FREEPORT — Port Freeport has been awarded a $1.487 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program which will aid the port’s efforts to move in a more sustainable direction, officials said. The money will be used to reducing emissions, enhancing infrastructure and climate resilience, Port Freeport announced last week. More specifically, the grant will be used to create a comprehensive emissions inventory, develop a port resiliency and implementation plan, and establish a performance measurement framework, Port Freeport Executive Director and CEO Phyllis Saathoff said. “The EPA’s Clean Ports Program is designed to assist ports in transitioning to cleaner and more sustainable operations by funding projects that reduce emissions and encourage environmental resilience,” she wrote in an email to The Facts. “Port Freeport was selected for this grant because of our proactive approach to sustainability and our demonstrated commitment to advancing zero-emissions technology and infrastructure.” Port Freeport has been moving toward a more environmentally friendly footprint for more than a decade. “The port installed two electric ship-to-shore gantry cranes for the container terminal operations in 2014 and has two electric ship-to-short cranes on order for delivery fall of 2025,” Saathoff said. “The port’s administration building, completed in 2016, is LEED certified. Hybrid vehicles are using in the security operations in the Port.” These initiatives will provide actionable data and strategies to reduce the port’s environmental impact while promoting operational resilience, she said. “This grant is a tremendous opportunity for Port Freeport and our partners to advance our commitment to sustainable operations and growth,” Saathoff said. “We look forward to working collaboratively with our customers, transportation partners, port workers, and communities as we embark on this meaningful endeavor.” The Clean Ports Program funding will help Port Freeport to continue it’s sustainable growth initiatives while addressing environmental challenges. “We are honored to receive this climate and clean air planning grant,” Ravi Singhania, chairman of the Port Freeport Commission, said in a news release. “Port Freeport is committed to building a resilient and sustainable port that delivers enduring benefits to our environment, economy, partners and communities. This funding underscores our dedication to sustainability and responsible growth.” Saathoff is proud of what the port has achieved, she said. “Personally, I find it rewarding to see the port making significant strides toward a cleaner and resilient future,” Saathrof said. “This grant and the resulting plan will be the catalyst for continued growth, environmental stewardship and strengthened collaboration with our tenants, customers and the community we proudly serve. Port Freeport will continue to be an economic driver for our region, the state and the nation for future generations.” Port Freeport ranks sixth nationally in chemicals, 15th in total foreign waterborne tonnage and 26th in containers. It serves a wide range of industries and companies, including energy giants ExxonMobil and BASF, global shipping lines including Atlantic Container Lines and Grimaldi Lines and is home to three of the largest importers of fresh fruit — Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte. It also has increasingly become a go-to port for vehicle imports and exports, this year adding Volkswagen to its portfolio.AMMO Deadline: POWW Investors Have Opportunity to Lead AMMO, Inc. Securities Fraud Lawsuit
Five Below stock surges on raised guidance, new CEOWASHINGTON — Hearing a high-profile culture-war clash, the on Wednesday seemed likely to uphold Tennessee’s ban on . The justices’ decision, not expected for several months, could affect similar laws enacted by another 25 states and a range of other efforts , including which they can join and which . The case is being weighed by a conservative-dominated court after a presidential election in which Donald Trump and his allies promised to roll back for transgender people, showcasing the uneasy intersection between law, politics and individual rights. The Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer warned a decision favorable to Tennessee also could be used to justify nationwide restrictions on transgender healthcare for minors. In arguments that lasted more than two hours, five of the six conservative justices voiced varying degrees of skepticism of arguments made by the administration and Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer for Tennessee families challenging the ban. Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted in the majority in a 2020 case in favor of , questioned whether judges, rather than lawmakers, should be weighing in on a question of regulating medical procedures, an area usually left to the states. “The Constitution leaves that question to the people’s representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor,” Roberts said in an exchange with Strangio. The court’s three liberal justices seemed firmly on the side of the challengers. But it’s not clear that any of the conservatives will go along. Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed back against the assertion that the democratic process would be the best way to address objections to the law. She cited a history of laws discriminating against others, noting that transgender people make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, according to studies. There are an estimated 1.3 million adults and 300,000 adolescents aged 13 to 17 who identify as transgender, according the UCLA law school’s Williams Institute. “Blacks were a much larger part of the population and it didn’t protect them. It didn’t protect women for whole centuries,” Sotomayor said in an exchange with Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she saw some troubling parallels between arguments made by Tennessee and those advanced by Virginia and rejected by a unanimous court, in the 1967 that legalized interracial marriage nationwide. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion in 2020, said nothing during the arguments. Four years ago, the court in favor of Aimee Stephens, who was fired by a Michigan funeral home after she informed its owner that she was a transgender woman. The court held that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. The Biden administration and the families and health care providers who challenged the Tennessee law urged the justices to apply the same sort of analysis that the majority, made up of liberal and conservative justices, embraced in the case four years ago when it found that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. The issue in the Tennessee case is whether the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same. Tennessee’s law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors, but allows the same drugs to be used for other purposes. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, called the law sex-based line drawing to ban the use of drugs that have been safely prescribed for decades and said the state “decided to completely override the views of the patients, the parents, the doctors.”
This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here . Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are Impeachment motion filed against South Korea's president South Korea's parliament has formally introduced a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his shock announcement — and subsequent reversal — of martial law, but his People's Power Party has vowed to oppose the move. The opposition Democratic Party holds a majority in the country's 300 seat parliament, but needs eight PPP lawmakers to cross the aisle for achieving the two-thirds supermajority needed for the impeachment. French government topples after no confidence vote France's government has been toppled in a vote of no confidence on Wednesday. A total of 331 lawmakers from both the leftwing New Popular Front alliance and the far-right National Rally supported a no-confidence motion in the country's lower house, far exceeding the 288 votes needed to pass the motion. This means Prime Minister Michel Barnier will be forced to tender his resignation. U.S. markets hit fresh records All three major U.S. indexes closed at record highs Wednesday, with tech shares leading the charge following strong reports from Salesforce and Marvell Technology. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.69% and closed above the 45,000 mark for the first time, at 45,014.04. The S&P 500 rose 0.61% and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.3% to end at 6,086.49 and 19,735.12 respectively. Powell not worried about Fed losing independence U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday he isn't worried President-elect Donald Trump will try to politicize the central bank once he takes office in January. His comments come amid reports that Trump may try to undermine Powell's authority. However, Powell said there are safeguards in congressional legislation that will help preserve the Fed from political influences. [PRO] UBS and others think it's time to short the dollar The U.S. dollar has surged since September, but some financial institutions are suggesting investors should bet against further strength in the greenback. Investment bank UBS, for instance, has warned investors not to chase the dollar's recent gains. It was the summer of 2016. Protests were being held at Ewha Womans University, one of Seoul's most prestigious universities and the country's top women's college, over the school administration's plan to introduce a new degree program. Their protests would set off a series of events leading to the impeachment and removal of then South Korean President Park Geun-hye in March 2017. Eight years later, another South Korean president is on the verge of impeachment. But unlike 2016, the backlash from the South Korean public and lawmakers was swift this time. Articles of impeachment have been introduced by opposition parties against President Yoon Seok Yeol barely 48 hours after his martial law flip-flop and subsequent reversal of martial law. Just hours following the announcement, South Koreans saw scenes of parliamentary staffers attempting to bar armed troops from the country's parliament using fire extinguishers; protesters clashing with police; and even a livestreamed video of opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung climbing over a parliament fence to reach the National Assembly. Given the political chaos, is South Korea still investible? Jonathan Garner, chief Asia and EM equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC that even if one keeps aside the turmoil in the government, South Korea's economy is "not that well positioned in a global economic slowdown," and that the semiconductor and auto sectors, which are key industries in the country, are facing a potential downturn worldwide. However, others were more upbeat. "New reports are now suggesting that Yoon will be impeached or resign fairly quickly, which might help investors further draw a line under the affair," said Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia Pacific at Capital Economics. Mathews also added that impeachments are not unfamiliar to South Korea – and that equities fared quite well during Park's impeachment in 2016, despite numerous protest rallies in Seoul and other parts of the country.KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes tore through a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza on Wednesday, sparking fires and killing at least 21 people, according to the head of a nearby hospital, in the latest assault on a sprawling tent city that Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted. The Israeli military said it struck senior Hamas militants “involved in terrorist activities” in the area, without providing additional details, and said it took precautions to minimize harm to civilians. The strike on the Muwasi tent camp was one of several deadly assaults across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. An Israeli attack in central Gaza killed at least 10 more people, including four children, according to Palestinian medics. Israel’s devastating war in Gaza , launched after Hamas’ October 2023 attack, shows no signs of ending after nearly 14 months. Hamas is still holding dozens of Israeli hostages, and most of Gaza’s population has been displaced and is reliant on international food aid to survive. Israel is also pressing a major offensive in the isolated north, where experts say Palestinians might be experiencing famine . The Biden administration has pledged to make a new push for a Gaza ceasefire now that there's a truce in Lebanon between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, ending more than a year of cross-border fighting. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump demanded this week the release of hostages held by Hamas before he is sworn into office in January. Wednesday's strike in Muwasi — a desolate area with few public services that holds hundreds of thousands of displaced people — wounded at least 28 people, according to Atif al-Hout, the director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. An Associated Press journalist at the hospital counted at least 15 bodies, but said reaching a precise number was difficult because many of the dead were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned. In the morgue, an infant's blackened hand and face peeked out from beneath a heavy blanket used to transport bodies to the hospital. “It was like doomsday,” said a wounded woman, Iman Jumaa, who held back tears as she described how the strike killed her father, her brothers and her brothers' children. Videos and photos of the strike shared widely on social media showed flames and a column of black smoke rising into the night sky, as well as twisted metal tent frames and shredded fabric. Palestinian men searched through the still-burning wreckage, shouting, “Over here guys!” Further away, civilians stood at a distance, observing the destruction. The military said the strikes had set off secondary blasts, indicating explosives present in the area had detonated. It was not possible to independently confirm the Israeli claims, and the strikes could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp. Shortly after the strike, Al-Awda Hospital said two people had been killed and 38 wounded in an attack on a residential block in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The military had no immediate comment on the strike, but said earlier strikes in central Gaza had hit “terrorist targets." Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths, saying the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques. Previous Israeli strikes on tent camps in Gaza have drawn widespread international outrage, such as when a wounded student’s last moments were caught on video as he burned to death in a tent outside a hospital. In northern Gaza, dozens of Palestinian families said Israel's expanding offensive had forcibly displaced them from schools-turned-shelters. Associated Press footage showed people on the road Wednesday leaving Beit Lahia, many crowded onto donkey carts with their belongings in their arms. Others walked on foot. “This morning a quadcopter (drone) detonated four bombs at the school. There were people injured, human remains — we left with nothing,” said Sadeia al-Rahel. The 57-year-old said her family has been eating grass, leaves, and animal feed for two months due to the lack of food aid in the north. The amount of aid entering Gaza plunged in October, and hunger is widespread across the territory, even in central Gaza where aid groups have more access. Humanitarian organizations say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order make it difficult to deliver assistance. Israel has said it is working to increase the flow of aid. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 people were abducted. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. On Wednesday, Israel said its forces recovered the body of a hostage who was captured alive during the Oct. 7 attack. Israel believes Itay Svirsky was killed by his captors. The families of hostages held in Gaza have grown increasingly concerned that their loved ones are at risk so long as the war continues. Israel’s military released on Wednesday the findings of a probe into the circumstances behind the deaths of six hostages whose bodies were recovered in August, determining they were probably shot by their captors after a nearby Israeli strike in February. Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report. Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/mideast-warsTaylor Hall's fifth career hat trick leads Blackhawks over Stars 6-2South Korean authorities seek warrant to detain impeached president
President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money conviction
Trump will ‘most likely' pardon Capitol rioters on day one and says Jan. 6 committee members should be jailedN. Dakota St. 73, West Georgia 61How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 12/4/2024
Government to block incinerators that do not contribute to green plansThe latest exhibit at the Pop Cult Museum at PD's Hot Shop in Qualicum Beach follows skateboarding through the decades, from early homemade boards in the 1930s right to the present day. Wheels of Freedom traces the evolution of skate culture, as well as the boards themselves — and how new technology influences the activity and vice versa. While the first commercial boards began to appear in stores in the late 1950s, children had already been making their own skateboards for decades. “A kid, usually the boy in the family, would get into some trouble because he would essentially steal the sister’s roller skates, or take his own roller skates,” said owner Peter Ducommun, better known as PD. “What you would do is disassemble the roller skate and reassemble some of the components onto a wooden piece.” Skateboarding evolved by mimicking surfing and was referred to as "sidewalk surfing" for a time, but by the mid-60s it had begun to step out of the shadow of surfing, with Patti McGee appearing on the cover of Life magazine in 1965 (the exhibit includes a copy). For a lot of children, a skateboard or bicycle offers that first taste of freedom — being able to venture further from home without mom and dad. But with that freedom also came derision from the public — people angry at skateboarders for riding on the sidewalk or trespassing and skating up and down the sloped walls of an empty pool. “In the early days we were told it was wrong and we were bad,” said Ducommun, who began skateboarding in the early 1970s. “When you’re trying to tell somebody, and particularly a young person, that they’re doing something bad and they know they’re not, well that just makes you do it twice as much.” Wider skateboards found popularity in the 70s to provide more stability as skaters became more interested in riding up and down the sides empty pools. “We knew that a swimming pool would be like riding a wave because you’re going up the wall and coming down," Ducommun said. "That was the inspiration for what would become half pipes and then skate park bowls and all of that.” Ducommun's very first board from 1976 is part of the exhibit and can be spotted by a yin yang decal — this was the logo for Great North Country Skateboards, before the name change to Skull Skates, Canada's oldest skateboard company. Humour, irreverence and mockery all became a big part of skater culture, Ducommun said, and one way that was expressed was through skateboard decals. “Skateboarders, we like to mock,” he added. “Happy faces and bright colours, but it was all kind of mockery.” One piece in the exhibit takes aim at the idea of skateboarders competing for awards, including the recent inclusion into the Summer Olympics. Ducommun mounted the body of a decapitated doll onto a football trophy, with a skateboard wheel in place of a head. “It’s more like an art form or a lifestyle,” he said. Skateboarding continues to change and evolve as new generations of skaters are introduced to it. “Every time you think it can’t get any crazier, as far as tricks and techniques and styles of riding, it does," Ducommun said. "But the reason it does is that people are not starting from zero, they’re starting from that whole thing that’s been built.” With work set to begin soon on a new skatepark in Qualicum Beach, Ducommun is optimistic the activity will continue to grow and even attract people to visit the town and check out the new facility. “There’s a whole group of people ready to just come up and really embrace it.” Wheels of Freedom will be at the Pop Cult Museum until March. PD's Hot Shop is located at 164 Second Ave.BlackRock Inc. stock outperforms competitors on strong trading day