
Larsen to update 2024 activities and expectations for 2025 ZEPHYR COVE, Nev. , Nov. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSE: VHC) today announced it will webcast a special company update with CEO Kendall Larsen on December 10, 2024 at 9 a.m. PST . The update will provide a status of the company's activities in 2024 and preview where the company is headed in 2025 and beyond. The company update with Kendall Larsen will be webcast at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2728/51705 EVENT DETAILS: About VirnetX VirnetX Holding Corporation is an Internet security software and technology company with an industry-leading, patented technology for Zero Trust Network Access ("ZTNA") based secure network communications. VirnetX's team includes experts on technologies related to hiding, securing, and transporting critical communications data, using advanced cryptography, PKI, block chain, and more, between sub-system components and mission tools, capabilities, and applications for secure end-to-end communications. VirnetX's software and technology solutions, including its Secure Domain Name Registry and Technology, VirnetX OneTM, VirnetX War RoomTM, and VirnetX MatrixTM, are designed to be device and location independent, and enable a secure real-time communication environment for all types of enterprise applications, services, and critical infrastructures. For more information, please visit www.virnetx.com . Investor Relations VirnetX Holding Corporation 415.505.0456 ir@virnetx.com View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virnetx-to-webcast-company-update-with-ceo-kendall-larsen-302313564.html SOURCE VirnetX Holding Corp.
CHICAGO — Efforts to transfer a parcel of land in Chinatown from the state to the city were hitting a wall in the spring of 2018, and much of it had to do with a political cold war going on between then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval and Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis, who had backed the opponent of Sandoval’s daughter for county commissioner. Lobbyist Nancy Kimme, a Republican with connections in the administration of then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, called a longtime confidant of Democratic House Speaker Michael Michael Madigan to talk it through. Kimme told Michael McClain that Sandoval was putting the brick on the plan to transfer the land, which was owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation, by amending an existing real estate bill, and it may be because of the blood with Solis. “I believe that Sandoval is just mad at Solis,” Kimme said on the April 2018 call played in Madigan’s corruption trial Thursday. “Kinda makes sense what’s happening,” McClain responded. “Sandoval’s a small man.” The call was one of nearly a dozen played for jurors during Kimme’s testimony so far that have painted a detailed picture of the political mechanizations, power plays, and bruised egos that unfolded in 2018 over the tiny 2 1/2-acre parking lot along Wentworth Avenue that a group of deep-pocketed Chinatown developers wanted to turn into a hotel. Prosecutors allege Madigan agreed to help Solis, whose 25th Ward included the land, with the transfer in return for an introduction to the developers so he could pitch his private real estate firm to do their property tax appeals. But Madigan knew Rauner, his arch political enemy, would never let the land transfer go through if he knew the speaker’s fingerprints were on it. So Madigan enlisted the help of his friend, retired lobbyist McClain, who in turn went to Kimme to try and seal the deal. That’s when the problems with Sandoval, a Democrat who headed the powerful Senate Transportation Committee, reared their head. In call after call, Kimme and McClain commiserated over Sandoval’s boorishness, and also lamented the behavior of his colleague, state Sen. Tony Munoz, who at the time was vying to be the next Senate president. In one call played for the jury, Kimme told McClain, I don’t know why (Sandoval) goes out of his way to piss off the speaker...That’s short-sighted. Madigan could take him out pretty easily.” McClain responded that all Madigan has to do is put up a Latino in Cicero to beat him. A few days later, Kimme and McClain talked about ways to get Sandoval and Munoz to “settle down.” Munoz, Kimme said seemed to be consumed with becoming the Senate president and was “not gonna want to piss off Marty,” “I’m sure that’s why he got involved (in blocking the Chinatown deal) in the first place...Sandoval’s so crazy,” Kimme said. “I don’t believe there is any way for Solis to make peace now,” McClain responded. He said Sandoval “had a rally or something several months ago where Sandoval announced that Alex Acevedo is the next alderman.” Kimme said after a long pause, said, “We’re in the middle of some kind of range war.” On the stand, Kimme was asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz what she meant by that statement. “That they were all shootin’ at each other for different reasons,” Kimme testified. You mean for political reasons? Schwartz asked. “Yes.” McClain said suppose they got the Chinese Chamber of Commerce involved to show Munoz “there is a political consequence.” Kimme said Munoz probably wouldn’t care. “He knows that Marty is a bad enemy to have because he reacts so much.” At the end of the call, Kimme asked, Who is close to Sandoval? “Victor Reyes,” McClain said, the longtime Democratic political consultant and fundraiser. “Who is Reyes close to?” McClain paused for several seconds. “Well...Victor Reyes is close to Victor Reyes,” he said, “But um I got him you know a lot of business over the years.” A few weeks later, Kimme again asked McClain how they could solve the Sandoval issue, maybe “try and get Victor (Reyes) to go after Sandoval and quiet him down?” “I think I ought to call somebody and let ’em know that Sandoval is blowing it up,” McClain responded. “So why don’t you give me a day or two?” Kimme later told McClain that she’d found out Munoz was angry about a city-owned property on Damen Avenue that he’d wanted Solis to sign off on for development, but the alderman was dragging his feet. So she negotiated a plan with Munoz to put both properties in the same bill. “I think that’s a good deal,” McClain said. “That’s why you’re the master.” In May 2018, with the session deadline looming, Kimme reached out to Democratic state Rep. Theresa Mah to make her a sponsor of the land transfer. But the deal was later tabled due to pressure from the community that caused other political heavyweights to oppose it, including then-Secretary of State Jesse White, according to evidence the jury has heard. Sandoval later pleaded guilty to an arrange of bribery schemes unrelated to the Chinatown parcel and was cooperating with investigators when he died of COVID-19 in December 2020. Kimme’s testimony will continue after a lunch break. Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House and the head of the state Democratic Party, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise. He is charged alongside his longtime confidant McClain, 77, a former ComEd contract lobbyist from downstate Quincy. Both men have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors could rest their case in chief as early as next week. Before the jury took their seats Thursday, prosecutors said they want to call former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo as a witness next week. But Acevedo’s attorney signaled that she would try to keep him off the stand on grounds that he is not competent to testify, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu. In addition, Bhachu said, Acevedo has invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify, meaning prosecutors must jump through administrative hoops in order to compel him to the stand. Acevedo, a Chicago Democrat, pleaded guilty in 2021 to a relatively minor tax charge stemming from the federal probe into ComEd’s lobbying practices. He was sentenced to six months in prison. Before his sentencing, his attorneys filed a memo from his doctor on the public docket saying he had “mild cognitive impairment,” gout, hypertension, high cholesterol and depression and anxiety. Acevedo has not testified in any of the Madigan-related trials so far. One of the conspiracy counts against Madigan and McClain alleges that AT&T Illinois boss Paul La Schiazza agreed to pay $22,500 to Acevedo for a do-nothing consulting job in exchange for Madigan’s help passing a bill to end mandated landline service. Acevedo also allegedly was hired by ComEd as a favor to Madigan, one of many people whom prosecutors say were given jobs as part of a bribery scheme. Jurors last month saw a memorable email in which then-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez seemingly lost his cool after Acevedo asked for a job for a friend. “Geez...he has a son and a nephew at ComEd. He’s got a contract at ComEd. Has he no limit?” Marquez emailed McClain. McClain responded using his frequent euphemism for Madigan, saying that Marquez’s rant “sounded like our Friend.” Also Thursday, jurors heard a series of phone calls meant to emphasize Madigan’s influence over state board appointments. “Think about Carrie to go to the Illinois Commerce Commission,” then-state Rep. Michael J. Zalewski told McClain in a November 2018 call, referring to his wife. “Pritzker gets two picks in January and the pay is the same, so it wouldn’t get us a story for bumping her pay, he could say she gets the same amount of money,” Zalewski said. Madigan ended up successfully recommending that Pritzker put Carrie Zalewski on the commission. Madigan and McClain are accused of getting ComEd to hire Michael J. Zalewski’s father, former 23rd Ward Ald. Michael Zalewski, as a no-work subcontractor, in order to sway Madigan’s support for utility-friendly legislation. Jurors also heard Madigan tell McClain about a meeting he had with Pritzker in December 2018. Madigan’s former chief of staff testified Wednesday that at that meeting, Madigan suggested Pritzker could reconstitute boards and commissions and appoint all new members. “You can wipe out the board too ... So I put that idea in his head,” Madigan told McClain on the recording jurors heard Thursday. Madigan’s sway over board seats is crucial to prosecutors’ allegations that he was planning to recommend Solis to a lucrative position on a board. Solis has testified he was not actually interested in a seat, but the FBI directed him to ask about it. Jurors last week saw undercover video from an August 2018 meeting in which Solis asked Madigan about a board seat appointment, and emphasized all the business he could bring in for Madigan’s firm. Moments later, Madigan asked Solis to put in a good word with the nonprofit Resurrection Project on behalf of his son Andrew, who worked at an insurance broker. The CEO and co-founder of the Resurrection Project, Raul Raymundo, testified Thursday that Solis had reached out to him in 2018 and asked him to consider meeting with Andrew Madigan. Raymundo subsequently connected Andrew Madigan with the Resurrection Project’s chief financial officer, who ultimately decided to start working with Andrew Madigan’s firm. ©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get before leaving office on Jan. 20. The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said. The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. The new aid comes as Russia has launched a barrage of attacks against Ukraine’s power facilities in recent days, although Ukraine has said it intercepted a significant number of the missiles and drones. Russian and Ukrainian forces are also still in a bitter battle around the Russian border region of Kursk, where Moscow has to help reclaim territory taken by Ukraine. Earlier this month, senior defense officials acknowledged that that the all of the remaining $5.6 billion in Pentagon weapons and equipment stocks passed by Congress for Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. Trump has talked about getting some type of negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia, and spoken about . Many U.S. and European leaders are concerned that it might result in a poor deal for Ukraine and they worry that he won't provide Ukraine with all the weapons funding approved by Congress. The aid in the new package is in presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to take weapons off the shelves and send them quickly to Ukraine. This latest assistance would reduce the remaining amount to about $4.35 billion. Officials have said they hope that an influx of aid will help strengthen Ukraine’s hand, should Zelenskyy decide it’s time to negotiate. One senior defense official said that while the U.S. will continue to provide weapons to Ukraine until Jan. 20, there may well be funds remaining that will be available for the incoming Trump administration to spend. According to the Pentagon, there is also about $1.2 billion remaining in longer-term funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which is used to pay for weapons contracts that would not be delivered for a year or more. Officials have said the administration anticipates releasing all of that money before the end of the calendar year. If the new package is included, the U.S. has provided more than $64 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.
SANTA CLARA — When Isaac Guerendo trots onto the field with the first team Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, he will equal the same number of starts he had in five years of college football. Hard to believe, but Guerendo started exactly one time, and it came in his final college game at Louisville. Against USC in the Holiday Bowl, Guerendo carried 23 times for 161 yards and three touchdowns and added five receptions in a 42-28 loss. In 40 other games at Wisconsin and Louisville, Guerendo played in a shared backfield –something he’s done with the 49ers this season behind Jordan Mason and Christian McCaffrey . With McCaffrey on injured reserve with a PCL strain and Mason to follow soon with a high ankle sprain, Guerendo should get his biggest workload since his last college game. “I’m excited, but really it’s whatever it takes to win,” Guerendo said Wednesday as the 49ers (5-7) began preparations to host the Bears (4-8). “Whatever the plan looks like is what we’ll bring.” Guerendo will be backed up by Patrick Taylor Jr., who was on the roster earlier this season when McCaffrey was dealing with bilateral Achilles tendinitis, then re-signed to the practice squad. Taylor was promoted Tuesday, and the 49ers also made a waiver claim on former Jets running back Israel Abanikanda. “I think he’s ready to go,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He had some ups and downs but got better through everything. I think he’s ready for this.” Guerendo, 6-foot and 219 pounds, has 42 carries for 246 yards and two touchdowns, averaging a gaudy 5.9 yards per carry. His 15-yard run in the third quarter was the 49ers’ lone touchdown in a 35-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The 49ers traded up to get Guerendo in the fourth round, only to see him sidelined with a hamstring strain in his first training camp practice. A speedy wide receiver at Avon High School in Indiana who also ran track and played basketball, Guerendo carried 10 times for 99 yards with a long run of 76 against Seattle and 14 times for 85 yards against Dallas. At Wisconsin, Guerendo played behind Jonathan Taylor, now a star running back for the Indianapolis Colts. He split time as a graduate student at Louisville with Jawhar Jordan, who rushed for 1,128 yards while Guerendo had 810 yards on 132 carries and a 6.1-yard average. The good news is Guerendo’s body hasn’t taken on the normal amount of abuse for a running back. And Guerendo feels he’s up to the challenge after playing 12 games with old-school running backs coach Bobby Turner. “I always give credit to Coach T for preparing everybody like they’re going to be the starter, so that when moments do come, you’re ready for it,” Guerendo said. McCaffrey appeared to have finally gotten untracked against the Bills, gaining 53 yards on seven carries before getting tripped up on a 19-yard burst in the second quarter. But the tackle injured his knee, Mason injured his ankle, and Guerendo became the lead runner for a team that is sixth in the NFL in rushing. Over time, Guerendo has become accustomed to the speed of the NFL game. “I think it takes guys some time,” Shanahan said. “You start to get a feel for it, if you’ve got the right stuff, you get more reps and the more you adjust to it. How hard you’ve got to hit stuff, how quick those holes close, how you have to hit it full speed and can’t hesitate. We’ve seen that stuff get better in practice and we’ve seen it carry over into games.” McCaffrey, meanwhile, took to social media in the form of a lengthy Instagram post to explain how he was feeling after his latest injury. He wrote of his love for football, how humbling it is and his desire to return. “This wasn’t my year, and sometimes when it rains, it pours,” McCaffrey wrote. “You can feel sorry for yourself and listen to the birds, or you can hold the line. I’m grateful for the support of everyone in my corner and promise I’ll work smarter and harder to come back better from this.” For those who dream big, Shanahan said with a six-week time frame, McCaffrey could conceivably return if the 49ers reach the postseason. THE INJURY LIST Those who didn’t practice Wednesday included edge rusher Nick Bosa (hips, obliques), left tackle Trent Williams (ankle), left guard Aaron Banks (concussion), Mason (ankle) and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (ankle). Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (knee), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (Achilles) and safety Talanoa Hufanga (wrist) were limited. Defensive tackle Jordan Elliott has cleared concussion protocol after missing the Buffalo game. Hufanga joined Greenlaw as practicing during a 21-day window. Shanahan said it’s more likely Greenlaw would be activated before a Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 12 than against Chicago. HUFANGA AND THE CLUB After recovering from an ACL tear last season, Hufanga has played in just two games this season. First, he was felled by an ankle injury, and then a wrist injury that needed surgery. When activated, he’ll play with a protective club on his right hand. “I was still dealing with the ankle. I was about to get it re-wrapped and for some reason my hand wouldn’t open,” Hufanga said. Hufanga said he’ll try to use the protective device as a benefit rather than a detriment. “I had a good friend back in the day who played with a club who had three picks in one game, so you never know,” Hufanga said. MOORE FARES WELL Left tackle Jaylon Moore acquitted himself well for the second straight game in starting in place of Williams. “It was OK, but you can always get better and that’s what I’m focusing on — the things I can get better at,” Moore said. Tight end George Kittle noted last week that Moore was at left tackle all through training camp during Williams’ holdout, so it’s not like he hasn’t been with the first team. “It definitely did help, especially being comfortable with the group,” Moore said. “The quarterback’s cadence, the guy you’re next to, all the small stuff comes into play.”Six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick interviewed for the head-coaching job at North Carolina, Inside Carolina and the Raleigh News & Observer reported Thursday. According to the News & Observer, Belichick "blew them away in the interview," yet he is not likely to move forward because he is pushing 73 years old and has no experience in the college game. After he and the New England Patriots agreed to part ways following a 24-year stint, Belichick interviewed for the head job with the Atlanta Falcons, who instead hired Raheem Morris. The North Carolina interview is the first known instance of Belichick showing interest in a college position. Belichick is expected to draw interest for NFL openings in the upcoming hiring cycle. The Tar Heels retained an outside advisory firm to identify coaching candidates to replace Mack Brown, whom they fired at the end of the regular season. North Carolina went 6-6, including 3-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. "We've had a tremendous response of people across the country, of agents calling us, coaches, people calling on behalf of other people that are in the industry," North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in an in-house interview the school posted online earlier this week. "We are very optimistic of where we are, the interest in our program is just extraordinary, and we'll get a great coach to lead us. Who can lead us in the next three, five, 10 years? We need somebody that can come in and take us from good to great." --Field Level Media