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Retailers coax Black Friday shoppers into stores with big discounts and giveaways NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers in the U.S. have used giveaways and bigger-than expected discounts to reward shoppers who ventured out on Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving still reigns for now as the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season even if it’s lost some luster. Analysts reported seeing the biggest crowds at stores that offered real savings. They say many shoppers are being cautious with their discretionary spending despite the easing of inflation. Stores are even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Online sales figures from Thanksgiving Day gave retailers a reason to remain hopeful for a lucrative end to the year. Southwest Airlines says it is ending cabin service earlier to reduce chance of injury Southwest Airlines is ending its cabin service earlier starting next month. Beginning on Dec. 4, a company spokesperson says flight attendants will begin preparing the cabin for landing at an altitude of 18,000 feet instead of 10,000 feet. The company says it's making the changes to reduce the risk of in-flight turbulence injuries. For passengers, that means they will need to return their seats to an upright position or do other pre-landing procedures earlier than before. While turbulence-related fatalities are quite rare, injuries have piled up over the years. Why your favorite catalogs are smaller this holiday season PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — While retailers hope to go big this holiday season, customers may notice that the catalogs arriving in their mailboxes are smaller. Many of the millions of catalogs getting sent to U.S. homes were scaled down to save on postage and paper. Some gift purveyors are sending out postcards. In a sign of the times, the American Catalog Mailers Association rebranded itself in May as the American Commerce Marketing Association. Despite no longer carrying an extended inventory of goods, industry experts say catalogs help retailers cut through the noise and still hold their own in value because of growing digital advertising costs. Canada's Trudeau returns home after Trump meeting without assurances that tariffs are off the table WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is returning home after his meeting with Donald Trump without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump says the dinner talks Friday night at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida were “productive.” But he signaling no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. Trudeau spoke of “an excellent conversation” but offered no details. Trump said in a Truth Social post later Saturday that they discussed “many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address.” Trump and Republicans in Congress eye an ambitious 100-day agenda, starting with tax cuts WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans swept to power on Election Day and now control the House, the Senate and the White House, with plans for an ambitious 100-day agenda come January. Their to-do list includes extending tax breaks, cutting social programs, building the border wall to stop immigration and rolling back President Joe Biden's green energy policies. Atop that list is a plan to renew some $4 trillion in expiring tax cuts that were a signature domestic achievement of Republican Donald Trump’s first term as president. It's an issue that may define his return to the White House. The ruble's in a slump. For the Kremlin, that's a two-edged sword Russia’s ruble is sagging against other currencies, complicating the Kremlin’s efforts to keep consumer inflation under control with one hand even as it overheats the economy with spending on the war against Ukraine with the other. Over time a weaker ruble could mean higher prices for imports from China, Russia's main trade partner these days. President Vladimir Putin says things are under control. One wild card is sanctions against a key Russian bank that have disrupted foreign trade payments. If Russia finds a workaround for that, the ruble could regain some of its recent losses. Iceland votes for a new parliament after political disagreements force an early election REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Icelanders are electing a new parliament after disagreements over immigration, energy policy and the economy forced Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson to pull the plug on his coalition government and call early elections. This will be Iceland’s sixth general election since the 2008 financial crisis devastated the economy of the North Atlantic island nation and ushered in a new era of political instability. Opinion polls suggest the country may be in for another upheaval, with support for the three governing parties plunging. Benediktsson, who was named prime minister in April following the resignation of his predecessor, struggled to hold together the unlikely coalition of his conservative Independence Party with the centrist Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement. Massachusetts lawmakers push for an effort to ban all tobacco sales over time BOSTON (AP) — A handful of Massachusetts lawmakers are hoping to persuade their colleagues to support a proposal that would make the state the first to adopt a ban meant to eliminate the use of tobacco products over time. Other locations have weighed similar “generational tobacco bans.” The bans phase out the use of tobacco products based not just on a person's age but on birth year. Lawmakers plan to file the proposal next year. If approved, the bill would set a date and ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after that date forever, eventually banning all sales. Vietnam approves $67 billion high-speed railway project between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has approved the construction of a high-speed railway connecting the capital Hanoi in the north with the financial capital of Ho Chi Minh in the south. It is expected to cost $67 billion and will stretch 1,541 kilometers (957 miles). The new train is expected to travel at speeds of up to 350 kph (217 mph), reducing the journey from the current 30 hours to just five hours. The decision was taken by Vietnam’s National Assembly on Saturday. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 and Vietnam hopes that the first trains will start operating by 2035. But the country has been beleaguered by delays to its previous infrastructure projects. Inflation rose to 2.3% in Europe. That won't stop the central bank from cutting interest rates FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro currency rose in November — but that likely won’t stop the European Central Bank from cutting interest rates as the prospect of new U.S. tariffs from the incoming Trump administration adds to the gloom over weak growth. The European Union’s harmonized index of consumer prices rose 2.3 percent, up from 2.0% in October, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat. However, worries about growth mean the Dec. 12 ECB meeting is not about whether to cut rates, but by how much. Market buzz says there could be a larger than usual half-point cut in the benchmark rate, currently 3.25%.A controversy is unfolding in Israel over the leak of classified military documents to international media that prosecutors say may have harmed efforts to free hostages held by Hamas. An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged. He is accused of passing on top-secret information with the intent to sway public opinion and damage state security. An Israeli soldier was separately charged for handing over the documents, which were allegedly retrieved from Gaza. Mr Netanyahu has not been charged, but questions have been raised by opposition politicians, Israeli media and hostage families over his involvement. There has been speculation the leaks were aimed at giving the prime minister political cover over failed ceasefire talks in September. The information emerged days after six hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza, which sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostage families. Mr Netanyahu's office has denied any wrongdoing, downplaying the affair and publicly calling for the gag order to be lifted. The prime minister said the person in question "never participated in security discussions, was not exposed to or received classified information, and did not take part in secret visits". A full picture of the case is yet to emerge, but the indictment and other legal documents tell part of the story. This is what we know. How it all started At the centre of the case is an article published in Germany's tabloid newspaper the Bild on September 6. It was labelled as an exclusive and claimed to outline the hostage plans of Hamas. The report cited documents said to have been taken from the computer of the organisation's then-leader, Yahya Sinwar. The documents detailed how the militant group was purportedly drawing out ceasefire and hostage talks as a form of psychological warfare to increase public pressure on the Israeli government. The article came out as the United States, Qatar and Egypt were mediating ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, which also included a deal to release hostages. Hamas rejected the demand and accused Mr Netanyahu of deliberately sabotaging the talks. Israel blamed Hamas for the deadlock. Mr Netanyahu pointed to the article after it was published, saying it vindicated his hardline position on a hostage deal. "Last weekend, the German newspaper Bild published an official Hamas document that revealed its action plan: To sow discord among us, to use psychological warfare on the hostages' families ... to tear us apart from within, and to continue the war until further notice," he said in remarks ahead of a cabinet meeting. Another article had appeared earlier in the London-based Jewish Chronicle newspaper claiming that Sinwar planned to smuggle himself and Israeli hostages out of Gaza through the border area with Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor. In the ceasefire talks, Mr Netanyahu was also calling for lasting Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor. The Jewish Chronicle later withdrew the article. Next, the arrests An investigation was launched into the articles, jointly conducted by the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, the Israeli police and the military. Little had been known about the case until the Rishon Le-Zion Magistrates' Court partially lifted a gag order late last month. It revealed that several arrests had been made, and identified the central suspect in the case as Eli Feldstein. Mr Feldstein was one of Mr Netanyahu's media advisers, according to Israeli media reports. The magistrate's ruling said classified and sensitive intelligence information was illegally taken from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) systems, which may have caused "serious damage to the state's security and posed a risk to information sources". "As a result, there could have been damage to the security forces' ability to achieve the goal of releasing the hostages, as part of the war objectives," it said. The court referred to Mr Feldstein as a "civilian" and said three other suspects in the case were members of the military and security establishment. They have not been publicly named. The media reported that Mr Feldstein was hired weeks after October 7, 2023, and previously worked as an adviser to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Mr Netanyahu has said the person in question "never participated in security discussions, was not exposed to or received classified information, and did not take part in secret visits". Indictment reveals more details An Israeli state attorney has now indicted Mr Feldstein. He has been charged with leaking classified information with the intent of harming state security and obstruction of justice. An Israeli soldier was also charged, accused of passing on the documents. Both men deny the charges, which carry lengthy prison terms. The indictment identified two other Netanyahu aides as being connected to the incident, but they were not charged. Rather than leaking the information to Israeli media, Mr Feldstein is accused of handing it to Bild to bypass local censors, who would have banned its publication. The indictment said the two suspects had created a mechanism for passing on information that bypassed accepted protocols for sharing such documents. "The two charged suspects acted in order to extract information that was classified to the most confidential level, while taking the concrete risk of causing serious harm to critical national security interests," it said. It added that the the leaks were meant "to create media influence on the public discourse in Israel in regards to the handling of the hostage situation, after the news of the murder of six hostages". Asked about the investigation earlier this month, Bild said that it did not comment on its sources. "The authenticity of the document known to us was confirmed by the IDF immediately after publication," it said. The country reacts Mr Netanyahu has faced criticism from families of the hostages in Gaza, who blame him for the failure to reach a deal. They were among the tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, accusing the prime minister of torpedoing the ceasefire talks for political reasons. Hamas has said there would be no hostages-for-prisoners swap deal with Israel unless the war in the Palestinian enclave ended. The militant group, which Australia lists as a terrorist organisation, stormed southern Israel on October 7 last year, taking about 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. About 1,200 people were killed in the terror attacks. Israel's subsequent strikes on Gaza have claimed the lives of more than 43,000 Palestinians , according to the Gaza Health Ministry. About 97 people taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza. At least a third of them have been declared dead by Israeli authorities. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that represents many of the families of the hostages still held in Gaza, has called the leaks "one of the greatest frauds in the country's history". "The [hostage] families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security," the forum said in a statement. The Bild article came out six days after Hamas killed a group of hostages as Israeli troops closed in on them. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said Mr Netanyahu was either incompetent or "complicit in one of the most serious security offences" on the books. In a video posted to social media, the prime minister called the investigation a "witch-hunt" targeting him and his advisers. ABC/Wires ABC
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CHICAGO (AP) — In the days after the presidential election, Sadie Perez began carrying pepper spray with her around campus. Her mom also ordered her and her sister a self-defense kit that included keychain spikes, a hidden knife key and a personal alarm. It’s a response to an emboldened fringe of right-wing “manosphere” influencers who have seized on Republican Donald Trump ’s presidential win to justify and amplify misogynistic derision and threats online. Many have appropriated a 1960s abortion rights rallying cry, declaring “Your body, my choice” at women online and on college campuses. For many women, the words represent a worrying harbinger of what might lie ahead as some men perceive the election results as a rebuke of reproductive rights and women’s rights. “The fact that I feel like I have to carry around pepper spray like this is sad,” said Perez, a 19-year-old political science student in Wisconsin. “Women want and deserve to feel safe.” Isabelle Frances-Wright, director of technology and society at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank focusing on polarization and extremism, said she had seen a “very large uptick in a number of types of misogynistic rhetoric immediately after the election,” including some “extremely violent misogyny.” “I think many progressive women have been shocked by how quickly and aggressively this rhetoric has gained traction,” she said. The phrase “Your body, my choice” has been largely attributed to a post on the social platform X from Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and far-right internet personality who dined at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida two years ago. In statements responding to criticism of that event, Trump said he had “never met and knew nothing about” Fuentes before he arrived. Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, said the phrase transforms the iconic abortion rights slogan into an attack on women’s right to autonomy and a personal threat. “The implication is that men should have control over or access to sex with women,” said Ziegler, a reproductive rights expert. Fuentes' post had 35 million views on X within 24 hours, according to a report by Frances-Wright's think tank, and the phrase spread rapidly to other social media platforms. Women on TikTok have reported seeing it inundate their comment sections. The slogan also has made its way offline with boys chanting it in middle schools or men directing it at women on college campuses, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue report and social media reports. One mother said her daughter heard the phrase on her college campus three times, the report said . School districts in Wisconsin and Minnesota have sent notices about the language to parents. T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase were pulled off Amazon. Perez said she has seen men respond to shared Snapchat stories for their college class with “Your body, my choice.” “It makes me feel disgusted and infringed upon,” she said. “... It feels like going backwards.” Misogynistic attacks have been part of the social media landscape for years. But Frances-Wright and others who track online extremism and disinformation said language glorifying violence against women or celebrating the possibility of their rights being stripped away has spiked since the election. Online declarations for women to “Get back in the kitchen” or to “Repeal the 19th,” a reference to the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote, have spread rapidly. In the days surrounding the election, the extremism think tank found that the top 10 posts on X calling for repeal of the 19th Amendment received more than 4 million views collectively. A man holding a sign with the words “Women Are Property” sparked an outcry at Texas State University . The man was not a student, faculty or staff, and was escorted off campus, according to the university’s president . The university is “exploring potential legal responses,” he said. Anonymous rape threats have been left on the TikTok videos of women denouncing the election results. And on the far-flung reaches of the web, 4chan forums have called for “rape squads” and the adoption of policies in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a dystopian book and TV series depicting the dehumanization and brutalization of women. “What was scary here was how quickly this also manifested in offline threats,” Frances-Wright said, emphasizing that online discourse can have real-world impacts. Previous violent rhetoric on 4chan has been connected to racially motivated and antisemitic attacks, including a 2022 shooting by a white supremacist in Buffalo that killed 10 people . Anti-Asian hate incidents also rose as politicians, including Trump , used words such as “Chinese virus” to describe the COVID-19 pandemic. And Trump’s language targeting Muslims and immigrants in his first campaign correlated with spikes in hate speech and attacks on these groups, Frances-Wright said. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism reported similar rhetoric, with “numerous violent misogynistic trends” gaining traction on right-wing platforms such 4chan and spreading to more mainstream ones such as X since the election. Throughout the presidential race, Trump’s campaign leaned on conservative podcasts and tailored messaging toward disaffected young men . As Trump took the stage at the Republican National Convention over the summer, the song “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” by James Brown blared from the speakers. One of several factors to his success this election was modestly boosting his support among men , a shift concentrated among younger voters, according to AP VoteCast, survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. But Trump also won support from 44% of women age 18 to 44, according to AP VoteCast. To some men, Trump's return to the White House is seen as a vindication, gender and politics experts said. For many young women, the election felt like a referendum on women’s rights and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris ’ loss felt like a rejection of their own rights and autonomy. “For some of these men, Trump’s victory represents a chance to reclaim a place in society that they think they are losing around these traditional gender roles,” Frances-Wright said. None of the current online rhetoric is being amplified by Trump or anyone in his immediate orbit. But Trump has a long history of insulting women , and the spike in such language comes after he ran a campaign that was centered on masculinity and repeatedly attacked Harris over her race and gender . His allies and surrogates also used misogynistic language about Harris throughout the campaign. “With Trump’s victory, many of these men felt like they were heard, they were victorious. They feel that they have potentially a supporter in the White House,” said Dana Brown, executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics. Brown said some young men feel they’re victims of discrimination and have expressed mounting resentment for successes of the women’s rights movement, including #MeToo . The tension also has been influenced by socioeconomic struggles. As women become the majority on college campuses and many professional industries see increasing gender diversity, it has “led to young men scapegoating women and girls, falsely claiming it’s their fault they’re not getting into college anymore as opposed to looking inward,” Brown said. Perez, the political science student, said she and her sister have been leaning on each other, their mother and other women in their lives to feel safer amid the online vitriol. They text each other to make sure they got home safely. They have girls' nights to celebrate wins, including a female majority in student government at their campus in the University of Wisconsin system. “I want to encourage my friends and the women in my life to use their voices to call out this rhetoric and to not let fear take over,” she said. The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here . The AP is solely responsible for all content.None
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LOS ANGELES — Londynn Jones scored 15 points, making all five of her 3-pointers, and fifth-ranked UCLA stunned No. 1 South Carolina 77-62 on Sunday, ending the Gamecocks' overall 43-game winning streak and their run of 33 consecutive road victories. The Gamecocks (5-1) lost for the first time since April 2023, when Caitlin Clark and Iowa beat them in the NCAA Tournament national semifinals. Te-Hina Paopao scored 18 points and Tessa Johnson scored 14 for the Gamecocks, whose road winning streak was third-longest in Division I history. It was the first time UCLA took down a No. 1 team in school history, having been 0-20 in such games. The program's previous best wins were over a couple of No. 2s — Oregon in 2019 and Stanford in 2008. Elina Aarnisalo added 13 points as one of five Bruins in double figures. UCLA (5-0) dominated from start to finish, with the Bruins' suffocating defense preventing the Gamecocks from making any sustained scoring runs. South Carolina: The Gamecocks trailed by double-digits at halftime for the first time since Dec. 21, 2021, against Stanford, according to ESPN. Chloe Kitts, who averages a team-leading 14 points, finished the game with 2 points on 1 of 7 shooting. UCLA: The Bruins led 43-22 at halftime. Eight different players scored and contributed to 11-0 and 7-0 runs in the first and second quarters as they shot 52% from the field. The first quarter set the tone for a game in which the Gamecocks never led. They missed their first nine shots and were 4 of 18 from the floor in the quarter. UCLA ran off 11 straight points to take a 20-10 lead into the second quarter. The Bruins dominated the boards, 41-34, and held the Gamecocks well under their scoring average of 80.2 points. South Carolina travels to Florida to meet Iowa State in the Fort Myers Tipoff on Thanksgiving. UCLA travels to the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Hawaii to play UT Martin on Friday.B.C. Premier David Eby vows to seek out new export opportunities in wake of Trump tariff planEO, AIA Sri Lanka, wins award
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BSF's Steadfast Battle Against the Dwindling Maoist Threat in OdishaPuerto Rican Democratic congresswoman rules out the possibility of advancing legislation if the governor-elect does not achieve significant support from her party in the U.S. November 30, 2024 - 3:29 PM Washington D.C. - Democratic Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez assumes that the Republican leadership of Congress will once again rule out legislation such as House Bill 2757 and that, to change course, it will require Governor-elect Jenniffer González to convince her allies that it is time to authorize a process to end Puerto Rico’s political limbo. Juan Dalmau: “Support for the Alianza will give us a greater presence in the debates in Washington” Adriano Espaillat, of Dominican origin, is the new chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Pablo José Hernández had his first meeting as commissioner-elect with Jenniffer González
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and top backup Jordan Mason are being placed on injured reserve. McCaffrey left the snowy field in Buffalo on Sunday night after a 5-yard gain that was preceded by him heading to the sideline in apparent pain at the end of an 18-yard run. McCaffrey was diagnosed with a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee and did not play in the second half. The 49ers also lost Jordan Mason, who emerged in a starting role with McCaffrey out the first two months of the season, to an ankle injury. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday that Mason has a high-ankle sprain, which typically requires a recovery window of 4-6 weeks. Those moves push rookie Isaac Guerendo into the RB1 spot. He scored the team's only touchdown at Buffalo. The IR slots in San Francisco are manned by multiple starters, including wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and safety Talanoa Hufanga. Mason had a team-leading 789 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns. Being placed on IR means he's not eligible to play until the regular-season finale at Arizona. McCaffrey had 53 yards on seven carries on Sunday night and caught two passes for 14 yards before exiting. He was playing in just his fourth game of the season after missing the first eight because of Achilles tendinitis. McCaffrey was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year last season, when he led the league with 2,023 yards from scrimmage: a league-leading 1,459 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns plus 67 catches for 564 yards and seven scores. McCaffrey hasn't scored a touchdown in his four appearances this season. He has rushed for 202 yards on 50 carries and caught 15 passes for 146 yards. "It was frustrating," Shanahan said after the game. "He had a great week of practice and I could feel his urgency and stuff and thought he came out great, looking really good, and it looked like he just got his shoestring there. ... I hurt for him, and tough for our team not having him." The 49ers (5-7) played without defensive end Nick Bosa (oblique) and left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) in the 35-10 loss. San Francisco has lost three in a row heading into next Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears (4-8) in Santa Clara, Calif. San Francisco resides two games behind the NFC West-leading Seattle Seahawks (7-5) with five games remaining on the schedule. Seattle and San Francisco split their season series. --Field Level MediaThe ModRetro Chromatic Is the Bespoke Game Boy We Deserve as Adults (Review)
XRAY Investors Have Opportunity to Lead Dentsply Sirona Inc. Securities Fraud LawsuitFORT CAVAZOS — Santa’s Workshop 2024 is open for business and ready for Christmas shoppers after officials and volunteers gathered Wednesday evening for a celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony that included a visit from the jolly old elf, Santa Claus. One of those on hand for the event was Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, III Armored Corps and Fort Cavazos commanding general, who said he is delighted with the ongoing success of the annual toy giveaway program. “I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to share (and) give back to our families here on the installation, and to help provide kids a wonderful Christmas,” Admiral said. “I want to make sure we thank all our sponsors and financial backers. This wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our local communities. Fantastic.” Located next to the Clear Creek Exchange, Santa’s Workshop at The Great Place was filled with thousands of new toys either donated or purchased with monetary donations. Beginning the week of Dec. 2 military families who have pre-registered will visit the workshop and pick out some toys for Christmas. Last year, the workshop provided toys to nearly 2,000 children and this year the number increased to 2,001 kids. “We have the whole first week of December filled up with families to come in and shop,” said Kismet Canady, board president for Santa’s Workshop. “Only parents are allowed to do the shopping. Essentially, it’s supposed to be toys coming from Santa. “Each child gets one stocking stuffer; one red toy, which is between $10 and $20; one green toy, which is between $20 and $40. We keep our toys within a certain price range (and) that way everyone is getting similar value items. The family also gets a board game, and the children also get a book.” Leading the way with fundraising this year was The Reindeer Express, a collaboration between veterans motorcycle clubs and organizations throughout Central Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, that collected a total of $60,000 for Santa’s Workshop. Mike “Thanos” Deem, president of American Legion Riders 573 in Harker Heights, said the partnership began after the Nov. 5, 2009 shootings on Fort Hood (Cavazos), and has grown every year since. “This is our 15th year,” Deem said. “We wanted to try and do something for the post after the Hassan shooting. It started small — $500, $2,500 — and it keeps growing a little every year. All the proceeds go to Santa’s Workshop.” Canady, meanwhile, said the workshop is a yearlong effort and a lot of work, but it is all worth it to see the smiles on parents’ faces. “It’s great,” she said. “Everything went off without a hitch this year — for the most part. It’s definitely a lot of work, but out of all the things I volunteer for, it’s the most rewarding. It’s the one that makes me the most happy.”