IN the last two weeks, we have been talking about language standards, standard language and linguistic prescriptivism. Besides one's (English) language teacher and a language editor, an average person's chance encounter with an extremist linguistic prescriptivist would have to be with a so-called grammar Nazi. Grammar Nazis, also called grammar police, are often self-proclaimed language and grammar experts who seem to know every grammatical rule in the language or capable of listing "all" the grammatical rules in the language (which even those with PhDs in linguistics will not be able to do!). These people admittedly have a very good command of the language, are often verbose and speak very well. They could have been properly trained, too, although it is also possible they simply have spent more time reading grammar books and style guides to be able to learn about grammar more than the average person. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.
Star Wars Outlaws Update Brings Much-Needed Gameplay Improvements - IGN Daily FixJulie Appleby | KFF Health News Unauthorized switching of Affordable Care Act plans appears to have tapered off in recent weeks based on an almost one-third drop in casework associated with consumer complaints, say federal regulators . The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the ACA, credits steps taken to thwart enrollment and switching problems that triggered more than 274,000 complaints this year through August. Now, the annual ACA open enrollment period that began Nov. 1 poses a real-world test: Will the changes curb fraud by rogue agents or brokerages without unduly slowing the process of enrolling or reducing the total number of sign-ups for 2025 coverage? “They really have this tightrope to walk,” said Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. “The more you tighten it up to prevent fraud, the more barriers there are that could inhibit enrollment among those who need the coverage.” CMS said in July that some types of policy changes — those in which the agent is not “affiliated” with the existing plan — will face more requirements, such as a three-way call with the consumer, broker, and a healthcare.gov call center representative. In August, the agency barred two of about a dozen private sector online-enrollment platforms from connecting with healthcare.gov over concerns related to improper switching. And CMS has suspended 850 agents suspected of being involved in unauthorized plan-switching from accessing the ACA marketplace. Still, the clampdown could add complexity to enrollment and slow the process. For example, a consumer might have to wait in a queue for a three-way call, or scramble to find a new agent because the one they previously worked with had been suspended. Given that phone lines with healthcare.gov staff already get busy — especially during mid-December — agents and policy analysts advise consumers not to dally this year. “Hit the ground running,” said Ronnell Nolan, president and CEO of Health Agents for America, a professional organization for brokers. Meanwhile, reports are emerging that some rogue entities are already figuring out workarounds that could undermine some of the anti-fraud protections CMS put in place, Nolan said. “Bottom line is: Fraud and abuse is still happening,” Nolan said. Brokers assist the majority of people actively enrolling in ACA plans and are paid a monthly commission by insurers for their efforts. Consumers can compare plans or enroll themselves online through federal or state marketplace websites. They can also seek help from people called assisters or navigators — certified helpers who are not paid commissions. Under a “find local help” button on the federal and state ACA websites , consumers can search for nearby brokers or navigators. CMS says it has “ramped up support operations” at its healthcare.gov marketplace call centers, which are open 24/7, in anticipation of increased demand for three-way calls, and it expects “minimal wait times,” said Jeff Wu, deputy director for policy of the CMS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. Wu said those three-way calls are necessary only when an agent or a broker not already associated with a consumer’s enrollment wants to change that consumer’s enrollment or end that consumer’s coverage. It does not apply to people seeking coverage for the first time. Organizations paid by the government to offer navigator services have a dedicated phone line to the federal marketplace, and callers are not currently experiencing long waits, said Xonjenese Jacobs, director of Florida Covering Kids & Families, a program based at the University of South Florida that coordinates enrollment across the state through its Covering Florida navigator program. Navigators can assist with the three-way calls if a consumer’s situation requires it. “Because we have our quick line in, there’s no increased wait time,” Jacobs said. The problem of unauthorized switches has been around for a while but took off during last year’s open enrollment season. Brokers generally blamed much of the problem on the ease with which rogue agents can access ACA information in the federal marketplace, needing only a person’s name, date of birth, and state of residence. Though federal regulators have worked to tighten that access with the three-way call requirement, they stopped short of instituting what some agent groups say is needed: two-factor authentication, which could involve a code accessed by a consumer through a smartphone. Unauthorized switches can lead to a host of problems for consumers, from higher deductibles to landing in new networks that do not include their preferred physicians or hospitals. Some people have received tax bills when unauthorized policies came with premium credits for which they did not qualify. Unauthorized switches posed a political liability for the Biden administration, a blemish on two years of record ACA enrollment. The practice drew criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle; Democrats demanded more oversight and punishment of rogue agents, while Republicans said fraud attempts were fueled by Biden administration moves that allowed for more generous premium subsidies and special enrollment periods. The fate of those enhanced subsidies, which are set to expire, will be decided by Congress next year as the Trump administration takes power. But the premiums and subsidies that come with 2025 plans that people are enrolling in now will remain in effect for the entire year. The actions taken this year to thwart the unauthorized enrollments apply to the federal marketplace, used by 31 states . The remaining states and the District of Columbia run their own websites, with many having in place additional layers of security. Related Articles Health | Feds suspend ACA marketplace access to companies accused of falsely promising ‘cash cards’ Health | More foods are making us sick: What to know as foodborne outbreaks hit Health | At least 19 people are sick in Minnesota from ground beef tied to E. coli recall Health | Which health insurance plan may be right for you? Health | Pay first, deliver later: Some women are being asked to prepay for their baby For its part, CMS says its efforts are working, pointing to the 30% drop in complaint casework. The agency also noted a 90% drop in the number of times an agent’s name was replaced by another’s, which it says indicates that it is tougher for rival agents to steal clients to gain the monthly commissions that insurers pay. Still, the move to suspend 850 agents has drawn pushback from agent groups that initially brought the problem to federal regulators’ attention. They say some of those accused were suspended before getting a chance to respond to the allegations. “There will be a certain number of agents and brokers who are going to be suspended without due process,” said Nolan, with the health agents’ group. She said that it has called for increased protections against unauthorized switching and that two-factor authentication, like that used in some state marketplaces or in the financial sector, would be more effective than what’s been done. “We now have to jump through so many hoops that I’m not sure we’re going to survive,” she said of agents in general. “They are just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks when they could just do two-factor.” The agency did not respond to questions asking for details about how the 850 agents suspended since July were selected, the states where they were located, or how many had their suspensions reversed after supplying additional information.CHRISTINA Hendry was among those to pay tribute to Alex Salmond at the former first minister's memorial service on Saturday. Hendry described her "Uncle Alex" as a “political giant, a strong leader, a fearless campaigner” but also remembered his as a “dearly loved husband, brother and uncle”. While she said he had been “the top man in Scotland”, he had “always made time for his family”, recalling how he phoned her brother on his birthday – the day after the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 – to apologise for not posting a card “as he’d been busy”, before telling them he would “resigning in 10 minutes”. Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond To the world, he was a political giant, a strong leader, a fearless campaigner. To us he was a dearly loved husband, brother and uncle. Uncle Alex was born on Hogmanay 1954 to Mary and Robert Salmond of Linlithgow, the second of 4 children- Margaret, Alex, Gail and Bob. I was always told about their happy childhoods on the council housing scheme where they grew up. Uncle Alex was born in the family home on Preston Road and being born within the sound of bells of St Michaels made him a ‘Black Bitch’. On the night he was born his dad and Uncle were out celebrating both his birth, and Hogmanay. They were wearing green party hats, but as it had rained the dye ran and they arrived home with green faces. Not a great look for Hearts fans! It was a football household, and growing up the family supported both Heart of Midlothian and Linlithgow Rose. Supporting 2 teams that played in maroon certainly saved money on football scarves, as Uncle Alex always said. He continued to support football throughout his life and we were recently reminded of the story, where the night before his Higher History exam Uncle Alex travelled to Wolverhampton to watch Hearts in the second leg of the final of the 1971 Texaco cup. Hearts won the game but lost the final on aggregate. Uncle Alex studied on the bus, just making it back in time for his exam but still managed to get an A. READ MORE: Kenny MacAskill's full tribute to Alex Salmond at Edinburgh memorial Funnily enough I do not recall hearing this story until I was well past the exam stage of my life. The household was also proudly Scottish, and Auntie Margaret remembers Alex listening avidly to his Granda Salmond telling tales of Scottish history, particularly when it concerned Linlithgow. This love for history, and for Scotland, continued throughout his life. He went on to study Economics and Medieval history at St Andrews University. He then began a job as an assistant economist with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in Edinburgh. He met Moira McGlashan and they were married in May 1981. They had a wonderful 43 years of marriage. They gained the titles of Auntie Moira and Uncle Alex, firstly to Auntie Margaret’s children Neil and Ian, then to my sister Karen, me and my brother Mark. In 1985 Uncle Alex sought selection for the seat of Banff and Buchan, in the North East of Scotland. This was handy as his older sister Margaret had married a farmer from Longside, his younger sister Gail was engaged to a Fraserburgh Loon (my father) and his younger brother Bob helped run the student nationalists at Aberdeen University. Uncle Alex fought many a successful election in the North East and my sister and I have happy memories as children at Turiff show, where he was the one asking us to go on the rides with him. He was the top man in Scotland but always made time for his family. My sister, Karen, was born the day after Margaret Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but my mum still remembers Uncle Alex and Auntie Moira visiting the new baby. He, of course, ignored the hospital visiting times and walked in saying “This is the first time that the Tories caused Labour to gain another vote for the SNP ”. READ MORE : I went to Alex Salmond's memorial service - this is what it was like In his early days of politics, Neil remembers him staying at the Longside farm and bringing bags of sweeties. My cousin Ian has memories playing golf together following the 2014 Ryder cup. I was only 12 when Uncle Alex became First Minister and remember he made a point of visiting my 1 st year art class, as he had been on an official visit nearby, much to the bemusement of my classmates. My brother Mark’s birthday is on 19th September, and in 2014 the day after the independence referendum Uncle Alex phoned to say ‘Happy Birthday’, and apologised for forgetting to post the card as he’d been busy. Then he said – by the way I’m resigning in 10 minutes! Another part of Uncle Alex’s life was his singing talent. In his younger years he was a lead boy soprano. My mum, Gail, was taken to St Michael’s Church in Linlithgow age 4 to see a performance and remembers saying proudly, “that’s my big brother”. Something she has said many more times in the decades that followed. As his family we always felt loved, no matter how far away he was or the time that passed before we saw him next. We always knew he was standing up for our country, and for that we were grateful. We were more than happy to join him on his political journey, standing alongside those who stood by him. In the past 3 and a half years we have had great fun with him in the Alba party. We saw a passion rekindled. Last year my mum and I took part in his fringe show with Tasmina and David Davis, “The Ayes Have it”. We were clerks of the court. Possibly because the one person who would not be afraid to ring the bell to stop Uncle Alex speaking was his wee sister. But I’ll be honest, we were likely more generous with his time, sorry David. On the 10 year anniversary of the referendum, at a sold out event at the Imax in Glasgow, Uncle Alex was on top form. He had a way of bringing different people together and letting their voices be heard. And the truly magical thing about Uncle Alex was the fact that everybody gathered here today is from a different walk of life. Not all of you shared his views, not all of you shared his politics, but you could all appreciate his fierce intellect, his sharp wit, his generosity of spirit, and his true love for Scotland and all things Scottish. Right up until the end he was fighting to save Scotland’s only oil refinery, working to reverse cuts to winter fuel payments for pensioners in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, and championing Scotland on the international stage. He always said he was proud of us, but we were proud of him every single day. The world will be a much quieter place without Uncle Alex; for Moira, for the wider family and for Scotland. Uncle Alex passing means a great loss for many. A loss of Scotland’s voice on the international stage. A loss of integrity in Scottish politics. A great loss to Scotland’s independence movement. As a family it is a loss we will never get over. A loss of someone to ring up, whether it be for a betting tip for the big race or with a problem that you knew he could solve. For us it’s a loss of his stories round the dinner table of family tales and Scottish history. A loss of his ever optimistic view and his will to power on. But as a family, we will endeavour to continue his life’s work and the things left unfinished. He instilled in us a strength and it is with that strength that we will continue. Continue his legacy and continue his ambition for the independence of our nation. It seems only fitting that for a man with such an appreciation for Scottish arts and culture, that we should finish with words of our national poet Robert Burns. An honest man here lies at rest, As e’er God with His image blest: The friend of man, the friend of truth; The friend of age, and guide of youth: Few harts like his, with virtue warm’d, Few heeds with knowledge so inform’d: If there’s another world, he lives in bliss; If there is nane, he made the best of this.
NoneAutry scores 16 as George Washington downs Illinois State 72-64
LOS ANGELES — The first day, Kamari Ramsey didn’t speak much. Didn’t speak at all, really. Anthony Brown had trained plenty of high school athletes before, a group with natural attention spans as thin as the blades of grass under their cleats, and Brown could only assume the worst from a kid who wouldn’t even glorify him with a response. “Is he really paying attention to me,” Brown wondered as he set up a cone drill. Ramsey didn’t speak much. He, Brown came to find, was simply observing. They ran through an exercise, out there a few years back at Valencia Park in Santa Clarita, focused on placing power on the big toe and moving with quick feet. Brown, a highly regarded defensive backs trainer in Southern California, plopped into a chair to listen to the pat-pat-pat of his athletes’ feet. Ramsey, the future USC safety, did it perfectly. Exactly as Brown explained. And there, observing Ramsey right back, Brown found himself wondering why in the heck he even needed to train the kid. “The way he listens – see, people just think he’s quiet,” Brown said of Ramsey, who he’s worked with for years since. “But he’s listening to what’s going on, and that’s crazy. A lot of football players don’t have that. A lot of football players want to finish a coach’s sentence.” “That’s the most beautiful thing,” Brown continued, “about this young man.” D’Anton Lynn didn’t speak much either, growing up in Celina, Texas. It was a town dominated by football, where D’Anton’s father Anthony had left a lasting legacy as a running back at Celina High, and Lynn knew from the earliest of ages that he wanted to follow in the footsteps, childhood friend Breck Holman said. So Lynn didn’t party. Didn’t smoke. Didn’t drink. And he didn’t talk, until you got to know him, Holman remembered, Lynn an analytical defensive back whose best attribute was his mind. And he found a hand-in-glove fit with Ramsey, in the 35-year-old Lynn’s first year as a coordinator last season at UCLA, the young safety a staple of a defensive turnaround. When USC head coach Lincoln Riley hired Lynn across town, Ramsey was stunned. Is this real ? he texted his father at the start of December, when the news broke . A few weeks later, Ramsey followed, transferring to USC for a comfortability in Lynn deeper than football: Their personalities, in many ways, are one and the same. “Kamari really liked that he had a coach,” his sister, Staci, reflected in the winter, “that could understand him.” This year at USC has been just Lynn’s second as a coordinator in collegiate football. He was the figurehead of a full-scale defensive change in system, staff and philosophy. And he’s largely lived up to the billing heading into a reunion with UCLA this weekend, pulling together a 43rd-ranked defense that’s often performed greater than the sum of its parts. The most important piece in the foundation, ultimately, has been the connection with Ramsey. “It meant a ton to me, especially,” Lynn said Tuesday, of Ramsey following him. “Just having him here, I feel like, jump-started this entire thing.” The stats don’t necessarily explode, but tell enough of a story. The 6-foot-204-pound Ramsey, in eight games, is fourth on the team with 43 tackles. His two sacks are tied for the program lead on a struggling pass-rush. His five pass deflections are a team high. More important, though, has been the redshirt sophomore’s clutch playmaking, honed by years of quick-reaction footwork drills with Brown and an innate ability to read the game that’s reflected in Lynn’s own steel-eyed stare. Through the eight games Ramsey’s played in, USC has come up with a timely total of 78 third and fourth-down stops, the most apparent feather in Lynn’s cap from this 2024 unit. Ramsey has accounted for 18% of them either via tackle or pass-breakup, according to a game-by-game review from the Southern California News Group. “Some people just get ball,” Lynn said of Ramsey, back in fall camp, “and he’s a guy who just understands ball. There’s certain things that we don’t need to teach him that he just naturally gets.” There is no secret here. Brown knew Ramsey was a “Sunday kid,” as he says frequently, not long after that first session. Sierra Canyon head coach Jon Ellinghouse knew Ramsey was special exactly five minutes into watching him move, his first practice his freshman year. After two days of working with him with the Trailblazers, then-Sierra Canyon defensive backs coach Jarrad Page – a former safety with UCLA and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs – came home and told his wife that there was a safety he was coaching that was “it.” “Like, he reminds me of myself,” Page remembered telling her, “but, like, better.” The key, there, was that Ramsey processed the game “three or four steps” ahead of everyone else, Page recalled. He grew up playing chess, a bright mind originally committed to Stanford before flipping to UCLA. Similar to Lakers mogul LeBron James, who’s often lauded for having a photographic memory to remember specific mid-game plays dating years, Ramsey can explain up to 30 variables he evaluates mid-process on any given play, Page said. “That’s the difference on how he ends up all over the place,” Page said, “and can seemingly seem like he’s reacting quicker than everyone else.” “He’s starting with more information,” Page continued, a few words later, “the way he plays the game.” It allowed coaches in high school, as Page recalled, to trust Ramsey with gray areas in schemes. They didn’t have to instruct him to stick with one particular assignment. He had freedom. And he has the same freedom at USC, a player who’s perhaps more familiar than anyone with Lynn’s principles but has shone in read-and-react situations throughout 2024. Ramsey never envisioned leaving UCLA, his father, Stacy, told the Southern California News Group this past winter. But if he stayed a Bruin, he’d be on his third coordinator in three years of college football. His move to USC, high school coach Ellinghouse said, wasn’t about NIL opportunity. Wasn’t about flash. It was about Lynn, a man he trusted and who trusted in him. “I mean, he has, like, this mad-scientist thing,” Ramsey grinned Wednesday, asked if he agreed he and Lynn had matching personalities. “Like, a way of how he thinks football, and how he looks at the game”.” And if Lynn is USC’s mad scientist, Ramsey is his lab assistant, two minds cut from the same cloth.
Cavaliers out to avenge loss, cool off red-hot CelticsAn online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.” Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday’s Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro. In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was in retaliation for Kyiv ́s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile. Ukrainian military officials said the missile that hit Dnipro had reached a speed of Mach 11 and carried six nonnuclear warheads each releasing six submunitions. Speaking Friday to military and weapons industries officials, Putin said Russia is launching production of the Oreshnik. “No one in the world has such weapons,” he said with a thin smile. “Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.” But he added, “we have this system now. And this is important.” Testing the missile will continue, “including in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia,” Putin said, noting there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use.” Putin said that while it isn ́t an intercontinental missile, it’s so powerful that the use of several of them fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with strategic – or nuclear – weapons. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, echoing Putin’s claim that even with conventional warheads, “the massive use of the weapon would be comparable in effect to the use of nuclear weapons.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia’s bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia. “The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined,” he said. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow’s talking points, suggesting the use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement. “These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orbán said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.” Orbán cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It ́s not a trick... there will be consequences,” he said. Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday’s missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.” At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.” He underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine. Three lawmakers from Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday’s previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv. In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations “in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said. Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia ́s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. Thursday’s attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine ́s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country ́s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad. The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social media, mostly focused on the missile ́s name, Oreshnik. Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said.. Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
Salamanca punches ticket to state title gameMaryland freshman Derik Queen is playing like a seasoned veteran | TAKEAWAYSBy JOSH DUBOW | Associated Press Athletics president Dave Kaval will resign from the organization after being the public face of the organization’s departure from Oakland after 57 seasons . Related Articles Oakland Athletics | Rickey being Rickey: Memorable moments from Henderson’s larger-than-life career Oakland Athletics | Oakland A’s teammates, sports luminaries mourn Rickey Henderson Oakland Athletics | From the archives: How Oakland A’s legend Rickey Henderson was molded by ‘Billy Ball’ Oakland Athletics | Rickey Henderson: Oakland remembers the ballplayer who grew up in Bushrod Oakland Athletics | Photos: A look back at Rickey Henderson, the Man of Steal Kaval has been president of the A’s for the past eight years and will step down from the role on Tuesday to pursue new business opportunities in California. Sandy Dean, a longtime business partner with the Fisher family that owns the team, will serve as interim president and a search to fill the full-time role will begin in 2025, when the A’s begin what they hope will be a three-year stint in Sacramento before the franchise ultimately settles in Las Vegas. Kaval and team president John Fisher were at the center of Oakland fans’ growing discontent as multiple potential East Bay stadium plans failed, the franchise’s biggest stars were traded away, and ticket prices increased at the same time the franchise annually fielded a team with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. Kaval will forever remembered for saying the team was on a “parallel path” that included the ballpark plans in Oakland and Las Vegas, a path that ultimately ended with the team playing its final game in Oakland in September . Kaval, 49, made the decision to step down after the team had cleared its final major hurdles to get a stadium built in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved lease, non-relocation and development documents earlier this month for the Athletics to construct a $1.75 billion stadium on the Strip. Other details remain to be worked out, such as a development agreement with Clark County, but groundbreaking likely will take place in the spring and the team expects to be in the new stadium in Las Vegas for the start of the 2028 season. “We are grateful for Dave’s contributions and leadership over the past eight years,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “He guided our organization through a period of significant transition, and we sincerely thank him for his unwavering commitment to the team. As we look ahead to the next chapter of our franchise, the team will continue to grow under new leadership, driving the organization toward success during our interim years in West Sacramento and at our new home in Las Vegas.” Kaval failed in his efforts to get a new stadium built for the team in downtown Oakland and eventually helped the organization reach the deal to move to Las Vegas, ending a run of of 57 seasons in Oakland that included four World Series championships. The A’s will play at least the next three seasons at a minor league ballpark in West Sacramento, California. Kaval had previously served as president of the MLS’ San Jose Earthquakes, who are also owned by the Fisher family. When he first came to the A’s, he drew praise for his open-door policy to hear from fans and for changes he made at the Oakland Coliseum. He brought in food trucks for games and opened the “Treehouse” a 10,000-square-foot area that included a bar, lounge and patio for fans to watch games from left field. Kaval took a less public role in the Bay Area after the team announced plans in 2023 to move to Las Vegas. But by then the man who once promised the A’s would remain “Rooted in Oakland” had been long branded by A’s fans a primary villain (along with Fisher) in the relocation saga. In May 2021, while Kaval and other A’s officials were in Las Vegas exploring possibilities to move the team to the area, he rankled two Bay Area fan bases with a single social media post. While attending the Vegas Golden Knights’ home playoff game he posted a video on the social media platform now known as X of the boisterous crowd on its feet at T-Mobile Arena just before the drop of the puck. “Wow! #StanleyCup playoffs! @GoldenKnights,” Kaval tweeted in regards to the atmosphere inside the arena. Sharks fans were angered because he was complimenting a hated rival, and A’s fans were enraged because it was at the same time his team was losing to the Seattle Mariners at the Coliseum. Kaval was outwardly optimistic about a new ballpark getting done in Oakland early in his tenure. In 2017, he announced the team had decided on a piece of land in the Peralta Community College District in Laney College. But the plan was met with quick opposition from city leaders and residents who were concerned the stadium would displace low-income families and businesses in the Chinatown and East Lake neighborhoods. A year later, Kaval and the A’s publicly announced their intentions to build their new ballpark at Howard Terminal near Jack London Square. The Oakland City Council in 2021 voted to approve a non-binding term sheet to continue negotiations with the team over the $12 billion proposal that included the ballpark and a mixed-use development project. But Kaval said the team would not accept that term sheet while the two sides disagreed over infrastructure costs. It was around that time Kaval publicly spoke about a “parallel path” that included the ballpark plans in Oakland and Las Vegas . In June 2023, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a bill that would give the A’s $380 million in public money toward their Las Vegas stadium. The A’s began the application process for relocation a week later, and MLB owners unanimously approved the team’s eventual move that November.And with its lease at the Oakland Coliseum up in 2024, the team announced last April it would move temporarily to Sutter Health Park, home of the Sacramento River Cats, rather than extend their lease at their home venue they initially moved to in 1968. Staff writer Laurence Miedema and The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB