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haha777 slot Chipotle's chief customer and technology officer sells $2.9 million in stockNAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — What began as a childhood hobby more than six decades ago has led to what might be Africa's largest butterfly collection in a suburb of Kenya's capital. Steve Collins, 74, was born and raised in western Kenya. By the age of 5, he was fascinated by butterflies and started building a collection that has grown to more than 4.2 million, representing hundreds of species. “My parents encouraged us to look for butterflies after visiting the Congo and were gifted a trapping net by some friends," Collins said. “By the time I was 15 years old, I was already visiting other countries like Nigeria to study more about butterflies.” During his 20-year career as an agronomist, Collins dedicated his free time to research. He established the African Butterfly Research Institute in 1997. Now, running out of space and time, he hopes to hand it over to the next generation. On his 1.5 acres (0.6 hectare) of land, hundreds of indigenous trees and flowering bushes form a well-knit forest. Hundreds of butterflies dance from one flower to another, at times landing on Collins' hand. His collection is private, although it was initially open to the public when he ran it as an education center between 1998 and 2003. Collins has 1.2 million butterflies from across Africa delicately pinned in frames and stored in rows of shelves, with another 3 million in envelopes. “They need to be kept in dark spaces," he said. “The form of storage also ensures the dried butterflies are not eaten by other insects, parasites and predators. We also ensure we apply insecticides once a year to keep them safe.” Julian Bayliss, an ecologist specializing in Africa and a visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University, said he has collected butterflies for Collins over two decades. “There is a large part of that collection that is completely irreplaceable because a large part of Africa’s habitat is being destroyed,” Bayliss said. Africa is vulnerable to climate change, with periods of prolonged drought and serious flooding destroying forests and other butterfly habitats. Bayliss suggested digitizing the collection to make it accessible worldwide. Whoever takes it over "needs to be an institution that is well-founded, well-funded and secure,” he said. Scott Miller, an entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution, met Collins almost 30 years ago. He said such collections provide critical information that could show environmental changes over 60 years. “These physical specimens, you can actually keep going back to them to get new layers of information as you learn more or you get a different technology or you get different questions," he said. Collins is concerned that soon he will no longer be able to sustain his research. He said his most prized butterfly costs $8,000 — which he keeps from sight, concerned about possible theft — and hopes to sell the collection to an individual or research institution. The costs of running his institute are high. An annual budget posted in 2009 on the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa website was $200,000. Collins estimates that the specimens and other assets are worth $8 million. “This has been my hobby for decades, and I can’t put a price on what I have done so far. I’m currently seeking to ensure the species are in safe hands when I’m out of this world,” he said. Associated Press journalist Khaled Kazziha in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.Why Museums Are Now Modern-Day Town Squares

Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100The 26-year-old man charged in last week’s killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom on Tuesday, where he was denied bail and his lawyer said he'd fight extradition to New York City, where the attack happened. Luigi Nicholas Mangione was arrested Monday in last Wednesday's attack on Brian Thompson after they say a worker at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, alerted authorities to a customer who resembled the suspected gunman. When arrested, Mangione had on him a gun that investigators believe was used in the attack and writings expressing anger at corporate America, police said. As Mangione arrived at the courthouse Tuesday, he struggled with officers and shouted something that was partly unintelligible but referred to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.” Mangione is being held on Pennsylvania charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Manhattan prosecutors have charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument. Here are some of the latest developments: Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Mangione mostly stared straight ahead during the hearing, occasionally consulting papers, rocking in his chair, or looking back at the gallery. At one point, he began to speak to respond to the court discussion but was quieted by his lawyer. Judge David Consiglio denied bail to Mangione, whose attorney, Thomas Dickey, told the court that his client did not agree to extradition and wants a hearing on the matter. Blair County (Pennsylvania) District Attorney Peter Weeks said that although Mangione's fighting extradition will create “extra hoops” for law enforcement to jump through, it won’t be a substantial barrier to sending him to New York. In addition to a three-page, handwritten document that suggests he harbored “ill will toward corporate America,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Monday that Mangione also had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home and is difficult to trace. Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Officers also found a sound suppressor, or silencer, “consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” she said. He had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, the commissioner said. Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and that his last known address is in Honolulu. Mangione, who was valedictorian of his Maryland prep school, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a university spokesman told The Associated Press on Monday. Mangione comes from a prominent Maryland family. His grandfather Nick Mangione, who died in 2008, was a successful real estate developer. One of his best-known projects was Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference center outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978. Mangione likely was motivated by his anger with what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain with corporate greed, said a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press. He wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and that the profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, according to the bulletin, which was based on a review of the suspect’s hand-written notes and social media postings. The defendant appeared to view the targeted killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO as a symbolic takedown and may have been inspired by “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, whom he called a “political revolutionary,” the document said. Police said the person who killed Thompson left a hostel on Manhattan's Upper West Side at 5:41 a.m. on Wednesday. Eleven minutes later, he was seen on surveillance video walking back and forth in front of the New York Hilton Midtown, wearing a distinctive backpack. At 6:44 a.m., he shot Thompson at a side entrance to the hotel, fled on foot, then climbed aboard a bicycle and within four minutes had entered Central Park, according to police. Another security camera recorded the gunman leaving the park near the American Museum of Natural History at 6:56 a.m. still on the bicycle but without the backpack, police said. After getting in a taxi, he headed north to a bus terminal near the George Washington Bridge, arriving at around 7:30 a.m. From there, the trail of video evidence runs cold. Police have not located video of the suspect exiting the building, leading them to believe he likely took a bus out of town. Police said they are still investigating the path the suspect took to Pennsylvania. “This just happened this morning," Kenny said. "We’ll be working, backtracking his steps from New York to Altoona, Pennsylvania,” Kenny said. Associated Press reporters Lea Skene, Matt O'Brien, Sean Murphy and Cedar Attanasio contributed to this report.

ST.PAUL — Gov. Tim Walz, alongside the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, presented Minnesota’s official Thanksgiving turkey on Tuesday, Nov. 26, in the Minnesota State Capitol reception room. The tom presented by Walz on Tuesday weighed in at 41.8 pounds. Paisley VonBerge, who has helped raise the bird since it was six weeks old, said the turkey will return back to her family’s farm in Hutchinson “to be enjoyed the way that turkeys are intended to be enjoyed.” ADVERTISEMENT President Joe Biden pardoned two Minnesota turkeys, Peach and Blossom, on Monday, Nov. 26, a contrast to Minnesota’s tradition of selecting a turkey to celebrate before it heads to the Thanksgiving dinner table. “We do it differently than in D.C. because here in Minnesota, we know turkeys are delicious, and we do not hide that fact, we celebrate that fact,” Walz said. During the presentation, Walz touted Minnesota’s turkey industry, which, with 600 farms, 40 million birds and 450 turkey farmers across the state, is number one in the nation, according to the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association (MTGA). MTGA President Jake Vlaminck said that the turkey industry in Minnesota has generated $16.5 billion for the state of Minnesota. Vlaminck said Minnesota’s rich industry is what allowed MTGA, alongside Walz, to donate $10,000 worth of turkey to Minnesota families ahead of Thanksgiving this year. “We delivered hundreds of turkeys last week to a long line of people waiting in the cold waiting for their Thanksgiving meal,” Second Harvest Heartland CEO Allison O’Toole said. “We could see the difference in their faces. It's moments like this that give Minnesota its reputation for a uniquely generous spirit.” Regarding the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump, his proposed tariff increases and their potential effect on some of Minnesota’s agriculture sectors like the turkey Industry, Walz said he will “watch those moves closely.” “Agriculture pays the heaviest price, states like Minnesota pay the heaviest price for that,” Walz said. “And I think at this time we're waiting to see what the forecast comes in.” ADVERTISEMENT Thom Peterson, Minnesota Department of Agriculture commissioner, said Mexico and Canada are some of Minnesota’s biggest markets and that 74% of Minnesota’s exports go to Mexico. Peterson said he and Gov. Walz are already beginning to have conversations with federal officials on how new trade agreements or tariffs could affect Minnesota. “When we were in D.C. yesterday with Peach and Blossom, we were honored to be joined by both Mexican and Canadian embassies,” Peterson said. “Trade is a lot of our [Minnesota’s] relationships. We're going to be active and engaged in that, those conversations. So we we do a lot of that ourselves, but we also have to partner with the federal government if they have a trade agreement.” After the formal presentation of the tom, Walz took a few off-turkey-topic questions — his longest stretch of answering questions from the press since returning from Minnesota. When asked if he regretted running with Vice President Kamala Harris, Walz said his only regret in life is not getting a dog sooner. “I'm proud to have been part of that. I think we put a message out that 75 million Americans liked, but not quite enough,” Walz said. “I was just glad to be out there, to be honest, glad to tell the Minnesota story, that we get things done together.” Walz said after coming home to a split legislature, he is hopeful leaders will be able to work things out and that he expects productivity from his partnered branch of government. ADVERTISEMENT “Look, we are in a split legislature like we were in 2019 and we got a lot done during that time, and it’s my expectation that we can do it, that we will compromise, we will continue to focus,” Walz said.ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. As reaction poured in Sunday from around the world, former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary were among those praising Carter for a life devoted to helping others. “Hillary and I mourn the passing of President Jimmy Carter and give thanks for his long, good life. Guided by his faith, President Carter lived to serve others — until the very end,” Clinton said, praising Carter for a commitment to civil rights, protecting natural resources, securing peace between Egypt and Israel, and other accomplishments. The son of the late Martin Luther King Jr., meanwhile, called Carter a “fighter who punched above his weight.” In a statement, Martin Luther King III added that “while history may have been hard on President Carter at times, today, he is remembered as a global human rights leader.” A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”

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Moment of silence for former President Jimmy Carter held before the Falcons-Commanders gameFive years after COVID lockdowns supercharged the idea of talking to your doctor or nurse online from home, telehealth has become such a regular part of medical care in New Hampshire that advocates hope the state will loosen laws concerning prescriptions. The final report of the Commission to Study Telehealth Services, a group that was established by the legislature in 2020, says it should be legal for telehealth providers to prescribe certain medications for mental health and substance use disorders without requiring an in-person visit. “Those types of conditions are treatable through this modality. You don’t need to necessarily lay hands on the patient in order to treat them. It fits very well,” said Dr. Jonathan Ballard, chief medical officer for the state Department of Health and Human Services. In medicine, “modality” means “method of treatment.” Data from 2023, for example, showed that between one-third and one-half of doctors’ visits for mental health and substance use disorders in the state were done via telehealth, compared to 5% or less for other types of visits. With that in mind, the commission’s most immediate recommendation is that legislators expand a provision created by Gov. Chris Sununu’s emergency action during the COVID pandemic and later codified into law, which allows providers to prescribe certain drugs for opioid-use disorder without an in-person visit. Similar online-only prescribing should be allowed for a variety of mental health and substance-use disorders, the commission said. The group’s final report was released to Gov. Sununu and legislators on Nov. 26. Ballard said the recommendation was spurred by data and experience from Dr. Audrey Kern, an addiction medicine specialist who was a member of the commission. Article continues after... Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess “For example, a person with anxiety may be treated with controlled medication. They’re perfectly stable but still have to come in for an office visit. Attention deficit disorder is another (example),” Ballard said. The commission found that the use of telehealth services has declined slightly since the pandemic lockdown, when the practice soared from almost zero. It now sits at roughly 60-70 visits per 1,000 members, with Medicaid patients slightly more likely to use online services than private insurance patients. “We were reassured that there was still continued use (of telehealth), settling into an amount that is clinically appropriate, driven by need,” Ballard said. He pointed to the fact that there’s a winter uptick, when it gets harder to drive to the hospital, clinic or doctor’s office. “There’s a spike every single winter. That reassured us the data is valid,” he said. Telehealth is most often used in the populated southeast part of the state, which isn’t a surprise even though it may be of more value in rural areas with less access to providers. “So much of this data follows the map of other health service utilization. You have more providers in the southern part of the state which drives use in all health services, including telehealth,” Ballard said. The commission also recommends that lawmakers extend the group for two more years because many new technologies are coming online that can help telehealth services. Ballard pointed to a movement known as Hospital-at-Home being tested in Massachusetts and other places. “You can treat people with a hospital level of care using advanced technology” such as telemetry of a patient’s vital signs at home that can have a nurse or doctor called there if necessary. “It can let you move people out of the hospital or completely avoid a hospitalization,” he said. “It’s very promising.” David Brooks can be reachbrooks@cmonitor.com

Trump’s Win Is a Boon to the Far Right in Europe and BeyondElections BC is drawing scrutiny which threatens to undermine taxpayer’s faith in our elections. That’s a problem. Here’s the solution: call a public inquiry into Elections BC, not a politicised process through legislative committees working behind closed doors. There is nothing to suggest the B.C. provincial election was stolen. There is nothing to suggest Elections BC was in cahoots with one party or another. But that doesn’t mean we can afford to turn a blind eye to its mishandling of the most important day in our democratic cycle. In a democracy, taxpayers must have faith in elections and repeated errors from Elections BC erodes that trust. And make no mistake, Elections BC did mess up its handling of the provincial election. The problems with Elections BC range from bad to worse. It took Elections BC more than a week to finish the preliminary tally of votes. Voting closed Oct. 19, but the final count didn’t occur until Oct. 28. British Columbians shouldn’t be left in limbo because Elections BC workers didn’t stay late to count votes. And it shouldn’t take an extra week for the final count to begin. Then came the revelation that Elections BC officials were storing ballots in their personal homes. Think about that for a moment. When you cast your ballot, did you imagine it would find its way into the basement of someone’s home? British Columbians generally believe Elections BC acts in good faith. But why allow questionable chains of custody for the most important pieces of paper in a democracy? Why risk storing ballots in home basements instead of secure government buildings? In three-quarters of B.C.’s 93 ridings, mistakes by Elections B.C. led to unreported votes. That’s unacceptable. To be fair, all the votes were eventually accounted for and counted. But our elections are too important to risk with these kinds of blunders. Both the ruling NDP and Opposition BC Conservatives agree there needs to be an investigation into Elections BC’s mistakes. The NDP wants an all-party committee made up of MLAs to probe Elections BC. But that’s not good enough. Legislative committees are political and are made up of politicians fighting for the spotlight. They can hide behind in camera meetings the public doesn’t have access to. For the public to have faith in our elections, the public needs to be involved in the inquiry. That’s what the BC Conservatives are calling for: an independent public review. British Columbians need to have faith in our elections, so the public must be a part of the investigation. This is far too important an issue for taxpayers to be shunted off to the side while politicians play partisan games. Carson Binda is the B.C. director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Austin Tice’s family says long-missing journalist is alive as war resurges in SyriaNoneLee Enterprises and ProRata.ai Announce Groundbreaking Content Partnership to Revolutionize Local News and Advertising

DIAMONDROCK HOSPITALITY DECLARES FOURTH QUARTER DIVIDENDSFox News' Trey Gowdy and Andrew McCarthy unpack the debates surrounding President Biden's pardon of son Hunter and President-elect Trump picking Kash Patel to head the FBI on 'Special Report.' President-elect Trump announced last week that he intends to nominate former White House aide and longtime ally Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, potentially making him the only U.S. president to have fired and installed two separate FBI directors in the middle of their 10-year terms. "Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People," Trump said in a social media post announcing his intent to nominate Patel for FBI director. "He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution." Patel is a close ally of the president-elect and served in the first Trump administration both as a deputy assistant and as the senior director for counterterrorism. He was endorsed on Friday by the National Police Association, which praised Patel's record of "transparency" and "accountability" that it said makes him well-positioned to head up the nation's sprawling law enforcement agency. KASH PATEL: MILLEY, BIDEN ADMIN ‘PEDDLING FALSE FACTS’ ON CHINA PHONE-CALL CONTROVERSY President-elect Trump nominated Kash Patel as FBI director over the weekend. (Getty Images) Still, news of Trump's plans to nominate Patel was met with criticism — if not shock — from others in the law enforcement community. That's because replacing a sitting FBI director is a controversial move that breaks with the express purpose of the role, which, under post-Watergate laws, mandated that directors are nominated for 10-year terms: an express length of time designed to allow the directors — at least in theory — to operate outside political pressure or interference from a sitting president. Trump sent shock waves through the law enforcement community in 2017 when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey, who at the time was less than four years into his 10-year term. Trump also personally selected current FBI Director Christopher Wray — whom he praised at the time as a "fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity" — to replace him. For Trump to install Patel as FBI director, two things must happen: Wray must exit the job, and Patel must earn Senate confirmation. How Wray will leave remains unclear. He could opt to voluntarily vacate the position on his own before Trump's inauguration, though he has not yet said whether he plans to do so. If Wray does not voluntarily vacate his position, Trump could be the only president in U.S. history to have fired and installed two separate FBI directors. TRUMP TRANSITION SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR FBI BACKGROUND CHECKS Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray prepares to testify before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2021. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via Reuters) Patel must also be confirmed by the Senate, though it is likely that the Republican-led chamber will move to approve him for the role. Patel's nomination has sparked early criticism from some Democrats ahead of his confirmation hearing, who have cited his previous vows to prosecute journalists and career officials at the Justice Department and FBI that he sees as being part of the "deep state." He has since attempted to clarify some of those remarks. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Only one other FBI director has been fired in U.S. history: William Sessions, a Reagan appointee who was widely disliked both for being an ineffective leader and for using his post to commandeer limousines and private government flights for personal business, among other things. Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the 2024 election and other national news.

CARSON, Calif. (AP) — The LA Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls have been Major League Soccer mainstays since the league's inaugural season in 1996, signing glamorous players and regularly competing for championships through years of success and setbacks in a league that's perpetually improving and expanding. Yet just a year ago, both of these clubs appeared to be a very long way from the stage they'll share Saturday in the MLS Cup Final . The Galaxy were one of MLS’ worst teams after a season of internal turmoil and public fan dissent, while the Red Bulls were merely a steady mediocrity seeking yet another coach to chart a new direction. A year later, these MLS founders are meeting in the league's first Cup final between teams from North America's two biggest markets. “Two original clubs being able to put themselves in this situation, I think it’s great,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “To see two clubs that have been at it as long as this league has been around be here, I think it’s a special moment. Couldn’t be two more different and contrasting styles as well, which could make for an interesting game, and I would imagine a high-intensity game.” Everything changed in 2024 after a dismal decade for the Galaxy , who are favored to cap their transformation by winning their team's record sixth MLS championship with a roster that's dramatically different from its past few groups — albeit with one massive injury absence in the final. The transformation of the Red Bulls happened only in the postseason, when a team that hadn't won a playoff game since 2017 suddenly turned into world-beaters under rookie coach Sandro Schwarz. New York struggled through the final three months of league play with only two wins before posting road playoff victories over defending champ Columbus , archrival New York City FC and conference finalist Orlando to storm into the Cup final. “We know about the history (of our club), and we know tomorrow will define what that could mean,” Schwarz said Friday. “To feel the pressure for tomorrow, it’s necessary, because it’s a final, and without pressure it’s not possible to bring the best quality on the field.” The Red Bulls have never won an MLS Cup, only reaching the championship match once before. What's more, they've somehow never won a Cup in any tournament, although they’ve collected three Supporters’ Shields for MLS' best regular-season record. The Galaxy’s trophy case is large and loaded, and those five MLS Cups are on the top shelf. But not much of that team success happened in the past decade for the club that famously brought David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and many other international stars to Hollywood. In fact, this season has ended a grim era for the Galaxy, who haven't lost all year at their frequently renamed home stadium — which was the site of protests and boycotts just a year ago. The club's fans were tired of LA's steady underachievement and ineptitude in the front office run by team president Chris Klein, who was fired in May 2023. One year ago Thursday, the Galaxy hired Will Kuntz, a longtime Los Angeles FC executive who engineered his new club's roster transformation, most dramatically by landing new designated players Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil — two international talents that LAFC also had in its sights. “I give Will and the group up there a ton of credit,” Vanney said. “It’s one thing to have players you like, and it’s a whole other thing to get them here and get them to connect with your group.” Pec and Paintsil combined for 32 goals and 27 assists while boosting the incumbent talents of striker Dejan Joveljic and Riqui Puig, the gifted Barcelona product who runs the offense from the midfield. The Galaxy clicked in the postseason, scoring a jaw-dropping 16 goals in four matches. Puig has been the Galaxy's most important player all season, but he won't be in the MLS Cup Final after tearing a knee ligament late in last week's conference final victory over Seattle . The loss of Puig — who somehow kept playing on his injured knee, and even delivered the game-winning pass to Joveljic — makes the Galaxy even more difficult to anticipate. “He played a lot in the regular season, so it was not so easy to analyze all these games now without him,” Schwarz said. “But the main focus is to analyze what we need to do, because it’s not clear now how they’re playing without him.” The Galaxy could give some of Puig's responsibilities to Marco Reus, the longtime Dortmund standout who joined LA in August. Reus is nursing a hamstring injury, but Vanney expects him to play. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more.Games on a college basketball schedule don't contrast much more than the two NC State has this week. The Wolfpack (6-3) host Coppin State (0-10) on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C., then hit the road to challenge No. 10 Kansas on Saturday. NC State enters its unusual week after snapping a three-game skid with an 84-74 overtime win at home Saturday against Florida State in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Transfers Marcus Hill and Dontrez Styles each had their season high, scoring 23 and 21 points, respectively. They scored 13 of NC State's 14 points in overtime. "Dontrez Styles was tremendous," Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. "In the second half, he made play after play." Hill, who was the top scorer last year at Bowling Green (20.5 points per game), and Styles, who was the second-leading scorer last year at Georgetown (12.8 ppg), combined to hit 14 of 25 shots and pull down 11 rebounds. The win followed defeats to then-No. 13 Purdue and BYU, both by double-digit margins, in the Rady Children's Invitational and a 63-59 loss to Texas in the SEC/ACC Challenge. "The little things that impact the game are defending, making free throws and blocking out," Keatts said. "We handled that much better than we did against Texas." Coppin State arrives in Raleigh on a 23-game losing streak dating to January -- the longest current run of futility in Division I. Each of the Eagles' losses this season have come by double-digit margins, though they have been more competitive lately, falling to Baltimore rival Loyola (Md.) 68-57 and at Wagner 65-52 last week. Julius Ellerbe III has been one of Coppin's most reliable players lately, scoring a combined 20 points in the last two games. He had 16 points and 12 rebounds in a loss to George Mason last month. Teammate Peter Oduro recorded a double-double, with 16 points and 10 rebounds, in last month's loss at Saint Joseph's. "These things take time," Coppin State second-year coach Larry Stewart said. "It takes time to establish your culture. It takes time to get the right players in your system." --Field Level Media

Former UCF QB McKenzie Milton joining Scott Frost’s coaching staffGermany has pledged to tighten its law to make it easier to prosecute people-smugglers enabling small-boat crossings to Britain, as the two countries signed a new deal aimed at tackling immigration crime. Berlin confirmed plans to reform its legal framework make it a clear criminal offence to “facilitate the smuggling of migrants to the UK” as part of the agreement, the Home Office said. The Home Office said the move would give German prosecutors more tools to tackle the supply and storage of dangerous small boats. Both countries will also commit to exchange information that may help to remove migrant-smuggling content from social media platforms and tackle end-to-end routes of criminal smuggling networks as part of the deal. It comes ahead of the UK and Germany hosting the so-called Calais Group in London, which sees ministers and police from the two countries, alongside France, Belgium and the Netherlands, gather to discuss migration in Europe. Delegates are expected to agree a detailed plan to tackle people-smuggling gangs in 2025 at the meeting on Tuesday. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “For too long organised criminal gangs have been exploiting vulnerable people, undermining border security in the UK and across Europe while putting thousands of lives at risk. “We are clear that this cannot go on. “Germany is already a key partner in our efforts to crack down on migrant smuggling, but there is always more we can do together. “Our new joint action plan with deliver a strengthened partnership with Germany, boosting our respective border security as we work to fix the foundations, and ultimately saving lives.” Nancy Faeser, German federal minister of the interior said: “We are now stepping up our joint action to fight the brutal activities of international smugglers. “This is at the core of our joint action plan that we have agreed in London. “I am very grateful to my British counterpart Yvette Cooper that we were able to reach this important agreement. “It will help us end the inhumane activities of criminal migrant smuggling organisations. “By cramming people into inflatable boats under threats of violence and sending them across the Channel, these organisations put human lives at risk. “Many of these crimes are planned in Germany. “Together, we are now countering this unscrupulous business with even more resolve. “This includes maintaining a high investigative pressure, exchanging information between our security authorities as best as possible, and persistently investigating financial flows to identify the criminals operating behind the scenes.”

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