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President-elect Donald Trump issued two statements on Sunday night following the death of former President Jimmy Carter , saying "we all owe him a debt of gratitude." Carter died Sunday at the age of 100. Trump first posted this statement on Truth Social: "I just heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History. The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude. Melania and I are thinking warmly of the Carter Family and their loved ones during this difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their hearts and prayers." In a separate post about an hour later, Trump wrote: "President Jimmy Carter is dead at 100 years of age. While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for. He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office. Warmest condolences from Melania and I to his wonderful family!" On the campaign trail, Trump frequently mocked Carter's single term in the White House from 1977-1981, and repeatedly said a variation of comments suggesting Carter was "the happiest man" because he is now "considered a brilliant president by comparison" to President Biden. Following Carter's death, President Biden, former presidents Obama and Bush, and other U.S. and world leaders issued statements praising Carter's legacy . in remarks Sunday night, Mr. Biden said Carter "lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds," and added, "We would all do well to be a little more like Jimmy Carter." Donald Trump Jimmy Carter
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Josh Norris broke a tie on a power play with 7:18 left, Leevi Merilainen made 30 saves in his fifth NHL game and the Ottawa Senators beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Sunday night. Ottawa has won seven of its past nine games, while the Wild have lost five of their past seven. The Senators won in Minnesota for the first time since 2016. With starter Linus Ullmark and backup Anton Forsberg out with injuries, the Senators have been relying on Merilainen and Mads Sogaard since before the NHL holiday break. Frederick Gaudreau opened the scoring for Minnesota late in the first period. Ridly Greig tied it early in the second. Claude Giroux added an empty-netter. Takeaways Senators: A team that finds itself surprisingly in a playoff position after missing the postseason the past six seasons topped a Western Conference contender in Minnesota. Norris has been a big part of the Senators' surge and now ranks second on the team with 14 goals. Wild: A lower-body injury kept Kirill Kaprizov out of his second straight game, but Joel Eriksson Ek returned after missing 11 games with a lower-body injury. The Wild are 17-5-4 with Eriksson Ek in the lineup and 5-6-0 without him. Key moment The Wild killed one penalty midway through the third, but Jared Spurgeon went to the box seconds later on a holding call. Norris scored on the power play. Up next The Senators’ nine-game trip continues Thursday at Dallas night. The Wild host Nashville on Tuesday night. ___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl Phil Ervin, The Associated Press
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The Bank of Scotland’s business barometer poll showed 73% of Scottish businesses expect to see turnover increase in 2025, up from 60% polled in 2023. Almost a quarter (23%) of businesses expect to see their revenue rise by between six and 10% over the next 12 months, with just over a fifth (21%) expecting it to grow by even more. The poll found that 70% of businesses were confident they would become more profitable in 2025, a two per cent increase when compared with the previous year. Revenue and profitability growth was firms’ top priority at 52%, though 40% said they will be targeting improved productivity, and the same proportion said they will be aiming to enhance their technology – such as automation or AI – or upskill their staff (both 29%). More than one in five (22%) want to improve their environmental sustainability. Other areas businesses are hoping to build upon AI-assisted technology (19%), and 24% will be investing in expanding into new UK markets and 23% plan to invest in staff training. The business barometer has surveyed 1,200 businesses every month since 2002, providing early signals about UK economic trends. Martyn Kendrick, Scotland director at Bank of Scotland commercial banking, said: “Scottish businesses are looking ahead to 2025 with stronger growth expectations, and setting out clear plans to drive this expansion through investments in new technology, new markets and their own teams. “As we enter the new year, we’ll continue to by their side to help them pursue their ambitions and seize all opportunities that lie ahead.”United, Apple rolling out new way to track lost luggage with AirTags
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:Chipmaker Marvell Technology forecast fourth-quarter revenue above estimates on Tuesday, underpinned by robust demand for its custom artificial intelligence chips from businesses racing to develop the most sophisticated generative AI models. Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company rose more than 8 per cent in extended trading following the results. The stock hit a record high during Tuesday's trading session. Marvell's shares have risen nearly 60 per cent this year as Wall Street has bet heavily on soaring demand for advanced chips that can support the complex processing needs of genAI. Shares of larger competitor Broadcom have rallied about 50 per cent this year. Marvell forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $1.80 billion, plus or minus 5 per cent, compared with analysts' average estimate of $1.65 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. While the market for AI processors is dominated by Nvidia, Big Tech companies have been pushing to reduce dependence on the chip leader's supply-constrained semiconductors, which has benefited companies such as Marvell. Marvell helps large cloud computing companies make custom-built processors. It began discussing custom chips for hyper-scale data center operators in 2020, and has rapidly grown the business into a significant earner for the company, Marvell Chief Operations Officer Chris Koopmans said in an interview. "This thing we have been working on for years (has) come to fruition," Koopmans said. The total market for custom chips could grow to as much as roughly $45 billion by 2028 and largely be split between Marvell and Broadcom, Koopmans said. According to estimates from research firm 650 Group’s Alan Weckel, the data center custom chip market will grow to as much as $10 billion this year. Revenue in Marvell's data center segment doubled to $1.10 billion in the third quarter from a year ago. Total quarterly revenue was $1.52 billion, beating estimates of $1.46 billion. The company said in April it expects its AI chip sales to hit $2.5 billion by fiscal 2026. Revenue derived from custom AI chips alone could be between $2.5 billion and $3 billion in 2025 for Marvell, with optical equipment adding another $1.5 billion to $2 billion to AI revenue, Jefferies analysts said in a note in October. While the AI chip business grows, customers in the company's other end-markets, such as wireless carriers, have been driving down chip inventory after excessive buying during the pandemic. Marvell's enterprise networking segment posted a 44 per cent fall to $150.9 million in revenue, and its carrier infrastructure revenue slumped 73 per cent to $84.7 million. The company forecast an adjusted gross margin of 60 per cent for the fourth quarter, compared with estimates of 61 per cent. Its custom chips typically carry lower margins than its off-the-shelf products. It recorded adjusted earnings of 43 cents per share in the third quarter, beating estimates of 41 cents.
Police may search a vehicle based on the smell of raw cannabis, Illinois Supreme Court rulesThe Bank of Scotland’s business barometer poll showed 73% of Scottish businesses expect to see turnover increase in 2025, up from 60% polled in 2023. Almost a quarter (23%) of businesses expect to see their revenue rise by between six and 10% over the next 12 months, with just over a fifth (21%) expecting it to grow by even more. The poll found that 70% of businesses were confident they would become more profitable in 2025, a two per cent increase when compared with the previous year. Revenue and profitability growth was firms’ top priority at 52%, though 40% said they will be targeting improved productivity, and the same proportion said they will be aiming to enhance their technology – such as automation or AI – or upskill their staff (both 29%). More than one in five (22%) want to improve their environmental sustainability. Other areas businesses are hoping to build upon AI-assisted technology (19%), and 24% will be investing in expanding into new UK markets and 23% plan to invest in staff training. The business barometer has surveyed 1,200 businesses every month since 2002, providing early signals about UK economic trends. Martyn Kendrick, Scotland director at Bank of Scotland commercial banking, said: “Scottish businesses are looking ahead to 2025 with stronger growth expectations, and setting out clear plans to drive this expansion through investments in new technology, new markets and their own teams. “As we enter the new year, we’ll continue to by their side to help them pursue their ambitions and seize all opportunities that lie ahead.”
NASHVILLE — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider for the first time whether states can ban certain gender transition medical treatments for young people – a closely watched case brought by three transgender teens, their parents and a doctor, all seeking to ensure health care access they say is critical. At issue is a Tennessee law barring transgender minors from using puberty blockers and hormones, treatments the state characterizes as risky and unproven. Lawmakers said the state should instead encourage adolescents to “appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty.” The court’s ruling might have implications for the more than 100,000 transgender adolescents living in Tennessee or one of the 23 other states that has banned using the drugs to treat minors with gender dysphoria. The question of whether and how to medically treat young people whose gender identity is different than their sex assigned at birth has become a polarizing issue, one President-elect Donald Trump seized on in advertisements targeting transgender people during his campaign. The Supreme Court in 2020 extended employment protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, but it has yet to rule on the constitutionality of lower court decisions involving bathroom access, athletes and medical treatment for transgender minors like 16-year-old L.W., one of the Tennessee teens behind the case at the high court. Her parents, Brian and Samantha Williams, now drive her five hours to receive care in North Carolina. The teen started gender care treatments when she was 12 and said they have allowed her to “get to be myself a little bit more.” “It took a huge stressor off my back,” L.W. said in an interview. “I have more friends now because I’m more confident, and I’m more able to socialize.” The Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the parents and teens, who are referred to in court filings by their initials or a pseudonym to protect their identity. The families say the Tennessee law amounts to unconstitutional sex discrimination and a broad restriction on treatments that nearly every major medical association says are appropriate and effective for minors. ACLU attorney Chase Strangio, who is arguing on behalf of the families, will be the first openly transgender lawyer to present a case before the Supreme Court. Tennessee’s Republican attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti says in court filings that states have long had the power to regulate medicine and that there is nothing unconstitutional about restricting the use of a drug for certain purposes, even when it can be used for treating other conditions, or imposing age limits for health treatments when the risks and rewards are too uncertain. One potential wild card in the resolution of the case is the incoming Trump administration and the possibility that the next solicitor general will flip the federal government’s position to align with Tennessee’s view. If that were to happen, the court could allow the ACLU to continue challenging the law on its own, which would keep the justices on track to issue a ruling by the end of June. Trump transition officials did not immediately respond to questions about the case before the court, but his team has said Trump intends to fulfill his campaign promises, which included a crackdown on gender transition care for minors. PATIENTS AND LAWMAKERS CLASH L.W. said she began to suspect she was trans in 2019, when she was 11. She’d long felt as if she were “drowning,” but she didn’t understand why. She wore baggy clothes to obscure her body, and she panicked the first time she saw a few facial hairs above her lip. She was so uncomfortable in boys bathrooms, she avoided ever using one at school. Eventually, she developed urinary tract infections. After a cousin came out as trans, L.W. began researching on YouTube and Google. But she was scared, so she didn’t tell her parents she thought she was trans until just after Thanksgiving in 2020, more than a year after she’d first put a name to her feelings. Brian and Samantha Williams both had gay friends, and they told L.W. they supported her, but neither felt comfortable immediately taking her to a doctor. L.W. was 12, and Brian worried the distress she felt might be normal puberty angst. “It’s not like we took this thing lightly and just did it,” Brian said. The family went to a progressive church, and the church had a therapist on staff who specialized in trans youth, so Samantha and Brian signed L.W. up for counseling. After roughly six months, the therapist diagnosed L.W. with gender dysphoria and recommended a team of doctors at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. At Vanderbilt, L.W. underwent tests, then, in the summer of 2021, her doctors prescribed the drug Lupron to stop her body from going through male puberty. The medication, which has been used for at least 30 years on patients who start puberty too early, is largely reversible, but it can affect a young person’s bone density if taken long term without hormone therapy. The teen said she felt instantly relieved. To her, the benefits “strongly outweighed” any side effects. At the time, no state had banned trans adolescents from receiving the kind of care Vanderbilt’s team offered. Doctors nationwide had been treating a few thousand young people a year with hormones and puberty blockers, according to data compiled for Reuters – a tiny fraction of America’s adolescent population. They faced little pushback. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found that a majority of trans adolescents experience “satisfaction,” “confidence” and “improvements in psychosocial functioning” after such treatment. Almost as soon as L.W. left her first appointment, she asked to start estrogen, but her doctors and her parents decided to wait. L.W. went in for regular evaluations, and in September 2022, more than a year after she started Lupron, her doctors agreed to prescribe estrogen. Hormone therapy made life feel possible in ways it never had before, L.W. said. She started hugging her family. She recorded music and built Lego models. She and her younger brother staged Airsoft matches with other teenagers. Neighbors even told Samantha that L.W. talked to them for the first time. L.W.’s journey felt personal to her, a singular distress followed by her own unique wins. But her time at Vanderbilt coincided with a historic rise in gender dysphoria diagnoses. In 2021, about 42,000 young people nationwide received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017, according to data the technology company Komodo Health Inc. compiled for Reuters. The vast majority were not prescribed hormones or puberty blockers, the data shows. Still, as the numbers rose, lawmakers and activists across the country began to raise questions about gender clinics and the treatments doctors were offering. The same month L.W. started estrogen, the conservative podcast host Matt Walsh accused Vanderbilt of castrating, sterilizing and mutilating children for profit. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) promised to investigate the hospital. That fall, Walsh and a group of Republican state legislators held a “Rally to End Child Mutilation” in downtown Nashville. Only Arkansas and Alabama had passed bans on transition-related care at that point. But lawmakers in other conservative states signaled that they intended to prioritize similar restrictions. In March 2023, Tennessee adopted the legislation now before the Supreme Court. The law, known as SB 1, prohibits health-care providers from prescribing any puberty blocker or hormone for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify or live as “a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” Providers who violate the law can be fined $25,000 for each prohibited treatment and are subject to disciplinary measures and potential civil liability in private lawsuits. Throughout the hearings on the legislation, Republican lawmakers treated gender dysphoria as if it were an illusion. A co-sponsor of the House bill described transitioning as a “fiction” and “fantasy.” Another representative said, “If you don’t know what you are, a boy or girl, male or female, just go in the bathroom and take your clothes off and look in the mirror and you’ll find out.” The Williams family watched the hearings, and Brian was infuriated. The lawmakers didn’t know his daughter. He and Samantha had taken L.W. to experts. They’d had what felt like a million hard conversations, and they’d followed the best evidence available. “All of a sudden to have a state come down and say that that’s not the right thing to do, that’s it’s abusive, that it’s wrongheaded, it’s just infuriating because I feel like I’m doing all the right stuff,” Brian said. EXPERIMENTATION OR DISCRIMINATION? After the bill became law, everyone in the Williams family agreed that discontinuing care wasn’t an option. L.W. was happy in ways she’d never been before she transitioned. If she stopped taking puberty blockers and estrogen, her body would begin to go through male puberty. She told her parents that was too painful to contemplate, let alone experience. Moving didn’t feel possible either. L.W.’s brother sobbed every time he thought about leaving his friends, and Brian’s elderly parents live in Nashville and rely on his help. That spring, Samantha saw an ACLU form that invited families to describe how they’d been affected by the legislation. She didn’t imagine, as she filled out the form, that she was signing up for a lawsuit that would eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. She only knew that she wanted to protect her daughter and she didn’t want to feel helpless anymore. Tennessee gave families four months to wean kids like L.W. off the medications, but in June, before the ban even took effect, Vanderbilt shut down its clinic. In June 2023, a District Court judge temporarily blocked the law, saying it discriminates based on sex and treats some teens differently because they are transgender. The judge said the benefits of the treatments are well-established and noted that Tennessee’s law bans the medications for a small subset of minors while making them available for adolescents who use them for other health issues. “If Tennessee wishes to regulate access to certain medical procedures,” wrote U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, a Trump nominee, “it must do so in a manner that does not infringe on the rights conferred by the United States Constitution, which is of course supreme to all other laws of the land.” A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit soon reversed Richardson’s decision, rejecting the families’ claims of discrimination and allowing the state to enforce the law while litigation continues. Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton said the law regulates gender transition treatments for all minors, regardless of sex, and concluded that Tennessee lawmakers could have rationally determined that the law was an appropriate response to perceived risks associated with the treatments. Sutton, a nominee of George W. Bush, also said courts should be wary of intervening in a highly contested political dispute. Judge Helene N. White, another Bush nominee, agreed with the majority that the Constitution envisions states acting as laboratories for democracies to resolve political debates, but dissented from the majority ruling. “When a fundamental right or freedom from discrimination is involved, experimentation has no place,” she wrote. At the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar is asking the justices to return the case to the 6th Circuit to apply a more stringent level of review, which she says should be triggered by a law that discriminates based on sex. The state, she wrote, ignores the benefits of gender-transition care and overstates the health risks. She also said the law’s stated goal of having teens “appreciate their sex” is based on stereotypical understandings of gender and cannot be used to justify the ban. Skrmetti, the Tennessee attorney general, said the state has the authority to protect minors from the risks of gender-transition treatment, and the federal government should not discount lawmakers’ concerns. He also objected to Prelogar’s characterization of the law as driven by stereotypes. It is not unconstitutional discrimination, Skrmetti argued, to say that drugs can be prescribed for one reason, but not another. L.W. will be in the courtroom on Wednesday, but she said she can’t comprehend the gravity of the case she’s a part of. Mostly, she has tried to continue to live the life gender care has made possible. The day the ACLU filed its petition, she went to high school, and she only told a few people in the Gender-Sexualities Alliance, or GSA, about the case. That night, she worried, briefly, that her name would be on a case that might be remembered along the same lines as Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court case that ruled it was constitutional for states to enact segregation laws. Eventually, L.W. decided it was out of her control, and plus, she had the drivers’ test for her learner’s permit to worry about, so she set aside her fears and let her lawyers handle the hard parts. She is a junior in high school now. She DJed a party this Halloween. She has broadened her social life, and she adopted a kitten the family named Mushroom. She wants to spend her free time traveling to look at colleges with aviation programs, but for now, she and her mother still make regular trips to get treatment in North Carolina. Traveling out of state for health-care she’d rather get at home is arduous. Until recently, her mother had to take unpaid time off work, and L.W. has to call in sick to the magnet high school where she takes three Advanced Placement classes. “I hate taking days off school, it’s, like, the worst thing ever,” she said. “I have very, very difficult classes. So I’ve got a lot to catch up on if I miss a single day.” The drive used to take five hours each way, but Hurricane Helene washed out one of the roads they take, and now, the journey will be much longer. Comments are not available on this story. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous Next »
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During a time when should be celebrating her big premiere for “Mufasa: The Lion King,” she’s unfortunately having to deal with online detractors who’ve taken issue with how she decided to show up for the momentous occasion. And it’s time we talk about it. As evidenced by countless tweets and comments, a handful of folks feel like and makeup were completely inappropriate—despite the fact that she was showing up to a major Hollywood event and is one of the most famous preteens in the world. Take for instance who posted a side-by-side photo of herself at that age in a school, retail photobooth-like picture and Blue Ivy at the premiere. “Me at 12 vs Blue Ivy at 12 Are you picking up what I’m putting down?” she wrote before following it up with another tweet showing more “age appropriate” dresses. “Honestly the way blue Ivy a 12 year old is over sexualized by her parents needs to be studied because she still a child and they’re dressing her like she’s 17-18 year old,” another user. “This is insane for obvious reasons but i also think we need to acknowledge that blue ivy is 12 and putting her in a dress like that is fucking weird sorry,” another. First things first, let’s all be transparent here: there’s a HUGE difference between dressing up for a Sears or JCPenney’s-esque photoshoot and dressing up for a major movie event. There’s an expectation to dress up for one whereas the dress code for the other is more inherently more relaxed. These are two incomparable situations. Secondly, how 12-year-olds dress and make up now are miles away from how they used to back in the day. As my colleague Senior Writer Angela Johnson can attest, the preteens of today are some of the main consumers in places like Sephora and Ulta, consistently buying the latest products and tools. And thanks to social media, the pressure to present yourself in a certain way and be up on the best of the best makeup and fashion goods is a big part of girlhood in a way that it didn’t used to be years ago. So when you add that along with the fact that Blue Ivy is a pretty tall celebrity pre-teen with way more access to all of that and more: wearing a sweetheart neckline ball gown, a little bit of colored lipgloss and some false lashes for a Hollywood event shouldn’t be that far-fetched. What’s more is that the unfair scrutiny being lobbed against Blue Ivy has been going on before she even took her first breath. Once the news broke that her mother Beyonce was pregnant with her, she faced concerns from “fans” who questioned if she would come out looking like her mother or her father Jay-Z. Fast forward to her toddler years, comments about Blue Ivy’s hair started to take over with many making derogatory remarks about how unkempt it appeared. Jump to 2023, many had negative words for her when it was revealed she was performing alongside her mother during the “Renaissance World Tour” with reactions ranging from claims of nepotism to her not being as good of a performer as her famous mother. It’s very obvious that Blue Ivy isn’t your average preteen due to the fact that she’s in the public eye way more than other kids her age, but that doesn’t mean she should be subjected to online discourse that’s aimed only at tearing down her self-esteem. We already know that young Black girls don’t get the luxury of being viewed as being young thanks to the history of oversexualization and adultification that tends to happen. But because we know that, shouldn’t we be more cognizant and deliberate about making sure other Black girls don’t have to go through that—no matter how famous they may be? This is a tired experience that too many Black women (including this author) have had to deal with and it’s beyond time we call out the perpetrators on their misogynistic BS. Blue Ivy and all other Black girls like her deserve better.
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