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s777bet login By JILL COLVIN NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office. “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” he wrote. Setting clocks forward one hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall is intended to maximize daylight during summer months, but has long been subject to scrutiny. Daylight saving time was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. Lawmakers have occasionally proposed getting rid of the time change altogether. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan bill named the Sunshine Protection Act , had proposed making daylight saving time permanent. The measure was sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , whom Trump has tapped to helm the State Department. Related Articles National Politics | Trump’s lawyers rebuff DA’s idea for upholding his hush money conviction, calling it ‘absurd’ National Politics | Ruling by a conservative Supreme Court could help blue states resist Trump policies National Politics | A nonprofit leader, a social worker: Here are the stories of the people on Biden’s clemency list National Politics | Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she ‘sustained an injury’ on official trip to Luxembourg National Politics | Veteran Daniel Penny, acquitted in NYC subway chokehold, will join Trump’s suite at football game “Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said as the Senate voted in favor of the measure. Health experts have said that lawmakers have it backward and that standard time should be made permanent. Some health groups , including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said that it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology. Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do, the date that clocks are changed varies, creating a complicated tapestry of changing time differences. Arizona and Hawaii don’t change their clocks at all.WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions on Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili on Friday, accusing the former prime minister of undermining democracy in Georgia and enabling Russia to benefit from his actions. Ivanishvili, a former metals and telecom magnate, has been a prominent figure in Georgian politics and is widely viewed as the de facto leader of the country. The US Department of State, led by Secretary Antony Blinken, announced that the sanctions were in response to Ivanishvili’s role in weakening Georgia’s democratic processes and supporting policies that benefit Russia. The sanctions freeze any US-based assets belonging to Ivanishvili, making it harder for him to conduct business or access financial resources in the United States. Ivanishvili, who amassed a fortune in Russia during the 1990s, has long been accused of steering Georgia away from its Western allies while fostering closer ties with Russia. Critics argue that under his leadership, the country has grown more authoritarian and increasingly aligned with Moscow. Ivanishvili has dismissed these allegations, accusing foreign intelligence agencies of attempting to push Georgia into a conflict with Russia. The sanctions come at a time of growing tension between the West and Georgia, a former Soviet republic that is a candidate for European Union membership. Georgia’s ruling party, the Georgian Dream, has struggled to balance its pro-Western rhetoric with pragmatic relations with Russia. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze condemned the sanctions as “blackmail” and characterized them as a “reward” for Ivanishvili’s efforts to protect Georgia from war. He also reiterated claims from Ivanishvili’s supporters that the billionaire has been under informal US sanctions for years—allegations the US government denies. Georgian Dream, which is heavily influenced by Ivanishvili, has been facing increasing scrutiny for its domestic policies. The party recently froze talks with the European Union, postponing negotiations for membership until 2028. This decision led to widespread protests and a subsequent crackdown, with over 400 people, including opposition politicians, detained. Opposition leader Giorgi Vashadze of the United National Movement welcomed the US sanctions, calling them a “serious success” of the Georgian people’s protest against Ivanishvili’s influence. The US had previously sanctioned several Georgian officials from the interior ministry on December 18, accusing them of involvement in the crackdown on protesters. Tensions have also been exacerbated by a disputed election in October, which saw Georgian Dream win nearly 54% of the vote. Opposition parties have alleged electoral fraud, and President Salome Zourabichvili, a critic of Georgian Dream, has refused to recognize the results. Zourabichvili has indicated that she will not vacate her office at the end of her term, despite the party’s efforts to install a new president, Mikheil Kavelashvili, who will be inaugurated on Sunday. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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By JILL COLVIN NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office. “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” he wrote. Setting clocks forward one hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall is intended to maximize daylight during summer months, but has long been subject to scrutiny. Daylight saving time was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. Lawmakers have occasionally proposed getting rid of the time change altogether. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan bill named the Sunshine Protection Act , had proposed making daylight saving time permanent. The measure was sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , whom Trump has tapped to helm the State Department. Related Articles National Politics | Ruling by a conservative Supreme Court could help blue states resist Trump policies National Politics | A nonprofit leader, a social worker: Here are the stories of the people on Biden’s clemency list National Politics | Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she ‘sustained an injury’ on official trip to Luxembourg National Politics | Veteran Daniel Penny, acquitted in NYC subway chokehold, will join Trump’s suite at football game National Politics | About 3 in 10 are highly confident in Trump on Cabinet, spending or military oversight: AP-NORC poll “Changing the clock twice a year is outdated and unnecessary,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said as the Senate voted in favor of the measure. Health experts have said that lawmakers have it backward and that standard time should be made permanent. Some health groups , including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said that it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology. Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do, the date that clocks are changed varies, creating a complicated tapestry of changing time differences. Arizona and Hawaii don’t change their clocks at all.

has the largest Black population outside of Africa, so when one biracial woman thought she could get away with continuous racism, the federal government made an example out of her. Day McCarthy has a history of making hateful comments. And she told the , that’s how she grew up. “This is what people told me when I was a kid,” she said in the interview. “I was bullied because I was overweight, because I was the daughter of a Black man, because I didn’t have any money, because I came from a poor neighborhood.” Despite being biracial, McCarthy continued spewing racist language mostly targeted at children, but the consequences of her actions caught up to her when she called the Black daughter of two white celebrities a “monkey,” according to the Post. Seven years after her comments, a Brazilian judge found her guilty of racism— an offense the diverse country takes very seriously— in August 2024. Brazil has a more narrow definition of freedom of speech than the U.S. Threats against the Brazilian government are considered illegal and so are personal attacks that offend someone’s honor, including racist speech, according to . “The gravity of the crime of racism in Brazil is so great that people can be arrested on the spot,” said Lívia Vaz, the director of a racism prosecutorial team in the country, told the Post. “When I started, it wasn’t that way. The police would go to the scene, and no one was arrested. Now they are.” Unlike in the United States, racism in Brazil can cost an offender, like McCarthy, years behind bars, according to . The 35-year-old Brazilian was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison. Her sentence is the longest ever given out for racism in the country, reports the Post. McCarthy’s sentence serves as an example of the country’s efforts to right the wrongs of it’s racist past. The heat of the 2020 George Floyd protests prompted Brazil to take responsibility for it’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. Even public prosecutors have began formal investigations into slavery, which many Black Brazilians hope will result in reparations, according to Even though the country has taken a stand against her, McCarthy, who lives in Paris currently, told the Post she has no plans to turn herself in to Brazilian authorities. Instead, she hopes to continue living in Europe.Abortion has become slightly more common despite bans or deep restrictions in most Republican-controlled states, and the legal and political fights over its future are not over yet. It's now been two and a half years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for states to implement bans. The policies and their impact have been in flux ever since the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Here's a look at data on where things stand: Overturning Roe and enforcing abortion bans has changed how woman obtain abortions in the U.S. But one thing it hasn't done is put a dent in the number of abortions being obtained. There have been slightly more monthly abortions across the country recently than there were in the months leading up to the June 2022 ruling, even as the number in states with bans dropped to near zero. “Abortion bans don’t actually prevent abortions from happening,” said Ushma Upadhyay, a public health social scientist at the University of California San Francisco. But, she said, they do change care. For women in some states, there are major obstacles to getting abortions — and advocates say that low-income, minority and immigrant women are least likely to be able to get them when they want. For those living in states with bans, the ways to access abortion are through travel or abortion pills. As the bans swept in, abortion pills became a bigger part of the equation. They were involved in about half the abortions before Dobbs. More recently, it’s been closer to two-thirds of them, according to research by the Guttmacher Institute. The uptick of that kind of abortion, usually involving a combination of two drugs, was underway before the ruling. But now, it's become more common for pill prescriptions to be made by telehealth. By the summer of 2024, about 1 in 10 abortions was via pills prescribed via telehealth to patients in states where abortion is banned. As a result, the pills are now at the center of battles over abortion access. This month, Texas sued a New York doctor for prescribing pills to a Texas woman via telemedicine. There's also an effort by Idaho, Kansas and Missouri to roll back their federal approvals and treat them as “controlled dangerous substances,” and a push for the federal government to start enforcing a 19th-century federal law to ban mailing them. Clinics have closed or halted abortions in states with bans. But a network of efforts to get women seeking abortions to places where they're legal has strengthened and travel for abortion is now common. The Guttmacher Institute found that more than twice as many Texas residents obtained abortion in 2023 in New Mexico as New Mexico residents did. And as many Texans received them in Kansas as Kansans. Abortion funds, which benefitted from “rage giving” in 2022, have helped pay the costs for many abortion-seekers. But some funds have had to cap how much they can give . Since the downfall of Roe, the actions of lawmakers and courts have kept shifting where abortion is legal and under what conditions. Here's where it stands now: Florida, the nation’s second most-populous state, began enforcing a ban on abortions after the first six weeks of pregnancy on May 1. That immediately changed the state from one that was a refuge for other Southerners seeking abortion to an exporter of people looking for them. There were about 30% fewer abortions there in May compared with the average for the first three months of the year. And in June, there were 35% fewer. While the ban is not unique, the impact is especially large. The average driving time from Florida to a facility in North Carolina where abortion is available for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy is more than nine hours, according to data maintained by Caitlin Myers, a Middlebury College economics professor. The bans have meant clinics closed or stopped offering abortions in some states. But some states where abortion remains legal until viability – generally considered to be sometime past 21 weeks of pregnancy , though there’s no fixed time for it – have seen clinics open and expand . Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico are among the states with new clinics. There were 799 publicly identifiable abortion providers in the U.S. in May 2022, the month before the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. And by this November, it was 792, according to a tally by Myers, who is collecting data on abortion providers. But Myers says some hospitals that always provided some abortions have begun advertising it. So they’re now in the count of clinics – even though they might provide few of them. How hospitals handle pregnancy complications , especially those that threaten the lives of the women, has emerged as a major issue since Roe was overturned. President Joe Biden's administration says hospitals must offer abortions when they're needed to prevent organ loss, hemorrhage or deadly infections, even in states with bans. Texas is challenging the administration’s policy and the U.S. Supreme Court this year declined to take it up after the Biden administration sued Idaho. More than 100 pregnant women seeking help in emergency rooms and were turned away or left unstable since 2022, The Associated Press found in an analysis of federal hospital investigative records. Among the complaints were a woman who miscarried in the lobby restroom of Texas emergency room after staff refused to see her and a woman who gave birth in a car after a North Carolina hospital couldn't offer an ultrasound. The baby later died. “It is increasingly less safe to be pregnant and seeking emergency care in an emergency department,” Dara Kass, an emergency medicine doctor and former U.S. Health and Human Services official told the AP earlier this year. Since Roe was overturned, there have been 18 reproductive rights-related statewide ballot questions. Abortion rights advocates have prevailed on 14 of them and lost on four. In the 2024 election , they amended the constitutions in five states to add the right to abortion. Such measures failed in three states: In Florida, where it required 60% support; in Nebraska, which had competing abortion ballot measures; and in South Dakota, where most national abortion rights groups did support the measure. AP VoteCast data found that more than three-fifths of voters in 2024 supported abortion being legal in all or most cases – a slight uptick from 2020. The support came even as voters supported Republicans to control the White House and both houses of Congress. ___ Associated Press writers Linley Sanders, Amanda Seitz and Laura Ungar contributed to this article.

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. , Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Malema TM, part of PSG and Dover (NYSE: DOV ) and a leading provider of flow meter technologies for use in industrial and semiconductor applications, today announced the launch of the new Malema CIFM-88 Series DuraMassFlowTM PFA Coriolis Industrial Flow Meter. The new flow meter is suitable for chemical processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, food and beverage production, paper applications, as well as wastewater treatment. "The updated Coriolis flow meter embodies Malema's commitment to customer satisfaction, setting a new standard for industrial applications that demand precise control of chemical processes," said Bob Lauson , General Manager for Malema. "The CIFM-88 Series represents an advancement in flow measurement with its innovative design that handles corrosive chemicals while maintaining exceptional accuracy." The CIFM-88 Series addresses a critical need in the chemical and process industries by providing enhanced accuracy, reliability and durability when handling aggressive chemistries. The new flow meter features a patented design that leverages the Coriolis principle. The CIFM-88 Series helps reduce maintenance costs and minimize downtime, thereby improving efficiency and safety for operators measuring corrosive substances such as acids and alkalis. The CIFM-88 Series is designed with sensors that simultaneously measure mass flow, density and temperature with an exceptional accuracy of ±1%, even with gas volumetric void fractions up to 30%. Its robust stainless-steel enclosure supports reliable long-term performance in harsh industrial environments while its PFA-wetted materials provide durability against corrosive chemicals, eliminating the need for other Coriolis flow meters constructed of costly exotic metals. Additionally, the CIFM-88 Series' built-in LCD panel offers real-time data on flow rate, totalized flow, temperature and density, enabling operators to monitor and optimize their processes efficiently. For complete details about the CIFM-88 Series and more information on Malema, please visit psgdover.com/malema . About Malema: Malema is an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-precision flow measurement and control solutions, including patented Coriolis Flow Meters and Controllers and Ultrasonic Flow Meters and Controllers, for the semiconductor and industrial sectors. Malema is part of PSG and based in Boca Raton, Florida , with facilities in San Jose, California and India . For additional information on Malema, please visit psgdover.com/malema/ . About PSG: PSG is the global pump, metering and dispensing-solution expert, enabling the safe and efficient transfer of critical and valuable fluids that require optimal performance and reliability in applications where it matters most. Additionally, PSG is a leading provider of flow meters designed to reduce waste and downtime while accurately measuring, monitoring and controlling the distribution of fluids. Headquartered in Downers Grove, IL , USA, PSG is comprised of several world-class brands, including Abaque ® , All-FloTM, Almatec ® , Blackmer ® , Ebsray ® , em-tec ® , Griswold ® , HydroTM, MalemaTM, Mouvex ® , Neptune ® , PSG® Biotech, QuantexTM, Quattroflow ® and Wilden ® . PSG products are manufactured on three continents – North America , Europe and Asia – in state-of-the-art facilities that practice lean manufacturing and are ISO-certified. PSG is part of the Pumps & Process Solutions segment of Dover Corporation. For additional information on PSG, please visit psgdover.com . PSG: Where Innovation Flows. About Dover: Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of over $7 billion . We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy & Fueling, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Climate & Sustainability Technologies. Dover combines global scale with operational agility to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 65 years, our team of over 24,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois , Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com . PSG Contact: Christopher Walsh (331) 277-8137 [email protected] Dover Media Contact: Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications (630) 743-5039 [email protected] Dover Investor Contact: Jack Dickens , VP, Investor Relations (630) 743-2566 [email protected] SOURCE Dover

Assam bans consumption of beef in hotels, public spacesTraders are expressing optimism that Bitcoin could nearly double the current price of $98,000 to hit $180,000 if the Federal Reserve continues to cut US interest rates next year and demand from institutional investors increases significantly. Prices of the world's most popular cryptocurrency hit a new record high of $98,000 on Nov 21, attributed to optimism regarding Donald Trump's support for crypto heralding a boom for the industry as the US pivots to friendly regulations in place of a crackdown. Trump's transition team has begun to hold discussions over whether to create a White House post dedicated to digital asset policy. Peerapat Hankongkaew, chief investment officer of Cryptomind Advisory, said it would not be surprising if the price of Bitcoin hits $100,000 soon, if factors support market confidence such as lower interest rates. Cryptomind, a Bangkok-based digital asset advisory, has predicted since the beginning of 2024 that if interest rates fell, capital would flow into riskier assets because of increased liquidity in the system. Each year, the advisory said there are positive factors that support the price of Bitcoin increasing a few times a year. This year, the price of Bitcoin increased sharply in January on news that institutional investors were allowed to buy spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. In May, the dollar weakened considerably. The current price increase was spurred by Trump's victory in the US presidential election as he has generally supported Bitcoin, he said. The current assessment is stable, though profit-taking could happen in the short term as investors tend to sell and take profits, said Mr Peerapat. "Therefore, we do not recommend buying more. If investors already own Bitcoin, we recommend holding on and waiting for supporting factors such as interest rate cuts and the dollar weakening," he said. Recently the Fed signalled a delay in cutting interest rates, causing capital to move back to the bond market and the US stock market. As a consequence, capital is flowing out of emerging markets again, said Mr Peerapat. For the Bitcoin price trend in 2025, if the price breaks through $100,000, Cryptomind sees the next resistance at $115,000. This would be followed by some correction from profit-taking before it surges to $180,000 if there are additional positive factors such as continued interest rate cuts, noted the advisory. If Trump can implement pro-crypto policies, demand should spike for Bitcoin and stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, which are pairs traded, with a bull run era expected, according to Cryptomind. However, investors must follow news on Bitcoin and use the information to make investment decisions because crypto is highly volatile and carries high risk, said Mr Peerapat.

Stock market today: Wall Street gains ground as it notches a winning week and another Dow record

Emma McKeon, Australia’s most decorated Olympian, retires from elite swimming

WASHINGTON — The House shut down Democrats' efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, pushing the fate of any resolution to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty. Matt Gaetz talks before President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate Nov. 14 in Palm Beach, Fla. The nearly party-line votes came after Democrats had been pressing for the findings to be published even though the Florida Republican left Congress and withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., was the sole Republican to support the effort. Most Republicans have argued that any congressional probe into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent to set. While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare. Shortly before the votes took place, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., who introduced one of the bills to force the release, said that if Republicans reject the release, they will have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims. Earlier Thursday, the Ethics panel met to discuss the Gaetz report but made no decision, saying in a short statement that the matter is still being discussed. It's unclear now whether the document will ever see the light of day as lawmakers have only a few weeks left before a new session of Congress begins. It's the culmination of weeks of pressure on the Ethics committee's five Republicans and five Democrats who mostly work in secret as they investigate allegations of misconduct against lawmakers. The status of the Gaetz investigation became an open question last month when he abruptly resigned from Congress after Trump's announcement that he wanted his ally in the Cabinet. It is standard practice for the committee to end investigations when members of Congress depart, but the circumstances surrounding Gaetz were unusual, given his potential role in the new administration. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., the committee chairman, said Wednesday that there is no longer the same urgency to release the report given that Gaetz has left Congress and stepped aside as Trump's choice to head the Justice Department. “I’ve been steadfast about that. He’s no longer a member. He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general,” Guest said. The Gaetz report has also caused tensions between lawmakers on the bipartisan committee. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, publicly admonished Guest last month for mischaracterizing a previous meeting to the press. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s separate investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended without federal charges. His onetime political ally Joel Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in prison. Among President-elect Donald Trump's picks are Susie Wiles for chief of staff, Susie Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. Trump to be secretary of state, making a former sharp critic his choice to be the new administration's top diplomat. Rubio, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket last summer. Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement. The announcement punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator called a “con man" during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals. For instance, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, now supports Trump's plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations. Pete Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth lacks senior military or national security experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year. Trump tapped Pam Bondi, 59, to be attorney general after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration. She was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She also was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist, she served as part of a Trump-allied outside group that helped lay the groundwork for his future administration called the America First Policy Institute. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appears on Fox News and has been a critic of the criminal cases against him. Trump picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a well-known conservative who faced sharp criticism for telling a story in her memoir about shooting a rambunctious dog, to lead an agency crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda. Noem used her two terms leading a tiny state to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. South Dakota is usually a political afterthought. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions that other states had issued and instead declared her state “open for business.” Trump held a fireworks rally at Mount Rushmore in July 2020 in one of the first large gatherings of the pandemic. She takes over a department with a sprawling mission. In addition to key immigration agencies, the Department of Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. The governor of North Dakota, who was once little-known outside his state, Burgum is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump, and spent months traveling to drum up support for him, after dropping out of the race. Burgum was a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice this summer. The two-term governor was seen as a possible pick because of his executive experience and business savvy. Burgum also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump made the announcement about Burgum joining his incoming administration while addressing a gala at his Mar-a-Lago club, and said a formal statement would be coming the following day. In comments to reporters before Trump took the stage, Burgum said that, in recent years, the power grid is deteriorating in many parts of the country, which he said could raise national security concerns but also drive up prices enough to increase inflation. “There's just a sense of urgency, and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration,” Burgum said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president as a Democrat, than as an independent, and . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential campaign. The nomination of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services alarmed people who are concerned about . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Scott Bessent, 62, is a former George Soros money manager and an advocate for deficit reduction. He's the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,” he said then. Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her reelection bid this month, but received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, she would oversee the Labor Department’s workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in or paying dues to unions that represent workers at their places of employment. Scott Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Sean Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Write is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Wright also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. Wright also won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. President-elect Donald Trump tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency Trump promised to dismantle. McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she expressed support for charter schools and school choice. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Brooke Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as White House domestic policy chief during his first presidency. The 52-year-old is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. She previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Trump chose Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary, a position in which he'd have a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. Trump made the announcement Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration. Both are tasked with putting forward candidates for key roles in the next administration. The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial. Doug Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial, which centered on U.S. assistance for Ukraine. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was acquitted by the Senate. Collins has also served in the armed forces himself and is currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. "We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need," Trump said in a statement about nominating Collins to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Karoline Leavitt, 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps. Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, was a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term before she became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence, keeping with the trend to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities rather than veteran professionals in their requisite fields. Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic House member who unsuccessfully sought the party's 2020 presidential nomination before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him this fall. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community,” Trump said in a statement. Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions. Trump has picked John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during his first administration, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his next. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump's first term, leading the U.S. government's spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation's highest Intelligence positions,” Trump said in a statement, calling him a “fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans” who would ensure “the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Kash Patel spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration’s attention as a staffer on Capitol Hill who helped investigate the Russia probe. Patel called for dramatically reducing the agency’s footprint, a perspective that sets him apart from earlier directors who sought additional resources for the bureau. Though the Justice Department in 2021 during leak investigations, Patel said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters. Trump has chosen former New York Rep. to serve as his pick to lead the . Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added. During his campaign, Trump often attacked the Biden administration's promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referring to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often told his audiences during the campaign his administration would “Drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.” Trump has named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband. Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission. Carr made past appearances on “Fox News Channel," including when he decried Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' pre-Election Day appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” He wrote an op-ed last month defending a satellite company owned by Trump supporter Elon Musk. Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a “proven leader for common sense regulations.” In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation. “He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The commission oversees U.S. securities markets and investments and is currently led by Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated — Jan. 20, 2025. Atkins began his career as a lawyer and has a long history working in the financial markets sector, both in government and private practice. In the 1990s, he worked on the staffs of two former SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt. Rep. Elise Stefanik is a and one of Trump's staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment. Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine begun in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. “In my Second Term, Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said in a statement announcing his choice. “He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role.” Trump will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against the Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah. “He loves Israel, and likewise the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Trump has been praised by some in this important Republican voting bloc for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump on Tuesday named real estate investor Steven Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and was golfing with him at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Witkoff “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy,” Trump said of Witkoff in a statement. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud." Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as National Security Advisor to Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. For the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups formed after Trump left office to help lay the groundwork for the next Republican administration, Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) Trump asked Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, Trump announced in a statement Tuesday. The move puts Waltz in the middle of national security crises, ranging from efforts to provide weapons to Ukraine and worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah. “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda,” Trump's statement said, "and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Stephen Miller, an , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump's priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump's first administration. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the United States illegally. Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security. Thomas Homan, 62, with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border, an issue Trump made central to his campaign. Though Homan has insisted such a massive undertaking would be humane, he has long been a loyal supporter of Trump's policy proposals, suggesting at a July conference in Washington that he would be willing to "run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Democrats have criticized Homan for his defending Trump's “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings during his first administration, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Former Rep. Billy Long represented Missouri in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2023. Since leaving Congress, Trump said, Long “has worked as a Business and Tax advisor, helping Small Businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations.” Former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler was appointed in January 2020 by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and then lost a runoff election a year later. She started a conservative voter registration organization and dived into GOP fundraising, becoming one of the top individual donors and bundlers to Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign. Even before nominating her for agriculture secretary, the president-elect already had tapped Loeffler as co-chair of his inaugural committee. Dr. Mehmet Oz, 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime television talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz's bid for elected office. Elon Musk, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an Oct. 27 campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trump on Tuesday said Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added the move would shock government systems. It's not clear how the organization will operate. Musk, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump. Trump said the two will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Russell Vought held the position during Trump’s first presidency. After Trump’s initial term ended, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Vought has also previously worked as the executive and budget director for the Republican Study Committee, a caucus for conservative House Republicans. He also worked at Heritage Action, the political group tied to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Scavino, whom Trump's transition referred to in a statement as one of “Trump's longest serving and most trusted aides,” was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 campaign, as well as his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino had run Trump's social media profile in the White House during his first administration. He was also held in contempt of Congress in 2022 after a month-long refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Blair was political director for Trump's 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump's economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign this year, a driving force behind the candidate's “Trump can fix it” slogan and his query to audiences this fall if they were better off than four years ago. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump's 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Budowich also had served as a spokesman for Trump after his presidency. Trump has chosen Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya is a physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, and is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He promoted the idea of herd immunity during the pandemic, arguing that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. The National Institutes of Health funds medical research through competitive grants to researchers at institutions throughout the nation. NIH also conducts its own research with thousands of scientists working at its labs in Bethesda, Maryland. Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor to Fox News. Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative state after cardiac arrest, should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Trump is turning to two officials with experience navigating not only Washington but the key issues of income taxes and tariffs as he fills out his economic team. He announced he has chosen international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council. While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these picks reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely hinge on restoring the public’s confidence in the economy. Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.” Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

RFK Jr. attorney asks FDA to revoke approval of hepatitis B, polio vaccinesIn the weeks after Ballot Measure 1 passed by a hefty margin, many Alaska employers are beginning to understand its impacts. The measure, effective July 1, will raise the minimum wage and establish the state’s first sick leave requirement. It will prohibit employers from holding mandatory meetings about political or religious issues. The changes will likely affect every employer in Alaska, at the very least requiring new workplace policies and training for managers, said Mike O’Brien, an attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine who is advising businesses about the measure’s impact, along with other attorneys. The vast majority of Alaska employers already pay above the minimum wage, especially after the pandemic caused labor shortages, O’Brien said. But fewer businesses provide sick leave. Many business owners say they anticipate higher expenses from that portion of the measure. They’re grappling with ways to avoid passing the costs onto customers or thinning employee hours, they say. Brock Wilson, research assistant professor of economics at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at University of Alaska Anchorage, said studies indicate the measure could lead to reduced worker hours in the short-term, as businesses respond to higher costs. Prices for customers could rise for businesses with lots of minimum-wage workers, such as restaurants where tips are combined with pay, Wilson said. But the measure will have clear benefits for employees, such as higher pay for some, reduced turnover in the long run, and lower rates of worker illness, he said. Mark Robokoff, owner of AK Bark pet supply store in Anchorage, was part of a coalition of small businesses that supported the measure. He said he believes the measure will improve the Alaska economy — more people will have more money to spend at local businesses because more people will be better-paid. “It doesn’t work until everyone does it,” he said. “Then we all get more money to help us pay for our employees.” Questions about sick leave The sick-leave requirements are generating most of the questions from businesses, people familiar with the measure say. The measure increases the hourly minimum wage to $13 in July, $14 a year later, and $15 in July 2027. Increases after that will be tied to inflation. The minimum wage will bump to $11.91 an hour on Jan. 1, from $11.73 under existing law. Under the measure, nearly all employees in Alaska will receive at least one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Larger employers will have a higher sick-leave requirement. Employers with 15 workers and more must allow workers to accrue a minimum of 56 hours annually. Employers with less than 15 workers must allow them to accrue 40 hours annually. Businesses can exceed those levels if they choose. They can also combine sick leave with paid time off, as some already do, as long as employers meet the sick leave minimum. Under the initiative, areas covered by sick leave are broad. They include physical and mental issues, plus support for matters involving domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Workers can take sick days to support ailing relatives or someone “whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship,” according to the measure. The Wage and Hour section at the state labor department plans to post information about the measure on its website early next year, addressing frequently asked questions, said Jeremy Applegate, chief of the section. Applegate spoke at an educational event about the measure, held early this month by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. Many businesses attended. The agency will write the regulations for the ballot measure. It will look to clarify questions, such as how to measure employment at a company with annual numbers that bounce around the 15-worker threshold. Draft regulations are expected to be available for public comment in March. Trying to figure it out The measure was funded primarily by the Fairness Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that has worked on several ballot measures in other states to raise minimum wages or guarantee paid time off. The group spent about $2.6 million on the campaign, about 25 times more than opponents such as The Alaska Chamber and other organizations. Celeste Hodge Growden, president of Alaska Black Caucus, said she voted for the measure because everyone deserves a decent wage. But she’s grown concerned about the sick leave requirement, which will add costs for the caucus. “Now, I’m like, ‘Oh shoot, what did I do?’ ” she said. Growden said she doesn’t want to reduce programs. And cutting worker hours could lead to turnover, she said. One solution may be finding more volunteers. “I just want to support our employees, and so I have to make good business decisions to make this happen,” she said. Josh Howes, president of Premier Alaska Tours, which shuttles tourists in motor coaches, said the measure is positive for many workers in Alaska because it sets a better baseline wage. His business and many others in tourism already pay well above the minimum wage, he said. Premier employs about 800 people, mostly seasonal employees. Expanding the company’s sick-leave to include those seasonal employees could add close to $500,000 in annual expenses, he said. Tracking leave time will add administrative duties and costs, too. The extra expenses can’t quickly be passed on to consumers, if that’s even possible, he said. Contracts in the industry are often locked in for two years. How will Premier Alaska absorb the changes? “That’s what we have to figure out,” he said. “We’ll have to find ways to save money to cover that expense.” ‘The impact will be dramatic’ Laile Fairbairn, president of Locally Grown Restaurants, which manages four Anchorage restaurants including Snow City Cafe, said the company will need to expand its sick leave to 56 hours, from 40 hours, for an employee’s first year. The minimum wage will also need to rise for the servers, baristas and other staff that also receive tips. “The impact will be dramatic, and the numbers are really challenging,” she said. “We offer extensive benefits, like 401(k), health insurance and paid time off. We’ll have to look at all our benefits and see what makes the most sense in light of the changes.” Fairbairn said Alaskans clearly supported the new employee benefits. It’s up to businesses like hers to figure out how to implement them, she said. But the higher costs can’t entirely be passed onto customers, she said. The restaurant group, with about 300 employees, will look for ways to operate more efficiently, she said. But Fairbairn said she worries the changes could be “crippling” for smaller businesses with few employees and less flexibility to find savings, she said. Those extra costs will come atop already thin profit margins in the restaurant industry, often around 3-4%, she said. “We’ll all have to tighten our belts,” Fairbairn said. Goldie’s Coffee Roasters, which operates a coffee hut off the Old Seward Highway near 76th Avenue, has six part-time employees. Owners Jenna Frederic and Kristen Redfield said they pay their staff more than the minimum wage so that won’t immediately be an issue. But the sick leave requirement will add costs for the business starting this summer, they said. They’re letting customers know that in June they will end the loyalty program for a discounted or free cup of coffee, Redfield said. “This will help us avoid raising everyone’s coffee prices,” Redfield said. The owners, who are sisters, said they want to continue operating while supporting employees and customers. “We’re just adapting,” Jenna Frederic said. “It’s part of being a small business owner. We’ve been in business for 11 years, and every year we have to make adjustments.” Derrick Green, who owns Waffles and Whatnot restaurant at 500 Muldoon Rd. and was an early supporter of the measure, said his employees already make more than $15 an hour and receive paid sick leave. He does that by reducing his pay, he said. “I am literally the least-compensated member of the staff,” he said. When he takes care of the workers, they take care of everything else, he said.

NoneNow Poundland's selling flats... but you'll need 85,000 £1s to buy one Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport By KRISSY STORRAR Published: 21:16 GMT, 4 December 2024 | Updated: 21:36 GMT, 4 December 2024 e-mail View comments It has long been beloved by bargain hunters for its slogan ‘Everything’s a pound’. Now Poundland is hoping to attract shoppers of a different kind after putting its first-ever apartments up for sale. The discount retailer bought a listed former bank in Elgin, Moray, in 2019 and it is the only building in the UK that it owns outright rather than leases. Builders spent six years working on the restoration of the ground-floor shop space and the four flats above it. The first flat has now gone on the market for offers over £85,000 and has been billed as ‘perfect for those seeking modern living combined with historical elegance’. The one-bedroom property has also been decorated with products from Poundland, including rugs, picture frames, cutlery, wine glasses and vases, which will be included in the sale. Another flat, on the second floor, has two bedrooms and a price tag of offers over £105,000. The new owners of the four flats will also be able to nip downstairs to stock up on essentials as the Poundland on the ground floor will reopen on Saturday after undergoing extensive refurbishment. Poundland has put its first-ever flats on sale above its new Elgin store in Moray Poundland is selling four flats after it bought a former bank in Elgin, Moray, and turned it into a retail space and homes The buiding was originally a branch of Royal Bank of Scotland which opened in 1856 and it has also been a temperance hotel and was a Woolworths store until 2008. Poundland at first leased it but bought it when the landlords were unable to carry out essential works to the historic building. Serious structural issues meant it needed to be rebuilt and the project was hampered by water leaks, the pandemic and a fire. But the flats are now complete and boast open plan kitchens, stylish shower rooms and double glazing. They are being marketed by Belvoir Sales, which said in the sales brochures that the properties offer a ‘unique opportunity to reside in a beautifully restored landmark building that’s the talk of the town’. Alan Smallman, Poundland’s transformation director who led the restoration project, said: ‘Bringing the building back to life and restoring it to its former glory has been no easy task but we know how much this building means to the people of Elgin and Moray. ‘We hope the love we’ve shown it will be a catalyst for more investment into Elgin and its high street. ‘I’d like to thank the whole team that’s helped bring us back home here in Elgin.’ Cllr Marc Macrae, Chair of Moray Council’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Services Committee said: ‘I add my congratulations to the Poundland team’s efforts in refurbishing an iconic Moray building and giving the centre of Elgin a much-welcomed boost. ‘It’s especially heartening to see the store about to start trading again and hope the staff enjoy being back in their own building in the busy lead up to Christmas. ‘I’m sure there will be plenty of interest in the flats becoming available and it will be great to see more residential property being enjoyed in the town centre. ‘There is much to be impressed about with this whole project from Poundland and I look forward to seeing further development work in the town centre to meet the aspirational aims we have for Moray.’ Woolworths Poundland Share or comment on this article: Now Poundland's selling flats... but you'll need 85,000 £1s to buy one e-mail Add comment

Abortion has become slightly more common despite bans or deep restrictions in most Republican-controlled states, and the legal and political fights over its future are not over yet. It's now been two and a half years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for states to implement bans. > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are The policies and their impact have been in flux ever since the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Here's a look at data on where things stand: Abortions are slightly more common now than before Dobbs Overturning Roe and enforcing abortion bans has changed how woman obtain abortions in the U.S. But one thing it hasn't done is put a dent in the number of abortions being obtained. There have been slightly more monthly abortions across the country recently than there were in the months leading up to the June 2022 ruling, even as the number in states with bans dropped to near zero. “Abortion bans don’t actually prevent abortions from happening,” said Ushma Upadhyay, a public health social scientist at the University of California San Francisco. But, she said, they do change care. For women in some states, there are major obstacles to getting abortions — and advocates say that low-income, minority and immigrant women are least likely to be able to get them when they want. For those living in states with bans, the ways to access abortion are through travel or abortion pills. Pills become a bigger part of equation — and the legal questions As the bans swept in, abortion pills became a bigger part of the equation. They were involved in about half the abortions before Dobbs. More recently, it’s been closer to two-thirds of them, according to research by the Guttmacher Institute. The uptick of that kind of abortion, usually involving a combination of two drugs, was underway before the ruling. But now, it's become more common for pill prescriptions to be made by telehealth. By the summer of 2024, about 1 in 10 abortions was via pills prescribed via telehealth to patients in states where abortion is banned. As a result, the pills are now at the center of battles over abortion access. This month, Texas sued a New York doctor for prescribing pills to a Texas woman via telemedicine. There's also an effort by Idaho , Kansas and Missouri to roll back their federal approvals and treat them as “controlled dangerous substances,” and a push for the federal government to start enforcing a 19th-century federal law to ban mailing them. Travel for abortion has increased Clinics have closed or halted abortions in states with bans. But a network of efforts to get women seeking abortions to places where they're legal has strengthened and travel for abortion is now common. The Guttmacher Institute found that more than twice as many Texas residents obtained abortion in 2023 in New Mexico as New Mexico residents did. And as many Texans received them in Kansas as Kansans. Abortion funds, which benefitted from “rage giving” in 2022, have helped pay the costs for many abortion-seekers. But some funds have had to cap how much they can give. The abortion map has been in flux Since the downfall of Roe, the actions of lawmakers and courts have kept shifting where abortion is legal and under what conditions. Here's where it stands now: The ban that took effect in Florida this year has been a game-changer Florida , the nation’s third most-populous state, began enforcing a ban on abortions after the first six weeks of pregnancy on May 1. That immediately changed the state from one that was a refuge for other Southerners seeking abortion to an exporter of people looking for them. There were about 30% fewer abortions there in May compared with the average for the first three months of the year. And in June, there were 35% fewer. While the ban is not unique, the impact is especially large. The average driving time from Florida to a facility in North Carolina where abortion is available for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy is more than nine hours, according to data maintained by Caitlin Myers, a Middlebury College economics professor. Clinics have opened or expanded in some places The bans have meant clinics closed or stopped offering abortions in some states. But some states where abortion remains legal until viability – generally considered to be sometime past 21 weeks of pregnancy, though there’s no fixed time for it – have seen clinics open and expand. Illinois , Kansas and New Mexico are among the states with new clinics. There were 799 publicly identifiable abortion providers in the U.S. in May 2022, the month before the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. And by this November, it was 792, according to a tally by Myers, who is collecting data on abortion providers. But Myers says some hospitals that always provided some abortions have begun advertising it. So they’re now in the count of clinics – even though they might provide few of them. Lack of access to abortions during emergencies is threatening some patients' lives How hospitals handle pregnancy complications, especially those that threaten the lives of the women, has emerged as a major issue since Roe was overturned. President Joe Biden's administration says hospitals must offer abortions when they're needed to prevent organ loss, hemorrhage or deadly infections, even in states with bans. Texas is challenging the administration’s policy and the U.S. Supreme Court this year declined to take it up after the Biden administration sued Idaho. More than 100 pregnant women seeking help in emergency rooms and were turned away or left unstable since 2022, The Associated Press found in an analysis of federal hospital investigative records. Among the complaints were a woman who miscarried in the lobby restroom of Texas emergency room after staff refused to see her and a woman who gave birth in a car after a North Carolina hospital couldn't offer an ultrasound. The baby later died. “It is increasingly less safe to be pregnant and seeking emergency care in an emergency department,” Dara Kass, an emergency medicine doctor and former U.S. Health and Human Services official told the AP earlier this year. Abortion rights are popular with voters Since Roe was overturned, there have been 18 reproductive rights-related statewide ballot questions. Abortion rights advocates have prevailed on 14 of them and lost on four. In the 2024 election, they amended the constitutions in five states to add the right to abortion. Such measures failed in three states: In Florida, where it required 60% support; in Nebraska , which had competing abortion ballot measures; and in South Dakota , where most national abortion rights groups did support the measure. AP VoteCast data found that more than three-fifths of voters in 2024 supported abortion being legal in all or most cases – a slight uptick from 2020. The support came even as voters supported Republicans to control the White House and both houses of Congress. ___ Associated Press writers Linley Sanders, Amanda Seitz and Laura Ungar contributed to this article.

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