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House votes to block immediate release ethics report involving Matt Gaetz
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AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday questioned whether the Tamil Nadu police were not even aware of the basic procedure of non-disclosure of the identity of the complainants in sexual assault cases. “How was the First Information Report (FIR) published online? Why was the identity of another person involved in the case [of sexual assault on the Anna University campus] not revealed? Suspicions of political pressure in this case are increasing. The case should be transferred to the CBI...,” he posted on social media. Leaders raise questions PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the State government to suspend the officials who released the FIR that had the identity of the complainant. “Though two persons were involved in the case, only one of them has been arrested. Are the police attempting to protect the other accused and demoralise the complainant?..,” he asked. CPI (M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan condemned the police for publishing the FIR online. DMDK general secretary Premallatha Vijayakant, in a statement, questioned Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s silence in the case. The Chennai Press Club expressed shock over the disclosure of the identity of the complainant by a section of the media. It is morally wrong and legally offensive to disclose identities of women and children who file complaints of sexual assault, it said. However, Minister for Law S. Regupathy, at a press conference, said the State government had not revealed the identity of the complainant in the FIR. “The government is not attempting to silence the complainant. Having trust in this government, she came forward to lodge a complaint and the government took action.” Minister for Higher Education Govi Chezhiaan, speaking in Thanjavur, rebutted reports that claimed that the accused was a DMK member. Published - December 27, 2024 12:18 am IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp RedditGlobal Artificial Intelligence Logo Generator Market Set For 6.2% Growth, Reaching $7.53 Billion By 2028
NEW YORK — The masked gunman who stalked and killed the leader of one of the largest U.S. health insurance companies outside a Manhattan hotel used ammunition emblazoned with the words "deny," "defend" and "depose," two law enforcement officials said Thursday. The words were written in permanent marker, according to one of the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. With the gunman still at large, police also released photos of a person they said was wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, died in a dawn ambush Wednesday as he walked to the company's annual investor conference at a Hilton hotel in Midtown. The reason behind the killing remained unknown, but investigators believe it was a targeted attack. This image shows a man wanted for questioning in connection to the investigation of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. The message left on the ammunition echoes the phrase "delay, deny, defend," which is commonly used by attorneys and insurance industry critics to describe tactics used to avoid paying claims. It refers to insurers delaying payment, denying a claim and then defending their actions. Health insurers like UnitedHealthcare have become frequent targets of criticism from doctors and patients for complicating access to care. Investigators recovered several 9 mm shell casings from outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alleyway through which the shooter fled. Inside a nearby trash can, they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that they say the gunman purchased from a nearby Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The city's medical examiner was looking for fingerprints. The killing and the shooter's movements in the minutes before and after were captured on some of the multitudes of security cameras present in that part of the city. The shooter fled on a bike and was last seen riding into Central Park. Bullets lie on the sidewalk Wednesday outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan where Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in New York. The hunt for the shooter brought New York City police to at least two hostels on Manhattan's Upper West Side on Thursday morning, based on a tip that the suspected shooter might have stayed at one of the residences, according to one of the law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. The photos police released Thursday of a man wanted for questioning were taken in the lobby of the HI New York City hostel. "We are fully cooperating with the NYPD and, as this is an active investigation, can not comment at this time," said Danielle Brumfitt, a spokesperson for the hostel. Police received a flood of tips from members of the public, many of them unfounded. On Wednesday evening, police searched a Long Island Rail Road train after a commuter claimed to have spotted the shooter, but found no sign of the gunman. "We're following up on every single tip that comes in," said Carlos Nieves, a police spokesperson. "That little piece of information could be the missing piece of the puzzle that ties everything together." Investigators believe, judging from surveillance video and evidence collected from the scene, that the shooter had at least some prior firearms training and experience with guns and the weapon was equipped with a silencer, said one of the law enforcement officials who spoke with the AP. This still image from surveillance video shows the suspect, left, sought in the the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, center, Wednesday outside a Manhattan hotel. Security camera video showed the killer approach Thompson from behind, level his pistol and fire several shots, barely pausing to clear a gun jam while the health executive tumbled to the pavement. Cameras showed him fleeing the block across a pedestrian plaza before getting on the bicycle. Police issued several surveillance images of the man wearing a hooded jacket and a mask that concealed most of his face, which wouldn't have attracted attention on a frigid day. Authorities also used drones, helicopters and dogs in an intensive search, but the killer's whereabouts remained unknown. Thompson, a father of two sons who lived in suburban Minneapolis, was with UnitedHealthcare since 2004 and served as CEO for more than three years. The insurer's Minnetonka, Minnesota-based parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., was holding its annual meeting with investors in New York to update Wall Street on the company's direction and expectations for the coming year. The company ended the conference early in the wake of Thompson's death. UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the U.S. and manages health insurance coverage for employers and state and federally funded Medicaid programs. In the U.S. healthcare system, even the simplest act, like booking an appointment with your primary care physician, may feel intimidating. As you wade through intake forms and insurance statements, and research out-of-network coverage , you might wonder, "When did U.S. health care get so confusing?" Short answer? It's complicated. The history of modern U.S. health care spans nearly a century, with social movements, legislation, and politics driving change. Take a trip back in time as Thatch highlights some of the most impactful legislation and policies that gave us the existing healthcare system, particularly how and when things got complicated. In the beginning, a common perception of American doctors was that they were kindly old men stepping right out of a Saturday Evening Post cover illustration to make house calls. If their patients couldn't afford their fee, they'd accept payment in chicken or goats. Health care was relatively affordable and accessible. Then it all fell apart during the Great Depression of the 1930s. That's when hospital administrators started looking for ways to guarantee payment. According to the American College of Healthcare Executives, this is when the earliest form of health insurance was born. Interestingly, doctors would have none of it at first. The earliest health plans covered hospitalization only. A new set of challenges from the Second World War required a new set of responses. During the Depression, there were far too many people and too few jobs. The war economy had the opposite effect. Suddenly, all able-bodied men were in the military, but somebody still had to build the weapons and provision the troops. Even with women entering the workforce in unprecedented numbers, there was simply too much to get done. The competition for skilled labor was brutal. A wage freeze starting in 1942 forced employers to find other means of recruiting and retaining workers. Building on the recently mandated workers' compensation plans, employers or their union counterparts started offering insurance to cover hospital and doctor visits. Of course, the wage freeze ended soon after the war. However, the tax code and the courts soon clarified that employer-sponsored health insurance was non-taxable. Medicare, a government-sponsored health plan for retirees 65 and older, debuted in 1965. Nowadays, Medicare is offered in Parts A, B, C, and D; each offering a different layer of coverage for older Americans. As of 2023, over a quarter of all U.S. adults are enrolled in Medicare. The structure of Medicare is not dissimilar to universal health care offered in other countries, although the policy covers everyone, not just people over a certain age. Medicaid was also signed into law with Medicare. Medicaid provides health care coverage for Americans with low incomes. Over 74 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid today. The Obama administration was neither the first nor the last to champion new ways to provide health care coverage to a wider swath of Americans. The first attempts to harmonize U.S. healthcare delivery systems with those of other developed economies came just five years after Medicare and Medicaid. Two separate bills were introduced in 1970 alone. Both bills aimed to widen affordable health benefits for Americans, either by making people Medicare-eligible or providing free health benefits for all Americans. As is the case with many bills, both these died, even though there was bipartisan support. But the chairman of the relevant Senate panel had his own bill in mind, which got through the committee. It effectively said that all Americans were entitled to the kind of health benefits enjoyed by the United Auto Workers Union or AFL-CIO—for free. But shortly after Sen. Edward Kennedy began hearings on his bill in early 1971 , a competing proposal came from an unexpected source: Richard Nixon's White House. President Nixon's approach , in retrospect, had some commonalities with what Obamacare turned out to be. There was the employer mandate, for example, and an expansion of Medicaid. It favored healthcare delivery via health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, which was a novel idea at the time. HMOs, which offer managed care within a tight network of health care providers, descended from the prepaid health plans that flourished briefly in the 1910s and 1920s. They were first conceived in their current form around 1970 by Dr. Paul M. Ellwood, Jr. In 1973, a law was passed to require large companies to give their employees an HMO option as well as a traditional health insurance option. But that was always intended to be ancillary to Nixon's more ambitious proposal, which got even closer to what exists now after it wallowed in the swamp for a while. When Nixon reintroduced the proposal in 1974, it featured state-run health insurance plans as a substitute for Medicaid—not a far cry from the tax credit-fueled state-run exchanges of today. Of course, Nixon had other things to worry about in 1974: inflation, recession, a nation just beginning to heal from its first lost war—and his looming impeachment. His successor, Gerald Ford, tried to keep the proposal moving forward, but to no avail. But this raises a good question: If the Republican president and the Democratic Senate majority both see the same problem and have competing but not irreconcilable proposals to address it, why wasn't there some kind of compromise? What major issue divided the two parties? It was a matter of funding. The Democrats wanted to pay for universal health coverage through the U.S. Treasury's general fund, acknowledging that Congress would have to raise taxes to pay for it. The Republicans wanted it to pay for itself by charging participants insurance premiums, which would be, in effect, a new tax. The next significant legislation came from President Reagan, who signed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, in 1985. COBRA enabled laid-off workers to hold onto their health insurance—providing that they pay 100% of the premium, which had been wholly or at least in part subsidized by their erstwhile employer. While COBRA offers continued coverage, its high expense doesn't offer much relief for the unemployed. A 2006 Commonwealth Fund survey found that only 9% of people eligible for COBRA coverage actually signed up for it. The COBRA law had a section, though, that was only tangentially related. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, which was incorporated into COBRA, required all emergency medical facilities that take Medicare—that is, all of them—to treat patients irrespective of their insurance status or ability to pay. As Forbes staff writer Avik Roy wrote during the Obamacare debate, EMTALA has come to overshadow the rest of the COBRA law in its influence on American health care policy. More on that soon. It wasn't until the 1990s that Washington saw another serious attempt at healthcare reform. Bill Clinton's first order of business as president was to establish a new health care plan. For the first time, the First Lady took on the role of heavy-lifting policy advisor to the president and became the White House point person on universal health care. Hillary Clinton's proposal mandated : The Clintons' plan centralized decision-making in Washington, with a "National Health Board" overseeing quality assurance, training physicians, guaranteeing abortion coverage, and running both long-term care facilities and rural health systems. The insurance lobbyists had a field day with that. The famous "Harry and Louise" ads portrayed a generic American couple having tense conversations in their breakfast nook about how the federal government would come between them and their doctor. By the 1994 midterms, any chance of universal health care in America had died. In this case, it wasn't funding but the debate between big and small governments that killed the Clinton reform. It would be another generation before the U.S. saw universal health care take the stage. Fast-forward to 2010. It was clear that employer-sponsored plans were vestiges of another time. They made sense when people stayed with the same company for their entire careers, but as job-hopping and layoffs became more prevalent, plans tied to the job became obsolete. Thus the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, was proposed by Barack Obama's White House and squeaked by Congress and the Supreme Court with the narrowest of margins. The ACA introduced an individual mandate requiring everyone to have health insurance regardless of job status. It set up an array of government-sponsored online exchanges where individuals could buy coverage . It also provided advance premium tax credits to defray the cost to consumers. But it didn't ignore hat most people were already getting health insurance through work, and a significant proportion didn't want to change . So the ACA also required employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees to provide health coverage to at least 95% of them. The law, nicknamed Obamacare by supporters and detractors, set a minimum baseline of coverage and affordability. The penalty for an employer that offers inadequate or unaffordable coverage can never be greater than the penalty for not offering coverage at all. The model for Obamacare was the health care reform package that went into effect in Massachusetts in 2006. The initial proposal was made by then-Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican who now serves as a senator from Utah. Despite an onslaught of court challenges, Obamacare remains the law of the land. For a while, Republican congressional candidates ran on a "repeal-and-replace" platform plank, but even when they were in the majority, there was little legislative action to do either. Still, Obamacare is not the last word in American health care reform. Since then, there have been two important improvements to Health Reimbursement Arrangements, through which companies pay employees back for out-of-pocket medical-related expenses. HRAs had been evolving informally since at least the 1960s but were first addressed by the Internal Revenue Service in 2002. Not much more happened on that front until Obama's lame-duck period. In December 2016, he signed the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which was mainly a funding bill supporting the National Institutes of Health as it addressed the opioid crisis. But, just like the right to free emergency room treatment was nested in the larger COBRA law, the legal framework of Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangements was tucked away in a corner of the Cures Act. QSEHRAs, offered only by companies with fewer than 50 full-time employees, allow firms to let their employees pick their insurance coverage off the Obamacare exchanges. The firms pay the employees back for some or all of the cost of those premiums. The employees then become ineligible for the premium tax credit provided by the ACA, but a well-constructed QSEHRA will meet or exceed the value of that subsidy. That brings this timeline to one last innovation, which expands QSEHRA-like treatment to companies with more than 50 employees or aspiring to have them. Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements , or ICHRAs, were established by a 2019 IRS rule . ICHRAs allow firms of any size to offer employees tax-free contributions to cover up to 100% of their individual health insurance premiums as well as other eligible medical expenses. Instead of offering insurance policies directly, companies advise employees to shop on a government-sponsored exchange and select the best plan that suits their needs. Employer reimbursement rather than an advance premium tax credit reduces premiums. And because these plans are already ACA-compliant, there's no risk to the employer that they won't meet coverage or affordability standards. The U.S. is never going back to the mid-20th century model of lifetime employment at one company. Now, with remote employees and gig workers characterizing the workforce, the portability of an ICHRA provides some consistency for those who expect to be independent contractors for their entire careers. Simultaneously, allows bootstrap-phase startups to offer the dignity of health coverage to their Day One associates. The U.S. health care system can feel clunky and confusing to navigate. It is also regressive and penalizes startups and small businesses. For a country founded by entrepreneurs, it's sad that corporations like Google pay less for health care per employee than a small coffee shop in Florida. In many ways, ICHRA democratizes procuring health care coverage. In the same way that large employers enjoy the benefits of better rates, ICHRA plan quality and prices improve as the ICHRA risk pool grows. Moving away from the traditional employer model will change the incentive structure of the healthcare industry. Insurers will be able to compete and differentiate on the merits of their product. They will be incentivized to build products for people, not one-size-fits-all solutions for employers. This story was produced by Thatch and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media. Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email.Global Automated Material Handling AMH Market Set For 11.7% Growth, Reaching $81.81 Billion By 2028
Midcoast Youth Center appoints new senior program director
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. , Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Billtrust , a B2B order-to-cash and digital payments market leader, has been named a Leader in two IDC MarketScape reports – IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Accounts Receivable Automation Applications for the Enterprise 2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US51740924, December 2024 ) and IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Accounts Receivable Automation Applications for Small and Midmarket 2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US52692224, December 2024 ). Billtrust was one of 14 providers evaluated for the enterprise report and one of 11 providers in the small and midmarket report. The IDC MarketScapes evaluate a broad set of SaaS and cloud-enabled accounts receivable automation software vendors based on innovation, functionality, range of services, customer satisfaction, cloud capabilities and architecture. "Billtrust is a Leader in the Accounts Receivable Automation Applications for Enterprise and Small and Midmarket," said Kevin Permenter , Research Director, Financial Applications at IDC. "Billtrust attempts to differentiate itself with a scalable, unified solution that simplifies AR processes and improvement to the payment experience their clients provide their customers, all while empowering their AR teams to turn financial data into insights that contribute to their business strategy. They offer an extensive suite of payment management capabilities designed to streamline and automate the accounts receivable process." Billtrust was recognized for the following strengths: The news of Billtrust's recognition as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape comes as B2B businesses are leveraging technology like generative AI to boost efficiency and optimize operations as they grapple with the challenges of cash flow management, according to a recent IDC InfoBrief study (IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Billtrust, "AI Pushing the Boundaries of What's Possible for OTC," IDC #US52446224, August 2024 ). Billtrust recently announced new generative AI functionality within its accounts receivable software platform to empower finance professionals to better understand their business, make strategic decisions, maximize cash flow and engage customers more effectively. "We are honored to be recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape, which we believe reflects our dedication to innovation, digital transformation, and delivering exceptional customer outcomes," said Sunil Rajasekar , CEO of Billtrust. "In 2024, we achieved remarkable milestones, including the launch of our generative AI tool, Billtrust Finance Co-Pilot, which provides unmatched, in-depth analysis of customer data. We are proud to support finance teams in working more efficiently, accelerating payments, and enhancing the buyer experience." About IDC MarketScape IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a given market. The research utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier's position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of technology suppliers can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective suppliers. About Billtrust Finance leaders turn to Billtrust to get paid faster while controlling costs, accelerating cash flow and maximizing customer satisfaction. As a B2B order-to-cash software and digital payments market leader, we help the world's leading brands move finance forward with AI-powered solutions to transition from expensive paper invoicing and check acceptance to efficient electronic billing and payments. With more than $1 trillion invoice dollars processed, Billtrust delivers business value through deep industry expertise and a culture relentlessly focused on delivering meaningful customer outcomes. Media Contact Paul Accardo PR@billtrust.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/billtrust-named-a-leader-in-idc-marketscape-for-worldwide-accounts-receivable-automation-software-for-enterprise-and-small-and-midmarket-2024-302324426.html SOURCE Billtrust
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The plan for the Minnesota Vikings was to bring in Sam Darnold as the bridge between Kirk Cousins and J.J. McCarthy, confident his strong arm and starting experience would sufficiently run a high-caliber offense until the rookie was deemed ready to play. Darnold’s performance to date has been much closer to superstar than mere stopgap. “He’s a baller,” Vikings safety Harrison Smith said. “He can make stuff happen when he needs to. I know with the outside narrative on him and his path and everything, you might not think that, but ever since he got here, it felt like that was going to happen.” Having led the Vikings (10-2) to their fifth consecutive victory with the go-ahead touchdown pass against Arizona last week, one game after a stellar overtime drive to beat Chicago , Darnold has become one of the darlings of this NFL this season with his success in coach Kevin O’Connell’s system after the third overall pick in the 2018 draft started his career in rather bleak fashion. His first year in Minnesota sure has been smoother than what Cousins has gone through in his debut with the Atlanta Falcons . Last week in a loss at home to the Los Angeles Chargers, Cousins matched his career high with four interceptions. RELATED COVERAGE Giants will try to snap a 7-game losing streak when they host the Saints Rookie Bucky Irving relishes opportunity to help Buccaneers any way he can against skidding Raiders The Titans have issues to fix and hope to keep slim playoff hopes alive when they host the Jags “I don’t think anybody can put any more pressure on Kirk than he has for himself. He’s carried us through this season when we were figuring out a lot of things on defense,” Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “He’s just having a hard time right now. There’s nothing to say he can’t catch fire and light it up like he’s been doing.” The Falcons (6-6) take their three-game losing streak on the road to face the Vikings, with division races for both teams in full swing. The quarterback contrasts have made this matchup all the more intriguing, with Cousins coming back to the place where he spent the previous six seasons. The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . Cousins has a $25 million salary cap hit this season, the 11th-highest among quarterbacks in the league. Even if the Falcons were to move on in 2026 and swallow the dead money for two more years with eighth overall pick Michael Penix Jr. waiting in the wings, Cousins will carry a $40 million charge in 2025. Darnold’s cap charge is $5 million this season, just 31st on the list. Though he will become a free agent in March, the Vikings structured his contract with void years to spread his cap hit into next season for another $5 million. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick, won’t be ready until next year after having surgery to repair the meniscus he tore in his right knee in his first preseason game. Though Darnold has had a couple of clunkers this year, the Vikings still won those games and he’s bounced back strong without letting interceptions linger into future decisions. “He’s kind of found a little balance, at least the last few weeks, of ‘When is it too risky?’ and ‘When can I take my shot at something?’” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. The Falcons have seen as much on tape. “I think he’s playing free,” Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates said. “It’s not a lot of complicated throws or anything that he’s doing. I just think that he’s finally able to feel comfortable in himself.” Acknowledging the moment Falcons coach Raheem Morris decided to address the significance of Cousins’ homecoming with the team, bracing for the type of crowd reaction that will only intensify the noise at U.S. Bank Stadium that’s already daunting for opponents. Minnesota’s defense has thrived this season at home, using the fans to enhance the effectiveness of a disguise-based, aggressive scheme that leads the league with 18 interceptions and has also been adept at rushing the passer and stuffing the run. “The environment they create up in Minnesota is absolutely outstanding,” Morris said. Cousins isn’t the only key figure from the Falcons who’s well-known to Vikings coaches. Morris was the defensive coordinator in 2021 with the Los Angeles Rams when O’Connell was the offensive coordinator and Phillips was the tight ends coach on that Super Bowl champion team. Listen to your mother Vikings running back Aaron Jones has fumbled three times in the last two games, losing two of them, but he hasn’t lost the confidence of coaches or teammates as evidenced by the pass called for his go-ahead touchdown catch against the Cardinals. Family is a strong support system for him, too, but sometimes that means tough love. His mother, Vurgess Jones, let him have it after the game when they talked about the turnovers. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to learn from it,’” Jones said. “She was like, ‘You didn’t learn last week?’” He has matched his career high in 2024 with five fumbles and three lost, a fact not lost on a Falcons defense that’s aggressive with dislodging techniques despite only four recovered fumbles in 12 games. “You can see it all over the tape: Those guys are coaching it,” Phillips said. Greenard is going strong Vikings outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard, who was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month after racking up eight tackles for loss in November, carried his pass-rushing mojo into December with a couple of clutch plays in the final minute to preserve the victory over Arizona. Greenard has 10 of the team’s 39 sacks. “How many times this year has he affected the quarterback, drawn a penalty, sacked the quarterback, strip-sacked like last week in these critical moments where you need your best players to go make those plays?” O’Connell said. “He’s done it time and time again.” Bijan is busy Falcons running back Bijan Robinson set a career high last week with 26 carries. He had 102 yards rushing and was again a significant part of the passing attack with six catches against the Chargers. “I just do whatever I can to help us as a team,” said Robinson, who’s fifth in the NFL with 1,277 combined yards from scrimmage. “I just trust whatever they have in the plan.” ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Listen up, folks — we all know that is a great time to shop for TVs and tech items, and are certainly delivering on that promise. I recently needed to buy a new television and settled on a a relatively on Amazon Canada. It streams apps like Netflix and Disney+, has stunning visual quality, and best of all? Right now it's , which is more than 20 per cent off its retail price. TCL 43-Inch Class S4 4K LED Smart TV Given the low price, I had some doubts about it's quality — but I'm happy to report that this cost-effective TV is fantastic and has seriously improved our leisure time. Scroll onwards to read my full review of the and see if it's the right fit for your home. I also rounded up some of the other — just scroll to the bottom! Unbeatable value and excellent quality. The TV has 4K Ultra HD Resolution, Motion Rate 120 and HDR PRO that provides exceptional visual detail, improved motion clarity and enhanced contrast. It also has Dolby Atmos which provides an immersive, cinematic audio experience. For streaming, it has Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Spotify and dozens of other popular services as well as the ability to search and download less popular apps. It has three HDMI inputs for gaming and other needs, and has Alexa technology that let's you hold down the voice button and ask her to find and launch content. In terms of appearance, the TV has an edge-to-edge glass design that would look perfect in any setting. As mentioned, I'm not very tech-savvy, so I anticipated that I'd struggle — but I truly had no issues. It's extremely user-friendly to find what you're looking for and to start watching right away. It also has voice control technology, so you can ask it to launch programs for you when you don't feel like typing. The interface is also customizable and you can change the audio-visual options for the different streaming apps. The TV comes loaded with all of the most popular apps like Netflix, YouTube and more — and you can search and download more niche apps. For instance, my partner downloaded the Kanopy app so he can watch library-sourced documentaries and Armenian animations. As well, we found it easy to stream from our phones and laptops and cast it to the TV. TCL 43-Inch Class S4 4K LED Smart TV One of the first things we did was watch and the difference in visual quality between the TCL and our old TV was immediately noticeable. A few quotes from my fiancé: "Shit, that's crisp!" "I'm getting lost in Elijah Woods's blue eyes." "There's even enough brightness settings to make watchable." From taking the TV out of the box to getting it mounted on our wall and watching Netflix, the entire process took maybe 10 minutes. It likely would have taken us less than that but it took us a a bit to figure out how to attach it to our wall mount (entirely our own fault, not a negative to the TV at all). I was genuinely shocked at how light this TV is! Our old, non-smart TV weighs about 30 pounds. The TCL weighs under five pounds, which made it extremely easy to carry up the stairs to our apartment and subsequently hang on the mount we already owned. The only thing I dislike about this TV is the size, and that's my own fault for choosing a 43" instead of a 50." When doing the measurements, I made the error of measuring the width of the wall we would mount it on. From that I surmised I needed a 43" TV, but the way TVs are measured is across the diagonal. Because of my mistake, the television is a little too small for the area we have it in, but it's not the worst problem to have! The TV has a 4.1-star rating on Amazon Canada and has been bought more than 2,000 times in the last month. "The best budget TV I've ever owned," says one customer. "I would recommend it all day." TCL 43-Inch Class S4 4K LED Smart TV with Fire TV Another notes that they're "impressed with what this TV offers," particularly "at such an affordable price point." Others write that "the colours are rich and vibrant," it's "very easy to set up" and offers "unbeatable value." However, a few people say "the sound isn't the best" — I would agree that it's not exactly cinematic or comparable to what you'd get out of a sound bar, but the sound quality is not a concern at all for me. I am extremely pleased with the and would 100 per cent recommend buying it. In fact, I'm likely going to repurchase this TV in a bigger size now that it's on sale. I'm impressed with the quality of this device, it's weight and how easy it is to set up — and at the price of just $270 with Amazon Canada's Boxing Day sale, it doesn't break the bank, which is always a bonus. If you're on the hunt for an affordable TV that gives excellent performance, I'd definitely check it out! 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Israel , renowned for its expertise in silicon chip design that powers global tech giants like Intel , Nvidia , and Apple , is expanding its innovation into a new frontier—biochips. Israel will soon host its first-ever research and development lab dedicated to biochip and smart sensor technology, focusing on medical diagnostics, environmental rehabilitation, and energy generation from waste. 2 View gallery After becoming a leader in the field of silicon, Israel is turning to a new field ( Photo: Shutterstock ) The lab, a collaboration between Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Israeli company Bacaromus, will integrate biology, engineering, and artificial intelligence. The $29.6 million project will be supported by a $19.6 million investment from the government through the Israel Innovation Authority. Biochips developed in the lab aim to revolutionize fields such as medicine and environmental science. Applications include accelerating drug development, real-time monitoring of health conditions from within the body, rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases from small samples, purifying contaminated water, and more. Biochips and biological devices have the potential to manipulate individual cells, perform microscopic processes, and detect molecular changes. Practical uses range from identifying airborne toxins, breaking down oceanic plastic and organic waste, diagnosing viral and bacterial diseases, detecting explosives at border crossings, cultivating food in harsh conditions, and pinpointing contaminated areas. Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play : https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store : https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv The new facility will provide Israeli biotech researchers and companies with cutting-edge tools and infrastructure to drive biochip innovations across medicine, energy, and agriculture—reducing dependence on foreign resources. Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, stated the lab will serve as a hub for research, knowledge sharing, and technological development, attracting foreign investments, international collaborations, and fresh talent to Israel. 2 View gallery Biochips may help break down plastics that have long since become one of the planet's biggest problems ( Photo: Shuttertock ) The lab’s founders, IAI and Bacaromus, were chosen following a rigorous selection process. IAI brings decades of expertise in advanced technology development, including 3D printing, advanced materials, machine learning, simulation, and system integration. Bacaromus, based in Caesarea, specializes in chip packaging and optical components, offering cleanroom facilities, assembly support, and a skilled team with extensive experience in the field. Innovation, Science, and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel hailed the project as a strategic milestone. “The new lab marks a groundbreaking chapter where biology, engineering, and artificial intelligence converge to create transformative solutions that can change the world,” she said. >Sharad Kumar Srivatsava, Director General of Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (Iriset) said the institute had imparted training to a record number of 5,195 personnel by conducting 221 courses this year, with productivity of 74,800 trainee days. The institute has trained 1,014 personnel on ‘Kavach,’ the Indian Railways’ anti-collision system, through 45 programmes. Speaking at the 67 annual day celebrations on Sunday, Srivastava said that Iriset had signed memoranda of understanding with three universities and engineering colleges to offer open electives on railway signalling and kavach for BTech students. Speaking at the event, Dr Radha Krishna Ganti, professor of electrical engineering, IIT Madras, stressed the importance of involving engineering students in railway signalling technologies to enhance capacity. He encouraged the use of AI to modernise training and improve learning outcomes. Arun Kumar Jain, General Manager, South Central Railway, underscored the necessity to upgrade training programmes to build capabilities to design and execute infrastructure works at fast pace to ease out bottlenecks in the train operation. Vijaylaxmi Kaushik, additional member (signal), Railway Board called for skill enhancement to match the capital expenditure on infrastructure. Sameer Dikshit, additional member (telecom), Railway Board, stated the need to find innovative solutions and create an enabling environment for excellence to meet the expectations of the country. A technical magazine, ‘Gyandeep’, was released during the event. The institute has also set up exhibition stalls with products of signalling and telecommunication systems and upcoming developments.
Christine Sun Kim Confronts the Limits of Language in 'All Day All Night'
There have always been goals. The foremost were to play good field hockey and give area high school players a chance to be seen by college coaches. Debbie McQuaid has done this for 28 years during Thanksgiving weekend, taking area teams to the annual United States Field Hockey Association Festival in locations in Florida, California and Arizona. “I don’t really care about the win-loss (record),” McQuaid said. “But winning is always fun.” Well, McQuaid and her TC Shore team had a lot of fun last weekend, as it went 5-0 over three days of pool play during the annual USFHA Festival at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex in Naples, Florida. “We’ve won our pool a couple of times,” McQuaid said. “But we’ve never gone 5-0. It was very exciting.” It was also very impressive, considering after Friday’s tournament-opening 5-2 victory over Team Gateway of St. Louis, TC Shore yielded only one more goal over its remaining four games. “Somebody asked me, ‘Well, who stood out?’” McQuaid said. “I said, ‘None of them and all of them.’ They just worked as a unit. And they were so supportive. We had (Saints Peter and Paul eighth-grader) Caroline (Corson) being younger and they were just all so supportive of her. Just nice to see. No egos.” TC Shore also won its second game Friday, as Queen Anne’s County High goalies Cassidy Alexander and Caroline Kimball combined for a 3-0 shutout of Xcaliber (New Jersey). It was after Day 1, that McQuaid — who is currently the head coach at Sts. Peter and Paul, but has also been head coach at St. Michaels and Easton — thought her team could go undefeated. “Those were the two best teams,” McQuaid said of Team Gateway and Xcaliber. TC Shore came back to post back-to-back shutouts on Saturday, blanking both GOA Canada and Atlanta by 3-0 finals. In addition to Kimball and Alexander not letting anything get past them, the play of backs and midfielders Ellee McLean (Queen Anne’s), Haley Cole (Queen Anne’s), Angie Webb (SSPP), Jordan Bilbo (Queen Anne’s), Kadence McGuckin (Easton) and Claire Bieber (SSPP) stymied opponents. “The midfield really took care of things. They locked them down,” McQuaid said. TC Shore also had Gunston’s Layla Kent and Grace Shepherd, who saw time up front, at midfield, and in the back. McQuaid, who was assisted by Missy Cannon and Julie Corson, had Sadie Latchaw (Kent Island), Ellen Napier (Kent Island) and Sadie Jacobs (SSPP) rotating at midfield and forward, and Jules Stepp (SSPP), Ryann Quicke (Easton) and Gabi Shepherd (Gunston) up front. That offensive group combined to outscore the opposition, 15-3, for the tournament. TC Shore punctuated its unbeaten run Sunday with a 2-1 victory over HTC of Connecticut. “We started probably three years ago with the core group and they stayed together through Disney tournaments and spring tournaments,” McQuaid said. “And basically they just trust each other. Their personalities get along on the field, off the field. It was just a joy to coach. They enjoy themselves on the field.”We’ll Recover Our Mandate From Defected Lawmakers – LP
Failure in controlling corruption risks Philippine grant from US MCC
The New York Jets have had very few things go right for them in 2024. At 3-8, New York has an extremely slim chance of making the playoffs with six weeks remaining. A massive reason for the Jets' disappointing season has been the play of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. At 40 years old, Rodgers simply has not looked like the same player he did earlier in his career. Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images Although he hasn't missed a game, Rodgers has spent plenty of time this season on the injury report with multiple ailments. Earlier in the week, NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that Rodgers refused medical scans earlier in the season so that he wouldn't miss any time. During an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," Rodgers directly addressed those rumors. "There was no mandate ever, 'You gotta get this scan,' and I was like 'I ain't (expletive) getting a scan.' It was, 'Listen, how do you feel?' I told them, 'I know my body well. What do you see in your diagnosis? What are the risks of playing? What is the likelihood of playing? What do I have to do to get back?' And that was that," said Rodgers. Related: Is Shedeur vs. Cam as Jets' Draft Move Perfectly Clear? There wasn't any weirdness around it," continued Rodgers. "We had a lot of great conversations where they diagnosed what I was dealing with. I told them how I was feeling. We talked about the possibilities of playing and rehab and what it would take." Many Jets fans will likely hope that Rodgers is telling the truth, as his refusing medical scans would certainly be a bad look for an organization that has already struggled in the past with dysfunctional leadership. Related: Inside The Jets 'Big Lie' About Aaron Rodgers