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Here's what to do if an airline cancels your flight 2024-07-24 22:11:00+00:00 - Department of Transportation opens investigation into Delta Air Lines Department of Transportation opens investigation into Delta Air Lines 02:07 Stuck at the airport after your flight has unceremoniously been canceled? Many travelers found themselves in just such a predicament when Delta and other U.S. airlines scratched thousands of flights following an epic computer fail caused by a faulty software update. The ensuing outage threw airlines into chaos, leaving passengers scrambling to get to their intended destinations over the busiest travel weekend of the year. Airlines have tried to make amends by offering compensation in the form of vouchers, with extra points or "miles" that are redeemable for travel. While that may appease some weary passengers, it pays for travelers to know their rights and have a game plan if their trip falls apart. Here's what to know — and what what to do — if your flight is canceled. Can I get a refund? Federal regulations entitle airline passengers to prompt refunds carriers cancel flights. Generally, whenever an airline in the U.S. scratches a flight, passengers are owed refunds. Notably, however, they do not have to accept a travel credit or a ticket on another flight. "A consumer is entitled to a refund if the airline canceled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel," the U.S. Department of Transportation states on its website. This rule applies equally to all fare types, including non-refundable tickets. It also covers add-ons like checked bag fees and paid seat upgrades. Airlines must also offer customer refunds if there are "significant" flight delays or schedule changes. That said, the Transportation Department is the final arbiter of whether you're entitled to a refund and makes decisions on a case by case basis based on the length of a flight, the nature of a delay and other factors. New federal rules that take effect in October eliminate any ambiguity about what constitutes a "significantly changed" flight: a delay of at least three hours for a domestic flight and at least six hours for an international flight. How long should it take to get a refund? Airlines must refund passengers "promptly" after a flight is canceled or significantly delayed, according to the Transportation Department. The agency defines "prompt" as meaning within seven business days if a ticket was purchased using a credit card, and within 20 days if a customer used cash or a check. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reinforced this point on Sunday, saying in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) aimed at Delta Air Lines, the carrier that was hardest hit by the CrowdStrike outage. Airlines "must provide prompt refunds to consumers who choose not to take rebooking, free rebooking for those who do, and timely reimbursements for food and hotel stays to consumers affected by these delays and cancellations, as well as adequate customer service assistance," Buttigieg said. What about incidentals? Airlines are not obligated to reimburse customers for incidental expenses they might incur when a flight is canceled, such as rental car, hotel and meal costs, according to federal rules. Yet airlines have discretion to cover such costs. Delta has said it will cover eligible expenses for travelers related to its flight disruptions through meal vouchers, hotel accommodations and ground transportation. The airline will also reimburse customers for eligible expenses that can include hotel, meal and ground transportation costs. Delta draws the line at picking up the tab for a traveler's vacation that may have been ruined by a canceled or delayed flight. *Delta does not reimburse prepaid expenses, including but not limited to hotel reservations at the customer's destination, vacation experiences, lost wages, concerts or other tickets," the airline said in a statement. Travel and rebooking tips There are other actions passengers can take to make to make their travel experiences as smooth as possible, even in the event of flight delays and cancelations: When possible, book the first departing flight of the day, which experts say generally raises the odds of taking off on-time. Download the airline's app for faster rebooking. Only bring a carry-on to avoid checking luggage, which can mean waiting in long bag drop lines at airports. Do some research and book a flight with airlines that typically have fewer cancellations (see the Transportation Department for on-time and other airline performance data.)
Jim Cramer on NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) Declines: ‘Everyone Wants Out’ 2024-07-24 21:45:00+00:00 - We recently published a list of Jim Cramer is Talking About 10 Falling Stocks Amid Latest Market Rotation. Since NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) ranks 4th on the list, it deserves a deeper look. Jim Cramer in a program last week tried to make sense of the decline in tech stocks, saying companies with the “best fundamentals” got “hammered once again.” “I did not expect that to happen.” Cramer said that sometimes it’s difficult to own the “winners.” The CNBC host said it’s important to understand the bear cases around stocks otherwise you will never know what “you are up against.” Jim Cramer tried to find out whether the latest decline in top tech stocks was just a “periodic selloff” that presented an “opportunity.” “When we get this kind of rotation, you never know whether these stocks are selling off because there’s something wrong or because they are up huge.” Jim Cramer pointed to a caveat when it comes to holding winning stocks. When you have the losers, there are no profits, but when you own winners in your portfolio, you can see losses because people want to take some profits off the table, Cramer said. The CNBC host said when top stocks go down, people holding those in their portfolios often end up thinking about whether they should also sell these stocks and if something has “changed.” “From what I can tell you, nothing has changed about the stocks we are going talk about tonight. But it is true that the stocks are a heck of a lot more expensive than they were one year ago.” In this program, we took a look at some top tech stocks that fell last week and explained the reasons they lost value according to Jim Cramer. We also discussed these companies’ fundamentals and hedge fund sentiment. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). Is Jim Cramer Talking About NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) Falling Stock Amid Latest Market Rotation? NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 186 Cramer said in a latest program mentioned a new research paper by Hendrik Bessembinder from Arizona State University. Here is what the paper said: “The highest annualized compound return for any stock with at least 20 years of return data was 33.38%, earned by NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) shareholders,” the paper said. Cramer said that he thought this was an “amazing number” until his colleague David Faber reminded him that this is “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business, so it does not matter.” Story continues “This kind of selloff, that’s the prevailing attitude. That’s why everyone wants out,” Cramer said. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) rapid run and soaring valuation have started to make some circles on Wall Street uneasy. New Street Research recently downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and set the stock’s price target at $135. “We downgrade the stock to Neutral today, as upside will only materialize in a bull case, in which the outlook beyond 2025 increases materially, and we do not have the conviction on this scenario playing out yet.” New Street analyst Pierre Ferragu said. NYU professor and valuation guru Aswath Damodoran has also been skeptical about NVDA over the past several months, saying repeatedly that the stock looks overvalued. In March, when he was asked about his previous predictions (that proved wrong) about NVDA valuation, the professor said that either he has “no idea what I’m talking about” or it’s the market that just does not understand. Aswath Damodoran at the time said that while Nvidia was in the “driving seat” of the AI bandwagon, its path to profits won’t be as easy as the market assumes. Recently, Oppenheimer’s Rick Schafer joined the NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) chorus, raising the chipmaker’s price target to $150 from $110 following the 10-1 stock split. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the stocks accounting for a huge chunk of the total market returns, thanks to its AI-fueled rally that seems to have no end in sight. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares have gained about 174% over the past year. Polen Focus Growth Strategy stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q2 2024 investor letter: “In the second quarter, the dominant narrative in markets continued to be generative AI (GenAI). If it wasn’t immediately evident from NVIDIA Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) meteoric rise to among the largest companies in the world, one need only look so far as the Semiconductor and Technology Hardware industries as a gauge of sentiment, collectively accounting for greater than 70% of the Russell 1000 Growth (“the Index”) and 85% of the S&P 500 headline return quarter to date. Our Portfolio has no exposure to NVIDIA or other Semiconductor companies currently benefiting from demand for foundational AI Hardware. The largest relative detractors in the quarter were NVIDIA, Apple, and Salesforce. For the second quarter in a row, NVIDIA represented the top detractor to relative performance as the stock climbed another 37%, bringing the year-to-date return to +150%. As of this writing, NVIDIA is the third largest company in the world, but for a brief moment, it surpassed Microsoft to become the largest company in the world. Yet again, the company delivered blowout results that surpassed already lofty expectations, reinforcing the narrative that NVIDIA is the only obvious “AI winner” due to the amount of revenue it is currently generating. Overall, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) ranks 4th on Insider Monkey’s list titled 10 Best AI Stocks to Buy Based on New AI ETF. While we acknowledge the potential of NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These Stocks. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Halting the Bird Flu Outbreak in Cows May Require Thinking Beyond Milk 2024-07-24 21:40:06.309000+00:00 - As the bird flu outbreak in dairy cows has ballooned, officials have provided repeated reassurances: The virus typically causes mild illness in cows, they have said, and because it spreads primarily through milk, it can be curbed by taking extra precautions when moving cows and equipment. A new study, published in Nature on Tuesday, presents a more complex picture. Some farms have reported a significant spike in cow deaths, according to the paper, which investigated outbreaks on nine farms in four states. The virus, known as H5N1, was also present in more than 20 percent of nasal swabs collected from cows. And it spread widely to other species, infecting cats, raccoons and wild birds, which may have transported the virus to new locations. “There’s probably multiple pathways of spread and dissemination of this virus,” said Diego Diel, a virologist at Cornell University and an author of the study. “I think it will be really difficult to control it at this point.” The outbreak, which officials first announced in March, has spread to at least 170 dairy farms in 13 states, according to the Department of Agriculture. It has also jumped into poultry farms and infected at least 10 farmworkers exposed to infected cows or poultry.
10 boy bands and singers who were discovered by Lou Pearlman, the disgraced music manager who inspired the new docuseries 'Dirty Pop' 2024-07-24 21:38:20+00:00 - *NSYNC *NSYNC performing at Madison Square Garden in 2000. KMazur/WireImage "Dirty Pop" includes an excerpt from Pearlman's memoir "Bands, Brands and Billions," which reveals his rationale for launching *NSYNC while still mentoring the Backstreet Boys. "If Backstreet ends up being a dominant brand like Coke, someone is going to come along and create a Pepsi," Pearlman wrote. "We might as well beat them to it." Chris Kirkpatrick is actually credited with forming *NSYNC by recruiting his four bandmates: Timberlake, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, and JC Chasez. They signed a record deal with Pearlman in the '90s. "It doesn't matter if the contract is written in raccoon blood," Kirkpatrick says in the docuseries. "You're signing it because it's your deal — it's your shot." The band released their self-titled debut album in 1997, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified diamond by the RIAA. However, Pearlman was keeping the lion's share of the profits. According to the bandmates, they spent three years touring and making music while living on an allowance of $35 a day. In 1999, they sued Pearlman and his label for defrauding the group, seeking to be released from their contract. "The judge in the case was flabbergasted at Pearlman's claim, that according to his contract and ownership of the band name he was *NSYNC, and therefore entitled to 90% of their earnings," The Guardian reported. "She ruled for the band and the implosion of Pearlman's empire began." In other words, the parties reached an undisclosed settlement and Trans Continental released *NSYNC from their contractual obligations. The following year, *NSYNC released their first album with Jive, "No Strings Attached." It sold over 2 million copies in its first week and spawned hits like "Bye Bye Bye" and "It's Gonna Be Me." "After we left Lou, we had a record that was huge," Kirkpatrick says in "Dirty Pop" episode two. "That's when it felt like, 'Now it's our band.'" The band's final album, "Celebrity," was released in 2001. Like its predecessor, it topped the charts, sold millions of copies, and earned a nomination for best pop vocal album at the Grammys.
You Could Have Turned $500 Into More Than $50,000 In One Day As Market Got Clobbered: Here's How - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 2024-07-24 21:33:00+00:00 - Wednesday was the worst day for the overall market in 2024, with the SPDR S&P 500 Index SPY trading down more than 2% and the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ trading down more than 3.5% late in the session. Many mega-cap tech names that have driven much of the last year's rally sold off significantly on the day, with NVIDIA Corp NVDA, Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL and Tesla Inc TSLA each trading down more than 5%. But, even when the market gets hammered, there are ways to make money. Short-dated options contracts are a risky way to play the market, but when they go right, they can be a vehicle to make large gains very quickly. On Tuesday, put contracts on the QQQs with a strike price of $469 that expired Wednesday afternoon closed at $.05 a contract, according to Robinhood Markets HOOD. At the time, the QQQs were trading at more than $480 a share, making it very unlikely that the index would trade below the strike price. Read Also: US Stocks Tumble, Magnificent 7 Wipe Out $570 Billion As Mega-Tech Earnings Disappoint, VIX Spikes: What’s Driving Markets Wednesday? At their highs on Wednesday, those same contracts that would have cost $5 on Tuesday, were worth more than $510 a pop. This means that 100 contracts of those specific puts could have been purchased for $500 on Tuesday, and sold for more than $50,000 on Wednesday, good for a gain of more than 9,900%. Put contracts give the buyer the right to sell the underlying equity (in this case 100 shares of the QQQs) at the predetermined strike price, regardless of where the stock is trading, up until the expiration date. With Wednesday's wicked red day, well outside the standard deviation move of the overall market, those put contracts exploded in price. Typically, the $SPY or $QQQs don't move more than 2% in a single day. But, because Tuesday afternoon featured earnings reports from two of the biggest holdings in each index (Tesla and Google) there was an extra catalyst, making the market prime for a larger-than-expected move. Not to mention the fact that the rapid rise of volatility on Wednesday also increased the value of the contracts. When the VIX (an indicator of market volatility) goes higher, so does the underlying value of options contracts. This is because the increased volatility makes it more likely that a stock could hit the strike price associated with the options contract. Read Next: Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.
Trump’s Lawsuit Against ABC and Stephanopoulos Can Move Forward 2024-07-24 21:32:07+00:00 - A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday allowed former President Donald J. Trump’s defamation suit against ABC News to move forward, rejecting an effort by the television network to dismiss the litigation as spurious. The lawsuit, filed in March, argued that ABC’s star anchor, George Stephanopoulos, defamed Mr. Trump by saying on-air numerous times, in a March 10 segment on “This Week,” that the former president had been found liable for raping the writer E. Jean Carroll. Mr. Trump was found liable last year in a Manhattan civil case for sexually abusing and defaming Ms. Carroll. The jury did not find Mr. Trump liable on a technical charge of rape, which is narrowly defined in New York State law. But the judge in the case later asserted that Mr. Trump had been held liable for rape “as many people commonly understand the word.” There is typically a high bar in court to prove that a journalist defamed a public figure. But the Florida judge, Cecilia Altonaga of United States District Court in Miami, denied ABC’s initial attempt to have the case thrown out. “A jury may, upon viewing the segment, find there was sufficient context,” she wrote. “But a reasonable jury could conclude Plaintiff was defamed and, as a result, dismissal is inappropriate.”
NBA says Amazon will be its new media partner, rebuffing Warner Bros. Discovery attempt to match deal 2024-07-24 21:26:00+00:00 - Luka Doncic, #77 of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, shoots the ball against the Boston Celtics during Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals at the TD Garden in Boston on June 17, 2024. The National Basketball Association has rebuffed longtime media partner Warner Bros. Discovery 's bid to keep airing games after next season. The NBA told the media company it doesn't believe it holds legal matching rights for the league's new media deal. It instead plans to move ahead with Amazon as its third partner, along with ESPN and NBCUniversal, in its 11-year deal worth about $77 billion. "Warner Bros. Discovery's most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video's offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon," the NBA said in a statement Wednesday. Warner Bros. Discovery acquired matching rights as part of its current media rights deal with the league, which expires at the end of next season. That provision allows the company to match payment for any of the games that air on TNT, which it attempted to do Monday. The NBA doesn't believe Warner Bros. Discovery's rights extend to an all-streaming package, which was carved out for Amazon. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns a streaming service, Max, which it could use to air games, but the company has told the NBA it plans to simulcast TNT games on Max rather than only putting them on Max. The NBA sent a letter Wednesday to Warner Bros. Discovery explaining why it can't match Amazon's package, citing language from the original matching provision, according to people familiar with the matter. CNBC obtained a portion of that letter, addressed to Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports. The NBA cited a provision that says the existing media partner can exercise matching rights "only via the specific form of combined audio and video distribution (e.g. if the specific form of combined audio and video distribution is internet distribution, a matching incumbent may not exercise such games rights via television distribution)." In its statement, the NBA said that "throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans. Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements." "All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience," the league added. "We are grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT." Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday it matched one of the NBA's three media rights packages, which people familiar with the matter identified as the $1.93 billion per-year deal earmarked for Amazon Prime Video. Disney and Comcast 's NBCUniversal signed deals for the other two packages, part of the league's $77 billion media rights renewal over 11 years. "We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it," Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement on Wednesday. "In doing so, they are rejecting the many fans who continue to show their unwavering support for our best-in-class coverage, delivered through the full combined reach of WBD's video-first distribution platforms — including TNT, home to our four-decade partnership with the league, and Max, our leading streaming service." "We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action," the statement continued. "We look forward, however, to another great season of the NBA on TNT and Max including our iconic Inside the NBA." Warner Bros. Discovery's Turner Sports has carried live NBA games for nearly 40 years. The cable network TNT is home to "Inside the NBA," the popular studio show starring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal. The future of the show is in doubt if the NBA doesn't strike a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. The league also wants its streaming partner to have maximum reach. Amazon Prime Video has more than twice as many global customers — more than 200 million to Max's roughly 100 million — which may make the service a more appealing platform for the league. The streaming rights are global, even though Warner Bros. Discovery is only bidding on U.S. rights, according to people familiar with the language in the contract. Warner Bros. Discovery may need to sue the NBA to claim its matching rights. Lawyers for the company and the NBA have been poring over contractual language for the past several months, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump's defamation case against ABC after Carroll verdict can proceed 2024-07-24 21:22:40+00:00 - After Donald Trump was found liable last year for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll, the federal judge overseeing that New York case explained that the jury had essentially found that Trump had raped her, as that term is commonly understood. Nonetheless, a federal judge in Florida has allowed Trump’s defamation claim against ABC and George Stephanopoulos to proceed, based on the anchor’s use of the term “rape” to describe the jury’s verdict. Here’s why. As a refresher, the Carroll jury found that Trump had sexually abused and defamed her, but it didn’t find that Trump had raped her. The New York federal judge who presided over that case, Lewis Kaplan, downplayed the distinction when he rejected Trump’s challenge to the jury’s multimillion dollar award as excessive, reasoning that just because the jury declined to find that Carroll had been raped under New York law, that didn’t mean she failed to prove Trump raped her “as many people commonly understand the word.” Kaplan likewise rejected Trump’s defamation claim against Carroll for her saying that he had raped her. This new decision stems from Stephanopoulos’ March interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., in which he questioned her support for Trump despite him being “found liable for rape.” Stephanopoulos repeated that phrase several times during the interview. ABC and Stephanopoulos argued that the former president’s defamation claim is foreclosed by the New York court’s findings. But on Wednesday, Chief Judge Cecilia Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida rejected the defense motion to dismiss Trump’s case. (If Altonaga’s name sounds familiar, that may be because the George W. Bush appointee reportedly urged U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to step aside from Trump’s classified documents case.) In Trump’s defamation suit, Altonaga distinguished Carroll’s claim that Trump had raped her from Stephanopoulos’ characterization of the jury verdict as having found that Trump had raped her. The judge determined that a reasonable jury could interpret the anchor’s statements as defamatory. Yet, she made clear that she wasn’t necessarily agreeing that Trump had been defamed; rather, the judge’s legal determination was that the defense didn’t present a strong enough argument to dismiss Trump’s case at this stage of litigation. “Defendants may very well convince a reasonable factfinder to follow Judge Kaplan’s reasoning or to adopt other reasoning leading to the conclusion that Stephanopoulos’s statements were not defamatory,” Altonaga wrote, adding that a jury that views the segment may find sufficient context to conclude Trump wasn’t defamed. In some respects, the ruling is like another recent Trump defamation win in Florida. In that state court case, he beat a motion to dismiss his claim against Pulitzer Prize Board members and staff, related to a statement about his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia. As with the Carroll-related claim, the rejection of that motion to dismiss doesn’t mean that Trump will ultimately prevail — only that his case can proceed. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for updates and expert analysis on the top legal stories. The newsletter will return to its regular weekly schedule when the Supreme Court’s next term kicks off in October.
"Inside Out 2" tops "Frozen 2" as highest-grossing animated movie of all time 2024-07-24 21:18:00+00:00 - Psychologist Lisa Damour on how "Inside Out 2" can help families talk about emotions Lisa Damour on impact of "Inside Out 2" Lisa Damour on impact of "Inside Out 2" The makers of "Inside Out 2" presumably felt unbridled joy Wednesday after the hit movie surpassed "Frozen 2" to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Released June 10 by Disney's Pixar Animation Studio, "Inside Out 2" has now generated global box-office receipts of $1.46 billion, the entertainment giant said. That surpasses the $1.45 billion earned by Disney's "Frozen 2" after its release in 2019. "Inside Out 2," which tells the tale of a teenage girl as she navigates the emotional ups and downs of adolescence, also ranks No. 13 on the list of highest-earning films, with U.S. receipts of $600 million, according to Disney. "We knew it was really special, but no one could have predicted it would reach these record-breaking heights," Alan Bergman, co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, said in a statement. Rounding out the all-time top-grossing animated films, according to The Hollywood Reporter, are: 3. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" Illumination/Universal ($1.361 billion) 4. "Frozen," Disney ($1.274 billion) 5. "Incredibles 2," Pixar/Disney ($1.242 billion) 6. "Minions," Illumination/Universal ($1.157 billion) 7. "Toy Story 4" Pixar/Disney ($1.072 billion) 8. "Despicable Me 3" Illumination/Universal ($1.032 billion) 9. "Finding Dory" Pixar/Disney ($1 billion)
Kamala Harris' tech allies on track to raise over $100 million as they work to win over Silicon Valley skeptics 2024-07-24 21:16:00+00:00 - Vice President Kamala Harris' allies in the tech community have launched a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to convince wealthy donors to back her campaign for president, according to people familiar with the matter. Longtime investors Reid Hoffman and Ron Conway have been among Harris' allies in Silicon Valley privately calling on those in their networks to support the vice president over former President Donald Trump, these people explained. The conversations have been ongoing since Sunday, when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, according to people who described the discussions to CNBC. Conway has even attempted to recruit venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, according to three people familiar with the outreach who, like others in this story, were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. The move was noteworthy because the two founders of the venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz have already said they are going to support Trump, and plan to donate to a pro-Trump political action committee. Hoffman convinced Netflix chairman Reed Hastings to support Harris with a $7 million donation to a pro-Harris PAC, according to The Information. Hastings, who has been a longtime Democratic donor, said shortly after Biden left the race and backed Harris that, "Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner." But two days later, Hastings backed the former California senator, writing on social media, "congrats to Kamala Harris -- now it is time to win." A source familiar with the lobbying push by Conway, Hoffman and others estimates that their efforts alone are on track to raise over $100 million from major tech industry donors.
CrowdStrike Admits Bug Caused Massive Global IT Outages - CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) 2024-07-24 21:08:00+00:00 - Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc CRWD has acknowledged that a bug in its safety mechanism caused last week's massive global IT outages. The issue stemmed from a flawed data update that led to widespread disruptions, affecting Microsoft Corp's MSFT Windows systems worldwide, reported Bloomberg. This incident impacted crucial operations in airlines, banking, and stock exchanges across multiple countries. Systems were compromised for hours, leaving bankers in Hong Kong, doctors in the U.K., and emergency responders in New Hampshire unable to access vital programs. Microsoft stated that over 8.5 million Windows users were affected. Although fixes were deployed and many systems have been restored, the incident's scale was unprecedented. According to CrowdStrike's preliminary post-incident review, an error in a Rapid Response Content configuration update went undetected, causing widespread crashes. The company regularly issues these updates to enhance security measures against malicious activities based on customer policy configurations. CrowdStrike plans to improve testing of Rapid Response Content by implementing a new check to fix the faulty Content Validator. Also Read: Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Snaps Up $5.3M In Beaten-Down Crowdstrike Shares Additionally, the company will adopt staggered, canary deployments to test updates incrementally before a full rollout. Customers will also have more control over the timing and location of future updates. Following the outage, CrowdStrike's shares plummeted nearly 30%, significantly reducing its market value. The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security has summoned CEO George Kurtz to explain how the company will prevent similar incidents in the future. The tech outage could cost over $1 billion, but who will foot the bill remains unanswered. Rosenblatt analyst Catharine Trebnick reiterated a Buy rating on the shares and lowered the price target by 16% from $420 to $350. The faulty software update has led the analyst to revise the estimate for FY25 and FY26 as the analyst notes that despite the company's swift response and deployment of a fix, the incident's unprecedented scale and disruption across critical industries will undoubtedly have short-term repercussions. The analyst sees FY25 revenue of $3.956 billion (previously $4.000 billion), EPS of $3.90 (Previously $4.03) and FY26 revenue of $4.986 billion (previously $5.016 billion), EPS of $4.75 (previously $4.92). The shift of resources to customer support and remediation will end in delays in new customer acquisitions and elongated sales cycles, says the analyst. The analyst expects operational expenses to rise due to remediation efforts, including seeking assistance from Deloitte to address issues with affected companies like Delta Air Lines Inc DAL, United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL, Marriott International Inc MAR. Price Action: CRWD shares closed lower by 3.99% at $258.14 on Wednesday. Read Next: Photo via Shutterstock
The incredible story of Richard Norris Williams, the American tennis player who survived the Titanic sinking and then won gold at the Olympics 2024-07-24 21:07:32+00:00 - Richard Norris Williams survived the sinking of the Titanic by swimming to a lifeboat. After he was rescued, he refused a doctor's suggestion to amputate his legs. Williams became the highest-ranking tennis player in the US and won an Olympic gold medal in 1924. 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 by visiting our Preferences page or by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email. Advertisement Richard Norris Williams was an accomplished tennis player who competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics, but he's most famous for his incredible survival of the Titanic. The RMS Titanic, a British passenger ship operated by the White Star Line, set sail on its infamous voyage on April 10, 1912. Over 2,000 people were aboard the ship when it collided with an iceberg and sank during the early hours of April 15, 1912. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .
IBM shares jump on earnings and revenue beat 2024-07-24 21:07:00+00:00 - Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, arrives for the Inaugural AI Insight Forum in Russell Building on Capitol Hill, on Wednesday, September 13, 2023. IBM shares rose 5% in extended trading on Wednesday, after the company reported second-quarter results that surpassed analysts' predictions. Here are the key numbers. Earnings per share: $2.43 adjusted vs. $2.20 expected, according to LSEG $2.43 adjusted vs. $2.20 expected, according to LSEG Revenue: $15.77 billion vs. $15.62 billion expected, according to LSEG. Revenue increased 1.9% from $15.48 billion a year ago, IBM said in a statement. Net income of $1.83 billion, or $1.96 per share, was up from $1.58 billion, or $1.72 per share, a year earlier. The company, which provides hardware, software and consulting services, now expects 2024 free cash flow to come in above $12 billion. In April, executives were calling for about $12 billion. The company's book of business for generative artificial intelligence now stands above $2 billion, CEO Arvind Krishna was quoted as saying in the statement. The number was over $1 billion in April. "We remain confident in the positive macro outlook for technology spending," Krishna said on a conference call with analysts. But he said the company acknowledges continuing impact from higher interest rates and inflation. "The geopolitical uncertainty has gone longer than most people expected, and that weighs into people's heads, about what that might happen, and specifically the war in Europe, as well as the war in the Middle East," Krishna said. IBM said its software business brought in revenue of $6.74 billion, up 7% and more than the StreetAccount consensus of $6.49 billion. The consulting unit contributed $5.18 billion in revenue. That was down 0.9% and below the $5.23 billion StreetAccount consensus. IBM's infrastructure segment that contains mainframe computers posted $3.65 billion in revenue, up 0.8% and higher than the $3.51 billion consensus. The revenue performance for the current z16 mainframe computer is still outperforming earlier cycles, said IBM's finance chief, Jim Kavanaugh. During the quarter, IBM announced its intent to acquire HashiCorp in a deal with a $6.4 billion enterprise value. IBM also said Palo Alto Networks had agreed to buy IBM's QRadar cloud software and migrate customers to the Cortex Xsiam product. Additionally, IBM announced plans for data center infrastructure in Montreal. Notwithstanding Wednesday's after-hours move, IBM shares are up 14% year to date, in line with the S&P 500. This is breaking news. Please check back for updates. WATCH: Palo Alto Networks and IBM partnering to monitor and manage cybersecurity threats
13 photos from NASA's most powerful X-ray space telescope reveal the invisible universe 2024-07-24 21:04:29+00:00 - NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is one of its most scientifically productive space missions. The telescope has been in space for 25 years, discovering black holes and dark matter. Chandra's best images show how it reveals details that other telescopes can't see. 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 by visiting our Preferences page or by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email. Advertisement NASA has been using X-rays to crack the invisible secrets of the universe for decades. The Einstein Observatory pioneered X-ray astronomy in the late '70s, but the crown jewel of this science field is the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has been in space for the last 25 years. Here are some of Chandra's most stunning images and groundbreaking discoveries of the invisible X-ray universe.
NBA says Amazon will be its new media partner, rebuffing Warner Bros. Discovery 2024-07-24 21:01:00+00:00 - The National Basketball Association has rebuffed longtime media partner Warner Bros. Discovery’s bid to keep airing games after next season. The NBA told the media company it doesn’t believe it holds legal matching rights for the league’s new media deal. It instead plans to move ahead with Amazon as its third partner, along with ESPN and NBCUniversal, in its 11-year deal worth about $77 billion. “Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the NBA said in a statement Wednesday. Warner Bros. Discovery acquired matching rights as part of its current media rights deal with the league, which expires at the end of next season. That provision allows the company to match payment for any of the games that air on TNT, which it attempted to do Monday. The NBA doesn’t believe Warner Bros. Discovery’s rights extend to an all-streaming package, which was carved out for Amazon. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns a streaming service, Max, which it could use to air games, but the company has told the NBA it plans to simulcast TNT games on Max rather than only putting them on Max. The NBA sent a letter Wednesday to Warner Bros. Discovery explaining why it can’t match Amazon’s package, citing language from the original matching provision, according to people familiar with the matter. CNBC obtained a portion of that letter, addressed to Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports. The NBA cited a provision that says the existing media partner can exercise matching rights “only via the specific form of combined audio and video distribution (e.g. if the specific form of combined audio and video distribution is internet distribution, a matching incumbent may not exercise such games rights via television distribution).” In its statement, the NBA said that “throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans. Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements.” “All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience,” the league added. “We are grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT.” Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday it matched one of the NBA’s three media rights packages, which people familiar with the matter identified as the $1.93 billion per-year deal earmarked for Amazon Prime Video. Disney and Comcast’s NBCUniversal signed deals for the other two packages, part of the league’s $77 billion media rights renewal over 11 years. NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News. “We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement on Wednesday. “In doing so, they are rejecting the many fans who continue to show their unwavering support for our best-in-class coverage, delivered through the full combined reach of WBD’s video-first distribution platforms — including TNT, home to our four-decade partnership with the league, and Max, our leading streaming service.” “We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action,” the statement continued. “We look forward, however, to another great season of the NBA on TNT and Max including our iconic Inside the NBA.” Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Sports has carried live NBA games for nearly 40 years. The cable network TNT is home to “Inside the NBA,” the popular studio show starring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. The future of the show is in doubt if the NBA doesn’t strike a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. The league also wants its streaming partner to have maximum reach. Amazon Prime Video has more than twice as many global customers — more than 200 million to Max’s roughly 100 million — which may make the service a more appealing platform for the league. The streaming rights are global, even though Warner Bros. Discovery is only bidding on U.S. rights, according to people familiar with the language in the contract. Warner Bros. Discovery may need to sue the NBA to claim its matching rights. Lawyers for the company and the NBA have been poring over contractual language for the past several months, according to people familiar with the matter. Details of the new NBA rights deal Disney is paying $2.62 billion per year for its package of games and NBCUniversal is paying $2.45 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The new rights deal begins with the 2025-26 season and runs through the 2035-36 season. The NBA application will be a central portal for games, directing consumers to each national game, whether it is on broadcast, cable TV or a streaming service. Approximately 75 regular-season games will be on broadcast TV each season, up from 15 games in the current rights deal. The league will have two broadcast stations as partners — Disney’s ABC and NBCUniversal’s NBC. “Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.” Disney will distribute 80 NBA regular-season games per season, including more than 20 games on ABC and up to 60 games on ESPN. ABC and ESPN will have one of the two conference finals series in 10 of the 11 years of the agreement. ABC will remain the exclusive home of the NBA Finals, which it has broadcast since 2003. NBCUniversal will return as a league broadcasting partner after losing NBA rights in 2002. NBCUniversal will air 100 NBA games each regular season, including about 50 that will be exclusive to its streaming platform Peacock, according to CEO Mike Cavanagh. “We are proud to once again partner with the NBA and WNBA, two iconic brands and the home of the best basketball in the world,” Cavanagh in a statement. “We look forward to presenting our best-in-class coverage of both leagues with our innovative programming and distribution plan across NBC and Peacock to entertain fans and help grow the game.” WNBA games are also a part of all three packages. The partners will distribute more than 125 regular-season games and playoff games nationally each season. Disney will air a minimum of 25 regular-season games, NBCUniversal will carry 50 regular-season and playoff games on its platforms, and Prime Video will get 30 regular-season games, assuming Warner Bros. Discovery can’t match Amazon’s package.
Blackstone's mortgage fund slashes dividend as slump in office puts it under pressure 2024-07-24 20:58:30+00:00 - By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time by visiting our Preferences page or by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Blackstone Mortgage Trust, a commercial real estate lender with a $22 billion loan portfolio, is cutting its dividend after losing $60 million in the second quarter and raising its reserves by $142.6 million. The company, a publicly traded lender that is managed by the $1 trillion investment behemoth Blackstone, said on Wednesday that it would shrink its dividend to 47 cents per share from 62 cents, a 24% reduction. Its stock tumbled nearly 12% on Wednesday. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Executives at Blackstone Mortgage Trust, or BXMT, have said that it was well-positioned to withstand stresses in the commercial real estate market brought on by the pandemic and sharply rising interest rates. Executives at Blackstone have also said that they see the real estate market bottoming. The fund's loan book is tied largely to strong segments of the commercial real estate market, including residential apartment buildings, industrial warehouses, and hotels. Executives have described its loan balances as conservative relative to the value of the real estate assets that serve as their collateral. Advertisement But BXMT has significant exposure to the office market, where value declines have been steep enough to dip below outstanding loan balances in some cases. Katherine Keenan, CEO of Blackstone Mortgage Trust Blackstone The company reported that it held $9 billion of office loans, amounting to roughly 40% of its loan book – larger than any other real estate asset type in its portfolio. During the quarter, it raised the reserve of cash it holds to protect against loan losses by $142.6 million, bringing it to $906 million. The increase was done largely to compensate for "new non-performing office loans," according to BXMT's chief financial officer, Anthony Marone. Related stories It held 25 office loans totaling $3.7 billion in book value that it labeled as having an elevated risk level for losses, totaling about 17% of its portfolio. Office values have been battered over the past year, according to data from MSCI. Prices on average were down 12.4% in the second quarter from the previous year. Office space located in central business districts was down more sharply during the same period, by 24.7%. Advertisement "Resolving challenged assets remains a key priority for the business," Katie Keenan, the chief executive officer of BXMT, said in the company's earnings call. She also signaled that the company's dividend, key to its attractiveness to shareholders, would likely remain reduced for the foreseeable future. "This level really is based on what we think is sustainable over time," Keenan said.
The Secret Battle for the Future of the Murdoch Empire 2024-07-24 20:55:57+00:00 - Rupert Murdoch is locked in a secret legal battle against three of his children over the future of the family’s media empire, as he moves to preserve it as a conservative political force after his death, according to a sealed court document obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Murdoch, 93, set the drama in motion late last year, when he made a surprise move to change the terms of the Murdochs’ irrevocable family trust to ensure that his eldest son and chosen successor, Lachlan, would remain in charge of his vast collection of television networks and newspapers. The trust currently hands control of the family business to the four oldest children when Mr. Murdoch dies. But he is arguing in court that only by empowering Lachlan to run the company without interference from his more politically moderate siblings can he preserve its conservative editorial bent, and thus protect its commercial value for all his heirs. Those three siblings — James, Elisabeth and Prudence — were caught completely off-guard by their father’s effort to rewrite what was supposed to be an inviolable trust and have united to stop him. Remarkably, the ensuing battle has been playing out entirely out of public view.
Wall Street Analysts See DraftKings as a Buy: Should You Invest? - DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) 2024-07-24 20:54:00+00:00 - The recommendations of Wall Street analysts are often relied on by investors when deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock. Media reports about these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts changing their ratings often affect a stock's price. Do they really matter, though? Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let's see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about DraftKings DKNG. DraftKings currently has an average brokerage recommendation of 1.31, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 31 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.31 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy. Of the 31 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 26 are Strong Buy and two are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 83.9% and 6.5% of all recommendations. Brokerage Recommendation Trends for DKNG The ABR suggests buying DraftKings, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation. Do you wonder why? As a result of the vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover, their analysts tend to rate it with a strong positive bias. According to our research, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" recommendation. This means that the interests of these institutions are not always aligned with those of retail investors, giving little insight into the direction of a stock's future price movement. It would therefore be best to use this information to validate your own analysis or a tool that has proven to be highly effective at predicting stock price movements. Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating tool with an impressive externally audited track record, categorizes stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), and is an effective indicator of a stock's price performance in the near future. Therefore, using the ABR to validate the Zacks Rank could be an efficient way of making a profitable investment decision. Zacks Rank Should Not Be Confused With ABR Although both Zacks Rank and ABR are displayed in a range of 1-5, they are different measures altogether. Broker recommendations are the sole basis for calculating the ABR, which is typically displayed in decimals (such as 1.28). The Zacks Rank, on the other hand, is a quantitative model designed to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5. Analysts employed by brokerage firms have been and continue to be overly optimistic with their recommendations. Since the ratings issued by these analysts are more favorable than their research would support because of the vested interest of their employers, they mislead investors far more often than they guide. In contrast, the Zacks Rank is driven by earnings estimate revisions. And near-term stock price movements are strongly correlated with trends in earnings estimate revisions, according to empirical research. In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks. Another key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank is freshness. The ABR is not necessarily up-to-date when you look at it. But, since brokerage analysts keep revising their earnings estimates to account for a company's changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in indicating future price movements. Is DKNG Worth Investing In? Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for DraftKings, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has declined 31.1% over the past month to -$0.29. Analysts' growing pessimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates lower, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to plunge in the near term. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for DraftKings. Therefore, it could be wise to take the Buy-equivalent ABR for DraftKings with a grain of salt. To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Here's how much money you need to earn to join the top 1% in every U.S. state 2024-07-24 20:54:00+00:00 - A look at the rising stock market and widening U.S. wealth gap Joining the top 1% has become a byword for success, signifying that you're one of the few who has climbed to the top of the income ladder. But it's also become tougher to gain entry into this small group of Americans, given that it requires a lot more income in 2024 to qualify as one of them. The U.S. threshold for joining the top 1% stands at $787,712 in 2024, a 20% increase from the roughly $652,000 required last year, according to a new analysis of IRS data from SmartAsset. By comparison, U.S. median annual income stands at about $75,000, SmartAsset said. The higher amount likely reflects the impact of recent wage gains, which have lifted the earnings of everyone from low- to high-income workers, as well as the past year's surge in the stock market and other assets, which have especially boosted the fortunes of the rich, noted Jaclyn DeJohn, managing editor at SmartAsset and a certified financial planner. For instance, the S&P 500 has climbed about 20% over the last 12 months. But becoming a top earner within your state can vary considerably by region, with some wealthier states like California and Connecticut requiring at least $1 million in annual income to make the cut. By comparison, poorer states such as West Virginia and Mississippi count the lowest thresholds, at about $420,000 and $440,000, respectively. The 1% "is a very American concept — capitalism enables this pathway to really changing your position financially," DeJohn told CBS MoneyWatch. "It's definitely not easy, and one thing this data shows us is that it's getting harder." Rich and richer It's a lot easier to count among the nation's top 5% of earners, SmartAsset's data shows. For instance, the U.S. income threshold to join the top 5% is $290,185 — about one-third of the income needed to be a one-percenter. "Definitely, the top 5% is much more obtainable," DeWood said. "The top 5% [income threshold] is good context for just how big of outliers the top 1% are." Earning $200,000 annually "is generally the floor to be considered upper middle class," but it's also roughly the point at which the IRS phases out some tax benefits, such the Child Tax Credit, she noted. For instance, single people earning $200,000 or married couples with combined incomes of more than $400,000 can't claim the full CTC, even if they have children under the age of 17. Qualifying as part of the top 5% requires the highest annual income in Massachusetts, where the threshold is $393,160, followed by Washington state and New Jersey, at $377,265 and $372,171, respectively.
Nebraska governor issues a proclamation for a special session to address property taxes 2024-07-24 20:53:37+00:00 - OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen issued a long-awaited proclamation on Wednesday calling a special legislative session to address the state’s soaring property taxes, ruffling some lawmakers’ feathers by giving them just a day’s notice. Pillen warned lawmakers on the last day of the regular legislative session in April that he would convene a special session sometime in the summer after lawmakers failed to pass a bill to significantly lower property taxes. Last month, he sent a letter to Speaker of the Legislature John Arch saying he planned to call lawmakers back on July 25. Property taxes have skyrocketed across the country as U.S. home prices have jumped more than 50% in the past five years, leading a bevy of states to pass or propose measures to rein them in. Nebraska has seen revenue from property taxes rise by nearly $2 billion over the past decade, far outpacing the amount in revenue collected from income and sales taxes. Pillen’s proclamation calls for slew of appropriations and tax changes, including subjecting everything from cigarettes, candy, soda, hemp products and gambling to new taxes. It also calls for a hard cap on what cities and other local governments can collect in property taxes. Just as significant is what’s not included in the proclamation: Pillen didn’t direct lawmakers to consider a winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes ahead of this year’s hotly-contested presidential election. Nebraska and Maine are the only states that split their electoral votes. In Nebraska, the three electoral votes tied to the state’s three congressional districts go to whichever candidate wins the popular vote in that district. Republicans who dominate state government in the conservative state have long sought to join the 48 other states that award all of their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins statewide, but have been unable to get such a bill passed in the Legislature. Pillen said this year that he would include a winner-take-all proposal in a special session proclamation if the measure had the 33 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. He could still call another special session to consider a winner-take-all proposal if he thinks it has enough support to pass. Pillen’s 11th-hour call for a special session to deal with property taxes drew testy responses from some lawmakers, who have to interrupt summer plans, find day care for children and put their full-time jobs on hold to head back to the Capitol. Even some of Pillen’s fellow Republicans joined in the criticism. State Sen. Julie Slama, a Republican in the single-chamber, officially nonpartisan Legislature, slammed Pillen in a social media post as “an entitled millionaire.” She also dismissed his plan to shift a proposed 50% decrease in property taxes to a wide-ranging expansion of goods and services subject to the state’s 5.5% sales tax. Pillen “thinks the Legislature will pass the largest tax increase on working Nebraskans in state history because he snapped his fingers and ordered us to dance,” Slama posted on X. State Sen. Justin Wayne, a Democrat from Omaha, called on fellow lawmakers to immediately adjourn the session Thursday and demand a week’s notice from Pillen before reconvening. Barring that, the Legislature should at least recess on Thursday until Aug. 1, Wayne said in a Tuesday letter to his fellow 48 senators. Under Nebraska rules, governors can call a special session but must issue a proclamation that outlines specifically what issues the Legislature will address during it. There is no deadline by which governors must issue a proclamation before calling lawmakers back for a special session, but legislators have typically gotten that call a week or more ahead of time. Wayne called the lack of a proclamation from Pillen with only hours before the planned special session “blatant disrespect.” “We are not his slaves to be summoned at his whim,” Wayne said. “We have families and lives, and this lack of consideration is unacceptable. “It is time we assert our independence and demand the respect we deserve.” Pillen’s office did not answer questions about why he waited until the day before the special session to issue the proclamation calling it. Nebraska’s last special session took place in September 2021, when lawmakers convened to redraw the state’s political boundaries. That session lasted 13 days. Pillen has said he’ll call as many special sessions as needed and keep lawmakers in Lincoln “until Christmas” until a significant property tax relief bill is passed.