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n recent years, major new studies have tried to rehabilitate the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at age 100. They’ve emphasized a range of underappreciated accomplishments in everything from foreign policy to environmental protection and racial equity. These accounts still acknowledge Carter’s failures but balance them with a longer-term perspective on how his presidency changed the United States and the world. This positive reappraisal, however, hasn’t extended to . This makes sense considering how devastating the battle over health care was to Carter during his presidency. Congress rejected his major health care policy initiatives, and his grudging support for a much more limited national health insurance plan in part spurred Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) to challenge the incumbent Carter from the left in the 1980 Democratic presidential primary. Yet Carter’s health care record deserves a more nuanced evaluation. More than any other modern president, he took on the health care industry, as well as his own allies, by attempting to address the high costs of American health care. And his health care proposals pushed his party toward the policy strategies that eventually produced the landmark Affordable Care Act in 2010. Carter’s willingness to tackle the politically perilous task of offers a template for the kind of leadership and focus needed to address the health care system’s enduring flaws in 2024. Carter entered office at a moment when health care spending was skyrocketing. Between 1970 and January 1977, total national health expenditures had more than doubled, from $74 billion to $152 billion. As a percentage of gross domestic product, health care spending had risen from 6.9% to 8.1%. Much of this increase stemmed from the enactment of Medicare in 1965, with its generous . These formulas not only raised direct costs, but, critically, also allowed hospitals to generate new revenue streams that enabled them both to build capital reserves and take on debt by entering the bond markets. Hospitals in turn used this access to capital to build new facilities, renovate old ones and add sophisticated new equipment. This created a cost spiral as hospitals competed with one another on facilities and technology, rather than affordability. Carter tried to duck the issue of health care policy in the 1976 Democratic primary, but exploding prices, along with continued interest in national health insurance on the left flank of the Democratic Party, made that impossible. After Carter’s victory in the Florida primary in March 1976, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union demanded that he endorse national health insurance as a condition for receiving its critical endorsement. As an outsider from Georgia, Carter needed the union’s support. So after extended negotiations, he agreed to satisfy the UAW’s demand in an April 1976 speech. Even then, however, Carter refrained from backing Kennedy’s “Health Security Bill”—which offered complete single-payer public health coverage with no cost sharing and no role for private insurers—despite all of his main rivals for the Democratic nomination endorsing it. Instead, he described the general principles of a program that would be introduced in phases. Carter envisioned relying on private as well as public insurance, and his plan included checks on both hospital and physician fees to control costs. Carter also tied his program, in some unspecified way, to reductions to welfare. Since the union wanted to maintain influence if Carter won, this proposal was enough to secure its support. Carter went on to win the nomination and the election in 1976. As the president-elect and his team evaluated their priorities, concerns about the federal budget deficit and rising inflation took precedence over his campaign promise on health insurance. They decided to focus on hospital costs instead. As later put it, they couldn’t “even begin talking about affording a national health insurance program if hospital costs had an unlimited straw into the Federal Treasury.” Kennedy and other supporters of a deferred to the new president—but they were unhappy about it. They agreed about the need to control costs, but believed the two goals could be pursued simultaneously. By April 1977, the Carter team had drafted an innovative, two-part hospital cost containment proposal. The first part capped total hospital revenue growth at nine percent annually, with limited exceptions, achieved through a limit on average revenue per admission. The second part of the Carter bill audaciously proposed limiting total annual hospital capital expenditures to $2.5 billion nationally. This would cut spending for new facilities, and thus was key to slowing the rapid growth of the hospital sector. Together, the two prongs had the potential to be as transformative as Kennedy’s “Health Security Bill” because of the way they challenged unchecked hospital expansion and cost increases. The proposal triggered a brutal war. The industry organized an aggressive local lobbying campaign against the bill while implementing a much-hyped “voluntary effort” to control costs. , Carter’s special assistant for public liaison, explained that every local hospital board included "the president of the bank, the president of whatever local community organizations there were, the leading lights in all the religious organizations in town and so forth.” The hospitals’ powerful allies meant that Carter had lost public opinion, “before we ever got going.” Congress voted down Carter’s proposal multiple times between 1977 and 1979, dealing what he considered to be a crucial blow against his domestic agenda. Meanwhile, a frustrated Kennedy pressed the president to announce a national health insurance plan before the 1978 midterm elections. Carter recognized, however, that Kennedy had no support from moderate and conservative Democrats in Congress and pushed to defer release of a specific plan until the following year. Kennedy grudgingly agreed, but at the midterm Democratic convention that December, he savaged Carter’s inaction. Finally, in June 1979, Carter released a plan for the first phase of a program to achieve universal coverage. It relied on both public and private insurance to cover “catastrophic” medical costs, and it proposed federalizing Medicaid by combining it with Medicare into a new federal program known as “Healthcare.” This would have eliminated the state-to-state variations that made Medicaid an inconsistent and unequal vehicle for insuring low-income Americans. While covering all expenses for the poor, Healthcare had a $1250 deductible ($5151 in 2023 dollars) for higher income recipients. In addition, the Carter plan retained employer-provided private insurance with a mandate that employers offer at least catastrophic coverage for their workers for costs above a deductible of $2500. On the cost control side, the bill limited hospital capital expenditures and added a new system of physician fee controls. More comprehensive coverage, the administration argued, could be added as economic conditions allowed. Kennedy balked at the skimpy benefits, understanding that Congress could not be relied on to regularly expand coverage. Even so, Carter’s vision influenced him. Kennedy’s own proposal began to include public and private elements, including an employer mandate and a requirement that insurance companies provide marketing and administrative services for the plan’s public elements. It also included an annual national health budget to control costs. Neither bill made any real progress in Congress, and Kennedy’s frustrations fueled his decision to challenge Carter for the 1980 Democratic nomination. Despite the political damage done by Carter’s twin defeats on health care, he achieved two major things. First, he recognized the burgeoning cost control problems in the American health care system. His proposal, if passed, would have laid the foundation for a more cost effective and equal system. He understood that such hospital cost containment was a prerequisite for achieving universal coverage. Second, Carter changed the terms of the health care debate for Democrats. No longer would they push universal federally provided insurance like Kennedy’s proposal from the early 1970s had done. Instead, Bill Clinton (unsuccessfully) and eventually Barack Obama in his signature bill in 2010 both embraced a mixture of public and private health insurance that built on Carter’s legacy. Its debatable whether this shift was positive, but it marked a key step toward our current system. The other element of Carter’s health care agenda—the critical but politically perilous problem of high costs—remains largely unaddressed. While President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act took important steps to control the costs of prescription drugs, those only account for nine percent of healthcare costs. Also under Biden, the Federal Trade Commission has increased its scrutiny of both horizontal and vertical hospital mergers, but this has had limited effects and is largely after-the-fact, as the industry has already undergone significant consolidation. Unlike Carter, Biden has not pursued the direct regulation of costs stemming from hospitals, physicians, and clinical services, despite them accounting for 51 percent of health care costs. With cost problems still plaguing Americans in 2023, Carter has proved right on health care. While he couldn’t bend Congress to his will, his hospital spending caps could have prevented many of the challenges we continue to confront. The question now is whether today’s political leaders have the courage to follow his lead. ,Posing on red carpet at film premiere, Gray after another trip in taxpayer funded limo Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport By TOM GORDON DEPUTY SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 21:56, 25 November 2024 | Updated: 22:02, 25 November 2024 e-mail View comments Neil Gray is facing more claims he indulged himself at the taxpayers’ expense after being chauffeured to a star-studded film premiere. The Health Secretary, who grew up in Orkney where the film is set, previously said ‘cannot wait to see this’ on social media. The updated register of ministerial engagements states he met with Screen Scotland at a ‘reception’ that night about ‘culture’. Mr Gray, who took over the health portfolio in February after a year with the economy brief, last had ministerial responsibility for culture in March 2023. After visiting the cinema with his wife Karlie, the Airdrie and Shotts MSP took a ministerial limo from another Film Festival venue to a ‘personal address’. Health Minister Neil Gray and his wife on the red carpet at the premiere Saoirse Ronan starred in Amy Liptrot’s The Outrun and appeared at the red carpet event in Edinburgh Mr Gray, 38, did have a series of health-related meetings in Edinburgh earlier involving the BMA, NHS Forth Valley and a ‘health workforce roundtable’. But the Film Festival event was the last ‘ministerial’ engagement of the day. The government refused to say why Mr Gray attended, what ministerial business was discussed, or whether he took a family member or guest – as he did to the football. A spokesman said: ‘Ministers attend sporting and cultural events as part of their ministerial duties.’ Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport Advertisement The Outrun, based on Orcadian writer Amy Liptrot’s memoir about recovering from alcoholism, was well-known to Mr Gray. In December last year, he reposted a message on X about it being shown at the Sundance Film Festival in the US the following month. He wrote: ‘Cannot wait to see this!’ Mr Gray apologised to parliament this month after taking official limos to eight football matches in around two years, four involving Aberdeen. He admitted the many Aberdeen matches gave ‘the impression of acting more as a fan and less as a minister’. He said yesterday he would continue to attend games, but would ‘get the balance right’. Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: ‘There is a growing pattern of behaviour from Neil Gray. He has serious questions to answer over why he was chauffeured in the ministerial limo to and from a film premiere. ‘It looks as though he likes to use his position of privilege to indulge in his favourite passions, rather than focusing on his actual job. ‘The scandal smacks of another SNP cover-up and it won’t go away until he is fully upfront about why he was at certain events and if any government business actually took place.’ Edinburgh Share or comment on this article: Posing on red carpet at film premiere, Gray after another trip in taxpayer funded limo e-mail Add commentapp superph 。

'Yuppie Christmas': KCRA archive report shares a look at 'high-tech' gadgets in 1983

Polestar Automotive Holding UK (NASDAQ:PSNY) Trading Up 4.2% – Should You Buy?To entice shoppers on Black Friday, major retail chains intend to showcase interactive products and experiences, including Ray Ban augmented-reality glasses, extra-extra-large TVs at electronics retailer Best Buy BBY.N and new spa services at US department store chain Nordstrom Inc JWN.N. But with a shorter holiday season, retailers also were stocking plenty of basic favorites, such as NikeNKE.N fleece clothing at Dick's Sporting Goods DKS.N stores, and On Holding ONON.N and Deckers Outdoor's DECK.N Hoka sneakers at Nordstrom locations. A record 183.4 million people are planning to shop in-store and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year, up from 182 million last year, according to the National Retail Federation, a US trade group. Executives from five US specialty retail chains on Tuesday described plans to draw people to stores. But executives at four retailers said in conference calls with investors that either they — or shoppers — were "cautious" or approaching the holidays "prudently." On the whole, retailers anticipate the slowest growth in holiday season sales since 2018 as shoppers continue to wrestle with high prices. Shoppers are more likely to make only selective holiday-related purchases rather than splurge. Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joseph Feldman said shoppers will "price check" more frequently before actually making a purchase. Earn rewards on your spending: Best credit cards for shopping At Nordstrom, with 381 stores in the US, "we're hosting experiences and events to celebrate the holiday, from virtual events with fashion experts to festive in-store experiences across the country like letters to Santa, Holiday Glam Up Days, the one-day-only Beauty Bash and more," said President Peter Nordstrom. His brother, Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom, cited slower October demand as a reason to keep expectations for the fourth quarter in check. Shorter season With just 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas — five fewer than last year — retail executives are less exuberant in their outlook. "We did want to be appropriately cautious given the two factors, one being just the uncertain macroeconomic environment and then also the fewer holiday days," Lauren Hobart, CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods, told investors in its third quarter conference call on Tuesday. "People are waking up and talking to it. I'm hearing even people in my life talk about how, 'Oh, my gosh, Christmas is coming.' They have to quickly accelerate the gift buying," Hobart said. She said Dick's, which has 864 stores, strategically tweaked its inventory to stock more Nike NKE.N fleece clothing, a popular basic, in a variety of sizes and colors. Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch ANF.N lifted its forecast for the holiday quarter, anticipating strong demand for sweaters, jeans, knit bottoms and fleece products at its Gen-Z-focused Hollister stores and millennial-focused Abercrombie stores. Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said the electronics retailer is reintroducing both "Doorbuster" deals and a holiday gift ideas section on its website, featuring curated gift lists that include crafting and self-care products as well as travel and gaming items. It is adding displays of extra-extra-large TVs over 97 inches, Ray-Ban AR glasses and the new Oura Ring, which provides personalized insights into sleep, stress and fitness, Barry said. Holiday shopping: Record number of holiday shoppers will scout for deals over Thanksgiving weekend High prices Prices are somewhat high across a range of discretionary merchandise from jeans to shoes to phones, making the typical mall trip relatively expensive. Retailers that sell non-essential merchandise including sports equipment, furniture and home goods will have to lean on deep discounts, which could erode operating profits, according to S&P Global Ratings. "It is possible that consumers will wait until the last minute to see if there are any bargains that emerge. If retailers don't discount items, then shoppers might opt for gift cards to help keep within their holiday budget," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management, which has a stake in Walmart WMT.N. Struggling department store retailer Kohl's KSS.N on Tuesday provided a bleak outlook for the holiday quarter, anticipating a larger sales decline than previously expected. Despite this, Kohl's said it had aggressive plans for the holiday, with plans to expand product selection including sweaters, fleece, stocking stuffers, toys, Sephora gift sets, box jewelry and cold-weather bedding from brands like Cuddl Duds. Outgoing CEO Tom Kingsbury said Kohl's would leverage influencers and social media marketing and lean into promotional materials such as flyers based on customer feedback. It will also highly promote its Kohl's Cash rewards program — where shoppers earn cash back on every purchase — and offer more targeted promotions to its 4 million Kohl Rewards members. Nordstrom, in contrast, lifted the lower end of its annual sales forecast for the year. "The majority of the holiday season is in front of us. We feel really great about... our holiday plans," said CEO Erik Nordstrom. "The consumer is bifurcated but so are companies," said Jamie Meyers, senior analyst at Laffer Tengler Investments. "Those that pivot win, and those that don't get left in the dust." Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Shares Down 5.8% – Here’s Why

Dear Santa Interview: Farrelly Brothers on Working With Jack Black & Post MaloneELON MUSK HAS caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on 23 February after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalise the country’s stagnant economy. Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag – a sister publication of Politico owned by the Axel Springer Group – published in German over the weekend was the second time this month that he has supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD. “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” he wrote in his translated commentary. He went on to say that the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality”. The Tesla Motors chief executive also wrote that his investment in Germany gives him the right to comment on the country’s condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, , has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. Billionaire Musk, an ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, challenged the party’s public image in his opinion piece. “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Musk’s commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper’s own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Musk’s social media platform, X. Eva Marie Kogel wrote: “I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print.” A critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, accompanied Musk’s opinion piece. “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong,” he wrote. Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Burgard – who is due to take over on 1 January – said in a joint statement that the discussion over Musk’s piece was “very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.” “This will continue to determine the compass of the ‘world’ in the future. We will develop ‘Die Welt’ even more decisively as a forum for such debates,” they wrote to dpa.

Alex Jones’ bankruptcy judge orders new hearing on The Onion’s Infowars bid

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Darren Rizzi would be an unconventional choice to take over the New Orleans Saints' head coaching job on a permanent basis. That doesn't mean it can't happen. The Saints (4-7) had been on a seven-game skid when Rizzi, the club's special teams coordinator, was promoted. They've since won two straight, and as the club entered its Week 12 bye, prominent players were already discussing their desire to continue improving Rizzi's resume. “He’s definitely had an impact on our football team,” quarterback Derek Carr said after New Orleans' 35-14 victory over Cleveland last weekend. “We want to keep winning so that maybe he gets a chance to be the coach here for a long time. “That’s what we want as players,” Carr continued. "Hopefully, we can continue to have success, keep winning and give him that opportunity.” Before the Saints' demoralizing defeat at Carolina precipitated the firing of third-year coach Dennis Allen , Rizzi had never been a head coach at the NFL or major college level. The north New Jersey native and former Rhode Island tight end got his first head coaching job at Division II New Haven in 1999. He also coached his alma mater in 2008 before moving to the NFL with Miami in 2009 as a special teams assistant. By 2010, he was the Dolphins' special teams coordinator and added the title of associate head coach in 2017 before ex-Saints coach Sean Payton lured him to New Orleans in 2019. A common thread shared by Payton and Rizzi is that both worked under Bill Parcells. Parcells — known best for winning two Super Bowls as coach of the New York Giants — was coaching the Dallas Cowboys when Payton was his offensive coordinator. Rizzi, who grew up a Giants fan during the Parcells era, got to know his childhood idol during his first couple years in Miami, where Parcells executive vice president of football operations. Since his promotion, Rizzi has spoken to both Payton and Parcells. And he has begun to employ motivational techniques reminiscent of Payton, who left New Orleans in 2022 as the franchise leader in wins (152 in the regular season and nine in the postseason — including New Orleans' lone Super Bowl triumph). Payton as a big believer of symbolic imagery and motivational props, from baseball bats distributed before contests that were expected to be especially physical to gas cans left in the lockers of aging veterans whose performance was key to the club's success. Rizzi, who describes himself as a “blue collar” guy, has his own spin on such things. He began his tenure by asking players to accept individual responsibility for the metaphorical hole the team had dug itself and asked them all to embrace the idea of filling it up — one shovelful at a time. He even has brought a shovel — as well as a hammer, tape measure, level and other construction tools — to team meetings to help make his points. Saints tight end Taysom Hill, who also plays on special teams, has gotten to know Rizzi well during a half-decade of working together. Hill doesn't sound surprised to see Rizzi's combination of work ethic, enthusiasm and personal touch resonating across the entire team now. He also made a lot of changes , from weekly schedule adjustments to reconfiguring players' lockers by position. “He has a really good pulse on what we need collectively as a team to get ready for a football game," said Hill, who scored three touchdowns and accounted for 248 yards as a runner, receiver, passer and returner against Cleveland. “Guys have responded to that.” Because Rizzi's first victory came over the first-place Atlanta Falcons , and because the Falcons lost again last week, the Saints now trail Atlanta by just two games with six to play. Suddenly, the idea of the Saints playing meaningful football down the stretch is not so far-fetched. “We’re starting to get our swag back, and that makes me happy,” Rizzi said. ”We’re going to have some downtime now to kind of press the reset button again and see if we can make a push here." When the Saints return to action at home against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec 1, they'll do so with a level of momentum and positivity that seemed to steadily drain out of the club between their first loss of the season in Week 3 through the six straight setbacks that followed. While Saints players have tended to blame themselves for Allen's demise, they've been quick to credit Rizzi for the turnaround. “He’s pointed us and steered the ship in the right direction,” Carr said. “Hopefully, we can just keep executing at a high level for him, because we love him.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflArmalytix Partners with Birchall Blackburn Law to Revolutionize Financial Verification in Conveyancing

Germany's Merkel recalls Putin's 'power games' and contrasting US presidents in her memoirs

Week 13 college football lines and picksKathleen “Butchie” Muscatell went to be with her Lord and Savior on November 19, 2024. She is reunited with the love of her life Tom, and their son Kim. She was born on April 21, 1932 in Mandan, ND. She split her time between Cotton Lake near Detroit Lakes, MN and Bradenton, FL. She was known for her warm hospitality, always welcoming friends and family into her home. Never one to meet a stranger, she kept her candy drawer stocked with sweet treats, eager to share with all who stopped by. Butchie dedicated much of her life to volunteer work, and was an active member of several organizations. She was a proud member of The P.E.O. Sisterhood, Cotton Lake Pride and Joy Homemakers, president of the YWCA and the president of The Children’s Village Family Services. She is survived by her children: Brett (Gina), Ward (Debra), Kathy (Vann), and Marc. Butchie is also survived by 10 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren, who were the light of her life. An avid sports fan, she favored the MN Vikings, always donning her purple and gold suit on game days. She and Tom missed very few NDSU Bison home football games. Butchie was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Her kindness, compassion, and ability to see the best in everyone will be deeply missed by all who knew her. A family memorial will be held in Mandan, ND at a later date. Online condolences can be made at www.shannonfuneralhomes.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to P.E.O. Chapter DS-El in Bradenton Florida, Cotton Lake Pride and Joy Homemakers, Tidewell Hospice in Bradenton, or United Presbyterian Church in Bradenton are preferred.Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) aspirants have been demanding a re-examination of the 70th Combined Competitive Examination (CCE), which was held on December 13, alleging irregularities in the exam. However, their protest intensified on Sunday in Patna and the police resorted to cane-charge and the use of water cannons. Thousands of students gathered at Gandhi Maidan and later marched toward JP Golambar. A heavy police presence was deployed to manage the escalating protests. The police team was led by Patna Central SP, Sweety Sahrawat. But who is IPS Sweety Sahrawat? She became Patna Central SP earlier this year. She is a Bihar cadre IPS officer who cleared the UPSC exam with All India Rank (AIR) 187. IPS Sahrawat was earlier posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Aurangabad, Bihar. The young officer holds a B.Tech (ECE) degree from Delhi Technological University. Her father was a Delhi Police head constable who died in a road accident in 2013. IPS Sahrawat had quit her job as a design engineer to fulfil her father’s dream of seeing her become an IAS officer. She cracked UPSC CSE 2019 to become an IPS officer. She is a native of Aurangabad district. She is now in the news because she is leading the police team during the BPSC protest in Patna. Last year in September, a video of her talking with Kerala's former Governor and retired IPS officer Nikhil Kumar went viral. Kumar went to the residence of then ASP Sehrawat after several people complained to him about rising cases of theft in the city.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw one short pass in the open portion of practice for the San Francisco 49ers as he remains slowed by an injury to his throwing shoulder that has already forced him to miss a game. Purdy spent the bulk of the session of Wednesday's practice open to reporters as either a spectator or executing handoffs outside of one short pass to Jordan Mason. Purdy hurt his shoulder during a loss to Seattle on Nov. 17. He tried to throw at practice last Thursday but had soreness in his right shoulder and shut it down. He missed a loss to Green Bay but was able to do some light throwing on Monday. His status for this week remains in doubt as the Niners (5-6) prepare to visit Buffalo on Sunday night. Purdy isn't the only key player for San Francisco dealing with injuries. Left tackle Trent Williams and defensive end Nick Bosa remain sidelined at practice Wednesday after missing last week's game. Williams was using a scooter to get around the locker room as he deals with a left ankle injury. Bosa has been out with injuries to his left hip and oblique. Bosa said the week off helped him make progress and that he hopes to be able to take part in individual drills later in the week. Bosa wouldn't rule out being able to play on Sunday. "It’s feeling a lot better,” Bosa said. “Still need to get better before I’m ready to go. This week will be big and I’ll know a lot more in the next couple of days.” Running back Christian McCaffrey has been able to play, but isn't back to the form that helped him win AP Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 after missing the first eight games this season with Achilles tendinitis. McCaffrey has 149 yards rushing in three games back with his 3.5 yards per carry down significantly from last season's mark of 5.4. But he is confident he will be able to get back to his usual level of play. “When you lose and maybe you don’t jump out on the stat sheet, your failures are highlighted,” he said. “I’m happy I’m out here playing football and I just know with time it will come.” Coach Kyle Shanahan said he has liked what he has seen from McCaffrey, adding that there hasn't been much room to run in recent weeks. But Shanahan said it takes time to get back to speed after McCaffrey had almost no practice time for nine months. “Guys who miss offseasons and miss training camp, usually it takes them a little bit of time at the beginning of the year to get back into how they were the year before, let alone missing half the season also on top of that,” Shanahan said. “I think Christian’s doing a hell of a job. But to just think him coming back in Week 8 with not being able to do anything for the last nine months or whatever it is, and to think he’s just going to be in MVP form is a very unrealistic expectation.” NOTES: LB Dre Greenlaw took part in his first practice since tearing his Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl. Greenlaw will likely need a couple of weeks of practice before being able to play. ... LB Fred Warner said he has been dealing with a fracture in his ankle since Week 4 and is doing his best to manage the pain as he plays through it. ... CB Deommodore Lenoir didn't practice after banging knees on Sunday. His status for this week remains in question. ... DT Jordan Elliott (concussion), OL Aaron Banks (concussion) and LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee) also didn't practice. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

NoneBad actors are seeking cryptocurrency in almost every scheme tracked by the FBI. From fraudulent investments to tech support and romance scams, and most recently, a surge in employment scams. And as Bitcoin reaches record highs, Special Agent David Paniwozik with FBI Baltimore sees more people wanting to capitalize on cryptocurrency. “The fear of missing out. So, they want to get involved, try to make money, and it seems like a quick, easy way to do it,” said SA Paniwozik. But a major problem is this technology is still unfamiliar to investors, making them more susceptible to scams. “There is no cap on whether you want to move $1 to hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. You can just seamlessly move that from a wallet controlled in the United States to a wallet controlled overseas, in, you know, a matter of seconds,” SA Paniwozik warned. Scammers set up their own cryptocurrency exchanges, making you believe your investment has grown exponentially, or they say you must make cryptocurrency payments to “unlock work” that offers high payouts. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint issued an alert in June about this work-from-home scam. “It's this confusing compensation structure that the scammers try to tell them, and it looks like, hey, if I pay $10 to rate this product, I'll get $15 in return, so then once they do that round, the scammer says, okay, well, you need to deposit more money to get to the next round of work,” said SA Paniwozik. And when victims go to cash out, they’re told they can’t. SA Paniwozik has seen a huge spike in reports of employment scams involving cryptocurrency. Reported losses in Maryland went from $32,033 in 2023 to $3.8 million between January and October of this year. “So you're looking at about $15,000 to $20,000 per person on average that has fallen victim in Maryland alone to these scams,” said SA Paniwozik. Cryptocurrency is desired by scammers because transactions are instant and irrevocable, but that doesn’t mean they’re untraceable. “On the blockchain, we can look up those addresses, and then if we wanted to reverse trace it, we could find, let's say it's a certain exchange that paid into this wallet, we can then serve legal processes to say, hey, can you give us a list of all user accounts that paid into this address and possibly contact those victims live and say, hey, you're currently being the victim of one of these scams,” SA Paniwozik detailed. It’s a new proactive approach by the FBI as these scams become more prevalent and costly. According to the FBI’s 2023 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report , cryptocurrency-related complaints only made up around 10 percent of total financial fraud complaints, however, the stolen value accounted for almost 50 percent of total losses. Click here to see the other 12 Scams of Christmas. This story was originally published by Mallory Sofastaii at Scripps News Baltimore .

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- American Legion National Commander James A. LaCoursiere, Jr., issued the following statement today concerning the passing of former President Jimmy Carter: "President Carter was a Legionnaire, a distinguished Navy veteran and a devout Christian. His commitment to human rights and community service was respected worldwide. He lived longer than any president in American history and made the most of his post-presidential years by strongly advocating for world peace and improving the lives of the disadvantaged. His energy, integrity and humility were admired by people across the political spectrum. President Carter's wife, Rosalynn, was a leader in mental health awareness. They will both be missed. Our condolences to the entire Carter family and the many lives that they have touched, especially in their home state of Georgia." During an address to The American Legion's 1980 national convention, President Carter described his vision for America on the world stage. "We do not maintain our power in order to seize power from others. Our goal is to strengthen our own freedom and the freedom of others, to advance the dignity of the individual and the right of all people to justice, to a good life, and to a future secure from tyranny. In choosing our course in the world, America's strength serves American values," he said. About The American Legion The American Legion , the nation's largest veterans organization, is dedicated to the motto of "Veterans Strengthening America." Chartered by Congress in 1919, The American Legion is committed to mentoring youth and sponsoring wholesome community programs, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting a strong national security and continued devotion to service members and veterans. It has made suicide prevention its top priority through its Be the One mission . Nearly 1.6 million members in more than 12,000 posts across the nation and regions overseas serve their communities with a devotion to mutual helpfulness. Media contact: John Raughter, jraughter@legion.org , 317.630.1350 View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-american-legion-mourns-passing-of-president-carter-302339974.html SOURCE The American Legion