Aden Holloway explodes as No. 5 Alabama rolls over South Dakota State
Published 11:07 am Sunday, December 29, 2024 By Terri Cowart Frazier As a new year approaches, I like to aspire to an out-with-the-old and in-with-the-new mantra. But I had not planned on that including my refrigerator. It all began Wednesday night after the last child had driven off, and I had wiped away tears for the umpteenth time. I decided it was time to settle in for a quiet night. Well, maybe not so quiet — I did pull out the vacuum to begin the clean-up of crumbs, glitter, and the stray dog hairs that walked themselves in on the soles of our shoes. But when I felt like I had at least addressed the initial layer of Christmas clean-up, hubby and I finally sat down for a meal of leftover goodies. As I opened the fridge to pull out the ham and turkey, I noticed a slight smell, but I just chalked it up to the assortment of foods that had been ever so slightly crammed inside for the past week. It wasn’t until later that night that I discovered I was wrong. My now almost-empty fridge had a problem and so did the freezer. When I went to grab some ice for a glass of water, the cubes were quite soft and in the bottom of the tray water had begun to puddle. I informed hubby, but he was glued to the TV watching a football game and therefore said he would check it in the morning. Well, when morning came, it was even more obvious that the refrigerator and freezer were not doing their job. So, I called my dad to see if he had a number for a repair man. Obviously, he did. My dad is an apartment owner and retired contractor, so he has folks like this on speed dial. Lucky for me the fellow showed up in record time even though it was the day after Christmas. But that is where my good fortune ended because the diagnosis, sadly, was not good. My compressor was going out and to replace it would cost nearly as much as a new fridge. The situation was now dire. Well maybe not dire. We do have an old used model in the storeroom to help when we have overflow and to keep soft drinks and Gatorade chilled. However, it is smaller than the one inside and it does not have an ice maker. Therefore, the next step would be to find a replacement and one that was of a brand the repairman had suggested, so hubby and I set out to do just that. One would assume this would not be that big of a deal, but because we live in a stainless-steel world and my kitchen appliances are white, finding a fridge was an issue. So-much-so, in our quest we wound up having to go to Jackson. I didn’t begin to panic until we left the third retail store and had come up empty handed. Our last stop was at Cowboy Kitchens in Ridgeland and thankfully they had a model that would work. It wasn’t in stock, but the sales rep said she could get it to me in a couple of weeks. While this was certainly going to be inconvenient, I just couldn’t seem to be dismayed with my dilemma. Because all I could think about was what if this had happened just a few days earlier. Talk about a Christmas being spoiled. The new year is just days away and while I will be ushering in a new refrigerator with it, I also look forward to all the cool stuff 2025 has in store for me. Terri Cowart Frazier writes features for The Vicksburg Post. She can be reached at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com . Terri Frazier was born in Cleveland. Shortly afterward, the family moved to Vicksburg. She is a part-time reporter at The Vicksburg Post and is the editor of the Vicksburg Living Magazine, which has been awarded First Place by the Mississippi Press Association. She has also been the recipient of a First Place award in the MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest’s editorial division for the “Best Feature Story.” Terri graduated from Warren Central High School and Mississippi State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations. Prior to coming to work at The Post a little more than 10 years ago, she did some freelancing at the Jackson Free Press. But for most of her life, she enjoyed being a full-time stay at home mom. Terri is a member of the Crawford Street United Methodist Church. She is a lifetime member of the Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary and is a past member of the Sampler Antique Club and Town and Country Garden Club. She is married to Dr. Walter Frazier. “From staying informed with local governmental issues to hearing the stories of its people, a hometown newspaper is vital to a community. I have felt privileged to be part of a dedicated team at The Post throughout my tenure and hope that with theirs and with local support, I will be able to continue to grow and hone in on my skills as I help share the stories in Vicksburg. When asked what I like most about my job, my answer is always ‘the people.’Chris Wright, the nominee of president-elect Donald Trump to oversee the U.S. Department of Energy, founded Liberty Energy, a company headquartered on the 24th floor of a downtown Denver building. The company deploys hydraulic fracturing and other technological innovations that have produced a bounty of hydrocarbons in Colorado and other places. Wright is a hydrocarbon evangelist. He says only fossil fuels can lift people out of poverty. He acknowledges human-induced climate change but downplays the potential costs. Renewable generation will take a century or two to displace fossil fuels. “We should push ahead, but if you push ahead at all costs, you end up harming people’s lives,” he said in Greeley in 2021. In Colorado, the energy transition is well underway. Consider Holy Cross Energy, the electrical cooperative serving the Aspen and Vail areas. During October, Holy Cross achieved more than 90% electrical generation from its wind, solar, and other renewable resources. Bryan Hannegan, the chief executive, believes Holy Cross can achieve between 95% and 100% emissions-free electricity by 2030. The cost? Surveys of Colorado’s 50-plus electrical utilities consistently show Holy Cross having among the state’s lowest rates. Colorado legislators in 2019 adopted goals for economy-wide decarbonization, the first big milestone being 50% by 2030. That’s a difficult goal, and we’re currently lagging the pace we need. Will a Trump White House and a Republican Congress further slow Colorado’s journey? No, because Colorado has such strong momentum, is what I hear. Beginning with a big bill-signing festival amid solar panels in Arvada in May 2019, Gov. Jared Polis has signed scores of bills into law. Those laws collectively push and pull Colorado toward low- and no-emissions technologies. This big pivot has been made easier by rapid price declines in wind and solar energy during the last 15 years. Keep in mind that Trump, when campaigning in Grand Junction in 2016, had promised to put coal miners back to work. Guess what? During his time in the White House, Colorado utilities made plans to close all their coal plants. They’re too costly. In October 2023 I posed the question of a Trump presidency and Republican Congress to Jigar Shah, who oversees the Department of Energy loan program. “Four major technologies have thrived to the point where they’re super cost-effective today: solar, wind, lithium-ion battery storage, and electric vehicles,” he replied. “All four were unscathed but (actually) thrived under the Trump administration.” The Inflation Reduction Act, the deceptively named climate change law passed by Congress in 2022, has funneled great sums to both rural and urban Colorado. (Holy Cross Energy is getting none). Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the electrical provider for 17 of Colorado’s 22 electrical cooperatives, is to get $2.5 billion in grants and loans to help it replace coal plants with renewables and natural gas. The Denver Regional Council of Governments got $200 million to help reduce natural gas consumption in buildings. A representative assured me that the money is secure. Can the Trump administration redirect money to other purposes, such as for erecting a wall in Arizona? Likely not in any significant way. After all, well more than half of the IRA money has gone to the nation’s congressional districts represented by Republicans. The greatest near-term threat may be the $7,500 federal tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles. Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, dislikes subsidies. According to the New York Times, he told shareholders in July that shedding the tax credit would hurt competing auto manufacturers more. Losing that tax credit could slow Colorado’s embrace of EVs. EVs and plug-in hybrids were responsible for about 28% of all new-car sales in the third quarter of 2024. Renewables still have challenges. Because of their intermittency, we need more storage. And just as we once built costly interstate highways, we will build costly transmission lines for more energy sharing across broad areas. We have a long way to go in this marathon. Wright, Trump’s energy nominee, discounts the immediate threat of global warming. Colorado River flows that have declined 20% attest to a big problem today. Part of it is natural drought, but a new study shows that warming temperatures have been swinging the heavier bat in this aridification. Grand Junction can attest to this. Temperatures last summer averaged over 80 degrees, a record. To be clear, it would be far better if the Trump administration wanted to accelerate the pace of the energy transition. But will Trump’s triumph stall Colorado’s progress? Not much.Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100
During her arrest for DUI in Chicago earlier this month, a Democratic member of the obscure but influential Cook County Board of Review made sure that cops at the scene of a crash she caused knew they were dealing with a politician. In police body-camera videos from the incident in Andersonville on Nov. 11 which WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times obtained this week, Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele repeatedly refused to cooperate with officers who responded, including requests from cops to get out of the smashed car she was driving. One officer told her, “Ma’am, if you don’t exit the vehicle ... I’m going to help you to exit, and you don’t want that.” “ You don’t want that! I’m an elected official,” Steele shot back. “Elected official of what?” the officer asked. “Cook County,” Steele told him. When the officer asked for her name, Steele held out her hand and said, “I’m Sam.” The cop replied, “Sam who?” But Steele did not give the police her full name at that point. The officer told other cops, “She’s saying she’s an elected official of Cook County.” Steele then said, “I don’t want to be on the video.” But police told her she was indeed on video and they continued to record the interaction with Steele. Despite several requests, Steele would not initially provide officers with her driver’s license or get out of the car. Sitting in the driver’s seat, she drank from what seemed to be a water bottle and used her cell phone to call the person she described many times as her attorney – Democratic Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton of Glenview. She only gave her driver’s license to police and exited the car after Britton advised her over the phone to do so. After Britton arrived at the scene in the 5000 block of North Ashland Avenue, Steele said she was not drinking the wine from the bottle in the car. Britton interjected: “Don’t say anything. Don’t say anything.” Two days after the arrest, Britton said he was not a defense attorney and would not be representing Steele in her case. Britton said Steele had an attorney but he would not identify the lawyer. The three-member Board of Review has the power to rule on property tax appeals, effectively reducing tax bills. Steele lives in Evanston, and she represents the Board of Review’s district covering much of the North Side of Chicago and northern suburbs. The video from her arrest also shows the moment when police searched the car Steele was driving and discovered what records indicate was a half-empty bottle of red wine near the front passenger seat. In the video, officers joke that the cabernet sauvignon was “good stuff” and that breath mints they also found “didn’t help” – an apparent reference to the strong smell of alcohol that officers allege they detected on Steele’s breath. After at first refusing to do a field sobriety test, Steele agreed to do it, but then Steele said she had hit her head in the crash and wanted to take an ambulance to be treated. She was handcuffed again and placed in an ambulance, which took her to the hospital, according to police reports. Steele soon was transported to Chicago’s Lincoln police district, where she allegedly made lewd comments to an officer, records show. The cop wrote in his report that Steele “repeatedly said, ‘Is your penis that small’” to him. But the newly released video does not include Steele making those comments, which allegedly were said at the hospital. None of these recordings include footage from the hospital. Police charged Steele with one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol. She has not commented publicly on the case. Her court date is Dec. 27, records show. The next Board of Review meeting is scheduled for Dec. 2. Steele, 45, was first elected to the Board of Review in 2022, after being an elected county official in Indiana. The Democrat and her chief of staff are facing a federal whistleblower lawsuit filed recently by former aide Frank Calabrese, who obtained the body-camera footage of the arrest through an open-records request to police and shared it with WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times. Earlier in the year, Steele defended giving a job at the Board of Review to a former northwest Indiana politician who had pleaded guilty in a federal case. And she also has found herself at the center of the high-stakes dispute over the Chicago Bears’ property tax bill for the old Arlington Park racecourse property, where the football team has considered building a new stadium. Dan Mihalopoulos is an investigative reporter on WBEZ’s Government & Politics Team. Tom Schuba is a criminal justice editor for the Sun-Times.A shiny new tractor is pulling a huge orange trailer, while a commentator explains how best to manoeuvre it to tip grain, watched by a group of farmers wrapped up warmly in wellies, coats and bobble hats, some holding spaniels on leads. Others are checking out the latest models of combine harvesters and crop sprayers, parked on snowy ground at the Midlands Machinery Show, but few seem to be buying, and the changes to inheritance tax for agricultural properties are never far from anyone’s lips. On a crisp and sunny November day, the mood at one of the UK’s largest agricultural machinery shows was anything but bright. A frosty chill has also descended on the network of companies dependent on farm businesses purveying their wares in Newark. Machinery manufacturers and dealers, as well as building companies and suppliers, have a similar refrain: customers stopped calling straight after the chancellor set out the budget measures affecting the agricultural sector. “The phone got a lot quieter from the second she [Reeves] announced it,” says Jonathan Richardson, sales manager at Browns of Wem, a Shropshire-based company which designs, makes and constructs steel-framed and timber-sectioned buildings. “It’s had the quickest impact we have ever seen.” Previously, farming businesses qualified for 100% relief on inheritance tax on agricultural and business property. However, budget changes will see the tax imposed on farms worth over £1m, with an effective rate of 20% on assets above that threshold, rather than the normal 40% rate for inheritance tax. Labour has said , as married couples can each claim £1m tax-free, in addition to a family home worth up to £1m. “People tend to ring us in the first instance when they start thinking about [a new building]: those calls have stopped,” Richardson says, on the company’s stand at the Newark show, flanked by photos of farm buildings erected by the firm. Any belt-tightening and deferral of purchases by farmers would have a big effect on Browns of Wem, which depends on agricultural businesses for at least 90% of its trade. It would also send shockwaves through the network of companies – selling everything from tractors to tyres and farm gates to fertiliser – which make up the rural economy. “We are OK, we have a decent order book, but it is a lot quieter than it was,” says Richardson. “We are hoping this is just a blip and confidence will recover.” Taking place a day after signs propped on one display tractor warn “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “Save a farmer, remove Starmer”, underlining the strength of feeling in the farming community. The Treasury is understood to be assessing the impact of inheritance tax changes, , which could allow them to pass on their farm to their heirs tax-free without having to live for seven years after making the gift. Officials are also understood to be assessing the impact of budget measures on active small and medium-sized farms compared with smallholdings. Some of the largest machines on display, such as massive tractors and combine harvesters, are manufactured abroad and shipped to the UK to be sold by networks of dealers. “We are a dying breed, UK manufacturers,” says Graham Cherry, sitting inside a warm show stand, looking at the agricultural material handling equipment made by his company, Cherry Products, displayed outside in the snow. Their machinery attachments – including pallet forks, grain lifters and snowploughs – sell for between £2,000 and £8,000. “That’s why we are selling, and those selling £100,000 tractors are struggling,” he says, pointing at a nearby stand. “To survive, we need profitable farmers in the UK who will invest,” he says. “It has been terrible since the budget: they are all sitting with their head in their hands.” The company is dependent on British agriculture since exports dried up after Britain left the EU. “Brexit killed it: people don’t want the hassle,” Cherry says. He adds: “Everyone you speak to is down: worst harvests, wettest harvests, wettest drilling time and now this, another nail in the coffin.” The son of a farm worker, Cherry founded his business almost 45 years ago near Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds. “Next to , before you ask,” he says. Amid such a difficult outlook, Cherry worries that a prolonged downturn will force him to “make difficult decisions”, which could involve redundancies among his 30 staff. “For lots of people who make a living off farms and selling machinery to farm businesses, this [the budget] has a direct impact for us and them,” says Michael Grey, a regional sales manager at Farol, a family-owned dealership selling large equipment including tractors made by the US heavy machinery maker John Deere and telehandlers from German manufacturer Kramer. Farol, based in Oxfordshire, has some of the biggest pieces of kit on display, with correspondingly big prices. One of the newest models of self-propelled crop sprayers would set a farmer back over £370,000, while a mid-size tractor on the stand costs about £170,000. “Purchase-wise, farmers are trying to work it out,” says Grey’s colleague Tom Hinchley, an area sales manager. “One or two have talked to us about different types of ownership – that could be leasing, so it doesn’t go down as an asset.” Despite the huge cost involved, some farmers have traditionally upgraded their machinery every three to five years, to take advantage of new technology. Some in the sector feel that could be about to change. “Less footfall and closed wallets,” says Matthew Derby, describing the mood at the show while discussing the budget measures over a quick lunch with two other Lincolnshire farmers. “The effect on cash flow is obvious.” For the third-generation food producer, uncertainty over future tax liabilities means his family is evaluating its spending. “With ongoing replacement policy, we would change something every year, but we will now look to push that back until we have more clarity,” he says, in between bites of a burger. “At the point where investment in capital items is adding value and is taxable, that is a big concern.” One of the few companies to be deluged with requests is Brown and Co, a property and business consultancy. “The phone has not stopped ringing,” says land agent and partner Charlie Bryant. “No one should underestimate the angst that the whole budget has caused in the farming community.” The government has insisted that most farms will not be affected by the changes, although . Farming representatives have said the changes will force some family farms to sell up in order to pay their inheritance tax bills. Bryant, who is based in Lincolnshire, carries out 200 stock-taking valuations on farms of differing sizes each year, visiting them to calculate the value of land, machinery and other assets for their annual accounts. “I have been through my list and I haven’t found one yet who will be under £1m. That is 100% of my annual stock-taking valuation, before you start adding in crops in ground, crops in store, machinery,” he says. “If the government are trying to aim for a certain section of society, very wealthy people who have bought land for inheritance tax, I think they are wildly off the mark. The knife is going a lot deeper than I’d like to think they envisaged.” Bryant is worried that inheritance tax changes could be the final straw for some farmers. “Farm economics being particularly poor, it is pretty brutal out there,” he says. “The word distraught has come up an enormous number of times, and we need to be careful of that.”Washington: Jimmy Carter, the earnest Georgia peanut farmer who as US president struggled with a bad economy and the Iran hostage crisis but brokered peace between Israel and Egypt and later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work, died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on Sunday, the Carter Centre said. He was 100. Former US President Jimmy Carter in 1993. “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” said Chip Carter, the former president’s son. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.” A Democrat, he served as president from January 1977 to January 1981 after defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 US election. Carter was swept from office four years later in an electoral landslide as voters embraced Republican challenger Ronald Reagan, the former actor and California governor. Carter lived longer after his term in office than any other US president. Along the way, he earned a reputation as a better former president than he was a president - a status he readily acknowledged. His one-term presidency was marked by the highs of the 1978 Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt, bringing some stability to the Middle East. But it was dogged by an economy in recession, persistent unpopularity and the embarrassment of the Iran hostage crisis that consumed his final 444 days in office. Former president Jimmy Carter celebrating his 85th birthday at the reopening of the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in 2009. Credit: David Whitley/The Carter Centre In recent years, Carter had experienced several health issues including melanoma that spread to his liver and brain. Carter decided to receive hospice care in February 2023 instead of undergoing additional medical intervention. His wife, Rosalynn Carter, died on November 19, 2023, at age 96. He looked frail when he attended her memorial service and funeral in a wheelchair. Carter left office profoundly unpopular but worked energetically for decades on humanitarian causes. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 in recognition of his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter had been a centrist as governor of Georgia with populist tendencies when he moved into the White House as the 39th US president. He was a Washington outsider at a time when America was still reeling from the Watergate scandal that led Republican Richard Nixon to resign as president in 1974 and elevated Ford from vice president. “I’m Jimmy Carter and I’m running for president. I will never lie to you,” Carter promised with an ear-to-ear smile. Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter pictured at an NFL football game in 2018. Credit: AP Asked to assess his presidency, Carter said in a 1991 documentary: “The biggest failure we had was a political failure. I never was able to convince the American people that I was a forceful and strong leader.” Despite his difficulties in office, Carter had few rivals for accomplishments as a former president. He gained global acclaim as a tireless human rights advocate, a voice for the disenfranchised and a leader in the fight against hunger and poverty, winning the respect that eluded him in the White House. Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts to promote human rights and resolve conflicts around the world, from Ethiopia and Eritrea to Bosnia and Haiti. His Carter Centre in Atlanta sent international election-monitoring delegations to polls around the world. A Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher since his teens, Carter brought a strong sense of morality to the presidency, speaking openly about his religious faith. He also sought to take some pomp out of an increasingly imperial presidency - walking, rather than riding in a limousine, in his 1977 inauguration parade. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, left, President Jimmy Carter, center, and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat begin their second day of peace talks at Camp David, Maryland. Credit: AP The Middle East was the focus of Carter’s foreign policy. The 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, based on the 1978 Camp David accords, ended a state of war between the two neighbours. Carter brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland for talks. Later, as the accords seemed to be unravelling, Carter saved the day by flying to Cairo and Jerusalem for personal shuttle diplomacy. The treaty provided for Israeli withdrawal from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and establishment of diplomatic relations. Begin and Sadat each won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. By the 1980 election, the overriding issues were double-digit inflation, interest rates that exceeded 20 per cent and soaring petrol prices, as well as the Iran hostage crisis that brought humiliation to America. These issues marred Carter’s presidency and undermined his chances of winning a second term. Hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, revolutionaries devoted to Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, seized the Americans present and demanded the return of the ousted shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was backed by the United States and was being treated in a US hospital. The first day of occupation of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 shows US hostages being paraded by their militant Iranian captors. Credit: Getty Images The American public initially rallied behind Carter. But his support faded in April 1980 when a commando raid failed to rescue the hostages, with eight US soldiers killed in an aircraft accident in the Iranian desert. Carter’s final ignominy was that Iran held the 52 hostages until minutes after Reagan took his oath of office on January 20, 1981, to replace Carter, then released the planes carrying them to freedom. In another crisis, Carter protested the former Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. He also asked the US Senate to defer consideration of a major nuclear arms accord with Moscow. Unswayed, the Soviets remained in Afghanistan for a decade. Carter won narrow Senate approval in 1978 of a treaty to transfer the Panama Canal to the control of Panama despite critics who argued the waterway was vital to American security. He also completed negotiations on full US ties with China. Carter created two new US Cabinet departments - education and energy. Amid high petrol prices, he said America’s “energy crisis” was “the moral equivalent of war” and urged the country to embrace conservation. “Ours is the most wasteful nation on earth,” he told Americans in 1977. In 1979, Carter delivered what became known as his “malaise” speech to the nation, although he never used that word. “After listening to the American people I have been reminded again that all the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America,” he said in his televised address. “The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. “The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.” As president, the strait-laced Carter was embarrassed by the behaviour of his hard-drinking younger brother, Billy Carter, who had boasted: “I got a red neck, white socks, and Blue Ribbon beer.” Ronald Reagan Jimmy Carter withstood a challenge from Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination but was politically diminished heading into his general election battle against a vigorous Republican adversary. Reagan, the conservative who projected an image of strength, kept Carter off balance during their debates before the November 1980 election. Jimmy Carter, left, and Ronald Reagan shake hands before their presidential debate in 1980. Credit: AP Reagan dismissively told Carter, “There you go again,” when the Republican challenger felt the president had misrepresented Reagan’s views during one debate. Carter lost the 1980 election to Reagan, who won 44 of the 50 states and amassed an Electoral College landslide. From Georgia James Earl Carter Jr. was born on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, one of four children of a farmer and shopkeeper. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1946, served in the nuclear submarine program and left to manage the family peanut farming business. He married his wife, Rosalynn, in 1946, a union he called “the most important thing in my life.” They had three sons and a daughter. Carter became a millionaire, a Georgia state legislator and Georgia’s governor from 1971 to 1975. He mounted an underdog bid for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination, and out-hustled his rivals for the right to face Ford in the general election. With Walter Mondale as his vice presidential running mate, Carter was given a boost by a major Ford gaffe during one of their debates. Ford said that “there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration,” despite decades of just such domination. Carter edged Ford in the election, even though Ford actually won more states - 27 to Carter’s 23. Not all of Carter’s post-presidential work was appreciated. Former president George W. Bush and his father, former president George H.W. Bush, both Republicans, were said to have been displeased by Carter’s freelance diplomacy in Iraq and elsewhere. Reuters Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Vale Jimmy Carter US politics Most Viewed in World Loading
ADInstruments co-founder Michael Macknight (left) and chief executive Alex Black hold PowerLabs (also pictured below). PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON For the past 38 years, ADInstruments has been creating high-quality, easy-to-use data acquisition software and equipment in Dunedin. Ben Andrews puts his science cap on to chat with chief executive Alex Black and co-founder Michael Macknight about the intricacies of the business. Michael Macknight was born just at the right time for the late ’80s transition from analog to computer based-instrumentation — or at least that is what his mother says. In 1986, he and father Tony founded ADInstruments, noting a vacuum in the industry that needed filled. That vacuum was the digitisation of data from analog laboratory equipment, getting rid of the need for reams of printouts. Mr Macknight created the first devices in his father’s laboratory; his father was a good target user for the prototypes due to his "enthusiasm" and "non-technical" nature, he said. "If I made something that he could use, then it was a good indication that other non-computery academics could use the equipment." People needed products that were flexible. This was especially the case for academics. "There wasn’t a lot of products around at that stage." The first people to adopt the product were the "tinkerers". "The next group that comes along; they don’t want to know how it works, they just want to use it as a tool." It took people time to adopt the technology, as it would mean moving from physical to digital, something that was foreign at the time. "The existing methods of analysing data were so cumbersome, you know, measuring things on paper and things, the benefits of getting stuff on to a computer were pretty apparent pretty quickly." People would often ask if the data would fall off the screen in the company’s early days. He showed people that they could scroll backwards, to which they would respond with amazement, he said. Expectations had changed since then. "Still the important thing is, if you can enable someone to do something that they thought was going to be too complicated for them to do [and] you can show that that’s not too difficult, then there’s value in that." What a PowerLab looks like. PHOTO: SUPPLIED They knew what they were talking about when it came to the products. Covid-19 had been a challenging time for the business, as it was for many others. Chief executive Alex Black said revenue dropped overnight because of the pandemic. "One of the challenges for us was that when universities closed, we couldn’t ship them any of the hardware, any of the physical goods because there was nobody to receive it," Mr Black said. However, it was not all bad news. The company was able to grow the software side of the business "significantly" during the time. They had two software products; one for research and another for scientific education. PowerLabs and many of its other products are used globally, and in the world’s top 100 universities. It employed 180 people, with two-thirds of those based internationally in China, Australia, India, Brazil, the United States and Germany. ben.andrews@odt.co.nzQuest Partners LLC decreased its position in Pfizer Inc. ( NYSE:PFE – Free Report ) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,096 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,266 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 80.9% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,709,000 after purchasing an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 394.2% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 41,668 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in Pfizer by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,872,000 after purchasing an additional 639,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $379,657,000 after purchasing an additional 544,418 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Pfizer Trading Up 2.0 % Pfizer stock opened at $25.63 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.57. The company has a market capitalization of $145.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.67. Pfizer Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.03%. Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink . Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth PFE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.92. View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Pfizer Pfizer Profile ( Free Report ) Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, Zavzpret, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Abrysvo, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PFE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Pfizer Inc. ( NYSE:PFE – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Pfizer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pfizer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .