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best time to play jili slot LOS ANGELES — UCLA might have lost its chance at playing in a bowl game, but there’s still important outcomes at stake Saturday when the Bruins take on Fresno State. “I think the biggest thing here is you just want to go out and have a competitive spirit,” linebacker Carson Schwesinger said at the Bruins’ Tuesday practice. “You could say there’s not much to play for, and stuff like that, but I think, with this team too, you have a lot of competitive people, so you line it up at any time, we’re going to go out there and play our hardest.” There’s a collective desire to conclude a season laden with low points on a high one. There are also individual objectives on the line. For those with aspirations to play at the next level, it’s another chance to showcase talent and put quality reps on film. For the underclassmen hoping to step into the place of those departing, it’s another chance to prove they belong on the field and would flourish with additional snaps. And for others, like Schwesinger, rewarding accolades are up for grabs. On Monday, the redshirt junior was announced as one of five finalists for the Butkus Award, which is given annually to the nation’s best linebacker. Schwesinger has recorded double-digit tackles in eight of the Bruins’ last nine games, peaking with 17 in a loss at Washington on Nov. 15. He also snagged two interceptions the week before that in UCLA’s victory over Iowa. Schwesinger’s journey to an elite, game-wrecking defensive captain is a testament to his work ethic and his discipline to be able to keep his head down and not say much, as he put it. When he does speak, it’s rarely about himself. “It’s technically a one-person award,” he said about the Butkus Award, “but that’s a whole team award.” One of the individuals who helped him become a finalist for the Butkus Award has a chance at his own hardware. On Tuesday, Bruins defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe was named one of the 65 nominees for the Broyles Award for the nation’s top assistant coach. “Coach Malloe is a great guy,” defensive end Oluwafemi Oladejo said Tuesday. “Yeah, he’s a good football coach, but he’s also a life coach.” On multiple occasions this season, Malloe has been overcome with emotion when expressing how much he wants his unit to improve. He’s now being recognized for those results. Oladejo, who played two seasons at Cal before transferring to UCLA in late 2022, is about to play his last college football game. In his final year of eligibility, he willingly shifted down from linebacker to the defensive line and will have another chance Saturday to showcase his versatility and dominance at his somewhat new position. With Oladejo and potentially Schwesinger, a redshirt junior, soon moving on from UCLA, their younger teammates have one final chance to prove why they should fill those vacated snaps. Defensive lineman Devin Aupiu and linebacker Jalen Woods look like prime candidates to make that jump. Aupiu, a redshirt junior, had his best game of the season against USC on Saturday, highlighted by a strip sack of Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava. Woods had a season-high six tackles. Related Articles “Last game, he played a lot of snaps and played really good,” Schwesinger said of Woods. “Same thing (this Saturday), just keep that momentum going.” Schwesinger nodded his head when asked if he was aware of the history of success Fresno State holds in its matchup with the Bruins. The Bulldogs have won the past four games between the programs, and while that last one came a year before Schwesinger arrived in Westwood, he knows how important it would be to be part of the group that returns to the win column. “We’re coming out ready to compete,” he said.

By Cassandra Garrison, David Shepardson and Ben Klayman MEXICO CITY/DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to slap a 25% tax on all imports from Mexico and Canada could strike the bottom lines of U.S. automakers, especially General Motors ( GM ), and raise prices of SUVs and pickup trucks for U.S. consumers. GM leads the automakers that export cars from Mexico to North America. The top 10 car manufacturers with Mexican plants collectively built 1.4 million vehicles over the first six months of this year, with 90% heading across the border to U.S. buyers, according to the Mexican auto trade association. Other Detroit manufacturers will likely also feel the pain: Ford ( F ) and Stellantis ( STLA ) are the top U.S. producers in Mexico after GM, whose shares fell on Tuesday, the day after Trump's tariff announcement. GM is expected to import more than 750,000 vehicles from Canada or Mexico this year, with most manufactured south of the border, according to business analytics firm GlobalData. They include some of GM’s most popular vehicles, including nearly 370,000 Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra full-sized pickups and nearly 390,000 midsized SUVs. GM's Mexican plants also build two of its critical new electric vehicles, battery-powered versions of its Equinox and Blazer SUVs. Those GM models and others are already in the crosshairs of another expected Trump policy: ending a $7,500 EV subsidy, a move first reported by Reuters. GM, Stellantis and Ford declined to comment on Trump's proposed tariffs. Kenneth Smith Ramos, Mexico's former chief negotiator for the USMCA trade pact, said the move could hurt the United States as much as its North American trading partners. "The U.S. would be shooting itself in the foot," he said. The impact on Mexico's auto industry would also be "very negative." GM employs 125,000 people in North America; a decline in sales of its Mexico-made cars could hurt its profit for the entire region, potentially putting pressure on payrolls on both sides of the border. The tariff hikes would also serve as a reminder of the supply chains, which closely bind the three members of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Mexico and Canada account for more than 50% of all auto parts exported to the United States - sending nearly $100 billion in parts. Imposing the tariffs would increase the costs of all vehicles assembled in the United States. The vast impact of Trump’s threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada raises questions about what the incoming administration is trying to accomplish economically and the potential collateral damage to U.S. companies and consumers. Trump billed the action as a punishment for the unrelated problems of immigration and the trafficking of the drug fentanyl, posting on social media that the tariffs would remain in place until Mexico and Canada halt what he called an “invasion” of “Illegal Aliens." The reference to drugs and migration have led some analysts to predict the tariffs are more of a negotiating tactic than a genuine policy proposal. "Given the (social media) post makes an explicit reference to the flow of people and drugs across the southern and northern borders, it suggests this specific tariff threat is more of a negotiating tool than a revenue raiser," said Thomas Ryan, North America economist at Capital Economics. "It leaves the door open to Canada and Mexico coming up with a credible plan over the next two months to try and avoid those tariffs," he added. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for a dialogue with Trump and warned the proposed tariff's lacked "sense" and would worsen inflation and kill jobs in both countries. She also raised the specter of retaliation, although given its vast flow of exports to the U.S., Mexico's economy remains more vulnerable to tariff threats. Trump’s import taxes could also theoretically stop Chinese automakers from using Mexico as a way around steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese EVs, but those imports are already effectively blocked by other U.S. trade barriers. Shares of GM were down 8% Tuesday, while Stellantis fell 5.5% and Ford shares were down 2.5%. Free trade with the U.S., first in the form of NAFTA and then as USMCA, transformed Mexico's nascent automotive industry into the country's most important manufacturing sector and the poster child of its export prowess. But 30 years after NAFTA's establishment, Trump has put that all on the line. In the hyper-competitive world of car and truck production, a 25% tariff could kneecap a Mexican industry that has spent years tightly integrating itself with the U.S., the destination of nearly 80% of all Mexican-made vehicles. Higher tariffs would also hit U.S. consumers. While the company that imports goods into the U.S. directly pays the tariff, that cost is inevitably passed on to the consumer via higher prices. "That's how tariffs work. Even though the (Trump) administration might want to spin it that Mexico is paying ... ultimately the consumer will bear this," said Sudeep Suman, a managing partner with consultancy AlixPartners. That could hit many pickup trucks popular in rural parts of the U.S. that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Notably, the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Maverick, Stellantis' Ram, and GM's Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are all made in Mexico. GM might be able to absorb some costs from its highly profitable pickup trucks but other manufacturers selling lower-cost vehicles like the Nissan Sentra could find it difficult to continue building profitable models, said Sam Fiorani, industry analyst at AutoForecast Solutions. “Somebody is going to have to eat that cost and that is going to the manufacturer or customer,” Fiorani said. “All vehicles sold in the United States would be more expensive or considerably less profitable.” Tariffs could also hit the cost of vehicle production in the U.S. because so many parts now come from Mexico. The Latin American nation represents 43% of all U.S. auto-part imports, larger than any other country. Francisco Gonzales, head of Mexico's National Industry of Autoparts, said regional cooperation across North America brings down costs for customers. Automakers "cannot be producing everything in a single country," he said, "because it makes it uncompetitive." (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City, Ben Klayman in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Brian Thevenot and Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Christian Plumb and Matthew Lewis)President Jimmy Carter recognized there was political value for a young congressman to be seen in proximity to the president. President Jimmy Carter, with U.S. Rep. John Cavanaugh right behind him as Carter suggested, is greeted on the tarmac by Gen. Richard H. Ellis after exiting Air Force One at SAC on Oct 22, 1977. So as Air Force One landed at Offutt Air Force Base in 1977 during Carter’s first presidential visit to the state, he offered Omaha congressman John Cavanaugh a little advice just before they exited the plane. “Stay close, John,” he said. Sure enough, the hundreds who had gathered on the tarmac to greet the president also saw Cavanaugh right in Carter’s shadow, which got Cavanaugh featured in news photos from the day. President Jimmy Carter never enjoyed much electoral success in Nebraska. The Democrat lost to Omaha native Gerald Ford in 1976 and conservative icon Ronald Reagan in 1980. But both during his four years as president and his many years after as an international champion of peace, the modest peanut farmer from Georgia gained a lot of admirers. Cavanaugh and other Nebraskans who met Carter described the former president — who died Sunday, according to his son and multiple news reports — as a kind and genuine man with a personality that sparkled as much as his signature wide-toothed grin. “What a wonderful person,” recalled Cavanaugh, a Democrat whose two terms in the House of Representatives coincided with Carter’s 1977-1981 term as president. Preston Love Jr. of Omaha also mourned Carter’s death at age 100. The North Omaha civic leader and recent Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate had the chance to meet the former president at Carter's home in 1983 as a then-staffer for Rev. Jesse Jackson. “I mourn the fact that he, to this date, has not received his due — as president, and for his post presidential exploits, which have been enormous,” Love said in 2023. Amanda Brewer, Habitat for Humanity of Omaha CEO, met Carter while volunteering to help build a Habitat home in Georgia in 1998 — an encounter that helped to inspire her to a career with the charity. "I think his legacy, and inspiration to me, is that everyone has the ability to make a difference," she said. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon offered prayers Sunday for Carter's family. "From his time as a naval officer, then as a state senator and Governor of Georgia, and finally as President, Jimmy Carter gave a lifetime of service. After serving our country, he set the standard of post-political life with his service to Habitat for Humanity. Carter first came to Nebraska during campaign trips in 1975 and 1976. He had been doing a lot of campaigning across the Missouri River for the Iowa caucuses, the first test of the presidential election cycle. In fact, Carter ultimately wrote the book on how to use early success in Iowa and New Hampshire to propel a bid for a presidential party nomination. Carter was elected in November 1976, though in Nebraska incumbent Ford pulled in 59% of the vote and prevailed in 89 of the state’s 93 counties. Carter that spring also narrowly finished second to Frank Church of Idaho in the Nebraska Democratic primary. Carter’s first visit to the state as president came on Oct. 22, 1977, when he flew into Omaha to tour the Strategic Air Command headquarters at Offutt. At the time, tensions with the Soviet Union were high. The chance that a nuclear war could be waged one day from SAC’s bunker south of Omaha was very real. Carter received a tour of both the underground command post and the doomsday plane that could launch the nation’s nuclear arsenal in a time of emergency. He also picked up the “red phone” and spoke a message of thanks to SAC servicemen around the globe for their work to prevent “the possible destruction of our nation.” At the time, there was a little internal tension within SAC, too. Carter had recently canceled the B-1 bomber program, which was strongly supported by Gen. Richard H. Ellis, the SAC Commander. Carter didn’t back off the decision. He was focused on reducing the deficit at a time of high inflation. He felt the B-1 had been made obsolete by the development of accurate cruise missiles that could fly the same speed and distance and a new generation of B-2 stealth bombers that was on the drawing table. A display at SAC headquarters had included a model of the B-1. Before the president’s visit, it was replaced with a model of a B-52. Carter also toured a B-52 on the Offutt runway. (Reagan as president revived the B-1.) Cavanaugh was given the opportunity to fly into Omaha with Carter. The two talked about depressed farm prices, a chief concern in Nebraska, and the president’s energy bill during the flight. Carter stopped in Nebraska again during a cross-country flight on June 10, 1980, to tour tornado-ravaged Grand Island. A week earlier, a freakish storm sent at least seven tornadoes descending on the city, killing five, injuring 200 and destroying or damaging nearly a third of the city. Touring the devastation with then-Gov. Charles Thone, Carter’s motorcade stopped in front of what had once been the home of Del Kosmicki. The Grand Island man told the president everyone was working together in the recovery. Carter then crossed the street and stood atop the foundation of another former home to speak. Against a backdrop of shattered houses and stripped-bare trees, he told those gathered that God had blessed them by minimizing the damage. He encouraged them to keep their selfless attitudes during the rebuilding to come. "He was very genuine and sincere," Kosmicki told the Grand Island Independent. "I thought he did a really good job." Reagan’s Nebraska campaign chair called Carter’s visit an election-year political stunt. But Thone, a Republican, defended it as a sincere effort by the president to buoy spirits in the city. Later that year, Reagan swept Nebraska with 65% of the vote. Reagan’s landslide victory nationally sent Carter back to his farm in Plains, Georgia. But the loss certainly didn't send Carter into retirement. Carter worked for decades as an international ambassador for peace and human rights, creating an all-new model for post-presidential life. Love had the chance to meet Carter in Plains in 1983. At the time, Love was the lone staffer to Rev. Jesse Jackson as he registered voters in the South and laid the groundwork for Jackson's bid for president in 1988. Carter and his wife Rosalynn were gracious hosts, Love said, providing insight into the presidency and its history and even giving the visitors a tour of the peanut operation. “While President Carter encouraged Rev. Jackson to pursue a run for president, he was very clear and forthright about the pitfalls and the realities of doing such,” Love said. “I felt after meeting him in that situation, a tremendous like and respect for the man.” Amanda Brewer, left, with Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter and Brewer's mother, Kathy Jedlicka. Brewer recalled Carter as a down-to-earth and compassionate man when she met him in 1998 while she and her mom volunteered at a Habitat home in Americus, Georgia, near Plains. Carter and his wife, who died in November 2023, had fully embraced the charity. They became among its biggest advocates and fundraisers, and even picked up hammers and saws themselves. That day, the Carters were going around thanking all the volunteers. "He used his influence, rolled up his sleeves and was willing to do the work," Brewer said. "His values aligned with Habitat's values of putting your faith in action and doing something to make the world a better place." As president, Carter will likely be best known for brokering the peace deal between Egypt and Israel. It was a prelude to his work once out of office. Cavanaugh was present on the White House lawn when the parties signed the Camp David Accords. Carter won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." But Cavanaugh said Carter actually accomplished a lot domestically, much of it overshadowed by the Iran hostage crisis and continued economic problems that largely doomed his re-election bid. With his high ethics, Carter was also the right man to lead the nation into the post-Watergate era, Cavanaugh said. “He was always kind, hard-working and thoughtful,” Cavanaugh said. “He was just a sweetheart.” President Jimmy Carter shakes hands during a visit at Offutt Air Force base on Oct. 22, 1977. Capt. David L. Young gives a tour of a B-52 to President Jimmy Carter at Offutt Air Force Base on Oct. 22, 1977. President Jimmy Carter visits Strategic Air Command on Oct 22, 1977. 1977: SAC Commander-in-Chief Gen. Richard H. Ellis leads President Jimmy Carter past experts who man the command post console at Offutt Air Force Base. President Jimmy Carter speaks at the Grand Island airport on June 10, 1980. From left are Nebraska Gov. Charles Thone, Maj. Gen. Edward Binder of the Nebraska National Guard and Grand Island Mayor Bob Kriz. Carter's visit came after seven tornadoes touched down in or near the city, killing five people and injuring 200 on the night of June 3. President Jimmy Carter gives a speech near the destroyed home of Dennis Williams home at 707 Joehnck Road in Grand Island on June 10, 1980. Seven tornadoes touched down in or near the city that, killing five people and injuring 200. President Jimmy Carter gives a speech near the destroyed home of Dennis Williams home at 707 Joehnck Road in Grand Island on June 10, 1980. Seven tornadoes touched down in or near the city that, killing five people and injuring 200. Grand Island Mayor Bob Kriz, Nebraska Gov. Charles Thone and Jimmy Carter at the Grand Generation Center on June 10, 1980. Seven tornadoes touched down in or near the city that, killing five people and injuring 200. Former President Jimmy Carter receives an honorary degree from Creighton University in September 1987. Jimmy Carter speaks in Omaha on June 6th, 1975 during his run for president. President Jimmy Carter, with U.S. Rep. John Cavanaugh right behind him as Carter suggested, is greeted on the tarmac after exiting Air Force One at SAC on Oct 22, 1977. cordes@owh.com , ​402-444-1130, twitter.com/henrycordes Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.Amazon has launched its long-awaited drone delivery service in Arizona, taking a significant step towards fulfilling founder Jeff Bezos’ decade-old vision of autonomous drones delivering packages to customers’ doorsteps in under 30 minutes. The service launches just as millions of Americans have their eyes turned to the skies in search of mystery drones buzzing major cities. The New York Times reports that Amazon has officially launched its Prime Air drone delivery service in Goodyear, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. The service, which has been in development for over a decade, allows customers to receive packages weighing five pounds or less via autonomous drones within an hour of placing their order. The launch comes after years of regulatory hurdles, technological challenges, and safety concerns that have delayed Amazon’s ambitious plans for drone delivery. However, with the FAA’s approval and significant improvements to its drone technology, the company is now confident that it can provide a safe, efficient, and convenient delivery option to its customers. Amazon’s new delivery drones, known as the MK-30, are a far cry from the prototypes unveiled by Jeff Bezos on 60 Minutes in 2013. Weighing 80 pounds and roughly the size of a Labrador retriever, these custom-designed drones can fly at speeds of up to 73 miles per hour and carry packages in a special compartment. Equipped with cameras and sensors, the drones can identify a clear spot for dropping packages without the need for customers to place QR codes in their yards, as was the case with earlier trials. Despite the impressive technology, Amazon’s drone delivery service does come with some limitations. Currently, the drones can only deliver one package at a time, with a single item inside. The service is also limited to daylight hours and comes with an additional fee of $9.99 for Prime members and $14.99 for non-members. However, Amazon plans to expand the service to allow for multiple items per package and increase the number of drones it can launch per hour. While the convenience of near-instant delivery is undeniable, the public’s reaction to drones flying overhead remains a concern. Recent sightings of unidentified drones in New Jersey have left many residents feeling uneasy, and a Florida man was arrested earlier this year for shooting down a Walmart delivery drone. David Carbon, Amazon’s vice president and general manager of Prime Air, believes that the key to acceptance lies in the utility of the service. “If I do my job right, no one’s going to care about the drone,” he said. “What they’re going to care about is: Did I get my package within 30 minutes?” Read more at the New York Times here. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.

Brixmor Property stock soars to all-time high of $30.2Guest columnist Rebecca Fellenbaum is a certified somatic life coach who helps moms feel great about themselves on the inside so they can enjoy their lives, kids and families. She recently presented a “Getting Unstuck” workshop for NCJW/Cleveland . You can find her and access free resources at rebeccafellenbaum.com . As we round out 2024, it’s a great time to take stock of a year gone by. We can reflect on what we’re grateful for, celebrate successes and savor the memories made so that we can start 2025 with a sense of purpose. These days, it can feel like a tricky time to do this. As a certified somatic life coach , many of my clients tell me that they feel conflicted about taking time to reflect on their lives, knowing the many challenges on our shared planet. But we still need to reflect on joy, even while there are struggles. As I tell my clients, pausing and acknowledging the good in your lives is not self-indulgent. Reflection doesn’t mean ignoring your or the world’s challenges. It is humbling and daunting to balance the enormity of the world’s struggles with our small personal influence. Yet, we are accountable for our actions -- and this can be empowering. As the year ends, here are the top things to consider: Who have I been this year? What have I learned? And what can I do to enter next year as my best self? Then answer a simple yet powerful question: What can I do? Here are some things you can do: • Live a heart-centered life, guided by your highest self. • Love deeply -- your family, your friends, your community. • Share positivity and messages that (hopefully) help others move forward. • Be of service, in both big and small ways. By slowing down and reflecting, we can set ourselves up for the future. I recommend these reflection practices: Reflection questions These are wonderful journaling prompts or something to discuss with a trusted friend: • What am I most proud of this year, and why? • What lessons did I learn from the challenges of 2024? • Where did I surprise myself? • What are my favorite memories? • What feeling do I want to carry into 2025? How can I create more of that in my life? Reflection activities You can try these with your family as well: • Create a year-end vision board: Include images, quotes or photos that represent moments or feelings from 2024. Arrange them in a way that tells your story. This is a fun, meaningful activity to do with your kids! • Take a gratitude walk: Get outside, perhaps to a Cleveland Metropark, and reflect on the people, places and experiences that brought you joy this year. • Record your thoughts: Use the voice memos app on your phone and record your lessons learned, favorite memories and hopes for the new year. Hearing your voice reflect on these things can feel empowering. • Write a letter to 2024: Start with “Dear 2024,” and let the words flow. Share what this year taught you and what you’re ready to leave behind. If you need closure, you can even (safely) burn the letter as a symbolic way to move on. Why reflection matters Our lives are cyclical, and reflecting on another year around the sun can be transformative. Rituals help us close chapters and open new ones. As a client recently pointed out, all of this reflection can show us how far we’ve come. Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Ann Norman at anorman@cleveland.com . Essays must include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting today’s topics are also welcome.

WSP Holdings Stock Soars to All-Time High of $98.75New Collaboration with Green Dot Enables Cash Deposits at Over 7,500 CVS Pharmacy Locations AUSTIN, Texas and SAN FRANCISCO , Dec. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Varo Bank , the first all-digital nationally chartered bank in the U.S., today announced a collaboration with Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT) and CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) to enable deposits for no fee for millions of Varo Bank customers at over 7,500 participating CVS Pharmacy locations nationwide. 1 Utilizing Green Dot's embedded finance platform (Arc) and expansive money movement network, the "Green Dot Network," Varo customers can now deposit cash at participating CVS Pharmacy locations 2 with zero fees. For customers who deposit cash regularly, this means saving $120 or more per year. Traditional banks often charge fees unless customers maintain specified minimum balances in their accounts or meet monthly direct deposit requirements. In addition, unlike fintech companies that must work through partner banks to set their fee policies, Varo's charter enables the bank to offer preferential fees and products to its customers. "As an all-digital bank, Varo is creating low-cost financial solutions designed specifically for the needs of everyday Americans," said Colin Walsh , Chief Executive Officer at Varo Bank. "This Green Dot collaboration at participating CVS Pharmacy locations eliminates cash deposit fees, making basic banking more convenient and affordable." Varo customers have access to a suite of primary banking products that support their financial stability and wellness, including: "We are thrilled to work with Varo and CVS Pharmacy to make banking accessible to millions of American consumers," said Crystal Bryant-Minter , SVP, Money Movement at Green Dot. "With more than 20 years' experience delivering seamless banking and payment solutions to consumers and businesses, Arc by Green Dot powers some of the world's most trusted brands and thousands of other businesses at all stages of growth with seamless, secure and useful financial tools and experiences." About Varo Bank Varo Bank is a new kind of bank - the first nationally chartered consumer tech bank in the U.S., built from the ground up with a focus on the needs of Americans striving to get ahead. From credit building to savings to faster payments, Varo has a complete solution to help everyday Americans make progress in their financial lives. Varo combines the capabilities and nimbleness of a technology company with the security and oversight of a regulated financial institution, enabling agile product design that provides technology-first solutions such as Varo Believe, a secured card to help build credit; Varo Advance, to help stretch hard-earned dollars between paychecks; and a high-yield savings account, offering one of the nation's highest APYs. Varo has been named as one of the Inc. 5000 2023 fastest growth companies in the U.S., CNBC's 2023 list of the World's Top Fintech Companies, one of Forbes' World's Best Banks, and Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. For more information on Varo Advance, Varo Believe, and other offerings such as Perks, visit www.varomoney.com , like Varo Bank on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @varobank. ©2024 Varo Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. About Arc by Green Dot Arc is the embedded finance platform of services featuring all of Green Dot's secure banking and money processing capabilities designed to fuel value, loyalty and growth for consumers and businesses. Arc by Green Dot powers some of the world's most trusted brands and thousands of other businesses with seamless, secure and useful financial tools and experiences. Integrated with Green Dot Bank 3 Arc provides partners with leading FDIC-insured banking products and tools, plus regulatory and compliance expertise, oversight and support. The Arc platform is cloud-based, modular and scalable by design – configurable to meet a wide range of business needs and goals, and flexible to adapt as our partners grow. Arc's end-to-end banking services are powered by enterprise-grade APIs and offer partners access to comprehensive customer support, fraud protection, the largest retail deposit and ATM network in the U.S., and much more. For more information, visit greendot.com/arc . Media Contact Audrey Jacobson , for Varo Bank: varobank@consortpartners.com 1 Fees for optional service may apply 2 Cash deposit is available at all stand-alone CVS locations (through Green Dot Network®) with a cashier in the U.S. except those located within hospitals, on military bases, or in Target. You can deposit between $20 - $500 per transaction. A fee may apply for depositing cash at other Green Dot Network® locations. 3 Green Dot Bank also operates under the following registered trade names: GO2bank, GoBank and Bonneville Bank . All of these registered trade names are used by, and refer to, a single FDIC-insured bank, Green Dot Bank. Deposits under any of these trade names are deposits with Green Dot Bank and are aggregated for deposit insurance coverage up to the allowable limits. Green Dot Corporation NMLS #914924; Green Dot Bank NMLS #908739. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/varo-bank-introduces-zero-fee-cash-deposits-at-participating-cvs-locations-302337565.html SOURCE Varo Bank

Ms Sheila Dunne (50), who was described by her daughter as a “an amazing woman – worth her weight in gold”, died following a single-vehicle crash in Sarsfield Court in Glanmire, Cork, last February. Poignantly, her husband Ted had died of Covid in February 2021. The death of Ms Dunne left their two children without any living parent. The special needs assistant was just 1.5km from her home in Glanmire when the crash occurred. Jennifer Thomas of Oakfield View, Glanmire, Co Cork, appeared before Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday having pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Ms Dunne on February 11th last. Defence counsel Tom Creed, SC, told Judge Helen Boyle that “unfounded social media rumours” and inaccurate newspaper reports had circulated in the wake of the crash. He said that “malicious rumours” had spread in Cork that the body of Ms Dunne had been moved in the vehicle. Investigating garda Det Gda Mark Durcan confirmed there was no truth to any suggestions that Ms Thomas or any other person had moved the body of Ms Dunne following the crash. Det Gda Durcan said that the crash occurred at 7.30pm on February 11th last at Sarsfield Court in Glanmire in Cork. Ms Thomas had been socialising with Ms Dunne, her friend of more than 20 years, from lunchtime that day when they went for a meal at a restaurant in Douglas in the city. They went to a bar in Blackrock in Cork and then on to a bar in Glanmire before getting into Ms Thomas’s jeep. Det Gda Durcan said that in the minutes before the crash occurred Ms Thomas fell asleep behind the wheel twice while stopped at traffic lights. She did two U-turns in a matter of minutes and drove on the wrong side of the road at Hazelwood Road in Glanmire. She knocked down traffic cones as she drove towards Sallybrook and narrowly missed two pedestrians on the footpath. Det Gda Durcan said Ms Thomas took a left-hand bend at Sarsfield Court in Glanmire and failed to straighten up entering a grass verge. The Bluetooth system in the car automatically called the emergency services. Speed was not a factor in the case. Det Gda Durcan said Ms Thomas was wearing her seat belt when the crash occurred. However, Ms Dunne was not. He indicated that the impact of the crash led Ms Dunne, who was in the front-passenger seat, to fall on top of Ms Thomas. Det Gda Durcan said that roof had to be cut off the vehicle in order to extricate the women. He said when gardaí arrived at the scene Ms Thomas was asked who was driving. She said she was and then she “got erratic” and was unable to give a definitive answer. She then said that Ms Dunne was driving as she had “more control”. When she was shown CCTV at a later date by gardaí, Ms Thomas accepted that she was driving. She also said she had no recollection of the crash due to concussion. However, there was no medical evidence of concussion. Ms Dunne died in hospital two days after the crash. Lilley Dunne, a 23-year-old daughter of Sheila Dunne, said in her victim impact statement that she came to court with a “shattered heart” weighed down heavily by the loss of her “rock of a mother”. She said that she was speaking on behalf of herself and her younger brother. Lilley Dunne said that she and her brother head already suffered the “unbearable” loss of their father, Ted, from Covid. “Now to experience the agonising loss of Mom, feels like a cruel twist of fate that I cannot comprehend,” she said. “This experience is what I can only describe as hell. My beautiful mom was taken from us far too soon at the young age of 50. In a car crash caused by a reckless decision made by a selfish individual. This choice has altered our lives forever. “We spent two days at my mom’s bedside hoping for a miracle. Out of respect, I made the decision to allow Jennifer to come in to say goodbye to my mom. Knowing what I know now, my decision would have been different.” Ms Dunne said Ms Thomas’s “malicious lies” had trickled out to “vultures” in the media. “Compounding our grief, newspapers and social media outlets covered the story and reported that my mom was the driver of the car. Jennifer’s complete fabrication painted a picture of my mom, Sheila, that was far from the truth, sensationalising the tragedy and worsening our family suffering.” Sheila’s mother, Esther O’Brien, said she was “heartbroken” to have lost her daughter to a drunk driver. “This loss has not only shattered my life but has also left two precious grandchildren without their mother,” she said. The court heard that Ms Thomas had 10 previous convictions for road-traffic offences, larceny and misuse of drugs. Defence barrister Tom Creed, SC said witnesses who arrived at the scene of the crash described his client as being distraught at the possibility that Ms Dunne could have died. Mr Creed said that his client has suffered from long-term mental health difficulties and often wishes that she died during the crash. He added that Ms Thomas was hugely remorseful for her actions. Mr Creed said that his client accepted that getting behind the wheel drunk was an “outrageous” thing to do. Judge Boyle reserved her decision in the case. Ms Thomas was remanded in custody pending her sentencing on Thursday. She was warned that she was facing a custodial sentence.None

Edmonton’s Space Prodigy: The Secrets Behind Madison Feehan’s Lunar Leap and Her Mysterious 3D Printing BreakthroughsPLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter’s in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter’s path, , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That’s a very narrow way of assessing them,” Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn’t suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he’d be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter’s tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter’s lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor’s race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama’s segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival’s endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King’s daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters’ early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan’s presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan’s Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —-

Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. x Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/aqYmcE9tXi — The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) December 29, 2024 Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. Jimmy Carter speaks on Feb. 3, 2016, at the House of Lords in London. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”Published 5:13 pm Saturday, November 23, 2024 By Staff Reports Ranked squads will be on Sunday’s college basketball schedule in three games, including the Pittsburgh Panthers taking on the Wisconsin Badgers. 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Seventh largest public sector bank carries a legacy of over a centuryCroatia's president faces conservative rival in election run-offLuka Doncic returns to Dallas Mavericks' lineup after missing two games with left heel contusion DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic is returning to the Dallas lineup Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers after missing the Mavericks’ two previous games with a left heel contusion. Doncic won last season’s scoring title with a career-best 33. Canadian Press Dec 23, 2024 3:58 PM Dec 23, 2024 4:05 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic, who did not play, watches play against the Los Angeles Clippers in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic is returning to the Dallas lineup Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers after missing the Mavericks’ two previous games with a left heel contusion. Doncic won last season’s scoring title with a career-best 33.9 points per game and is fifth in the NBA this season averaging 28.9, and seventh in assists, averaging 8.2. He had triple-doubles in three of his last four games, including his most recent appearance last Sunday with 45 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in a 143-133 win at Golden State. The defending Western Conference champions are 18-10, fourth in the West, and have won 13 of their last 16 games following their only losing streak of the season, a four-game skid from Nov. 8-14. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Get your daily Victoria news briefing Email Sign Up More Basketball Timberwolves' Edwards gets fined again, docked $75K by NBA for officiating complaints and profanity Dec 23, 2024 2:47 PM Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Wemby: Spurs-Knicks Christmas game is also an animated one at Disney World Dec 23, 2024 3:01 AM Phoenix faces Denver following Durant's 43-point performance Dec 22, 2024 11:04 PM

The House is set to re-elect Speaker Mike Johnson Jan 3. But could Emmer emerge as 2nd contender?