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b-bye CHICAGO , Dec. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of nearly 200,000 osteopathic physicians (DOs) and medical students in the U.S., more than 20 states and cities across the nation are observing December 2024 as Osteopathic Medicine Month. This designation recognizes the 150 th anniversary of osteopathic medicine, which applies a distinctive philosophy and approach to caring for patients in all areas of medicine, including primary care, surgery and specialty fields. DOs are fully licensed physicians who are trained to provide comprehensive care with a focus on preventive medicine and whole-person wellness. DOs hold some of the most distinguished positions in medicine today, caring for the U.S. President, overseeing the NASA medical team and leading some of the nation's top-ranked hospitals and health systems. The profession is one of the fastest-growing in health care, making up more than 10% of physicians and 28% of medical students in the U.S. Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a congratulatory letter to the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, recognizing the osteopathic profession's tremendous contributions to health care during the past 150 years. "As you celebrate this milestone anniversary, it is my hope that you are filled with pride in all the progress the osteopathic medical community has achieved—from pioneering medical discoveries to improving the health and well-being of Americans across the nation and so much more," the letter states. To date, more than 20 state and city leaders have issued proclamations declaring December 2024 as Osteopathic Medicine Month, including Alabama , Idaho , Illinois , Iowa , Michigan , Montana , Ohio , Oklahoma , Virginia , and West Virginia . "This remarkable achievement not only honors the rich history of our profession but also highlights the profound role of osteopathic medicine in health care today," said American Osteopathic Association President Teresa A. Hubka , DO, FACOOG (Dist). "Through patient-centered care and a commitment to understanding the root causes of illness, osteopathic physicians are shaping the future of medicine." For more information, visit www.osteopathic.org . About the AOA The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) represents more than 197,000 osteopathic physicians (DOs) and osteopathic medical students; promotes public health; encourages scientific research; serves as the primary certifying body for DOs; and is the accrediting agency for osteopathic medical schools. To learn more about DOs and the osteopathic philosophy of medicine, visit www.FindaDO.org . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-than-20-states-and-cities-designate-december-as-osteopathic-medicine-month-302337665.html SOURCE American Osteopathic AssociationNEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in morning trading Friday as Wall Street closes out a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 fell 1.4%, with more than 80% of stocks in the benchmark index losing ground. Still, the index is managing to hold onto a modest gain for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 402 points, or 0.9%, to 42,945 as of 10:41 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite fell 2%. Both the Dow and the Nasdaq are also holding on to weekly gains. Technology stocks were the biggest drag on the market Friday. Semiconductor giant Nvidia slumped 3.2%. Its enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes. Other Big Tech stocks losing ground included Microsoft, with a 2.2% decline. A wide range of retailers also fell. Amazon fell 2.2% and Best Buy slipped 1.9%. The sector is being closely watched for clues on how it performed during the holiday shopping season. Energy was the only sector within the S&P 500 rising. It gained 0.5% as crude oil prices rose 0.8%. Investors don't have much in the way of corporate or economic updates to review as the market moves closer to another standout annual finish. The S&P 500 is on track for a gain of around 25% in 2024. That would mark a second consecutive yearly gain of more than 20%, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998. The gains have been driven partly by upbeat economic data showing that consumers continued spending and the labor market remained strong. Inflation, while still high, has also been steadily easing. A report on Friday showed that sales and inventory estimates for the wholesales trade industry fell 0.2% in November, following a slight gain in October. That weaker-than-expected report follows an update on the labor market Thursday that showed unemployment benefits held steady last week. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark index surged as the yen remained weak against the dollar. Stocks in South Korea fell after the main opposition party voted to impeach the country’s acting leader. Markets in Europe gained ground. Bond yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.59% from late Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury slipped to 4.32% from 4.33% late Thursday. Wall Street will have more economic updates to look forward to next week, including reports on pending home sales and home prices. There will also be reports on U.S. construction spending and snapshots of manufacturing activity.Best Bets, Odds for the Panthers vs. Buccaneers Game – Week 17

Colts defense picks up the pace as offense continues searching for answers to red zone woesNEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in morning trading Friday as Wall Street closes out a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 fell 1.4%, with more than 80% of stocks in the benchmark index losing ground. Still, the index is managing to hold onto a modest gain for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 402 points, or 0.9%, to 42,945 as of 10:41 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite fell 2%. Both the Dow and the Nasdaq are also holding on to weekly gains. Technology stocks were the biggest drag on the market Friday. Semiconductor giant Nvidia slumped 3.2%. Its enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes. Other Big Tech stocks losing ground included Microsoft, with a 2.2% decline. A wide range of retailers also fell. Amazon fell 2.2% and Best Buy slipped 1.9%. The sector is being closely watched for clues on how it performed during the holiday shopping season. Energy was the only sector within the S&P 500 rising. It gained 0.5% as crude oil prices rose 0.8%. Investors don't have much in the way of corporate or economic updates to review as the market moves closer to another standout annual finish. The S&P 500 is on track for a gain of around 25% in 2024. That would mark a second consecutive yearly gain of more than 20%, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998. The gains have been driven partly by upbeat economic data showing that consumers continued spending and the labor market remained strong. Inflation, while still high, has also been steadily easing. A report on Friday showed that sales and inventory estimates for the wholesales trade industry fell 0.2% in November, following a slight gain in October. That weaker-than-expected report follows an update on the labor market Thursday that showed unemployment benefits held steady last week. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark index surged as the yen remained weak against the dollar. Stocks in South Korea fell after the main opposition party voted to impeach the country’s acting leader. Markets in Europe gained ground. Bond yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.59% from late Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury slipped to 4.32% from 4.33% late Thursday. Wall Street will have more economic updates to look forward to next week, including reports on pending home sales and home prices. There will also be reports on U.S. construction spending and snapshots of manufacturing activity.More than 20 states and cities designate December as Osteopathic Medicine Month

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Best Bets, Odds for the Titans vs. Jaguars Game – Week 17The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time. Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online in nine languages , from English to Japanese. On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats , such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon . But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs are fielding questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?” “There are screams and giggles and laughter,” said Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer. Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, “Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early.” NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War , predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics . Here’s how it began and why the phones keep ringing. It started with a child’s accidental phone call in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper printed a Sears advertisement that encouraged children to call Santa, listing a phone number. A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian effort to spot potential enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with anxieties about nuclear war. Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list. “He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa,’” Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999. Realizing an explanation would be lost on the youngster, Shoup summoned a deep, jolly voice and replied, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good boy?” Shoup said he learned from the boy’s mother that Sears mistakenly printed the top-secret number. He hung up, but the phone soon rang again with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, he said. In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80 foot (18-by-24 meter) plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects. A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole. The tradition was born. “Note to the kiddies,” began an AP story from Colorado Springs on Dec. 23, 1955. “Santa Claus Friday was assured safe passage into the United States by the Continental Air Defense Command.” In a likely reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded against possible attack from “those who do not believe in Christmas.” Some grinchy journalists have nitpicked Shoup’s story, questioning whether a misprint or a misdial prompted the boy’s call. In 2014, tech news site Gizmodo cited an International News Service story from Dec. 1, 1955, about a child’s call to Shoup. Published in the Pasadena Independent, the article said the child reversed two digits in the Sears number. “When a childish voice asked COC commander Col. Harry Shoup, if there was a Santa Claus at the North Pole, he answered much more roughly than he should — considering the season: ‘There may be a guy called Santa Claus at the North Pole, but he’s not the one I worry about coming from that direction,’” Shoup said in the brief piece. In 2015, The Atlantic magazine doubted the flood of calls to the secret line, while noting that Shoup had a flair for public relations. Phone calls aside, Shoup was indeed media savvy. In 1986, he told the Scripps Howard News Service that he recognized an opportunity when a staff member drew Santa on the glass map in 1955. A lieutenant colonel promised to have it erased. But Shoup said, “You leave it right there,” and summoned public affairs. Shoup wanted to boost morale for the troops and public alike. “Why, it made the military look good — like we’re not all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus,” he said. Shoup died in 2009. His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls. “And later in life he got letters from all over the world,” said Terri Van Keuren, a daughter. “People saying ‘Thank you, Colonel, for having, you know, this sense of humor.’” NORAD’s tradition is one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa story that have endured, according to Gerry Bowler, a Canadian historian who spoke to the AP in 2010. Ad campaigns or movies try to “kidnap” Santa for commercial purposes, said Bowler, who wrote “Santa Claus: A Biography.” NORAD, by contrast, takes an essential element of Santa’s story and views it through a technological lens. In a recent interview with the AP, Air Force Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham explained that NORAD radars in Alaska and Canada — known as the northern warning system — are the first to detect Santa. He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night. “That’s when the satellite systems we use to track and identify targets of interest every single day start to kick in,” Cunningham said. “A probably little-known fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so those satellites track (Santa) through that heat source.” NORAD has an app and website, www.noradsanta.org , that will track Santa on Christmas Eve from 4 a.m. to midnight, Mountain Standard Time. People can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask live operators about Santa’s location from 6 a.m. to midnight, mountain time.Yes, ‘Qi2’ requires magnets, as it always has