State Department’s disinformation office to close after funding nixed in NDAALOS ANGELES (AP) — Eric Bieniemy's return to UCLA lasted only one season. The Bruins let go of Bieniemy on Thursday after fielding one of the nation's worst offenses this season. It didn't take head coach DeShaun Foster long to find a replacement. Indiana quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri will become the new Bruins offensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Bruins had not yet announced the decision. Sunseri spent one season at Indiana after following Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison. Cignetti and Sunseri worked together for four seasons, the first three with the Dukes, who made the most successful transition from FCS to FBS in history. Bieniemy was hired as associate head coach and offensive coordinator shortly after Foster was hired as head coach in February. Bieniemy was also on the Bruins staff from 2003-05 as running backs coach. Jason Fletcher, Bieniemy's agent, said in a statement that Bieniemy planned to stay only one season in Westwood and termed it a “mutual parting of the ways.” However, Bieniemy signed a two-year contract at UCLA and did have a retention bonus if he was on staff for the 2025 season. "After interviewing for head coaching jobs last year, he wanted to stay active and busy," Fletcher said. “So, he decided to go help out Deshaun Foster, who is like his little brother, at UCLA as opposed to sitting out a year.” Out of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, UCLA was 117th in total offense (328.8 yards per game), 126th in scoring (18.4 points per game) and had the nation's fifth-worst rushing attack (86.6 yards per game). The Bruins — 5-7 in their first season in the Big Ten after qualifying for a bowl the last three years — were the sixth Power Five team since 2000 that didn't score at least 20 points in their first six games. Players also said early in the season that Bieniemy's scheme was difficult to grasp and that play calls could be too wordy. Bieniemy was a two-time Super Bowl champion offensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs but his last two stops have not gone well. He was Washington's offensive coordinator in 2023 but was not retained after Ron Rivera was fired. Bieniemy said in an email to ESPN earlier this year that he was not fired by Washington and that he received NFL offers to coach running backs or be a passing game coordinator. However, when asked during UCLA's spring practice to explain those remarks or what his other job prospects were, he refused to do so. “What I’m going say is this: I’m here coaching at UCLA. All that other stuff, you could go talk to the Commanders. I’ll leave it just like that,” he said. Bieniemy wasn’t retained by new Commanders coach Dan Quinn, who replaced Rivera. Despite his success in Kansas City, Bieniemy hasn’t landed a heading coach job, even though he’s interviewed with more than half of the NFL’s 32 teams. Fletcher said: "The plan was always to return to the NFL in 2025, and he’s looking forward to the opportunities ahead.” Sunseri's immediate priority will be to stem any further losses to the transfer portal. Quarterback Justyn Martin — who was on track to compete for the starting job following the graduation of Ethan Garbers — and running back T.J. Harden have already entered the portal. At Indiana, Sunseri worked closely with Kurtis Rourke, a transfer from Mid-American Conference school Ohio. Rourke went on to have one of the best seasons in Hoosiers history as No. 9 Indiana (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten, No. 9 CFP) broke single-season school records for victories and conference wins and appears set to make its CFP debut in two weeks. Sunseri, like Cignetti, also coached previously at Alabama. Sunseri served as a graduate assistant for the Crimson Tide in 2019 and 2020 after previous stints at Florida State and Tennessee. The 35-year-old Sunseri also spent three seasons with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, winning a Grey Cup title as a rookie in 2013 following his college career at Pittsburgh. Marot reported from Indianapolis. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
AJMI sets date for 2ndannual AI conference
Good afternoon, Chicago. A body was found in a wheel well of a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Hawaii, authorities said. The body was found in the well of one of the main landing gears after flight 202 landed at Maui’s Kahului Airport on Christmas Eve, a spokesperson for United Airlines said. The wheel well was only accessible from outside the plane, and it wasn’t clear Wednesday how or when the person accessed the space, according to United. Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Daily horoscope | Asking Eric A Cook County Jail detainee attends Cardinal Blase J. Cupich’s Christmas Day Mass at the jail on Dec. 25, 2024. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune) The Christmas morning Mass at the jail is an annual event for Cupich, who sought to use it to remind the men who were spending the holiday in jail that they were not forgotten. Read more here. More top news stories: Jeep crashes into Lake Villa-area house killing man, seriously injuring 2 others Tinley Park District makes progress on cleanup of former mental health hospital People walk past the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan) The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Read more here. More top business stories: Holiday shoppers increased spending by 3.8% despite higher prices Feeling lucky? Friday’s Mega Millions drawing is worth an estimated $1.15 billion The Bears Drumline performs on the field in the fourth quarter against the Lions on Dec. 22, 2024, at Soldier Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) The Bears (4-11) will play the Seahawks (8-7) tonight at Soldier Field in a Week 17 matchup. Here’s what you need to know before kickoff. Read more here. More top sports stories: Column: Chicago Bulls players and coaches refuse to tank as the front office nears a turning point Loyola men’s basketball loses 71-68 to Murray State for last place at the Diamond Head Classic Nicole Scherzinger in “Sunset Blvd.” on Broadway at the St. James Theatre in New York. (Marc Brenner) This last year was busy on Broadway, with new musicals and several impressive plays featuring ensemble casts. Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: North Shore native tells how she compiled family’s mental health struggles in ‘While You Were Out’ ‘Baby Driver’ actor Hudson Meek, 16, dies in a fall from a moving vehicle Finnish National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskim’ki attends a news conference in Helsinki on Dec. 26, 2024, investigating the electricity transmission between Finland and Estonia through the Estlink 2 connection, which was cut on Christmas Day, according to Finnish grid operator Fingrid. (Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via AP) Finnish authorities have detained a Russia-linked ship as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables, according to police and news media reports, in the latest incident involving disruption of key infrastructure. Read more here. More top stories from around the world: Americans are exhausted by political news. TV ratings and a new AP-NORC poll show they’re tuning out. Israeli strike kills 5 Palestinian journalists in Gaza, officials say5 candidates for the Bears head coach job, including a 73-year-old Pete Carroll
High schools Monday: Ella Pelletier leads Oxford Hills to girls basketball win
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) Shares Sold by Commerce BankThrough its Smarter Asset Management program, Diversified Energy Company is able to more efficiently produce from its wells and midstream assets, all while ensuring less emissions and improving asset health. Paul Espenan, DEC’s Senior Vice President of Environmental Health, Safety and Regulatory, said that Smarter Asset Management is all about efficient production while reducing emissions, and that’s being done at the company in a variety of ways. For one, he said, the company performs “strategic upgrades” to certain wells, especially those that are under-appreciated, as Diversified does not produce new wells as most producers, but instead acquire and optimize existing energy assets. “What we see a lot of times when we acquire these assets is that others don’t have the appreciation of them that we do in terms of what the opportunity is,” Espenan said. “It’s not necessarily part of their core business, but it is our core business. We have a way of evaluating things that perhaps they overlook or had no intention of even looking at.” DEC Senior Vice President of Upstream Operations and Well Retirement Todd Tetrick said that some operators who owned wells before they were acquired by DEC “lost focus” on operating these wells efficiently, but with the wells now under Diversified Energy’s care, they’re seeing new life. Tetrick continued, “Well pressures and fluid production change throughout the life cycle of the well, and the wells can be very sensitive and require adjustment of the lift mechanisms.” “You can go through the last seven or eight years of Diversified owning these assets and see that we have returned to service literally thousands of wells that our predecessor companies were not producing.” Regardless of if they’re new or mature wells, Tetrick said that a lot goes into efficient oil and gas operations. He said that a key metric in measuring efficient production is “lift cost”, or cost incurred by the company during the production operations of the oil and gas wells. “We can become more efficient by focusing on the expense piece, the production or both,” Tetrick said. “We can decrease our lift costs per unit. That’s the whole goal, to produce our wells efficiently, safely and from an environmentally sustainable perspective.” The environmental impact of oil and gas producing is hugely important to Diversified Energy, and a central tenet of Smarter Asset Management. Espenan said that more than two years ago, the company made what others in the oil and gas industry considered an “odd” decision by equipping every well tender with a handheld device that detects methane leaks. Despite what others thought of the plan, Espenan said it has put DEC ahead of the curve when it comes to detecting and limiting emissions. “In 2023, on a facility basis, we were able to attain a 98% leak-free status,” Espenan said. “We did about 246,000 individual inspections in 2023, and by making those leaks rare, we not only put that gas back in the pipe to sell it, but also reduced our emissions. In 2023, we announced that we hit our emissions goal for 2030 seven years ahead of schedule, and the biggest change was making leaks very rare.” Aside from eliminating emissions at wells, Espenan said that DEC has utilized technology from Bridger Photonics to detect methane emissions from the air by using LiDAR, noting that the company has flown over 22,000 miles of its gathering system and 21,000 miles of production facilities to similarly find and eliminate leaks. Additionally, Espenan said that the company is working with a company called Xplorobot, which is developing an entirely new system to detect methane leaks that, he predicted, will overtake the current common method of finding emissions like DVD overtook VHS. “(Their technology) is going to leapfrog over what has been traditionally called optic gas imaging, which uses a camera, to laser-based imaging,” Espenan said. He added that there are federal regulations about to go into effect that will require oil and gas companies to do things to limit emissions that Diversified Energy has been doing for years voluntarily, and he added that a good deal of what DEC does in the future will still be beyond what’s required by regulators. While environmental impact is a huge part of Smarter Asset Management, so, too, is improving the company’s social impact. Tetrick said that taking into account the hundreds of employees that Diversified Energy Company has across its service area, there is a lot of money going into local economies. Espenan said that whatever DEC can do to improve the communities in which it operates, it wants to do so. “We live, work and participate in the communities around us, and we care what the community has to say about us,” Espenan said. “It’s also, in terms of the outreach we perform, charitable or organizational. We care about our reputation and we want to be that good neighbor, so we’re doing a great deal to reduce our impact and emissions and run our operations in a certain way, because we care about the impact to the public. “Our sustainability report in 2022 won an award mostly because of transparency. We talk in great detail about the things we do in the community. The impact we make financially is a big part of that.”
Medtronic ( NYSE:MDT – Get Free Report ) and Gadsden Properties ( OTCMKTS:GADS – Get Free Report ) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends. Profitability This table compares Medtronic and Gadsden Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Insider & Institutional Ownership 82.1% of Medtronic shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Medtronic shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Gadsden Properties shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term. Volatility & Risk Analyst Ratings This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Medtronic and Gadsden Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Medtronic presently has a consensus target price of $95.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.20%. Given Medtronic’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Medtronic is more favorable than Gadsden Properties. Valuation and Earnings This table compares Medtronic and Gadsden Properties”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Medtronic has higher revenue and earnings than Gadsden Properties. Summary Medtronic beats Gadsden Properties on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks. About Medtronic ( Get Free Report ) Medtronic plc develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide. Its Cardiovascular Portfolio segment offers implantable cardiac pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices; cardiac ablation products; insertable cardiac monitor systems; TYRX products; and remote monitoring and patient-centered software. It also provides aortic valves, surgical valve replacement and repair products, endovascular stent grafts and accessories, and transcatheter pulmonary valves; and percutaneous coronary intervention products, percutaneous angioplasty balloons, and products. The company's Medical Surgical Portfolio segment offers surgical stapling devices, vessel sealing instruments, wound closure, electrosurgery products, surgical artificial intelligence and robotic-assisted surgery products, hernia mechanical devices, mesh implants, gynecology and lung products, and various therapies to treat diseases, as well as products in the fields of minimally invasive gastrointestinal and hepatologic diagnostics and therapies, patient monitoring, airway management and ventilation therapies, and renal disease. Its Neuroscience Portfolio segment offers products for spinal surgeons; neurosurgeons; neurologists; pain management specialists; anesthesiologists; orthopedic surgeons; urologists; urogynecologists; interventional radiologists; ear, nose, and throat specialists; and systems that incorporate energy surgical instruments. It also provides image-guided surgery and intra-operative imaging systems and robotic guidance systems used in robot assisted spine procedures; and therapies for vasculature in and around the brain. The company's Diabetes Operating Unit segment offers insulin pumps and consumables, continuous glucose monitoring systems, smart insulin pen systems, and consumables and supplies. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. About Gadsden Properties ( Get Free Report ) Gadsden Properties, Inc. is a Nevada corporation that was formed on December 28, 2010. Gadsden concentrates primarily on investments in high quality income-producing assets, residential developments and other opportunistic commercial properties in secondary and tertiary markets across the United States. The Company derives value from smaller, flexible retail investments that range from $5 million to $50 million and off-market mixed-use properties ranging from $50 million to $250 million. As a result of this chosen strategy, we believe that Gadsden is developing a unique competitive advantage that generally allows the Company to invest in markets and assets that are often overlooked by larger institutional investors, such as publicly-traded REITs and other large institutional investors. As part of its strategy, Gadsden attracts specific sellers that prefer the tax deferral advantages offered through issuing operating partnership units in exchange for their properties. These real estate assets are typically operated by independent owners that are seeking to monetize their real estate holdings, and who are typically not well capitalized or well-seasoned real estate operators. These transactions create a variety of outcomes for Gadsden and the sellers typically resulting in lease-up and value-added opportunities that may not be otherwise achieved. Receive News & Ratings for Medtronic Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Medtronic and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that dismissal is warranted because of the “overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.” They also cited President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of tax and gun charges . “President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’" Trump’s legal team wrote. The Manhattan district attorney, they claimed, had engaged in the type of political theater "that President Biden condemned.” Prosecutors will have until Dec. 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated a willingness to delay the sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029. In their filing Monday, Trump's attorneys dismissed the idea of holding off sentencing until Trump is out of office as a “ridiculous suggestion.” Following Trump’s election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing, previously scheduled for late November, to allow the defense and prosecution to weigh in on the future of the case. He also delayed a decision on Trump’s prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. Trump has been fighting for months to reverse his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier. He says they did not and denies any wrongdoing. Taking a swipe at Bragg and New York City, as Trump often did throughout the trial, the filing argues that dismissal would also benefit the public by giving him and “the numerous prosecutors assigned to this case a renewed opportunity to put an end to deteriorating conditions in the City and to protect its residents from violent crime.” Clearing Trump, the lawyers added, would also allow him to “to devote all of his energy to protecting the Nation.” The defense filing was signed by Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who represented Trump during the trial and have since been selected by the president-elect to fill senior roles at the Justice Department. A dismissal would erase Trump’s historic conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Merchan hasn’t set a timetable for a decision. Merchan could also decide to uphold the verdict and proceed to sentencing, delay the case until Trump leaves office, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump’s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court or choose some other option. Prosecutors had cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him. Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels. Trump later reimbursed him, and Trump’s company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses — concealing what they really were, prosecutors alleged. Trump has pledged to appeal the verdict if the case is not dismissed. He and his lawyers said the payments to Cohen were properly categorized as legal expenses for legal work. A month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for official acts — things they did in the course of running the country — and that prosecutors can’t cite those actions to bolster a case centered on purely personal, unofficial conduct. Trump’s lawyers cited the ruling to argue that the hush money jury got some improper evidence, such as Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form, testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made during his first term. Prosecutors disagreed and said the evidence in question was only “a sliver” of their case. If the verdict stands and the case proceeds to sentencing, Trump’s punishments would range from a fine to probation to up to four years in prison — but it’s unlikely he’d spend any time behind bars for a first-time conviction involving charges in the lowest tier of felonies. Because it is a state case, Trump would not be able to pardon himself once he returns to office. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes.
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Unisys Appoints Michael M. Thomson as Chief Executive OfficerGREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs left his team’s game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday because of a concussion. Doubs’ injury came on a third-quarter play in the end zone that resulted in a pass interference penalty against San Francisco’s Renardo Green. Doubs stayed down briefly after the play, then got up slowly before heading to the sideline. He went into the injury tent before walking to the locker room. The Packers then announced Doubs was out for the rest of the game because of a concussion. He had three catches for 54 yards before leaving. San Francisco defensive tackle Jordan Elliott left in the first half of the game to get evaluated for a concussion and was ruled out at halftime. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on Gaza hospital wound 3, Netanyahu vows 'iron fist' in LebanonElla Pelletier scored 23 points to lift Oxford Hills to a 48-34 win over Sanford in a girls basketball game Monday in Paris. Oxford Hills’ Ella Pelletier drives to the basket between Sanford’s Ella Tederous, left, and Ava Hudson during their game Monday at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. Brewster Burns Gabbie Tibbetts added 13 points and Maddy Herrick had 10 for Oxford Hills (4-1). Mollie Puffer had 17 points for Sanford (2-3). BOYS BASKETBALL SANFORD 74, OXFORD HILLS 50: Dylan Gendron scored 30 points, including six 3-pointers and the Spartans (3-2) beat the Vikings (3-3) in Sanford. Luke Gendron added 15 points and Ryan Alexander had nine for Sanford. Brayden Murch had 15 point and Cam Pulkkinen 11 for Oxford Hills. GIRLS HOCKEY EDWARD LITTLE/LEAVITT/POLAND/MONMOUTH 10, YORK/TRAIP/MARSHWOOD/NOBLE 2: Reegan Saunders had three goals and the visiting Red Hornets (3-1-2) beat York (0-6). Leksi Langevin added two goals, while Adalyn Martin, Reagan Mulliner, Adeline Langer, Ella Labelle and Lauren Bolduc also scored. Phebe Schroeck and Kiera Alessi scored for York. We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe . Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous
Laurie M. (Rooney) GrayAJMI sets date for 2ndannual AI conference