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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina 's elections board dismissed formal protests Wednesday by several Republican candidates who trailed narrowly in their races last month and had questioned well over 60,000 ballots cast this fall. The State Board of Elections' decisions sided with the Democratic candidates, including those for a state Supreme Court seat and a key General Assembly seat. These matters are now expected to be resolved in the courts. The board voted in favor of denying the protests of GOP Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin, who after a recent statewide machine recount trailed Associate Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes from over 5.5 million ballots cast. No additional recounts had been ordered after a partial hand recount completed Tuesday failed to suggest that Griffin could catch up to Riggs. Riggs is one of only two Democrats on the seven-member court, which has been a partisan flash point in the state over the past two years in court battles involving redistricting, photo voter identification and other voting rights. The board on Wednesday considered protests filed by Griffin, a current Court of Appeals judge, and three candidates for the General Assembly covering three categories of voting. Those categories included votes cast by people with voter registration records lacking driver’s licenses or containing partial Social Security numbers; overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were deemed North Carolina residents; and military or overseas voters who did not provide copies of photo identification with their ballots. The board is composed of three Democrats and two Republicans. In three of four dismissal motions Wednesday, the votes were 3-2 along party lines. The vote on the other motion was unanimous. Riggs' campaign has said that she is the winner and that Griffin should concede immediately. Speaking after the hearing, Riggs mentioned that her parents were among the 60,000 voters whose votes were being challenged, and “I can personally attest they are in fact lawful votes." Griffin didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the decisions. State Republican Party Chairman Jason Simmons said in a news release that the “board’s continued efforts to engineer political outcomes for Democrats is shameful" and suggested appeals could be ahead. READ: Another candidate protester is GOP Rep. Frank Sossamon, who trailed Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn. A Cohn victory would mean Republicans fall one seat short of retaining their current veto-proof majority for the next two-year General Assembly starting next month. The board could have ultimately ordered corrected ballot tallies, more recounts or new elections if it determined the evidence showed election law violations or irregularities called into question the results of the protested elections. Scores of protests filed by Griffin and the legislative candidates are still being considered by county boards. During Wednesday's hearing, Riggs' attorneys urged the state board to throw out the protests. They called that an illegal attempt to change the election rules after votes have been cast and counted and out of line with protest rules. “The voters that protesters are challenging here today unquestionably are eligible voters,” said Will Robertson, an attorney representing the three Democratic legislative candidates and the state Democratic Party. “These protests are not only facially invalid but they’re an affront to democracy and to the rule of law in North Carolina.” Citing the state constitution, attorneys for Griffin argued that elections boards cannot count the ballots of people who have never lived in North Carolina. And they said the state board erred by generating voter registration forms that did not make clear that state law requires an applicant to provide one of the identifying numbers. “We filed these protests because we believe the winners of these elections should be determined by eligible voters and only be eligible voters,” Craig Schauer, an attorney for Griffin and GOP legislative candidates, told the board. In addition to the substance of the protests, Democratic board members also threw out the protests because they determined that voters did not receive appropriate legal notice that their votes were being challenged. Griffin sent postcards to a voter or the “current resident” stating that “your vote may be affected” by a protest, according to legal briefs and evidence. It included a QR code that mobile phone users could visit to obtain information. Democrats said people may have thrown the postcard away or considered it a scam. The state board's decisions came days after the state Democratic Party sued in federal court to block the State Board of Elections from ruling in any way to throw out the disputed ballots. Griffin led Riggs by about 10,000 votes on election night, but that lead dwindled and flipped to Riggs as qualifying provisional and absentee ballots were added to the totals. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.NCC training ensures overall development of students, says CUTM V-CFrom new growers to old pros, Central Illinois Christmas tree vendors dig into holiday seasonRarely does a college basketball game provide such stark contrast between the sport's haves and have-nots as when Jackson State faces No. 9 Kentucky on Friday in Lexington, Ky. While Kentucky claims eight NCAA Tournament crowns and the most wins in college basketball history, Jackson State has never won an NCAA Tournament game and enters the matchup looking for its first win of the season. Impressive tradition and current record aside, Kentucky (4-0) returned no scholarship players from last season's team that was knocked off by Oakland in the NCAA Tournament. New coach Mark Pope and his essentially all-new Wildcats are off to a promising start. Through four games, Kentucky is averaging 94.3 points per game, and with 11.5 3-pointers made per game, the team is on pace to set a school record from long distance. The Wildcats boast six double-figure scorers with transfer guards Otega Oweh (from Oklahoma, 15.0 ppg) and Koby Brea (from Dayton, 14.5 ppg) leading the team. The Wildcats defeated Duke 77-72 on Nov. 12 but showed few signs of an emotional letdown in Tuesday's 97-68 win over a Lipscomb team picked to win the Atlantic Sun Conference in the preseason. Kentucky drained a dozen 3-pointers while outrebounding their visitors 43-28. Guard Jaxson Robinson, held to a single point by Duke, dropped 20 points to lead the Kentucky attack. Afterward, Pope praised his team's focus, saying, "The last game was over and it was kind of on to, ‘How do we get better?' That's the only thing we talk about." Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff also delivered a ringing endorsement, calling Kentucky "the best offensive Power Four team we've played in my six years at Lipscomb." Jackson State (0-5) and third-year coach Mo Williams are looking for something positive to build upon. Not only are the Tigers winless, but they have lost each game by nine or more points. Sophomore guard Jayme Mitchell Jr. (13.8 ppg) is the leading scorer, but the team shoots just 35.8 percent while allowing opponents to shoot 52.3 percent. The Tigers played on Wednesday at Western Kentucky, where they lost 79-62. Reserve Tamarion Hoover had a breakout game with 18 points to lead Jackson State, but the host Hilltoppers canned 14 3-point shots and outrebounded the Tigers 42-35 to grab the win. Earlier, Williams, who played against Kentucky while a student at Alabama, admitted the difficulties of a challenging nonconference schedule for his team. "Our goal is not to win 13 nonconference games," Williams said. "We're already at a disadvantage in that regard. We use these games to get us ready for conference play and for March Madness." Jackson State has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2007. The Tigers had a perfect regular-season record (11-0) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 2020-21 but lost in the league tournament. Kentucky has never played Jackson State before, but the game is being billed as part of a Unity Series of matchups in which Kentucky hosts members of the SWAC to raise awareness of Historical Black Colleges and Universities and provide funds for those schools. Past Unity Series opponents have been Southern in December 2021 and Florida A&M in December 2022. --Field Level Media
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Wade Taylor IV had 15 points and a career-high 10 assists, and Zhuric Phelps had 12 points and 10 rebounds in No. 13 Texas A&M's 92-54 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday. Taylor's 15 points passed Vernon Smith, who scored 1,778 points at A&M from 1977-81, for second on Texas A&M's all-time scoring list. Taylor now has 1,779 career points and needs 212 more to pass Bernard King, who scored 1,990 points from 1999-2003, as Texas A&M’s all-time scoring leader. Taylor returned to action after he missed his first career game on Dec. 20 against Houston Christian. The Aggies (11-2) opened the game on a 7-0 run and never looked back. Texas A&M led 48-29 at halftime and ended the game on a 12-0 run over the final 5:24. Quion Williams led Abilene Christian (8-6) with 14 points. Abilene Christian: The Wildcats lost to Texas A&M 81-80 in November 2021 but were too overmatched this season to have a chance at an upset bid. Texas A&M: The Aggies closed nonconference play on a seven-game winning streak in Taylor’s return. The Aggies used a 14-0 run in the first half to build an 18-point lead. Texas A&M guard CJ Wilcher made three straight 3-pointers during the run, including back-to-back from the right wing during fastbreaks. The Wildcats never got within single digits again. Texas A&M continued to show its depth as the Aggies had 45 bench points. Wilcher led the way with a season-high 14 points and forward Andersson Garcia had 12. Twelve players saw action and all 12 scored. The Aggies start Southeastern Conference play against rival Texas on Jan. 4. Abilene Christian closes nonconference action on Dec. 31 at home against Stephen F. Austin. Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball 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
Brisbane news live: Meta outage affecting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsAppClorox Co. stock rises Wednesday, still underperforms marketTransMedics Group, Inc. ( NASDAQ:TMDX – Get Free Report ) traded down 5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $72.68 and last traded at $75.39. 748,139 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 982,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.34. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $109.00 price objective on shares of TransMedics Group in a research note on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of TransMedics Group from $109.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of TransMedics Group from $200.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of TransMedics Group from $151.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of TransMedics Group from $200.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.80. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on TMDX TransMedics Group Stock Performance TransMedics Group ( NASDAQ:TMDX – Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.17). TransMedics Group had a return on equity of 18.74% and a net margin of 8.14%. The firm had revenue of $108.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.00 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 63.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that TransMedics Group, Inc. will post 1 EPS for the current year. Insider Activity In related news, insider Tamer I. Khayal sold 2,958 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $438,493.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,089,766.32. This represents a 12.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Also, insider Nicholas Corcoran sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.02, for a total value of $1,760,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 21,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,714,902.10. This represents a 32.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold 36,958 shares of company stock valued at $5,230,528 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransMedics Group Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in TransMedics Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,862,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of TransMedics Group by 15.8% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,486,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,832,000 after purchasing an additional 202,867 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of TransMedics Group by 260.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 202,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,759,000 after purchasing an additional 146,115 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of TransMedics Group in the second quarter valued at $18,854,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in TransMedics Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $16,086,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. TransMedics Group Company Profile ( Get Free Report ) TransMedics Group, Inc, a commercial-stage medical technology company, engages in transforming organ transplant therapy for end-stage organ failure patients in the United States and internationally. The company offers Organ Care System (OCS), a portable organ perfusion, optimization, and monitoring system that utilizes its proprietary and customized technology to replicate near-physiologic conditions for donor organs outside of the human body. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for TransMedics Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TransMedics Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
The Bard has spoken. With the release of “ A Complete Unknown ” — the movie based on Bob Dylan ’s rise to fame as a young singer — now weeks away, he shared a message about the film, starring Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet . Dylan, 83, has become a more regular user of X, formerly Twitter, just as many have left the social network for other online spaces. So it’s no surprise that’s where he addressed the coming film Wednesday afternoon. “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!),” Dylan said. “Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.” Chalamet, 28, filmed “A Complete Unknown” in New Jersey and New York this year with director James Mangold (”Walk the Line,” “Girl, Interrupted,” “Cop Land,” “Ford v Ferrari”). READ MORE: See Timothée Chalamet filming Bob Dylan movie in Hoboken as Chalamaniacs buzz around set Jersey spots in the movie, many of them standing in for 1960s Manhattan, include Hoboken , Jersey City , Kearny, Newark , Paterson , Plainfield, Elizabeth, Belleville, West Orange, Kinnelon, Blairstown, Skillman, Highlands, Mountainside , Clifton, Alpine, Red Bank and Cape May (subbing in for Newport, Rhode Island). They were still filming as of June , so the movie, distributed by Searchlight Pictures, was turned around quickly, in time for consideration at the 2025 Oscars. The first trailer for the film was released in July. Chalamet sings Dylan’s songs in the film, including “ Blowin’ in the Wind ” (1963), “ A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall ” (1963) and “ Like A Rolling Stone ” (1965). The movie centers on the beginning of young Dylan’s journey as a folk music enthusiast and artist on the rise and culminates in his controversial decision to “go electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival , where he first publicly performed “Like a Rolling Stone.” There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me. The film’s taken from Elijah... The 19-year-old Minnesota native arrives in New York City in 1961, propelled by his love for his folk hero, Woody Guthrie , who had Huntington’s disease and died in 1967. He visits the ailing singer-songwriter, played by Scoot McNairy , at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains, and meets fellow folk star Pete Seeger , played by Edward Norton . Seeger takes Dylan under his wing as the young talent goes from budding performer to standout voice and great hope for spreading the gospel of folk. “The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015,” Dylan continued in his post. “It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.” MORE: See Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in first trailer for ‘A Complete Unknown,’ filmed in N.J. Mangold’s script, written with Jay Cocks (”Gangsters of New York”), is based on the book, full title “ Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties .” The movie’s title comes from the lyrics of “ Like a Rolling Stone .” “How does it feel?” Dylan sings. “To be on your own, with no direction home / A complete unknown, like a rolling stone.” Director James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet on the set of "A Complete Unknown." The movie filmed extensively in New Jersey. Macall Polay | Searchlight Pictures Emmy nominee Elle Fanning co-stars as Sylvie Russo , a character based on artist Suze Rotolo , who was in a relationship with Dylan at the start of his career and appears with him on the cover of his 1963 album “ The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan .” Monica Barbaro (”Top Gun”) plays folk star Joan Baez , who had a relationship with Dylan on and offstage. Barbaro also sings in the movie. Boyd Holbrook (”The Bikeriders”) plays Johnny Cash . Dylan, a Cash fan, became a friend of the Man in Black, and their dynamic is depicted in the film. Mangold, of course, told the story of Cash and his wife, June Carter, in “ Walk the Line ” (2005), starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon , who won an Oscar for playing June. “ A Complete Unknown ” is in theaters Dec. 25. Stories by Amy Kuperinsky ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ tough guy, professional wrestler dead at 65. ‘A gentle soul,’ George Clooney says. Watch ‘The Voice’ N.J. semifinalist Jan Dan try to defy ‘Gravity’ with ‘instant save’ English band robbed at gunpoint ‘10 minutes’ into U.S. tour (video) Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup .Japan wary South Korea turmoil may hurt improving bilateral ties