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President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies that would pose significant conflicts of interest. Oz’s holdings, some shared with family, included a stake in UnitedHealth Group worth as much as $600,000, as well as shares of pharmaceutical firms and tech companies with business in the health care sector, such as Amazon. Collectively, Oz’s investments total tens of millions of dollars, according to financial disclosures he filed during his failed 2022 run for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat. Trump said Tuesday he would nominate Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency’s scope is huge: CMS oversees coverage for more than 160 million Americans, nearly half the population. Medicare alone accounts for approximately $1 trillion in annual spending, with over 67 million enrollees. UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest health care companies in the nation and arguably the most important business partner of CMS, through which it is the leading provider of commercial health plans available to Medicare beneficiaries. UnitedHealth also offers managed-care plans under Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for low-income people, and sells plans on government-run marketplaces set up via the Affordable Care Act. Oz also had smaller stakes in CVS Health, which now includes the insurer Aetna, and in the insurer Cigna. It’s not clear if Oz, a heart surgeon by training, still holds investments in health care companies, or if he would divest his shares or otherwise seek to mitigate conflicts of interest should he be confirmed by the Senate. Reached by phone on Wednesday, he said he was in a Zoom meeting and declined to comment. An assistant did not reply to an email message with detailed questions. “It’s obvious that over the years he’s cultivated an interest in the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry,” said Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group. “That raises a question of whether he can be trusted to act on behalf of the American people.” (The publisher of KFF Health News, David Rousseau, is on the CSPI board .) Oz used his TikTok page on multiple occasions in November to praise Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including their efforts to take on the “illness-industrial complex,” and he slammed “so-called experts like the big medical societies” for dishing out what he called bad nutritional advice. Oz’s positions on health policy have been chameleonic; in 2010, he cut an ad urging Californians to sign up for insurance under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, telling viewers they had a “historic opportunity.” Oz’s 2022 financial disclosures show that the television star invested a substantial part of his wealth in health care and food firms. Were he confirmed to run CMS, his job would involve interacting with giants of the industry that have contributed to his wealth. Given the breadth of his investments, it would be difficult for Oz to recuse himself from matters affecting his assets, if he still holds them. “He could spend his time in a rocking chair” if that happened, Lurie said. In the past, nominees for government positions with similar potential conflicts of interest have chosen to sell the assets or otherwise divest themselves. For instance, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Attorney General Merrick Garland agreed to divest their holdings in relevant, publicly traded companies when they joined the Biden administration. Trump, however, declined in his first term to relinquish control of his own companies and other assets while in office, and he isn’t expected to do so in his second term. He has not publicly indicated concern about his subordinates’ financial holdings. CMS’ main job is to administer Medicare. About half of new enrollees now choose Medicare Advantage, in which commercial insurers provide their health coverage, instead of the traditional, government-run program, according to an analysis from KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Proponents of Medicare Advantage say the private plans offer more compelling services than the government and better manage the costs of care. Critics note that Medicare Advantage plans have a long history of costing taxpayers more than the traditional program. UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna are all substantial players in the Medicare Advantage market. It’s not always a good relationship with the government. The Department of Justice filed a 2017 complaint against UnitedHealth alleging the company used false information to inflate charges to the government. The case is ongoing. Oz is an enthusiastic proponent of Medicare Advantage. In 2020, he proposed offering Medicare Advantage to all; during his Senate run, he offered a more general pledge to expand those plans. After Trump announced Oz’s nomination for CMS, Jeffrey Singer, a senior fellow at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, said he was “uncertain about Dr. Oz’s familiarity with health care financing and economics.” Singer said Oz’s Medicare Advantage proposal could require large new taxes — perhaps a 20% payroll tax — to implement. Oz has gotten a mixed reception from elsewhere in Washington. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, the Democrat who defeated Oz in 2022, signaled he’d potentially support his appointment to CMS. “If Dr. Oz is about protecting and preserving Medicare and Medicaid, I’m voting for the dude,” he said on the social platform X. Oz’s investments in companies doing business with the federal government don’t end with big insurers. He and his family also hold hospital stocks, according to his 2022 disclosure, as well as a stake in Amazon worth as much as nearly $2.4 million. (Candidates for federal office are required to disclose a broad range of values for their holdings, not a specific figure.) Amazon operates an internet pharmacy, and the company announced in June that its subscription service is available to Medicare enrollees. It also owns a primary care service , One Medical, that accepts Medicare and “select” Medicare Advantage plans. Oz was also directly invested in several large pharmaceutical companies and, through investments in venture capital funds, indirectly invested in other biotech and vaccine firms. Big Pharma has been a frequent target of criticism and sometimes conspiracy theories from Trump and his allies. Kennedy, whom Trump has said he’ll nominate to be Health and Human Services secretary, is a longtime anti-vaccine activist. During the Biden administration, Congress gave Medicare authority to negotiate with drug companies over their prices. CMS initially selected 10 drugs. Those drugs collectively accounted for $50.5 billion in spending between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023, under Medicare’s Part D prescription drug benefit. At least four of those 10 medications are manufactured by companies in which Oz held stock, worth as much as about $50,000. Oz may gain or lose financially from other Trump administration proposals. For example, as of 2022, Oz held investments worth as much as $6 million in fertility treatment providers. To counter fears that politicians who oppose abortion would ban in vitro fertilization, Trump floated during his campaign making in vitro fertilization treatment free. It’s unclear whether the government would pay for the services. In his TikTok videos from earlier in November, Oz echoed attacks on the food industry by Kennedy and other figures in his “Make America Healthy Again” movement. They blame processed foods and underregulation of the industry for the poor health of many Americans, concerns shared by many Democrats and more mainstream experts. But in 2022, Oz owned stakes worth as much as $80,000 in Domino’s Pizza, Pepsi, and US Foods, as well as more substantial investments in other parts of the food chain, including cattle; Oz reported investments worth as much as $5.5 million in a farm and livestock, as well as a stake in a dairy-free milk startup. He was also indirectly invested in the restaurant chain Epic Burger. One of his largest investments was in the Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain Wawa, which sells fast food and all manner of ultra-processed snacks. Oz and his wife reported a stake in the company, beloved by many Pennsylvanians, worth as much as $30 million. ( KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.) ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Hunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO's killer yields new evidence, few answersThe hunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO's elusive killer yields new evidence, but few answers

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggled with deputies and shouted Tuesday while arriving for a court appearance in Pennsylvania, a day after he was arrested at a McDonald’s and charged with murder. Luigi Nicholas Mangione emerged from a patrol car, spun toward reporters and shouted something partly unintelligible referring to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people” while deputies pushed him inside. Prosecutors were beginning to take steps to bring Mangione back to New York while new details emerged about his life and how he was captured. The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family was charged with murder hours after he was arrested in the Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson , who led the United States’ largest medical insurance company. At the brief hearing, defense lawyer Thomas Dickey informed the court that Mangione will not waive extradition to New York but instead wants a hearing on the issue. Mangione was denied bail after prosecutors said he was too dangerous to be released. Mangione, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, mostly stared straight ahead at the hearing, occasionally consulting papers, rocking in his chair or looking back at the gallery. At one point, he began to speak to respond to the court discussion but was quieted by his lawyer. A law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press said that at the time of his arrest, Mangione was carrying a handwritten document expressing anger with what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain for corporate greed and power. He wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world and that profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, according to the bulletin. In social media posts, Mangione called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary," according to the police bulletin. Kaczynski carried out a series of bombings while railing against modern society and technology. Mangione remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Manhattan prosecutors have obtained an arrest warrant, a step that could help expedite his extradition from Pennsylvania. Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania — about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City — after a McDonald's customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said. Officers found him sitting at a back table, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to a Pennsylvania police criminal complaint. He initially gave them a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione whether he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint says. When he pulled his mask down at officers' request, “we knew that was our guy,” rookie Officer Tyler Frye said. Images of Mangione released Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police showed him pulling down his mask in the corner of the McDonald's while holding what appeared to be hash browns and wearing a winter jacket and beanie. In another photo from a holding cell, he stood unsmiling with rumpled hair. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mangione was carrying a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione also had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America." A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone. “To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official. It also had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.” Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. Police quickly came to see the shooting as a targeted attack by a gunman who appeared to wait for Thompson, came up behind him and fired a 9 mm pistol. Investigators have said “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on ammunition found near Thompson's body. The words mimic “delay, deny, defend,” a phrase used to criticize the insurance industry . From surveillance video, New York investigators determined the shooter quickly fled the city, likely by bus. A grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, Mangione is a cousin of a current Maryland state legislator. Valedictorian at his elite Baltimore prep school, he went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesperson said. “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland Del. Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.” From January to June 2022, Luigi Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu. Like other residents of the shared penthouse catering to remote workers, Mangione underwent a background check, said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for owner and founder R.J. Martin. “Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said. "There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.” At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said. Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment. Martin stopped hearing from Mangione six months to a year ago. ___ Scolforo reported from Altoona and Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Contributing were Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Michael Rubinkam and Maryclaire Dale in Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore; and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu.

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Commissioning of projects not to bait voters – Oppong NkrumahTV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to leadChampions League: RB Leipzig 2 Aston Villa 3 Aston Villa’s impressive Champions League debut continued as they strengthened their chances of automatic qualification to the last 16 after a 3-2 win at RB Leipzig. Ross Barkley’s 85th-minute winner gave them victory after they had twice squandered the lead in Germany. John McGinn and Jhon Duran goals at the start of each half were cancelled out by Lois Openda and Christoph Baumgartner. But Barkley had the final say less than two minutes after coming off the bench as his deflected effort earned the points which sent his side third in the new Champions League league phase. John McGinn put Villa ahead (PA Wire via DPA) The top eight automatically qualify for the next stage and with games against Monaco and Celtic to come, Unai Emery’s men are a good bet to avoid the need for a play-off round in their first foray in this competition. Leipzig are out, having lost all six of their games. Villa enjoyed a dream start and were ahead with less than three minutes on the clock. Matty Cash, playing in a more advanced position on the right, crossed for Ollie Watkins, who nodded down into the path of McGinn and the skipper made no mistake from close range. That gave the visitors confidence and they had enough chances in the first 15 minutes to have the game wrapped up. Lois Openda missed a chance for the hosts (Jan Woitas/AP) Lucas Digne’s cross from the left was begging to be converted but Watkins could not make contact from close range and then Morgan Rogers shot straight at Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. Then Youri Tielemans found himself with time and space on the edge of the area from Watkins’ tee-up but the Belgium international disappointingly dragged wide. All that good work was undone in the 27th minute, though, as Emiliano Martinez was left red-faced. The Argentinian was too casual waiting to collect Nicolas Seiwald’s long ball and Openda nipped in to get the ball first and tap into an empty net. pic.twitter.com/LGoAMrLkQy — Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 10, 2024 Duran was introduced at the break and needed just a couple of minutes to fire a warning when he drilled wide after a loose ball fell to him 14 yards out. But the Colombian got his goal in the 52nd minute, though it was another moment for the goalkeeper to forget. Duran was invited to drive forward and unleashed a 25-yard shot, which was hardly an Exocet, but still was too much for Gulacsi, who barely even jumped. It was his 10th goal of the season and sixth from the bench as he continues his super-sub role. 😍 pic.twitter.com/ZHeVFiYUW9 — Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 10, 2024 The striker was not complaining and he thought he had doubled his tally shortly after when he converted Cash’s centre but the provider was ruled offside by VAR. Five minutes later, Villa found themselves pegged back again with a finish of real quality. Openda was sent clear by another long ball and his cross was perfect for Baumgartner to cushion a far-post volley back across goal and into the corner. Digne brought a save out of Gulacsi and then Openda shot straight at Martinez as both sides pushed for a winner. It was Villa who got it as Barkley saw his deflected effort wrong-foot Gulacsi and hit the back of the net. RB Leipzig: Gulacsi, Seiwald, Geertruida, Orban, Henrichs, Baumgartner, Vermeeren (Klostermann 84), Haidara (Kampl 46), Nusa, Sesko (Andre Silva 76), Openda. Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Diego Carlos, Torres, Digne (Maatsen 83), Tielemans (Barkley 83), Kamara, Cash (Nedeljkovic 71), Rogers, McGinn (Buendia 76), Watkins (Duran 46). Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy).

NEW YORK — Police don't know who he is, where he is, or why he did it. As the frustrating search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer got underway for a fifth day Sunday, investigators reckoned with a tantalizing contradiction: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. One conclusion they are confident of, however: It was a targeted attack , not a random one. They know he ambushed Thompson at 6:44 a.m. Wednesday as the executive arrived at the Hilton for his company’s annual investor conference, using a 9 mm pistol that resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise. They know ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics . The fact that the shooter knew UnitedHealthcare group was holding a conference at the hotel and what route Thompson might take to get there suggested that he could possibly be a disgruntled employee or client, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. Police divers were seen searching a pond in Central Park, where the killer fled after the shooting. Officers have been scouring the park for days for any possible clues and found his backpack there Friday. They didn’t immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analyzed. On Sunday morning, police declined to comment on the contents of the backpack, or on the results of the search in the pond, saying no updates were planned. Investigators have urged patience, saying the process of logging evidence that stands up in court isn’t as quick as it looks like on TV . Hundreds of detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public and interviewing people who might have information, including Thompson’s family and coworkers and the shooter’s randomly assigned roommates at the Manhattan hostel where he stayed. Investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment at the hostel in which he briefly showed his face. Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus soon after the shooting outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, Kenny said. With the high-profile search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone. Police distributed the images to news outlets and on social media but so far haven’t been able to ID him using facial recognition — possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology, Kenny said. Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspected shooter that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue, medical-style mask.Washington (CNN) — The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA, officially opened Thursday for students seeking financial aid for college during the 2025-2026 school year. The form traditionally opens on October 1, but the Department of Education delayed the release in an effort to avoid a repeat of last year’s rocky rollout after making significant updates to the application. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed concern that the problems would prevent some low-income students from attending college at all. Submitting the form is required for students to access federal Pell grants, student loans and other kinds of financial aid and is filled out by millions of people annually. The department has been testing the 2025-26 form by allowing a limited number of students and families to submit the application since October 1. Officials had expected to officially release the form on December 1 but pushed up the opening date after conducting four testing phases. “The results throughout the beta testing have been really encouraging,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on a call with reporters. As of Tuesday morning, 167,000 applications had been successfully submitted. “The 2025-26 FAFSA form is ready for prime time and is available both online and on paper,” Cardona said. Earlier this week, both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed a bill that, if signed into law, will legally require the Department of Education to open the FAFSA form on October 1 each year going forward. Late last December, a new version of the FAFSA form – a culmination of changes approved by Congress in 2019 and 2020 – was released. The changes make the FAFSA easier to fill out and deliver more financial aid to students and families, but the implementation was plagued with problems. The botched rollout resulted in significant delays for students, many of whom were still waiting for financial aid award letters – which show how much they will have to pay for college – when trying to decide where to enroll for the coming fall. An earlier analysis from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that FAFSA submissions were down 3%, or by 432,000, compared with the year before as of late August – when most college fall terms begin – and that the drop in applications was the largest for low-income students. The Department of Education has said that the submissions gap fell to about 2% in September and that more students qualified for Pell grants, which are awarded to the lowest-income students. Many students whose parents do not have Social Security numbers experienced challenges submitting the 2024-25 form as they waited for the government to verify their identity through other means. Now, those students are allowed to submit the 2025-26 FAFSA even if their parent’s identity has yet to be verified. Before submitting the FAFSA through the Federal Student Aid website , a student must create a username and password with Federal Student Aid, known as an FSA ID . Parents of dependent students must also create an FSA ID and fill out a portion of the application. The number of questions on the FAFSA vary by applicant, based on his or her financial circumstance, but there are roughly two-thirds fewer questions as of last year’s form than in previous years. It’s easier to fill out than in years past because some information is now directly taken from a filer’s tax return so that an applicant won’t have to go hunting for information. Additionally, a handful of questions have been eliminated on the updated form. It’s expected to take most people less than an hour to fill out the FAFSA form, including gathering any information needed to complete it. The Department of Education has added 700 agents to its contact center since January and will add 225 more over the next few weeks to help support students and families submit the form. It also added extended FAFSA-only weeknight and Saturday contact center hours. The-CNN-Wire TM & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.No. 24 Illinois stuns Rutgers on Bryant's 40-yard TD reception with 4 seconds leftBy SARAH PARVINI, GARANCE BURKE and JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make life-altering decisions for immigrants, including whether they should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency’s supervision. The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden’s AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how they plan to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, “limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people “may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.

Mike McCarthy's future in Dallas has seemingly been in question every year since he's taken the job and this season is no different. At 4-7, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked on Tuesday whether or not it would be "crazy" to give his McCarthy a contract extension at the end of the season. To which the Jones replied that it wasn't. Later in the day, the head coach attempted to make light of Jones' comments when asked about them during his Week 13 presser. Tune in LIVE as head coach Mike McCarthy hosts a press conference from @TheStarinFrisco 📺: #NYGvsDAL 11/28 on FOX https://t.co/ah5huYyUFR "Why are you laughing?" McCarthy smiled . "Crazy? I mean... I really haven't talked about it all year, so I'm definitely not going to start on a short week and an important division game." "But I'm not going to throw away positive vibes either, so keep 'em coming," the coach added. "That's all good. But, yeah, that's not something I'm really focused on." According to Adam Schefter, " anything " is on the table when it comes to how the team handles its coaching situation. "Anything's possible. They have to play well down the stretch," the NFL insider told Unsportsmanlike Radio. "I think Mike McCarthy is a good head coach. ... To me, he certainly worthy of being kept in Dallas. Do I think it's going to happen? I don't think he'll be back in Dallas would be my guess today." Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images "But again, six-seven weeks to play out, they won on Sunday, all of a sudden we've got certain Cowboys fans dreaming of the fact they can make an unlikely push here and win some games and make the latter part of the season interesting." At this point McCarthy is likely numb to the talk surrounding his job security. But for now, his focus is on beating Tommy DeVito and the New York Giants on Thanksgiving Day. Related: NFL Fans React To Possibility Of Mike McCarthy Returning In 2025

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