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sg777 slot jackpot Geode Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited ( NYSE:NTB – Free Report ) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 563,461 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,655 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son were worth $20,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son during the second quarter worth approximately $31,906,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son by 538.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 308,496 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,377,000 after buying an additional 260,168 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son by 31.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 876,472 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,782,000 after acquiring an additional 211,147 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son by 93.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 278,110 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,257,000 after acquiring an additional 134,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son by 45.6% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 381,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,411,000 after acquiring an additional 119,572 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Analysts Set New Price Targets Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.60. Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Stock Performance NYSE:NTB opened at $36.84 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited has a twelve month low of $28.73 and a twelve month high of $40.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.17. Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son ( NYSE:NTB – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.06. Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son had a return on equity of 21.14% and a net margin of 25.93%. The company had revenue of $142.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.20%. Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Company Profile ( Free Report ) The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited provides a range of community, commercial, and private banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. It accepts retail and corporate checking, savings, term, and interest bearing and non-interest bearing deposits. The company’s lending portfolio includes residential mortgage lending, automobile lending, consumer financing, credit cards, overdraft facilities, commercial real estate lending, and commercial and industrial loans, as well as overdraft facilities to commercial and corporate customers. See Also Five stocks we like better than Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Insider Trades May Not Tell You What You Think Buffett Takes the Bait; Berkshire Buys More Oxy in December Manufacturing Stocks Investing Top 3 ETFs to Hedge Against Inflation in 2025 Biggest Stock Losers – Today’s Biggest Percentage Decliners These 3 Chip Stock Kings Are Still Buys for 2025 Receive News & Ratings for Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .NYC's mayor warms to Trump and doesn't rule out becoming a Republican

For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as “rineanswsaurs” or sarcastic as “srkastik.” The 14-year-old from suburban Indianapolis can sound out words, but her dyslexia makes the process so draining that she often struggles with comprehension. “I just assumed I was stupid,” she recalled of her early grade school years. But assistive technology powered by artificial intelligence has helped her keep up with classmates. Last year, Makenzie was named to the National Junior Honor Society. She credits a customized AI-powered chatbot, a word prediction program and other tools that can read for her. “I would have just probably given up if I didn’t have them,” she said. Artificial intelligence holds the promise of helping countless other students with a range of visual, speech, language and hearing impairments to execute tasks that come easily to others. Schools everywhere have been wrestling with how and where to incorporate AI , but many are fast-tracking applications for students with disabilities. Getting the latest technology into the hands of students with disabilities is a priority for the U.S. Education Department, which has told schools they must consider whether students need tools like text-to-speech and alternative communication devices. New rules from the Department of Justice also will require schools and other government entities to make apps and online content accessible to those with disabilities. There is concern about how to ensure students using it — including those with disabilities — are still learning. Students can use artificial intelligence to summarize jumbled thoughts into an outline, summarize complicated passages, or even translate Shakespeare into common English. And computer-generated voices that can read passages for visually impaired and dyslexic students are becoming less robotic and more natural. “I’m seeing that a lot of students are kind of exploring on their own, almost feeling like they’ve found a cheat code in a video game,” said Alexis Reid, an educational therapist in the Boston area who works with students with learning disabilities. But in her view, it is far from cheating : “We’re meeting students where they are.” Ben Snyder, a 14-year-old freshman from Larchmont, New York, who was recently diagnosed with a learning disability, has been increasingly using AI to help with homework. “Sometimes in math, my teachers will explain a problem to me, but it just makes absolutely no sense,” he said. “So if I plug that problem into AI, it’ll give me multiple different ways of explaining how to do that.” He likes a program called Question AI. Earlier in the day, he asked the program to help him write an outline for a book report — a task he completed in 15 minutes that otherwise would have taken him an hour and a half because of his struggles with writing and organization. But he does think using AI to write the whole report crosses a line. “That’s just cheating,” Ben said. Schools have been trying to balance the technology’s benefits against the risk that it will do too much. If a special education plan sets reading growth as a goal, the student needs to improve that skill. AI can’t do it for them, said Mary Lawson, general counsel at the Council of the Great City Schools. But the technology can help level the playing field for students with disabilities, said Paul Sanft, director of a Minnesota-based center where families can try out different assistive technology tools and borrow devices. “There are definitely going to be people who use some of these tools in nefarious ways. That’s always going to happen,” Sanft said. “But I don’t think that’s the biggest concern with people with disabilities, who are just trying to do something that they couldn’t do before.” Another risk is that AI will track students into less rigorous courses of study. And, because it is so good at identifying patterns , AI might be able to figure out a student has a disability. Having that disclosed by AI and not the student or their family could create ethical dilemmas, said Luis Pérez, the disability and digital inclusion lead at CAST, formerly the Center for Applied Specialized Technology. Schools are using the technology to help students who struggle academically, even if they do not qualify for special education services. In Iowa, a new law requires students deemed not proficient — about a quarter of them — to get an individualized reading plan. As part of that effort, the state’s education department spent $3 million on an AI-driven personalized tutoring program. When students struggle, a digital avatar intervenes. More AI tools are coming soon. The U.S. National Science Foundation is funding AI research and development. One firm is developing tools to help children with speech and language difficulties. Called the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education, it is headquartered at the University of Buffalo, which did pioneering work on handwriting recognition that helped the U.S. Postal Service save hundreds of millions of dollars by automating processing. “We are able to solve the postal application with very high accuracy. When it comes to children’s handwriting, we fail very badly,” said Venu Govindaraju, the director of the institute. He sees it as an area that needs more work, along with speech-to-text technology, which isn’t as good at understanding children’s voices, particularly if there is a speech impediment. Sorting through the sheer number of programs developed by education technology companies can be a time-consuming challenge for schools. Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, said the nonprofit launched an effort this fall to make it easier for districts to vet what they are buying and ensure it is accessible. Makenzie wishes some of the tools were easier to use. Sometimes a feature will inexplicably be turned off, and she will be without it for a week while the tech team investigates. The challenges can be so cumbersome that some students resist the technology entirely. But Makenzie’s mother, Nadine Gilkison, who works as a technology integration supervisor at Franklin Township Community School Corporation in Indiana, said she sees more promise than downside. In September, her district rolled out chatbots to help special education students in high school. She said teachers, who sometimes struggled to provide students the help they needed, became emotional when they heard about the program. Until now, students were reliant on someone to help them, unable to move ahead on their own. “Now we don’t need to wait anymore,” she said.Federal appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in the USMinutes after the University of North Carolina announced it had hired Bill Belichick as its next head football coach, the Tar Heels’ Instagram account posted a photo of the legendary NFL coach — at no more than 3 years old — sitting in the UNC bleachers. “Welcome home, Coach,” the post reads , dredging up the memory of when the young Belichick shadowed his father, Steve, who was a UNC assistant from 1953 to 1955. As news of his hiring spread around the NFL world, the reaction ranged from excitement at seeing him back on the sideline to disbelief. The most decorated coach in NFL history after earning six Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots, and two more as the defensive coordinator with the New York Giants, Belichick is officially making his next challenge college football after agreeing to a five-year deal with UNC. “I will have to see him on the sideline to believe that’s happening,” Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury joked Thursday. “We’ll see how the NFL job search goes and all that. I will have to see him on the sideline coaching in Chapel Hill to believe that’s happening." While Belichick’s knowledge of the sport, and his success, are unquestioned, there has been debate among those who have played for the 72-year-old coach during his 40-plus years in football about how well his style will translate to the college game. Some of his former players believe his skill set will work at any level. That list apparently includes Tom Brady, the quarterback during all six of Belichick’s Super Bowl wins with New England. “Congrats, coach. The Tar Heel way is about to become a thing,” Brady posted on Instagram on Thursday, referencing “The Patriot Way” that he popularized in New England. Some cautioned that the players he brings into the UNC program should prepare to have their limits tested like never before. “I think he’s going to do good,” said Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne, who played under Belichick during his final three years in New England. “Bill does a good job of developing players, developing young men. I think it will be a challenge for the young man. He’s a tough coach, which we all know. But I think it will be good for certain players that have the right mindset.” Bourne's advice? Always stay locked in mentally. “Just stay tough,” Bourne said. “Have a gritty mindset because it’s not going to be easy, but in the end, it’s going to be worth it." Though some have questioned why the Tar Heels would even consider hiring Belichick after parting ways with 73-year-old Mack Brown this season, current Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said good coaching is ageless. “To me, it doesn’t matter if you’re a young man or a 10-year vet in the league, he’s a great teacher,” said Mayo, who played eight seasons under Belichick, winning a Super Bowl during the 2014 season, and then succeeded him as head coach after last season. "I wish him nothing but the best. It doesn’t really matter what level, I think he’ll be successful.” NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is a relative newcomer to the college game himself. He spent three seasons at Jackson State before going to Colorado in 2023. In a message posted to the X social media platform, he welcomed Belichick as a competitor. “Coach Bill Belichick is a coaches coach to all us Coaches along with my man coach (NIck) Saban,” Sanders posted. “They’re game changers and they know how to move people forward. I know this is a great thing for College Football & for North Carolina. God bless u Coach, if you’re happy I am 2.” But former Patriots defensive back Je’Rod Cherry wonders how well Belichick’s old-school coaching style will be received in an era in which in-your-face methods don't always fly as well as they did when Belichick began his career. “You can’t coach hard anymore,” Cherry said during an appearance on ESPN GameNight. “You can’t yell at guys, curse at guys and that’s what he does. You are going to have to find guys who are going to accept that brand of coaching and will accept someone constantly getting on them." New York Jets safety Jalen Mills, who played for Belichick with the Patriots from 2021 to 2023, said he was surprised by the news. “I thought he definitely was going to try to wait it out until after the season and come back to the NFL,” Mills said. "But I think it’s gonna be a good thing for him because now you get a guy who has won and, of course, he’s going to try to turn that program around. But he also gets to connect with the younger generation and kind of modify and adjust to this younger generation of football on top of what he already knows. So I think that’ll just help him as far as coaching. And then, of course, he’ll give those guys, those young guys, structure as far as what the NFL looks like, too.” Just how much the Belichick on the college sidelines will resemble the one in the cutoff hooded sweatshirt who patrolled NFL sidelines is unclear. Belichick hinted they will be one and the same. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN prior to agreeing to the UNC job, Belichick laid out what his approach at the college level would be. “The program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players than have the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said. “It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques — that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at a college level.” AP National Writer Howard Fendrich and Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak contributed to this report. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

SMU owns second half in win over LongwoodMichelle Keegan and Mark Wright announce they're expecting their first baby

LOS ANGELES — TikTok’s future in the U.S. is now in greater jeopardy after the popular social video app on Friday lost a major court battle as it tries to prevent its banishment. In May, TikTok sued the government, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to declare unconstitutional a law that would require its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban in the country. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

After getting survey report, SJTA asks ASI to begin Ratna Bhandar repair

The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (NYSE:NTB) Shares Sold by Geode Capital Management LLC

NEW YORK — If you're planning on ringing in the new year quietly at home, you're not alone. A majority of U.S adults intend to celebrate New Year's Eve at home, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. "As I've gotten older over the last few years, it's like if I don't make it to midnight, it's not a big deal, you know?" says Carla Woods, 70, from Vinton, Iowa. Nearly 2 in 10 will be celebrating at a friend or family member's home, and just 5% plan to go out to celebrate at a bar, restaurant or organized event, the poll found. But many U.S. adults will celebrate the new year in a different way — by making a resolution. More than half say they'll make at least one resolution for 2025. There's some optimism about the year ahead, although more than half aren't expecting a positive change. About 4 in 10 say 2025 will be a better year for them personally. About one-third don't expect much of a difference between 2024 and 2025, and about one-quarter think 2025 will be a worse year than 2024. Relaxed New Year's Eve plans for many Kourtney Kershaw, a 32-year-old bartender in Chicago, often fields questions from customers and friends about upcoming events for New Year's Eve. She said this year is trending toward low-key. "A majority of who I've spoken to in my age range, they want to go out, but they don't know what they're going to do because they haven't found anything or things are just really expensive," she said. "Party packages or an entry fee are like a turnoff, especially with the climate of the world and how much things cost." As expected, younger people are more interested in ringing in the new year at a bar or organized event — about 1 in 10 U.S. adults under 30 say they plan to do that. But about 3 in 10 older adults — 60 and above — say they won't celebrate the beginning of 2025 at all. Anthony Tremblay, 35, from Pittsburgh, doesn't usually go out to toast the arrival of the new year, but this year he's got something special cooked up: He and his wife will be traveling through Ireland. "I don't do anything too crazy for New Year's, usually. So this is definitely a change," he said. "I wanted to do something unique this year, so I did." Woods will be working New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. She answers calls on The Iowa Warmline, a confidential, noncrisis listening line for people struggling with mental health or substance use issues. "Holidays are really hard for people, so I don't mind working," she said. "I'm passionate about it because I have mental health issues in the family and so being able to help people is rewarding to me." Younger Americans are more likely to make a resolution Every New Year's also triggers the eternal debate about resolutions. A majority of U.S. adults say they intend to make a New Year's resolution of some type, but millennials and Gen Z are especially likely to be on board — about two-thirds expect to do so, compared to about half of older adults. Women are also more likely than men to say they will set a goal for 2025. Tremblay hopes to lose some weight and focus more on self-care — more sleep, meditation and breathing exercises. "It's probably a good year to focus on mental health," he said. Many others agree. About 3 in 10 adults choose resolutions involving exercise or eating healthier. About one-quarter said they'll make a resolution involving losing weight and a similar number said they'll resolve to make changes about priorities of money or mental health. Woods' resolutions are to stay social and active. As a mental health counselor, she knows those are key to a happy 2025 and beyond: "Probably one of my biggest resolutions is trying to make sure I stay social, try to get out at least once a week — get out and either have coffee or do something with a friend. That's not only for the physical but also for the mental health part." Kershaw, the bartender, says weight loss and better health are the top resolutions she hears people make. "Mental health is the new one, but I think it's high up there as well as with regular health," she said. She prefers more goal-oriented resolutions and, this time, it's to do more traveling and see more of the world: "I don't know if that's really a resolution, but that's a goal that I'm setting." And how will she welcome the arrival of 2025? Usually, she takes the night off and stays home watching movies with plenty of snacks, but this year Kershaw has a different plan, maybe one of the most Chicago things you can do. This die-hard sports fan will be at Wrigley Field on Tuesday watching the Chicago Blackhawks take on the St. Louis Blues. "Hockey's my favorite sport. So I will be watching hockey and bringing in the new year," she said. The AP-NORC poll of 1,251 adults was conducted Dec. 5-9, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears open to switching parties to become a Republican, as he declined to rule out a future change in political allegiances during a pair of interviews Friday that came as he has increasing warmed to President-elect Donald Trump. The comments from Adams, the top Democrat in one of the country's most liberal cities, riled critics who have grown concerned over the mayor's increasing willingness to throw his support behind Trump and his hardline immigration policies. Adams, who faces federal corruption charges , was a registered Republican in the 1990s and early 2000s but has spent his political career as a Democrat. In a Friday morning interview with the local cable news station NY1, Adams was asked if he would consider a return to the GOP. The Democrat appeared to leave open the possibility of a switch. “The party that’s the most important for me is the American party,” he said. “I’m a part of the American party. I love this country. This is the home of the free, the land of the brave.” In another interview about a half-hour later on PIX11, Adams said he would run for reelection as a Democrat but still appeared to leave some wiggle room for his future. “So no matter what party I’m on or vote on, I’m going to push for the American values," he said. "And I think America has told us, stop the squabbling, leaders, and start leading us out of the crisis that we’re facing.” Adams won office on a centrist platform and has spent significant time as mayor quarreling with the progressive wing of his party. But his rhetoric has taken a noticeable rightward turn in the weeks since Trump's election victory, particularly on immigration, with Adams boosting the president-elect's platform and appearing enthusiastic about the incoming administration. Rather than restricting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as he once promised, Adams recently expressed a willingness to roll back the city’s so-called sanctuary policies, and he plans to meet with Trump’s top border official over concerns about what the mayor said was the “rising illegal alien crime rate in New York City.” He has also praised those in Trump’s orbit, including Elon Musk, who has claimed falsely that Democrats are illegally “importing” migrants to garner votes. “This is a racehorse that wanted to run its right pace and we’ve been holding back that racehorse out of fear of being canceled,” Adams said of the country Tuesday. “And now you have a bunch of people who are not afraid of being canceled.” The shift comes as Adams is trying to fight off an indictment on federal corruption charges while governing the city and gearing up to run for a second term. Adams has pleaded not guilty in his criminal case, in which he has been accused of accepting free or discounted overseas trips and illegal campaign contributions from people looking to gain his influence, including people connected to Turkey or the Turkish government. Adams’ critics have seized on his recent comments about the Trump administration as a move toward self-preservation, accusing the mayor of cozying up to the next president in an effort to secure a pardon in his corruption case. “Eric Adams continues to sound more like he is auditioning for a job in right-wing media than running for reelection in a Democratic primary,” said Zohran Mamdani, a state assembly member who is challenging against Adams in the mayoral primary. “Eric Adams is in City Hall because Democratic voters sent him there. To serve his own narrow self-interests, he is clearly prepared to betray them.” Zellnor Myrie, a state senator who is also challenging Adams in the primary, said “at a time when the Republican Party has never been more out of line with New York values, we need a mayor who isn’t scared to call himself a Democrat.” “Instead of playing footsie with the next president, we need a mayor with the courage to stand up for our city,” Myrie wrote on X. Adams on Friday did distance himself from the Trump administration's potential plans to carry out mass deportations, saying, “You know, I’m not for mass deportation, but I’m not for mass saturation.” Still, the mayor's recent remarks are a major departure from his stance before he took office. In June of 2021, a few weeks before winning the Democratic mayoral primary, Adams spoke to a room full of immigrant New Yorkers about the challenges facing city residents who are in the country illegally. “Too many of our neighbors live in the shadows,” he said at the time, “scarred by the abusive rhetoric and tactics of the Trump era and fearing a denial of their rights.” ___ Izaguirre reported from Albany. Anthony Izaguirre And Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press

Military leaders are rattled by a list of ‘woke’ officers that a group urges Hegseth to fire1 2 Bhubaneswar: After receiving ground penetrating radar and GPS survey report of Ratna Bhandar of the Puri Jagannath Temple , the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Saturday urged Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to immediately undertake repair, maintenance and conservation work of the treasury. The 45-page technical report was prepared with the assistance of National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. The report gives a detailed account of the present condition of the walls and floors of Ratna Bhandar. "In a letter to ASI we have requested it to start the repair and conservation work at the earliest," said Arabinda Padhee, chief administrator of SJTA. Padhee stated that the temple administration would extend full cooperation to ASI in this endeavour. "Based on the report, we have requested ASI to share the repair plan and discuss it with the temple management. We will consult with the Chhatisa Nijog regarding the plan for the repair of Ratna Bhandar. At the same time, we requested ASI that during the repair work there should be no disruption to rituals and darshan of the deities," Padhee said. The ASI had conducted a detailed survey using the latest technology and equipment, including laser scanning and ground penetrating radar survey in Sept and detected cracks within the treasury. However, no secret tunnels or chambers were found in Ratna Bhandar. The valuables of inner and outer chambers of Ratna Bhandar were shifted to a temporary strongroom in two phases in July. Maharashtra Jharkhand Maharashtra Alliance View i Party View Seats: 288 Results Majority: 145 BJP+ 229 MVA 47 OTH 12 Results : 288 / 288 BJP+ WON Jharkhand Alliance View i Party View Seats: 81 Results Majority: 41 INDIA 56 NDA 24 OTH 1 Results : 81 / 81 INDIA WON Source: PValue "After the repair and conservation work of Ratna Bhandar is over, the inventory process will start in accordance with the temple's established rules. Digitisation of the whole process will be done," said Padhee.NEW YORK (AP) — Even through a year of nonstop news about elections, climate change, protests and the price of eggs, there was still time U.S. sales held steady according to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the print market, with many choosing the relief of romance, fantasy Some picked up to her blockbuster tour, while others sought out literary fiction, celebrity memoirs, political exposes and a close and painful look at a generation hooked on smartphones. Here are 10 notable books published in 2024, in no particular order. Asking about the year’s hottest reads would basically yield a list of the biggest hits in romantasy, the blend of fantasy and romance that has proved so irresistible fans were snapping up expensive “special editions” with decorative covers and sprayed edges. Of the 25 top sellers of 2024, as compiled by Circana, six were by including “House of Flame and Shadow,” the third of her “Crescent City” series. Millions read her latest installment about Bryce Quinlan and Hunter Athalar and traced the ever-growing ties of “Maasverse,” the overlapping worlds of “Crescent City” and her other series, “Throne of Glass” and “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” If romantasy is for escape, other books demand we confront. In the bestselling “The Anxious Generation,” social psychologist Jonathan Haidt looks into studies finding that the mental health of young people began to deteriorate in the 2010s, after decades of progress. According to Haidt, the main culprit is right before us: from “play-based” to “phone-based” childhoods. Although some critics challenged his findings, “The Anxious Generation” became a talking point and a catchphrase. Admirers ranged from Oprah Winfrey to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, who in a letter to state legislators advocated such “commonsense recommendations” from the book as banning phones in schools and keeping kids off social media until age 16. have been an election tradition for decades. of his highly sourced Washington insider accounts, made news with its allegations that Donald Trump had been in frequent contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin even while out of office and, while president, had sent Putin sophisticated COVID-19 test machines. Among Woodward’s other scoops: Putin seriously considered using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, and President Joe Biden blamed former President Barack Obama, under whom he served as vice president, for some of the problems with Russia. “Barack never took Putin seriously,” Woodward quoted Biden as saying. who gives few interviews and rarely discusses her private life, The publisher was unlikely for a former first lady — not one of the major New York houses, but Skyhorse, where authors include such controversial public figures as Woody Allen and Trump cabinet nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And its success was at least a minor surprise. Melania Trump did little publicity for the book, and offered few revelations beyond expressing support for abortion rights — a break from one of the cornerstones of GOP policy. But “Melania” still sold hundreds of thousands of copies, many in the days following her husband’s election. was more than a music story in 2024. Like “Melania,” the news about Taylor Swift’s self-published tie-in to isn’t so much the book itself, but that it exists. And how well it sold. As she did with the “Eras” concert film, Swift bypassed the established industry and worked directly with a distributor: Target offered “The Eras Tour Book” exclusively. According to Circana, the “Eras” book sold more than 800,000 copies just in its opening week, an astonishing number for a publication unavailable through Amazon.com and other traditional retailers. No new book in 2024 had a better debut. Midnight book parties are supposed to be for “Harry Potter” and other fantasy series, but this fall, more than 100 stores stayed open late to welcome one of the year’s literary events: The Irish author’s fourth novel centers on two brothers, their grief over the death of their father, their very different career paths and their very unsettled love lives. “Intermezzo” was also a book about chess: “You have to read a lot of opening theory — that’s the beginning of a game, the first moves,” one of the brothers explains. “And you’re learning all this for what? Just to get an okay position in the middle game and try to play some decent chess. Which most of the time I can’t do anyway.” Lisa Marie Presley had been working on a memoir , in 2023, and daughter Riley Keough had agreed to help her complete it. is Lisa Marie’s account of her father, Elvis Presley, and the sagas of of her adult life, notably her marriage to Michael Jackson and the death of To the end, she was haunted by the loss of Elvis, just 42 when he collapsed and died at his Graceland home while young Lisa Marie was asleep. “She would listen to his music alone, if she was drunk, and cry,” Keough, said of her mother. Meanwhile, Cher released titled “Cher” — no further introduction required. Covering her life from birth to the end of the 1970s, she focuses on her ill-fated marriage to Sonny Bono, remembering him as a gifted entertainer and businessman who helped her believe in herself while turning out to be unfaithful, erratic, controlling and so greedy that he kept all the couple’s earnings for himself. Unsure of whether to leave or stay, she consulted a very famous divorcee, Lucille Ball, who reportedly encouraged her: “F— him, you’re the one with the talent.” A trend in recent years is to take famous novels from the past, and remove words or passages that might offend modern readers; an edition of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” cuts the racist language from Mark Twain’s original text. In the most celebrated literary work of 2024, Percival Everett found a different way to take on Twain’s classic — write it from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. is a recasting in many ways. Everett suggests to us that the real Jim was nothing like the deferential figure known to millions of readers, but a savvy and learned man who concealed his intelligence from the whites around him, and even from Twain himself. Salman Rushdie’s first National Book Award nomination was for a memoir he wished he had no reason to write. he recounts in full detail the horrifying attempt on his life in 2022, when an attendee rushed the stage during a literary event in western New York and stabbed him repeatedly, leaving with him a blinded eye and lasting nerve damage, but with a spirit surprisingly intact. “If you had told me that this was going to happen and how would I deal with it, I would not have been very optimistic about my chances,” “I’m still myself, you know, and I don’t feel other than myself. But there’s a little iron in the soul, I think.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there's one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas. That's because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory. The law, passed by the state Legislature in 2011 and implemented two years later, ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote. That was 12% of everyone seeking to register in Kansas for the first time. Federal courts ultimately declared the law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn't been enforced since 2018. Kansas provides a cautionary tale about how pursuing an election concern that in fact is extremely rare risks disenfranchising a far greater number of people who are legally entitled to vote. The state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, championed the idea as a legislator and now says states and the federal government shouldn't touch it. “Kansas did that 10 years ago,” said Schwab, a Republican. “It didn’t work out so well.” Steven Fish, a 45-year-old warehouse worker in eastern Kansas, said he understands the motivation behind the law. In his thinking, the state was like a store owner who fears getting robbed and installs locks. But in 2014, after the birth of his now 11-year-old son inspired him to be “a little more responsible” and follow politics, he didn’t have an acceptable copy of his birth certificate to get registered to vote in Kansas. “The locks didn’t work,” said Fish, one of nine Kansas residents who sued the state over the law. “You caught a bunch of people who didn’t do anything wrong.” Kansas' experience appeared to receive little if any attention outside the state as Republicans elsewhere pursued proof-of-citizenship requirements this year. Arizona enacted a requirement this year, applying it to voting for state and local elections but not for Congress or president. The Republican-led U.S. House passed a proof-of-citizenship requirement in the summer and plans to bring back similar legislation after the GOP won control of the Senate in November. In Ohio, the Republican secretary of state revised the form that poll workers use for voter eligibility challenges to require those not born in the U.S. to show naturalization papers to cast a regular ballot. A federal judge declined to block the practice days before the election. Also, sizable majorities of voters in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and the presidential swing states of North Carolina and Wisconsin were inspired to amend their state constitutions' provisions on voting even though the changes were only symbolic. Provisions that previously declared that all U.S. citizens could vote now say that only U.S. citizens can vote — a meaningless distinction with no practical effect on who is eligible. To be clear, voters already must attest to being U.S. citizens when they register to vote and noncitizens can face fines, prison and deportation if they lie and are caught. “There is nothing unconstitutional about ensuring that only American citizens can vote in American elections,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas, the leading sponsor of the congressional proposal, said in an email statement to The Associated Press. After Kansas residents challenged their state's law, both a federal judge and federal appeals court concluded that it violated a law limiting states to collecting only the minimum information needed to determine whether someone is eligible to vote. That's an issue Congress could resolve. The courts ruled that with “scant” evidence of an actual problem, Kansas couldn't justify a law that kept hundreds of eligible citizens from registering for every noncitizen who was improperly registered. A federal judge concluded that the state’s evidence showed that only 39 noncitizens had registered to vote from 1999 through 2012 — an average of just three a year. In 2013, then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican who had built a national reputation advocating tough immigration laws, described the possibility of voting by immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as a serious threat. He was elected attorney general in 2022 and still strongly backs the idea, arguing that federal court rulings in the Kansas case “almost certainly got it wrong.” Kobach also said a key issue in the legal challenge — people being unable to fix problems with their registrations within a 90-day window — has probably been solved. “The technological challenge of how quickly can you verify someone’s citizenship is getting easier,” Kobach said. “As time goes on, it will get even easier.” The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Kansas case in 2020. But in August, it split 5-4 in allowing Arizona to continue enforcing its law for voting in state and local elections while a legal challenge goes forward. Seeing the possibility of a different Supreme Court decision in the future, U.S. Rep.-elect Derek Schmidt says states and Congress should pursue proof-of-citizenship requirements. Schmidt was the Kansas attorney general when his state's law was challenged. "If the same matter arose now and was litigated, the facts would be different," he said in an interview. But voting rights advocates dismiss the idea that a legal challenge would turn out differently. Mark Johnson, one of the attorneys who fought the Kansas law, said opponents now have a template for a successful court fight. “We know the people we can call," Johnson said. “We know that we’ve got the expert witnesses. We know how to try things like this.” He predicted "a flurry — a landslide — of litigation against this.” Initially, the Kansas requirement's impacts seemed to fall most heavily on politically unaffiliated and young voters. As of fall 2013, 57% of the voters blocked from registering were unaffiliated and 40% were under 30. But Fish was in his mid-30s, and six of the nine residents who sued over the Kansas law were 35 or older. Three even produced citizenship documents and still didn’t get registered, according to court documents. “There wasn’t a single one of us that was actually an illegal or had misinterpreted or misrepresented any information or had done anything wrong,” Fish said. He was supposed to produce his birth certificate when he sought to register in 2014 while renewing his Kansas driver's license at an office in a strip mall in Lawrence. A clerk wouldn't accept the copy Fish had of his birth certificate. He still doesn't know where to find the original, having been born on an Air Force base in Illinois that closed in the 1990s. Several of the people joining Fish in the lawsuit were veterans, all born in the U.S., and Fish said he was stunned that they could be prevented from registering. Liz Azore, a senior adviser to the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, said millions of Americans haven't traveled outside the U.S. and don't have passports that might act as proof of citizenship, or don't have ready access to their birth certificates. She and other voting rights advocates are skeptical that there are administrative fixes that will make a proof-of-citizenship law run more smoothly today than it did in Kansas a decade ago. “It’s going to cover a lot of people from all walks of life,” Avore said. “It’s going to be disenfranchising large swaths of the country.” Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.FBI Director Christopher Wray announced he will resign in advance of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration — meaning he will depart from the bureau about three years before his term ends. Wray’s decision, which was revealed on Dec. 11, came shortly after Trump nominated Kash Patel — a strong supporter of his — to lead the FBI. “In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work,” Wray, who was nominated by Trump in 2017, told his colleagues, according to The Associated Press. Trump celebrated the move, writing in a post on Truth Social that Wray’s resignation “is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice.” Amid these developments, here is what to know about FBI directors and their tenureships. Who appoints the FBI director? During the early years of the FBI, the attorney general was charged with choosing the bureau’s director, who was not constrained by term limits . However, in 1968, Congress passed a law establishing that the president would appoint the director, who would require Senate confirmation. “By that point the FBI was considered important enough to warrant an executive appointment,” Douglas Charles, a history professor at Pennsylvania State University Greater Allegheny, who researches the FBI, told McClatchy News. “Before then, attorneys general hired and fired them.” How long is the FBI director’s term? In 1976, Congress passed a law permitting the FBI director to serve one 10-year term. The law “stemmed directly from the fact that J. Edgar Hoover was entrenched as director for 48 years,” Charles said. Hoover led the intelligence agency from 1924 to 1972 , during which time he amassed significant powers, he said. As a result, the law sought to prohibit anyone else from following in his footsteps. Hoover wasn’t the only impetus for the term limit, though. “This law came, as well, in the wake of Watergate where President Nixon tried to have his own man, his own lackey, L. Patrick Gray, become FBI director,” Charles said. So, the law “sought to isolate the FBI from White House political influence.” Do most directors stay on for 10 years? There have been 12 directors — including acting directors — since the 10-year term limit was established, and nearly all of them left office before their term ended, according to FBI records. For example, Clarence Kelley , who was nominated by Nixon, led the agency for about five years between 1973 and 1978. Similarly, Louis Freeh , who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, helmed the agency for about eight years between 1993 and 2001. The only director to stay on for a full term was Robert Mueller , who was in office for 12 years. President George W. Bush nominated Mueller to head the FBI in 2001, and in 2011, before his term ended, President Barack Obama asked Congress to pass legislation extending his term for two more years — which it did. “The United States faces ongoing threats from terrorists intent on attacking us both at home and abroad, and it is crucial that the FBI have sustained, strong leadership to confront that threat,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at the time. “There is no better person for that job than Bob Mueller.” More politics news → How does Senate confirmation process work? What to know as Trump makes Cabinet picks → Trump to return to White House after 4 years. Only one past president has done that → How did LGBT Americans vote in election? Exit poll finds significant shift from 2020 Have any FBI directors been fired? “Only two FBI directors were outright fired,” Charles said. The first was William Sessions, whom Clinton dismissed in 1993 after learning the director had been accused of misusing FBI resources. Specifically, he had been accused of using a government airplane for personal reasons, installing a fence around his house using government funds and failing to pay taxes on an FBI limousine, according to ABC News. Twenty-four years later, in 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey amid a bureau investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had colluded with the Russian government. At the time, Trump said Comey’s ouster was required to bring back “public trust and confidence” in the FBI, according to The Associated Press. “There have been other FBI directors who resigned in the past after improprieties or scandals surfaced,” Charles said. “I call these Washington, D.C., ‘firings’ where they were quietly asked to resign or just stepped aside.” One of these was L. Patrick Gray, who became acting director following the death of Hoover in 1972. He resigned in 1973 after it was disclosed that he had destroyed incriminating White House documents related to the Watergate scandal , according to The Guardian. Gray’s successor, Kelley, also left office early following a scandal. Following the election in 1976, it was revealed that FBI carpenters did construction on his home, costing a total of $355, Charles said. “In the wake of Hoover and Watergate this was seen as a scandal,” he said. “By our standards today it is small potatoes.” President Jimmy Carter, who was inaugurated in 1977, ended up making a deal with Kelley, in which he would step down after one year, Charles said. Who do Americans trust for health information? Poll finds gap between FDA and RFK Jr. Most Americans approve of Trump transition phase, poll finds. What about past presidents? Can Donald Trump actually end birthright citizenship? Legal experts weigh in

WASHINGTON: The United States on Saturday announced a new $988 million security assistance package for Ukraine as Washington races to provide aid to Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump’s November election victory has cast doubt on the future of American aid for Ukraine, providing a limited window for billions of dollars in already authorized assistance to be disbursed before he is sworn in next month. The package features drones, ammunition for precision HIMARS rocket launchers, and equipment and spare parts for artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles, the Pentagon said in a statement. Trump met in Paris earlier Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said any resolution of the war with Russia should be a “just” settlement that includes “strong security guarantees for Ukraine.” The meeting was of huge importance to Zelensky, given fears in Kyiv that Trump may urge Ukraine to make concessions to Moscow. The latest aid will be funded via the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, under which military equipment is procured from the defense industry or partners rather than drawn from American stocks, meaning it will not immediately arrive on the battlefield. It follows a $725 million package announced on Monday that included a second tranche of landmines as well as anti-air and anti-armor weapons. The outgoing administration of President Joe Biden is working to get as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump -- who has repeatedly criticized US assistance for Kyiv and claimed he could secure a ceasefire within hours -- takes over. Trump’s comments have triggered fears in Kyiv and Europe about the future of US aid, and Ukraine’s ability to withstand Russian attacks in the absence of further American support. “Our job has been to try and put Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield so that it is in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Saturday. In the closing weeks of Biden’s term, the goal is “a massive surge of assistance and to up the economic pressure on Russia,” he said. America ‘weaker’ alone US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday warned that failure to continue opposing Russia’s actions would have dire consequences. “We can continue to stand up to the Kremlin. Or we can let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin have his way - and condemn our children and grandchildren to live in a world of chaos and conflict,” said Austin, who like Sullivan was speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California. “This administration has made its choice. And so has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own choice.” The defense chief also emphasized the importance of US allies and partners in his remarks -- a contrast to Trump’s go-it-alone “America first” world view. “Here is the stark military fact: our allies and partners are huge force multipliers,” Austin said. “Ultimately, America is weaker when it stands alone. And America is smaller when it stands apart,” he said. “There is no such thing as a safe retreat from today’s interwoven world.” Ukraine Ready for ‘deal’ Meanwhile, US president-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is keen on a “deal” to end the war with Russia, after the pair met in Paris to discuss the future of the conflict. French President Emmanuel Macron hosted three-way talks with Zelensky and Trump at the Elysee Palace on Saturday, as fears grow in Kyiv about the position of the incoming US administration. Trump has openly scoffed at the billions of dollars in military assistance being sent to Ukraine and once boasted he could end the conflict in 24 hours. “Zelenskyy (sic) and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse.” Hours after the trio’s meeting, the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden announced a new $988-million military assistance package for Ukraine. The package features drones, ammunition for precision HIMARS rocket launchers, and equipment and spare parts for artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles, the Pentagon said. In Ukraine there is concern that Trump may urge domestically unpopular concessions to bring about peace. Zelensky insisted any settlement with Russia had to be equitable. “We all want peace. But it is very important for us... that the peace is just for all of us and that Russia, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin or any other aggressor has no possibility of ever returning,” Zelensky said according to the presidential website. “And this is the most important thing - a just peace and security guarantees, strong security guarantees for Ukraine,” he added. But Zelensky also thanked Trump for his “unwavering resolve” describing the talks as “good and productive”. Zelensky’s meeting with Trump, just before both attended the re-opening ceremony of the Notre Dame cathedral, was his first face-to-face encounter with the tycoon-turned-politician since his US election victory. It also offered a unique chance for Macron to gain insights into how a second Trump presidency will look when he takes office in January. The trip to Paris is Trump’s first international visit since his November 5 election win. ‘Going a little crazy’ Trump and Macron embraced and shook hands several times on the steps of the French presidential palace. Trump was given a full guard of honor despite not yet being in office. “It seems like the world is going a little crazy right now and we will be talking about that,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to sit down for the talks with Macron. Despite tensions between the two men during his first term, Trump hailed his ties with the centrist French leader, saying: “We had a great relationship as everyone knows. We accomplished a lot.” Macron told Trump it was “a great honor for French people to welcome you” for the re-opening ceremony at Notre Dame, which was devastated by a blaze in 2019 during Trump’s first term. “You were president at that time and I remember the solidarity and the immediate reaction,” Macron added, speaking in English. In his own reaction to the discussions, Macron wrote on social media: “Let us continue our joint efforts for peace and security.” — AFPMike Mitchell scores 22 and Minnesota defeats Morgan State 90-68

1 2 Bhubaneswar: After receiving ground penetrating radar and GPS survey report of Ratna Bhandar of the Puri Jagannath Temple , the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Saturday urged Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to immediately undertake repair, maintenance and conservation work of the treasury. The 45-page technical report was prepared with the assistance of National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. The report gives a detailed account of the present condition of the walls and floors of Ratna Bhandar. "In a letter to ASI we have requested it to start the repair and conservation work at the earliest," said Arabinda Padhee, chief administrator of SJTA. Padhee stated that the temple administration would extend full cooperation to ASI in this endeavour. "Based on the report, we have requested ASI to share the repair plan and discuss it with the temple management. We will consult with the Chhatisa Nijog regarding the plan for the repair of Ratna Bhandar. At the same time, we requested ASI that during the repair work there should be no disruption to rituals and darshan of the deities," Padhee said. The ASI had conducted a detailed survey using the latest technology and equipment, including laser scanning and ground penetrating radar survey in Sept and detected cracks within the treasury. However, no secret tunnels or chambers were found in Ratna Bhandar. The valuables of inner and outer chambers of Ratna Bhandar were shifted to a temporary strongroom in two phases in July. Maharashtra Jharkhand Maharashtra Alliance View i Party View Seats: 288 Results Majority: 145 BJP+ 229 MVA 47 OTH 12 Results : 288 / 288 BJP+ WON Jharkhand Alliance View i Party View Seats: 81 Results Majority: 41 INDIA 56 NDA 24 OTH 1 Results : 81 / 81 INDIA WON Source: PValue "After the repair and conservation work of Ratna Bhandar is over, the inventory process will start in accordance with the temple's established rules. Digitisation of the whole process will be done," said Padhee.TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there's one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas. That's because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory. The law, passed by the state Legislature in 2011 and implemented two years later, ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote. That was 12% of everyone seeking to register in Kansas for the first time. Federal courts ultimately declared the law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn't been enforced since 2018. Kansas provides a cautionary tale about how pursuing an election concern that in fact is extremely rare risks disenfranchising a far greater number of people who are legally entitled to vote. The state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, championed the idea as a legislator and now says states and the federal government shouldn't touch it. “Kansas did that 10 years ago,” said Schwab, a Republican. “It didn’t work out so well.” Steven Fish, a 45-year-old warehouse worker in eastern Kansas, said he understands the motivation behind the law. In his thinking, the state was like a store owner who fears getting robbed and installs locks. But in 2014, after the birth of his now 11-year-old son inspired him to be “a little more responsible” and follow politics, he didn’t have an acceptable copy of his birth certificate to get registered to vote in Kansas. “The locks didn’t work,” said Fish, one of nine Kansas residents who sued the state over the law. “You caught a bunch of people who didn’t do anything wrong.” Kansas' experience appeared to receive little if any attention outside the state as Republicans elsewhere pursued proof-of-citizenship requirements this year. Arizona enacted a requirement this year, applying it to voting for state and local elections but not for Congress or president. The Republican-led U.S. House passed a proof-of-citizenship requirement in the summer and plans to bring back similar legislation after the GOP won control of the Senate in November. In Ohio, the Republican secretary of state revised the form that poll workers use for voter eligibility challenges to require those not born in the U.S. to show naturalization papers to cast a regular ballot. A federal judge declined to block the practice days before the election. Also, sizable majorities of voters in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and the presidential swing states of North Carolina and Wisconsin were inspired to amend their state constitutions' provisions on voting even though the changes were only symbolic. Provisions that previously declared that all U.S. citizens could vote now say that only U.S. citizens can vote — a meaningless distinction with no practical effect on who is eligible. To be clear, voters already must attest to being U.S. citizens when they register to vote and noncitizens can face fines, prison and deportation if they lie and are caught. “There is nothing unconstitutional about ensuring that only American citizens can vote in American elections,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas, the leading sponsor of the congressional proposal, said in an email statement to The Associated Press. After Kansas residents challenged their state's law, both a federal judge and federal appeals court concluded that it violated a law limiting states to collecting only the minimum information needed to determine whether someone is eligible to vote. That's an issue Congress could resolve. The courts ruled that with “scant” evidence of an actual problem, Kansas couldn't justify a law that kept hundreds of eligible citizens from registering for every noncitizen who was improperly registered. A federal judge concluded that the state’s evidence showed that only 39 noncitizens had registered to vote from 1999 through 2012 — an average of just three a year. In 2013, then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican who had built a national reputation advocating tough immigration laws, described the possibility of voting by immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as a serious threat. He was elected attorney general in 2022 and still strongly backs the idea, arguing that federal court rulings in the Kansas case “almost certainly got it wrong.” Kobach also said a key issue in the legal challenge — people being unable to fix problems with their registrations within a 90-day window — has probably been solved. “The technological challenge of how quickly can you verify someone’s citizenship is getting easier,” Kobach said. “As time goes on, it will get even easier.” The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Kansas case in 2020. But in August, it split 5-4 in allowing Arizona to continue enforcing its law for voting in state and local elections while a legal challenge goes forward. Seeing the possibility of a different Supreme Court decision in the future, U.S. Rep.-elect Derek Schmidt says states and Congress should pursue proof-of-citizenship requirements. Schmidt was the Kansas attorney general when his state's law was challenged. "If the same matter arose now and was litigated, the facts would be different," he said in an interview. But voting rights advocates dismiss the idea that a legal challenge would turn out differently. Mark Johnson, one of the attorneys who fought the Kansas law, said opponents now have a template for a successful court fight. “We know the people we can call," Johnson said. “We know that we’ve got the expert witnesses. We know how to try things like this.” He predicted "a flurry — a landslide — of litigation against this.” Initially, the Kansas requirement's impacts seemed to fall most heavily on politically unaffiliated and young voters. As of fall 2013, 57% of the voters blocked from registering were unaffiliated and 40% were under 30. But Fish was in his mid-30s, and six of the nine residents who sued over the Kansas law were 35 or older. Three even produced citizenship documents and still didn’t get registered, according to court documents. “There wasn’t a single one of us that was actually an illegal or had misinterpreted or misrepresented any information or had done anything wrong,” Fish said. He was supposed to produce his birth certificate when he sought to register in 2014 while renewing his Kansas driver's license at an office in a strip mall in Lawrence. A clerk wouldn't accept the copy Fish had of his birth certificate. He still doesn't know where to find the original, having been born on an Air Force base in Illinois that closed in the 1990s. Several of the people joining Fish in the lawsuit were veterans, all born in the U.S., and Fish said he was stunned that they could be prevented from registering. Liz Azore, a senior adviser to the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, said millions of Americans haven't traveled outside the U.S. and don't have passports that might act as proof of citizenship, or don't have ready access to their birth certificates. She and other voting rights advocates are skeptical that there are administrative fixes that will make a proof-of-citizenship law run more smoothly today than it did in Kansas a decade ago. “It’s going to cover a lot of people from all walks of life,” Avore said. “It’s going to be disenfranchising large swaths of the country.” Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

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