Zilinskas scores 32 as IU Indianapolis downs Alabama A&M 88-83
Proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons is halted by federal, state judges The proposed $24.6 billion merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons floundered on Tuesday after judges overseeing two separate cases both halted the merger. A federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the proposed merger until an in-house administrative judge at the Federal Trade Commission considers it. Shortly afterward, a judge in Washington state issued a permanent injunction barring the merger in that state, saying it lessens competition. Kroger and Albertsons in 2022 proposed what would be the largest grocery store merger in U.S. history. But the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Washington sued earlier this year. Biden says he was 'stupid' not to put his name on pandemic relief checks like Trump did WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he was “stupid” not to put his own name on pandemic relief checks in 2021, like Donald Trump had done in 2020. He noted Tuesday in a speech at the Brookings Institution that Trump likely got credit for helping people out through this simple, effective act of branding. Biden did the second-guessing as he defended his economic record and challenged Trump to preserve Democratic policy ideas when he returns to the White House next month. Trump’s decision to add his name to the checks sent by the U.S. Treasury to millions of Americans struggling during the coronavirus marked the first time a president’s name appeared on any IRS payments. Former chairman of state-owned bank China Everbright Group jailed for 12 years for corruption BEIJING (AP) — Chinese official broadcaster CCTV says a former chairman of the state-owned bank China Everbright Group has been jailed 12 years for embezzlement and bribery. Tang Shuangning, who had also held senior posts at the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission, was arrested in January, part of a wider wave of prosecutions of senior officials accused of financial crimes. A court in the city of Tangshan, about 100 miles east of Beijing, found him guilty of taking advantage of his position at the state-owned bank in “seeking convenience for others” in jobs and loans, in exchange for illegal payments. The court said he had accepted illegal property with a total value of more than $1.5 million. GM to retreat from robotaxis and stop funding its Cruise autonomous vehicle unit DETROIT (AP) — General Motors says it will retreat from the robotaxi business and stop funding its money-losing Cruise autonomous vehicle unit. Instead the Detroit automaker will focus on development of partially automated driver-assist systems like its Super Cruise, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel. In a statement Tuesday, GM said it would get out of robotaxis due to what it described as the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market. What did you Google in 2024? From the elections to Copa América, here's what search trends show NEW YORK (AP) — Remember what you searched for in 2024? Google does. Google has released its annual “Year in Search," rounding up 2024's top trending searches. It shows terms that saw the highest spike in traffic compared to last year. Sports — particularly soccer and cricket — dominated overall search trends, led by queries for Copa América, the UEFA European Championship and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, the U.S. election led news-specific searches worldwide. Queries about excessive heat and this year’s Olympic Games followed. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump topped searches in Google’s people category this year — followed by Catherine, Princess of Wales, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. US defense secretary in Japan to support alliance as Osprey aircraft safety causes concern TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has met with officials in Japan to reaffirm the importance of their alliance and Washington's commitment to regional security as threats rise from China and North Korea. Austin’s visit on Tuesday also came amid growing concerns over the safety of Ospreys. The military aircraft have been grounded in the United States following a near crash at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico last month. The incident was caused by weakened metal components. It was similar to a fatal crash off southwestern Japan last year. The U.S. measure prompted the suspension of Ospreys operated by Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force. Trustee over Infowars auction asks court to approve The Onion's winning bid A trustee who oversaw the bankruptcy auction of Alex Jones’ Infowars is asking a judge to approve The Onion’s winning bid for the conspiracy-filled platform. Trustee Christopher Murray took the stand Tuesday in the second day of testimony at a hearing where a judge is scrutinizing the satirical news outlet’s winning offer. He told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston that he was there asking a court to approve the sale of Infowars’ parent company to The Onion’s parent company. It is not clear how quickly Lopez will rule. The Onion wants to turn Infowars’ website and social media accounts into parodies. Small businesses plan events, start marketing earlier to deal with shorter holiday shopping season The holiday shopping season is underway, and this year small businesses have less time to capitalize on the busy shopping period. Only 27 days separate Thanksgiving and Christmas — five fewer than last year. But there are still ways to make the most of a shorter season. One key strategy is for owners to promote deals to customers wherever they can, from social media to physical ads. The National Retail Federation predicts that retail sales will rise between 2.5% and 3.5% compared with same period a year ago. Online shopping is expected to grow too. Adobe Digital Insights predicts an 8.4% increase online for the full season. 10 notable books of 2024, from Sarah J. Maas to Melania Trump NEW YORK (AP) — Even through a year of nonstop news about elections, climate change, protests and the price of eggs, Americans still found time to read. Sales held steady according to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the print market. Many chose the release of romance, fantasy and romantasy. Some picked up the tie-in book to Taylor Swift’s blockbuster tour, which had the best opening week of 2024. Others sought out literary fiction, celebrity memoirs, political exposes and a close and painful look at a generation hooked on smartphones. Boeing is building new 737 Max planes for the first time since workers went on strike Boeing is resuming production of its bestselling plane, the 737 Max. It's the first time that Max jets have moved down the assembly line since September, when about 33,000 workers went on strike for higher pay. Boeing said Tuesday that work on the Max has resumed at its factory in Renton, Washington, near Seattle. Both the Max and another Boeing plane, the 787 Dreamliner, have been plagued by manufacturing problems in recent years. The Federal Aviation Administration is limiting Boeing’s production of Max jets until the agency is convinced that Boeing has corrected quality and safety issues during manufacturing.China's star sprinter Su Bingtian to retire after 2025 National Games
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Novak Djokovic has a new coach, and it is one he has played against dozens of times in his career. Djokovic announced Saturday that he is hiring former tour rival Andy Murray as his new coach. He announced the news in a social media video, where he said it was “time for one of my toughest opponents to step into my corner.” He never liked retirement anyway. pic.twitter.com/Ga4UlV2kQW — Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) November 23, 2024 Murray formally ended his playing career in August with a funny social media post that Djokovic made light of in Saturday’s announcement. Murray won 46 singles titles in his career, including the 2013 US Open and a pair of Wimbledon titles. One could certainly argue he might have won even more had he not competed alongside the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer , and Rafael Nadal for the bulk of his career. Djokovic and Murray faced off 36 times as players, with Djokovic winning 25 of those matchups. This marks Murray’s first coaching role since his retirement. Even at 37, Djokovic remains one of the best players in the world. He became the oldest world No. 1 of all time and won Olympic gold in Paris in a highly emotional scene. This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.
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Trump promises to end birthright citizenship: What is it and could he do it?Tiger Woods provides PGA Tour return update with 'disappointed' announcementCeltic fans are moaning they should’ve won in Zagreb but it’s a priceless point – they’re finally maturing at this level
Hidalgo leads No. 6 Notre Dame over JuJu Watkins and third-ranked USC 74-61 in big matchup out West
A majority on the Republican-dominated State Board of Education said Thursday that it wanted more control over whether school library books are considered sexually explicit or not. Ten members on the board responsible for determining what Texas’ 5.5 million public schoolchildren learn in the classroom voted to call on the Texas Legislature, which convenes in January, to pass a state law granting them authority to determine what books are appropriate for school-age children. Local school districts currently manage that process. Republican members said granting the board control would alleviate the state’s more than 1,200 public school districts of the burdensome task. They also said it could offer a solution to a recent court ruling stopping Texas from fully enforcing a state law requiring booksellers to rate their materials for appropriateness — based on books’ depictions or references to sex — before selling them to school libraries. “This board knows how to vet material. We have processes. We know how to do that. We can create a transparent process to do that work,” Florence Republican board member Tom Maynard said. “We’d get lots more emails, I know, but I think it’s work that ... really needs to be done.” The board, which has shifted further to the political right in recent years, will formally ask the Legislature to grant it “discretion to create rules, procedures and timelines” for the book review process and amend current state law, known as House Bill 900, to streamline the process, according to the recommendation proposed on Thursday. The proposal received immediate pushback from some of the board’s Democrats, who argued that the process should remain under the purview of local school districts. “They better understand their communities and know what their constituencies need and want rather than the State Board of Education,” said San Antonio Democrat Marisa B. Pérez-Diaz. “I think we’ve got a lot of bigger fish to fry.” Rebecca Bell-Metereau, a Democrat from San Marcos, questioned whether the board could handle what she considers “a Herculean task to read and rate all of these books.” “That seems just insane to me, even if we were paid — and we’re not,” Bell-Metereau said. Republican Aaron Kinsey, chair of the board, said the book review process could mirror how the body oversees instructional materials, an undertaking that includes using outside reviewers to help sort through school lessons. Evelyn Brooks, a Frisco Republican, said she supports establishing uniform guidelines for all school districts to follow when selecting books for their libraries. “They could have their own communities involved in what they want in their libraries, but the standard has been set to alleviate confusion,” Brooks said. “There is a lot of confusion at the board meetings, even though the law is very straightforward. It’s just been a very muddy area.” Under House Bill 900, books are considered “sexually relevant” if the material describes or portrays sexual activity and is part of the required school curriculum. Books are considered “sexually explicit” if the material describing or portraying sexual behavior is not part of the required curriculum and portrayed in a “patently offensive way,” defined by the state as going against “current community standards of decency.” Schools are required to remove “sexually explicit” books from library shelves, while students seeking to check out books with a “sexually relevant” rating require parental consent. Earlier this year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most conservative in the nation, blocked Texas from requiring booksellers to rate their materials. The court agreed, in part, that complying with the law would pose an undue economic burden on the vendors. The enforceable part of the law, however, still prohibits school libraries from acquiring or keeping “sexually explicit” materials on their bookshelves. But conservative advocates have still shown up to State Board of Education meetings in recent months to raise complaints about the presence of such materials in their school libraries and what they describe as inaction by local school districts. The discussion over what entities should control the book review process comes as Texas officials have sought to exert more control over what materials children are exposed to in public schools. The state has passed legislation limiting how schools can talk about America’s history of racism and its diversity, while proposing other bills to ban classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. Ahead of the legislative session, Rep. Jared Patterson of Frisco has already filed House Bill 183, a bill that would grant the State Board of Education its wish by giving the curriculum-setting body the authority to prohibit school districts from using library materials it considers “inappropriate” or “sexually explicit.” Texas banned 538 books during the 2023-24 school year, according to PEN America, an organization tracking bans throughout the country. More than half of the books outlawed across the U.S. included sex or sex-related topics and content, while 44% included characters or people of color. Thirty-nine percent included LGBTQ+ characters or people.France marks 80th anniversary of Strasbourg’s WWII liberation
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