Bulls vs. Hornets Prediction & Picks: Line, Spread, Over/Under – December 30
NoneCreighton earns 86-79 victory against Villanova
B.C. Premier David Eby vows to seek out new export opportunities in wake of Trump tariff plan
Mikaela Shiffrin suffers abrasion on hip during crash on final run of World Cup giant slalom
A report from Alberta’s Auditor General flags loose network controls in three Government of Alberta departments as potential risks for unauthorized access to government data and Albertans’ personal information. In its audit of the province’s consolidated financial statements, the auditor general made recommendations to the Ministries of Technology and Innovation, Children and Family Services (CFS), and Seniors, Community and Social Services (SCSS) to improve network security procedures after finding the departments failed to promptly remove ex-employees access privileges. For both CFS and SCSS, the auditor found that terminated employees retained access to IT applications. Previous reports in 2014 and 2020 made the same recommendation to tighten controls for department information systems, and the auditor said it is repeating that direction because it continues to find “user access exceptions.” “Unauthorized individuals may access the department’s systems and be able to use or change critical personal, business, and financial information. This could result in privacy breaches for the department or create opportunities for identity theft. If information in the financial systems was manipulated, this could impair the integrity of the department’s financial reporting and results,” the auditor general’s report warns. Within Information and Technology, the auditor tested 25 sample accounts, and found 13 of these accounts weren’t removed from the network. Five of the 13 accounts “were used to log into the government’s network after the account holders’ employment ended with government.” Department management verified that the users “mainly accessed their own employment data.” An additional 48 ex-employees held on to logins for 11 departmental IT applications, resulting in one unauthorized access to an IT system. The audit also found the department didn’t complete effective reviews of user access rights for 12 of its IT applications, including three where no review was performed during the 2023-24 audit period. Jonathan Gauthier, press secretary to the Ministry of Technology and Innovation, said the department is working to implement the network security recommendations. “Alberta’s government takes security seriously and is committed to continuous improvement to ensure better user experience and provide common, secure, and streamlined access to government services,” Gauthier said. Many of the concerns outlined in the report have already been addressed, Gauthier said. Contractor accounts are set to be automatically terminated at the end of the contract period, and as of spring 2024, employee account removal has been aligned with payroll termination processes. “The existing Access Controls policy has been updated to increase the frequency of reviews of user account access; from annually to quarterly,” he said. “Technology and Innovation is also developing a tool to track compliance to the policy and provide regular reporting. This is expected to be rolled out in the upcoming months. Further improvements to the periodic review of users’ access rights are underway and will be implemented over the coming years.”Macron vows to stay in office until end of term; says he'll name new prime minister soonPalantir and Shield AI forge strategic partnership for AI-driven autonomous flight
he will play in a bowl game this season after coming back from a very disappointing 2023 year and a lot of that has to do with senior quarterback and his father and head coach The young signal caller will play in the soon and many believe that the guidance of Coach Prime will come in handy once he plays on Sundays, however, the though of Deion maybe being his head coach at the professional level is not good. There have been rumors that he could be the one coaching a team like the because of their needs, yet one football guy thinks it should not be happening ever. The reason behind this though ESPN recently posted a picture of Deion Sanders and a quote from an executive on what he thinks should happen with the two at the next level. It has gotten many people thinking about it as well "I hope for Shedeur that (Deion Sanders doesn't coach him in the NFL) and he has to be his own man in his own career," the executive said. The rumor of a possible move to Las Vegas with the has also been talked about for the quarterback. As for the head coach, so far he has been very happy in Colorado with the Buffaloes but nobody should never disregard the idea of him taking a job in the NFL with a team that seems appealing to him, like the Cowboys or those same Raiders.
49ers RBs Christian McCaffrey, Jordan Mason placed on IR
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Mayor Ken Sim says abolition of elected park board will mean $70M in savings
New Merrillville BMV near U.S. 30 and Broadway opens Friday
NEW YORK (AP) – Investigators are searching for clues that could help them identify the masked gunman who stalked and killed the leader of one of the largest United States (US) health insurance companies on a Manhattan sidewalk, then disappeared into Central Park. UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Officer Brian Thompson, 50, died in a dawn ambush on Wednesday as he walked to the company’s annual investor conference at a Hilton in Midtown, blocks from tourist draws like Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art. The killing, and the shooter’s movements in the minutes before and afterward, were captured on some of the multitudes of security cameras present in that part of the city. One video showed him approach Thompson from behind, level his pistol and fire several shots, barely pausing to clear a brief gun jam while the dying health executive tumbled to the pavement. Other security cameras captured the initial stages of the gunman’s escape. He was seen fleeing the block across a pedestrian plaza, then escaping on a bicycle into Central Park, where he vanished. Police used drones, helicopters and dogs in an intense search, but the killer’s whereabouts remained unknown late into the night. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that while investigators had not yet established a motive, the shooting was no random act of violence. “Many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target,” Tisch said at a news conference. “From watching the video, it does seem that he’s proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. Police issued several surveillance images of the man, who wore a hooded jacket and a mask that concealed most of his face and wouldn’t have attracted attention on a frigid winter day. Some of the photos were taken at a coffee shop shortly before the shooting. The police department offered a reward of up to USD10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. “Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the insurer’s Minnetonka, Minnesota-based parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc, said in a statement. “We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.” Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that he told her “there were some people that had been threatening him”. She didn’t have details but suggested the threats may have involved issues with insurance coverage. The police chief in the Minneapolis suburb where Thompson lived Eric Werner said his department had not received any reports of threats against the executive. Investigators recovered several nine millimetre shell casings from outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alleyway through which the shooter fled. They were also searching Thompson’s hotel room, interviewing his UnitedHealthcare colleagues and reviewing his social media, Kenny said. Police initially said the shooter rode into Central Park on a bicycle from the city’s bike-share programme, CitiBike. But a spokesperson for the programme’s operator, Lyft, said police officials informed the company that the bike was not from the CitiBike fleet.The confidential briefing note is part of the tranche of documents made public in the annual release of State papers from the Irish National Archives. An Irish Department of Foreign Affairs official focusing on justice and security created the list in October 2002. The document starts by referencing a 1999 interview given by George Mitchell, the chairman of the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, in which he claimed the British and Irish governments, as well as Northern Ireland’s political parties, had leaked information to manipulate public opinion. However, he further accused the NIO of attempting to sabotage the process by leaking information on British Government policy to the media. Mr Mitchell, a former US senator, is said to have expressed alarm and anger over the frequency of leaks from the NIO – saying they were uniquely “designed to undermine the policy of the British Government of which they were a part”. The Irish civil servant notes Mr Mitchell himself was subjected to an attempted “smear” when he first arrived in Northern Ireland, as newspaper articles falsely claimed his chief of staff Martha Pope had had a liaison with Sinn Fein representative Gerry Kelly with ulterior motives. The Irish civil servant goes on to list several “leaks”, starting with the publication of a proposed deal in a newspaper while “intense negotiations” for the Downing Street Declaration were under way. Next, the Department lists two “high-profile and damaging leaks issued from the NIO”. A so-called “gameplan” document was leaked in February 1998, showing papers had been prepared weeks before the Drumcree march on July 6, 1997. In the preceding years, there had been standoffs and clashes as nationalists opposed the procession of an Orange parade down Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The gameplan document showed then secretary of state for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam, who was publicly expressing a desire for a negotiated solution to the 1997 parade, advocated “finding the lowest common denominator for getting some Orange feet on the Garvaghy Road”. In 1997, a large number of security forces were deployed to the area to allow the march to proceed. The incident sparked heightened tension and a wave of rioting. The document further describes the release of a document submitted by the NIO’s director of communications to the secretary of state as a “second major leak”. It claims a publicity strategy was released to the DUP in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement and showed how the UK Government would support a yes vote in a referendum following any talks agreement. In addition, it is claimed unionists used leaked sections of the Patten report on policing to invalidate its findings ahead of its publication in 1999. The report recommended the replacement of the Royal Ulster Constabulary with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the changing of symbols, and a 50-50 recruitment policy for Catholics and Protestants. At the time, UUP leader David Trimble said the recommendations would lead to a corruption of policing in Northern Ireland. Chris Patten, chairman of the independent commission on policing, said some of the assertions were a “total fabrication” and designed to “muddy the waters” to create a difficult political atmosphere. Elsewhere, the author notes it was leaked to the media there was serious disagreement between the governments of the UK and Ireland on the composition of that commission – with not a single name submitted by the Irish side being accepted by the other. The author notes this incident, still under the heading “NIO leaks”, was believed by British officials to have emanated from the Irish side. The report turns to leaks of other origin, claiming “disgruntled Special Branch officers in Northern Ireland” were blamed by the British Government for a series of releases about the IRA which were designed to damage Sinn Fein in the 2001 general election in Northern Ireland. One senior Whitehall source was quoted in the Guardian as complaining that Special Branch was “leaking like a sieve” after details of an IRA intelligence database containing the names of leading Tories – described at the time as a “hit list” – was passed to the BBC in April 2002. The briefing note adds: “This was followed days later by a leak to The Sunday Telegraph which alleged that senior IRA commanders bought Russian special forces rifles in Moscow last year. “The newspaper said it was passed details by military intelligence in London.” The briefing note adds that other Special Branch leaks were associated with the Castlereagh break-in. The final incident in the document notes the Police Ombudsman’s Report on the Omagh bombing was also leaked to the press in December 2001. Then Northern Ireland secretary John Reid said at the time: “Leaks are never helpful and usually malicious – I will not be commenting on this report until I have seen the final version.” The reason for creating the list of leaks, which the Irish National Archives holds in a folder alongside briefing notes for ministers ahead of meetings with officials from the UK Government and NIO, is not outlined in the document itself. – This document is based on material in 2024/130/6.