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Jack Smith Leaving Option to Charge Donald Trump in the Future
Kansas Defender Called Out After ‘Dirty’ Hit on Shedeur SandersBy ROB GILLIES, Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Donald Trump that Americans would also suffer if the president-elect follows through on a plan to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products , a Canadian minister who attended their recent dinner said Monday. Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders with the United States. He said on social media last week that he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders. Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include border security, attended a dinner with Trump and Trudeau at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Friday. Trudeau requested the meeting in a bid to avoid the tariffs by convincing Trump that the northern border is nothing like the U.S. southern border with Mexico . “The prime minister of course spoke about the importance of protecting the Canadian economy and Canadian workers from tariffs, but we also discussed with our American friends the negative impact that those tariffs could have on their economy, on affordability in the United States as well,” LeBlanc said in Parliament. If Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, the price increases that could follow will collide with his campaign promise to give American families a break from inflation. Economists say companies would have little choice but to pass along the added costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, automobiles, alcohol and other goods. The Produce Distributors Association, a Washington trade group, said last week that tariffs will raise prices for fresh fruit and vegetables and hurt U.S. farmers when the countries retaliate. Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the U.S. should Trump follow through on the threat. After his dinner with Trump, Trudeau returned home without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks “productive” but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. “The idea that we came back empty handed is completely false,” LeBlanc said. “We had a very productive discussion with Mr. Trump and his future Cabinet secretaries. ... The commitment from Mr. Trump to continue to work with us was far from empty handed.” Joining Trump and Trudeau at dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, and Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be his national security adviser. Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, told The Associated Press on Sunday that “the message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood.” Hillman, who sat at an adjacent table to Trudeau and Trump, said Canada is not the problem when it comes to drugs and migrants. On Monday, Mexico’s president rejected those comments. “Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said. She said Canada had its own problems with fentanyl consumption and “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has.” Flows of migrants and seizures of drugs at the two countries’ border are vastly different. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. — where it causes about 70,000 overdose deaths annually — is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia. On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million encounters with migrants at the southwest border with Mexico between October 2023 and September 2024. That compares to 23,721 encounters at the Canadian border during that time. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing for national security.Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of The Cooper Companies, Inc. ( NASDAQ:COO – Free Report ) by 14.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,690 shares of the medical device company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Cooper Companies were worth $959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Cooper Companies by 1,634.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 20,935 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 19,728 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Cooper Companies by 717.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 4,751 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Cooper Companies by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,823 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its position in Cooper Companies by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 5,648 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $493,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN bought a new stake in Cooper Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $531,000. 24.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on COO shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Cooper Companies from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cooper Companies in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cooper Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Cooper Companies from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cooper Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cooper Companies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.00. Cooper Companies Stock Down 4.4 % Shares of COO stock opened at $98.70 on Friday. The Cooper Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.69 and a 1-year high of $112.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $104.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.97. Cooper Companies ( NASDAQ:COO – Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The medical device company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. Cooper Companies had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 9.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Cooper Companies, Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling at Cooper Companies In other Cooper Companies news, CEO Albert G. White III sold 114,992 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.53, for a total transaction of $12,710,065.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 165,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,267,624.69. The trade was a 41.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Also, CAO Agostino Ricupati sold 1,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.03, for a total value of $172,956.03. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,488.54. The trade was a 24.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock. Cooper Companies Company Profile ( Free Report ) The Cooper Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets contact lens wearers. The company operates in two segments, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment provides spherical lense, including lenses that correct near and farsightedness; and toric and multifocal lenses comprising lenses correcting vision challenges, such as astigmatism, presbyopia, and myopia in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding COO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Cooper Companies, Inc. ( NASDAQ:COO – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Cooper Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cooper Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
Andy Blunt and Husch Blackwell Strategies Washington Team Members Recognized as Top Lobbyists
Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Takes Position in Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH)Dear Mr Sharad Pawar, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Ohio State to host Tennessee in first-round showdown to determine No. 1 Oregon's Rose Bowl matchup
Delaware judge reaffirms ruling that invalidated massive Tesla pay package for Elon MuskNone
Dan Lanning said it best after the Oregon Ducks beat Washington. This College Football Playoff is going to be more like March Madness than anything we’ve ever seen on grass. And, hey, that sounds great. We all love the NCAA Tournament. But an unfortunate thing happened along the way to trialing this first year of a 12-team playoff. The committee created a system that bent too far toward that early spring hoops extravaganza, inadvertently placing a greater emphasis on marquee matchups and potential upsets than it did on making sure the best team wins the national championship. Is that Oregon? It will have to be for them to pull this off. And, look, I’m not trying to preemptively make excuses for the Ducks. Like I wrote after their 45-37 win over Penn State in Saturday’s Big Ten title win, the expectation should be that they win it all. Going 13-0 with a team as physical and skilled as this one and losing in the Rose Bowl would indeed be a bust. The standard and expectation for this team needs to be higher than that. But something is amiss in the way this system has played out in Year 1. To be the last team standing, the Ducks’ most likely path might require beating Ohio State, Texas and Georgia in succession. Or, if the Buckeyes falter, the top three teams in the SEC. That would make Dan Lanning’s Oregon team the most deserving national champion in the history of the sport. Full stop. They tried to give us a playoff and instead turned college football into “Survivor.” It’s a challenge I expect Lanning and his team to embrace. But that doesn’t make it any less treacherous. But at least it will make for great television. Quite clearly, the expanded playoff was going to mean that the 2024 national champion would have to navigate a gauntlet unlike anything ever seen at the FBS level. That was a given. But an untested system combined with a highly chaotic year across the sport has essentially rendered Oregon’s dominant 13-0 run meaningless. A first-round bye is not enough of an incentive to sweep the regular season, not if Boise State and Arizona State can land the same prize by winning the two weakest conferences that received automatic bids. I did not entertain the notion that the Ducks would have been better off losing to Penn State on Saturday for an easier path as the No. 5 seed. But the fact we have to even ask the question, or consider the implications, means that this system failed. Byes need to go to the four highest-ranked teams going forward. By awarding the third and fourth seeds to Boise State and ASU — ranked No. 9 and No. 12 in the final rankings — the committee essentially flipped the bracket, scrambling the balance of power. Now, teams that should be near the top are in the middle. Instead of having a bye, No. 3 Texas is the fifth seed with a home playoff game against a Clemson team that back-doored its way into the field. Texas needs only to beat the Tigers and Arizona State to reach the semifinal, possibly against Oregon and almost certainly in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Some neutral site that would be. Same with a potential rematch with Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. If you’re Oregon, these are good problems to have, I suppose. You are the No. 1 team in the country. That means you should be able to beat any challengers. At least in theory. It’s not that I don’t believe the Ducks can win a rematch against Ohio State, or score against Texas, or win in the trenches against Georgia. I think they can do any of those things. It’s doing all three of them in a single month that becomes daunting. But even with this obstacle-laden path, the Ducks’ mission has not changed: Just win. And if March Madness has taught us anything about a tournament, it’s that things never play out exactly like you anticipate. The hardest path can very quickly become the best one.State Treasurer Vivek Malek is urging public pension systems to adopt policies to prevent the use of retirement assets for political contributions. (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent) Every public pension program in Missouri should adopt policies against making political contributions from retirement funds, State Treasurer Vivek Malek wrote in a letter sent Monday to system managers. In the letter, Malek wrote that contributions this fall by funds set up to pay pensions for sheriffs and prosecutors to the campaign committee promoting passage of Amendment 6 were “ deeply concerning.” Using the money contributed by taxpayers and employees for political purposes rather than market investments does not help the funds pay current and future benefits, Malek wrote. “In fact, these expenditures imprudently risk system resources and erode the public’s trust,” Malek wrote. Missouri state pension board bans use of fund for political donations The letter, sent to 90 state and local pension funds , comes just a few days after the 11-member Board of Trustees of the Missouri State Retirement System voted to prohibit the use of its pension funds for political contributions . Malek is a trustee of MOSERS because of his office. The policy change was presented to the board by MOSERS staff after inquiries from Malek. During the meeting, Malek said the retirement system should be focused on maximizing the return on its investments to pay benefits. “All public employee retirement systems in Missouri, including MOSERS, should not expend any funds supporting or opposing ballot measures or the election of candidates for public office,” Malek said. “Keeping MOSERS free from such activities upholds the trust of those we serve and reinforces our commitment to remaining focused solely on our fiduciary responsibilities.” State Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Republican from Noel who is also on the MOSERS board, said last week he intends to file legislation barring political contributions from public pension funds. Amendment 6 , defeated with 61% of voters opposed, would have imposed fees on criminal cases to fund pensions for sheriffs and prosecutors. On Oct. 2, the Missouri Sheriffs’ Retirement System contributed $30,000 to the campaign, followed on Oct. 8 by a $50,000 contribution from the Prosecuting Attorneys and Circuit Attorneys Retirement System. The fees that had funded the two pension systems were declared unconstitutional in 2021. To shore up its finances, state lawmakers this year appropriated $5 million in general revenue to the sheriffs fund. The various pension funds for state, local and University of Missouri employees hold about $100 billion in net assets and some could, if any substantial portion were used for politics, provide far more than any other potential donor. That is why strict policies are needed, Malek said. “Recent expenditures of public pension funds in direct support of a ballot measure merit serious consideration of the appropriate use of these funds and a thoughtful response that safeguards our public pension systems’ mission,” the letter states. After the MOSERS action, The Independent sent inquiries to five retirement systems authorized by state law. The sheriffs and prosecutors systems did not respond to emails seeking comment on the MOSERS action. The three largest — for educators and public school employees; for local government employees; and for Department of Transportation and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers — all said long-standing policies and state law already prohibit the use of retirement funds for political donations. MOSERS had $8.9 billion in net assets on June 30, according to the latest annual report . It provides benefits to the largest number of former state employees, but it is not the wealthiest retirement fund created in state law. That distinction belongs to the system providing benefits for former educators and school district employees, known as PSRS/PEERS, which held $55 billion in assets on June 30, 2023. “PSRS/PEERS has long had a board policy that prohibits systems’ funds from being used for political purposes,” Executive Director Dearld Snider said. “The systems have never used and will never use systems’ funds to make contributions to political campaigns or ballot initiatives.” The local government system, known as LAGERS, has about $11 billion in assets. “It has been a longstanding practice of LAGERS to not use system assets for political purposes,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Althoff wrote in an email. The retirement system for Missouri Department of Transportation workers and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers has $3.7 billion in assets. Known as MPERS, it is maintained as a separate system because it is mainly funded by fuel taxes and vehicle fees, as are the agencies it serves. MPERS does not have a specific policy mirroring the MOSERS action and is unlikely to consider one, fund director Scott Simon wrote in an email. “What we do have are governing statutes that provide all assets of the fund are dedicated to and held in trust for the members and the purposes set forth in our governing statutes,” Simon wrote. “Nowhere in those statutes does it authorize the use of assets for political purposes (i.e., candidates, ballot initiatives, etc.).”