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Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | San Francisco’s fentanyl deportations show rare unity with Donald Trump National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Calmes: A peaceful transfer of power — you can thank Biden National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | Bill Clinton is hospitalized with a fever but in good spirits, spokesperson says But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Nearly every autopsy of Vice President Kamala Harris’s stinging White House defeat begins with some variation of the phrase, “Voters pointed to the rising price of food as their chief concern...” True or not–and more on that later–the Trump campaign tied that tin can so tightly to Harris that everywhere she went complaints like “the high price of eggs,” “failed Bidenomics,” and “wouldn’t change a thing” got there long before she did. ADVERTISEMENT Try as she might, the Harris campaign didn’t mount an effective response–either in person or through its unprecedented $1.4 billion advertising budget–to counter the damaging claims. And the complaints had traction; for a month they rolled right over Harris. The Trump campaign wasn’t wrong about rising food costs in the Biden years; it was wrong, however, to blame it entirely on Biden Administration policies. The stage was set for higher prices–and not just in food–during the first Trump Administration's painfully slow initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic that took root in Jan. 2020. At least that’s what the best food price analysts on the planet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS), noted in their latest “Food Prices and Spending” report on Nov. 1. According to ERS, “From 2019 to 2023, the all-food Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 25.0 percent–a higher increase than the all-items CPI, which grew at 19.2 percent over the same period.” While food prices increased less than transportation costs, “(T)hey rose faster than housing, medical care, and all other major categories.” So, yes, food prices soared during the Biden Administration but the rise wasn’t because Democrats lived in the White House, the ERS report continues. Instead, “Food price increases in 2020-21 were largely driven by shifting consumption patterns and supply chain disruptions resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic,” explains ERS. Recall the spring of 2020 when Covid hit the food market like a meteor. It knocked everything–production, delivery, sales, worker safety–miles from any semblance of normal. Hoarding then quickly undermined the food sector even more. ADVERTISEMENT Then two big shocks, neither related to American politics, slammed the slowly recovering food sector in 2022: an outbreak of deadly avian influenza (which, to date, has killed 71 million egg-laying hens and 14 million turkeys in the U.S.) and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a global leader in food exports. “In 2022, food prices increased faster than any year since 1979,” given the impact of both events, “which compounded other economy-wide inflationary pressures,” ERS says. Afterwards, however, “Food price growth slowed in 2023 and wholesale food prices and these other inflationary factors eased.” So, according to ERS, food prices spiked 25 percent between President Trump’s second to last year, 2019, and President Biden’s second year, 2022, due to a human pandemic, a poultry pandemic, and a bloody regional war between a global food superpower, Ukraine, and a global nuclear superpower, Russia. And that’s just one side–the grocery side–of a fluid, worldwide ag commodity market that “regularly rises or falls by more than 10 percent from one year to the next,” explains ERS’s food price report. For example, “In 2023 the production-weighted price” of corn, soybeans, and wheat “fell by 12.1 percent, while food prices increased by 5.8 percent.” In other words, food sellers boosted their prices by almost 6 percent while the collective price for “the top three U.S. field crops (that) comprise the majority of field crop inputs” in U.S. food dropped more than twice that amount. If the Trump campaign knew these facts, they simply ignored them and, instead, wisely began stockpiling tin cans and string.
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CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- News Release - TC Energy Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TC Energy) today announced that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem its Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 1 (Series 1 Shares) and Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 2 (Series 2 Shares) on Dec. 31, 2024. As a result, subject to certain conditions: (a) the holders of Series 1 Shares have the right to choose one of the following options with regard to their shares: 1. to retain any or all of their Series 1 Shares and continue to receive a fixed rate quarterly dividend; or 2. to convert, on a one-for-one basis, any or all of their Series 1 Shares into Series 2 Shares and receive a floating rate quarterly dividend, and (b) the holders of Series 2 Shares have the right to choose one of the following options with regard to their shares: 1. to retain any or all of their Series 2 Shares and continue to receive a floating rate quarterly dividend; or 2. to convert, on a one-for-one basis, any or all of their Series 2 Shares into Series 1 Shares and receive a fixed rate quarterly dividend. Should a holder of Series 1 Shares choose to retain their shares, such shareholders will receive the new annual fixed dividend rate applicable to Series 1 Shares of 4.939 per cent for the five-year period commencing Dec. 31, 2024 to, but excluding, Dec. 31, 2029. Should a holder of Series 1 Shares choose to convert their shares to Series 2 Shares, holders of Series 2 Shares will receive the floating quarterly dividend rate applicable to the Series 2 Shares of 5.401 per cent for the three-month period commencing Dec. 31, 2024 to, but excluding, Mar. 31, 2025. The floating dividend rate will be reset every quarter. Should a holder of Series 2 Shares choose to retain their shares, such shareholders will receive the floating quarterly dividend rate applicable to Series 2 Shares of 5.401 per cent for the three-month period commencing Dec. 31, 2024 to, but excluding, Mar. 31, 2025. The floating dividend rate will be reset every quarter. Should a holder of Series 2 Shares choose to convert their shares to Series 1 Shares, holders of Series 1 Shares will receive the new fixed quarterly dividend rate applicable to the Series 1 Shares of 4.939 per cent for the five-year period commencing Dec. 31, 2024 to, but excluding, Dec. 31, 2029. Beneficial owners of Series 1 Shares and Series 2 Shares who want to exercise their right of conversion should communicate as soon as possible with their broker or other nominee and ensure that they follow their instructions in order to meet the deadline to exercise such right, which is 5 p.m. (EST) on Dec. 16, 2024. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid. As such, it is recommended that this be done well in advance of the deadline in order to provide the broker or other nominee with time to complete the necessary steps. Beneficial owners of Series 1 or Series 2 Shares who do not provide notice or communicate with their broker or other nominee by the deadline will retain their respective Series 1 Shares or Series 2 Shares, as applicable, and receive the new dividend rate applicable to such shares, subject to the conditions stated below. The foregoing conversions are subject to the conditions that: (i) if TC Energy determines that there would be less than one million Series 1 Shares outstanding after Dec. 31, 2024, then all remaining Series 1 Shares will automatically be converted into Series 2 Shares on a one-for-one basis on Dec. 31, 2024, and (ii) if TC Energy determines that there would be less than one million Series 2 Shares outstanding after Dec. 31, 2024, then all of the remaining outstanding Series 2 Shares will automatically be converted into Series 1 Shares on a one-for-one basis on Dec. 31, 2024. In either case, TC Energy will issue a news release to that effect no later than Dec. 23, 2024. Holders of Series 1 Shares and Series 2 Shares will have the opportunity to convert their shares again on Dec. 31, 2029 and in every fifth year thereafter as long as the shares remain outstanding. For more information on the terms of, and risks associated with an investment in the Series 1 Shares and the Series 2 Shares, please see the prospectus supplement dated Sept. 22, 2009 which is available on sedarplus.ca or on our website . About TC Energy We're a team of 6,500+ energy problem solvers connecting the world to the energy it needs. Our extensive network of natural gas infrastructure assets is one-of-a-kind. We seamlessly move, generate and store energy and deliver it to where it is needed most, to homes and businesses in North America and across the globe through LNG exports. Our natural gas assets are complemented by our strategic ownership and low-risk investments in power generation. TC Energy's common shares trade on the Toronto (TSX) and New York (NYSE) stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. To learn more, visit us at TCEnergy.com . FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This release contains certain information that is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties (such statements are usually accompanied by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "intend" or other similar words). Forward-looking statements in this document are intended to provide TC Energy security holders and potential investors with information regarding TC Energy and its subsidiaries, including management's assessment of TC Energy's and its subsidiaries' future plans and financial outlook. All forward-looking statements reflect TC Energy's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made and as such are not guarantees of future performance. As actual results could vary significantly from the forward-looking information, you should not put undue reliance on forward-looking information and should not use future-oriented information or financial outlooks for anything other than their intended purpose. We do not update our forward-looking information due to new information or future events, unless we are required to by law. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results, refer to the most recent Quarterly Report to Shareholders and Annual Report filed under TC Energy's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov . -30- Media Inquiries: Media Relations [email protected] 403-920-7859 or 800-608-7859 Investor & Analyst Inquiries: Gavin Wylie / Hunter Mau [email protected] 403-920-7911 or 800-361-6522 PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/fea6dd55-b1d1-43c3-8961-355750b2e549
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AAP Rolling News Bulletin for December 8 at 0500 Synagogue (SYDNEY) A spate of attacks and protests at places of worship across the country has prompted Australia's most populous state to consider new laws to better protect religious freedoms. Worshippers at Melbourne's Adass Israel Synagogue said they were "traumatised" after the building was badly damaged in an alleged anti-Semitic attack in the early hours of Friday. The incident prompted Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hit out at the Australian government, saying he expected action to prevent future violence. NSW Premier Chris Minns appeared to be heeding the call, with his Labor government vowing to explore how the state could better protect people's right to gather at places of worship free from intimidation. "I am horrified by the attack at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, and the recent sight of protests out the front of a religious institution," he said in a statement on Saturday. Mideast Syria (AMMAN/BEIRUT) Syrian rebels have entered suburbs of the key city of Homs, sources say, pressing a lightning week-long advance as front lines collapse across the country and government forces battle to save President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule. A Homs resident, and army and rebel sources said the insurgents had breached government defences from the north and east of the city on Saturday. The Syrian military did not immediately comment on the reports. Fighting had raged around the north of strategically vital Homs since late on Friday with government forces reinforcing and using intense air strikes to hammer the rebels. Insurgents also seized almost the entire southwest within 24 hours and advanced to within 30km of Damascus as government forces fell back to more defensible positions, rebels said. Trump (PARIS) US President-elect Donald Trump is returning to the world stage to join leaders for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, still a private citizen but already preparing to tackle a host of international crises. It will be Trump's first trip overseas since he won the presidential election in November and it could offer French President Emmanuel Macron an opportunity to play the role of mediator between Europe and the unpredictable US politician - a role the French leader has relished in the past. The two are expected to meet on the sidelines of Saturday's visit. While no agenda for their talks has been announced, European leaders are concerned Trump could withdraw US military aid to Ukraine at a crucial juncture in its war to repel Russian invaders. Mardi Gras (SYDNEY) Police will continue to march in the Mardi Gras parade, with a series of resolutions designed to banish the force participating in the annual event narrowly defeated. The reprieve follows a decision to ban uniformed officers joining the 2024 march over concerns about their sometimes-fraught relationship with the queer community. Saturday's annual general meeting hosted by parade organisers decided 493 votes to 459 against barring police from marching until they "demonstrate a commitment to improving relationships with LGBTQIA communities". Motions to ban them without an option to later reconsider the merit of allowing them back in future and letting them march but not in uniform, were also defeated. NSW Police will need to apply to participate in the parade, along with every other participant. Warehouse (WODONGA) Picketers are continuing to prevent a major Woolworths distribution centre from resuming operations in defiance of an earlier Fair Work Commission ruling. The group assembled outside a distribution centre in Melbourne's south-east on Saturday morning despite a ruling on Friday by the industrial umpire barring workers from blocking access to the site. Woolworths said its team members attempted to return to work at the centre in Dandenong but were "met by picketers who physically blocked their entry to the site". "We call on these picketers to stand down and allow safe entry to the site for our Dandenong team members who want to get back to work after more than two weeks of strikes," a company spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday. Syria Unrest (AMMAN/BEIRUT) Syrian rebels say they have seized control of the southern city of Daraa, the birthplace of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and the fourth city his forces have lost in a week. Rebel sources on Saturday said the military agreed to make an orderly withdrawal from Daraa under a deal giving army officials safe passage to the capital Damascus, about 100km north. Social media showed rebels on motorcycles and others mingling with residents on the streets. People fired shots into the air at the city's main square in celebration, according to the videos. There was no immediate comment from the military or Assad's government, and Reuters could not independently verify the rebels' claim. With the fall of Daraa, Assad's forces have surrendered four important centres to the insurgents in a week. SKorea (SEOUL) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will address the nation ahead of a planned impeachment vote over his attempt this week to impose martial law. The speech on Saturday would be the embattled leader's first public appearance since he rescinded the martial law order early on Wednesday just six hours after it was declared, after parliament defied military and police cordons to vote against the decree. On Friday the leader of Yoon's own People Power Party said the president was a danger to the country and needed to be removed from power, increasing the pressure on him to quit even though PPP members later reaffirmed its formal opposition to his impeachment. Lawmakers will vote on the main opposition Democratic Party's motion to impeach Yoon, who shocked the nation late on Tuesday when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers in order to root out what he called "anti-state forces" and overcome obstructionist political opponents. Synagogue (MELBOURNE) The Australian government is to blame for a firebombing attack on a Melbourne synagogue according to Israel's prime minister, as the hunt continues for two suspected arsonists. The Adass Israel synagogue at Ripponlea in the city's southeast was badly damaged after suspected masked intruders allegedly broke in and set it alight in the early hours of Friday. Two of its three buildings were gutted and two congregants who were inside at the time preparing for morning prayers were evacuated, one suffering minor injuries. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the fire as an "abhorrent act of antisemitism" and said he expected authorities "to use their full weight" to prevent future attacks. Mr Netanyahu hit out at the government's support for a UN resolution calling for an end to Israel's occupation of Gaza and denying a visa to Israel's former justice minister Ayelet Shaked in recent weeks. In finance ... Markets (NEW YORK) The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 rose to record closing highs on Friday following upbeat forecasts from Lululemon Athletica and other companies and as US jobs data fuelled expectations the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this month. The Dow finished lower, as a 5.1 per cent drop in UnitedHealth Group shares weighed on the index. The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index rose 2.4 per cent to hit an all-time closing high. It led gains among sectors, boosted by Lululemon. Shares of Lululemon Athletica jumped 15.9 per cent after the sportswear maker increased full-year forecasts. Also in the consumer discretionary space, shares of cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty advanced 9.0 per cent after the company raised its annual profit forecast. The US Labor Department report showed job growth surged in November, but an increase in the unemployment rate to 4.2 per cent pointed to an easing labour market. In entertainment ... VanDyke (LOS ANGELES) Entertainment legendNone
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