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gstar28 app FACT FOCUS: Vermont ruling does not say schools can vaccinate children without parental consentNoneKing and PM honour former US president Jimmy Carter after his death aged 100

Qualys chief legal officer Bruce Posey sells $1.32 million in stockDeep-pocketed investors have adopted a bullish approach towards Moderna MRNA , and it's something market players shouldn't ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today. The identity of these investors remains unknown, but such a substantial move in MRNA usually suggests something big is about to happen. We gleaned this information from our observations today when Benzinga's options scanner highlighted 10 extraordinary options activities for Moderna. This level of activity is out of the ordinary. The general mood among these heavyweight investors is divided, with 50% leaning bullish and 20% bearish. Among these notable options, 6 are puts, totaling $540,601, and 4 are calls, amounting to $293,263. What's The Price Target? Based on the trading activity, it appears that the significant investors are aiming for a price territory stretching from $35.0 to $125.0 for Moderna over the recent three months. Volume & Open Interest Development Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Moderna's options for a given strike price. Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Moderna's whale trades within a strike price range from $35.0 to $125.0 in the last 30 days. Moderna Option Activity Analysis: Last 30 Days Noteworthy Options Activity: Symbol PUT/CALL Trade Type Sentiment Exp. Date Ask Bid Price Strike Price Total Trade Price Open Interest Volume MRNA PUT TRADE NEUTRAL 01/15/27 $11.0 $10.65 $10.8 $35.00 $378.0K 246 356 MRNA CALL TRADE NEUTRAL 06/18/26 $13.9 $9.65 $11.65 $50.00 $154.9K 673 200 MRNA CALL SWEEP BULLISH 06/18/26 $13.9 $11.7 $11.7 $50.00 $78.3K 673 67 MRNA PUT SWEEP BEARISH 06/20/25 $85.5 $83.5 $85.11 $125.00 $42.5K 12 5 MRNA PUT SWEEP BULLISH 02/21/25 $3.45 $3.35 $3.35 $35.00 $35.1K 3.1K 109 About Moderna Moderna is a commercial-stage biotech that was founded in 2010 and had its initial public offering in December 2018. The firm's mRNA technology was rapidly validated with its covid vaccine, which was authorized in the United States in December 2020. Moderna had 40 mRNA development candidates in clinical development as of September 2024. Programs span a wide range of therapeutic areas, including infectious disease, oncology, cardiovascular disease, and rare genetic diseases. In light of the recent options history for Moderna, it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance. Moderna's Current Market Status With a volume of 3,730,832, the price of MRNA is up 1.79% at $40.27. RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold. Next earnings are expected to be released in 62 days. Turn $1000 into $1270 in just 20 days? 20-year pro options trader reveals his one-line chart technique that shows when to buy and sell. Copy his trades, which have had averaged a 27% profit every 20 days. Click here for access . Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely. If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Moderna, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

It’s almost a new year, and that means it’s almost time for a bevy of new state laws to go into effect. For the 2023-24 legislative session that just wrapped up (each session spans two years) Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 1,017 bills into law, according to Chris Micheli, a veteran Sacramento lobbyist. That’s a tick more than one-fifth of t he 4,821 bills introduced over that two-year span . Most of the new laws are slated to kick in on Jan. 1. From new parking rules to health care coverage and more, here is a quick look at just 10 of those new laws: Local jurisdictions could give the green light to permit certain cannabis retailers to prepare and sell drinks and food that do not contain cannabis. The law, signed by the governor in late September , also allows the retailers to host ticketed live events on the premises. The idea is to pave the way for a version of Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes, where people can use cannabis with others while also consuming coffee, sandwiches and live music, for example. The new law “will allow cannabis retailers to diversify their business and move away from the struggling and limited dispensary model,” Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat who championed the effort in the legislature, said in a news release . Newsom vetoed similar legislation last year over concerns from public health advocates. This bill included additional provisions meant to reduce health risk, including letting employees wear employer-provided masks and allowing local governments to require filtration and ventilation systems to prevent smoke from permeating nearby buildings. Minors who make money by producing online content should get some extra financial protection as a result of two bills the governor signed this year. One expands the Coogan Act , a longtime California law that requires parents to open a trust and set aside at least 15% of their child actor’s gross earnings. The new rules have been expanded to include “kidfluencers” — or, as the bill describes them, “child influences in paid online content or internet websites, social networks and social media” — as part of the creative or artistic services that would trigger a Coogan trust account. Another extends those financial protections to children who appear in vlogs, or video blogs. Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, noted the Coogan Act covers children under contract — not necessarily children who appear in their parents’ online content. This new law requires content creators to set aside a percentage of total gross earnings in a trust for the child (to be accessed when they become an adult) if the minor is in at least 30% of their content within a month. Several education bills were signed into law this year, ranging from rules to protect young people from being outed against their will to rules that require elementary schools to offer free menstruation products . Other new laws cover what is taught in the classroom, including a bipartisan measure that ensures students are being taught accurately how Native Americans in California were treated during the Gold Rush era and the Spanish colonization of California. “Classroom instruction about the Mission and Gold Rush periods fails to include the loss of life, enslavement, starvation, illness and violence inflicted upon California Native American people during those times,” said Assemblymember James Ramos, D-San Bernardino. “These historical omissions from the curriculum are misleading.” California public schools also will be required to teach Mendez v. Westminster , a landmark court case involving an Orange County family and local school districts that helped bring about the end of segregation laws in local schools around the country. Selling a device, often called a “tuning kit,” that can modify the speed capability of an electric bicycle so that it is no longer defined as an e-bike will be prohibited . California law already has speed guidelines for e-bikes. For example, a Class 1 bike has a motor that kicks in when a rider is pedaling and tops out at 20 mph; a Class 3 motor is meant to stop at 28 mph, and those bikes include speedometers. Modifying the speed of e-bikes is already illegal and unsafe, Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, said in an analysis of her bill. The new law specifically bans the sale of products that can make the alterations. Tenants soon will have more time to respond to an eviction notice. California law originally dictated that a landlord could not file an eviction lawsuit until after serving their tenant with a three-day notice — which excludes Saturdays, Sundays and judicial holidays — to pay. Tenants then had five days after they were served to file their defense in court. If they failed to do so, a judge could award a default judgment to the landlord. The new law doubles those five day-windows to 10 days. Responding to eviction lawsuits is not necessarily a simple feat, supporters of the new law have argued , particularly for people struggling to pay their rent. Tenants need to obtain hard-to-find legal aid or an expensive attorney to complete their defense filing accurately, and then they have to find the means to travel to the courthouse. Certain insurers must cover fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, in 2025. This law, which won’t take effect until July 2025 , will require large group health care service plans to cover up to three oocyte (egg) retrievals. It also prohibits health care service plans from imposing different conditions or coverage limitations on fertility medications or services. Sen. Caroline Manjivar, D-San Fernando Valley, said her bill being signed into law is “a triumph for the many Californians who have been denied a path toward family-building because of the financial barriers that come with fertility treatment, their relationship status or are blatantly discriminated against as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.” Medical debt will no longer be shared with credit reporting agencies , meaning that debt will not show up on credit reports. That said, medical debts still must be paid. In her analysis of the bill Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, noted that the new rules doesn’t forgive medical debt or restrict the collection of it. Instead, she said, the new rules are meant to help “lift the credit scores of people who have been inaccurately and unfairly saddled with medical debts on their credit reports, opening opportunities for access to healthier financial products, better housing and more employment opportunities.” A new law may make it easier to opt out of pesky automatic subscription renewals. Companies will now have to obtain the “express affirmative consent” to automatically renew subscriptions entered into after July 1, 2025. Consumers also will need to be sent annual reminders about automatic renewals, what the charges are, and information about how to cancel the service. Think you’ve finally found an open parking spot? If it’s within 20 feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk, then you may want to find a new spot. Starting in 2025, motorists could be ticketed for parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk — even if there is no sign posted. The no-parking zone decreases to 15 feet if there is a curb extension present, the law says. Newsom OK’d this law in 2023 — the bill is part of the two-year legislative session that ended in 2024 — and technically it already is in effect. However, the law only allowed jurisdictions to begin ticketing offenders starting Jan. 1, 2025. Residential treatment facilities (also called short-term residential therapeutic programs) that provide services for minors, must report certain information to the child, their parent or guardian, and California’s Department of Social Services when seclusion or restraints are used. These facilities are allowed to use seclusion or restraints when staff believe the patient may be a danger to themselves or others, said Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, who championed this law. The new law mandates that children must be informed of their rights — including the right to contact state social service workers and the California Office of the Foster Care Ombudsperson — within one day of seclusion or restraints being used. Those minors also must be given an oral and written description of the incident, including who approved the disciplinary actions and the rationale behind them. That written information must be given to Dept. of Social Services within seven days, leaving it up to the state to review and determine if any laws were potentially violated by using seclusion and restraints, therefore warranting an investigation. Beginning in 2026, the department will need to publicly post information about these incidents, so parents and guardians can be better informed about where they send their children. The effort to bring more transparency to what punishments are used in youth residential facilities was championed by actress and activist Paris Hilton, who has detailed the “continuous torture” she faced while attending a boarding school as a teenager. Hilton has championed similar laws in other states related to what’s been dubbed the troubled teen industry as well as at the federal level . “For too long, these facilities have operated without adequate oversight, leaving vulnerable youth at risk,” said Hilton. “After being abused in a California facility in my teens, it is validating to see California taking a stand to protect our youth, and I hope our state is the standard for transparency and accountability in these facilities moving forward.”The standard Lorem Ipsum passage, used since the 1500s "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. 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Sullinger leads Kent State past Div. III-Heidelberg 84-80The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said that its digital Pension Industry Shared Services (PISS) initiative has reached advanced stage of implementation. Director General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, who disclosed this in Lagos during 2024 PenCom conference for Journalists said this initiative will digitize pension contributions and remittances, ensuring seamless processing of contributions and resolving discrepancies caused by incomplete remittance details. She said as part of measure to further enhance contributors’ experiences, the commission has introduced a revised programme withdrawal template, simplifying access to voluntary contributions and revising the threshold for en-bloc payments in line with the new minimum wage. She stated that the Commission has achieved a major milestone with the launch of the e-Application Portal for Pension Clearance Certificates (PCC) in October. This initiative according to her replaces the previous manual process, enabling companies to seamlessly apply for and receive PCCs online. She, however, said that since its deployment, the Commission has issued over 38,000 PCCs, significantly enhancing ease of doing business and ensuring compliance. She said with transformation in Technology, we have over 10.5 million contributors and total oversee pension assets stood in access of N21.9 trillion as at October, demonstrating the strength of our contributory pension system. On the other part she said despite the growth of the sector it still faced with a lot of challenges, noting that inflation for instance has continues to erode the purchasing power of pensioners, and the Commission is actively seeking innovative solutions to address this issue.

Keith Higgins Jr. scores 22 to lead Lehigh to 87-67 victory over NeumannPLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter 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, a mix of happenstance and calculation , 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 Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , 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 died on Nov. 19 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 “move to a very liberal program,” 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 family property alongside Rosalynn . 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 public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous 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.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.

BY MELISSA GOLDIN Social media users are misrepresenting a Vermont Supreme Court ruling , claiming that it gives schools permission to vaccinate children even if their parents do not consent. The ruling addressed a lawsuit filed by Dario and Shujen Politella against Windham Southeast School District and state officials over the mistaken vaccination of their child against COVID-19 in 2021, when he was 6 years old. A lower court had dismissed the original complaint, as well as an amended version. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed on Nov. 19. But the ruling by Vermont’s high court is not as far-reaching as some online have claimed. In reality, it concluded that anyone protected under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP, Act is immune to state lawsuits. Here’s a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that schools can vaccinate children against their parents’ wishes. THE FACTS: The claim stems from a July 26 ruling by the Vermont Supreme Court, which found that anyone protected by the PREP Act is immune to state lawsuits, including the officials named in the Politella’s suit. The ruling does not authorize schools to vaccinate children at their discretion. According to the lawsuit, the Politella’s son — referred to as L.P. — was given one dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic held at Academy School in Brattleboro even though his father, Dario, told the school’s assistant principal a few days before that his son was not to receive a vaccination. In what officials described as a mistake, L.P. was removed from class and had a “handwritten label” put on his shirt with the name and date of birth of another student, L.K., who had already been vaccinated that day. L.P. was then vaccinated. Ultimately, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that officials involved in the case could not be sued. “We conclude that the PREP Act immunizes every defendant in this case and this fact alone is enough to dismiss the case,” the Vermont Supreme Court’s ruling reads. “We conclude that when the federal PREP Act immunizes a defendant, the PREP Act bars all state-law claims against that defendant as a matter of law.” The PREP Act , enacted by Congress in 2005, authorizes the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a declaration in the event of a public health emergency providing immunity from liability for activities related to medical countermeasures, such as the administration of a vaccine, except in cases of “willful misconduct” that result in “death or serious physical injury.” A declaration against COVID-19 was issued on March 17, 2020. It is set to expire on Dec. 31. Federals suits claiming willful misconduct are filed in Washington. Social media users described the Vermont Supreme Court’s ruling as having consequences beyond what it actually says. “The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that schools can force-vaccinate children for Covid against the wishes of their parents,” reads one X post that had been liked and shared approximately 16,600 times as of Tuesday. “The high court ruled on a case involving a 6-year-old boy who was forced to take a Covid mRNA injection by his school. However, his family had explicitly stated that they didn’t want their child to receive the ‘vaccines.’” Other users alleged that the ruling gives schools permission to give students any vaccine without parental consent, not just ones for COVID-19. Rod Smolla, president of the Vermont Law and Graduate School and an expert on constitutional law, told The Associated Press that the ruling “merely holds that the federal statute at issue, the PREP Act, preempts state lawsuits in cases in which officials mistakenly administer a vaccination without consent.” “Nothing in the Vermont Supreme Court opinion states that school officials can vaccinate a child against the instructions of the parent,” he wrote in an email. Related Articles National News | Judge weighs whether to order Fani Willis to comply with lawmakers’ subpoenas over Trump case National News | Are you a former SmileDirectClub customer? You might be eligible for a refund National News | Justice Department announces sweeping reforms to curb suicides in federal prisons and jails National News | Defense makes closing argument in murder trial of Cash App founder Bob Lee National News | A judge has once again rejected Musk’s multi-billion-dollar Tesla pay package. Now what? Asked whether the claims spreading online have any merit, Ronald Ferrara, an attorney representing the Politellas, told the AP that although the ruling doesn’t say schools can vaccinate students regardless of parental consent, officials could interpret it to mean that they could get away with doing so under the PREP Act, at least when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines. He explained that the U.S. Supreme Court appeal seeks to clarify whether the Vermont Supreme Court interpreted the PREP Act beyond what Congress intended. “The Politella’s fundamental liberty interest to decide whether their son should receive elective medical treatment was denied by agents of the State and School,” he wrote in an email to the AP. “The Vermont Court misconstrues the scope of PREP Act immunity (which is conditioned upon informed consent for medical treatments unapproved by FDA), to cover this denial of rights and its underlying battery.” Ferrara added that he was not aware of the claims spreading online, but that he “can understand how lay people may conflate the court’s mistaken grant of immunity for misconduct as tantamount to blessing such misconduct.”

OTTAWA—The RCMP says it has “contingency plans” to deploy more Mounties to the Canada-U.S. border but needs answers from the Liberal government about how much more it intends to spend on additional drones, helicopters or other technology to surveil it. The Trudeau government says it has not yet “finalized” those decisions as it fended off Opposition criticism it is too slow to act to counter incoming president Donald Trump’s threat of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian products on his first day in office. RCMP Comm. Michael Duheme told reporters there are two “parallel” tracks to the Mounties’ plans — one contingent on how many illegal immigrants might be “removed” from America by an incoming Trump administration and drive a northward surge into Canada, and the other contingent on how much new technology the Liberal government will fund. Speaking after he testified at a public safety committee, the top Mountie said he is not opposed to expanding the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) mandate into the RCMP’s jurisdiction over territory between official border points of entry, as the border guards’ union has called for. “I think we have to do what’s right, to secure the borders. So if that’s increasing authorities to CBSA, I mean, that’s a discussion I would have” with the head of the CBSA and the government, Duheme said. He said it would be a “longer-term” move, “but I think we have to explore different ways of doing things.” Meanwhile, Duheme said the RCMP needs the “nimbleness” to reassign resources where needed, and he will deploy cadets from the RCMP training academy in Regina — as the national police force did in 2014 to provide additional security following the Parliament Hill attacks. “What you saw in Roxham Road (where migrants crossed illegally near Lacolle, Que.) may not repeat itself,” said Duheme. “It might come somewhere else, right? So that’s one thing, but on the parallel track is the planning a way forward with the asks that we’ve put in ... and the resources required to do it.” Defence Minister Bill Blair told the Star Monday night that Canadian Forces may be able to supply surveillance drones and other technological aids, but that soldiers would not be deployed to the border. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Chrystia Freeland — who co-chairs the Canada-U.S. cabinet committee — met with Opposition leaders Tuesday to brief them on the government’s work to address the Trump threat, and on Trudeau’s and LeBlanc’s trip to Trump’s resort at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. Trudeau and LeBlanc discussed trade and the border over dinner with the president-elect at his Freeland later said she was not upset at not being included on the trip, and said “it was the right choice. The meeting was principally about the border. That is what was very clear from the conversation that the prime minister had with the president ahead of time.” Freeland called for a “Team Canada” approach to dealing with Trump, repeating a message she delivered to premiers last week, that it is “important for us to take care not to negotiate against ourselves.” However, when Trudeau’s Commons opponents emerged, they did not offer full-throated support for his efforts. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he would take a “Canada first” approach,” stress the harm that tariffs would have on Canada and the U.S. and he put the blame for Canada’s problems with Trump squarely at Trudeau’s feet, a line of attack he continued in the Commons. “Whether one thinks that President Trump’s tariff threats are a negotiating tactic or a real plan, what we do know is what we can control. The prime minister has lost control of everything” including borders and control of immigration, he said. Poilievre said Trudeau is an unpopular leader in an “unbearably weak position” to counter Trump, and demanded an election to replace him. Trudeau in the Commons replied that Poilievre should guard against repeating “erroneous narratives that the Americans are putting forward,” saying amplifying “these ‘broken’ narratives is simply not responsible leadership.” New Democrat Jagmeet Singh said he told Trudeau in the meeting that he pressed Trudeau to hire “at a minimum” 1,100 more border guards. That’s a lot fewer than the union says are needed. Erin O’Gorman, head of the border agency, told MPs the CBSA currently has 16,300 full time employees, 8,500 of whom are front-line employees, compared to 13,700 it had in 2014 when the Conservatives were in power. However, the Customs and Immigration Union says only 6,500 are considered front-line employees, including those who work not just at land border points of entry, but at airports and who enforce customs laws at postal facilities. Union head Mark Weber, in an interview with the Star, said the union has called for an additional 2,000-3,000 front-line officers, and was encouraged by LeBlanc’s testimony that showed an “openness” to expanding the role played by border guards to include patrolling in between official points of entry with the RCMP. Weber reiterated in a letter to LeBlanc Monday the union’s request to the Liberal government to review a 1932 cabinet order that directed the RCMP to cover border areas between official ports of entry while leaving the official points of entry to border officers. ” LeBlanc told MPs Tuesday that the government is “interested in taking immediate steps that will reassure Canadians and the Americans that the border remains secure and the integrity of the border is protected ... We haven’t made any decisions in that regard. But are open to considering that as well.” Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said that the Liberals did not offer details, but seem to have a plan in the works. “We’ll see what it contains,” he said. “I don’t want to fight too much publicly about an issue which is very important for everybody, both in Canada and Quebec and Americans are looking at us now. So I will give some time to Mr. LeBlanc to provide us with the details of the plan.” Former Conservative leader Rona Ambrose in a CBC interview Tuesday said, “look, I think it’s easy to say everyone should be on Team Canada, but that doesn’t mean Team Trudeau.” Ambrose, who previously sat on Trudeau’s NAFTA advisory council, said Poilievre and Singh would all argue they are on Team Canada, but that they also have legitimate criticisms to make of how Trudeau has not positioned Canada’s economy to withstand Trump’s threats and the moves he will make to draw investors and capital away from Canada to the United States.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire and fellow entrepreneur and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, , weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world’s richest man who has , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes. Michelle L. Price, The Associated PressMaybe it’s because there are so many games, or maybe it’s because the rise of digital distribution and subscriptions means there are more sub-groups of game-players and fewer massive mainstream hits, but it feels like this year the “best games” lists are more diverse and individual than ever. Even as someone who tries to play broadly across all platforms, there are some games cropping up on end-of-year lists that I didn’t play, and some of the best ones I did play draw blank looks when I discuss them with others. So, while it’s impossible to make anything approaching an objective list of the best, I’ve attempted it anyway. Here they are in no particular order. I didn’t have ‘help a rapping tree’ on my 2024 bingo card, but I’m glad it happened. Astro Bot PS5 At once a celebration of PlayStation’s 30-year history and a whimsical Nintendo-style platformer the likes of which the brand has never seen before, Astro Bot is a beautiful theme park of running and jumping, filled with hidden depth, incredible gimmicks and great music. I’m not a huge fan of the emotionless robot protagonist or the Sony branding, but the combination of flawless gameplay design, hilarious environments, oodles of nostalgia and cutting-edge tech puts this on par with some of Mario’s most memorable outings. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Side-scrolling platform adventure games are ubiquitous and there were heaps of good ones this year, but the best was also a return to relevance for a beloved franchise. The fictional Mount Qaf is a wonderful setting that blends Iranian history and Arabian mythology with the series’ penchant for vicious traps and time distortion, while new protagonist Sargon brings a fresh and edgy vibe that marries the acrobatic focus of the Sands of Time trilogy with the methodical platforming of older Prince adventures. By invoking familiar poker hands, Balatro brings the satisfying hook of a rougelite game to a wider pool of players who have no idea what that is. Balatro Android, Apple Arcade, iOS, PC, PS5, Switch Xbox In an industry plagued by gambling disguised as play, it’s gratifying that one of this year’s most successful games employs the aesthetic of cards and casinos with no gambling to be found. Upgrade and augment your deck with special powers and tarot effects, stack up game-changing jokers to synergise with your favourite cards, and try to break the game with impossibly powerful poker hands. The work of one individual developer, it’s incredible, and arguably addictive, but you’ll pay no more than the purchase price. Super Mario Party Jamboree Switch Mario Party is a dependable choice for casual group play or a family game night. But, unexpectedly, Jamboree is the absolute height of the series. There are heaps of playable characters, more than 100 great new minigames, seven unusually interesting and diverse game boards and extra modes for playing on your own or online with randos. But the icing on the cake is the ability to enforce “pro mode” to make the winner less chance-based, opening up the possibility of truly competitive play, and it’s so much fun. It may take its broad structure from one third of a decades-old game, but Rebirth has plenty original to say. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth PS5 I was expecting a middle chapter for Square’s epic three-part remake of a 1997 classic, but this turned out to be so much more. From the layered character customisation and combat systems that feed seamlessly into one another, to the completely optional collectible card game that I quickly became obsessed with, this is unexpectedly a much broader, deeper and more open game than its predecessor. An astonishing RPG that more than stands on its own merits, and even overshadows part one for ambition and creativity, it’s a remarkable achievement. Star Wars Outlaws PC, PS5, Xbox A streamlined and multi-planet take on Ubisoft’s familiar open-world action, paired with an original-trilogy-era Star Wars tale that follows an up-and-coming scoundrel rather than a Jedi or Imperial, Outlaws has everything a long-suffering franchise fan could hope for in a sandbox scum and villainy game. The overarching story is a bit of a letdown, but the main appeal here is simply being able to exist in this rich and incredibly well-realised universe, being a dirtbag and pulling off heists. Fans of Monty Python or The Mighty Boosh will find a lot to love exploring Barnsworth. Thank Goodness You’re Here PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox A cartoony and hilariously vulgar adventure set in a small northern England town, this is a point-and-punch exploration game that’s fondly reminiscent of classic daft British sketch comedy, with heaps of funny visuals and sound effects plus the voice talents of Matt Berry and others. Mechanically it couldn’t be simpler, but the writing and timing are masterful. From an unexpected exposed penis in a seagull-gathering side-mission to a prolonged sequence combining fish and cigarettes, it’s crassly artful and unforgettable. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Switch Despite her name being in the titles, Princess Zelda has had few starring roles in Nintendo’s beloved adventure epics. This game marks a change in that regard, and introduces a brilliant new approach to items and combat where Zelda can copy and paste objects and enemies to fight and solve puzzles, but it’s otherwise business as usual for the series; this is a beautiful, joyful and surprising fantasy world to explore, with just the right mix of nostalgia and innovation. Eventually you’ll be filling out pages of details before you can even grasp the nature of the crime you’re supposed to be solving. And you’ll be loving it. The Rise of the Golden Idol Netflix, PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox The first Golden Idol was a wonderfully epic tale of paranormal serial murder, and Rise is even better. Set 200 years later, you’re tasked with solving 20 crimes, each painted as a beautifully grotesque painted moment. You analyse the scene to collect clues, words and names, then use those to fill in the blanks and uncover the truth. It’s like a multidimensional murder sudoku, which only gets more complex and tells a compelling alternate history detective story. Dragon Age: The Veilguard PC, PS5, Xbox Bioware is responsible for some of the greatest role-playing games ever, but this is their best in more than a decade. The narrative and fantasy settings are incredible, and the action-focused combat feels great, but the true strength is in the constant choice-making that affects your friendships in real and unexpected ways. Early on, the game makes you choose between two companions, the consequence of which leaves one with permanent visible bruises and scars for the rest of the game. This is Dragon Age telling you how it’s going to be. Unicorn Overlord has the familiar Vanillaware look, but it may be the studio’s deepest game yet. Unicorn Overlord PS5, Switch, Xbox Vanillaware has spent two decades crafting interesting and complex games with astounding hand-drawn art. The studio has a cult following but I think Unicorn Overlord might be its first true breakout hit. It’s a twist on the traditional turn-based tactical RPG, where instead of just skirmishing you define the parameters of each unit’s actions and priorities ahead of time, and then watch as they play out in battle. And, of course, it’s gorgeous. Sonic x Shadow Generations PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Since 2011’s excellent Sonic Generations was already a reimagining of the series’ high points, half of this new package is arguably remaking remakes. But the other half — an all-new campaign featuring Shadow the Hedgehog — contains some of the most excellent 3D Sonic gameplay ever made. It serves as a great introduction to the character alongside his big-screen debut, but it also presents his tortured backstory and most memorable game moments in a surprisingly cohesive and enjoyable manner. No combat, no explanations, just a blob in a cursed VHS tape of ghostly animals. Animal Well PC, PS5, PS Plus, Switch, Xbox Animal Well , another amazing work from a solo developer, is on the surface a stunning CRT-filtered Metroid-like with a spooky animal theme. But dig a little deeper past the cursed herons and sleepy capybara and you’ll find a complex latticework of puzzles combined with interesting power-ups, a focus on physics play and a near total lack of combat. Some secrets require specific power-ups from around the world (a yo-yo, a slinky, a frisbee), while others need lateral thinking or knowledge gleaned from other areas. UFO 50 PC A package of 50 new games, styled and presented as a library of retro titles by a fictional company for their fictional home computer, this compilation evokes the feeling of finding a dusty 1980s machine and a box full of disks, and putting them in to see what you find. The games are all surprisingly full in scope, and they run the genre gamut from beat-em-ups to top-down driving games to narrative horror. Best of all are the two-player options, which offer a peerlessly strange retro bonding experience. The Great Circle takes Indy to many cultural epicentres around the globe, from Italy to Egypt to the Himalayas and more. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Game Pass, PC, Xbox Games based on movie franchises can go very wrong, but MachineGames (the Swedish studio known for the Nazi-hunting 2010s Wolfenstein series), had a clear vision for the world’s most famous archeologist . Each level is an exploratory puzzle with dozens of smaller riddles within, filled with fascists to sneak around and artefacts to recover. Combat is slapstick, gunplay is scarce, the iconic whip gets plenty of creative use and voice actor Troy Baker puts in an astonishing Harrison Ford impersonation. The narrative overall (concerning a trek across the globe to stop the Nazis achieving a mystical power) is the best the franchise has seen since 1989. Get news and reviews on technology, gadgets and gaming in our Technology newsletter every Friday. Sign up here. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. License this article Video games Tim Biggs is a writer covering consumer technology, gadgets and video games. Connect via Twitter or email . Most Viewed in Technology Loading

TORONTO — Bruce Brown intercepted a pass and streaked down the court, driving past some token defence from Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson for a one-handed slam dunk. Brown's Toronto Raptors teammates burst off the home team's bench, cheering for the veteran forward. "It's just because they didn't think I can jump, because I haven't jumped really, or they haven't seen it, and then they didn't see it the last year," Brown said, adding he knew he would dunk as soon as he crossed half-court. "I told them I could do it and I was like, ‘if I get the chance to, I'mma dunk it.'" It was Brown's first dunk in eight months as he scored 12 points and had three rebounds off the bench in his season debut on Sunday as Toronto lost to Atlanta 136-107. He'd missed the first 31 games of the Raptors season as he recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery on Sept. 20, a process that took longer than he expected. "I thought I was gonna be out like six to eight weeks but some things didn't go my way," said Brown. "There was a lot of swelling in there for a while. "Things happened, and then I was supposed to come back, like, three, four weeks ago, but there was still swelling there, so they told me to take my time." Brown averaged 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.3 blocks over 34 games with the Raptors last season. He was traded from the Indiana Pacers to Toronto on Jan. 18 as part of a package for all-star forward Pascal Siakam. He's averaged 8.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists over his career in 416 games with the Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana and Toronto. Brown's return doesn't just add depth to the Raptors' lineup, but brings some much-needed energy to a struggling team that has lost 10 in a row. "You see him get out there and put his body on the line after being out for so long," said Scottie Barnes, who led Toronto with 19 points, eight rebounds, and five assists but eight turnovers in the loss. "He's making himself so tired out there just guarding, pushing himself. That's what the team needs. "We've all got to match that energy every single night. That's the effort we're going to need in order to win games." Head coach Darko Rajakovic said that fatigue is a major factor in the NBA's longest active losing skid. He said that a lack of focus played a role in Toronto's season-high 31 turnovers on Sunday. "We hit a wall. We look tired. We look drained," said Rajakovic. "Guys are not in a rhythm. That's the reality that we're in right now. We've got to find a way to get out of it." It was the third consecutive game where the Raptors had given up over 130 points, and second 29-point blowout in a row. "Getting beat by 30, man, at home — that's unacceptable," said Barnes. "We can't be doing that. We got to go out there and play harder, be smarter. "We had a lot of turnovers today. We can't allow this to happen." Brown was more optimistic. "We just need some rest, and we'll push through it," he said, noting that a stomach flu had spread through Toronto's locker room. "I mean, all teams have this at some point, even championship teams, so we'll push through it. We'll be fine." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2024. John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.