NoneThe mellowing of electric-vehicle adoption hasn’t prevented General Motors from introducing several such models, specifically for the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. In particular, Chevrolet has three available, including the Blazer EV. A fourth – the Corvette EV – is expected sometime in 2025, with others reportedly in the development stage. The scalable platform, which is used for all GM EVs, large and small, can handle front, rear or front and rear electric motors. For the midsize five-passenger Blazer EV, the prominent nose does have a type of grille, but it’s mostly for aesthetics. The rest of the bodywork shares nothing – as in zero – with the gasoline Blazer, which remains in production. Both are same length, but the EV has about a 23-centimetre advantage in distance between the front and rear wheels. That means easier rear-seat access through the generously sized doors, plus plenty of legroom. Despite the EV’s lower roofline, cargo volume is greater than the gasoline Blazer’s, with the seat upright or folded flat. There’s no storage beneath the hood – commonly called a front trunk or a frunk – for smaller items, which is frequently found in other EVs, such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E. The interior has a 17.7-inch infotainment screen and a fashionably large 11.1-inch driver-information display. Instead of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, the Blazer EV gets Google software. Oversized air vents are positioned on either side of the dashboard and directly above the floor console. The base 300-horsepower LT lists for $57,900, including destination charges. It’s available in front- or all-wheel-drive ($61,400), has a range of 453 and 538 kms, respectively. Equipment includes the usual power features as well as heated front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, 19-inch wheels and standard active-safety technology such as front and rear emergency braking, active cruise control and blind-spot warning. The 365-horsepower rear-wheel-drive RS ($68,400) can also go up to 538 kms on a charge, but AWD claws that back to 453. The performance-oriented AWD Blazer SS ($73,400) makes 595 horsepower and 645 pound-feet. According to Chevrolet, it can hit 60 mph (96-km/h) from rest in less than four seconds. The range is advertised as 470 kms. For every 10 minutes the Blazer EV is plugged in to a Level 3 DC fast charger, 125 kms of range will be added. With a 240-volt home charger, expect a full top-up overnight. Note that the dual-level charge cord needed for Level 2 and Level 3 use is optional. The RS and SS come with heated and ventilated front seats, heated flat-bottom steering wheel and a hands-free power liftgate. They both have exterior lighting between the grille and the hood that illuminates when the driver approaches. Exclusive to the SS is a head-up driver’s info display (projects information such as speed onto the windshield), a rear-view camera/mirror, Brembo-brand front brakes, premium-grade interior trim and unique 22-inch wheels (21-inch versions are fitted to the RS). Standard with the SS is the latest version of General Motors’ Super Cruise system that allows hands-free driving on more than 640,000 kms of roads in the United States and Canada. GM says that Super Cruise allows the Blazer to safely overtake slower-moving traffic and return to the original lane, all without driver involvement. Chevrolet also says it is creating a Police Pursuit Vehicle model based on the SS, which, given its power output, likely makes the most sense. Given its size, styling, output and variety of trim levels, the Chevrolet Blazer EV has plenty going for it. It also happens to be competitively priced, further enhanced by government rebates. These factors are helping to create increased buyer interest and acceptance in electric vehicles.Bills' letdowns on defense, special teams and clock management in loss to Rams are all too familiar
Marta's magic helped get the Pride to Saturday's NWSL title game against the Washington SpiritBOSTON (AP) — Quarterback Grayson James threw for a touchdown and ran for another Saturday, and Boston College celebrated the 40th anniversary of Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary pass with a 41-21 victory over North Carolina. Ryan Turner added a 78-yard interception return for BC (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), which became bowl eligible under first-year coach Bill O’Brien. It’s the second straight and eighth in the last nine years the Eagles have a bowl opportunity. Flutie and many of his 1984 teammates were honored on the field before the second quarter. He hit Gerard Phalen with a 48-yard TD as time expired in BC’s Miracle in Miami on Nov. 23, 1984. Making his second straight start after O’Brien benched Thomas Castellanos, James, a transfer from Florida International, completed 18 of 27 passes for 192 yards and no interceptions. Castellanos left the team after he was benched. Tar Heels running back Omarion Hampton, who entered the day second in FBS in rushing at 142.2 yards per game, was held to 53 on 11 carries. Jacolby Criswell completed 16 of 30 passes for 176 yards with three interceptions for North Carolina (6-5, 3-4), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. With BC leading 17-7 after the Tar Heels scored on a 95-yard kickoff return by Chris Culliver, Eagles linebacker Joe Marinaro picked off Criswell and returned it to North Carolina’s 32. Three plays later, James hit Reed Harris with an 18-yard fade into the right corner of the end zone with 40 seconds left in the first half, moving BC ahead 24-7. James had a 3-yard TD run, pushing the Eagles ahead 10-0 early in the second quarter. Criswell threw an off-balance pass under pressure that Turner picked off before racing down the left sideline for a score that put it away early in the third. North Carolina: A week after becoming bowl eligible, the future of coach Mack Brown could become a hotter topic this week after his team looked overmatched. Boston College: With the addition of James, the offense looks like it fits O’Brien’s style much better. He’s more of a drop-back passer as opposed to Castellanos, who liked to break out of the pocket often. North Carolina: Hosts North Carolina State next Saturday in its regular-season finale. Boston College: Faces Pittsburgh at home in its final regular-season game. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football . Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25
2 UK shares I've been buying this weekPhoto: File image Family violence numbers have remained stagnant for decades, even as evidence shows the vast majority are never reported. The fight for legal support Not long after their whirlwind romance, Christchurch woman Shannon Williams' new partner needed somewhere to live. Given he had been hanging out at her place a lot anyhow, he soon moved in with her and her young son. She said things were good for less than a week. "I felt like I was walking on eggshells, having to hold myself to an unrealistic standard to avoid him getting angry. The anger wasn't always directed at me, but it was enough to make me feel quite uncomfortable in my own home." But things would get much worse when a few drinks at home with friends turned into a violent rage. "Everything was good, we were all having a really good night. I don't know what happened, but he kicked off - he ended up quite violent, he started smashing up the house. "He caused about $20,000 of damage to my property." Police were called, and her ex-partner spent a night in custody, but apologetic and embarrassed, he eventually convinced her to give him another chance. Eventually he would be charged and convicted following another incident. As a solicitor, she had an advantage when applying for the protection order, which she had within 24 hours, but acknowledged getting legal support is an issue for many women. University of Auckland associate professor Carrie Leonetti calls this the privatisation of victim safety - placing the onus on the victim to protect themselves from revictimisation - which she notes violates New Zealand's obligations under several international human rights conventions. "The Convention against Torture and Inhumane Treatment, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - all of these international human rights conventions put obligations on state parties to protect victims from violence and not to make victims grab a torch and a pitchfork and protect themselves." The restraining orders people get under the Harassment Act in many other countries would be handled by the police, she said. "We still largely leave the job of protecting themselves to victims in New Zealand and they're already victims of domestic violence. The last thing they need is to have to get lawyers and go to court to get restraining orders, to get Protection Orders, to get child support, to get occupancy orders from the house." Leonetti said most countries treated those procedures as a police prosecution function, where they would facilitate securing occupancy of the house and getting a protection order. And while they did not arrange child support, they will enforce an order if a parent did not pay. "In New Zealand, we still largely have a self help regime." Instead of protecting victims from revictimisation, "we push it on to victims and make them do it through old clunky, expensive, inefficient civil procedures". Police changes Despite the stubborn statistics of shame, there are fears a recent policy shift by police could lead to less family violence incidents being attended, investigated or prosecuted. Earlier this year, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said police attendance to family harm callouts had increased 80 percent in 10 years and was "not sustainable", but that the proposed changes, which had been trailed for six months in 2023, were under consideration. University of Auckland associate professor Carrie Leonetti said she had grave concerns about the impact of the changes. She said the problem stemmed from the decision - dating back several years - to include family violence under the more amorphous term of family harm, which conflated criminal and non-criminal offences. Police say they will still respond to crimes, making a decision based on the 111 call as to whether the harm is criminal family violence, non criminal forms of family violence - such as coercive controlling behaviour, financial and emotional abuse - or other issues such as mental health problems, substance use or people arguing. But Leonetti said she was "baffled" police believe they can accurately distinguish between family violence from non-family violent family harm, without showing up on the doorstep and reading between the lines. "If somebody makes a 111 call and the perpetrator is standing in the room, they are not at liberty to disclose everything they need to. Or if the neighbour calls, how would the police figure out talking to the next door neighbour whether they need to respond to that home or not?" In the absence of coding those things differently when the calls are taken and triaged, there is no data to know if the police position - that they are only avoiding non-criminal non-family violence forms of family harm - is true, she said. "There is evidence from around the world, including Aotearoa New Zealand, that police are getting called out to cases that involve crimes and family violence, and not treating them as such." Leonetti also warned that the non-response could make a victim's situation substantially worse, destroying trust in authorities and emboldening the perpetrator. "The thing that keeps me up at night is, very few people call the police for family violence. On average, intimate partner violence victims call the police after the seventh or eighth occurrence. "So this is a person who hasn't called, hasn't called, hasn't called, and if - when they finally call - don't get a good response, they'll never try again. "That we're missing those opportunities is a tragedy, and it's a tragedy of the creation of our own policy." She said it was particularly frustrating given Aotearoa actually had strong laws, but family violence remained "under-reported, under-prosecuted and under-identified". "New Zealand has some of the best family violence legislation on paper that I've seen, but some of the worst rates of family violence, and some of the worst systemic responses." Overseas models University of Auckland professor in social and community health Janet Fanslow said there were overseas models that had shown huge promise in dramatically lowering family violence rates. Much of what New Zealand has been doing in the past two decades has been about increasing recognition of violence, often targeted at the victims of family violence, encouraging them to leave the relationship and seek help. While that's an important message, Fanslow wanted to see more investment in evidence-based strategies. "There are evidence-based prevention strategies that have been used elsewhere in the world which have seen dramatic decreases in intimate partner violence - I'm talking a 50 percent decrease in four years." While she acknowledged the importance of New Zealand developing "home grown solutions", Fanslow said we could learn a lot from successful international models. "Some of the successful strategies seen overseas are more community based, involving both men and women, exploring power and the use of power in relationships. "It's a great way to flip the discussion so violence becomes seen as a manifestation of power, which can be used in ways that go over the top of other people to suppress them, or you can think about power not as a zero-sum game. "It's been a transformational strategy elsewhere, because it brings men on board into the conversation, and it gives everyone a positive thing to move to." She said other well-evaluated programmes included those working with men, especially when they become new fathers. "That's a great entry, because men are interested in being good fathers, in being good parents and good partners, but we need to have the conversation with people about what that looks like, and how do you negotiate and do things like conflict resolution in ways that aren't about getting your own way at the expense of other people." Fanslow said funding cuts to the sector were counterproductive, especially cuts to parenting programmes. She said there was strong evidence showing the programmes' ability to engage parents and benefit children, and their cost effectiveness. "By supporting people to develop safe, stable and nurturing relationships with their children and giving people the skills and resources for that, it has long term benefits for the kids, and for society. "It's across all of those domains we say we're interested in - we say we're interested in better educational outcomes, we say we're interested in less crime, we say we're interested in better health - actually our relationships, and the quality of those relationships, influence all of those domains." A 2014 economic estimate - which put the cost of family violence at $4-7 billion a year - is likely a significant underestimate given increased costs, and what researchers were now learning about the long term health impacts of abuse, she said. Shannon Williams said the help she and her son received from Barnados was invaluable. She found the group meetings for the women's safety programme were important for her journey. "Before then, I don't think I realised that some of the things I experienced were abuse. It was really empowering to just sit in a room with a group of other ladies who had a similar experience - that was really healing, just to know I'm not alone and I'm not crazy. "We tend to internalise it and think there's something wrong with us, especially when you have someone constantly degrading you and devaluing you, you start to think, this is me, I'm the one causing this anger - but you can start to step back and say I wasn't doing anything wrong, this is their problem to figure out. That was really empowering."Looking for cheap ways to keep the kids entertained over school break? For travelers in the know, there’s a free vacation activity that’s hiding in plain sight. I don’t know about you, but anytime I get an inside view to a destination without the customized tour price, I gleefully take the wander win. A year or two ago, I was introduced to a new avocation I can enjoy anywhere in the world. It’s called geocaching, and it’s just about the most affordable way to enhance any travel outing I’ve ever seen. If you need a hobby the entire family can get behind, at any time of year and in any climate, look no further. From Antarctica to Ann Arbor, you’ve got options. All you need is a pen, a talent for finding hidden containers, and possibly a trinket or two to trade if you so choose. After that, it’s lather, rinse and repeat for affordable family fun on tap. Exploration With containers hidden around the world at historical locations, famous landmarks, scenic vistas and more, exploration is built into the geocaching equation. Game participants can explore their immediate local area, a bucket list destination, and nearly anywhere in between. The metaphorical magic behind this modern treasure hunt is provided by a company called Groundspeak, which manages score totals, event calendars, and container location data for members worldwide. Their headquarters in Seattle is a popular pit stop for long-time players. At the visitor center, you can find a cache, earn a souvenir, tour the geocaching museum and more. Economy As travel activities go, the affordability of geocaching is tough to beat. While premium accounts and paid apps are certainly available for more hard-core enthusiasts, the basic membership and smartphone software are free. Also, though exchanging inexpensive trinkets can be part of the cache-finding fun, it isn’t mandatory. You can simply search out a cache, and log the find. The economy of geocaching can apply to travelers of any budget. On the pricier end, certain caches can only be accessed with a passport and a trip abroad. Even then, I find it more affordable and fun to explore on foot while caching. On a recent extended trip to Europe, my logged locations included a castle, a Roman bridge and a quaint mountain village. The money I saved on packaged tours paid for two high-speed train tickets to Paris. If your vacation fund dictates a more modest getaway, there is plenty of adventure for you as well. Simply pull up the app on your phone to see what hides are available in your local area. These hidden stashes can be found on hiking trails, during an afternoon road trip or even at places you walk past on a regular basis. Efficiency Those who travel with hobby supplies in tow know firsthand that every bit of luggage space counts. Geocaching can be done with nothing more than a pen and a mobile phone. I try to find purse room for a small plastic bag stocked with a few extra log sheets, a small pair of tweezers and a couple of tiny trade items such as stickers, charms or mini erasers. It takes up less space than a pack of gum and lets me participate at a deeper level. Another way this game is incredibly space efficient? Souvenirs. In addition to trip memories and the electronic record of your overall game score, geocaching allows you to earn free digital souvenirs designed to represent the way in which they’re won. There are fun ones for completing specific challenges, visiting different states and countries, and attending special gatherings. There’s even one for finding a hidden code in some of NASA’s equipment footage from Mars! Since you can view these souvenirs from your phone, there’s no need to worry about finding room in your bag or lugging around extra weight. Events Whether you’re traveling alone or with a partner, long-term life on the road can feel isolating. This is especially true when you are only in a place for a short time, making it a challenge to form connections through traditional means. As geocaching has evolved, it has come to include not just physical caches, but events where members get together for any number of activities. Travelers can search out preplanned event caches at their selected destination, or schedule their own pop-up adventure for locals to attend. These meet-ups can focus on a range of interests from kayaking to a picnic spot, to poetry writing at a coffee shop, or going to a museum. I’ve even hosted a postcard making experience at one of my favorite beer joints. Attending and logging in at these social sessions counts as a cache find in your overall game total. Extras Events aren’t your only option for thinking outside the traditional container box. Adventure Lab caches are a great way to experience a new city as a geocacher. As with traditional and event caches, these vary widely. Expect anything from self-directed public art tours and searching out historical markers, to tips for finding favorite local swimming holes and suggested selfie spots. Other options include virtual and Earth caches, which are designed to help you learn specific things about the area. Typically, I’ve been required to submit photos or question answers as proof of completion. If you have a tiny bit of room in your trip bag, travel bugs are another neat geocaching extra. Typically a small novelty item attached to a coded tracking tag, a travel bug is registered in the app to a member, and placed in a cache. From there, another player can pick it up and take it to another hidden container for the next player to move along. All locations are documented in the system, so it’s a nifty way for folks to follow the journey of their item. Containers with room to house these trackable items tend to be a bit larger, and are often categorized as travel bug hotels. These are some of the more unique container caches out there. Hidden in locked urban junction boxes that require a code, secret compartments of little free libraries or even large containers in the woods, they can be a significant memory maker, especially for youngsters. If all this sounds like something you’d like to try, information for finding, making and hiding caches is available online. Geocaching.com , Groundspeak’s main user website for the hobby, offers a deep dive into everything a new player needs to know. Bottom line? Geocaching’s worldwide reach and affordability make it a budget travel win. Whether you want to see and save in some of the world’s most sought-after destinations, or search out local options for family fun, this international scavenger-style hunt has something to offer. ________ (Lifestyle and travel expert @MyschaTheriault blends thrift and luxury to live well for less around the world.) ©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Serve Robotics Inc. SERV , a leading embodied AI and automation company, today announced the appointment of Lily Sarafan to its Board of Directors (the "Board"). Sarafan is an accomplished leader with nearly 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, executive leadership and board governance. She is co-founder and former chief executive of TheKey, one of the largest and most trusted in-home care provider networks, where she serves as executive chair. Sarafan currently serves on the boards of Instacart, Thumbtack and Kyo as well as on the board of trustees of Stanford University. She has been recognized as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, a Fortune 40 Under 40, Women Health Care Executives' Woman of the Year, and a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Sarafan holds an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering and a B.S. in Science, Technology, and Society from Stanford University. "We look forward to welcoming Lily as an independent member of the Board. Her extensive leadership experience, particularly in home services and on-demand delivery, will be invaluable as Serve continues to expand our market presence and shape the future of delivery and automation," said Ali Kashani, Chairman of Serve's Board . About Serve Robotics Serve Robotics develops advanced, AI-powered, low-emissions sidewalk delivery robots that endeavor to make delivery sustainable and economical. Spun off from Uber in 2021 as an independent company, Serve has completed tens of thousands of deliveries for enterprise partners such as Uber Eats and 7-Eleven. Serve has scalable multi-year contracts, including a signed agreement to deploy up to 2,000 delivery robots on the Uber Eats platform across multiple U.S. markets. For further information about Serve Robotics SERV , please visit www.serverobotics.com or follow us on social media via X (Twitter) , Instagram , or LinkedIn @serverobotics. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Serve intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These forward-looking statements can be about future events, including statements regarding Serve's intentions, objectives, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about future events, including Serve's expectations with respect to the financial and operating performance of its business, its capital position, and future growth. The words "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "project", "predict", "will", "forecast", "estimate", "likely", "intend", "outlook", "should", "could", "may", "target", "plan" and other similar expressions can generally be used to identify forward-looking statements. Indications of, and guidance or outlook on, future earnings or financial position or performance are also forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include those risks and uncertainties set forth in Serve's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and in its subsequent filings filed with the SEC. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Serve undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. Contacts Media Aduke Thelwell, Head of Communications & Investor Relations Serve Robotics press@serverobotics.com Investor Relations investor.relations@serverobotics.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bdd098f8-8c80-462f-bc1b-c1f2095ed307 © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.Be Among the First to Experience MEGA Revolution - World's First 70W Intelligent Desktop Engraving MachineTORONTO — Broad-based gains led Canada’s main stock index to close higher in the shortened Christmas Eve trading session, while U.S. stock markets also rose. The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 97.84 points at 24,846.82, as most sectors rose other than telecoms and health care. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 390.08 points at 43,297.03. The S&P 500 index was up 65.97 points at 6,040.04, while the Nasdaq composite was up 266.24 points at 20,031.13. The gains added to increases in recent days to help offset the drop in markets last week after the U.S. Federal Reserve released its latest outlook. The climb however was more likely related to year-end balancing than any change in sentiment, said Dustin Reid, chief fixed income strategist at Mackenzie Investments. “I think it’s mostly just year-end flows that are driving it. I don’t think there’s anything that’s particularly reversed in terms of sentiments since the Fed meeting,” said Reid. There’s reallocation by geography, moving asset classes and other adjustments to align portfolios that is likely affecting markets, he said. “I find that price action around month end, quarter end, and year-end, you shouldn’t try and ascribe a ton of fundamental cause as to why things are moving, because there’s a lot of flows happening below the surface that are probably driving the price action that are not necessarily fundamentally based.” The U.S. Fed guided for only two rate cuts in 2025 at its Dec. 18 meeting, which pushed down markets for the day. But Reid said the guidance was largely in line with expectations, and the strong U.S. economy has likely since helped boost markets. The Canadian market, meanwhile, might be benefiting a little from the expectations of even more rate cuts needed here than expected as the economy is showing softness. On Monday, Statistics Canada said its early estimate for November suggests real GDP for the month edged 0.1 per cent lower for the first drop this year. “The negative flash print for November really suggests that the bank is going to have a fair bit more work to do,” said Reid. “I think that the market is not pricing in enough easing for calendar ’25 for the Bank of Canada.” There was no economic data releases Tuesday to sway markets, he said. The Canadian dollar traded for 69.51 cents US compared with 69.47 cents US on Monday. The February crude oil contract was up 86 cents at US$70.10 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up 16 cents at US$3.50 per mmBTU. The February gold contract ended up US$7.30 at US$2,635.50 an ounce and the March copper contract was up two cents at US$4.11 a pound.