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Donald Trump is about to become $1.2 billion richer. Here's why. 2024-04-23 21:16:00+00:00 - Donald Trump is about to see his fortune grow by $1.2 billion. The former U.S. president is set to receive a so-called earnout bonus of 36 million shares in his newly public company, Trump Media & Technology Group, as part of an incentive that was created for the company's public market debut in March, according to a regulatory filing. For Trump to get the additional shares, which are on top of his current 57% ownership stake of 78 million shares, Trump Media needs to trade at or above $17.50 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading day period. The stock, which trades under Trump's initials, DJT, marked its 20th trading day on Tuesday, which means that Trump qualifies for the bonus given that the stock didn't plunge below $17.50 today. At today's closing price of $32.56 per share, that values Trump's earnout at $1.2 billion. Still, Trump won't be able to cash out the new stock immediately. He and other Trump Media executives are largely restricted from selling their shares for roughly another five months. Such lockup periods, as they're known, are common with newly listed companies because they keep insiders from dumping shares shortly after a company goes public, which can destabilize a stock and cause it to sink in value. With the additional earnout stake, Trump will own about 115 million shares of DJT, which on paper have a value of $3.7 billion. The windfall comes as Trump is facing increasing financial pressures due to legal judgments as well as ongoing legal expenses. Trump Media, whose main asset is the Truth Social social media platform, has had a bumpy ride since its shares started trading last month. The shares initially surged, reaching a peak of $79.38 per share on its first trading day, March 26, followed by a weeks-long slide that spurred CEO Devin Nunes to accuse some investors of manipulating the stock through an illegal form of short selling. At its current price, Trump Media is worth about half of its peak value. Trump's small investor base Many of Trump Media's shareholders are individual investors and supporters of the former president. About 600,000 retail investors have bought shares in Trump Media, Nunes has told Fox Business, calling them "the most amazing part about our company." "[W]e don't have any institutions, zero Wall Street money," Nunes also told Newsmax last week. On Tuesday, Trump Media said it has informed stockholders about how to protect their shares from being used in a "short sale," or when investors bet that a stock will fall. Typically, short sellers borrow shares of a stock they believe will lose value, and then immediately sell the shares on the market to pocket the cash. Later on, if the stock price falls, the trader purchases that stock at the lower price, then returns the shares to the trading firm from where they were originally borrowed. In its statement Tuesday, Trump Media said that while short selling is legal, it wants to advise "long-term shareholders who believe in the company's future" about how to prevent their shares from being used in such a trade. That includes opting out of securities lending programs that would allow brokers to lend their shares, as well as making sure the stock isn't held in a margin account. The company's base of Trump fans, as well as its stock market swings, have prompted comparisons with "meme" stocks like GameStop. These types of stocks typically attract individual investors based on social media buzz, rather than traditional financial metrics favored by investors, such as revenue and profit growth.
Tesla just launched a new souped-up Model 3 as it battles slumping sales 2024-04-23 21:11:45+00:00 - Tesla unveiled an upgraded version of its Model 3 Performance sedan on Tuesday. Tesla said the new Model 3 has more power, reduced energy consumption, and improved handling. The announcement follows a decline in sales, layoffs, and a drop in Tesla's stock. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement Tesla announced a new version of its Model 3 sedan on Tuesday as the electric vehicle maker faces a decline in sales. The upgraded Model 3 Performance, which starts at $52,990, can go from zero to 60 mph in 29 seconds and has a top speed of 163 mph, according to Tesla. Tesla said the vehicle has more power with less energy consumption compared to the previous Model 3 Performance version. The company said it also has a new adaptive damping system that adjusts to inputs from the driver and the road in real time for better handling, among other changes.
South Carolina Senate wants accelerated income tax cut while House looks at property tax rebate 2024-04-23 21:10:59+00:00 - COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Senate started debating a budget Tuesday that accelerates a planned income tax cut instead of the House plan to use $500 million to give homeowners a one-time property tax rebate. Once the spending plan passes the Senate, a group of three House members and three senators — likely including the leaders of each chamber’s budget committee — is going to have to sort out the differences over the next month or so with the tax break and other items in South Carolina’s $15.4 billion spending plan for next budget year. Republican Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler has called the competing tax breaks a wonderful problem to have in the 2024-25 fiscal year budget, which again left lawmakers with a substantial pot of additional money to spend. But Peeler has left little doubt he thinks spending $100 million to knock the income tax rate most people pay in the state from 6.3% to 6.2% is the right move, saying it lasts forever compared to a one-year drop in property tax. The state is in the middle of a five-year effort to cut its top income tax rate from 7% to 6%. The money involved comes from an account meant to provide property tax relief. Sales tax goes into the fund, and a boom in spending during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has left the account flush with cash. The House budget suggested giving the money back as a property tax rebate. But county officials worry property tax bills will snap back next year and homeowners will be angry at them. Along with $100 million in income tax cuts, the Senate plan spends the $500 million on roads and bridges, local water and sewer system repairs, and other items. Another item the budget conference committee will have to resolve is how much of a raise state employees get. The Senate plan would give state employees making less than $50,000 a raise of $1,375 a year. Workers making more than that would get a 2.75% boost in pay. The House plan gives a $1,000 raise to workers making less than $66,667 and a 1.5% raise to those who make more. Last year, there was a monthlong showdown over the differences in the budget about how much money should be given to start work on a new veterinary school at Clemson University. It led to a tense meeting and accusations of who cared about people and education more before a compromise was reached in early June. One point both chambers agreed on is raising teacher pay. Both spending plans set aside about $200 million. Every teacher would get a raise and the minimum salary for a starting teacher would be increased to $47,000 a year. The budget also would allow teachers to get a yearly raise for each of their first 28 years instead of their first 23. Other items in the Senate plan include $36 million to the Department of Juvenile Justice for security and prison improvements, as well as $11 million to put technology to find unauthorized cellphones in maximum security prisons and have providers block those numbers likely being used by inmates. There is $175 million to finish work on the new school for veterinary medicine at Clemson University and $100 million for a new medical school at the University of South Carolina. Senators set aside nearly $5 million for a forensic audit and other help to determine where $1.8 billion in a state Treasurer’s Office account came from and where it was supposed to go. There is $11.5 million to protect the integrity of the 2024 election and $12.5 million to upgrade election systems. The Senate budget is “balanced not only in arithmetic; it’s balanced on the needs of the state of South Carolina,” Peeler said. “First tax relief, second public education and third infrastructure.”
Howie Schwab, ESPN Researcher and Trivia Star, Dies at 63 2024-04-23 21:06:13.913000+00:00 - Howie Schwab, a sports nerd who parlayed his love of statistics into a long stint at ESPN that was most notable for his starring role as the ultimate trivia expert on the game show “Stump the Schwab,” died on Saturday in Aventura, Fla. He was 63. His death was announced on social media by his wife, Suzie Davie-Schwab. His mother, Dona (Bressner) Schwab, said he was in a hospital being treated for an infection when he died, apparently of a heart attack. Mr. Schwab had been at ESPN for 17 years in behind-the-scenes roles as a researcher and producer when he was tapped in 2004 to star in his own show. On “Stump the Schwab,” three challengers vied to outdo Mr. Schwab in answering questions posed by the host, Stuart Scott, in the opening rounds. In the final round — called the Schwab Showdown — the best of the three went head to head against him for a $25,000 grand prize. Mr. Schwab almost always won.
‘It Is Desolate’: China’s Glut of Unused Car Factories 2024-04-23 21:03:32+00:00 - On the outskirts of Chongqing, western China’s largest city, sits a huge symbol of the country’s glut of car factories. It’s a complex of gray buildings, nearly a square mile in size. The thousands of employees who used to work there have moved on. Its crimson loading docks are closed. The facility, a former assembly plant and engine factory, had been a joint venture of a Chinese company and Hyundai, the South Korean giant. The complex opened in 2017 with robots and other equipment to make gasoline-powered cars. Hyundai sold the campus late last year for a fraction of the $1.1 billion it took to build and equip it. Unmown grass at the site has already grown knee high. “It was all highly automated, but now, it is desolate,” said Zhou Zhehui, 24, who works for a rival Chinese automaker, Chang’an, and whose apartment looks down on the former Hyundai complex. China has more than 100 factories with the capacity to build close to 40 million internal combustion engine cars a year. That is roughly twice as many as people in China want to buy, and sales of these cars are dropping fast as electric vehicles become more popular.
Mark Zuckerberg finally spilled the beans about his new chain necklace look 2024-04-23 21:02:48+00:00 - Mark Zuckerberg revealed the reason for his new chain necklace. The Meta exec said he's designing his own piece of jewelry with a heartfelt message. The internet has been flooded with memes and compliments since Zuckerberg debuted the new look. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement The hype around Mark Zuckerberg's new chain lives on, and the story behind it is pretty endearing. The Meta CEO spoke with Eva Chen, head of Instagram's fashion partnerships, about new developments for its Ray-Ban smart glasses, and spilled more information on his viral accessory choices. "I'm in the process of designing a long-term chain," he said in a Tuesday Instagram post. Related stories As part of his "design process," he said he's testing out necklaces that will eventually hold an engraving of the prayer he reads to his daughters. Advertisement Zuckerberg was spotted wearing a shorter-looking chain last week, prompting memes and talk of a "glow-up." (Another popular image floating around was of the billionaire photoshopped to look like he has a beard, but the chain is definitely real.) This new venture into fashion has drawn comparisons to current "mob chic" trends and rapper swag. But, Zuckerberg said the necklace boils down to a sentimental gesture to his children. Either way, the move has certainly earned the Meta chief some internet cool points — although perhaps not from Instagram's Chen, who suggested the chain he was wearing in Tuesday's video should be a bit shorter.
Tesla reveals what its Uber-like robotaxi app would look like 2024-04-23 20:58:19+00:00 - Tesla just gave us a peek at its planned ride-hailing interface. Elon Musk's company is emphasizing its self-driving and robotaxi businesses as EV demand softens. Tesla hasn't said when it would launch a ride-hailing service. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement Tesla on Tuesday released more details about its planned launch of an Uber-like ride-hailing service. The service would live inside the Tesla app, which Tesla owners can already use for almost all vehicle functionality, the company said. Related stories Tesla's Q1 earnings presentation contained screenshots illustrating a moody black-and-white interface that would allow riders to summon a supposedly driverless vehicle, set the car's interior temperature, and track its location on a 3D map. Preview of ride-hailing interface in the Tesla app Tesla On a call with investors, Musk provided a bit more detail about Tesla's plans for the robo-taxi business, comparing it to a combination between Airbnb and Uber. Advertisement "There will be some number of cars that Tesla owns itself and operates, a bunch where they are owned by the end user," Musk said. The result, Musk said, will be "tens of millions of cars" in a self-driving fleet that is providing Tesla with a constant flow of data and feedback when things go wrong. Tesla has placed more focus on the potential value of its self-driving software and robotaxi business as softening EV demand pinches sales and price cuts take a bite out of Tesla's mighty automotive profit margins. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced earlier in April that the company would reveal a long-awaited robotaxi in August. Despite pushback from safety groups and high-profile legal troubles, Tesla has pushed forward with new iterations of its driver-assist software, which it calls "Full-Self Driving" or FSD. Tesla has also said it is working on ride-hailing functionality to be available sometime in the future.
E.W. Scripps exploring sale of Black-culture broadcast network Bounce TV 2024-04-23 20:41:00+00:00 - Tanika Ray, Alyson Fouse, Kym Whitley, Yvette Nicole Brown and Tisha Campbell attend Bounce TV's "Act Your Age" Los Angeles Series Premiere at The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills on February 27, 2023 in West Hollywood, California. E.W. Scripps , one of the largest local TV broadcasters in the U.S., has hired a financial advisor to evaluate inbound interest in acquiring Bounce TV, its over-the-air network geared toward African Americans, according to Scripps CEO Adam Symson. The sale process comes after Paramount Global shopped around Black entertainment company BET Media Group last year, but ultimately decided not to sell. Interested parties from that potential deal, many of them with Black leadership, have since approached Scripps with interest in owning Bounce TV, Symson said in an exclusive CNBC interview. If Scripps pursues a deal, it hopes to attract a price tag in the hundreds of millions, according to people familiar with the matter. E.W. Scripps trades for about $3.70 per share at a market valuation of roughly $315 million. The stock is down more than 50% this year amid concerns over pay-TV cancellations that diminish the audience for broadcast networks. Symson declined to comment on the names of the bidders or the potential price for Bounce TV. People familiar with the process said a deal could happen around mid-year or the third quarter. "The number of inbounds and conversations that we have had with interested and qualified potential suitors has picked up significantly over the last year," Symson said. "The earlier BET process, which was never consummated, may have opened up people's eyes to the power of Bounce." Some advertising agencies and big brands earmark some spending specifically for minority-controlled businesses, Symson said, which can increase the value of media assets if they're sold from conglomerates to Black owners. He added a platform such as Bounce TV could also serve as a landing spot for a catalog of Black creators. Scripps officials began telling Bounce TV employees about the inbound interest on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the communications. Bounce TV, which debuted in 2011, is a free over-the-air network that broadcasts a combination of syndicated shows, movies and original content. All content is geared to African American audiences. Bounce TV's "Johnson," a dramedy created by Deji LaRay, is entering its fourth season. The network is also launching a new comedy series, "Mind Your Business," that premieres June 1.
Tesla's affordability push eases growing doubts about its performance and Musk's focus 2024-04-23 20:39:00+00:00 - Tesla’s stock jumped about 8% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the electric vehicle giant reported its steepest annual revenue drop in over a decade. Despite softer sales and a growing chorus of skeptics about CEO Elon Musk’s focus on the company, investors cheered its vow to "accelerate the launch of new models," likely including more affordable ones like the long-awaited low-cost Model 2. "They need to adjust to a new environment," Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities financial group, said on the heels of the company’s earnings report. Potentially speeding up the Model 2's rollout "shows they're listening," he said. Tesla's first-quarter revenues slid 9%, its steepest year-over-year decline since 2012. While the financial results were short of Wall Street's expectations, investors are breathing a sigh of relief that the company appears to be prioritizing new vehicles. Tesla has been facing more uncertainty on Wall Street than at any point since its near-bankruptcy several years ago. Its share price has plunged by nearly two-thirds — from about $407 at its November 2021 peak to about $145 as of Tuesday's market close. The stock has held the title of the S&P 500's worst performer this year. Tesla remains the largest electric vehicle seller in the U.S., where overall EV sales growth has slowed after a booming 2023. According to industry website InsideEVs, 19 Tesla competitors' combined sales growth over the past 12 months climbed 18% in the first quarter — the group's slowest rate in years as they sold just 102,000 all-electric vehicles altogether. Tesla, for its part, delivered 386,810 vehicles alone in that period, down 9% from the same quarter last year and falling well short of analyst expectations. "Pessimism on the entire EV marketplace has reached very high levels," Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at the financial services group Fundstrat Global Advisors, LLC, said in an email before Tesla reported its earnings. For the average Tesla investor, the falloff has meant significant financial losses over the past couple of years. The company's declines have been in China, whose most successful EV automaker, BYD — which does not sell in the U.S. — has emerged as a key Tesla rival. Today, they are neck and neck for title of world's largest EV maker. "They're going through a brutal demand situation in China, and Musk is now trying to turn this ship around, which went from a Cinderella ride to a Category 5 storm," Ives said. Facing greater competition, Tesla has been slashing prices to buoy sales, announcing over the weekend that it would discount Models Y, X and S by $2,000 each. It also said this month it would cut 14,000 employees, or 10% of its workforce. In the last quarter, Tesla ramped up sales of the much-anticipated Cybertruck, but it recalled nearly 4,000 of them last week over a dangerous accelerator pedal defect. Some Tesla investors attribute the company's troubles not only to broader EV sales trends but also to Musk's split focus across the other companies he oversees, especially the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "There have been a lot of black-eye moments for Musk and Tesla," Ives said. The tech guru's net worth has shrunk by billions, though only enough to push him from No. 1 to No. 3 as the world’s richest person. His role in the company will be more formally examined in June, when Tesla investors will vote on whether to reinstate his $56 billion pay package after a Delaware judge struck it down earlier this year. "A lot of shareholders are using it as vote of confidence for the CEO," said Fred Lambert, a journalist who covers Tesla at EV website Electrek. But “in the grand scheme of things, Tesla is not in any danger,” he added. Musk has been working to shift the narrative around Tesla. He now says the company is an "AI/robotics” company, even though cars still drive the bulk of its revenues. He recently posted on X that Tesla was now "going balls to the wall for autonomy," and has placed a new emphasis on rolling out fully automated robotaxis. Lambert said he recently drove a new version of Tesla's automated driving technology, which is officially called Full Self-Driving (Supervised), since it still requires a driver to remain attentive to what the vehicle is doing. He said the new software marks a leap forward and will further benefit from explosive gains in artificial intelligence in the broader tech world. Increasingly, Tesla's investments are going toward autonomous vehicle technology. While it's not yet clear what the current consumer demand is for self-driving cars, Tesla is positioning itself to have an enormous head start, said Tyson Jominy, vice president for data and analytics at J.D. Power. "Given the number of cars they've sold, they've got a potential fleet of sleeper AVs ready to be activated by executive order ... when and if that time comes," Jominy said.
New Mexico reaches settlement in 2017 wage-theft complaint after prolonged legal battle 2024-04-23 20:10:26+00:00 - SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico labor regulators on Tuesday announced a legal settlement that resolves longstanding accusations of unpaid wages against a restaurant business in northwestern New Mexico. The Workforce Solutions Department said in a news release that 505 Burgers Farmington LLC has agreed to pay out $100,000 to resolve claims by two former employees that they received only a small portion of the wages they were due for more than 3,000 hours of work, including overtime. The settlement resolves a complaint originally filed in 2017 by Francisco and Sandra Olivas with the state labor relations division that wound its way through an administrative investigation before going to trial in 2022. The New Mexico Court of Appeals rejected a challenge by the employer before a final settlement was reached. 505 Burgers owner Morgan Newsom declined to comment on the settlement when contacted Tuesday. Workforce Solutions Secretary Sarita Nair said her agency strives to provide education and training to businesses to ensure employees are paid fairly. “But when prevention does not work, our capable team will pursue these cases for workers, no matter how long it takes,” she said in a statement. New Mexico workplace regulators have struggled in the past to keep pace with complaints of alleged wage theft linked to enforcement of the state’s minimum wage law. The state labor relations division said it collected more than $689,000 during the 12-month period ending in June 2023 for New Mexico workers claiming underpayment or nonpayment of wages. Most of the complaints have raised allegations of unpaid overtime, failure to pay minimum wage and an employer withholding a final paycheck.
Congress is finally set to approve a TikTok ban. But it could still be years before it takes effect. 2024-04-23 20:00:00+00:00 - TikTok’s fate in the U.S. has never been more in doubt after the House of Representatives approved a bill last weekend that gives its parent company two options: sell it to an approved buyer or see it banned. Experts say the bill is now likely to be approved in the Senate, and President Joe Biden has signaled he would sign it. But it could take years for the TikTok ban to actually go into effect, since its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, is likely to challenge the statute in court. And even if it survives a legal challenge, no one is quite sure what would happen next. How soon could a potential ban take effect? It would probably be several years from now. According to the statute’s language, ByteDance would have nine months to divest and find an American buyer for TikTok once the bill is signed into law. On top of that, the president can push back the deadline by an additional 90 days. That means, without a sale, the soonest TikTok could shut down in the U.S. would be more than one year from now. But it’s more complicated than that. If ByteDance sues to block the implementation of the statute — which it has said it would do — the bill will be taken up by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Isaac Boltansky, director of policy for the financial services firm BTIG. Boltansky said ByteDance would file a suit no later than this fall. And while the case is under judicial review, the “clock” on any ban is effectively paused, he said. Once the D.C. court issues its ruling, whichever side loses is likely to request a review by the U.S. Supreme Court. That would forestall the ban by another year — meaning nothing would go into effect until 2026, Boltansky said. TikTok will argue that the ban is unconstitutional and that it’s also taken steps to protect American users’ data. The app has already launched an aggressive lobbying campaign, featuring a number of small-business owners and influencers who say it's their lifeblood. “We have got to make enough noise so that they don’t take away our voice,” TikTok user @dadlifejason, who has 13.8 million followers, says in a TikTok ad shared on social media. What about finding a buyer? The bill stipulates that TikTok can continue to operate in the U.S. if ByteDance sells the app to a U.S.-approved firm. While large U.S. tech companies would love to get their hands on the platform, Boltansky said that Biden administration regulators — not to mention GOP critics of Big Tech firms — have no interest in expanding the power, reach or influence of such companies. Some other outside groups might emerge. At least one led by Steve Mnuchin, who was Treasury secretary in the Trump administration, has already sought to make a bid, telling CNBC in March that he was putting together an investor group. The Wall Street Journal has also reported that former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was looking for potential buyer partners. While ByteDance, which owns other companies, is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, TikTok would fetch less than that, experts say — especially if it is sold without its powerful recommendation algorithm. But Boltansky believes ByteDance is unlikely to agree to any kind of sale. The Chinese government has said as much, arguing that it regards the algorithm as a national security asset. And without that, TikTok becomes much less appealing to potential buyers. So is TikTok in the U.S. going away? It might — but the ultimate impact may be limited. The fact is, most TikTok users already have a presence on other platforms, so the impact on their livelihoods to the extent that they operate businesses on TikTok could be limited. According to a survey from the financial services group Wedbush, approximately 60% of TikTok user respondents said they’d simply migrate to Instagram (or Facebook) in the event of a sale, while 19% said they’d go to YouTube. Analysts with financial services company Bernstein arrived at similar estimates. In a note to clients, they forecast that Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, would take over as much as 60% of TikTok’s U.S. ad revenue, with YouTube gaining 25%. Snapchat would also benefit, they said. Why did lawmakers feel they needed to take this drastic step? Boltansky said many political pundits remain surprised that the bill got over the finish line. But a wave of anxiety about both Chinese influence and the impact of social media on youth converged to get it passed. “This has been noteworthy,” Boltansky said. “Everyone is so conditioned to D.C. doing nothing or the bare minimum to keep the lights on.” As tensions with Beijing have grown, congressional lawmakers, along with top law enforcement officials, have warned that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and is a national security threat to the United States. “It screams out with national security concerns,” FBI Director Christopher Wray testified on Capitol Hill last year U.S. officials fear that the Chinese government is using TikTok to access data from, and spy on, its American users, spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories. It felt like a TikTok ban was moving slowly, then quickly. What happened? The House passed its standalone TikTok bill on a big bipartisan vote in March. But the Senate appeared in no hurry to take up the measure as Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., drafted her own legislation. That all changed when Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., working with the White House, rolled out his $95 billion foreign aid supplemental plan last week that included billions of dollars for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Included in that sweeping aid package: the House’s TikTok bill, with some minor changes. Johnson pushed the package through his chamber, then sent the House on a recess, forcing the Senate to take it or leave it. Rather than further delay the critical, long-stalled military and humanitarian aid, the Democratic-controlled Senate is moving to quickly pass the package — including the TikTok bill and other Johnson priorities.
DOJ reaches $138.7 million settlement with survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse 2024-04-23 19:47:27+00:00 - The Justice Department has reached a $138.7 million settlement with survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse for failing to properly investigate complaints about his conduct early on. The settlement applies to 139 claims against the FBI, and it follows internal probes that found a host of errors in the agency's response to allegations about the disgraced U.S. gymnastics team's doctor. "These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset," acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in a statement announcing the settlement. "While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing." Young girls treated by Nassar had reported his abusive conduct to various authorities since the late 1990s. The FBI received reports about Nassar in 2015, but the agency failed to take proper action, allowing his sexual abuse of young athletes to go uninvestigated until allegations about his conduct were made public through an Indianapolis Star investigation in September 2016. “We are proud to have achieved a monumental settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, that not only secures the recovery the survivors deserve but also holds the DOJ and FBI accountable for their failures,” lawyers who represented 77 of the victims said in a statement. Larry Nassar at his sentencing in 2018. Scott Olson / Getty Images file Nassar abused more than 500 girls and women throughout his career. Some of USA Gymnastics' most prominent athletes, including Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, are among those who testified about being subjected to his abuse. The Justice Department's settlement is the third such restitution to Nassar's victims by institutions that failed to protect or properly investigate allegations against him. Michigan State University, which employed him for nearly 20 years as a team physician, agreed to a $500 million settlement in 2018 with women and girls who were assaulted by him. In 2021, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee also agreed to pay his victims $380 million. Nassar is currently serving a 60-year sentence on a federal conviction, in addition to two concurrent sentences for state convictions in Michigan. Given the lengths of his sentences, Nassar is likely to remain behind bars for the rest of his life.
Senate advances long-awaited aid for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and TikTok bill 2024-04-23 19:47:00+00:00 - Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., conducts a news conference after the senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. The Senate on Tuesday advanced a package to provide billions in aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, sending the legislation on a glide path to become law after a rocky six months of political battles. In a final tally of 80-19, senators passed a crucial procedural vote with wide bipartisan support, signaling that the foreign aid package has the strength to pass a final vote. "The relentless work of six long months has paid off," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor following the vote. Tuesday's vote also starts the senators' final debate clock, which will run for up to 30 hours unless they agree to hold the final vote earlier and get back to their regularly scheduled recess. "I ask my colleagues to join together to pass the supplemental today as expeditiously as possible," Schumer said Tuesday morning ahead of the vote. "Let us not delay this, let us not prolong this, let us not keep our friends around the world waiting for a moment longer." If the Senate officially passes the legislation in the final vote, it would then go to President Joe Biden, who already said he would sign it into law after the House passed the package as four separate bills on Saturday. The funding includes roughly $60 billion for Ukraine aid, $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for Taiwan and Indo-Pacific security. Spending-wise, the legislation is similar to the $95 billion foreign aid bill passed by the Senate in February, which has been effectively shelved in the House in the weeks since.
Here's why the internet keeps telling people to look at their keyboards 2024-04-23 19:43:47+00:00 - A new social media trend is urging users to "look between" certain letters on their keyboard. People are spelling out messages like "U," "WE," and "JK" in all sorts of different contexts. Not everyone is thrilled about the trend, and some are calling it engagement bait. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement If you've been on social media at all recently, chances are you've been opening your keyboard more than usual. That's because of a new trend that is enthralling — and irritating — thousands of users on X and other similar platforms. The trend, which urges users to "look between" certain letters on your keyboard, apparently originated with a post on 4chan in May 2021 according to a submission to Know Your Meme. That post included a picture of Yui Hirasawa, the main character of a popular anime series, along with the caption "look between t and o" on your keyboard, yielding the character's first name. It's not clear how that post led to the trend exploding years later — but with viral memes like this, stranger things have happened. Advertisement Many of the posts start with an unlikely or outlandish detail and then tell you to look between the H and L keys, which falls on the letters "JK" — in other words, "just kidding." cheaters will tell you they love you and then their actions tell you to look between h and l on your keyboard. — Kemi Marie (they/them) (@kemimarie) April 22, 2024 Want to know who we're drafting? Look between H and L on your keyboard. — New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 23, 2024 But others are using it in more creative ways — everything from labeling their favorite sports players a "G" (for "GOAT", or Greatest of All Time) to filling in the words of Jesus. Brands have even gotten in on the trend to promote their own products. Related stories Some on social media have used it as a tongue-in-cheek way of spreading positive or motivational messages. look between Q and E on your keyboard. that's all we baggin' this year, trust — ً (@ahdebee) April 21, 2024 look between Y and I on your keyboard, that’s all I want. — 🦇 (@cryarhahai) April 22, 2024 to all my homies who stuck by my side, look between r and u on the keypad mwah — coldplay wifey (@tanishaitaan) April 22, 2024 But more than a few posts that have jumped on the trend for sillier purposes: Advertisement Applicant: "I want to break the record for the longest time without sleep!!" Us: Look between T and U on your keyboard — Guinness World Records (@GWR) April 23, 2024 Waiter: What'd you like to have? "Look between R and Y on your keyboard" — Halal Meme Wala (Retired) (@YoursMemely) April 22, 2024 “Can i use the toilet" Normal teachers: Yes. French teachers: Look between Q and R on your keyboard. — AYO!👾 (@Iamkira_3) April 22, 2024 me: *confesses my love in an epistle my crush: look between J and L on your keyboard — ً (@ahdebee) April 21, 2024 That doesn't mean the trend is popular with everyone. In fact, many people seem to have gotten annoyed by it pretty quickly. Some online have suggested that the trend is "engagement bait," claiming that when you click the reply button to check your keyboard, it is read by the X algorithm as an engagement with the original post — even if you don't actually reply. (It's unclear if that's actually how the algorithm actually works; X did not return a request for comment) In any case, there are plenty of users who are tired of looking at their keyboards. Answer is “it makes no sense” 🤭 — Erica Nlewedim⭐️ (@EricaNlewedim) April 22, 2024
F.T.C. Issues Ban on Worker Noncompete Clauses 2024-04-23 19:42:16+00:00 - The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday banned employers from limiting their workers’ abilities to work for rivals, a sweeping change that the agency says could help raise wages and increase competition among businesses. The move bars contracts known as noncompetes, which prevent workers from leaving for a competitor for a certain amount of time, in most circumstances. The agency has said the proposal would raise wages by forcing companies to compete harder for talent. The proposal was approved by the agency in a 3-to-2 vote. Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew N. Ferguson, two Republicans, voted against the measure. “The F.T.C.’s final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business or bring a new idea to market,” the trade commission’s chair, Lina M. Khan, said in a statement. She estimated the decision would lead to 8,500 new start-ups created in a year.
DJT stock plunges 8% as Trump qualifies for 36 million bonus shares 2024-04-23 19:40:00+00:00 - Trump Media shares fell 8% Tuesday as former President Donald Trump qualified for an expected earnout bonus. DJT closed at $32.57 per share, about 50% below its opening price last month of more than $70. Trump will receive an additional 36 million shares, worth about $1.15 billion, because the stock closed above a $17.50 minimum share price. The earnout was contingent on the stock reaching the benchmark for 20 trading days within a 30-trading-day period. Trump, the majority shareholder in DJT, already owns 78.75 million shares. The former president's stake in the company will be worth about $3.7 billion with the earnout bonus. A spokesperson for Trump Media did not respond to CNBC's request for comment about the earnout. The company also released a statement Tuesday highlighting steps shareholders could take to prevent the lending of their stock for short selling. On Friday, Trump Media warned the Nasdaq CEO of "potential market manipulation" of the company's stock by "naked" short selling of shares.
Here's what to do if you missed the federal tax deadline 2024-04-23 19:32:00+00:00 - The federal tax deadline was April 15 for most filers — and if you missed it, you should file your return and pay your balance as soon as possible, experts say. If you still owe taxes for 2023, you'll continue racking up penalties and interest until you file and pay your outstanding balance, according to the IRS. The late filing penalty is 5% of your unpaid balance per month or partial month, capped at 25% of your balance. The fee for failure to pay is 0.5% per month or partial month, with a maximum fee of 25% of unpaid taxes. Interest is based on the current rates. "The longer you wait to file, the bigger the risk of higher penalties and interest from the IRS and state," said Mark Steber, chief tax information officer at Jackson Hewitt. More from Personal Finance: It could be better to buy Series I bonds before May, experts say — here's why Most retirees don't delay Social Security benefits, study says. Experts say it pays to wait Biden makes a push for tuition-free community college. Here's why it may work this time However, that doesn't mean you should rush to file a return if you're still missing key information, like tax forms for your investments or other earnings. "A return needs to be completely accurate," Steber said. "No guessing or estimating." With missing information, the IRS could flag your tax return for audit, processing could be delayed or you could receive an agency notice. Still, "file an accurate return as soon as you're able," Steber suggested. Of course, some filers in disaster areas automatically have more time to file federal returns and pay taxes owed.
Billionaire Columbia donor Leon Cooperman slams student protesters 2024-04-23 19:21:48+00:00 - Leon Cooperman, a billionaire Columbia donor, weighed in on the crisis on the university's campus. He called the student protesters ignorant but expressed his support for the school's president. Unlike the megadonor Robert Kraft, Cooperman said he's not pulling his donations. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement The Wall Street titan Leon Cooperman is the latest billionaire to weigh in on student protests over Israel's war in Gaza. But unlike the megadonor Robert Kraft, Cooperman said he'd continue to give to Columbia even as he trashed student demonstrators. During a CNBC interview on Tuesday, Cooperman, a Columbia University donor, was asked about the demonstrations on the school's campus, which have grown heated over the past week and resulted in more than 100 arrests. "Many of the college kids have shit for brains," he said, doubling down on comments he made last year and adding that the students were "ignorant." Advertisement (He apologized for his language during the interview, saying: "I grew up in the Bronx when it was more of an accepted terminology.") "They are advocating for the destruction of Israel," he said. "Israel is the only reliable ally the United States has in the Middle East, the only democracy in the Middle East." Cooperman also said Israel was the only country in the Middle East that "allows gays and lesbians to practice what they want to practice." While LGBTQ+ people experience discrimination in many countries, some nations in the region — including Cyprus, Jordan, and Turkey — have not criminalized same-sex activity. Cooperman blamed part of the unrest on people unaffiliated with Columbia who "are getting access to the school and creating this hoopla." Advertisement He added that he believed Columbia's president, Nemat "Minouche" Shafik, and leadership were "trying to do the right things." Shafik appeared before Congress last week and took a strong stance against antisemitism, denouncing a professor who voiced support for Hamas and another who called the October 7 terror attacks "awesome." The same day as her remarks on Capitol Hill, a coalition of student groups — Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace — set up "Gaza Solidarity Encampments" on Columbia's campus, protesting the war in Gaza, which has claimed thousands of civilian lives, and demanding the university divest financially from Israel. Related stories The groups say the protests were peaceful and within their rights. Advertisement When the students would not move as requested, Shafik requested the New York City Police Department break up the protest, which led to the arrest of more than 100 protesters. Columbia and Barnard College suspended students involved with the protest. That move sparked increased tensions, with separate, antisemitic demonstrators taking to the area surrounding the campus, according to videos posted on social media. Jewish leaders at the school allege that Jewish students have been targeted with hateful rhetoric by demonstrators. On Monday, Columbia announced classes would be held virtually, and the campus has been closed to the public. Cooperman, who attended Columbia Business School, donated $25 million to the school in 2012 and has said he's donated closer to $50 million in total. Advertisement "I try to give money to those schools that have made a difference to me in my lifetime. I don't think it's right, but I probably couldn't have gotten into Wall Street from Hunter College, where I got my undergraduate degree," he said. "I got an MBA from Columbia, and the very next day, I joined Goldman Sachs." He said he would continue to give to the school but earmark his gifts to stay within the business school. Kraft, the billionaire owner of the Patriots and another Columbia alumnus, announced he would be pulling all donations to the school "until corrective action is taken." He did not specify what he meant by "corrective action." Kraft said he'd continue to support the school's Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, which is named after him. Advertisement Representatives for Cooperman and Kraft did not respond to requests for comment before publication. The conversation around giving and the relationship between billionaire donors and universities has been reignited in recent weeks following protests at Columbia, Yale, and New York University. After the October 7 attacks, tensions on college campuses erupted, prompting megadonors to criticize the responses of various university administrators. At Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, billionaires including Apollo CEO Marc Rowan, the Estée Lauder heir Ronald Lauder, and the former Victoria's Secret owner Les Wexner pulled funding. Eventually, the presidents of the schools, Claudine Gay and Liz Magill, respectively, stepped down.
Trump hush-money trial may be one scandal he can't beat 2024-04-23 19:12:10+00:00 - When the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape of Donald Trump sharing his horrifying thoughts about sexual assault became public in October of 2016, I reassured a van full of colleagues from the Hillary Clinton campaign that it would surely be the end. "Don't worry," I told them. "It's fatal." As it turned out, I was wrong. Trump not only survived the worst campaign scandal in modern history but also went on to escape consequences for a range of misbehavior in the Oval Office, including a damning special counsel investigation, two impeachments, and an attempted insurrection. So it's tempting to play it safe and argue that his latest scrape — the first criminal trial of a former president — will be just another speed bump. That it won't matter to voters. Reminding voters of his immoral and possibly illegal behavior will turn off the Republican and swing voters he needs to win. But I don't think that's the case. In a close election, everything matters. Given Trump’s continued problems in fully uniting Republicans around his campaign, there’s reason to believe that reminding voters of his immoral and possibly illegal behavior will turn off the Republican and swing voters he needs to win. Here are the three biggest reasons: Voters take the charges in the Daniels case seriously. Fifty-eight percent of respondents in a recent New York Times/Siena Poll said the charges were serious. That means even Republican voters who have supported Trump in the past are concerned by the charges. Trump was able to avoid political damage in the past by casting the special counsel investigation and impeachments as political. Still, the criminal charges may prove more challenging to explain away. Rule-of-law Republicans are a growing force. A new group of anti-Trump voters has emerged on the right—those who supported Trump in 2020 and 2016 but are concerned by his role in the Jan. 6 attack and his lack of respect for the rule of law. If Trump is convicted of breaking the law by a jury of his peers, that could prove another mark against him among Republican voters who care about law and order, as polling during the Republican primary showed. Evangelical voters may be on the edge. Evangelical Christians made an implicit deal with Trump in 2016: They would overlook his bad behavior if he gave them a Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade. That is done, and it's not clear whether Trump has anything sufficient to offer this time around, especially as he struggles with the issue of an abortion ban. And the hush-money case involves claims about the kind of behavior — cheating on your pregnant wife with a porn star and then lying about it — that most troubles them. In fact, after a "60 Minutes" interview on CBS with Stormy Daniels in 2018, more white evangelicals believed her side of the story. For the last eight years, Trump's hold on a chunk of Republican voters has seemed unshakeable, allowing him to weather all kinds of scandals. But as he sits in a courtroom in the coming weeks, with his wife conspicuously absent, he may finally face a political penalty. At long last, the Teflon may be wearing off; this time, it could be politically fatal. Sign up for MSNBC’s new How to Win 2024 newsletter and get election insights like this delivered to your inbox weekly.
Yale, NYU follow Columbia’s lead with arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters 2024-04-23 19:11:04+00:00 - Columbia University President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik’s extraordinary decision to call the New York Police Department on peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters last week drew massive outrage. Yet similar scenes unfolded at other campuses Monday as dozens of student protesters were arrested. At Yale University, campus police officers arrested 60 pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including 47 students, who had set up an encampment on campus to demand that the school divest from weapons manufacturers that are being used for Israel’s siege on Gaza. Yale police charged those arrested with trespassing. At New York University, the NYPD arrested 120 people, including students and faculty members, on Monday night after receiving a request from the school for police to clear an encampment at a campus plaza. Protesters said officers used pepper spray indiscriminately as they tried to break up the crowd; NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry condemned “dangerous acts of aggression” against officers, such as thrown bottles. Tensions between pro-Palestinian protesters and college administrators have risen sharply ever since Shafik’s ill-advised handling of protests at Columbia galvanized support for such encampments. Shafik now faces the possibility of being censured by the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The draft resolution says: President Shafik’s violation of the fundamental requirements of academic freedom and shared governance, and her unprecedented assault on students’ rights, warrants unequivocal and emphatic condemnation. According to local health officials, more than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 terror attack. Human rights groups say more than 30 people — mostly children — have died of malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza.