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Golfer Grayson Murray died by suicide, family confirms 2024-05-26 16:00:00+00:00 - Pro golfer Grayson Murray’s family has confirmed he died by suicide after news of his death shocked the sports community over the weekend. Murray, a two-time PGA Tour winner, died Saturday, the day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 30 years old. His parents, Eric and Terry Murray, said in a statement Sunday that “life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now.” “We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone,” they wrote. “It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare.” Murray, who gained full status on the PGA Tour in 2017, won the Barbasol Championship that year at age 23. Last year, he scored two wins on the Korn Ferry Tour, at the AdventHealth Championship in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Simmons Bank Open outside Nashville, Tennessee. Murray went on to win the Sony Open in Hawaii this year — hitting a wedge shot to 3 feet for birdie on the final hole to get into a playoff and winning it with a 40-foot putt. Murray had been open about having struggled with alcoholism and mental health. At a news conference after he won the Sony Open in January, he told reporters that he used to drink during tournament weeks and that alcohol was his “outlet.” “That was over seven years ago, and I’m a different man now,” he said. “And I would not be in this position right now today if I didn’t put that drink down eight months ago.” Murray also shared that he struggled with anxiety and depression, which he said “stemmed a lot from alcohol use,” and that he suffered from self-esteem issues. But his life changed, he said, when he stopped “trying to fight it alone” and decided to ask for help. “There were days where I didn’t want to get out of bed. I just thought I was a failure. I always looked at myself as a failure. I thought I had a lot of talent that was just a waste of talent,” he said. “And it was a bad place, but like I said, you have to have courage. You have to have the willingness to keep going. And lo and behold, that’s what I did.” In their statement, his parents wrote: “We have so many questions that have no answers. But one. Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes. By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and — it seems — by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed.” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan also said in a statement Saturday that he was “devastated” to learn of Murray’s death that morning. “The PGA TOUR is a family, and when you lose a member of your family, you are never the same,” he said. “We mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones.” Grief counselors will be available at this week’s PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour events, the news release said. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

3 things Gen Z can do today to decrease anxiety and be more productive 2024-05-26 15:56:00+00:00 - Nearly two decades into the smartphone era, some experts are warning of the potential dangers of being plugged in anytime, anywhere. Especially when it comes to those whose brains are still developing. Americans under the age of 30 reported lower levels of happiness from 2021 to 2023 than those over the age of 60, according to this year's World Happiness Report. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University's Stern School of Business lays the blame squarely on our devices. His new book, "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness" he argues that the constant access to social media that phones have given us has led to social comparison, sleep deprivation and loneliness in Gen Z. And it's touched a nerve: his book is currently No. 3 on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. Zach Rausch, lead researcher to Haidt and an associate research scientist at NYU-Stern School of Business, says kids who had access to social media and iPhones in elementary and middle school are more anxious and less productive. "The goal of technology is that it's a tool that we use to meet our goals," he says. "If it's not doing that, it ends up using us at the cost of our goals." But, there are ways to curb these negative effects. Here are three things you can do today to increase your happiness and stay focused.

Rachel Reeves says Labour would not return country to austerity 2024-05-26 15:54:00+00:00 - Rachel Reeves vowed that there would be no “return to austerity” under a Labour government as she ruled out increases to income tax or national insurance. On the first weekend of the general election campaign, the shadow chancellor said she and Keir Starmer wanted taxes on working people to be lower. Pressed on how Labour would fund public services, Reeves ruled out raising income tax or national insurance and insisted that there would be no “unfunded proposals” in the party’s election manifesto. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Reeves said: “I don’t want to make any cuts to public spending, which is why we’ve announced the immediate injection of cash into public services. “So that money for our NHS, the additional police – 13,000 additional police and community officers – and the 6,500 additional teachers in our schools, they are all fully costed and fully funded promises, because unless things are fully costed and fully funded, frankly, you can’t believe they’re going to happen.” Pressed repeatedly on her tax plans, Reeves said: “What I want and Keir wants is taxes on working people to be lower, and we certainly won’t be increasing income tax or national insurance if we win at the election.” She added: “There’s not going to be a return to austerity under a Labour government. We had austerity for five years and that is part of the reason why our economy and our public services are in a mess today. “In the end, we have to grow the economy. We have to turn around this dire economic performance.” She said the party would raise money to fund its pledges by introducing VAT on private school fees, increasing tax on private equity bonuses, extending the windfall tax on energy companies’ profits, and cracking down on non-doms and tax avoidance. The shadow chancellor also defended Labour’s plans to end fire-and-rehire practices after Unite criticised the party for excluding an outright ban from the final version of its workers’ rights package. The union’s secretary general, Sharon Graham, said the plans now had “more holes than Swiss cheese”. Reeves said she was “sorry that Sharon feels like that”, but insisted that Labour retained the support of trade unions for “the biggest ever extension of workplace rights that’s ever been introduced”. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Election Edition Free daily newsletter Make sense of the election campaign with Archie Bland's daily 5pm briefing, direct to your inbox. Jokes where available Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion “We will end fire-and-rehire, which has seen companies … sack all their staff and then try and bring them back on worse contracts. That is deplorable and we will not allow that to happen,” the shadow chancellor said. Reeves stressed that fire-and-rehire would be allowed only in very specific cases of restructuring. “When a company’s facing bankruptcy and there is no alternative, they will have to consult with their workers and their trade unions. Those are very, very limited circumstances,” she said. In the same interview, Reeves declined to say whether Labour would end the two-child benefit cap and refused to put a timetable on the party’s commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.

Threatening U.S. election officials is ‘domestic terrorism,’ says Arizona’s Secretary of State 2024-05-26 15:38:00+00:00 - Adrian Fontes (D-AZ) declares victory in his campaign against Republican candidate Mark Finchem for Arizona's Secretary of State in the U.S. midterm elections in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., November 14, 2022. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is calling out threats against this country's election officials as "domestic terrorism." "One of the ways that I have been looking at this and addressing this is telling the really hard truth, and that is this: Threats against elections officials in the United States of America is domestic terrorism," Fontes said in a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." He defined terrorism as "a threat or violence for a political outcome." "That's what this is," Fontes said. His remarks come as local election officials have expressed concerns about safety as the battle for the White House heats up heading into November. According to a report released earlier this month by the Brennan Center for Justice, 38% of local election officials across the U.S. have experienced "threats, harassment or abuse" just for doing their jobs, and more than half are concerned about their colleagues' safety.

Is Enterprise Products Partners Stock a Buy? 2024-05-26 15:20:00+00:00 - Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) is an intriguing stock for income-focused investors. The energy partnership has grown its distribution payment to investors every year for 25 consecutive years, and it currently yields an attractive 7.2%. The stock could be a good source of income for your portfolio -- but before you buy, you might want to consider a few things. Enterprise Products Partners helps move energy throughout the U.S. Enterprise Products Partners operates over 50,000 miles of pipelines to move stuff like natural gas, oil, and chemicals across the United States. As a midstream company, Enterprise owns and operates pipelines in key production basins, connecting them with major refining centers and export terminals throughout the U.S. Upstream oil and gas companies that explore and drill for oil tend to be susceptible to price swings in the commodities they extract. As a midstream operator, Enterprise is less vulnerable to market price fluctuations for oil and natural gas. It primarily benefits when the demand for oil and gas rises, which increases demand for its pipelines, but its pipelines are generally always in operation at some minimum level, so revenue is always being generated. Enterprise's cash flow tends to be stable thanks to long-term, fixed-fee contracts with upstream companies that provide investors visibility into its expected future cash flows. These stable cash flows enable the company to pay its unitholders a stable, growing dividend. Image source: Getty Images. Enterprise is less vulnerable to swings in oil and gas prices, but investors will want to consider a few other factors. For one, although there is a strong push to reduce the use of carbon-producing fuels like oil, near-term trends suggest that oil and gas usage will not decrease soon. Populations worldwide continue to grow, and the amount of energy used to power data centers, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency will also continue to grow. According to a report by Goldman Sachs, data center power demand will grow by 15%, compounded annually, and overall U.S. energy demand will grow by up to 2.4% annually (compared to 0% on average in the decade prior), with natural gas providing about 60% of this energy. Changes in demand for U.S. oil and gas also impact Enterprise's earnings potential. The shale oil and natural gas boom and rising geopolitical uncertainty have spurred the U.S. to ramp up its oil and gas production to be a leading energy provider worldwide. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, since 2006 U.S. natural gas production has more than doubled from 19 million cubic feet to 41 million cubic feet, and increased energy needs should be a tailwind for future growth. Story continues Investing in Enterprise Production Partners has tax consequences to consider Enterprise operates as a Master Limited Partnership (MLP), and IRS rules require these partnerships to earn 90% of their income from qualifying sources, including the exploration, production, and transportation of natural resources. This tax treatment, coupled with Enterprise's stable revenue from long-term, fixed-fee contracts, is why the company pays such an attractive dividend yield. However, there are also tax implications that you'll want to consider. If you own shares (units) in an MLP, you will get a Schedule K-1 Form come tax time, providing you with your share of income, gains, losses, deductions, and credits. These forms tend to go out later in tax season, and investors usually have to wait to file their taxes. MLPs have significant depreciation expenses and other tax deductions, so a portion of the distribution (around 10% to 20%, which can vary depending on different factors) is considered taxable income. The remainder of the distribution is seen as a return of capital and reduces your cost basis in the MLP. As a result, a significant portion of taxes on those distributions is deferred until you sell your units in the MLP, which can make things more difficult come tax season. Is it a buy? Enterprise Production Partners isn't going to be a rapidly growing company. Instead, it operates a stable business with steady cash flows, thanks to the long-term, fixed-fee contracts that help it weather even the industry's most challenging times. EPD Dividend Chart Last year the company distributed about half of its free cash flow to investors, with the remainder used for expansion projects and unit repurchases. As of April 30, Enterprise had $6.9 billion in approved projects under construction, which should fuel its growing distribution payment. Enterprise Production Partners' 25-year history of growing its distribution shows the stability of the business. With more growth in the pipeline, it's an excellent stock for income-focused investors to scoop up today. Should you invest $1,000 in Enterprise Products Partners right now? Before you buy stock in Enterprise Products Partners, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Enterprise Products Partners wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $652,342!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 13, 2024 Courtney Carlsen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Enterprise Products Partners Stock a Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool

Cash discounts, while still rare, are up over 60% from 2015. Here's how much you can save 2024-05-26 13:56:00+00:00 - Ryanjlane | E+ | Getty Images Sometimes, it pays to pay with cash. More merchants are offering a lower price to customers who use cash rather than credit card for a purchase. That means opting for paper over plastic may save you money in some cases. Just how much? Typically, cash discounts run about 2% to 4% on purchases, though savings can be higher, experts said. The share of cash payments with a discount is still low — in fact, only about 3% of all cash payments in 2022, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. However, that share is up more than 60% from 2015, when 1.8% of all cash transactions had a discount, Atlanta Fed data shows. While not yet the norm, cash incentives are likely to become more widespread, experts said. watch now Meanwhile, other businesses add a surcharge when customers use credit cards for purchases. In such cases, paying with cash would also yield savings. Nearly 7 in 10 cardholders said a business has charged them extra for paying with a credit card, according to a recent LendingTree survey. The trend comes as consumers have steadily shifted away from using cash for purchases: Consumers made 18% of payments with cash in 2022, down from 31% in 2016, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, credit cards' share grew to 31% from 18% during that period. More from Personal Finance: How many credit cards should you have? People hate budgeting. Here's how to reframe it The myth about credit cards and credit scores that's costing you "Sometimes, it can make sense to just go ahead and pay cash," said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree. That may be the case even after accounting for credit card rewards, Schulz said. The largest general cash-back return on most credit cards is 2%, for example — a percentage often exceeded by cash discounts, he said. "If the merchant establishes a discount that's high enough, even if you have the best rewards card in the world you may still end up paying less if you use cash," said Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group. Why businesses give cash incentives Businesses that offer a break on cash purchases generally do so to reduce costs they incur for credit card transactions. Credit card-processing companies like Visa and Mastercard generally charge merchants 2% to 4% for each transaction, according to the National Retail Federation. These swipe fees are the second-highest cost for most businesses, behind labor costs, the trade group said. "The merchant is looking at your dollar and getting 98 cents in the end because you've chosen to use a card," Rust said. Businesses can take two routes to save money: offering a discount for cash purchases (thereby sidestepping those card fees), or putting a surcharge on credit card transactions to offset those fees. Either way, such practices may yield lower prices for cash users. Surcharges aren't legal in all states, though. As of May 2023, Connecticut and Massachusetts had outlawed surcharging, while Colorado and Oklahoma limited the maximum surcharge to 2%, according to the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association. Visa also capped surcharges at 3% in April 2023, down from 4%, the trade group said. "It's really important to understand what the cost of that surcharge is going to be, if there is one, before you go ahead and buy," Schulz said. When to pay with cash Consumers are often swayed by cash incentives, even "significantly likely" to switch to cash payments "specifically because of cash discounts offered," according to research by Joanna Stavins, a senior economist and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. When a cash discount is offered, the odds increase by 19.2% that a consumer who prefers noncash payments will instead opt to pay with cash, Stavins wrote in a 2018 paper. This research controls for transaction value and merchant type. In addition, small, independent businesses are more likely to offer cash discounts than big national chains, Consumer Federation of America's Rust said. Sometimes, it can make sense to just go ahead and pay cash. Matt Schulz chief credit analyst at LendingTree Gas stations have long offered cash incentives to customers. But a rising number are now doing so, and "some major retailers are starting to implement the ability to do this in the future," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. The average cash discount has been about 5 cents to 10 cents per gallon, De Haan said. Meanwhile, more stations are also offering their own payment platform — like branded debit and credit cards — that yield even more savings than cash, he added. Discounts are also "very prevalent" when paying for health care, said Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and physician based in Jacksonville, Florida. McClanahan is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. Some big-ticket spending — like tax bills and college tuition — is also generally best accomplished with cash, said Schulz. The IRS and many universities pass on payment-processing costs to the consumer. (In these cases, that might mean writing a check.) "There are certainly some bigger times when you should probably not use credit cards because of the fees involved," he said. Credit cards sometimes have advantages

Here's what adding Nvidia would mean for the 128-year-old Dow Industrial Average 2024-05-26 13:50:00+00:00 - Nvidia last week announced a 10-for-1 stock split which will bring its share price from over $1,000 to a more affordable level for retail investors and company insiders alike. Nvidia joins a number of companies that have recently announced sizable stock splits, including Walmart earlier this year and Lam Research this week. Speculation immediately began that Nvidia might be gunning for inclusion in the Dow Industrials , the 128-year-old blue chip index where share price is a big factor in which companies can be added and how much they move the index once they are in. The Dow, made up of 30 stocks, is a price-weighted average, meaning that higher-priced stocks cause the index to move more than a lower-priced one, even if the percentage move in each is the same. Here's the thing: In a price-weighted average, an expensive stock has more influence than a cheap stock, because it's the dollar value that really matters. A $1 move for a $100 stock has the same effect as a $1 move in a $10 stock, despite it being a 1% move for the more expensive stock and a 10% move for the smaller-priced stock. Look at it another way. A $1 change in UnitedHealth Group , with a stock price of $508.17 at Friday's close, equals just a 0.19% move in its stock. The same $1 change in Intel equals a far bigger 3.3% move in the stock. But those one dollar moves have the exact same effect on the Dow. Right now, any $1 move in a stock in the Dow causes the average to rise or fall about 6.6 points. If Nvidia were added to the Dow, it would be the third-biggest company in the index by market capitalization, after Microsoft and Apple . But it would rank 22nd when ordered by share price, after accounting for the 10-for-1 split. But its annual volatility more than makes up for its diminutive share price. Post-split, NVDA would be the ninth biggest influence on the index, according to CNBC estimates of its expected daily volatility. That roughly $3 move puts it in line with Boeing or Amazon.com , the most recent addition to the Dow. We took the past year's worth of daily returns to calculate the expected daily moves.

Election officials in key battleground states say they're prepared for threats to poll workers ahead of 2024 elections 2024-05-26 13:21:00+00:00 - A bipartisan panel of four secretaries of state from key battleground states on Thursday told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that they’re prepared to execute a safe and secure presidential election, despite previous threats to election workers. “Should any of that ugliness that we all experienced in 2020 return,” Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said, a new election threat task force is prepared to respond quickly. Asked whether enough people have volunteered to be election workers in Georgia, where two 2020 poll workers were harassed and threatened for months after conspiracy theorists accused them of tampering with ballots, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told moderator Kristen Welker, “We’re actually in pretty good shape. The counties have done a great job of recruitment.” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson added that she’s more focused this year on how to protect election workers, telling Welker: “We have to also protect the people who protect democracy. And that’s a lot of what we’re working to do to prepare for this year.” Asked if they’ve personally been threatened since the 2020 presidential election, each secretary of state said they had been. “It impacted all of us,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said, adding: “One of the ways that I have been looking at this and addressing this is telling the really hard truth. And that is this: Threats against elections officials in the United States of America is domestic terrorism.” Schmidt agreed, telling Welker, “The point of these threats is really to terrorize and is to intimidate and to try to keep any of us and our election officials at the county level and at the precinct level from doing or not doing something that is their responsibility, which is such a core foundation of our system of government.” The secretaries, each of whom serves in a state where the Trump campaign took legal action to challenge the election results in 2020, also said they’re prepared to tackle any misinformation that spreads during voting. “This is the problem that is bigger than any other problem, the mis-, dis- and malinformation,” Fontes said. “There are checks and balances all the way through the system to the end,” he added. In Georgia, Raffensperger said, election officials are now allowed to prescan and preprocess mail-in ballots, which will allow the results from those ballots to be released to the public more quickly than in 2020. “The results are going to be a lot quicker,” he told Welker. But with all of these changes, Schmidt said, it’s important to inform voters about the new processes that might affect how they vote, when they can vote, and how quickly ballots are counted. Elections have “changed a lot,” Schmidt said, adding: “It’s no wonder people have questions. And it’s all of our responsibility to answer those — those questions, provided those people are asking questions that they actually want to know the truth about elections. When you know more about elections, you have more confidence in them.” Benson echoed Schmidt, emphasizing the importance of transparency. “We welcome people to ask us questions. We welcome people to serve as election workers themselves so they can see up close just how secure our elections are and how many layers of security we have to ensure that only valid citizens are voting and that we count every valid and only count valid votes,” she said.

In one North Carolina county, it’s ‘growth, growth, growth.’ But will Biden reap the benefit? 2024-05-26 11:53:31+00:00 - SILER CITY, N.C. (AP) — At the epicenter of President Joe Biden’s promised economic boom, a slow tractor can still halt traffic. Just 81,000 people live in rural Chatham County, North Carolina. There are 1,076 farms. The old mill now houses a dance studio, a grocer and a steakhouse. For work, many people have no choice but to commute to nearby Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh. But after years of careful planning, Chatham County has started to change. The new Wolfspeed factory — six football fields long — overlooks I-64 and will soon produce advanced wafers for computer chips. Automaker Vinfast is scheduled to open a factory as well. Both projects stem in large part from incentives that Biden signed into law. Developers, including the Walt Disney Corp., plan to build several thousand new homes. What to know about the 2024 Election Democracy: American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. More challenges lie ahead in 2024. American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more. The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Read the latest: Follow AP’s complete coverage of this year’s election. “When the right opportunity came along, we were there and we were ready,” said Greg Lewis, who owns the steakhouse. “It is growth, growth, growth.” That same economic story is being replicated in a number of other critical battleground states, including Arizona and Georgia. But while the kind of enthusiasm voiced by Lewis would usually mean a strong tailwind for an incumbent president, so far this election year there is little evidence from polling that Americans are giving Biden credit for the gains as voters still focus instead on inflation still climbing at 3.4% annually. TRUMP AND BIDEN HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWS ON A GROWING ECONOMY Places like Chatham County show how this year’s presidential campaign offers two conflicting visions for America’s economic future. Voters face a decades-defining choice about what can do more for growth: former President Donald Trump’s preference for tax cuts skewed toward business and the wealthy or the targeted government investments backed by Biden as well as possible tax increases to fund programs for the middle class. The county backed Biden over Trump in 2020 but sits in the solidly Republican congressional district of Rep. Richard Hudson. He voted against the Democratic president’s policies and his office declined to answer questions about whether the investments in his district are a positive. Just how much the influx of federal and private sector money affects the political dynamics in North Carolina and beyond will have a lot to say about who will win November’s presidential election. Biden is campaigning on how his policies have helped pump hundreds of billions of dollars in private and federal investment into companies, helping to revive the faded computer chip sector and pioneer newer technologies such as electric vehicles, solar panels and artificial intelligence. But so far, the investments have not significantly swayed the public. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, maintains that Biden’s ideas would wreck the economy and that EVs will flop against a proven fuel such as gasoline. He says corporate tax cuts would do more to bolster growth by letting companies choose their own path, and a threat of higher tariffs would cause them to keep their factory jobs inside the United States. “Would everybody like to buy an electric car?” Trump asked at a recent rally, where he was met with a chorus of “No!” When Biden spoke at Wolfspeed’s headquarters in Durham last year, he described its chips as not just powering the economy but protecting it from supply chain disruptions and competition from China. “It’s a game changer,” he said. “We’re turning things around in a big way.” MANUFACTURING INVESTMENTS INCREASING The new Wolfspeed factory has begun installing its industrial furnaces that heat to half of the sun’s temperatures. The factory is prepared to start production by the end of the year, while many of the other announced government incentives around the country are still blueprints or in the construction phase. Pending administration approval, the company may receive support through tax credits from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. It also has applied for funding through the Commerce Department as part of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said the potential for government support has been “very important” as the company has sought to produce more silicon carbide, a material that increases the efficiency of computer chips. He said the material will “lead to one of the most important transitions in the history of semiconductors,” allowing EVs, solar panels, data centers and other technologies such as energy storage to work better. Even if the company is more focused on its business than electoral politics, the changes in Chatham County go beyond the factory in ways that could matter in November. People can see the new hotel, the new gasoline stations and the acres of lots set aside for new housing. County Commissioner Karen Howard, a Democrat, said the debate is being forced as Democrats point to what they say is clear evidence they are delivering on their promises. Howard stressed that the gains came as a result of years of county officials’ groundwork for sustainable growth that was then complemented by federal policies. “It feels like Republicans have turned a blind eye to what voters want,” she said. “Tax cuts for the biggest boys in the world never got down to the person who is barely scraping by.” Howard said the expected total of 1,800 jobs at the Wolfspeed facility will transform households. “When we say it’s making generational change for these families, you now have individuals who will make more than their entire family did in a year,” Howard said. But Republicans in North Carolina’s legislature say investments in the state had more to do with their own policies than the incentives from Biden. GOP lawmakers are making the argument that the impact of inflation during Biden’s presidency matters more to voters. “We’ve lowered taxes, grown the state economy and built the nation’s best workforce,” said Phil Berger, president pro tempore of the North Carolina Senate. “Bidenomics here means higher costs for families and businesses, which is what voters will remember when heading to the polls.” Both Trump and Biden have committed to increasing factory production in the U.S. and making it less reliant on countries such as China. So far, the numbers suggest that Biden’s policies have done more for manufacturing than Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. Census Bureau figures show that the annualized rate of factory construction spending peaked at $82 billion annually under Trump. As of last March, adjusting for inflation, it has more than doubled under Biden to a record $223 billion. The president has also added more manufacturing jobs than Trump did before the disruptions caused by the 2020 pandemic. EVEN WITH NEW FACTORY INVESTMENTS, THERE ARE RISKS But that does not mean Biden’s industrial strategy is a sure thing. Chatham County records indicate that Vinfast has scaled down the footprint of its EV plant, with the company saying in a statement that it’s “currently reviewing the construction of the factory.” Administration officials say success will require breakthroughs to lower the production costs of advanced computer chips relative to Asia. More drivers will also need to switch to EVs and reverse the recent slowdown in sales. Some Republicans see room both for some of Biden’s policies as well as tax cuts, saying that a mix was the optimal course for success. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voted for the CHIPS and Science Act, which funds semiconductor plants. Tillis said after touring Wolfspeed’s new factory that the combination of tax breaks and government financial support has been key for attracting new factories. “At the end of the day, it’s the balance that makes the difference,” he said in an interview outside the factory. As Wolfspeed’s Lowe explained it, the chips produced by the company’s factory will help the U.S. to compete against China in the EV, solar panel and artificial intelligence sectors. He happens to drive an EV made by Lucid that contains his own company’s chips, which help give it an impressive range of 516 miles, enough for him to drive to his Ohio hometown with a single charging stop. The CEO did not speculate about the outcome of the election, but he said technologies such as silicon carbide represent “a monumental change in the history of semiconductors” that is helping to remake the economy. In short, he sees no going back. “I tell our people this all the time, you know, in 30 years you’re going to look back to this moment and it’s going to be your mission control, Apollo 13 moment, where you say, ‘I was there when this technology switched.’”

Sirens sound in Tel Aviv for the first time in months as Hamas fires rockets from Gaza 2024-05-26 11:30:00+00:00 - The Israeli military sounded sirens in Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday, warning of possible incoming rockets after Hamas’ military wing announced it had launched a fresh attack on the city. Al-Qassam Brigades announced it was bombing the city with a large missile barrage in response to what it called the “Zionist massacres against civilians.” The Israel Defense Forces said eight projectiles were identified crossing from the area of Rafah into Israeli territory, and that a number of projectiles were intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array. An NBC News journalist witnessed at least one rocket be intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the area. Earlier, aid trucks entered Gaza through southern Israel as part of a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt, after Israel seized the Palestinian side earlier in May. IDF vehicles with soldiers move toward the Gaza border in southern Israel on March 5. Alexi J. Rosenfeld / Getty Images The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million people had sought refuge in dire conditions. A spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing said on Sunday its fighters had captured Israeli soldiers during fighting in Jabalia in northern Gaza on Saturday. Hamas released a video that appeared to show a bloodied body being dragged along the floor of a tunnel. The video could not be verified by NBC, and the Israeli military has denied the claim. “There is no incident in which a soldier was abducted,” the IDF said in a statement. CORRECTION (May 26, 2024, 9:47 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misidentified Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel.

Michael Cohen was a nearly perfect witness in the Trump trial 2024-05-26 10:00:40+00:00 - Donald Trump’s fate will soon be in the hands of 12 citizens, a jury of his peers. The jurors will be tasked with deciding if the prosecutors proved Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Central to that decision will be their assessment of the credibility of star witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and self-described fixer. By his own admission at trial, Cohen has lied, cheated and stolen — including from the Trump Organization. That may seem like a problem for the prosecution. Yet in my experience, it is anything but. The very fact that Cohen himself admitted to his prior lies and criminal activity may very well lead the jury to credit his testimony and use it to convict Trump. In my 30 years as a prosecutor, I dealt with countless “cooperating witnesses” — CWs for short. That term most precisely describes defendants who plead guilty to their crimes and enter into a cooperation agreement with prosecutors to testify fully, truthfully and accurately about the crimes of others. In exchange, the cooperating witness receives a reduced plea or a more lenient sentence. As former criminals, cooperating witnesses generally have plenty of baggage. As part of the deal, the cooperating witness must also admit to and be prepared to testify about the crimes they themselves committed. This standard practice is vital to building the witness’s credibility. You can’t expect a jury to believe testimony about the crimes of others if the cooperating witness is unable or unwilling to fess up to his own crimes. Cohen is what I’d call a de facto cooperating witness. He pleaded guilty to his crimes and agreed to testify against Trump, but without entering into a formal cooperation agreement with prosecutors. Cohen may be a deeply flawed individual and someone who was all too willing to commit crimes for his boss and for his own financial gain. But he’s also an entirely typical cooperating witness: someone perfectly positioned to expose to the jury the crimes of the bigger fish in the corrupt scheme. A conspiracy is a secret agreement between two or more people to commit crimes. By their very nature, these criminal agreements are designed to shield the conspiracy from public view. This is why prosecutors work mightily to corral an insider — a co-conspirator — and develop that person as a cooperating witness who can authoritatively inform jurors about what was going on inside the conspiracy. But as former criminals, cooperating witnesses generally have plenty of baggage. Which brings us back to Cohen. In many ways, Cohen was a nearly perfect cooperating witness. He was in direct communication with the bigger criminal fish. He even had a covert audio recording that helped prove Trump was involved in the corrupt scheme to hide damaging information for political advantage. Cohen testified that he committed crimes at the direction of Trump and, importantly, for the benefit of Trump. The fact that the crimes inarguably inured to Trump’s benefit — he, not Cohen, was the one running for (and ultimately winning) elected office — will not be lost on the jury. Indeed, though Cohen may have hoped to benefit in the future from helping Trump, these crimes arguably worked to the immediate detriment of Cohen. He had to take out a home-equity line of credit just to muster the $130,000 payment. Cohen spent more than 20 hours on the witness stand, reportedly without becoming angry, belligerent or losing his cool. The same cannot be said of the only defense witness of consequence, Robert Costello. Though Costello is himself a lawyer, he was beyond belligerent, and Judge Juan Merchan at one point cleared the courtroom to admonish Costello for his “contemptuous” behavior. The jury undoubtedly took note of the dramatic contrast between Cohen’s performance and Costello’s. Two points in Cohen’s testimony were touted in the media as deeply damaging to his credibility: the fact that he may have mixed up the date of the precise phone call in which he told Trump he had made the hush money payment, and the fact that Cohen stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization. The prosecution didn’t choose Cohen as a witness. Trump chose him as a witness when he allegedly enlisted him in his corrupt scheme. This old prosecutor saw those two bits of Cohen’s testimony quite differently. Were I prosecuting this case, I would address the phone call in my rebuttal argument — not my initial closing argument — after the defense undoubtedly addresses it in their closing argument. Then I would ask the jurors if they had precise recall of the date and time of phone conversations from eight years ago. The question answers itself. So, whether Cohen told Trump in a call on a Wednesday or a Thursday is immaterial. More importantly, does anyone believe Trump would have begun writing Cohen a series of $35,000 checks from his personal bank account if Cohen had not told Trump the payment was made? Please! The second revelation — that Cohen stole $30,000 from Trump — is a perceived weakness that I would turn into a strength. In closing arguments, defense attorneys frequently fall into a trap of urging the jury to disbelieve a cooperating witness’ testimony that incriminates their client but believe the same testimony when it incriminates the witness. The defense attorney likely will tell the jury, “You can’t credit Cohen’s testimony because he’s a thief, having stolen from the very person he, as an attorney, was supposed to zealously represent.” That argument carries some superficial appeal. But I would rebut it this way: “Ladies and gentlemen, who is it that proved to you that Michael Cohen stole $30,000 from the Trump organization? It was Michael Cohen himself, in his sworn testimony! And here’s the important part — Cohen’s testimony about his theft was uncorroborated. No other witness came in here and testified about it. There was no audio recording exposing it. There were no business records confirming it. So the defense is telling you to credit Michael Cohen’s uncorroborated testimony when he tells you he stole $30,000 from Trump. Yet, when Cohen’s testimony is corroborated by other witnesses — by audio recordings, by phone records, by business ledger entries, and by Trump-signed checks falsely purporting to be reimbursement for legal services — when Cohen is corroborated eight ways to Sunday, the defense urges you to disbelieve his testimony? Let’s be clear, the defense wants you to credit Cohen’s uncorroborated account of his own misconduct, but disbelieve Cohen’s fully corroborated testimony if it hurts Trump. Ladies and gentlemen, the defense has just invited you to fall for the bait and switch. But we know you won’t.” I would finish by reminding the jury that the prosecution didn’t choose Cohen as a witness. Trump chose him as a witness when he allegedly enlisted him in his corrupt scheme to pay hush money and falsify business records to gain an unfair advantage in a presidential election. Cohen may very well have lied, cheated and stolen, but he also testified about what he did as Trump’s co-conspirator, his partner in crime. And soon, a jury will get to decide if that testimony, together with the significant corroborating evidence, is enough to prove Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Americans' denial about Trump's authoritarianism is deeper than ever 2024-05-26 10:00:40+00:00 - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who incited a violent insurrection in January 2021 to try and remain in office illegally after he lost the 2020 election, has been clear about what kind of president he intends to be if he returns to the White House in January 2025. In December 2023, he declared that he would be a dictator “on Day One” of his time in office. He proposed deploying the National Guard and even the military as a deportation force in an April interview with Time magazine. Add in his recent statement at the National Rifle Association convention that he might need three terms, and a new video from his Truth Social account with multiple references to the “creation of a unified Reich” — the Nazi government was known as the Third Reich — and it seems likely that a Trump victory would usher in a new autocratic era for America. This surreal situation reflects both an information deficit and a disinformation surfeit. Yet it seems that so many in America are treating this election as politics as usual. Primaries, caucuses and other events proceed, even as the Republican nominee refuses to commit to accepting lawful election results if he is not the victor. And most of the GOP still embraces the false reality that Trump won the 2020 election as well. This surreal situation reflects both an information deficit and a disinformation surfeit. A March poll of swing-state voters revealed that most respondents were unaware of Trump’s criminal charges, dictator threats, use of fascist language (such as calling people “vermin”), and vows to pardon the “patriots” who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. More worryingly still, the poll excluded voters who believed Biden stole the 2020 election. Those surveyed, though they are not lost in the Trumpist alternate universe, lack the information to take the threats to our democracy seriously. And many better-informed Americans don’t take Trump’s proclamations and actions seriously either. Instead, they accuse those who are sounding the alarm at his strongman actions and rhetoric of hyperbole and hysteria. Certainly, Americans are prone to thinking “it can’t happen here.” Our country has lived on its reputation as a bastion of freedom and democracy, and since we have never had a national dictatorship at home (though the Jim Crow South was a regional authoritarianism), many people don’t recognize autocratic creep as it unfolds. But as Robert Kagan’s stirring essay for The Washington Post put it: “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.” Yet too many are still pretending. President Joe Biden’s age receives far more coverage than Trump’s declarations that if he returns to the White House he will detain and deport millions of people and allow Vladimir Putin’s Russia to “do whatever the hell they want.” Such is his affinity for Russia’s authoritarian that he’d let Moscow attack NATO member states if they pose obstacles to Putin’s imperialist ambitions — a situation that could trigger World War III. Dwelling in denial is the default mode for millions who have taken our freedoms for granted. These dire outcomes can seem unreal, a world away from our daily lives of school pickups, doctor visits, work commitments and sports competitions. Dwelling in denial is the default mode for millions who have taken our freedoms for granted and don’t want to think about how their lives would be altered by the advent of authoritarian governance in America. Americans are not the first to live in a state of collective denial. Authoritarians have often told us what they are going to do, but people have rarely believed them, or they have felt that since they didn’t fit the profile of those the autocrat was targeting, they wouldn’t be affected. Later, when it came their turn to be harassed or persecuted, it was too late to do much about it. When Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini declared dictatorship in 1925, most active anti-Fascists tried to leave Italy or went into hiding to avoid going to jail. But Ignazio Silone, an Italian Communist who took refuge in a safe house in Milan, heard a comrade say that even as the streets filled with Fascist security forces, people lined up outside the La Scala opera house, waiting to see the latest spectacle as though Mussolini’s seizure of power did not concern them. In Germany, the Jewish linguist Victor Klemperer, who kept a diary of his life during Hitler’s rule, was not in denial, but had to stay in Nazi Germany since he could not find a university position abroad. “Don’t think about it, live one’s life, bury oneself in the most private matters!” he wrote on Sept. 20, 1938, hoping that each new round of persecution would be the last. Even when democracy dies by coup, and the repression is heavy and immediate, some underestimate the impact and view the situation as merely temporary. After Chile’s bloody 1973 coup, former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva, a conservative Christian Democrat, was sure that the new military dictatorship would restore order and then “return power to democracy.” But as dictator Augusto Pinochet tightened his grip, Frei realized his grave error and began to criticize the regime. He would die less than a decade later, with his family alleging that Frei was poisoned on Pinochet’s orders. Tyranny “advances with the pace of a tightening screw rather than with the dash of the executioner’s blade,” wrote the Italian anti-Fascist exile G.A. Borgese in 1937. We can learn from this sad history and treat the actions and declarations of Trump with all the gravity they deserve.

PWHL hockey finals pit Minnesota vs. Boston in historic battle 2024-05-26 10:00:00+00:00 - The inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) wraps up in the coming days, as Minnesota and Boston battle it out in the league’s first finals. No matter which team prevails, professional women’s hockey in North America appears to be headed in the right direction after years of concurrent leagues, folding leagues, pay cuts and labor issues. Expectations are high for the PWHL’s second season, and therefore the stakes are too. There has arguably never been a better time for women’s sports. A Disney-record 1.02 million viewers tuned in to last year’s NCAA gymnastics championship, and the arrival of Caitlin Clark in the WNBA has drawn even more eyes to women’s basketball — which just announced its impending expansion into Toronto. The PWHL, meanwhile, has already broken numerous attendance records. According to the league, the season garnered over 40 million views and more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. These are stats that suggest a wellspring of support for a sport that for too long has been starved of resources. Like with basketball and soccer, women's hockey has a lot to offer men’s hockey fans — a quick, physical and incredibly skilled game — if those fans now where to look. The PWHL is a young and relatively small league, but it can build off the growth that women’s hockey more generally has seen in recent years. And like with basketball and soccer, women’s hockey has a lot to offer men’s hockey fans — a quick, physical and incredibly skilled game — if those fans know where to look. The Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) was founded as an amateur association in 2007 but quickly grew to become the top women’s hockey league in North America. In 2015, the National Women’s Hockey League, which eventually became known as the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was founded. The latter league focused primarily on the United States (though two Canadian teams were eventually added), and most importantly, players were paid. Both the CWHL and PHF expanded over the years, but neither was perfect and a “two league” debate soon formed. The CWHL didn’t pay its players until 2017; the PHF did, but working conditions could reportedly be challenging and the league cut player salaries almost immediately, in 2016. Still, the leagues continued to co-exist until 2019, when, on a seemingly random Sunday morning, the CWHL announced it was folding. Nearly two months later, the #ForTheGame movement and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association emerged from the ashes, formed as a temporary refuge for many of the U.S. and Canadian women’s national team players as they pushed for better wages, working conditions and stability in a full-time league outside of the Olympics and IIHF tournaments. Four years after the formation of the PWHPA, the players were able to establish a collective bargaining agreement. Concurrently, and as suddenly as the demise of the CWHL, the PHF was acquired by Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group, setting the stage for the debut of the PWHL. Just five months later, the inaugural PWHL season began on Jan. 1, 2024. It took many years to get here, but there is now a single professional women’s hockey league in North America. At the same time, the league’s officially recognized players union, and collective bargaining agreement, is providing unprecedented structure and support for player rights, benefits and salaries. The current CBA provides for a minimum salary, as well as a salary cap for each team, both of which increase by 3% annually. It spells out health insurance plans, disability insurance benefits, per diems and competition and performance bonuses, including $63,250 for the championship team to split among its players. In 2025, the PWHL will implement an elective 401(k) plan. Standards are laid out for transportation and hotel accommodations, pregnancy benefits, parental leave, educational support, housing stipends and relocation expenses. While this all may sound incredibly basic for professional athletes, women’s hockey has had to fight for every last benefit, no matter how basic. Still, there is work to be done. For example, the Minnesota team and staff had to scramble — ultimately taking two different flights — to make it to their semifinal series, less than a day after finding out their opponent. Coaches — and equally as important, equipment — were forced to take a later flight, delaying practices by a day. The league has since provided charter flights for the teams going to and from Minnesota. Charter flights, and flights in general, have infamously been a sticking point in the WNBA, with the league finally instituting a full charter program for the 2024 season. (The rollout of the program, however, has been a bumpy one.) While all PWHL games have at the very least been broadcast live on YouTube, linear television deals have been scarce, particularly in the U.S. Locally driven networks such as Sportsnet Pittsburgh, MSG and Bally Sports have picked up games, but the league would benefit greatly from securing a national TV deal. This would provide vital sponsorship money and greater mainstream visibility. Such deals have proven huge for women’s soccer and basketball. The NWSL’s current four-year media deal is valued at $60 million per year — 40 times the value of the previous deal. The WNBA and NBA are currently negotiating new rights with Disney, but the women’s league reportedly wants to double its rights fees, currently valued at $60 million per year. Undoubtedly, with time (and hopefully broadcast deals) will come PWHL expansion. A handful of players signed two- or three-year contracts last year, and with six teams in the league, there are a very limited number of roster spots. The key is to find the right time to expand. Will the PWHL finally be the answer for professional women’s hockey? All the stars seem to be aligning. Independent ownership will also be a key point of contention. Right now, all the teams in the PWHL are owned by the Mark Walter Group, which invites questions about conflicts of interest. (Walter is the billionaire chairman and controlling owner of the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, and a co-owner of Premier League club Chelsea F.C.) NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman initially refused to get involved with women’s hockey while there were two leagues. But will a unified league revive the conversation? The NBA and WNBA have had a successful partnership, but in a different context: The NBA actually created the women’s league and provides a portion of its funding. While not on exactly the same terms, the success of the NBA-WNBA partnership could provide a template for the NHL and PWHL. Then there are the necessary improvements to team names, logos and jerseys; a better home rink for PWHL New York; reviewing the league’s systems for refereeing and reviewing plays, and getting a real, full season under its belt. The inaugural season began in January due to time constraints, but let’s see what this league looks like with a full season beginning in October or November. I remain optimistic. Players, coaches, executives and passionate fans have supported the sport for years, and more attention is on women’s sports now than ever. Will the PWHL finally be the answer for professional women’s hockey? All the stars seem to be aligning. The PWHL’s inaugural season has been a success by most measures. Now it has a chance to lead the way into the future, pushing the limits of what is possible for women’s hockey — and women’s sports writ large.

What Happened to Our Ad-Free TV? 2024-05-26 09:03:02.967000+00:00 - Not long ago, streaming TV came with a promise: Sign up, and commercials will be a thing of the past. Netflix rose to streaming dominance in part by luring customers to an ad-free experience. Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max followed that lead. Well, that did not last long. Ads are getting increasingly hard to avoid on streaming services. One by one, Netflix, Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+ and Max have added 30- and 60-second commercials in exchange for a slightly lower subscription price. Amazon has turned ads on by default. And the live sports on those services include built-in commercial breaks no matter what price you pay. The importance of advertising was driven home this month when Amazon and Netflix both staged their first in-person presentations during the so-called upfronts, a decades-old television event in New York where media companies try to woo advertisers.

Savoring the Summer at 5 Waterside Hotels 2024-05-26 09:02:46.119000+00:00 - At this luxury escape in White Lake, N.Y., about a two-hour drive from Manhattan, immerse yourself in more than 100 acres along the Toronto Reservoir. Or better yet, get into the reservoir and go paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking and swimming. And because the Chatwal Lodge is set within the approximately 2,500-acre Chapin Estate, you can also fly-fish on private trout streams there. On dry land, pretend you’re back in summer camp and try archery, birdhouse decorating, baking classes and yoga. Or visit the recreation center where you can play shuffleboard, duckpin bowling, ping pong, billiards and board games. At night, gather for stargazing and s’mores around a fire pit.

Big Sky, Big Growth: How Montana’s Newcomers Are Shaping Its Senate Duel 2024-05-26 09:00:54+00:00 - Growing up in Bozeman, Mont., Dylan Heintz loved the picturesque views of the snow-capped mountains and the small-town charm. Things were cheap: His dad bought the family home for about $80,000. These days, Bozeman feels less quaint. A steady stream of out-of-state transplants to Big Sky Country became a deluge during the pandemic, leading to soaring prices, a boom in luxury apartments that blot out the rustic scenery and a rash of higher-end businesses like Whole Foods. Drawn by Montana’s natural beauty and easy access to outdoor activities, the newcomers have created an affordability crisis and a local backlash that are transforming the state’s economy and politics. “I love this place, but it’s just a tough place to live in,” said Mr. Heintz, 28, an auto body repairman. Rent has doubled in his trailer court, and he and his wife cannot afford to buy a home in town, leaving them considering a move to Florida. “There are a lot of out-of-staters that have some money, and they’re willing to pay above asking price. That definitely hurts people.” The fresh population of wealthier residents — often retirees, technology workers able to do their jobs remotely and other big-city transplants — is one of the largest question marks hanging over Montana’s crucial race for Senate. As Jon Tester, the Democratic incumbent, looks to fend off Tim Sheehy, a businessman and retired Navy SEAL who is expected to capture the Republican nomination, tensions over the exploding growth will be a top issue in November.

Foster Children Fight to Stop States From Taking Federal Benefits 2024-05-26 09:00:46+00:00 - James Wood’s mother struggled with addiction, and he often found himself adrift, not knowing what day or month it was. “I didn’t understand how time worked,” he said. When James was 14, his mother died of pneumonia, and he entered California’s foster care system. As a minor with a deceased parent and a disability, James was entitled to federal benefits, totaling $780 a month, some of which his mother had accrued during the years that she worked as a nurse. But James never received the benefits. The government got the money instead, according to James and his adoptive father, Wayne Stidham. It’s a longstanding practice for many states or counties to apply for the federal benefits of foster children, often without their knowledge, and then use the money to cover some of the costs of their care, according to legal advocates for children and congressional researchers.

From Waiter to Guest at Nantucket’s Grande Dame Hotel 2024-05-26 09:00:28.652000+00:00 - In the summer of 1974, I was working as a waiter at the White Elephant, the grande dame of Nantucket hotels, a rambling gray-shingled pile that sits right on the island’s harbor. One muggy August night, I sent the six lobster dinners ordered by Francis Sargent, the governor of Massachusetts and his guests crashing to the floor when some butter on the heel of my hand propelled my tray off the stand I’d been kneeling to set it down on. Thinking about it still makes me cringe. I had not been back inside the White Elephant in almost 50 years when, last spring, I returned to the island to check into the famous inn as a guest, size up its recent multimillion dollar makeover at the hands of the Boston architectural firm Elkus Manfredi, and ponder the ways in which both the island and I had changed. Though it’s hard to believe today, when Nantucket airport is filled with rows of private planes that have delivered their owners to this island 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, many people clucked at Elizabeth T. Ludwig’s hotel when it opened a century ago. Without the social cachet of more accessible resorts like Newport, R.I., or Saratoga Springs, N.Y., it struck many people as folly to believe the swell set would spend their holidays on Nantucket.

Reebok Isn’t a ‘Hobby’ for Shaquille O’Neal 2024-05-26 07:00:13+00:00 - In mid-March, Reebok staged its annual brand summit for about 500 business partners at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter, an events space in Boston, where Todd Krinsky, the company’s chief executive, was harboring a secret. Mr. Krinsky told his audience that Shaquille O’Neal, the new president of Reebok’s soon-to-be-resuscitated basketball division, had been hoping to attend. But in lieu of being there in person, Mr. O’Neal had sent along a prerecorded video message. And there, on a big screen, appeared the unmistakable presence of Mr. O’Neal, all 7 feet 1 inch of him, as he lounged in bed at home in Atlanta. He said he felt awful about missing the event and offered his apologies. But as soon as the video ended, Mr. O’Neal appeared in person — surprise! — strutting onto the stage. He greeted the crowd and soon joined Mr. Krinsky for a Q. and A. that the chief executive figured would be light and breezy. But Mr. O’Neal, as he often does, had other plans.

Ahead of another donor conference for Syria, humanitarian workers fear more aid cuts 2024-05-26 05:53:49+00:00 - BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Living in a tent in rebel-held northwestern Syria, Rudaina al-Salim and her family struggle to find enough water for drinking and other basic needs such as cooking and washing. Their encampment north of the city of Idlib hasn’t seen any aid in six months. “We used to get food aid, hygiene items,” said the mother of four. “Now we haven’t had much in a while.” Al-Salim’s story is similar to that of many in this region of Syria, where most of the 5.1 million people have been internally displaced — sometimes more than once — in the country’s civil war, now in its 14th year, and rely on aid to survive. U.N. agencies and international humanitarian organizations have for years struggled with shrinking budgets, further worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and conflicts elsewhere. The wars in Ukraine and Sudan, and more recently Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip are the focus of the world’s attention. Syria’s war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of of 23 million, has long remained largely frozen and so are also efforts to find a viable political solution to end it. Meanwhile, millions of Syrians have been pulled into poverty, and struggle with accessing food and health care as the economy deteriorates across the country’s front lines. Along with the deepening poverty, there is growing hostility in neighboring countries that host Syrian refugees and that struggle with crises of their own. Aid organizations are now making their annual pitches to donors ahead of a fundraising conference in Brussels for Syria on Monday. But humanitarian workers believe that pledges will likely fall short and that further aid cuts would follow. “We have moved from assisting 5.5 million a year to about 1.5 million people in Syria,” Carl Skau, the U.N. World Food Program’s deputy executive director, told The Associated Press. He spoke during a recent visit to Lebanon, which hosts almost 780,000 registered Syrian refugees — and hundreds of thousands of others who are undocumented. “When I look across the world, this is the (aid) program that has shrunk the most in the shortest period for time,” Skau said. Just 6% of the United Nations’ appeal for aid to Syria in 2024 has so far been secured ahead of Monday’s annual fundraising conference organized by the European Union, said David Carden, U.N. deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria. For the northwestern region of Syria, that means the U.N. is only able to feed 600,000 out of the 3.6 million people facing food insecurity, meaning they lack access to sufficient food. The U.N. says some 12.9 million Syrians are food insecure across the country. The U.N. hopes the Brussels conference can raise more than $4 billion in “lifesaving aid” to support almost two-thirds of the 16.7 million Syrians in need, both within the war-torn country and in neighboring countries, particularly Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. At last year’s conference, donors pledged $10.3 billion — about $6 billion in grants and the rest in loans — just months after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and much of northern Syria, killing over 59,000 people, including 6,000 in Syria. For northwestern Syria, an enclave under rebel control, aid “is literally a matter of life and death” this year, Carden told the AP during a recent visit to Idlib province. Without funding, 160 health facilities there would close by end of June, he said. The International Rescue Committee’s head for Syria, Tanya Evans, said needs are “at their highest ever,” with increasing numbers of Syrians turning to child labor and taking on debt to pay for food and basics. In Lebanon, where nearly 90% of Syrian refugees live in poverty, they also face flagging aid and increasing resentment from the Lebanese, struggling with their own country’s economic crisis since 2019. Disgruntled officials have accused the refugees of surging crime and competition in the job market. Lebanon’s bickering political parties have united in a call for a crackdown on undocumented Syrian migrants and demand refugees return to so-called “safe zones” in Syria. U.N. agencies, human rights groups and Western governments say there are no such areas. Um Omar, a Syrian refugee from Homs, works in a grocery store in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli — an impoverished community that once warmly welcomed Syrian refugees. For her work, she gets to bring home every day a bundle of bread and some vegetables to feed her family of five. They live rent-free in a tent on a plot of land that belongs to the grocery store’s owners. “I have to leave the kids early in the morning without breakfast so I can work,” she said, asking to be identified only by her nickname, Arabic for “Omar’s mother.” She fears reprisals because of heightened hostilities against Syrians. The shrinking U.N. aid they receive does not pay the bills. Her husband, who shares her fears for their safety, used to work as a day laborer but has rarely left their home in weeks. She says deportation to Syria, where President Bashar Assad’s government is firmly entrenched, would spell doom for her family. “If my husband was returned to Syria, he’ll either go to jail or (face) forced conscription,” she explains. Still, many in Lebanon tell her family, “you took our livelihoods,” Um Omar said. There are also those who tell them they should leave, she added, so that the Lebanese “will finally catch a break.” ___ Albam reported from Harbnoush, Syria.