jili 63 free 120
Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $3.34 Million Stock Position in Resideo Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:REZI)Barstool Sports founder to give $60,000 to keep Federal Hill pizzeria open
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks were struggling a week ago, coming off their bye having lost five of their last six games. That included a gut-punch overtime defeat at home against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 3. The outlook for the last-place Seahawks (5-5) was beginning to look grim. They suddenly have renewed optimism this week after an uplifting victory over the San Francisco 49ers that snapped a six-game losing streak against their arch-rival that dated to 2021. Seattle will play the first-place Arizona Cardinals (6-4) on Sunday for a share of the NFC West lead. How quickly things change in the NFL. “We’ve earned the opportunity to be fighting for the lead in the division going into the home stretch,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “So that’s the way we’re treating it. It’s very much like a playoff mindset for us at this point.” The win over the 49ers, which was capped by a 13-yard touchdown run by quarterback Geno Smith with 18 seconds left, put the Seahawks in a much better place mentally than they’d been in over the previous six weeks. They’re hoping it’s just the start of something even bigger. RELATED COVERAGE Nick Chubb plows through heavy snow for 2-yard TD, giving Browns 24-19 win over Steelers Browns’ Myles Garrett sends message to Steelers and T.J. Watt with 3 first-half sacks Patriots’ Drake Maye vs. Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa could be the first meeting of many “It can just spark something that you’ve been looking for this whole year,” wide receiver DK Metcalf said. “I know we started off very hot with the first three games, but, you know, when adversity hit, it’s all about how you respond. I think we responded the right way, and it’s going to carry us throughout the rest of the season.” While the Seahawks are feeling better this week, the Cardinals have plenty of reason to feel optimistic, too. After starting the season 2-4, Arizona has won four straight to put itself in first place in the NFC West. The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . The Cardinals have a defense that is making big strides under the leadership of veteran safety Budda Baker and a top-five running game behind the dual threat of running back James Conner, who has 697 yards rushing, and quarterback Kyler Murray, who seems to be hitting his stride in his sixth NFL season. Murray has 2,058 yards passing with 12 touchdowns, and has rushed for 371 yards and four scores. Second-year head coach Jonathan Gannon has been impressed with Murray’s improved decision-making as Murray has thrown just three interceptions through 10 games. “There’s times that he probably wants to try to thread it a little bit, but understands when to pick and choose his spots,” Gannon said. “I think he’s done a phenomenal job with that and there are a lot of times throughout the game where you could say we like to put it in the quarterback’s hands, and you trust him to make the right decision for that point in the game.” Reunited Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba will see a familiar face on the other sideline Sunday in rookie Marvin Harrison Jr., who was Smith-Njigba’s college teammate at Ohio State in 2021 and 2022. The pair each caught three touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ wild win over Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl, with Smith-Njigba having 347 yards receiving on what was a 573-passing yard day for C.J. Stroud, now the quarterback of the Houston Texans. “Late his freshman year, he really just stood out,” Smith-Njigba said of Harrison. “You could just see the growth and kind of who he is becoming. ... He’s passed a lot of people’s expectations, of course, but I knew he was going to be elite later on freshman year.” MVP-level Murray Murray is coming off one of the best games of his career after completing 22 of 24 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown against the Jets two weeks ago. He also ran for 21 yards and two TDs. Murray currently ranks No. 3 in the NFL in quarterback rating behind Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson. That has put him in the MVP conversation, particularly since Arizona has won four straight games. “I don’t play the game for the validation of others,” Murray said. “But as a player, of course, sometimes the recognition and the words being said feel good. But it doesn’t satisfy me.” Defensive improvement The most surprising part of Arizona’s four-game winning streak is the rapid improvement of the defense, which has allowed just 9 and 6 points, respectively, over the past two games. No touchdowns have been allowed – just five field goals. It’s just the second time over the past 30 years that the franchise has allowed 10 points or less over back-to-back games. Baker, a Bellevue native and former University of Washington football star, is the unquestioned leader of the bunch – he already has 100 tackles over 10 games - but the team also has a strong core of linebackers in Kyzir White, Mack Wilson and Zaven Collins. Metcalf and Baker have gone up against each other many times before, most famously when Metcalf ran Baker down on an interception return in 2020. “You really can’t prepare for a guy like that because his engine never stops,” Metcalf said. “He’s always going to be around the ball. He’s always going to affect the game with just his play effort and play style. ... Just got to try to minimize his playmaking ability as much as we can on offense.” ___ AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Phoenix, Arizona, contributed to this report. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department’s efforts to curb China’s and Russia’s access to American-made advanced computer chips have been “inadequate” and will need more funding to stymie their ability to manufacture advanced weapons, according to a new report from the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The Biden administration imposed export controls to limit the ability of China and Russia to access U.S.-made chips after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The agency’s Bureau of Industry and Security, according to the report released this week, does not have the resources to enforce export controls and has been too reliant on U.S. chip makers voluntarily complying with the rules. But the push for bolstering Commerce’s export control enforcement comes as the incoming Trump administration says it is looking to dramatically reduce the size and scope of federal government. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” to dismantle parts of the federal government. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. BIS’s budget, about $191 million, has remained essentially flat since 2010 when adjusted for inflation. “While BIS’ budget has been stagnant for a decade, the bureau works diligently around the clock to meet its mission and safeguard U.S. national security,” Commerce Department spokesperson Charlie Andrews said in a statement in response to the report. Andrews added that with “necessary resources from Congress” the agency would be “better equipped to address the challenges that come with our evolving national security environment.” In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, chair of the subcommittee, pointed to an audit of Texas Instruments that showed the Russian military continued to acquire components from Texas Instruments through front companies in Hong Kong to illustrate how the export controls are failing as an effective tool. The committee’s findings, Blumenthal said, suggest that Texas Instruments “missed clear warning signs” that three companies in its distribution chain had been diverting products to Russia. Texas Instruments did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “While Congress must provide BIS more resources to undertake its critical mission, it is long past time for BIS to make full use of the enforcement powers Congress has conferred upon it and take aggressive steps to cut the flow of U.S. semiconductors into the Russian war machine,” Blumenthal wrote. It’s not just Texas Instruments that’s the issue. The subcommittee in September published a report that found aggregated exports from four major U.S. advanced chip manufacturers nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022 to Armenia and Georgia. Both of those countries are home to front companies known to assist Russia in acquiring advanced chips made in the U.S. despite export controls. China, meanwhile, has created “vast, barely disguised smuggling networks which enable it to continue to harness U.S. technology,” the subcommittee report asserts. Washington has been gradually expanding the number of companies affected by such export controls in China, as President Joe Biden’s administration has encouraged an expansion of investments in and manufacturing of chips in the U.S. But Chinese companies have found ways to evade export controls in part because of a lack of China subject matter experts and Chinese speakers assigned to Commerce’s export control enforcement. The agency’s current budget limits the number of international end-use checks, or physical verification overseas of distributors or companies receiving American-made chips that are the supposed end users of products. Currently, Commerce has only 11 export control officers spread around the globe to conduct such checks. The committee made several recommendations in its report, including Congress allocating more money to hire additional personnel to enforce export controls, imposing larger fines on companies that violate controls and requiring periodic reviews of advanced chip companies’ export control plans by outside entities. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Picasso and Koons face-to-face at the Alhambra
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) released its Ways in Which Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) Can Meet Gaps in the U.S. Supply Chain report. This report presents several avenues for MBEs to meet gaps in the U.S. supply chain and discusses opportunities to conduct, commission, and collaborate on new studies with other federal, state, and private institutions on this topic. This report offers a data-driven snapshot of the MBE supplier landscape, analyzing representation of MBE firms in both manufacturing industries and the service industries that support manufacturing. The data shows there is room to grow representation of MBEs, particularly in manufacturing. MBE firms comprise about 22 percent of the service sector firms support manufacturing but represent only about 10 percent of manufacturing firms. As a comparison, MBEs comprise about 20 percent of all employer firms. The report identifies barriers present in supply chains for MBE participation; and the ways in which policy makers, technical assistance providers, and large corporations can utilize MBEs to advance the U.S. supply chain. “MBDA has embarked on a new chapter of our long and proud history to serve and support MBEs,” said Deputy Under Secretary of Minority Business Development Eric Morrissette. “The Minority Business Development Act of 2021 empowered our agency to work toward equity among U.S. firms and strengthen our national economy, and we are forever committed to that mission. Together with public and private sector partners, we will continue to address capital access disparities and highlight sources of alternative financing while closing gaps in the U.S. supply chain.” The report highlights many public and private initiatives directed toward promoting the success of MBEs in supply chain industries and breaking down barriers. Increasing MBE participation in advanced technologies and manufacturing relies on a range of initiatives to ensure MBEs can develop the capacities and skills needed to compete in rapidly changing markets. The report recommends four potential opportunities through which MBEs can help close supply chain gaps through policy and business plan changes: Leverage the Large Number of MBEs in High-Tech Manufacturing Support Services: Assist MBEs to Access Opportunities as Part of the Growth Spurred by Federal Investments, Including the CHIPS Act. Fostering Inclusive Entrepreneurship In Manufacturing: Promote Talent Pools of Entrepreneurship; and Support Training Programs and Expand Innovation Incentives. Expand Corporate Supply Chain Diversity: Expand and Strengthen Procurement Programs,; Build Corporate-MBE Supplier Relationships; and Ensure Stable Cashflow for MBEs. Provide Support to MBEs in Manufacturing: Leverage Business Centers and Networks; Develop Initiatives Helping MBEs Grow in Scale and Size; Foster Networks and Partnerships; and Encourage Community Engagement. Other suggestions made in the report include addressing unique challenges by MBE demographic groups and expanding qualitative data gathering to learn about the needs of MBEs in manufacturing. This report was mandated under the Minority Business Development Act of 2021. The Act codified MBDA and many of its existing programs. The report, and details of its findings, can be reviewed at www.mbda.gov . About the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA): The U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency is the only Federal agency dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of U.S. minority business enterprises (MBEs). For more than 50 years, MBDA’s programs and services have better equipped MBEs to create jobs, build scale and capacity, increase revenues, and expand regionally, nationally, and internationally. ### Attachment 2024 MBDA Supply Chain Report Press Release Gabriel Cushing Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) gcushing@mbda.govOregon already secured its spot in the Big Ten championship game, but the top-ranked Ducks have plenty to play for in their regular-season finale. Revenge may be on Oregon's mind when the Ducks host longtime rival Washington on Saturday in Eugene, Ore. Oregon (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) would perhaps be closing in on its second straight College Football Playoff appearance had the Huskies (6-5, 4-4) not dealt the Ducks their only two losses last season. Washington edged Oregon 36-33 in Seattle last October, then slipped past the Ducks 34-31 in the Pac-12 title game to secure a playoff spot for the second time in school history. Both teams joined the Big Ten in August. Third-year Oregon head coach Dan Lanning is 33-5 leading the Ducks. But he remains winless against the Huskies (0-3). Oregon plots to sprint out of its late-season bye after using time to heal injuries, but Lanning doesn't believe the break should stall the flow of an undefeated season. "It's always about what we're able to do on the field. Motivation is overrated," Lanning said. "Our guys have to want to go out there and execute at a really high level. Since the beginning of the season we've talked about playing our best football at the end of November. We're there. This is our opportunity to go play our best football against a good team." The Ducks could have star wide receiver Tez Johnson back from a shoulder injury this week. Johnson has missed the past two games. That would be good news for quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who would regain the team's leader in receptions (64), receiving yards (649) and receiving touchdowns (eight). Washington, under first-year head coach Jedd Fisch, is 63-48-5 all-time against Oregon but is just 1-12-1 when facing the No. 1-ranked team in the country. The Huskies are led on offense by running back Jonah Coleman, who has racked up 1,008 yards and nine scores on the ground this season. Coleman averages 5.8 yards per carry and has 36 runs of at least 10 yards. In the passing game, wide receiver Denzel Boston is tied for the Big Ten lead with nine in touchdown catches and ranks sixth in the conference with 764 receiving yards. Whom Boston will be catching passes from is not yet known, however. Washington has not revealed whether Will Rogers or Demond Williams Jr. will start at quarterback. Rogers has started every game for the Huskies but was benched in favor of Williams two weeks ago after throwing a pair of interceptions in a 31-19 win over UCLA. Fisch said he has a "good idea" of how he will use his quarterbacks on Saturday, and while he wouldn't go as far as to name a starter, he did say Rogers responded well in practices last week. "On the same token, Demond's energy and Demond's confidence showed up. His ability to jump right in and feel really good about leading the group whenever it was his turn... he did a really nice job there as well," Fisch told Seattle Sports. "I think both guys responded well to the week of practice, and now, really, it's important for us that the guy we believe will start the game gets a significant amount of reps in practice week. But as you know, we're not afraid to play two quarterbacks." --Field Level MediaWinless in rivalry, Dan Lanning, No. 1 Oregon determined to tame Huskies
On Saturday, Dec. 21st, SpaceX will launch the Bandwagon-2 rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:34 AM PST (11:34 UTC), with another opportunity the next day at 3:12 AM PST if the launch should be delayed. This flight carries 30 payloads for a variety of customers, including a synthetic aperture radar satellite for South Korea. The spacecraft are heading for a 45-degree inclination, with deployments expected in circular orbits at around 510 and 570 kilometers in altitude. SpaceX has switched coasts for Bandwagon-2 after launching the first Bandwagon flight in April from Florida. The Transporter rideshare missions to polar orbits were also moved to Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) after flying six missions from Florida. The 45.4-degree orbit that Bandwagon-2 is targeting has an unusually low inclination for a launch from Vandenberg, although SpaceX has previously flown Starlink missions from the site going to orbits inclined as little as 43 degrees. The Falcon 9 booster used for this flight is B1071-21 , which previously flew NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, Transporter-9, NROL-146, and 13 Starlink missions. SpaceX support ship GO Beyond will recover the payload fairing halves from downrange in the Pacific Ocean. Launch of the previous Bandwagon mission, Bandwagon-1, in April 2024 (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF) For this mission, the booster’s main engines will cut off at T+2 minutes, 15 seconds. At this point in the flight Falcon 9’s first and second stages separate before the booster flips around to perform a boostback burn that puts it on a trajectory back to Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4), adjacent to its launch pad at VSFB. Landing of the booster is expected at T+8 minutes, 15 seconds. The second stage of the launch vehicle will perform several burns to release most of the payloads at 510 km, then the South Korean satellite at 570 km in altitude, before deorbiting. Bandwagon-2 is scheduled for launch less than eight hours after a mission for Astranis is due to lift off from Florida, making it SpaceX’s 131st Falcon mission of 2024, with five more scheduled for the remainder of December. After having a slower third quarter with only 27 launches, this is already the 39th in the fourth quarter of the year. The next SpaceX flight is expected to carry Starlink satellites early Monday morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The next rideshare flight will be Transporter 12 in January to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Mission Overview Bandwagon-2 is SpaceX’s second dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit, which keeps the satellites over more highly populated areas of the planet rather than providing the full global coverage of near-polar orbits targeted by Transporter missions. The first four Bandwagon missions are expected to each carry a South Korean earth observation satellite at the top of the payload stack. As with the Transporter flights, payload integration companies handle many of the satellites going onto the stack. For this flight, Exolaunch is supporting 15 CubeSats and 7 larger microsatellites. (CubeSat sizes are typically given in terms of 10 cm cubes, with a 6U CubeSat being approximately 30 x 20 x 10 cm.) Maverick Space is also involved, while Arrow Science and Technology has a 16U CubeSat deployer on board, although no details of its contents have been announced prior to launch. Render of SAR satellite for 425 Project. (Credit: Thales Alenia Space) In December 2023, SpaceX launched the first of five satellites for South Korea’s 425 Project, a constellation of military Earth observation satellites. While that first satellite, which was declared operational in August, had an optical imaging payload, the remaining four use synthetic aperture radar (SAR). These radar satellites are able to obtain images in darkness or through clouds, complementing the abilities of optical imaging spacecraft. Thales Alenia Space announced in December 2018 that it had signed two contracts with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Hansha Systems Corporation to develop high-resolution SAR satellites for Korea’s Agency for Defence Development. Thales Alenia is providing the radar-imaging payloads and elements of the system for pointing the spacecraft. The SAR payload uses a deployable 5-meter antenna. Bandwagon-2 is carrying the second of the 425 Project SAR satellites. This follows the program’s first SAR satellite, which was deployed during Bandwagon-1 earlier this year, with the next of these satellites expected to be aboard Bandwagon-3. Other expected payloads Other payloads aboard the Bandwagon-2 mission include the X47 and X49 satellites, each with a mass around 90 kg, to expand ICEYE’s SAR imaging constellation, joining those launched on previous rideshares. ICEYE recently announced a new funding round that brought its total amount raised in 2024 to $158 million. HawkEye 360 satellites use a variety of antennas to monitor different frequency ranges. Credit: Hawkeye 360 Hawkeye 360 has Cluster-11, a trio of microsatellites each with a mass of 30 kg, aboard the rocket. These will fly in formation to locate the source of radio-frequency (RF) transmissions on Earth. Tomorrow.io has Tomorrow-S3 and S4 aboard, a pair of 6U CubeSats with microwave sounder payloads to collect weather data. Sidus Space is launching its second mission, LizzieSat-2, which has a mass of approximately 100 kg. This spacecraft hosts instruments such as imagers and edge computing, including HEO’s Holmes-004 imager that will be used to observe other objects in orbit. True Anomaly’s 275-kg Jackal 3/TAANSAAFL-002 mission will demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) and non-Earth imaging (NEI) functions. True Anomaly’s first pair of satellites, launched on Transporter 10 in March, failed shortly after deployment. GITAI has SC1, a 16U CubeSat, which will test a new spacecraft bus and instrument suite. SC1 with deploy a tethered target and then observe it with cameras, LiDAR, and a laser rangefinder, processing the data with visual recognition software. Think Orbital’s Flight-2 will conduct a demonstration of electron beam welding, cutting, and x-ray inspection on a piece of metal, then transmit the resulting data back to Earth and shut down within about a day of launch. This is the company’s first free-flying orbital mission, using a 39-kg satellite, following up on an earlier demonstrator that stayed attached to a Falcon 9 first stage. Xplore’s 6U CubeSat XCUBE-1 (6U) is the first mission for its operator, carrying a hyperspectral imager. Djibouti’s second satellite, DJIBOUTI-B, is a 1U CubeSat with an Internet of Things (IoT) communications payload to gather data from climatological stations in the country. Space Telecommunications Inc. (STI) has an 8U CubeSat, CTC-0, aboard which will test direct-to-device communications and blockchain technologies. CroCube, a 1U CubeSat, is a demonstration mission with a camera and a microcontroller payload and will be Croatia’s first CubeSat mission. LASARSat. Credit: Karel Horák LASARSat, also a 1U CubeSat, is a Czech mission that includes sensors for detecting how much energy reaches the satellite from a laser passing through Earth’s atmosphere, as well as reflectors to aid in tracking. Pleiades-Orpheus, a CubeSat from the Irvington High School Girls in STEM Club! using the 1U platform developed by Cal-Poly Pomona, has an amateur radio payload. Mongolia’s ONDO Space has ONDOSAT-OWL-3 through 12, ten more of their 0.5U CubeSats for IoT communications. More payload information will be added as it becomes available. Notes on previous SpaceX rideshare missions Transporter-11: 113 objects are being tracked from this launch, with 12 of those still unidentified on Celestrak. Based on the expected payloads those 12 could be CAKRA-1, GNA-3, one of the Doves from Planet, and the nine PICo-IoT satellites. Bandwagon-1: All 11 expected objects are tracked and identified. Transporter-10: 51 objects are being tracked from this launch, with 13 of those still unidentified on Space-Track. SSO-A: Launched in December 2018, this rideshare organized by Spaceflight Inc. left two sizeable pieces of the payload stack in orbit. While the Upper Free Flyer is still at an altitude of approximately 560 x 540 km, the Lower Free Flyer reentered Earth’s atmosphere in early December. The Transporter-1 payload adapter is also still in orbit at 480 x 470 km. Later flights kept the rideshare stack attached to the second stage. (Lead image: Falcon 9 on the pad at Vandenberg before SDA Tranche 0 Flight 1 launch. Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)
A Labour MP’s call for a law to tackle Islamophobia has provoked concerns about Keir Starmer ’s commitment to freedom of speech. Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley MP Tahir Ali raised the issue of hate crimes against Muslims as part of Islamophobia awareness month on November. He went on: “Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning the desecration of religious texts, including the Koran, despite opposition from the previous government. “Acts of such mindless desecration only serve to fuel division and hatred within our society. Will the prime minister commit to introducing measures to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions?” The MP later tweeted: “As November marks Islamophobia Awareness Month, it is vital the Government takes clear and measurable steps to prevent acts that fuel hatred in society.” The problem of Islamophobia has been a growing issue in the UK and appears to have been exacerbated by the Israel/ Gaza war. In the year following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, the charity Tell Mama UK said it has recorded 4,971 incidents of anti-Muslim hate, the highest annual total in 14 years. Mr Ali’s question raised concerns he was in effect calling for a blasphemy law, but Sir Keir did not reject the proposal in his answer while not committing himself to any specific action. He replied: “I agree that desecration is awful and should be condemned across the House. We are, as I said before, committed to tackling all forms of hatred and division, including Islamophobia in all its forms.” Tory veteran MP Sir David Davis, a longstanding campaigner foor civil rights who once resigned his seat in protest over government authoritarianism during Tony Blair’s government, expressed his disappointment at the prime minister’s response. He posted on X (formerly Twitter): “For centuries, one of the most important features of Britain’s freedom of speech is the absolute right to criticise religion. Freedom of speech is fundamental to everything we have and everything we stand for. I regret Keir Starmer did not make that clear to Mr Ali at PMQs.” Journalist and former peer Matt Ridley described it as a “black day”. He said: “A truly black moment for Britain to hear a prime minister effectively endorse the idea that we should reintroduce blasphemy laws.”Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but ‘team of opponents’ National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own National Politics | President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peak But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Political Moves Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Tuition Costs Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.