Local students shine in South Korea workshop programmeArticle content There is an attractive secondary option for OHL players, but it’s still business as usual for the Soo Greyhounds. On Nov. 7 the NCAA Division I council voted to allow Canadian Hockey League players into their league. “I think it is exciting for the players as you can have both options available to you and that is encouraging for our league,” Hounds GM Kylle Raftis told The Sault Star. The ruling doesn’t apply to Division III schools. CHL players are still ineligible to participate in Division III hockey. Recruiting can begin immediately. The ruling takes effect Aug. 1. “If you are an elite player, I don’t think this rule change is going to change (anything),” Raftis said. “It has more positives than negatives.” Previously, the NCAA ruled all CHL players ineligible because there are players who have signed professional contracts playing in the WHL, the OHL or the QMJHL. “The NCAA is an excellent league,” Rafts said. “It’s an older league, but it’s a great option for guys when they have done their time.” I warned you Through his actions, Callum Croskery warned teams not to take him because he was going to play D1 college hockey, via the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. The Greyhounds took him anyway with their second-round pick in the 2024 OHL draft. True to his word, Croskery didn’t attend development or main camp. And he wasn’t the only player to warn teams away as nine highly ranked players signed tender agreements with teams in the USHL and the British Columbia Hockey League. The consensus first-pick overall Adam Valentini signed with the Steel. The Mississauga Steelheads drafted Valentini in the 13th position. Caleb Malhotra, another highly touted prospect, fell in the draft because he committed to the Chilliwack Chiefs of the BCHL before heading to Boston University in a couple of seasons time. The Kingston Frontenacs drafted Malhotra at No. 8. Raftis says the new arrangement should reduce the amount of ‘slippage’ as players aren’t locked into one development stream at the expense of the other. “If a player was 50-50 and you put them a little bit further down your draft board and not because of talent but because (of where they wanted to play), that is probably going to change a little bit,” Raftis said. Perhaps, the Hounds can reopen negotiations with the former Oakville Rangers d-man Croskery. “We always viewed Croskery as somebody who was going to step in a little bit later,” Raftis said. “There was never a door closed, but this is encouraging for sure.” If Ryder Cali plays in one game for the North Bay Battalion, the Hounds get three additional picks in future drafts. The Hounds drafted Cali with their first pick in the opening round, but Cali signed a letter of intent with Harvard University men’s team prior to signing a player’s agreement with the club. The Hounds traded Cali’s rights to the Battalion back in September. Reduced to three The Hounds released OA Justin DeZoete prior to last Friday night’s 3-2 loss to the Flint Firebirds. “He did everything we asked of him, and he was a great leader for us. Right up until last week he was a big member of our team,” Raftis said. In his 17 games with the club this season DeZoete tallied one goal and four assists. Last season DeZoete scored three goals and added seven assists in 27 regular-season games. He had one assist in 11 playoff games. Caeden Carlisle, Owen Allard and Charlie Schenkel are the remaining OAs. The Soo had five over-aged players at the start of camp, but the club released Julian Fantino prior to the start of the season. “It was tough (to release him), but it came to that point with the other overagers and you have to be fair to him as he has got to play and hopefully who has opened some eyes up and in the long term it is a good thing for him but in the short term it was tough,” Raftis said. “I know he meant a lot to the guys in the room and that is never a fun time (to release someone that popular).” Beaver blades The Hounds finally made a move with third goaltender Reid Thomas, sending the Oshawa resident to the Blind River Beavers of the NOJHL. “We had the wheels in motion to get him some games with a different team, but when Charlie Schenkel had that injury for a couple of weeks, he stayed up with us a little longer than intended.” Schenkel lasted 39:10 against Saginaw on Oct 23, leaving the game after a collision with Nic Sima. He missed three games and was back in the net for the Nov. 2 game against Flint. The Soo Greyhounds signed Reid to a standard players contract on Sept. 5. He was a 15th round pick from the 2023 OHL draft. Reid played two pre-season games for the locals. He allowed 15 goals on 78 shots. This is pure speculation at this point but is there a possibility the Hounds will trade Schenkel by the deadline and ride or die with Landon Miller and Thomas for the remainder of this season. “He was taking some good steps in practice, but you have to get reps in games and the time came for it now,” Raftis said. “You want to get as many reps as you can and that way, if we need to put him in, or the situation changes he would be coming in with confidence. It is great to watch and good to practice, but you’ve got to get into some games at some point.” Thomas made his first start for the Beavers on Nov. 17 against French River. He stopped 33 shots to earn his first junior victory. Ice Chips Landon Miller will get the start against the Niagara IceDogs on Thursday night ... Keegan Gillan, Owen Allard and Brayden Velliaris are scratched. Christopher Brown is making his first start since Nov. 8 in Kitchener. Allard has been out of the lineup with an upper body injury since Nov. 6 in London. Around the league The London Knights, Kitchener Rangers and Windsor Spitfires are the top three ranked teams respectively in the OHL power rankings for the week beginning Nov. 18. The Greyhounds moved up one spot to #11. The IceDogs are ranked #8. IceDogs leading scorer Kevin He (17 goals and 12 assists) will miss the game due to a suspension. He was suspended for two games. He is eligible to return Friday night when Niagara is in Mississauga to play the Steelheads. Share this Story : Rinkside: Business, as usual, I warned you, reduced to three and Beaver blades Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn TumblrUniqlo's 'powder soft' £60 jacket that's as stylish as it is warm reduced by £40 in winter sale
It’s a safe bet Gov. Kevin Stitt and Attorney General Gentner Drummond didn’t exchange Christmas gifts. The enmity between two of state elected leadership’s top dawgs is palpable – vividly illustrated by Drummond’s decision to skip December’s state Board of Equalization meeting and instead release a statement scorning Stitt’s fiscal ciphering. “I come from the private sector,” the AG said, “where you don’t play games with your budget. After sitting through several of these meetings, as well as briefings from the governor’s chosen staff, I can tell you that I have no confidence in the accuracy or completeness of the governor’s budget numbers.” Ouch! Makes Ronald Reagan’s 11 th Commandment – Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican – seem almost quaint, doesn’t it? The broadside was hardly a political thunderbolt, of course. Storm clouds began churning soon after Drummond took office in 2023, in no small part because Stitt seems to think the attorney general works for him. A Civics 101 refresher: The AG is a constitutional officer. Independent. Duly elected. Not a hack appointee at the beck-and-call of the governor. This clearly is difficult for Stitt to swallow. During his first term, he repeatedly clashed with then-Attorney General Mike Hunter, who favored the law over the governor’s predilections. When Hunter resigned amid personal scandal, Stitt exercised his authority to appoint an obsequious replacement – John O’Connor. O’Connor’s reign didn’t last long. Voters rejected his bid for a full, four-year term, embracing Drummond instead; independence over servility. What followed was two tempestuous years in which Stitt attempted to impose his will – regardless of the law – and Drummond resisted. Think: the governor’s support for creating the nation’s first taxpayer funded private school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School, which Drummond opposed in court because it clearly violates the state Constitution’s ban on spending public dollars for sectarian purposes. The Stitt-Drummond skirmishing is delicious political theater, to be sure. But for taxpayers, the AG’s Molotov aimed at the governor’s FY’26 budget figures is gravely important. How so? Because Oklahoma’s deepest pockets believe their fondest dream, eliminating the state income tax, is within reach with Stitt, one of their own, in the Capitol’s second-floor corner office, and a supermajority of term-limited, short-timers in the Legislature. That is an especially disconcerting combination when early projections suggest the state may have a half-a-billion dollars less to spend next year – even though costs continue to rise. Neither Stitt nor most current legislators were in office the last time income tax cuts and an economic downturn blew a billion-dollar hole in the state budget. Do we really want to repeat the 2018 nightmare that led to a statewide teacher walkout? The fact is, the income tax is the state treasury’s largest revenue generator. If it were eliminated, where would Oklahoma get the money to keep schools open, roads paved and other vital services funded? Higher sales taxes? Property taxes? Gasoline taxes? More toll roads? Eliminating the personal income tax – the fairest tax of all because it is based on ability to pay – would shift more of the tax burden onto workaday Sooners, the folks for whom an extra penny or two at the gas pump or dollar on the turnpike can become budget-busting. For the record: Oklahoma’s top personal income tax rate – 4.75% – is far from onerous. Yes, it’s 4.75% more than in Texas, where there is no personal income tax. But before you get all misty-eyed about how Oklahoma should be more like Texas, compare property taxes in the two states. That alone should send a chill up the spine of Oklahoma homeowners and landowners. Arnold Hamilton is editor of The Oklahoma Observer; okobserver.org.Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs leaves game because of concussionMajor Companies Within The Hazelnut Oil Market Are Increasingly Focused On Developing Personalized Beauty Solutions
A video has captured the terrifying moment passers-by confront a man wielding two "zombie knives" outside a Nottingham school. Footage posted to social media shows a masked thug dressed in a black puffer coat and balaclava walking down snow-covered a residential street in the city alongside a row of parked cars while handling the two pointed blades. The clip, posted on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter , also shows the moment he points them towards two bystanders while walking outside what one user said was their grandchild's school. But the undeterred members of the public can be heard condemning the man's brazen act, telling him to put the weapons away as they confront him. One brave person demands he "put it away", adding: "Look at you." Another can be heard saying: "Think you're a f****** hard man with a knife? Get gone." Were you there or do you know anyone involved in the incident? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk He then appears to limply lunge in their direction before muttering an intelligible reply muffled by his balaclava. Appearing defeated, the man walks away with his tail between his legs, holding both knives in one hand and flipping his middle finger up at the bystanders. The person recording the video can be shouting: "I'd f*** off and all." Social media users have reacted in a similar fashion to the bystanders, with dozens of people condemning the man for his attempted intimidation. One commenter said: "He intimidated nobody. Nottingham folk don’t fear b*****ds." Another added: "Where are they getting all these machetes from?" One user said the exchange was "sad" and emblematic of a nationwide issue that has created a "new culture". They wrote: "It's sad. He doesn't want to use or carry these blades, but he feels he must, to protect his life, because that is the new culture now. And that is the real problem that successive governments have failed to tackle." Sir Keir Starmer's government has promised to clamp down on knife crime and "zombie knives" since the new Prime Minister took office earlier this year. Following a Number 10 summit in September alongside actor and knife crime campaigner Idris Elba, Mr Starmer announced that he would "double down" his efforts, with Mr Elba saying the meeting was "a step in the right direction".
Maha Kumbh 2025: Uttar Pradesh police to use under water drones for enhanced security
By Aubrey Rose A. Inosante, Reporter THE P3,000 ($51) minimum purchase requirement for nonresident tourists to qualify for a value-added tax (VAT) refund is “just right” to ensure small businesses benefit, analysts said. President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. recently signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 12079, which allows tourists to claim VAT refunds on purchases worth at least P3,000 from government-accredited stores, in an effort to boost tourism receipts. “The P3,000 is just right to benefit micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) retailers and local products,” Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) President Roberto S. Claudio said. He said the purchase cap is kept to a minimum to benefit locally made products. “I think it’s a good entry and good starting point. Some countries are still higher than P3,000 as well. I think we’re above the middle, so I think that’s a good place to be,” Tourism Congress of the Philippines President James M. Montenegro said via phone call. Under RA 12079, the value of the locally bought goods from accredited stores must reach at least P3,000 per transaction, provided these goods are taken out of the country within 60 days of purchase. “This law is primarily designed to boost tourist arrivals and expenditure. Hopefully, it will also increase the sales revenue of retailers,” Mr. Claudio said. Mr. Montenegro said the minimum purchase amount could be adjusted in the future. The threshold is subject to review and adjustment every three years by the Finance secretary, upon recommendation of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, considering the inflation data from the statistics agency. “I think the minimum rate is at par with our ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] neighbors. If you look at the minimum amounts in other countries, it is almost the same,” Eleanor L. Roque, a tax principal at P&A Grant Thornton, told BusinessWorld. The Philippines has joined other ASEAN countries with a tax refund program for nonresident tourists. The scheme has increased retail activity, particularly in sectors such as fashion, electronics and souvenirs. In Thailand, tourists are eligible for a VAT refund if they buy goods worth at least 2,000 baht ($58) from each store per day. In Malaysia, the minimum purchase is 300 ringgit ($67). Singapore allows tourists to spend at least S$100 ($74), while in Indonesia, it starts at 500,000 rupiah ($31). “It is good to have a minimum amount as it limits the refund claim to valuable expenses. De minimis spendings are normally not considered for VAT refund as it is not administratively practical. In some cases, the cost will be more expensive than the amount being refunded,” Ms. Roque said. She said the government should tap accredited international firms in the VAT refund processing, adding that the “government should take advantage of the track record and best practices of these known companies.” Ms. Roque said the government should ensure the goods bought are really brought out of the country. “Physical inspection of the goods when exiting the country should be strict to ensure that local buyers do not use tourists for availing themselves of the VAT refund,” she added. However, Philippine Institute for Development Studies Senior Research Fellow John Paolo R. Rivera said the P3,000 threshold “may not be enough to significantly encourage higher spending among affluent tourists,” especially compared with ASEAN counterparts. “A higher or more flexible threshold might align better with international best practices and encourage larger purchases,” he said. Mr. Rivera also urged the government to simplify the VAT refund process, rather than make it “extra bureaucratic.” He cited countries such as Singapore and Thailand, which have digitalized their VAT refund process at airports or designated outlets, reducing friction. Mr. Rivera also urged the government to expand access by having refund points beyond airports like seaports or malls, to ensure greater convenience. “The Philippines must also do away with excessive forms by using technology to link transactions directly to refund systems that can streamline the process and minimize fraud. Tax refund should not be as dif f icult as applying for a plate number, license, etc.,” he said. SHOPPING TOURISM At the signing ceremony last week, Mr. Marcos said the law is expected to boost tourism spending by 30% and support the county’s goal to become a major shopping destination. “You’d probably see that shopping accounts for approximately 20% of total inbound tourism expenditure. This is where the impact of the VAT refund law for nonresidents will be felt,” University of the Philippines Professor Edieser DL. Dela Santa said in an e-mail. As the Philippines boosts tourism spending, he said arrivals would not necessarily increase because foreign tourists are more likely to be influenced by other conditions like airfares and exchange rates. In 2023, tourism-related spending by nonresidents stood at P697.46 billion, the Department of Tourism (DoT) said. The United Nations Tourism said on its website that shopping is a key area of tourist spending. It significantly contributes to national economies, both directly and through its connections to other economic sectors. The Department of Finance (DoF) has said foregone revenues from the law could be off set by higher tourism spending. “Data from the DoF show savings from the refund fully channeled into additional tourism spending may boost economic output by P2.8 billion to P4 billion annually,” it said.
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — Langston Reynolds scored 31 points as Northern Colorado beat Prairie View A&M 114-98 on Saturday night. Reynolds had six rebounds for the Bears (5-2). Isaiah Hawthorne and Broc Wisne added 17 points apiece. Nick Anderson led the Panthers (1-5) with 32 points. Jordan Tillmon added 22 points and Marcel Bryant finished with 17 points and six rebounds. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
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By BETH HARRIS LOS ANGELES (AP) — Londynn Jones scored 15 points, making all five of her 3-pointers, and fifth-ranked UCLA stunned No. 1 South Carolina 77-62 on Sunday, ending the Gamecocks’ overall 43-game winning streak and their run of 33 consecutive road victories. The Gamecocks (5-1) lost for the first time since April 2023, when Caitlin Clark and Iowa beat them in the NCAA Tournament national semifinals. With South Carolina’s loss, No. 2 UConn could move to No. 1 in this week’s rankings when they are announced Monday. The Huskies will face Oregon State Monday night in the opener of the Baha Mar Women’s Championship in the Bahamas. Te-Hina Paopao scored 18 points and Tessa Johnson scored 14 for the Gamecocks, whose road winning streak was third-longest in Division I history. It was the first time UCLA took down a No. 1 team in school history, having been 0-20 in such games. The program’s previous best wins were over a couple of No. 2s — Oregon in 2019 and Stanford in 2008. Elina Aarnisalo added 13 points as one of five Bruins in double figures. UCLA (5-0) dominated from start to finish, with the Bruins’ suffocating defense preventing the Gamecocks from making any sustained scoring runs. South Carolina: The Gamecocks trailed by double-digits at halftime for the first time since Dec. 21, 2021, against Stanford, according to ESPN. Chloe Kitts, who averages a team-leading 14 points, finished the game with 2 points on 1 of 7 shooting. UCLA: The Bruins led 43-22 at halftime. Eight different players scored and contributed to 11-0 and 7-0 runs in the first and second quarters as they shot 52% from the field. Key moment The first quarter set the tone for a game in which the Gamecocks never led. They missed their first nine shots and were 4 of 18 from the floor in the quarter. UCLA ran off 11 straight points to take a 20-10 lead into the second quarter. Key stats The Bruins dominated the boards, 41-34, and held the Gamecocks well under their scoring average of 80.2 points. Up next South Carolina travels to Florida to meet Iowa State in the Fort Myers Tipoff on Thanksgiving. UCLA travels to the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Hawaii to play UT Martin on Friday.DETROIT — In the end, the amount and way the Red Wings were losing lately was simply too much to ignore. And with that, the Wings fired coach Derek Lalonde and replaced him with on Thursday. In a release just after noon, the Wings announced that Steve Yzerman, the Wings’ executive vice-president and general manager, named McLellan the team’s 29th head coach in franchise history and signed McLellan to a multi-year contract. The Wings also hired Trent Yawney as an assistant coach, replacing Bob Boughner, another former Sharks head coach who oversaw the defense and penalty-kill. McLellan will be behind the bench Friday, as the Wings return from the three-day NHL holiday break to host Toronto. Yzerman and McLellan will address the media on Friday. McLellan is San Jose’s all-time winningest coach, compiling a 311-155-63 mark over seven full seasons from 2008-15. He won three Pacific Division titles and had a 30-32 record in the postseason, reaching the conference finals in 2010 and 2011. McLellan’s Sharks teams finished with more than 100 points four times, winning the President’s Trophy in the 2008-09 season that also saw McLellan named a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year. The Wings have struggled to a 13-17-4 record, good for 30 points, just two points above Buffalo for last place in the Eastern Conference. They trail Ottawa by eight points (38-30) for the final of two Eastern Conference wild-card positions. After just missing the playoffs last spring on the final night of the season on a tiebreaker, the Wings struggled from the start this season. They lost three of their first four games and have struggled mightily to get to, or above, the .500 mark ever since. The Wings have lost their last three games, and the way they did likely pushed Yzerman to replace Lalonde. The Wings let a third-period lead slip away at Little Caesars on Dec. 20 to Montreal and lost, 4-3, then lost the next night in Montreal, 5-1, watching the Canadiens score the last five goals consecutively with not a ton of pushback. Monday, the Wings were shut, 4-0, at LCA, looking listless, at times. The Wings were serenaded with a loud chorus of boos after each period, culminating with a lot of pent-up frustration at the end of the game. Lalonde, 52, ended his Wings career with an 89-86-23 record. This was his first NHL head-coaching job, and he was in his third season guiding the Wings. After last season’s exciting finish and near-playoff miss, there was plenty of optimism heading into this Wings season. The team’s overall defense needed to improve, and scoring was expected to be an issue because of the personnel losses the Wings had, but the roster appeared to be competitive. But Lalonde wasn’t able to appreciably fix any of the problem areas. The Wings rank 25th in goals-against (3.26), only slightly better than last season’s final average (3.35). Scoring goals has been a larger-than-expected issue. With the departures of Jake Walman, Shayne Gostisbehere, David Perron, Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong, the Wings were hoping for internal improvement, but it hasn’t happened. They currently rank 29th, at 2.56 goals scored per game (the Wings were 13th last season, scoring 3.12 goals per game). Add to that, a dismal penalty kill that ranks 31st (68.8%), and it’s made for a frustrating season. In steps McLellan, 57, who was an assistant coach under Mike Babcock from 2005-08. Yzerman, incidentally, was the captain in his final playing season and first season for McLellan in Detroit under Babcock. McLellan has 16 seasons of NHL head-coaching experience, posting a 598-412-134 regular-season record and a 42-46 postseason mark with the Los Angeles Kings (2019-24), Edmonton Oilers (2015-19) and Sharks (2008-15). His 598 regular-season wins are ranked 24th in NHL history and sixth-most among active coaches behind Paul Maurice (891), Lindy Ruff (876), Peter Laviolette (823), John Tortorella (757) and Peter DeBoer (632). Teams coached by McLellan have reached the 50-win mark three times and the 100-point plateau six times. McLellan’s teams have also advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs nine times, including six consecutive postseason appearances with the Sharks. Known as an upbeat coach with strong communication skills, McLellan is regarded as an effective coach of young players dating back to a successful junior hockey coaching career. McLellan, along with Yzerman, will be under increasing pressure to end a Wings’ streak of not making the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons. Only Buffalo, at 13 seasons, has a longer current streak.
When you buy a new TV, I always recommend getting a soundbar too, as most flatscreens have subpar sound . Certainly if it's free, the decision is a no-brainer. And now, Best Buy is giving you a free Samsung soundbar and subwoofer combo when you buy the 75-inch Samsung DU6950 Crystal Smart TV . You'll also get a $50 Best Buy gift card and a one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate pass. Total cost: $549.99 (the TV alone retails for $200 more, and the freebies are a $329.99 value). This TV came out this year, and offers some nice features. You'll get Samsung's Crystal Processor 4K, which offers sharper images and more vibrant colors. It also has PurColor technology, which widens the color spectrum beyond traditional RGB models. It also has "Mega Contrast," which automatically tunes brightness and contrast in every frame. Because you'll be getting the Samsung B series 2.1 ch., DTS Virtual:X Soundbar, you'll be able to use the TV's Q Symphony feature, which provides a more immersive audio experience by seamlessly syncing the TV speakers and soundbar. The included subwoofer will kick in when you need stronger bass. This is a smart TV with Samsung's Tizen OS, so you'll get the usual streaming apps, games, and anything you can cast from your phone. Tizen also has Samsung TV Plus, which offers some free live TV channels via WiFi. You can use the $50 gift card online or at a Best Buy store. The one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership lets you stream Xbox games from the Microsoft cloud.NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing . But it wasn't just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin , gold and other investments also drove higher. Here's a look at some of the numbers that defined the year. All are as of Dec. 20. Remember when President Bill Clinton got impeached or when baseball's Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos? That was the last time the U.S. stock market closed out a second straight year with a leap of at least 20%, something the S&P 500 is on track to do again this year. The index has climbed 24.3% so far this year, not including dividends, following last year's spurt of 24.2%. The number of all-time highs the S&P 500 has set so far this year. The first came early, on Jan. 19, when the index capped a two-year comeback from the swoon caused by high inflation and worries that high interest rates instituted by the Federal Reserve to combat it would create a recession. But the index was methodical through the rest of the year, setting a record in every month outside of April and August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The latest came on Dec. 6. The number of times the Federal Reserve has cut its main interest rate this year from a two-decade high, offering some relief to the economy. Expectations for those cuts, along with hopes for more in 2025, were a big reason the U.S. stock market has been so successful this year. The 1 percentage point of cuts, though, is still short of the 1.5 percentage points that many traders were forecasting for 2024 at the start of the year. The Fed disappointed investors in December when it said it may cut rates just two more times in 2025, fewer than it had earlier expected. That’s how many points the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by the day after Election Day, as investors made bets on what Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean for the economy and the world . The more widely followed S&P 500 soared 2.5% for its best day in nearly two years. Aside from bitcoin, stocks of banks and smaller winners were also perceived to be big winners. The bump has since diminished amid worries that Trump’s policies could also send inflation higher. The level that bitcoin topped to set a record above $108,000 this past month. It's been climbing as interest rates come down, and it got a particularly big boost following Trump's election. He's turned around and become a fan of crypto, and he's named a former regulator who’s seen as friendly to digital currencies as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing someone who critics said was overly aggressive in his oversight. Bitcoin was below $17,000 just two years ago following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Gold's rise for the year, as it also hit records and had as strong a run as U.S. stocks. Wars around the world have helped drive demand for investments seen as safe, such as gold. It's also benefited from the Fed's cut to interest rates. When bonds are paying less in interest, they pull away fewer potential buyers from gold, which pays investors nothing. It's a favorite number of Elon Musk, and it's also a threshold that Tesla's stock price passed in December as it set a record. The number has a long history among marijuana devotees, and Musk famously said in 2018 that he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share . Tesla soared this year, up from less than $250 at the start, in part because of expectations that Musk's close relationship with Trump could benefit the company. That's how much revenue Nvidia made in the nine months through Oct. 27, showing how the artificial-intelligence frenzy is creating mountains of cash. Nvidia's chips are driving much of the move into AI, and its revenue through the last nine months catapulted from less than $39 billion the year before. Such growth has boosted Nvidia's worth to more than $3 trillion in total. GameStop’s gain on May 13 after Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” appeared online for the first time in three years to support the video game retailer’s stock, which he helped rocket to unimaginable heights during the “ meme stock craze ” in 2021. Several other meme stocks also jumped following his post in May on the social platform X, including AMC Entertainment. Gill later disclosed a sizeable stake in the online pet products retailer Chewy, but he sold all of his holdings by late October . That's how much the U.S. economy grew, at annualized seasonally adjusted rates, in each of the three first quarters of this year. Such growth blew past what many pessimists were expecting when inflation was topping 9% in the summer of 2022. The fear was that the medicine prescribed by the Fed to beat high inflation — high interest rates — would create a recession. Households at the lower end of the income spectrum in particular are feeling pain now, as they contend with still-high prices. But the overall economy has remained remarkably resilient. This is the vacancy rate for U.S. office buildings — an all-time high — through the first three quarters of 2024, according to data from Moody's. The fact the rate held steady for most of the year was something of a win for office building owners, given that it had marched up steadily from 16.8% in the fourth quarter of 2019. Demand for office space weakened as the pandemic led to the popularization of remote work. That's the total number of previously occupied homes sold nationally through the first 11 months of 2024. Sales would have to surge 20% year-over-year in December for 2024's home sales to match the 4.09 million existing homes sold in 2023, a nearly 30-year low. The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. A shortage of homes for sale and elevated mortgage rates have discouraged many would-be homebuyers.
Teen actor Hudson Meek, who appeared in ‘Baby Driver,’ dies after falling from moving vehicleA handcuffed Luigi Mangione screamed, “It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” at reporters as he was escorted into a Pennsylvania courthouse Tuesday. He was being taken into the courthouse for an extradition hearing. OKMagazine reported , “Something seemed to trigger Mangione.” He then screamed and said either, “It’s completely unjust” or “It’s completely out of touch.” Mangione continued, claiming it was “an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It’s lived experience!” He appeared to step aside and give officers some resistance as he screamed, but they quickly redirected him and pushed him through the courthouse door. Earlier Tuesday, Breitbart News pointed to various reports claiming Mangione has suffered “debilitating pain” in his back. The New York Times reported the back surgery and People magazine reported that one of Mangione’s acquaintances, R.J. Martin, met Mangione in 2022 and observed his pain was so intense he had to “switch out his mattress” to try to get relief. When Mangione was taken into custody in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Monday he allegedly had a handwritten letter in his possession which said, “These parasites had it coming.” Additionally, Mangione had allegedly written, “I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done.” Mangione faces a murder charge in connection with the December 4, 2024, death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. His lawyer is fighting efforts to have him extradited to New York for trial. AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins , a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins . You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange . Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
AI is a game changer for students with disabilities. Schools are still learning to harness it