing this out, but I find this to be a strange way to begin laying out these allegations. Why are they citing highlights from 2021 when we get updates every year about how many songs are added to Spotify on a daily basis? It would have been far more effective to start by including the 2023 stat: 120,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify each day, according to Luminate. Or, if they want to keep the quote from Grainge in, why not tack that current number on to the end? Throughout this document, it seems like Drake’s team is missing key, up-to-date information on the ways songs are released and marketed today. This is surprising, given Drake is one of the most successful artists in the world and one who often makes savvy marketing and business decisions. One of those marketing tactics that immediately comes to mind is when Drake graced the cover of a ton of Spotify playlists during the release of his album Scorpion in 2018 to raise awareness, and streams, for the project. It was so over the top that Billboard reported at the time that some fans were calling for Spotify to provide refunds because they were seeing too much Drake. “On information and belief, UMG charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for “Not Like Us” in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending the Song to users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists. Neither UMG nor Spotify disclosed that Spotify had received compensation of any kind in exchange for recommending the Song.” Rather than some nefarious back room deal, this sounds like Drake’s lawyers are referring to Spotify’s Discovery Mode feature , which is used by a wide array of labels and artists and is practically never disclosed. According to an article from Spotify’s support team, artists who want a song to receive an additional algorithmic boost on the platform can opt in to Discovery Mode which “doesn’t require an upfront budget” and instead takes a “30% commission... to recording royalties generated from all streams of selected songs in Discovery Mode contexts.” When Spotify debuted this feature in November 2020, it immediately drew controversy. In June 2021 , Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Hank Johnson Jr. (D-GA) sent a letter to Spotify’s CEO/founder Daniel Ek voicing worries that the feature “may set in motion a ‘race to the bottom’ in which artists and labels feel compelled to accept lower royalties as a necessary way to break through an extremely crowded and competitive music environment.” Again, in March 2022 , Reps. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Judy Chu (D-CA) and Tony Cardenas (D-CA) — co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Multicultural Media — expressed concerns that Discovery Mode “lack[ed] transparency” for both artists and consumers. The representatives then asked the company to publish “on a monthly basis the name of every track enrolled in the program” and the agreed-upon discounted royalty rate for each, calling Discovery Mode “a serious risk for musicians.” That said, it’s not clear if “Not Like Us” was part of Spotify’s Discovery Mode program, and historically, Universal Music Group has not been known to use the feature for any of its frontline releases — including any Kendrick Lamar or Drake songs. “UMG, directly or through Interscope, also conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’ and deceive consumers into believing the Song was more popular than it was in reality... One individual unknown to Petitioner revealed publicly on a popular podcast that Mr. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth’s ‘label’ (i.e., Interscope) paid him via third parties to use ‘bots’ to achieve 30,000,000 streams on Spotify in the first days of the release of ‘Not Like Us’” If this is true, this is streaming fraud and would be a serious offense. Just a few months ago, a man named Michael Anthony Smith was indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for allegedly using bots to boost the streams of his catalog and to help him siphon $10 million out of the royalty pool. But the evidence here is sketchy. Drake’s lawyers admit that the “individual” who was allegedly solicited to artificially drive up Kendrick’s streams is “unknown to [Drake]” but that this anonymous person went on DJ Akademiks ’ podcast to talk about this alleged scheme. DJ Akademiks is a podcaster who is known to be close with Drake, and he has played a significant role in backing up Drake during the beef earlier this year . Even if this ended up being true, which seems like a stretch, it feels quite biased. “While historically payola has been thought of in terms of paying radio stations to play songs, in February 2020, the Federal Trade Commission released guidance stating that ‘by paying an influencer to pretend that their endorsement or review is untainted by a financial relationship, this is illegal payola.’ On information and belief, UMG employed a similar scheme by paying social media influencers to promote and endorse the Song and Video. For example, Petitioner understands that UMG paid the popular NFR Podcast — which has nearly 300,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 330,000 followers on X — to promote ‘Not Like Us’” Drake’s team is citing a quote from February 2020 by the FTC that has been removed from the agency’s website. I do not know if that means it is no longer their current rule, or if there was another reason. What I do know is that just a few months ago, I wrote a story on the topic of influencers receiving undisclosed payments to play songs in the background of TikTok videos. I went into the reporting believing, as Drake’s team seems to, that this was definitely against FTC guidelines, but the FTC told me that wasn’t necessarily the case. “While we can’t comment on any particular example, that practice seems somewhat analogous to a product placement,” the FTC told me. “When there are songs playing in the backgrounds of videos, there are no objective claims made about the songs. The video creator may be communicating implicitly that they like the song, but viewers can judge the song themselves when they listen to it playing in the video. For these reasons, it may not be necessary for a video to disclose that the content creator was compensated for using a particular song in the background in the video.” Some of the examples from NFR that Drake cites here are not exactly the same type of pay-to-play content I researched for my story, but I could see these examples being acceptable by the FTC based on what they told me. One example of UMG’s alleged influencer payola cited by Drake’s lawyers was a tweet by NFR that says that Kendrick Lamar’s new music video was released. Another was NFR saying “Kids rapping Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ word for word at a birthday party.” Another: “Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ becomes the FASTEST rap song to reach 300M Spotify streams.” All three of these examples are objective statements about one of the biggest artists in the world. Referring back to the statement I got from the FTC, “There are no objective claims made about the songs...viewers can judge the songs themselves.” (I say all this while also acknowledging that some of the other examples listed might be in more of a gray area with the FTC). The practice of paying influencers to post about new songs is nothing new, and one major label marketer told me he estimated “75% of popular songs on TikTok started with a creator marketing campaign.” According to digital marketing experts, influencer campaigns have been the go-to marketing strategy at every major label since TikTok took off in 2020. With that in mind, it is hard for me to imagine that Drake’s team has never run a similar campaign for any of his own viral hits, which would undermine his entire argument. “Streaming and licensing is a zero-sum game. Every time a song ‘breaks through,’ it means another artist does not. UMG’s choice to saturate the music market with ‘Not Like Us’ comes at the expense of its other artists, like Drake. As Drake is Petitioner’s sole owner, and Petitioner owns the copyright to Drake’s entire catalogue, Petitioner suffered economic harm as a result of UMG’s scheme.” I find this to be a strange claim — that if Kendrick’s song streams well it directly takes away from Drake or other artists. It feels like a stretch to blame Kendrick for other artists not succeeding with their songs at the same time. I imagine Drake faced more “economic harm” from the reputational damage this song did to him (by calling him a “pedophile”) than it did by being a “zero-sum” streaming game. Plus, with UMG the parent company distributing both artists — and thus making money from their success — it makes no business sense for them to be deliberately harming his career and prospects. This zero-sum claim seems to be what he’s getting at in his second legal filing , released Tuesday (Nov. 26). In it, he claims UMG should have stopped Kendrick from releasing a song with “false” claims that defamed his character. “UMG ... could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” Drake’s lawyers write in the court document. “But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.” By saying this, Drake is essentially advocating for labels to censor their artists, which is a very slippery slope — I’d wager most people would find it troublesome if a billion-dollar corporation started preemptively censoring art. Not to mention, Drake has levied plenty of his own unsubstantiated claims against Kendrick this year, most notably on also-UMG-released diss track “Family Matters.” The hip-hop industry has fought for years to remind the judicial system in the U.S. that not everything a rapper says in a song is a cold hard fact, and it should not be used as evidence against a rapper in a criminal sense. As top music attorney Dina Lapolt once put it to Variety , “[these] attempts to put all rap lyrics into the categories of historical fact and fiction [are] failing to understand that hip-hop, like most art, is more complex than that... lyrics are not to be taken literally.”
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The sprawling, windowless warehouses that hold rows of high-speed servers powering almost everything the world does on phones and computers are increasingly becoming fixtures of the American landscape, popping up in towns, cities and suburbs across the United States. Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years due to the rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and urban and rural governments alike are competing for lucrative deals with big tech companies. But as data centers begin to move into more densely populated areas, abutting homes and schools, parks and recreation centers, some residents are pushing back against the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities. In Northern Virginia, more than 300 data centers dot the rolling hills of the area’s westernmost counties and butt up against wooded bike trails winding through the suburbs. But one of the latest proposals in the area, Plaza 500, would see a 466,000-square-foot facility and adjacent electrical substation built a few hundred feet from townhomes, playgrounds and a community center. The pitch from Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm founded by billionaire Barry Sternlicht, to Fairfax County officials promised jobs and a significant property tax boost. But data center critics say the incentives aren't enough to counteract the consequences of building the facilities so close to homes. Tyler Ray, a leader in the fight against the Virginia project, worries that more data centers in the area could compromise the already stressed power grid: Over 25% of all power produced in Virginia in 2023 went to data centers, a figure that could rise as high as 46% by 2030 if data center growth continues at its current pace. Some estimates also show a mid-sized data center commands the same water usage every day as 1,000 households, prompting concerns over the cost of water. Ray also frets over air quality, as the massive diesel generators that help power the data centers’ hardware send plumes of toxic pollutants into the atmosphere. Ray and his neighbors tried to stop the development, but their efforts were largely unsuccessful. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in September said all newly proposed data centers must adhere to stricter zoning rules, but the Plaza 500 project was exempt. “I don’t know how a general resident, even someone who has been engaging intently on an issue, has any chance to go up against the data center industry,” Ray said the night the supervisors voted. For local governments, attracting data centers to their municipalities means a financial boon: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in 2024 that Virginia’s current data centers brought in $1 billion in tax revenue. For average-sized facilities, data centers offer a small number of direct jobs – often fewer than 100 positions. Google announced recently that its investment in nearby Loudoun County, which included two data centers, created around 150 direct jobs, a figure that data center opponents say isn’t worth the hassle. But data center advocates argue that the number of indirect jobs like construction, technology support and electrical work make the projects worthwhile. In that same announcement, Google said their investment spurred 2,730 indirect jobs. Kathy Smith, the vice chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, voted in favor of the Plaza 500 proposal because, in her estimation, data center growth is inevitable in the region, and Fairfax County should reap the benefits. “I have a responsibility to step back from what we do and look at the big picture,” Smith said. “Data centers are not going away.” On the other side of the country, in Morrow County, Oregon, Amazon Web Services has built at least five data centers surrounding the 4,200-person town of Boardman, nestled among vast stretches of farmland flecked with mint patches and wind turbines, next to the Columbia river. Last year, AWS paid roughly $34 million in property taxes and fees stipulated in the agreements after receiving a $66 million tax break. Those payments, in addition to $1.7 in charitable donations from the company in 2023, have been instrumental in updating infrastructure and bolstering services. These funds have gone toward a new ladder fire engine, a school resource officer and $5,000 grants for homebuyers so far totaling at least $2.8 million. “This road right here? Wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for AWS,” said Boardman Mayor Paul Keefer, riding in the passenger seat of Police Chief Rick Stokoe’s cruiser, pointing out the window at construction workers shifting dirt and laying pavement. AWS has cultivated relationships with local officials including Keefer and Stokoe, who have both been in positions to vote on whether to authorize tax breaks with the company. Some former county commissioners and residents worry that those relationships are too cozy. Kevin Miller, AWS’s vice president of global data centers, said in an interview with the Associated Press that “our interest is in being a model corporate citizen, to really be partners with those communities.” Skepticism of the deals started years ago, when three formerly elected officials allegedly helped approve data center deals while also owning a stake in a company that contracted with AWS to provide fiber optic cables for the data centers. In June, they each paid $2,000 to settle an ethics complaint. Those officials are no longer in office. But the latest data center deal struck between Morrow County officials and AWS, which gives the company an estimated $1 billion in tax breaks spread over the 15 years to build five new data centers, again raised eyebrows. Two former Morrow County Commissioners, Jim Doherty and Melissa Lindsay, pushed unsuccessfully in 2022 for AWS to pay more in taxes in new data center negotiations. “We didn’t want to blow it up. We didn’t want to run them off,” said Lindsay. “But there were better deals to be made.”LSU will play host to Oklahoma on Saturday in the first meeting between the two teams as members of the same conference. This will also be the first showdown between the Tigers and the Sooners since 2019's College Football Playoff, when Ed Orgeron's historic Tigers downed Lincoln Riley's Oklahoma to advance to the CFP National Championship. The Tigers hold a 2-1 advantage in the series, with Oklahoma's only win against the Tigers coming in 1950. LSU is fresh off a bounce-back 24-17 win against Vanderbilt . Prior to that, the previously 6-1 Tigers dropped three SEC contests in a row. All three of those losses came by double digits, including one defeat against unranked Florida . Not to be outdone, Oklahoma notched its biggest win of the season -- and took a sledgehammer to Alabama's College Football Playoff hopes -- in a 24-3 romp over the Crimson Tide. That was Oklahoma's sixth win of the year, which means that the Sooners will make it to a bowl game for a 26th straight season, the second-longest streak in the FBS. Though both teams have already locked down a bowl game, a win Saturday is still important to improve either team's stock during the postseason bidding process. How to watch LSU vs. Oklahoma live Date : Saturday, Nov. 30 | Time : 7 p.m. ET Location : Tiger Stadium -- Baton Rouge, Louisiana TV: ESPN | Live stream: fubo (Try for free) LSU vs. Oklahoma: Need to know Help could be on the way for Oklahoma: Oklahoma's offense has struggled a lot this season -- the Sooners notably fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell on Oct. 20, one day after a 35-9 loss to South Carolina -- and a big reason why is the fact that the Sooners have been without their five top wide receivers for a majority of the year. Most of the injuries that set that room back occurred either in the preseason or within the first few games. The good news for Oklahoma is that help could be on the way at the receiver spot. There is a possibility that Deion Burks and Jalil Farooq are both able to return against LSU. Farooq has only played in two games this season, including a brief appearance against Missouri , while Burks hasn't played since Nov. 9. Burks' return would be a special boon as, in spite of his missed time, he still leads the Sooners with three touchdowns catches. All eyes on Garrett Nussmeier : Saturday could be LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier's last time in Tiger Stadium. The redshirt junior, who spent three years biding his time and learning LSU's system before emerging as a starter in 2024, is eligible to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft . At one point, he was seen as a potential first-round prospect due to his excellent frame and big arm. But his stock has dropped a bit down the stretch amid some late-season struggles. Nussmeier has thrown five touchdowns to five interceptions in LSU's last four games and seven of his 11 interceptions came in the past six contests. LSU coach Brian Kelly recently said he is "hopeful" that Nussmeier will return in 2025 in an attempt to recover some of his draft buzz. Strength vs. Strength: Even with Nussmeier's struggles of late, LSU still has one of the most prolific passing attacks in the nation. And Nussmeier did have a good game against Vanderbilt, posting 332 yards and one touchdown through the air while completing just over 75% of his passes. The Tigers currently rank second in the SEC with 317.7 yards passing per game. They have plenty of talented receivers to spread the ball to, including wideout Kyren Lacy , who is currently tied for first place in the SEC with eight touchdowns. Oklahoma's secondary will be a huge test. The Sooners have held each of their last three opponents -- and four of their last five -- under 200 yards passing. They've also been opportunistic when it comes to creating turnovers. Oklahoma had three interceptions against Alabama, one of which linebacker Kip Lewis returned for a crucial touchdown to give the Sooners their decisive advantage. All sports betting odds via Caesars Sportsbook . Check out the latest Caesars promo code to get in the game. LSU vs. Oklahoma prediction, picks Oklahoma has quietly had an excellent defensive season. Or, at least it was quiet before the Sooners held Alabama's explosive offense to three total points. The Sooners currently rank fourth in the SEC in total defense (311.3 yards per game) and are holding opponents to just 20.2 points per contest. Jackson Arnold has also been solid for the Sooners after returning to the field -- especially with his legs. He has 221 yards and one touchdown rushing in Oklahoma's last three games. All this to say, Oklahoma is a bad matchup for an LSU team with a faltering offense and a defense that really struggles to defend against rushing quarterbacks. The Sooners may not win straight-up (the game's a tossup in my mind), but it will be incredibly close either way. The six-point betting line seems like too much. Pick: Oklahoma +6 SportsLine's proven computer model is calling for several outright upsets in Week 14 of college football . Visit SportsLine now to see them all , plus get spread picks for every game from the model that simulates each game 10,000 times.