Judge rejects request to sideline a San Jose State volleyball player on grounds she’s transgenderOnly about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Biden's pardon of his son Hunter, poll finds
Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Biden's pardon of his son Hunter, poll finds
Here is where you can get a free Thanksgiving meal in Philly or donate to help those in needFBI Director Wray says he intends to resign at the end of Biden's term in January
As the Broncos’ offensive menu continues to expand, Devaughn Vele is becoming one of the foremost beneficiaries. The rookie wide receiver is lining up all over the field, playing different spots and making an impact in several different ways. The seventh-round draft pick already had three catches in the first half of when head coach Sean Payton put him alone on the backside of a unique, 4-by-1 formation. The Broncos had Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin aligned into the boundary with running back Javonte Williams and jumbo tight end Matt Peart as an eligible receiver all to quarterback Bo Nix’s right. Vele pushed vertically up the field, gave a head-fake inside that kept cornerback Decamrion Richardson on his heels and then eventually snapped off his route to the inside. Nix pinned the ball on him for a 26-yard gain. Vele’s showed a knack for getting open and making plays since rookie minicamp in May. In recent weeks, though, his ascension has only accelerated. The 26-year-old has fortified himself as the No. 2 option at receiver behind Sutton and on Sunday he finished with six catches (nine targets) for 80 yards. Since he returned from being out four games — one due to a rib injury and three healthy scratches — Vele’s been on a 58-catch, 782-yard pace. In the three weeks since his playing time jumped to about two-thirds of Denver’s offensive snaps, he’s got 14 catches (18 targets) for 185 yards and a touchdown. Vele’s most recent game and his trajectory drew about as strong of praise as you’ll hear from Payton on Monday morning. “He’s been really good,” Payton said. “The strengths for him: Certainly, his hands. You guys saw it in camp — he’s got strong hands in traffic. He’s a guy that plays well over the middle. He reminds me a lot of Marques Colston, who I had in New Orleans for 10 or 11 years.” Colston, of course, was also a seventh-round pick in 2006, Payton’s first New Orleans draft class. He ended up catching 70 balls for 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie, then going for 98 catches, 1,202 yards and 12 touchdowns in his second season. In his 10-year career, Colston racked up 711 catches, 9,759 yards and 72 touchdowns. Those are lofty marks, but Payton’s clearly been impressed with Vele. “Just in our staff meeting 20 minutes ago, I said, ‘We’ve got to continue to find touches for him,’” the coach said. They’ve already started putting him in more positions as the No. 1 target. The 26-yarder looked to be designed for him. So, too, was a late-game miss that came out of the same 4-by-1 set. Instead of breaking in, Vele went vertical — a wrinkle from the original look — and Nix just left the ball too far inside. Nix threw him two slants out of RPO looks and the Broncos put him in motion and used Lil’Jordan Humphrey to create a pick to get him open on third-and-short for a conversion. He caught a scramble-drill ball for 23 yards and went up to catch it even knowing he was going to get hit hard when he landed. He sat down in a soft spot in zone coverage. He caught a pass as the safety valve and got upfield for a first down. “Sometimes, as a coach, you feel like you’re stopping the progress by not getting him touches,” Payton said Monday, likening Vele earlier in the season to where running back Audric Estime is now. “And now — I don’t want to say we’re guilty as coaches, but oftentimes (you’re) afraid to play the rookies. And very quickly we’ve seen his growth.” Nik Bonitto . The Broncos’ third-year pass-rusher has racked up 10 sacks in his past 10 games. He’s turned into a high-end pass-rusher and gives Denver a pairing between him and Jonathon Cooper, , that’s easy to imagine building around long-term. Outside of the highlight-reel, game-sealing strip-sack on Sunday, though, Bonitto made plays against Las Vegas that he simply would not have made earlier in his career. Most impressively: Bonitto recognized two different screens — one to a running back and one to a receiver — in the first eight minutes of the game and ruined them by playing smart, alert football and hustling. On the first, Bonitto didn’t get fooled by Vegas’ motioning and stayed locked on Ameer Abdullah. Minshew had to throw the ball into the ground. On the second, he started roaring up the field but saw left tackle Kolton Miller and other Vegas linemen start to break out to block down the field. Bonitto swung around quickly and hit a dead sprint out toward receiver D.J. Turner. He took such a good line that he ended up directly in the throwing lane and forced Minshew to again throw it in the dirt. Bonitto’s first step and his bend are upper-echelon traits and will be what gets him paid. But playing smart, consistent football on top of that is what can make him a great all-around player. Payton put together a questionable play-calling sequence late in the fourth quarter. After Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson cut Denver’s lead to 26-19 with 3:38 to go, the Broncos took over at their 30. Payton’s inclination to dial up an explosive play to start the drive was understandable. Get in heavy personnel on first down — Peart checked in as a jumbo tight end — and then play-fake and throw the ball down the field. Nix, though, left a throw too far inside for Vele, who could not come down with a contested catch. Las Vegas had all of its timeouts, which meant Denver needed to get a first down to really go to work on the clock. Instead, two more incompletions led to a three-and-out. Total time run off the clock: 26 seconds. Payton defended the sequence without prompting Monday, saying, “We’re trying to win the game at the end of the game there. The last thing I was going to do was hand the ball off three times. They’ll use their timeouts. Then they’ll drive down the field.” The first-down throw was an aggressive and understandable decision. But missing it set the Raiders for one more chance. The Broncos defense, as it has often this year, rose to the occasion when Bonitto logged his 10th sack and forced a fumble to set Denver up in the red zone. Payton dialed up another pass above the two-minute warning on that series, too. By then, Denver had the game in full control. Still, going 0 of 4 plus two runs for 2 yards and rolling just 57 seconds off the clock over two late possessions is far from ideal. The Broncos’ offense hasn’t just shown signs of life recently. It’s revved into a gear that, while not elite, has not been seen in Denver since Peyton Manning retired. Denver’s scored 28 or more points in five of its last eight outings and in that span is averaging 25.3 points per game. The Broncos haven’t had more than four games of 28-plus points in a season since 2014 (10). In fact, they’ve only hit four twice (2015 and 2020). The rest: three once (2023), two each in 2016, 2021 and 2022, and one in each 2017-19. The Broncos still have some volatility. Their other three totals in the recent eight-game set were 10 against Baltimore, 14 against Kansas City and 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers. For the first time in a long time, though, the Broncos have an offense capable of putting a big number on the scoreboard.Bill forcing hospitals to administer ivermectin, other requested treatments nears finish lineAGNC Investment Corp. Declares Fourth Quarter Dividends on Preferred Stock
Revolutionary Single-Layer Film Eliminates Helmet Changes, Enhancing Driver Safety and Performance LAS VEGAS , Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Racing Optics®, the global leader in high-performance tearoff visor film technology, proudly unveils its latest innovation: the Twilight Tearoff . This groundbreaking single-layer tearoff is engineered to elevate driver visibility during late-afternoon and early-evening races, providing superior glare reduction and contrast enhancement. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
On December 26, 2024, IO Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOBT) received a notice from the Listing Qualifications staff of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC indicating that the closing bid price for the company’s common stock had been below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive trading days. This non-compliance puts IO Biotech at risk of not meeting the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1). Despite this notice, there is no immediate impact on the listing of IO Biotech’s common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The company will continue to trade on this platform. As per Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), IO Biotech has been granted an initial compliance period of 180 calendar days, until June 24, 2025, to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. To achieve compliance, the closing bid price of the common stock must be equal to or exceed $1.00 per share for at least 10 consecutive trading days before the deadline. IO Biotech is aware that Nasdaq will evaluate its ability to correct this deficiency during the review process. If Nasdaq concludes that the company is unable to rectify the deficiency or is ineligible for an additional compliance period, IO Biotech will receive notice of potential delisting. In such an event, the company will retain the right to challenge any decision to delist its common stock, with the stock remaining listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market throughout the appeal process. It is essential to note that there are no guarantees that IO Biotech will successfully regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement or meet other relevant Nasdaq listing regulations. Investors and stakeholders are encouraged to monitor the company’s progress closely as it works towards addressing these issues. As per regulatory requirements, Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D., the Chief Executive Officer of IO Biotech, signed the report on behalf of the company on December 27, 2024. This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read IO Biotech’s 8K filing here . IO Biotech Company Profile ( Get Free Report ) IO Biotech, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops immune-modulating therapeutic cancer vaccines based on the T-win technology platform. The company's lead product candidate, IO102-IO103, which is designed to target immunosuppressive mechanisms mediated by Indoleamine 2,3-dehydrogenase (IDO), and programmed death-ligand (PD-L1) that is in phase 3 clinical trial to treat melanoma, as well as in phase 2 clinical trial to treat lung, head and neck, bladder, and melanoma cancer. Further Reading
At home in Mauke the news from Rarotonga continues to frustrate as a mining company sponsors yet another community event, on their mission to win people over. Are people aware that we have ex diamond mining and oil industry people exploring our seabed? How can they have a lasting affinity for this precious place we call home – the only home we have? How is it that two Americans, intimately involved with a company holding a Cook Islands seabed minerals exploration licence, are directors of a Cook Islands traditional arts group? These people are closely associated with a company that sued Mexico for over US$2 billion, under a law associated with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The suit is because the Mexican Government rejected a proposed seabed mining project because the potential environmental impacts would have been too damaging. This case was eventually completed in September of this year, with the company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, winning the case and being awarded US$37 million. Apparently, US companies have never lost a NAFTA investor dispute. Most of these disputes are because of challenges to environmental protection or resource management that were claimed to interfere with the profit-making potential of US companies. Apparently, there are companies making money by suing for potential earnings lost due to mining applications being rejected. You can read about this for yourself on The Guardian. Just google “How a US mining firm sued Mexico for billions...”. I cannot believe our licensing panel didn’t reject CIC’s mining exploration application based on the financial shenanigans they were in the midst of at the time they applied. SBMA’s “robust and transparent licensing process” should have discerned these are not “fit and proper persons” to operate in our waters. Please assure us that agreements with all three companies include them not being able to use some contractual loophole to sue the Cook Islands if we do not offer them a mining licence on environmental grounds. The promise of gold and glory, a mesmerising snake that the Bible clearly warns against, is winning for now because this seabed mining drive has nothing to do with jobs. We’re already short of more than 3000 Cook Islands workers, hence employing foreigners. It’s not even about stopping climate change by providing metals for the ‘clean energy’ transition. Technology is already surpassing the need, finding other ways forward. Mining is not clean and we don’t need more ‘stuff’, that so quickly is discarded and added to our existing overwhelming waste issue. In fact, disturbing deep sea sediment will quite likely exacerbate our problems by releasing stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Of course, the other use for these metals from the deep is in military applications. Interesting that nobody is talking that up as a reason to mine the deep! Maybe they realise that is a less than noble cause, best not discussed! The drive is money, that’s it; a mark of neo-colonisation, a boom and bust industry. It slithers its way in, promises much, sways the indigenous population, then takes what it wants and slithers away leaving desolation in its path. At boarding school in the 1970s, I shared a dormitory with two Nauruan girls. While I was careful with my allowance, these two wandered around with $10 notes! This is at a time when a loaf of bread or pint of milk was 5 cents. Then came Nauru’s downfall, to the point now where they don’t even have useful planting land. Yet, incredibly, they’re willing to sacrifice the environment again for the short-lived monetary gain! Will we fall to such temptation? The Cook Islands is fortunate to have a number of NGOs working towards ocean health and well-being, raising awareness, advising and implementing solutions, where possible, to combat negative impacts that are stressing our ocean. This work is so important as it proffers life, which in the long term ensures an income and/or sustenance, rather than short term dollars that many will never see. We are starting 2025 with a 30 second message on CITV, Vaka TV and social media. An animation inspired by an SBMA’s booklet cover depicting a vaka sitting on lifeless nodules. I had to stifle a giggle when I first saw this, more so when I heard the Prime Minister had invited other Pacific leaders to join him on this vaka going nowhere. Their own depiction sums up the problem; they’re stuck on the rocks, totally losing sight of the ocean. Moana-Nui-O-Kiva with more biodiversity than can be found on land, it supplies more oxygen for humans than the forests, it feeds clouds that water our gardens, it nourishes us (and our visitors) in many ways. Only with the ocean can the vaka voyage be a reality. As we begin 2025 join us in discovering the whole ocean. The world’s engine, that must not just survive, but thrive. Because the ocean’s life is our life.LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Tyrese Hunter scored 17 of his 26 points after halftime to lead Memphis to a 99-97 overtime win against two-time defending national champion and second-ranked UConn on Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational . Hunter shot 7 of 10 from 3-point range for the Tigers (5-0), who were 12 of 22 from beyond at the arc as a team. PJ Haggerty had 22 points and five assists, Colby Rogers had 19 points and Dain Dainja scored 14. Tarris Reed Jr. had 22 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Huskies (4-1). Alex Karaban had 19 points and six assists, and Jaylin Stewart scored 16. Memphis led by as many as 13 with about four minutes left in regulation, but UConn chipped away and eventually tied it on Solo Ball’s 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining. Memphis: The Tigers ranked second nationally in field goal percentage going into the game and shot it at a 54.7% clip. UConn: The Huskies saw their string of 17 consecutive wins dating back to February come to an end. The teams were tied at 92 with less than a minute remaining in overtime when UConn coach Dan Hurley was assessed a technical foul for his displeasure with an over-the-back call against Liam McNeeley. PJ Carter hit four straight free throws — two for the tech and the other pair for the personal foul — to give Memphis a 96-92 lead with 40.3 seconds to play. UConn had three players foul out. Memphis attempted 40 free throws and made 29 of them. Memphis will play the winner of Colorado-Michigan State on Tuesday in the second round of the invitational. UConn will play the loser of that game in the consolation bracket. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball .
OC certifies November election resultsIf they aren’t the respective biggest and smallest offensive skill-position players in the NFL, each is close to it. The long and the short of it is Darnell Washington and Calvin Austin III are evolving into significant pieces of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. After relatively little usage in the passing game in 2023 while each was playing in the NFL for the first time, Washington and Austin are increasingly favored targets — particularly since Russell Wilson took over as quarterback six weeks ago. Over the past five games, the diminutive but speedy Austin and the towering, imposing Washington have combined for 21 catches on 34 targets, 314 receiving yards and three total touchdowns. While those statistics aren’t necessarily eye-popping, they do correlate with the Nos. 3-4 receiving options for a team that has known quantities in WR1 George Pickens and a bona fide No. 1 tight end in Pat Freiermuth but has been struggling to find other weapons. Washington and Austin were just behind Pickens and Freiermuth (four receptions each) with three receptions apiece during the Steelers’ most recent outing, a 24-19 defeat at the Cleveland Browns. Austin led the team in receiving yards (78), including a 46-yard third-down play and a 23-yard touchdown catch that gave the Steelers a fourth-quarter lead. “He just did a great job of getting open,” Wilson said of the 46-yard catch after the game. “He did a great job of just really making a play. Then I think the one for the touchdown, I knew how to get the ball off. They were about to hit me, and I just had to let it go down the middle to Calvin. He did a great job and just threw it and anticipated where he was going to be. He made a heck of a catch, heck of a route, and that was awesome.” Over the past five games — the Steelers won four — Austin leads the team in touchdowns with three. Though that includes a 73-yard punt-return TD against the New York Giants, Austin’s two receiving touchdowns are tied with Pickens for the most over that stretch. For the season — including a 55-yard touchdown from Justin Fields in Week 4 — Austin’s three receiving touchdowns are tied with Freiermuth for most on the team. “Coach (Mike) Tomlin always talks about guys who can create space in a non-vertical area,” wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni said recently. “Who is that player on every team? And (Austin) is our guy that way. He does a great job of that. That’s his gift, that’s what he was blessed with, that twitch and that awareness on how to work individuals.” Generously listed at 5-foot-9, 162 pounds, Austin requires gifts such as quickness and special awareness. But if Austin creates space (as Azzanni calls it) “non-vertically,” Washington has a rare ability to create space vertically — as in, literally so. His official listing of 6-7, 264 pounds probably doesn’t do him justice. Steelers tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts recently was speaking about Washington when he said, “You don’t expect a guy who is 6-7 and 300-plus — uh oh ... I said that out loud?” No joke — it would almost take two Austins to make for the mass of one Washington. “He’s a big man, and yet he’s shown (receiving ability) in practice, he’s shown it in training camp that he can be consistent in the passing game,” Roberts said. “So it makes it easy for the play-caller to get it off the call sheet. He’s done it early in games, and he’s rewarded us with some big plays.” Nicknamed “Mount,” Washington had his first career touchdown earlier this season in Denver, and he’s recorded a pair of receptions of at least 25 yards while making 11 catches in five games with Wilson throwing. Consider that Washington had only seven receptions last year as a rookie. Austin, in his first pro season on the field (2022 was spent on injured reserve), had only 12 catches. He and Washington each already have blown past career highs in catches and yards. Each a mid-round draft pick, Austin and Washington entered the league with unique skill sets (speed and size, respectively), but observers wondered if Austin was too small and Washington, well, too big to be viable receiving threats. The contrast between them couldn’t be greater — and perhaps that’s part of what Wilson and coordinator Arthur Smith are leveraging in deploying Washington and Austin more often. “It builds my confidence getting the ball in my hands and getting more comfortable with it,” Washington said. “Because at this level I didn’t really have that many opportunities, so I feel like each catch it keeps building my confidence as a person with the ball in my hands and run after.”