NoneNo more daylight saving time? Musk, Ramaswamy muse on ending clock changes.
Capitals are rolling along without Alex Ovechkin thanks to depth that has kept them a contender
London honored for supporting student mental health and eliminating barriers to care NATICK, Mass. , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boston Business Journal honored Uwill founder and CEO Michael London as part of its 2025 Innovators in Healthcare list . Honorees represent a cross-section of Boston -based innovators addressing some of the most urgent and pressing challenges in the health care industry. London is the founding CEO of Uwill , the leading mental health and wellness solution proudly supporting more than 3 million students at 400 institutions globally. Utilizing its proprietary technology and counselor team, Uwill pioneered the first student and therapist matching platform. The solution offers an immediate appointment with a licensed counselor based on student preferences, all modalities of teletherapy, a direct crisis connection, wellness programming, realtime data, and support. "It's truly an honor to be recognized among this incredible group of innovators," said Michael London , Uwill founder and CEO. "At Uwill, our mission is to break down barriers to mental health care, delivering immediate and accessible support to students worldwide. This recognition reflects more than innovation—it underscores our unwavering commitment to addressing a vital need for students everywhere." London is a recognized thought-leader and pioneer within social impact entrepreneurship, having created more than one billion dollars in company value throughout his career. In 2013, he founded Examity, a leader in learning validation and online proctoring. Prior, London led Bloomberg Institute, an EdTech start-up funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg . Earlier in his career, he founded College Coach and co-founded EdAssist, both acquired by Bright Horizons Family Solutions. In 2019, he was a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award and held a position on the Massachusetts Governor's Commission for Digital Education and Lifelong Learning. Michael is a current Trustee at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is a Member of the Advisory Board at Babson College where he graduated with honors. He also received his MBA from Boston University . About Uwill: Uwill is the leading mental health and wellness solution for colleges and students. As the most cost-effective way to enhance a college's mental health offering, Uwill partners with more than 400 institutions, including Princeton University , the Ohio State University , Santa Fe Community College , and University of Alabama - Online. Uwill is also the exclusive teletherapy education partner for the Online Learning Consortium and teletherapy education partner of NASPA. For more information, visit uwill.com . Contact: Brett Silk bsilk@uwill.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uwill-founder--ceo-michael-london-named-innovator-in-healthcare-302338655.html SOURCE Uwill, Inc
NoneNoneEx-DePaul guard leads N. Illinois against Chris Holtmann's Blue Demons
Musk causes uproar by backing German far-right party ahead of key electionsFred Harris, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, presidential hopeful and populist who championed Democratic Party reforms in the turbulent 1960s, died Saturday. He was 94. Harris’ wife, Margaret Elliston, confirmed his death to The Associated Press. It was not immediately clear where he died, but he had lived in New Mexico since 1976 and was a resident of Corrales at the time of his death. “Fred Harris passed peacefully early this morning of natural causes. He was 94. He was a wonderful and beloved man. His memory is a blessing,” Elliston said in a text message. Harris served eight years in the Senate, first winning in 1964 to fill a vacancy, and made unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1976. It fell to Harris, as chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1969 and 1970, to help heal the party’s wounds from the tumultuous national convention in 1968 when protesters and police clashed in Chicago. Get the latest breaking news as it happens. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy . He ushered in rule changes that led to more women and minorities as convention delegates and in leadership positions. “I think it’s worked wonderfully,” Harris recalled in 2004, when he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston. “It’s made the selection much more legitimate and democratic.” Former Oklahoma Sen. Fred Harris stands outside his Corrales, N.M., home, Friday, July 23, 2004. Credit: AP/Jake Schoellkopf “The Democratic Party was not democratic, and many of the delegations were pretty much boss-controlled or -dominated. And in the South, there was terrible discrimination against African Americans,” he said. Harris ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, quitting after poor showings in early contests, including a fourth-place win in New Hampshire. The more moderate Jimmy Carter went on to win the presidency. Harris moved to New Mexico that year and became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico. He wrote and edited more than a dozen books, mostly on politics and Congress. In 1999 he broadened his writings with a mystery set in Depression-era Oklahoma. Throughout his political career, Harris was a leading liberal voice for civil rights and anti-poverty programs to help minorities and the disadvantaged. Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma at a Democratic party commission meeting on March 1, 1969, in Washington. Credit: AP “Democrats everywhere will remember Fred for his unparalleled integrity and as a pioneer for instituting core progressive values of equity and opportunity for prosperity as core tenets of our party,” the Democratic Party of New Mexico said in a statement. Along with his first wife, LaDonna, a Comanche, he also was active in Native American issues. “I’ve always called myself a populist or progressive,” Harris said in a 1998 interview. “I’m against concentrated power. I don’t like the power of money in politics. I think we ought to have programs for the middle class and working class.” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham praised his work for their shared state and the nation. “In addition to being a highly accomplished politician and professor, he was a decent, honorable man who treated everyone with warmth, generosity, and good humor,” she said in a statement. “Sen. Harris was a lesson in leadership that public officials would be wise to emulate now and forever.” Harris was a member of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the so-called Kerner Commission, appointed by then-President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the urban riots of the late 1960s. The commission’s groundbreaking report in 1968 declared, “our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.” Thirty years later, Harris co-wrote a report that concluded the commission’s “prophecy has come to pass.” “The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and minorities are suffering disproportionately,” said the report by Harris and Lynn A. Curtis, president of the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation, which continued the work of the commission. Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute said Harris rose to prominence in Congress as a “fiery populist.” “That resonates with people ... the notion of the average person against the elite,” Ornstein said. “Fred Harris had a real ability to articulate those concerns, particularly of the downtrodden.” In 1968, Harris served as co-chairman of the presidential campaign of then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey. He and others pressed Humphrey to use the convention to break with Johnson on the Vietnam War. But Humphrey waited to do so until late in the campaign, and narrowly lost to Republican Richard Nixon. “That was the worst year of my life, ’68. We had Dr. Martin Luther King killed. We had my Senate seatmate Robert Kennedy killed and then we had this terrible convention,” Harris said in 1996. “I left the convention — because of the terrible disorders and the way they had been handled and the failure to adopt a new peace platform — really downhearted.” After assuming the Democratic Party leadership post, Harris appointed commissions that recommended reforms in the procedures for selecting delegates and presidential nominees. While lauding the greater openness and diversity, he said there had been a side effect: “It’s much to the good. But the one result of it is that conventions today are ratifying conventions. So it’s hard to make them interesting.” “My own thought is they ought to be shortened to a couple of days. But they are still worth having, I think, as a way to adopt a platform, as a kind of pep rally, as a way to get people together in a kind of coalition-building,” he said. Harris was born Nov. 13, 1930, in a two-room farmhouse near Walters, in southwestern Oklahoma, about 15 miles from the Texas line. The home had no electricity, indoor toilet or running water. At age 5 he was working on the farm and received 10 cents a day to drive a horse in circles to supply power for a hay bailer. He worked part-time as a janitor and printer’s assistant to help for his education at University of Oklahoma. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1952, majoring in political science and history. He received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1954, and then moved to Lawton to practice. In 1956, he won election to the Oklahoma state Senate and served for eight years. In 1964, he launched his career in national politics in the race to replace Sen. Robert S. Kerr, who died in January 1963. Harris won the Democratic nomination in a runoff election against J. Howard Edmondson, who left the governorship to fill Kerr’s vacancy until the next election. In the general election, Harris defeated an Oklahoma sports legend — Charles “Bud” Wilkinson, who had coached OU football for 17 years. Harris won a six-year term in 1966 but left the Senate in 1972 when there were doubts that he, as a left-leaning Democrat, could win reelection. Harris married his high school sweetheart, LaDonna Vita Crawford, in 1949, and had three children, Kathryn, Byron and Laura. After the couple divorced, Harris married Margaret Elliston in 1983. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available Saturday.
Revolutionary Single-Layer Film Eliminates Helmet Changes, Enhancing Driver Safety and Performance LAS VEGAS , Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Racing Optics®, the global leader in high-performance tearoff visor film technology, proudly unveils its latest innovation: the Twilight Tearoff . This groundbreaking single-layer tearoff is engineered to elevate driver visibility during late-afternoon and early-evening races, providing superior glare reduction and contrast enhancement. The Twilight Tearoff redefines race-day performance by allowing drivers to maintain focus and adapt seamlessly to changing light conditions, eliminating the need for disruptive helmet changes. This innovation represents a significant leap forward in racing vision technology, delivering immediate and measurable benefits to professional drivers and teams alike. "The Twilight Tearoff solves one of racing's most persistent challenges—ensuring optimal visibility as lighting transitions rapidly during twilight races," said Chris Colton , Chief Applications Engineer at Racing Optics . "Our dedication to driver safety and performance drives every innovation, and the Twilight Tearoff is no exception." Transforming Racing at Twilight Racing teams are already embracing the Twilight Tearoff as a game-changing solution for twilight and low-light racing conditions. One racing team manager shared their experience: "In a recent twilight race, the Twilight Tearoff gave our drivers unmatched visual clarity. Transitioning from glaring sunlight to artificial lighting without pausing to change helmets was a decisive advantage that kept us competitive." By streamlining the driver experience, the Twilight Tearoff enhances safety and helps maintain uninterrupted race momentum—a critical edge in the high-stakes world of motorsports. Exclusive Debut at PRI Show 2024 The Twilight Tearoff will make its debut at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show , held December 12–14, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana . This highly anticipated event marks Racing Optics' 25th anniversary , celebrating a legacy of trailblazing innovations in motorsports safety and performance. Availability The Twilight Tearoff is now available for purchase at RacingOptics.com and through authorized dealers. Teams and drivers looking to gain a competitive edge are encouraged to explore this latest advancement. About Racing Optics For 25 years, Racing Optics has led the field in racing vision technology, delivering innovative solutions that enhance safety and performance. With a commitment to collaboration and innovation, the company continues to push the boundaries of motorsports protective equipment. For additional information, please visit RacingOptics.com . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/racing-optics-introduces-game-changing-twilight-tearoff-to-enhance-visibility-in-low-light-racing-conditions-302329546.html SOURCE Racing Optics, Inc.
Valero Energy Corp. stock outperforms competitors despite losses on the dayDavid Michaels In the late 1970s, when Jimmy Carter was president, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was less than a decade old and still developing basic workplace safety rules. As unimaginable as it is now, workers did not have the right to know the names and toxic properties of the chemicals to which they were exposed, or to be trained on protective measures. OSHA had proposed a “right to know” standard, but it was halted by the incoming administration of President Ronald Reagan. We are at a similar moment now: We can expect public health regulations to be weakened or stopped by the incoming Donald Trump administration. In response, states and localities need to step in and ensure better protections for their residents. States and localities can be leaders in public health because in our federal system, most public health powers reside in the states. No matter what Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, advocates for federal government actions, key policies on pediatric vaccinations, including school attendance requirements, are set by states and localities. History is instructive. With the end of the federal right-to-know effort in the 1970s, workplace safety advocates began focusing on state and local laws. In a famous example, a workers’ rights coalition in Philadelphia sensationalized the need for right-to-know rules by opening an unmarked pressurized canister at a public hearing of the City Council; panic-stricken council members demanded to know “What’s in this stuff?” The activists had made their point, and the council enacted what’s considered the nation’s first civic right-to-know ordinance. State and local health departments can make heroic achievements, but sometimes fail to do so. Early in the influenza pandemic of 1918, the Philadelphia health commissioner, ignoring warnings from medical experts, refused to cancel a major parade to raise money for war bonds. Within three days, all 31 of Philadelphia’s hospitals were full; within six weeks, more than 12,000 residents were dead. By contrast, the St. Louis health department did what we would now call “flattening the curve” — closing schools, movie theaters and pool halls, and banning all public gatherings, over the objections of business owners. The peak mortality rate in St. Louis was a fraction of that of Philadelphia. Changes in state and local policies can even drive improvements in federal policies. Businesses generally want uniform national marketing and labeling policies. Faced with a range of different right-to-know requirements around the country, many industries recognized they would be better off with one national standard. By 1983, President Reagan’s OSHA issued the Hazard Communication Standard, which labor and public health activists had been demanding. State laws reducing consumer exposures to toxic chemicals have also been effective in shaping national environmental policies. The original Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 helped eliminate or reduce the use of some particularly dangerous chemicals — low-hanging regulatory fruit like PCBs and dioxin — but was generally toothless when it came to many other chemicals, particularly ones that disrupt the endocrine system. Parents who wanted children’s toys and water bottles to be free of these chemicals pushed numerous states to pass laws banning or limiting the presence of the substances in certain products. The challenge of meeting inconsistent laws in multiple states, and the fear of a greater proliferation of these laws, brought the chemical industry to the table to negotiate strengthened legislation with environmental activists in 2017. Unfortunately, politics and ideology now drive much local public health decision-making, with dangerous effects on health and disease prevention. During the COVID pandemic, there was significant variation in the strength and timing of requirements meant to limit the spread of the virus. Not surprisingly, disagreements over public health protection continue. North Carolina and New York’s Nassau County recently passed laws banning the wearing of masks, including N95 respirators, in public. It seems likely that some states or localities will roll back school vaccination requirements, which will probably be followed by outbreaks of the serious and sometimes fatal pediatric infectious diseases that were common before mandatory vaccination policies. States also play a major role in enforcing national environmental requirements. If the Environmental Protection Agency is handcuffed by the Trump administration, states can and should step into the enforcement breach. Likewise, state governments, especially those with their state OSHA programs, can issue their own workplace standards. This dynamic is already underway around exposures to extreme heat. This summer, OSHA proposed a heat standard, requiring employers to take steps to prevent heat-related illness, but these reforms are likely to be stopped by the new administration. Not wanting to wait for the slow OSHA standard-setting process to finish, local and state governments — including California, Maryland, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada and Washington — have issued their own heat standards. But just as some states are enacting more protections, others are fighting such efforts. For example, two Texas cities — Dallas and Austin — passed ordinances requiring employers to give workers a 10-minute break every four hours in periods of extreme heat. But the Texas state legislature last year passed legislation forbidding municipalities from requiring worker protections stronger than state regulations. The Florida legislature did the same in July. The challenge for the public health community in the coming four years is to strengthen public health protections at the state and local level, promoting advances that prevent disease and save lives. We must also document our successes and failures, objectively determining the impact of protections (or the lack of protections) in states and localities across the nation. At this critical juncture, we need to ask: Are we going to be the Philadelphia of 1918, or the St. Louis? David Michaels is a professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. He served as assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from 2009 to 2017.Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews believed to have reached compromise on his healthChesapeake Gold Corp. ( CVE:CKG – Get Free Report ) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as C$0.81 and last traded at C$0.85, with a volume of 67518 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$0.85. Chesapeake Gold Trading Down 3.5 % The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 7.94 and a quick ratio of 19.07. The firm has a market cap of C$56.08 million, a PE ratio of -10.25 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is C$1.30 and its 200 day moving average price is C$1.75. About Chesapeake Gold ( Get Free Report ) Chesapeake Gold Corp., a mineral exploration and evaluation company, focuses on acquisition, evaluation, and development of precious metal deposits in North and Central America. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. Its flagship project is the Metates project that includes 14 mining concessions covering an area of 14,727 hectares located in Durango State, Mexico. 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Tom Brady stutters and struggles to recall basic fact in opening to Vikings vs. Packers gameApplied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) UBS Global Technology Conference - (Transcript)Musk causes uproar by backing German far-right party ahead of key elections
LUQUE, Paraguay (AP) — Sake is perhaps more Japanese than the world-famous sushi. It's brewed in centuries-old mountaintop warehouses, savored in the country’s pub-like izakayas, poured during weddings and served slightly chilled for special toasts. The smooth rice wine that plays a crucial role in Japan's culinary traditions was enshrined on Wednesday by UNESCO on its list of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity." At a meeting in Luque, Paraguay, members of UNESCO’s committee for safeguarding humanity's cultural heritage voted to recognize 45 cultural practices and products around the world, including Brazilian white cheese, Caribbean cassava bread and Palestinian olive oil soap. Unlike UNESCO’s World Heritage List, which includes sites considered important to humanity like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Intangible Cultural Heritage designation names products and practices of different cultures that are deserving of recognition. A Japanese delegation welcomed the announcement in Luque. “Sake is considered a divine gift and is essential for social and cultural events in Japan,” Kano Takehiro, the Japanese ambassador to UNESCO, told The Associated Press. The basic ingredients of sake are few: rice, water, yeast and koji, a rice mold, which breaks down the starches into fermentable sugars like malting does in beer production. The whole two-monthlong process of steaming, stirring, fermenting and pressing can be grueling. The rice — which wields tremendous marketing power as part of Japan's broader cultural identity — is key to the alcoholic brew. For a product to be categorized Japanese sake, the rice must be Japanese. The UNESCO recognition, the delegation said, captured more than the craft knowledge of making high-quality sake. It also honored a tradition dating back some 1,000 years — sake makes a cameo in Japan’s famous 11th century novel, “The Tale of Genji,” as the drink of choice in the refined Heian court. Now, officials hope to restore sake's image as Japan's premier alcoholic drink even as the younger drinkers in the country switch to imported wine or domestic beer and whiskey. “It means a lot to Japan and to the Japanese,” Takehiro said of the UNESCO designation. "This will help to renew interest in traditional sake elaboration.” Also, Japanese breweries have expressed hope that the listing could give a little lift to the country's export economy as the popularity of sake booms around the world and in the United States amid heightened interest in Japanese cuisine. Sake exports, mostly to the U.S. and China, now rake in over $265 million a year, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, a trade group. Japan's delegation appeared ready to celebrate on Wednesday — in classic Japanese style. After the announcement, Takehiro raised a cypress box full of sake to toast the alcoholic brew and cultural rite.WASHINGTON (AP) — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request after it experienced trouble with its flight operating system, or FOS. The airline blamed technology from one of its vendors. As a result, flights were delayed across American’s major hubs, with only 36% of the airline's 3,901 domestic and international flights leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Fifty-one flights were canceled. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the FOS system. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. Some components of FOS have gone down in the past, but a systemwide outage is rare, Tajer said. Hours after the ground stop was lifted, Tajer said the union had not heard about any “chaos out there beyond just the normal heavy travel day.” He said officials were watching for any cascading effects, such as staffing problems. On social media, however, customers expressed frustration with delays that caused them or their family members to miss connecting flights. One person asked if American planned to hold flights for passengers to make connections, while others complained about the lack of assistance they said they received from the airline or gate agents. Bobby Tighe, a real estate agent from Florida, said he will miss a family Christmas Eve party in New York because his American flight was repeatedly delayed. The delays made him miss a connecting flight, leaving him the choice of going to his destination — Westchester, New York — on Christmas Day or taking another flight to Newark, New Jersey, that was scheduled to land Tuesday evening. He chose the latter. “I’m just going to take an Uber or Lyft to the airport I was originally supposed to go to, pick up my rental car and kind of restart everything tomorrow,” Tighe said. He said his girlfriend was “going through the same exact situation” on her way from Dallas to New York. Cirium noted that the vast majority of flights were departing within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 39% — were arriving at their destinations as scheduled. Dallas-Fort Worth, New York’s Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays, Cirium said. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 4,058 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed, with 76 flights canceled. The site did not post any American Airlines flights on Tuesday morning, but it showed in the afternoon that 961 American flights were delayed. Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms were developing in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. And any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have “interline agreements” that let them put stranded customers on another carrier’s flights. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers automatic cash refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. That’s because finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so the airline had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The groundings happened as millions of travelers were expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. “Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday,” AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation’s highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. Boston, New York City, Seattle and Washington are the metropolitan areas primed for the greatest delays, according to the company. Associated Press writers David Koenig, Mae Anderson and Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.