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Asia-Pacific markets set to open higher after Wall Street gains on tech strengthRoborock makes history with out-of-this-world video campaignAmanda Hernández | (TNS) Stateline.org CHICAGO — Shoplifting rates in the three largest U.S. cities — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — remain higher than they were before the pandemic, according to a report last month from the nonpartisan research group Council on Criminal Justice. Related Articles Nation | Teamsters boss reveals how VP Harris lost the party, and his vote Nation | Bill Clinton is out of the hospital after being treated for the flu Nation | NORAD’s Santa tracker was a Cold War morale boost. Now it attracts millions of kids Nation | More teens turning down pot, booze not nicotine pouches Nation | Christmas Eve air travel off to a rough start after American Airlines briefly grounded all flights The sharp rise in retail theft in recent years has made shoplifting a hot-button issue, especially for politicians looking to address public safety concerns in their communities. Since 2020, when viral videos of smash-and-grab robberies flooded social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans have expressed fears that crime is out of control. Polls show that perceptions have improved recently, but a majority of Americans still say crime is worse than in previous years. “There is this sense of brazenness that people have — they can just walk in and steal stuff. ... That hurts the consumer, and it hurts the company,” said Alex Piquero, a criminology professor at the University of Miami and former director of the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, in an interview. “That’s just the world we live in,” he said. “We need to get people to realize that you have to obey the law.” At least eight states — Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New York and Vermont — passed a total of 14 bills in 2024 aimed at tackling retail theft, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The measures range from redefining retail crimes and adjusting penalties to allowing cross-county aggregation of theft charges and protecting retail workers. Major retailers have responded to rising theft since 2020 by locking up merchandise, upgrading security cameras, hiring private security firms and even closing stores. Still, the report indicates that shoplifting remains a stubborn problem. In Chicago, the rate of reported shoplifting incidents remained below pre-pandemic levels throughout 2023 — but surged by 46% from January to October 2024 compared with the same period a year ago. Shoplifting in Los Angeles was 87% higher in 2023 than in 2019. Police reports of shoplifting from January to October 2024 were lower than in 2023. Los Angeles adopted a new crime reporting system in March 2024, which has likely led to an undercount, according to the report. In New York, shoplifting rose 48% from 2021 to 2022, then dipped slightly last year. Still, the shoplifting rate was 55% higher in 2023 than in 2019. This year, the shoplifting rate increased by 3% from January to September compared with the same period last year. While shoplifting rates tend to rise in November and December, which coincides with in-person holiday shopping, data from the Council on Criminal Justice’s sample of 23 U.S. cities shows higher rates in the first half of 2024 compared with 2023. Researchers found it surprising that rates went up despite retailers doing more to fight shoplifting. Experts say the spike might reflect improved reporting efforts rather than a spike in theft. “As retailers have been paying more attention to shoplifting, we would not expect the numbers to increase,” said Ernesto Lopez, the report’s author and a senior research specialist with the council. “It makes it a challenge to understand the trends of shoplifting.” In downtown Chicago on a recent early afternoon, potential shoppers shuffled through the streets and nearby malls, browsing for gifts ahead of the holidays. Edward Johnson, a guard at The Shops at North Bridge, said that malls have become quieter in the dozen or so years he has worked in mall security, with the rise of online retailers. As for shoplifters, Johnson said there isn’t a single type of person to look out for — they can come from any background. “I think good-hearted people see something they can’t afford and figure nothing is lost if they take something from the store,” Johnson said as he patrolled the mall, keeping an eye out for lost or suspicious items. Between 2018 and 2023, most shoplifting in Chicago was reported in the downtown area, as well as in the Old Town, River North and Lincoln Park neighborhoods, according to a separate analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice. Newly sworn-in Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke this month lowered the threshold for charging retail theft as a felony in the county, which includes Chicago, from $1,000 to $300, aligning it with state law. “It sends a signal that she’s taking it seriously,” Rob Karr, the president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, told Stateline. Nationally, retailers are worried about organized theft. The National Retail Federation’s latest report attributed 36% of the $112.1 billion in lost merchandise in 2022 to “external theft,” which includes organized retail crime. Organized retail crime typically involves coordinated efforts by groups to steal items with the intent to resell them for a profit. Commonly targeted goods include high-demand items such as baby formula, laundry detergent and electronics. The same report found that retailers’ fear of violence associated with theft also is on the rise, with more retailers taking a “hands-off approach.” More than 41% of respondents to the organization’s 2023 survey, up from 38% in 2022, reported that no employee is authorized to try and stop a shoplifter. (The federation’s reporting has come under criticism. It retracted a claim last year that attributed nearly half of lost merchandise in 2021 to organized retail crime; such theft accounted for only about 5%. The group announced this fall it will no longer publish its reports on lost merchandise.) Policy experts say shoplifting and organized retail theft can significantly harm critical industries, drive up costs for consumers and reduce sales tax revenue for states. Those worries have driven recent state-level action to boost penalties for shoplifting. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of 10 bills into law in August aimed at addressing retail theft. These measures make repeated theft convictions a felony, allow aggregation of crimes across multiple counties to be charged as a single felony, and permit police to arrest suspects for retail theft even if the crime wasn’t witnessed directly by an officer. In September, Newsom signed an additional bill that imposes steeper felony penalties for large-scale theft offenses. California voters also overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in November that increases penalties for specific drug-related and theft crimes. Under the new law, people who are convicted of theft at least twice may face felony charges on their third offense, regardless of the stolen item’s value. “With these changes in the law, really it comes down to making sure that law enforcement is showing up to our stores in a timely manner, and that the prosecutors and the [district attorneys] are prosecuting,” Rachel Michelin, the president and CEO of the California Retailers Association, told Stateline. “That’s the only way we’re going to deter retail theft in our communities.” In New Jersey, a bipartisan bill making its way through the legislature would increase penalties for leading a shoplifting ring and allow extended sentences for repeat offenders. “This bill is going after a formally organized band of criminals that deliver such destruction to a critical business in our community. We have to act. We have to create a deterrence,” Democratic Assemblymember Joseph Danielsen, one of the bill’s prime sponsors, said in an interview with Stateline. The legislation would allow extended sentences for people convicted of shoplifting three times within 10 years or within 10 years of their release from prison, and would increase penalties to 10 to 20 years in prison for leading a retail crime ring. The bill also would allow law enforcement to aggregate the value of stolen goods over the course of a year to charge serial shoplifters with more serious offenses. Additionally, the bill would increase penalties for assaults committed against retail workers, and would require retailers to train employees on detecting gift card scams. Maryland legislators considered a similar bill during this year’s legislative session that would have defined organized retail theft and made it a felony. The bill didn’t make it out of committee, but Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Alliance, said the group plans to propose a bill during next year’s legislative session that would target gift card fraud. Better, more thorough reporting from retailers is essential to truly understanding shoplifting trends and its full impact, in part because some retail-related crimes, such as gift card fraud, are frequently underreported, according to Lopez, of the Council on Criminal Justice. Measuring crime across jurisdictions is notoriously difficult , and the council does not track organized retail theft specifically because law enforcement typically doesn’t identify it as such at the time of arrest — if an arrest even occurs — requiring further investigation, Lopez said. The council’s latest report found conflicting trends in the FBI’s national crime reporting systems. The FBI’s older system, the Summary Reporting System, known as SRS, suggests that reported shoplifting hadn’t gone up through 2023, remaining on par with 2019 levels. In contrast, the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, or NIBRS, shows a 93% increase in shoplifting over the same period. The discrepancy may stem from the type of law enforcement agencies that have adopted the latter system, Lopez said. Some of those communities may have higher levels of shoplifting or other types of property crime, which could be what is driving the spike, Lopez said. Despite the discrepancies and varying levels of shoplifting across the country, Lopez said, it’s important for retailers to report these incidents, as doing so could help allocate law enforcement resources more effectively. “All law enforcement agencies have limited resources, and having the most accurate information allows for not just better policy, but also better implementation — better use of strategic resources,” Lopez said. Stateline staff writer Robbie Sequeira contributed to this report. ©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Heidrick & Struggles Appoints Chief Financial OfficerIRVINE, Calif., Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncocyte Corp., (Nasdaq: OCX), a leading diagnostics technology company, today announced that Chief Executive Officer Josh Riggs and Chief Financial Officer Andrea James will attend “J.P. Morgan Week,” coinciding with the 43rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, from January 13-16, 2025. During this period, Oncocyte will host one-on-one meetings with interested investors. Investors wishing to schedule a meeting are encouraged to contact Julie Silber at PCG Advisory via email at jsilber@pcgadvisory.com . Event: “J.P. Morgan Week” Dates: January 13-16, 2025 Location: San Francisco, CA, USA About Oncocyte Oncocyte is a diagnostics technology company. The Company’s tests are designed to help provide clarity and confidence to physicians and their patients. VitaGraftTM is a clinical blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test. GraftAssureTM is a research use only (RUO) blood-based solid organ transplantation monitoring test. DetermaIOTM is a gene expression test that assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies. DetermaCNITM is a blood-based monitoring tool for monitoring therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients. For more information about Oncocyte, please visit https://oncocyte.com/ . For more information about our products, please visit the following web pages: VitaGraft KidneyTM – https://oncocyte.com/vitagraft-kidney/ VitaGraft LiverTM – https://oncocyte.com/vitagraft-liver/ GraftAssureTM – https://oncocyte.com/graftassure/ DetermaIOTM – https://oncocyte.com/determa-io/ DetermaCNITM – https://oncocyte.com/determa-cni/ VitaGraftTM, GraftAssureTM, DetermaIOTM, and DetermaCNITM are trademarks of Oncocyte Corporation. CONTACT: Jeff Ramson PCG Advisory (646) 863-6893 jramson@pcgadvisory.com

That bowl berth against Iowa State is a let-down for fans with dreams of a sixth national title in their minds, as well as players hoping to compete for a championship. However, Miami’s trip to Orlando and the lead-up to it are still crucial periods for the Hurricanes for multiple reasons. First, it’s a chance for the program to achieve something it has not done in more than two decades: win 11 games. Although the 11th win won’t get them closer to a championship, it is a good sign of the program’s progress over Mario Cristobal’s tenure. It would also end UM’s five-game losing streak in bowls. “We’re not satisfied,” Cristobal said. “We want to win every single game. We won 10. We were close on the other two, but close isn’t good enough. We want progress. We’re hungry and driven to get better, and so that’s what our focus is on: to improving as a football program, to getting better, to moving into the postseason with an opportunity against a great football team like this and putting our best on the field.” There are signs the Hurricanes will show up at close to full strength for the bowl game. Running back Damien Martinez announced he was going to play, and star quarterback Cam Ward said in a video call posted on social media that he intends to play, as well. “We’re trying to win our first bowl game in 20 years,” Ward said in the video, mistaking the length of UM’s long bowl losing streak. “We’re going hard.” Playing in the bowl game also provides the opportunity for the Hurricanes to get in several practices between now and the game. That means Miami can develop its young players and prepare them for next season during both the practices and the bowl game itself. “It’s extremely valuable,” Cristobal said. “You really don’t have many opportunities throughout the course of the year — time is limited more and more each season with your student-athletes. I want to state this and be very clear: it’s very important, it’s ultra-important for the University of Miami to continue to develop and grow and progress by stressing the importance of offseason opportunities ... You learn a lot about your team and learn a lot about your people and your program when you head to the postseason.” Of course, there are potential negatives. Players can get hurt; Mark Fletcher Jr. suffered a foot injury in the Pinstripe Bowl last year that cost him all of spring practice. A poor performance can also potentially set the tone for next season, like how Florida State, fresh off a playoff snub last year, suffered a devastating loss against Georgia in the Orange Bowl and went on to a dismal 2-10 season this year. “This is the ending of ’24 and the beginning of ’25,” Cristobal said. “This is the last opportunity to be on the field and carry some momentum into the offseason. So it is, in essence, it is the most important game because it’s the next game. “There’s a lot of excitement in the form of opportunity for our guys. Our guys love to play football. The chance to play one more time with this special group — this is a special group of guys now. They’ve worked hard to really change the trajectory of the University of Miami, and they want to continue to elevate the status and the culture at the University of Miami. So certainly a ton to play for.” ____

Published 5:03 pm Monday, December 23, 2024 By Harold Robinson East Carolina will be playing against North Carolina State in the Military Bowl Saturday at 5:45 p.m. That was the very bowl game Ruffin Mc Neill coached in the first year he was head coach at ECU. Lincoln Riley was the offensive coordinator and Brian Mitchell was the defensive coordinator. It was cold that week and Washington D. C. had a blanket of snow. A young head coach with several young assistant coaches that year, hmmm, this is what we have this year. Rather than play Maryland, as in the past, we will play our longtime, close to home rival, NC State. We will have to play our best game for us to win. We have a head coach with four games under his belt, coach Blake Harrell. The transfer portal will have a lot to do with the game. several East Carolina players have entered the transfer portal and will not be allowed to play. NCSU has the same problem. We will be going to the game and visiting my daughters! Annapolis is only hours from where they live in Ocean City MD. While visiting them for Christmas and getting in some shopping at the outlets there, we will go to the bowl game with the kids and cheer on the Pirates!! Wishing the Pirates all the luck in the world! Tracey and I will be cheering them on from the stands as always. I hope everyone has a great holiday with their families. Go Pirates! They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places Washington, N.C. The Original Washington! Harold Jr.GameStop: Fiscal Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Canada’s only Elevated Park is joining forces with other railway entities in St. Thomas. Seven years after the park opened on the former Michigan Central Rail Bridge, volunteers say it’s time for the next chapter and new leadership. Those behind the park have joined forces with the Railworks Coalition to help collaborate and grow. “We have a board structure and management and a bigger group of volunteers,” said Mat Janes, president of On Track St. Thomas, who manage the park. “Up to this point, it's been a small number of us that have been doing all the work. We hope to take advantage of Railworks standing in the community to bring some more people into the project as well.” The Railworks Coalition believes this is the natural next step, to unite all rail entities. “When this was all envisioned many years ago, it was to bring together all the rail, heritage and rail assets within St. Thomas and surrounding communities,” said Scott Sleightholm, president of Railworks Coalition. “Up until now, we have the Elgin County Railway Museum, CASO Station and BX Tower. When we were presented with the opportunity to bring in the Elevated Park, into the assets, I think it was a natural next step.” The park, which opened in 2017, recently received a boost from a local business. Entegrus has donated $10,000 to support enhancements. “What we're going to do is continue our tree planting program to the west of the bridge,” said Janes. “We call it the Arboretum Line because it's going to be all native trees identified. We're going to use it as an educational opportunity for people to learn about native trees. Then we'll also use it (the donation) for other improvements on the bridge, such as repairing the light sculpture.” It’s a partnership both parties believe will enable them to provide opportunities to attract new visitors, supporters, solidify the park’s impact on the region. “We've been expanding events at the CASO Station, the Elgin County Railway Museum, we can move to maybe bring back some more events and some different events over on the Elevated Park as well,” said Sleightholm. “We want to continue to push the rail heritage and the rail assets in St. Thomas-Elgin community.” Shopping Trends The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us. 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Stay ConnectedWe now live in a world where documentary filmmaking is constant. Through TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, many of us are fed a near-ceaseless stream of moving images drawn from the everyday, in the form of memes, skits, jokes, rants, in-depth critical analyses, and “look at this cool thing” slices of life. The downside of this is that we also live in a world where it’s getting harder and harder to trust what we see, because we don’t always know who’s behind those images, or why they were posted. Is that footage of a riot happening right now at some campus protest, or is it an old clip from another country, repurposed to look like breaking news? The best documentaries of this year came from trusted names: veteran filmmakers capable of finding stories in unexpected places and presenting them in ways that feel personal, meaningful and, above all, true. These films are set in prisons, museums, summer camps, and Hollywood recording studios. They feature activists, psychics, sperm donors, and movie stars. They mostly avoid gimmicks — there’s no Lego here — to focus on intimacy. They can’t be reduced to a one-minute loop or taken out of context. They demand that audiences sit with them in toto , both while watching and afterward. While they didn’t make this list, it’s worth acknowledging some documentaries from this year that tackled life in the internet and influencer age head-on, in ways that were thoughtful, entertaining, and moving. Consider this an honorable mentions list: The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (about a man who died young but lived a full secret life within World of Warcraft ), Skywalkers: A Love Story (about two young lovers who bond over filming themselves climbing up dangerously high urban spaces), and Seeking Mavis Beacon (about a search for the real-life model for a popular piece of typing software). These were all movies meant to make audiences think and feel, and they’ll likely be talked about in the years to come. Dahomey Where to watch: In theaters Though relatively short in running time, this haunting and meditative film about repatriated West African artifacts covers over a century of shared history between French colonists and the country now known as Benin. Director Mati Diop covers the return of 26 statues and other art pieces from Paris’ Musée du Quai Branly, following all the mundane steps it took to box them up, ship them off, and then put them on display again in their original home. Diop eschews conventional narration, choosing instead to include a voice-over from one of the statues, reflecting on all it has seen. Most of the words in Dahomey come from the locals who attend the exhibit and then argue — pointedly — about what these works represent and what they have to say, if anything, about their past and present. Daughters Where to watch: Netflix There’s an equal amount of hope and heartbreak in this film, which documents a special program that arranges for incarcerated men to attend a dance with their daughters — if they’re willing to complete a series of counseling sessions about what it means to be a good father. Natalie Rae co-directed Daughters with Angela Patton, one of the leaders of Girls for a Change, which offers resources and guidance to young women whose lives have been affected by poverty and crime. The documentary spends time with both the kids and their dads, in both the weeks leading up to the dance and in the weeks after, to tell a story about how broken families can have moments of unity and healing. Ernest Cole: Lost and Found Where to watch: In theaters The latest documentary from the ambitious Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck is similar to his 2016 masterpiece I Am Not Your Negro , in that it too ruminates on racism with the help of an influential artist’s unfinished project. Ernest Cole: Lost and Found uses the words of the acclaimed South African photographer Ernest Cole (read by LaKeith Stanfield) to tell Cole’s story: about how his pictures documenting apartheid’s cruelty shocked the conscience of the world, and about how after he achieved a measure of fame in the art and journalism worlds, he struggled to complete a series of photos that would document American poverty. The film is both a biography and an exhibition, bringing some rarely seen images out of the archives and explaining how they came to be. Flipside Where to watch: Prime Video (subscription or free with ads), free with a library card on Hoopla Over 25 years after Christopher Wilcha captured Generation X at its most “oh well, whatever, never mind” in his 1999 documentary The Target Shoots First , he checks back in with a film that explains what he’s been doing since. In short: He’s been paying the bills doing commercial work while starting a bunch of documentary projects that for one reason or another he’s been unable to complete. Flipside is a clever exercise in recycling, taking these unused pieces and finding a new purpose for them in a reflective documentary about aging and regret. If Wilcha weren’t such a disarmingly earnest fellow, this hodgepodge doc might seem terribly self-indulgent. But these fragments — which cover everything from a struggling New Jersey record store to Ira Glass’ attempt to turn This American Life into a musical — combine into an affecting meditation on the artistic impulse. Girls State Where to watch: Apple TV Plus A sequel to the Emmy-winning 2020 documentary Boys State , the new film from directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine moves the action from Texas to Missouri, taking place at a politics-themed summer camp where high school girls recreate the functions of a state government. They run for offices, draft resolutions, and hear court cases — all on the same college campus where Missouri Boys State is holding a similar program, albeit with more personal freedom and curricular rigor. As with the earlier film, Moss and McBaine stay away from simplistic political points, and they avoid painting their subjects as heroes or villains because of what they believe. Instead, Girls State shows compassion for a group of young ladies who earnestly intend to make new friends and learn leadership skills. The Greatest Night in Pop Where to watch: Netflix On the evening of Jan. 28, 1985, dozens of the era’s most popular recording artists arrived at a Hollywood recording studio to record their vocal parts for “We Are the World,” a charity single raising money for Ethiopian famine relief. The sessions were run by Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, who told the stars to “check [their] egos at the door.” But as the fun and fascinating documentary The Greatest Night in Pop shows, the real key to this session wasn’t in juggling all the different personalities but in managing the limited time they had to devote to the project. Through archival footage and new interviews, director Bao Nguyen reconstructs an exhilarating, exhausting night — stretching into the wee hours of the morning — where the likes of Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, and Bruce Springsteen were all bandmates, working together for a common cause. Look Into My Eyes Where to watch: Available for digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple TV Are professional psychics charlatans? Or are they more akin to therapists, helping their clients process feelings of grief and alienation? Lana Wilson’s Look Into My Eyes supports the latter argument, while also offering another provocative theory: that psychic readings are like improv theater, with both participants working together to create catharsis. Wilson combines testimonials from New York psychics — many of whom also work in the performing arts — with extended footage of their sessions, allowing the audience to experience the human connections that emerge whenever one person looks closely and empathetically at another. Night Is Not Eternal Where to watch: Max For the past decade, Nanfu Wang has been making documentaries that explore the ways authoritarianism’s ripples wash over — and swamp — ordinary citizens. Most of her work has been about her native China, while also touching on her adopted home, the United States. Night Is Not Eternal is a little bit about both, but it’s more about Cuba, as seen through the eyes of the activist Rosa María Payá Acevedo. A veteran of resistance politics whose family has been fighting for freedom since the early years of Fidel Castro’s regime, Acevedo leads Wang into a different kind of dissident culture, with a deep distrust of leftist politics. Through conversations and personal reflections, Wang considers how even social movements with similar aims can’t be painted with a broad brush. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat Where to watch: Theaters This essay-film takes a striking approach to the Cold War, quickly cutting together archival TV clips and text from old books and newspapers to create a sort of cinematic collage. The resulting picture covers three intertwining themes: the battle for control of the United Nations between American- and Soviet-aligned leaders, the rising popularity of jazz music around the world, and the decolonization movement in Africa. Gradually a story emerges about how the U.S. relied on its cultural exports to help spread democracy publicly, while privately the foreign policy wonks worked to keep resource-rich African nations under European control — and all while the socialist bloc used American racism as a propaganda tool. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat director Johan Grimonprez doesn’t make any of these points explicitly, but rather lets the audience stew in a swirl of images and sounds, immersing them in a politically complicated era. Spermworld Where to watch: Hulu Filmmaker Lance Oppenheim flirted with the mainstream this year with his buzzy HBO miniseries Ren Faire , about the backstage melodrama at a venerable Texas Renaissance festival. But for a more concentrated dose of Oppenheim’s offbeat approach to documentaries, the movie to watch is Spermworld , which follows three men who offer their semen to women who can’t afford a conventional sperm bank. Shot like an art film — with an eye for color and light, and an emphasis on small, quirky moments — Spermworld is only partly about the practical realities of this strange subculture. It’s more about the urge to procreate itself, and how clumsy, fragile, and beautiful the whole process can be. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story W here to watch: Available for digital rental/purchase on Amazon, Apple TV It’s not easy to take a story as widely known as Christopher Reeve’s and make it feel fresh. When the Superman star was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident in 1995, his injury and subsequent advocacy was covered in depth by the media, all the way up to his death in 2004. For this film, though, co-directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui had access to rare home-movie footage, supplemented with interviews with Reeve’s family and excerpts from the audiobooks of his memoirs. Following the lead of its title, Super/Man is divided evenly between stories about Reeve’s movie star heyday and stories about his post-accident life, cutting back and forth between the two, making it clear that the man who could fly had bad days, the man in the wheelchair had good days, and both inspired millions. Will & Harper Where to watch: Netflix The concept of this funny, poignant road trip documentary is simple. Will Ferrell, one of the most likable comedians of his era, drives across the country with a close friend and collaborator he’s known since Saturday Night Live . The twist? The friend, Harper Steele, recently transitioned, and this will be the first extended time these two spend together since the change. Their bond remains strong, which is what makes Will & Harper so affecting. These two can talk about anything. And they both have a lot to learn: Harper about what it’s like for Will to walk around all the time as a goofy celebrity, and Will about the dozens of daily slights that make it harder for Harper to live as her true self. Best of the Year Entertainment Movies Polygon Lists Polygon Picks Special Issues What to Watch

ANDOVER, Mass. , Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TransMedics Group, Inc. ("TransMedics") (Nasdaq: TMDX ), a medical technology company that is transforming organ transplant therapy for patients with end-stage lung, heart, and liver failure, today announced the appointment of Mr. Gerardo Hernandez as the Company's Chief Financial Officer, effective December 2, 2024 . In this role, Mr. Hernandez joins the TransMedics executive leadership team, succeeding Mr. Stephen Gordon . To enable a smooth transition, Mr. Gordon will remain a non-executive employee of the Company until March 31, 2025 , before serving as a non-employee senior advisor to the Company focusing on national transplant stakeholder engagement until March 31, 2026 . TransMedics also updated its 2024 financial outlook. Dr. Waleed Hassanein , Mr. Gerardo Hernandez and Mr. Stephen Gordon will attend the upcoming Piper Sandler Conference on December 3, 2024 , the TransMedics Investor & Analyst Day on December 10, 2024 , as well as the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January 2025 . Mr. Hernandez is an accomplished finance leader with over 25 years of experience across the healthcare and consumer packaged goods (CPG) sectors. He most recently served as Vice President Finance, Head of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on RNAi therapeutics. In this role, Mr. Hernandez led a global team as the company scaled rapidly. Prior to his role at Alnylam, Mr. Hernandez spent nearly a decade at Shire, where he rose through the organization, eventually leading corporate FP&A. During his tenure, Shire was acquired by Takeda in a $62 billion transaction, after which he was instrumental in the integration effort. Mr. Hernandez began his career at Unilever where he held several finance roles of increasing responsibility before joining Shire in 2010. Mr. Hernandez holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin , La Crosse and an MBA in Strategy and Economics from Fundação Getulio Vargas , Sao Paulo, Brazil . "Stephen has been an exceptional partner to me as a member of the TransMedics leadership team for nearly a decade. During his tenure we transitioned the Company from a clinical stage organization to a high growth, publicly traded commercial business," said Waleed Hassanein , M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer. "On behalf of the entire management team and the Board, I want to thank Stephen for his countless contributions to our business that will have lasting benefits for the Company. I am grateful for Stephen's dedication and efforts to advance our corporate strategy while delivering considerable shareholder value, and I look forward to his continued partnership to affect a smooth transition as we start our next chapter at TransMedics." "I am delighted to welcome Gerardo to the TransMedics leadership team as our new Chief Financial Officer," added Dr. Hassanein. "His proven record over two decades of leadership across FP&A functions within high-growth, complex global organizations makes him an ideal addition to our team. I am looking forward to partnering with Gerardo as we continue to deliver significant long-term corporate growth and shareholder value." "I am thrilled to join TransMedics as Chief Financial Officer," said Mr. Hernandez. "I look forward to working with the entire leadership team to expand access to the Company's unparalleled products and services in the organ transplant field while enhancing operational efficiency and delivering lasting value to both our shareholders and the patients we serve." Dr. Hassanein concluded, "As we enter the final weeks of the fourth quarter, we are also updating our financial outlook for the full year 2024. Our updated guidance reflects our continued expectation for considerable year-over-year revenue growth. We look forward to providing additional context at our upcoming Investor & Analyst Day." 2024 Financial Outlook TransMedics now expects revenue for the full year 2024 to be in the range of $428 million to $432 million, which represents 77% to 79% growth compared to the Company's prior year revenue. Piper Sandler 36th Annual Healthcare Conference Members of the TransMedics management team will participate in a fireside chat at the upcoming Piper Sandler 36th Annual Healthcare Conference at the Lotte New York Palace. The fireside chat will take place on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 , at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time . A live and archived webcast of the fireside chat will be available on the "Investors" section of the TransMedics website at https://investors.transmedics.com . The Company's standard investor presentation is also available through this link. TransMedics Investor & Analyst Day Details TransMedics will discuss the transition and updated financial outlook, as well as the Company's growth strategy, clinical pipeline, and operations, in greater detail at its Investor & Analyst Day in New York City on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 , at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time . A live and archived webcast of presentations and Q&A sessions will be available on the "Investors" section of the TransMedics website at https://investors.transmedics.com . Please note management will only take questions from the live audience during the question-and-answer session following formal presentations. About TransMedics Group, Inc. TransMedics is the world's leader in portable extracorporeal warm perfusion and assessment of donor organs for transplantation. Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts , the company was founded to address the unmet need for more and better organs for transplantation and has developed technologies to preserve organ quality, assess organ viability prior to transplant, and potentially increase the utilization of donor organs for the treatment of end-stage heart, lung, and liver failure. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, a leadership transition and our full-year guidance. For this purpose, all statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "could," "target," "predict," "seek" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Our management cannot predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in or implied by any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Some of the key factors that could cause actual results to differ include: our ability to maintain profitability on a sustained basis; our ability to attract, train and retain key personnel; our existing and any future indebtedness, including our ability to comply with affirmative and negative covenants under our credit agreement to which we will remain subject until maturity; the fluctuation of our financial results from quarter to quarter; our need to raise additional funding and our ability to obtain it on favorable terms, or at all; our ability to use net operating losses and research and development credit carryforwards; our dependence on the success of the Organ Care System or OCS; our ability to expand access to the OCS through our National OCS Program or NOP; our ability to scale our manufacturing and sterilization capabilities to meet increasing demand for our products; the rate and degree of market acceptance of the OCS; our ability to educate patients, surgeons, transplant centers and private and public payors on the benefits offered by the OCS; our ability to improve the OCS platform and develop the next generation of the OCS products; our dependence on a limited number of customers for a significant portion of our revenue; our ability to maintain regulatory approvals or clearances for our OCS products in the United States , the European Union, and other select jurisdictions worldwide; our ability to adequately respond to the Food and Drug Administration or FDA, or other competent authorities, follow-up inquiries in a timely manner; the performance of our third-party suppliers and manufacturers; our use of third parties to transport donor organs and medical personnel for our NOP and our ability to maintain and grow our logistics capabilities to support our NOP and reduce dependence on third party transportation, including by means of attracting, training and retaining pilots, and the acquisition, maintenance or replacement of fixed-wing aircraft for our aviation transportation services or other acquisitions, joint ventures or strategic investments; our ability to maintain Federal Aviation Administration or FAA or other regulatory licenses or approvals for our aircraft transportation services; price increases of the components of our products and maintenance, parts and fuel for our aircraft; the timing or results of post-approval studies and any clinical trials for the OCS; our manufacturing, sales, marketing and clinical support capabilities and strategy; attacks against our information technology infrastructure; the economic, political and other risks associated with our foreign operations; our ability to protect, defend, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights relating to the OCS and avoid allegations that our products infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate the intellectual property rights of third parties; the pricing of the OCS, as well as the reimbursement coverage for the OCS in the United States and internationally; regulatory developments in the United States, European Union and other jurisdictions; the extent and success of competing products or procedures that are or may become available; our ability to service our 1.50% convertible senior notes, due 2028; the impact of any product recalls or improper use of our products; our estimates regarding revenues, expenses and needs for additional financing; and other factors that may be described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Additional information will be made available in our annual and quarterly reports and other filings that we make with the SEC. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and we are not able to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law. Investor Contact: Brian Johnston Laine Morgan 332-895-3222 [email protected] SOURCE TransMedics Group, Inc.

Steelers WR George Pickens returns to practice, hopeful to play against Chiefs

A bid by The Onion satirical news outlet to buy Alex Jones' conspiracy theory platform Infowars returned Monday to a Texas courtroom, where a judge heard arguments on whether a bankruptcy auction was properly run as Jones alleges collusion and fraud. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston is looking into the November auction and how a trustee chose The Onion over the only other bidder — a company affiliated with Jones that offered twice as much money as The Onion. The judge said the hearing would last into Monday evening and pick up again on Tuesday afternoon. The sale of Infowars is part of Jones' personal bankruptcy case , which he filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. Jones repeatedly called the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors and aimed at increasing gun control. Most of the proceeds from the sale of Infowars, as well as many of Jones' personal assets, will go to the Sandy Hook families to help satisfy judgments issued by juries and judges in state courts in Connecticut and Texas. Some proceeds will go to Jones' other creditors. The Onion, which wants to turn Infowars' website and social media accounts into parodies , offered $1.75 million for Infowars' assets in the auction, while First United American Companies — which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements — bid $3.5 million. The Onion's bid also included a pledge by many of the Sandy Hook families to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds due to them to give other creditors a total of $100,000 more than they would receive under other bids. The trustee, Christopher Murray, chose The Onion, saying its proposal was better for creditors because they would receive more money. Joshua Wolfshohl, an attorney for Murray, told the judge Monday that no wrongdoing occurred during the auction. He called the complaints by Jones and First United American Companies unfounded. “The vast majority of their complaints are just fantastic, imagined conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality," he said. Jones' lawyer, Ben Broocks, questioned Murray's rationale for choosing The Onion and alleged that a recent deposition of the trustee showed improprieties. He also questioned the validity of The Onion's bid, saying it was technically valued at $7 million because of the incentive offered by the Sandy Hook families. An auction company executive involved in the sale testified most of the afternoon. In court filings, Jones and First United American Companies accused Murray, The Onion and the Sandy Hook families of illegally colluding on the bidding, committing fraud and violating the judge's rules for the auction. Murray, The Onion and the families deny the allegations. In his own court filing, Murray called the allegations “a disappointed bidder’s improper attempt to influence an otherwise fair and open auction process.” Up for sale at the auction were all the equipment and other assets in the Infowars studio in Austin, Texas, as well as its social media accounts, websites, video archive and product trademarks. Jones uses the studio to broadcast his far-right, conspiracy theory-filled shows on the Infowars website, his account on the social platform X and radio stations. Jones has set up another studio, websites and social media accounts in case The Onion wins approval to buy Infowars and kicks him out. Jones has said he could continue using the Infowars platforms if the auction winner is friendly to him. Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments citing free speech rights but has acknowledged that the school shooting happened . On Friday, a Connecticut appeals court reduced by $150 million the original $1.44 billion judgment against Jones in the lawsuit against him in that state, but upheld the rest of the award. Jones' lawyer said he will ask Connecticut's highest court to review the appellate ruling. Jones is also appealing a $50 million judgment in a similar Texas defamation lawsuit.Us Weekly has affiliate partnerships. We receive compensation when you click on a link and make a purchase. Learn more! I once tested over 40 mascaras in two months for an article. Yes, really . As a beauty writer, I get to find the best formulas and products for beauty enthusiasts like myself to add to their collections. At the time, I was loyal to a mascara I had used since high school, but once Too Faced’s Better Than Sex instantly lifted, curled and enhanced my lashes in a few swipes, I was converted. I always keep one or two extras on my hand, so I had to sound the alarm when I saw this mascara duo for 30% off at Ulta. Better Than Sex Mascara really packs a punch. Once you apply the product, it works to create full, defined lashes that appear significantly longer. How? The film-forming polymer formula keeps hairs in place while the included acacia-senegal-tree extract increases volume. There is also a unique blend of peptides that condition lashes. I even appreciate the brush, which offers an hourglass shape that hits and separates each lash. Get the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara Duo for $28 (originally $39) at Ulta Don’t just take my word for it. Ulta shoppers are also repeat buyers of the mascara. “This is a staple in your makeup routine!” one reviewer wrote. “I get so many compliments on how long my natural lashes are when wearing this! This is my third tube and I will buy it again and again!” “Absolutely love this brand of mascara,” another shared. “No smudging no flaking. It is the best out there hands-down. I will never buy another brand. My eyes have never looked better.” A final shopper shared: “I love this mascara. I have super short, super fine lashes but when I put this on, pow, my lashes are full and plush. They almost look fake. It’s a 100% buy.” I was shocked to find the mascara marked down during the holidays. This is the best time to try it for yourself or stock up if you’re already loyal to using this pick. Get the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara Duo for $28 (originally $39) at Ulta Check our latest news in Google News Check our latest news in Apple News

Steelers WR George Pickens returns to practice, hopeful to play against Chiefs