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swerte99 sign up The United Nations is calling for an urgent revival of Iran nuclear deal talks, emphasizing the deal's significance for global peace. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, from which the U.S. withdrew in 2018, remains a focal point for international diplomacy. In legal news, Luigi Mangione has been indicted for the murder of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson. Prosecutors describe Mangione's act as a calculated attempt to 'sow terror,' with potential life imprisonment looming if found guilty. Meanwhile, Canada has committed to enhanced border security, engaging in discussions with the U.S. about surveillance and technology strategies. This initiative aims to bolster bilateral relations as the countries navigate changing political climates. (With inputs from agencies.)Starmer to visit troops serving on Russian border in push for Ukraine supportTEAMGROUP presents the latest T-FORCE XTREEM CKD DDR5 desktop memory - Tech Critter

In networking, “state” refers to the context or session data of a current network connection. A stateful firewall, therefore, keeps track of the state of each connection passing through it, while a stateless firewall does not. Although they may sound less restrictive, stateless firewalls are incredibly useful for securing home and business networks. They use ACLs (Access Control Lists) to determine which traffic to allow through and which traffic to block. Of course, not tracking the state of network connections means that stateless firewalls can’t tell you as much about the traffic on your network as stateful firewalls. The benefits of stateless firewalls come with tradeoffs. Businesses often balance these trade-offs by using both types in tandem, with stateless firewalls handling bulk traffic filtering at the perimeter and stateful firewalls offering deeper inspection behind them. By the end of this post, you’ll know when stateless firewalls work really well, and when another solution might work much better. Five reasons to use a stateless firewall 1. They’re efficient The biggest advantage of using a stateless firewall is efficiency. Since they only check for individual packets (rather than tracking the state of connections like their bulky stateful counterparts), stateless firewalls are like lean, mean, security machines. This makes them far more useful when handling high volumes of traffic. For instance, since they don’t have to keep up with the specific details of every connection passing through, stateless firewalls won’t chew up as much memory and processing power. If you’re running a large-scale website that receives tons of traffic, for example, you won’t want your firewall to slow things down. With a stateless firewall, you can set up strong network security protections without jeopardizing a website’s performance. SEE: Avoid these mistakes when configuring network security . 2. Stateless firewalls are simple to set up and maintain Setting up a stateless firewall is a breeze compared to stateful firewalls. Stateful firewalls dynamically maintain state tables to track ongoing connections, ensuring traffic flows are legitimate by monitoring session information. In contrast, stateless firewalls rely on a fixed set of filtering rules, such as allowing or blocking packets based on IP addresses, ports, or protocols. This makes stateless firewalls simpler to configure and less resource-intensive, though it also makes them less adaptable to dynamic or context-dependent traffic than stateful firewalls. 3. Stateless excels on the network perimeter Stateless firewalls are often used as a first line of defense in network security due to their simplicity and effectiveness at blocking unwanted traffic. They are particularly useful in scenarios where only basic access control is needed, such as filtering traffic between trusted and untrusted networks. This protects specific services from common attacks like port scans, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, or VoIP fraud . While they may not offer the deep inspection or session awareness of stateful firewalls, they can serve as an effective initial barrier, reducing the load on more advanced systems by blocking simple, high-volume threats before they reach more sensitive parts of the network. 4. They’re inherently less vulnerable Stateless firewalls don’t keep track of past traffic or active connections, which makes them less prone to certain types of attacks that target the firewall’s memory or stored data. Instead, stateless firewalls simply compare incoming packets to their pre-defined “allow” and “deny” rules, ensuring that traffic is only allowed into the network if it meets specific criteria. This straightforward approach ensures that only authorized traffic enters the network. Since they don’t need to manage the details of each connection, stateless firewalls avoid some of the vulnerabilities that can arise when a firewall tries to remember everything, like becoming overloaded during different types of DDoS attacks , where attackers flood the system with too many requests. Stateful firewalls offer deeper inspection and more thorough security, but that introduces additional complexity, which can be exploited by attackers. Stateless firewalls, with their simpler design, avoid this risk altogether. 5. Stateless firewalls are cost-effective and affordable Because they don’t require the advanced features of stateful firewalls, such as session tracking or deep packet inspection, their hardware and maintenance costs are significantly lower. This makes them an accessible choice for organizations with limited IT budgets or smaller networks. Stateful firewalls are more expensive due to their advanced features, such as integrated intrusion detection and prevention systems . These firewalls also require more processing power, memory, and specialized hardware to manage real-time traffic analysis and maintain security. Key downsides of a stateless firewall While stateless firewalls have their advantages, they also come with some downsides. 1. Minimal packet inspection capabilities Since it doesn’t keep track of connections, a stateless firewall won’t maintain a table of all the previous connections that have gone through the firewall. This makes it faster and easier to handle high volumes of traffic, but it comes with minimal packet inspection capabilities. For example, stateless firewalls can only inspect individual packets based on headers and protocols, meaning they cannot look at the contents of the packets themselves. This makes them less effective at detecting and preventing more sophisticated attacks that can bypass simple packet inspection, such as ones that use encrypted traffic. Moreover, due to the lack of connection tracking, a stateless firewall cannot always distinguish between legitimate and malicious traffic. This can result in unnecessary blockages of legitimate traffic, which can disrupt business operations. It also makes it more difficult to modify the firewall, as stateless firewalls cannot recognize connection states — so they can’t allow and deny traffic dynamically based on them. Learn more about how stateful inspection works . 2. Harder to scale One of the biggest downsides to stateless firewalls is that they can be an absolute nightmare to scale in certain scenarios. The problem lies in the fact that a stateless firewall only examines individual packets to determine whether to allow or deny them. This means that, as the number of connections to your network increases, so does the number of rules in your firewall. Therefore, when your network has a high volume of traffic, it can be extremely difficult to manage and maintain. Unfortunately, with stateless firewalls, you need to create manual rules for each kind of packet that travels through the network. This can lead to a situation where there are simply too many rules to manage — which can lead to network performance issues, security flaws, and massive administrative overheads. Learn more about how to create a firewall policy that works for your network. 3. Initial configuration to work properly Although stateless firewalls are a breeze to set up compared to stateful firewalls, the process isn’t exactly the easiest. Stateless firewalls can require a fair bit of initial configuration to work properly. For instance, since they don’t maintain connection states, they must rely on other factors—such as IP addresses and port numbers—to determine whether or not incoming packets are allowed into the network. This means that, in addition to the aforementioned filtering rules, some additional settings require careful configuration to ensure that legitimate traffic is allowed through while malicious traffic is blocked. Learn more about how to set up a firewall properly .

The FBI has been political from the startFor the time being, the trees along Goodhue Boulevard will remain. The city on Tuesday withdrew its application to the Nebraska Capitol Environs Commission to remove 24 trees along Goodhue Boulevard that line the south corridor leading to the state Capitol. “Lincoln’s quality of life is strengthened when our community forest is healthy and thriving,” said Parks and Recreation Department Director Maggie Stuckey-Ross. “Our department looks forward to working with the public on a plan for Goodhue Boulevard that emphasizes the safety of the public and the health of our urban canopy. The withdrawal of this application allows us to continue the community conversation and move forward together with a strong plan.” The plan, to remove the old and dying trees between A and H streets and replace them with 46 new trees along Goodhue Boulevard and an additional 24 trees at intersections along that corridor, upset many of the residents in the area. People are also reading... They worried about the loss of the tree canopy in the area and how it would affect residents' utility bills and wildlife and maintained that many of the trees have additional life in them if they are pruned, mulched and watered. City officials said the trees were old, had health issues and posed a safety risk to residents. Parks and Recreation officials had planned to use $140,000 in federal dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act to remove and replace the trees, money that must be spent by the end of 2025. In October, the city had made an application with the Nebraska Capitol Environs Commission for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the removal of the trees. In its application, city staff noted that tree removals due to poor health do not typically necessitate a certificate from the commission, but that the Goodhue tree removal project merited special consideration based on the commission’s design oversight of the corridor. Many opponents to the plan testified at the first commission meeting, and Parks and Recreation officials then attended a Near South Neighborhood Association meeting to further discuss the plan and postponed the commission vote in November. The commission was scheduled to vote on the plan Friday. Parks and Recreation officials say they anticipate continued community engagement as they develop a new plan for Goodhue Boulevard that prioritizes public safety and the health of the urban canopy. Daily Minute: Changes to mental health coverage; airlines still interested; NU Bowl Game announced. Top Journal Star photos for December 2024 Eddie Walters, dressed as the Grinch, leads the pack of runners along the Billy Wolff trail during the Santa Fun Run on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. Cicely Wardyn of Lincoln adjusts an outdoor heater next to a Nativity scene during the Hometown Christmas event Sunday at the Governor's Mansion. Nebraska plays against Florida A&M in an NCAA tournament game on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Fourth grade student Lulu Kulwick carries her review worksheet to meet with her teacher during computer science class. Each student was asked to analyze how fun, challenging and easy to understand each game was, and discuss what they thought was a good aspect to the game, and what could use some work. Ben Heppner is illuminated by morning light as he waits for the start of the Santa Fun Run on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, inside the Fleet Feet store. Nebraska head coach Amy Williams (left) and Callin Hake (14) cheer for their team after a defensive stop during the third quarter of the game against Minnesota on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Members of the Lincoln Journal Star's 2024 Super State volleyball team compete in Dance Dance Revolution and air hockey while at a photo shoot on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, at Round 1 Arcade. Lincoln North Star's J'Shawn Afun (10) and Mekhi Wayne-Browne (11) battle Lincoln Southeast's Jaydee Dongrin (21) for a rebound in the first half on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at Lincoln Southeast High School. Miami's Flormarie Heredia Colon (left) and Ashley Carr celebrate a point against South Dakota State during an NCAA first-round match, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at the Devaney Sports Center. Workers pull up the Capitol Christmas tree on Monday at the Capitol. The 22-foot Colorado spruce from Walton was selected by the Office of the Capitol Commission to be this year’s annual Christmas tree. Jenni Watson helps to arrange chairs for New Covenant Community Church's first service in their repaired main auditorium on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, at New Covenant Community Church. New Covenant Community Church is nearing completion of six months of reconstruction project after a fire in May damages the church. While the building was not fully consumed by fire, there was significant water damage to the main auditorium and the first floor south wing. Jack, the dog, lifts his leg on the Christmas tree that his owners David and Karen Petersen of Hickman chose as Max Novak helps them on Saturday at Prairie Woods tree farm in Hallam. Iowa's Drew Stevens (18) kicks a game-winning field goal through the arms of Nebraska's Ty Robinson (9) and Nash Hutmacher (0) on Friday at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Lincoln Northwest senior Kynzee McFadden (top right) works with her teammates as they compete in an identifying game on the Anatomage Table on Tuesday at Lincoln Northwest High School. An Anatomage Table is a digital platform that allows students to perform virtual experiments on a life-size touchscreen. The table is a tool that provides an interactive view of the human body, allowing students to virtually work with different body parts. Dahlia Brandon of Lincoln tickles her 15-month-old daughter, Gema, with a stuffed animal while shopping at HobbyTown on Saturday. The toy and game store nearly doubled its sales on Black Friday from last year. Nebraska's Berke Büyüktuncel (left) and South Dakota's Max Burchill (3) reach for the ball during the first half of the game on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Contact the writer at mreist@journalstar.com or 402-473-7226. On Twitter at @LJSReist. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Local government reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

On pardons, Biden weighs whether to flex presidential powers in broad new ways

abrdn Income Credit Strategies Fund (ACP) Announces Change to Monthly Distribution Expected to be Maintained for at Least the Next 12 Months

Is a Solar Water Heater Worth It?(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is quitting a major climate group for banks, as increasingly complex regulations and US political attacks lead some of the financial industry’s biggest firms to rethink such affiliations. The bank’s decision to leave the Net-Zero Banking Alliance was mainly motivated by the need to comply with mandatory reporting guidelines, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations at the bank. The person pointed to the rollout of the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive as a key development guiding Goldman’s approach to the matter. Goldman said in a statement on Friday that it’s “very focused on the increasingly elevated sustainability standards and reporting requirements imposed by regulators around the world.” The firm has been laying the groundwork for its departure from NZBA for a while now and clients and stakeholders have been consulted, the person familiar with the decision said. A spokesperson for NZBA declined to comment. The Goldman announcement emerged on the same day that money manager Franklin Templeton said it’s leaving Climate Action 100+, another group formed to press companies to cut emissions. NZBA sits under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, whose unveiling of $130 trillion of financial-sector commitments to net zero was one of the highlights of the COP26 climate summit in Scotland in 2021. Back then, major banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., proudly announced their membership as climate finance morphed into one of Wall Street’s most popular new areas. As time went on, however, climate coalitions started to face internal tension as some members balked at the prospect of committing to explicit financing requirements. That was followed by a slump in green asset values, and an increasingly aggressive political backdrop in which so-called woke capitalism was vilified by the Republican party as a distraction from fiduciary goals. At the same time, firms have been struggling to adapt to a deluge of environmental, social and governance requirements being enforced by regulators in key markets. The EU’s disclosure framework is the furthest advanced and also the widest reaching in scope. As a result, even companies based outside the bloc need to observe EU rules if they’re targeting clients there. In its statement, Goldman said the firm’s priorities “remain to help our clients achieve their sustainability goals and to measure and report on our progress.” The departure from NZBA coincides with intense and growing pressure from the Republican Party on anything that smacks of ESG. Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led a move to sue BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc. and State Street Corp. for allegedly breaching antitrust laws by using climate-friendly investment strategies to suppress the supply of coal. That suit followed bans against ESG investing across numerous Republican states, with pressure expected to step up now that Donald Trump is headed for a second term in the White House. Against that backdrop, other climate finance groups have been losing members. In August, the asset management arm of Goldman said it had quit CA 100+. Other firms to have left the coalition include State Street Global Advisors, Pacific Investment Management Co. and — most recently — Franklin Templeton, which manages about $1.6 trillion of assets. A spokesperson for CA100+ said that while the group is “disappointed” with the departures, it respects each investor’s decision. A separate climate alliance for insurers, NZIA, was gripped by an exodus last year, as firms responded to threats of antitrust litigation brought by Republican state attorneys general. And a net zero coalition for asset managers suffered a blow when Vanguard, the world’s second-largest money manager, quit back in 2022. Goldman’s decision to withdraw from NZBA marks the group’s highest-profile loss to date. It was able to avert a potential walkout by a group of key members two years ago, Bloomberg has previously reported. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp. all raised the prospect of quitting, people familiar with the matter said at the time. They ended up staying in the group after NZBA updated its guidelines to give members the freedom to ignore a proposal to phase out the financing of fossil fuels. Spokespeople for JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Spokespeople at BofA haven’t yet responded to requests for comment. NZBA asks members to agree to work toward net zero financed emissions by 2050, and to set interim five-year targets toward that goal. CSRD, meanwhile, is an environmental and social sustainability reporting framework. “The alliances may have been useful in centering the issues, helping to underscore that finance is a central challenge in the energy transition,” said Lisa Sachs, who heads Columbia University’s Center on Sustainable Investment. “But they didn’t really help to solve the problem.” The apparent fraying of voluntary climate groups linked to GFANZ isn’t necessarily a sign that Wall Street is abandoning the green agenda, according to David Carlin, the former head of risk at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, which convened the NZBA. “It’s a shame to see leading institutions leave these alliances,” he said. “But it’s important to note they aren’t repudiating their net zero commitments.” Such coalitions help firms “share best practices and consider how to manage the challenges of the transition,” Carlin said. “However, firms are constantly weighing these benefits against the political heat of poking their heads above the parapet on climate.” At the same time, “the opportunities for investing in the energy transition are increasing,” Columbia’s Sachs said. “There’s more financing of green technologies.” Goldman said it has made “significant progress” in recent years on its net zero goals, “and we look forward to making further progress.” That includes “expanding to additional sectors in the coming months,” the firm said. Goldman Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said in the firm’s latest sustainability report that Goldman will file a global firm-wide report next year under the EU’s CSRD, becoming one of the first US banks to do so. “This new requirement is expansive in scope, covering not only our financial exposure but also our environmental and social impact,” he said. (The NZBA is part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which is co-chaired by Mark Carney, who is chair of Bloomberg Inc. and a former Bank of England governor, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.)

Donald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trollingFour questions (and expert answers) about the EU-Mercosur trade deal

Flu Viruses in Refrigerated Raw Milk Can Remain Infectious For Days

Former President delivered the keynote address at the 2024 Obama Democracy Forum on Thursday night in Chicago. This year’s theme was “pluralism.” In classic Obama style, he illustrated the concept with homey examples like a church and a mosque agreeing to share a parking lot. The kind of “pluralism” that seemed to most interest him, though, was that of divergent political factions that can “form coalitions, compete for support and elect representatives who will then go and negotiate and compromise and hopefully advance our interests.” He studiously avoided saying the name of the president-elect, but the presence of hung over the whole event like a particularly grotesque balloon at a . Obama’s remarks celebrating the way flourishing liberal democracies are supposed to work, in the context of , are a vivid reminder that in the United States of America today, the machinery isn’t exactly humming along in perfect order. Obama’s characteristic rhetorical virtues were on full display. He was a constitutional law professor before he was a politician, and he still sounds like one. At the same time, he was a once-in-a-generation talent as a political communicator. He knows how to convey a complex set of ideas in a digestible and appealing way. But there was a massive gaping hole at the center of his speech. He still doesn’t understand why his eight years in power culminated in the rise of Trump. Despite his considerable talents, his brand of centrist liberalism is fundamentally inadequate to the historical moment in which he now finds himself. And his speech in Chicago offered nothing but more of the same. In Obama's telling of the story of America’s experiment in political pluralism, the system worked pretty smoothly in the 20th century, but all wasn’t well beneath the surface. “Democracy,” he said, “was built on top of a deeply entrenched caste system — formal and informal, based on race and gender and class and sexual orientation.” One at a time, various marginalized and underrepresented groups got a “seat at the table.” When this happened, pluralism became far more difficult, because the political conflicts exposed by this enriching of our democracy went deeper than the old “fights about roads and taxes.” But if pluralism is now more challenging, he suggested, it’s therefore become that much more urgent. The word “inequality” appeared exactly twice in the nearly 5,000 words of Obama’s speech. One reference was too vague for it to be clear who exactly was “unequal” to whom. The other specified that he was thinking of the inequalities between “urban” and “rural” populations and “knowledge workers” and those who work with their hands. These are certainly real forms of economic imbalance. But the income gap between an office worker in a city and a rural manual laborer is a rounding error on the scale of the inequality between any of these people and, say, Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank, whose annual salary is in the tens of millions, and whose net worth seems to hover over a billion. To put that number in perspective, if we imagine an immortal vampire crossing the ocean with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and somehow earning the exact equivalent of one thousand dollars every day since then, the vampire would have only about $194 million today. (As one of the Obama Democracy Forum’s sponsors, the Capital One logo regularly appeared on the livestream’s lower-third graphics.) It should go without saying that the small number of Americans with that kind of wealth have a tremendously concentrated amount of power in the economic domain, where they can gain or forfeit power over the lives of vast numbers of employees by buying and selling companies, as well as far more political influence than ordinary citizens. This kind of inequality, though, seems to be entirely outside of Obama’s sphere of concern. Even the use of the word “class” in the phrase “race and gender and class and sexual orientation” is highly telling. The kind of centrist liberalism represented by Obama sees social justice in terms of making sure that the best and brightest members of each demographic group have an equal shot at rising to the top of society, where they can become CEOs themselves, or become politicians and participate in the process he rhapsodized about earlier, whereby bright and competent technocrats “negotiate and compromise and hopefully advance our interests.” When “class” is simply one more item on this list of identity characteristics, it’s clear that he’s talking about making sure that particularly bright and deserving individuals from working-class backgrounds can rise to the top. He’s not interested in giving the working class as a whole more structural power in our economy or our society. In other words, this is the same old centrism. Obama’s version of “pluralism” has always been integral to his message. He first came to national prominence with his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where he charismatically spoke about how we should resist the efforts of pundits to “slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States” rather than seeing us simply as the United States. His message has always been anti-polarization. As president, Obama did get an incremental form of health care reform through Congress — the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare” — but it was one that preserved the fundamental injustices of the system. Many Americans stay in jobs they hate for fear of losing their employer health insurance. Others don’t have insurance at all, which sometimes leads to grisly outcomes like diabetics dying when they try to ration out their insulin. And even those lucky enough to be insured often are often faced with a bureaucratic nightmare when they have medical emergencies. For-profit insurance companies have every incentive to “Delay, Deny and Defend” when clients make claims. This phrase is the title of a 2010 book on the industry by Rutgers law professor Jay Feinman. And the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” were reportedly written on the casings of the bullets found at scene where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed in New York the day before Obama’s speech. If you want an indication of whether the reforms in Obamacare were sufficient to allay ordinary Americans’ anger about our health care system, look no further than the online reactions to that shocking act of violence. During Obama’s eight years in power, America’s wars in the Middle East ground slowly onward. This was a crucial factor in the rise of Trump, who was able to (deceptively) market himself as “anti-war.” And on the economic front, Obama continued George W. Bush’s policy of bailing out “too big to fail” banks while leaving homeowners who lost their houses in the 2008 crash underwater. He oversaw eight years of mounting economic inequality. Those eight years saw flashes of left-wing populist outrage like Occupy Wall Street and the first Bernie Sanders campaign. These were handily defeated by the powers-that-be, though, from the NYPD clearing the protesters from Zuccotti Park to the Democratic Party quelling the Sanders insurgency. And at the end of the day there was nowhere for all that populist energy to go but Trump. Obama’s liberalism is far more concerned with shattering glass ceilings for deserving strivers than raising the floor of material security for everyone. And that’s exactly the kind of liberalism that failed the first time — so spectacularly that a grotesque pseudo-populist demagogue was Obama’s immediate successor. Now Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, is running out the clock on his presidency, and Trump is returning to power, this time with far more working-class support. Meanwhile, more than a few Americans have despaired so thoroughly of fixing our society through politics that they’re willing to cheer for an assassin murdering a health care CEO in broad daylight on the streets of Manhattan. We urgently need a far better response to the current crisis than anything the dominant faction of the Democratic Party is offering. And the first step is to stop listening to Barack Obama.Missoula's Lithia Ford Dealership gifted a new 2023 Ford Explorer to the Sentinel High School automotive program on Dec. 5, giving auto shop students a chance to work on a newer car. Representatives from Lithia Ford also talked to students about the ASSET program, a two-year technician training program the company runs. Sentinel High School students listen to a lecture presented by Lithia Ford on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Missoula. Representatives from Lithia Ford also talked to students about the ASSET program, a two-year technician training program the company runs. “Our goal ultimately is to get students engaged with the trades and specifically the automotive industry,” said Naarah Hastings, Lithia Ford’s Montana recruiter. Shop teacher Leah Philbert said that, before the gift, the newest car in the high school shop was from 2010. A new car will give the class the chance to learn how to diagnose and fix newer technology like 360-degree backup cameras. “Technology has just come a long way,” Philbert said. Sentinel sophomore Maggie Butler said she’s looking forward to working on the newer electrical technology in the front dashboard. Lithia Motors donated a new Ford vehicle to the students at Sentinel High School on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Missoula. “It’s a lot newer, a lot nicer, and way less scratched up,” Butler said, comparing the new car with the cars already in the shop. Butler is an Auto II student, and took Auto I last year. So far, she’s learned about many aspects of auto repair, from brakes to rotors to carburetors. “It’s helped with working with snowmobiles a lot,” Butler said. A car in the auto shop at Sentinel High School on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Missoula. Lithia Ford has donated cars and equipment to various schools in past years both in and out of Montana. Previously, the dealership has donated other things to Sentinel, such as a lift and a scan tool, according to Philbert. “Our door is always open to have discussions about their interests or curiosity in the automotive industry,” Hastings said. The auto shop at Sentinel High School on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Missoula. Lithia Motors donated a new Ford car to the students at Sentinel High School on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Missoula. Andy Tallman is the education reporter for the Missoulian. Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Education Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Eagle-eyed Aussie weather watchers have captured a remarkable “spaceship” cloud formation at one of Sydney’s most iconic beaches, as wild weather continues to batter multiple states. Harry Reay, posting to the Weather Obsessed Facebook page on Tuesday, recorded a massive spaceship-shaped cloud hanging over the ocean off Cronulla Beach. One fellow weather watcher was quick to label it a “mothership”. “The mothership going by the size ... next we will be seeing UFOs, orbs and drones,” the person wrote. The cloud captured in the footage appears to be a lenticular cloud – which forms when air is lifted over an elevated area and a wave is formed in the flow, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. It comes as heavy rain smashed Queensland over Wednesday, leading to flash flooding Elsewhere, floods and rain smashed Queensland across Wednesday. The rain stopped play in the cricket Test match between India and Australia at Brisbane’s Gabba and more rain is expected in the Sunshine State over the next few days. “Rain and thunderstorms have drenched eastern Queensland throughout the first half of this week as onshore winds fed moisture into a low pressure system and associated trough,” Weatherzone said. “The heaviest falls from the past week have targeted the state’s southeast, where some places received more than 200mm. “With this onshore flow forecast to persist for the rest of this week, eastern Queensland can expect to see more wet and stormy weather in the coming days. “This rain will be enhanced by a low pressure trough moving from Cape York Peninsula towards the North Tropical Coast between Wednesday and Friday. “Some models suggest that this trough could even spawn a low pressure system off the state’s northeast coast, which would further enhance rainfall in the region.” Christmas is just around the corner, and while the day is usually filled with gifts and plenty of food, it can be difficult to make plans without knowing what the weather will be like. For the majority of Australia, it will be a sunny and bright day for Christmas, with mild temperatures and a slight chance of rain or storms. While the temperatures won’t reach the extremes seen during the oppressive heatwave that has recently swept the nation, conditions will be warm enough to spend the day outside. “It will be a perfect day for outdoor activities,” Sky Weather meteorologist Rob Sharpe said. “Barbecue, beach trips and backyard cricket all look pretty good this time around.” The sunny conditions are being driven by a high pressure system in the southern regions of the country, keeping the air dry and free from rain and moisture for most capital cities. Conditions across the country are expected to be a mixed bag on Christmas Eve, with Western Australia likely to be warm with a maximum temperature of 34C in Perth. On the other side of the country, residents can expect much milder conditions, with the chance of morning showers in Melbourne and Hobart and temperatures in the mid- to high 20s. The bright and sunny weather is expected to stretch from eastern Western Australia into the nation’s centre on Christmas Day, with a broad mass of hot air creating ideal conditions in the majority of Australia’s capital cities. Temperatures are expected to range from the mid-to-high 20s and pushing into the 30s, with Adelaide reporting the highest anticipated temperatures of 35C. While it will be dry for most of the country, there is a chance of rain and potential thunderstorms in northern parts of the country, particularly in the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland, including Brisbane. Forecasters expect the heat will get turned up on Boxing Day as warmth from the country’s centre shifts south. “That looks like the scorcher for many,” Mr Sharpe said. South Australia is set to bear the brunt of the Boxing Day heat, with the mercury expected to skyrocket to 39C there and 37C in Melbourne, just in time for the Boxing Day test match. Skies will be partly cloudy in Brisbane on Christmas Day, with a slight chance of a shower and onshore winds keeping conditions cooler, reaching a top of 28C. It will be a dry and warm day for Sydney, with sunny skies and a maximum temperature of 27C. Residents in Melbourne can expect a sunny and mild day, with winds keeping the air cool at a maximum temperature of 27C. The forecast for Adelaide on Christmas Day is bright and sunny, with warmer-than-expected conditions driven by the hot air mass stretching from WA and a maximum temperature of 33C. Perth residents will face a cool change on Christmas Eve, pushing the heat easterly and possibly bringing a shower and cloudy skies, reaching a top of 25C on Christmas Day. Conditions will be cool in Hobart, with a cold front bringing clouds and a slight chance of rain, with a maximum temperature of 21C. In Darwin, conditions will be hot and wet, with a chance of thunderstorms and showers, and a top of 33C. Conditions will be warm and sunny in Canberra, driven by a high-pressure system near SA, and a maximum temperature of 30C.

Honda and Nissan Consider Strategic Merger Amid Industry Shake-UpWOODBRIDGE, N.J., Dec. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northfield Bank, wholly-owned subsidiary of Northfield Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFBK), announced today that Steven M. Klein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (the “FHLBNY”) for a four-year term. Mr. Klein’s term will commence on January 1, 2025 and end on December 31, 2028. Mr. Klein stated, “I am humbled and honored for the support and confidence the New York members of the FHLBNY have placed in me to continue to serve and advocate for the critical mission of the FHLBNY to provide reliable liquidity to its members in support of housing and local community development.” Mr. Klein serves as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northfield Bank. Mr. Klein is responsible for leading strategic planning and execution related to lending, deposit gathering, technology deployment, risk management, customer and employee experience, and branding. He is a member of the New York Bankers Association, a member of the ABA Government Relations Council, and previous committee member of the ABA Community Bankers Council. Mr. Klein also is a board member of the New Jersey Bankers Association and past immediate Chair. He is a Trustee of the Northfield Bank Foundation, whose mission is to promote charitable purposes within the communities Northfield operates, focusing its efforts on projects to support education, health and human services, youth programs, and affordable housing. Mr. Klein also serves as a Director and Executive Committee member of the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation, a Director of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and a Trustee, Executive Committee Member and Finance Chair of the Richmond University Medical Center. He is a Certified Public Accountant, and a member of the AICPA. Mr. Klein earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Montclair State University. About Northfield Bank Northfield Bank, founded in 1887, operates 38 full-service banking offices in Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York, and Hunterdon, Middlesex, Mercer, and Union Counties, New Jersey. For more information about Northfield Bank, please visit www.eNorthfield.com. About the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York is a Congressionally chartered, wholesale Bank. It is part of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, a national wholesale banking network of 11 regional, stockholder-owned banks. As of September 30, 2024, the FHLBNY serves 338 financial institutions and housing associates in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The mission of the FHLBNY is to provide members with reliable liquidity in support of housing and local community development. Media Contact: Damien Kane 732-499-7200 x2503 SVP, Director of Marketing dkane@eNorthfield.com

How will Trump administration policies impact the TSMC stock?EUREKA — John Cooper, 80 years old and with a new set of knees, still rises before the sun, dons waders, sets up decoys and tries to call in ducks. “I love waterfowl hunting,” he whispered, nestled into the cattails along the edge of a pond this fall. “The immersive experience of the hunt, learning about these ecosystems, being involved in waterfowl conservation — I love everything about it.” ADVERTISEMENT “And it’s good eating if you cook it right,” he added. For Cooper, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement officer and former head of the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, duck hunting is more than a pastime. It’s a passion tied to the wildlife and land he’s spent over 50 years trying to conserve. These days, he worries about disappearing wetlands and hopes the next generation will stop the losses. Activists across the nation share his concern. The Union of Concerned Scientists, based in Massachusetts, released a report Wednesday saying that a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Sackett v. EPA , has stripped federal protections from 30 million acres of wetlands in the Upper Midwest. The ruling redefined federal wetlands protections, leaving those without direct surface connections to larger water bodies unregulated. The researchers said the decision will accelerate wetland losses. According to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , the more than 300,000 square miles of wetlands that existed on the U.S. mainland several hundred years ago had already been reduced to almost half that amount by 2019. The report says the next federal farm bill, likely to be considered by the new Congress next year, presents an opportunity to strengthen wetland protections by increasing funding for conservation programs that pay farmers to conserve and restore wetlands on their land. Stacy Woods, a research director with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the threat to wetlands is particularly severe in South Dakota, where agriculture occupies more than 85% of the land and the state has no wetlands protections beyond enforcing federal laws. ADVERTISEMENT The report says South Dakota is home to about 1.9 million acres of wetlands, which is about a 30% decline from the 2.7 million acres estimated to have existed two centuries ago. Cooper said he sees evidence of those losses every time he goes hunting. Born and raised on an orange and avocado farm in rural California, Cooper earned a criminology degree from the University of California, joined the Navy and served two tours in the Vietnam War. He joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Law Enforcement Division, where he oversaw habitat and wildlife protection across the Dakotas and Nebraska for 22 years. “There was just an unbelievable amount of habitat when I first moved here,” he said. In 1995, then-Gov. Bill Janklow appointed Cooper as secretary of South Dakota’s Department of Game, Fish and Parks, a role Cooper held until 2007. Cooper also served as Gov. Mike Rounds’ senior policy adviser on Missouri River issues and as a senior policy adviser to the Bipartisan Policy Center on climate change and wildlife management. From 2013 to 2016, he chaired the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission. All the while, Cooper said, wetlands were vanishing. ADVERTISEMENT “The days of when I first moved here are gone,” he said. “Those live in the heads of old guys like me now.” The 1980s farm crisis was a key turning point for wetlands and wildlife habitat, Cooper said. Federal policies in the 1970s had encouraged farmers to plant more crops, especially corn, to meet booming global demand. Many farmers borrowed heavily to buy land, equipment and supplies to expand production. The surge in planting caused overproduction, driving crop prices down. When interest rates on loans soared in the 1980s, many farmers were deep in debt, unable to repay their loans. Bankruptcies spread across rural America, forcing many farm families off the land. In response, the federal government introduced policies to help struggling farmers. They included subsidies, programs to buy surplus crops, 10-year contracts paying landowners to leave marginal land as grass, and requirements for ethanol to be mixed into gasoline. The goal was to stabilize farm incomes and protect family farms, Cooper said. “But did it stop the corporate consolidation trend?” Cooper asked. The evidence says no. Subsidies based on production rewarded larger farms, encouraging growth and out-competing smaller operations. Increasingly expensive farm equipment, seeds and technology favored big operations with better access to credit. And rising land values made expansion easier for large farms while pricing out smaller ones. Large-scale farms operating on 2,000 acres or more now control over two-thirds of the cropland in South Dakota, according to the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture. Thirty years ago, large farms controlled less than half of the state’s cropland, according to a report from South Dakota State University Extension. ADVERTISEMENT The report says the number of farming operations in the state dropped nearly 30% from 26,808 in 1997 to 19,302 in 2022. The sharpest declines have occurred among medium-sized farms. “You used to only have these small, diversified family farms – a couple of families to a section – where having good habitat was just part of it,” Cooper recalls. “Now, what you see is an industrialized ocean of corn and soybeans.” Cooper said federally subsidized crop programs have encouraged the draining of wetlands and the tilling of grasslands, incentivizing producers to cultivate more acres. “To be clear, I have nothing against the actual farmers,” Cooper said. “They’re responding to a system the international seed and chemical companies, biofuels, tractor companies, and other fat cats have cooked up, where production is king, and conservation doesn’t put food on a farmer’s table.” Some farmers drain wetlands using underground perforated pipes, called drain tile, which lower the water table and make land suitable for farming. “And that water goes somewhere,” Cooper said. Instead of being retained in a wetland, excess water from drain-tiled fields flows into ditches, creeks and rivers. The amount of water flowing down the James River in eastern South Dakota has risen 300% since the late 1990s, according to a report by the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The report primarily blames increased precipitation. ADVERTISEMENT But the report also says that “only a handful of counties in eastern South Dakota have a drain tile permit program, meaning there is not a temporal or spatial record of tile drainage in the state and thus difficult to determine the extent to which tiling may have increased flow.” Cooper is skeptical that increased rainfall is the lone culprit. “Nothing on the land occurs in isolation,” Cooper said. “And things start to accumulate.” Other researchers have attributed widespread higher streamflows not only to higher precipitation, but also urban development that sends rainfall running across concrete and asphalt into streams, expanded tile drainage systems under farmland, and the conversion of grassland to cropland, which causes higher runoff. “Taxpayers are subsidizing rich operations to drain wetlands and plant another acre of corn,” Cooper said. “There has got to be a better way to pay these landowners for the ecological benefits their land provides.” The Union of Concerned Scientists not only supports increased funding for conservation programs to protect wetlands, but also tying crop insurance subsidies to environmentally friendly farming practices. By adopting methods such as cover cropping and reduced tillage, farmers can minimize harmful runoff while maintaining productive operations, the union’s report says. South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal is a contrary voice, arguing that subsidies aren’t driving increased corn production. He supported the Sackett v. EPA decision. ADVERTISEMENT He attributes increased production to advances in genetics, equipment and the changing climate, all of which have allowed farmers to grow corn and other crops in places that previously weren’t considered good areas for those crops. He also said that farmers don’t drain “true wetlands” as defined by federal regulations, since doing so would forfeit federal subsidies. Cooper uses the broader scientific definition of wetlands, which includes ecosystems where water saturates the soil seasonally, supporting aquatic plants and wildlife. “We’ve never agreed with John on that,” VanderWal said. VanderWal is also skeptical that draining wetlands worsens flooding, suggesting drained land can absorb water and saying there are ways to control the outflow . Cooper counters that downstream flooding impacts communities more than farmland — which is insured by federally subsidized programs. There have been signs of worsening floods in South Dakota, including in June when a record crest on the Big Sioux River overwhelmed flood-control measures and devastated the community of McCook Lake . “We need to let these watersheds serve their purpose, as they have for thousands of years,” Cooper said. “When someone thinks their ‘private property rights’ trump Mother Nature, it sets us all up for trouble. Mother Nature always bats last.” VanderWal said modern agriculture prioritizes conservation more than ever, with farmers adopting practices like reduced tillage or no-till and leaving crop residues on the land to protect the soil. “This is becoming more important all the time,” VanderWal said. “People are learning.” Wetlands absorb and store excess water during heavy rains and snowmelt. That slows water flow into rivers, reducing the risk of downstream flooding, explained Stacy Woods , of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Another way wetlands help mitigate flooding is by slowing climate change, which has already brought more extreme weather to South Dakota. South Dakota has seen two billion-dollar floods in the last two decades. Just this year, the June storms that brought flooding to McCook Lake dumped 10 to 20 inches of rain on some southeast South Dakota communities. During those storms, Mitchell and Sioux Falls recorded their wettest two-day periods since the National Weather Service began record-keeping. “Healthy wetlands can capture and store carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere where it would otherwise trap heat and contribute to a warming planet,” Woods said. “But when wetlands are damaged or destroyed, they can release this stored carbon as methane, carbon dioxide, or other heat-trapping gasses that accelerate climate change.” Saturated wetland soils slow plant decomposition, and the dense plant material becomes carbon-rich peat. Wetlands cover about 3% of the planet’s land yet store approximately 30% of all land-based carbon. That’s according to documentation from the 50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international treaty the U.S. joined is 1986 focused on the conservation of wetlands worldwide. The loss of wetlands is particularly concerning for waterfowl populations, especially in the Prairie Pothole Region, often referred to as North America’s “duck factory.” This region, which spans much of northeastern South Dakota, is one of the most important breeding grounds for ducks. The small, shallow, seasonal wetlands are critical nesting habitats teaming with the bugs ducklings consume. Yet, these same wetlands are among the most vulnerable to drainage for agricultural purposes. And pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers can kill wetland bugs. That’s why hunters including Cooper are concerned about wetlands, but he wants to spread the concern wider. “You don’t have to be a duck hunter to care about this,” Cooper said. “When we lose these places, we lose a lot more than hunting opportunities, no doubt about it.” Cooper is not optimistic about wetland conservation, citing the dominance of production agriculture and the imbalance between federal programs incentivizing production over conservation. “Until the feds make conservation as competitive as production, I don’t see it changing,” Cooper said. “We need incentives that reward preserving wetlands and grasslands or enforce their protection.” He urges policymakers to recognize wetlands and grasslands as vital climate solutions. He advocates more federal support to encourage less tilling of the soil, more cover crops left on farmland year-round, and incentivizing wetland preservation over the conversion of wet areas to cropland. Cooper and his wife, Vera, are committed conservationists, supporting groups including Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, which work to conserve wildlife habitats. For him, hunting ties directly to conservation, providing state funding for habitat conservation and improvement through license fees and taxes. “Hunting isn’t just about pursuing wild game. It’s about protecting the ecosystems that sustain them,” Cooper said. At 80, Cooper acknowledges the toll of his efforts but remains steadfast. “Vera says it’s time to kick my feet up, but she knows I can’t,” he said. “Because the wild places are worth fighting for.” — This story originally appeared on southdakotasearchlight.com.'A BEACON OF HOPE': Bear Lake Memorial Hospital holds grand opening of new clinic in Garden City

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