PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Annual Goody Business Book Awards has announced its Top Impact Authors for 2024, recognizing nine standout writers whose books have made a significant impact across multiple categories. These authors are among 193 winners and finalists across 50 categories, showcasing their influence in areas like leadership, health, business innovation, and personal transformation. “The new 2024 Goody Business Book Awards Top Impact Author Winners were selected by a panel of marketing and communications judges based on their book quality, cover image, and social impact,” said Liz H. Kelly, Founder of the Goody Business Book Awards. The Top Impact Author winners include a diverse group of writers, each celebrated for their unique contributions to their respective fields. Here is the full list of winners and their achievements: Andrea Hollingsworth, PhD (Minneapolis, MN) Book: The Compassion Advantage: How Top Leaders Build More Humanizing Workplaces Winner: Health – Psychology Winner: Leadership – HR and Employee Development Winner: Self-Help – Success Finalist: Business – Problem Solving Finalist: Leadership – Motivation Colin C. Campbell (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Book: Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. Winner: Entrepreneur – Entrepreneurism Winner: Entrepreneur – Start Ups Finalist: Business – Career Success Finalist: Entrepreneur – Small Business Janet M. Harvey (Seattle, WA) Book: From Tension to Transformation A Leader’s Guide To Generative Change Winner: Business – Disruptor Winner: Personal Transformation Finalist: Business – Big Ideas Finalist: Business – Innovation Ericka Sóuter (New York, NY) Book: How to Have a Kid and a Life: A Survival Guide Winner: Health – Parenting and Family Winner: Self-Help – General Finalist: Self-Help – Happiness Finalist: Self-Help – Work-Life Balance Kate Toon (Sydney, Australia) Books: Six Figures In School Hours Winner: Health – Parenting and Family Finalist: Business – Women in Business Six Figures While You Sleep Winner: Business – Big Ideas Finalist: Entrepreneur – Small Business Tenia Davis, PhD (Chicago, IL) Book: The Feedback Blueprint: Unlocking the Power of Constructive Insights Winner: Leadership – HR and Employee Development Finalist: Business – Career Success Finalist: Business – Management Joseph Hanna (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Book: Pivoting as a Way of Life: Stop Chasing Unicorns and Product-Market Fit Winner: Business – Innovation Winner: Technology – Gamechanger Finalist: Business – Disruptor Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, MBA, JD (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC) Book: Seeking Fairness at Work: Cracking the New Code of Greater Employee Engagement, Retention & Satisfaction Winner: Business – Management Winner: Leadership – Think Differently Finalist: Business – Thought Leader Natalie Shand-Spellman, MSOTR/L (U.S.) Book: Drop Stress Like A Hot Potato – Transformative Stress Workbook with Life Coaching for Busy Women Winner: Health – Wellness Finalist: Health – Mind, Body, Spirit Finalist: Self-Help – Inspiration Many of these authors focus on addressing critical issues such as leadership development, mental health, entrepreneurship, and workplace fairness. Their books aim to inspire readers to improve both personally and professionally. Alongside the Top Impact Authors, the Goody Business Book Awards celebrate books across a wide range of categories, helping readers tackle challenges like starting a business, improving mental health, and fostering innovation. According to organizers, these awards highlight books published over the last five years, including titles from traditional publishers, independent publishers, hybrid publishers, and self-published authors. The Top Impact Authors will receive additional digital marketing promotions and a special awards seal to highlight their achievements. This recognition underlines the awards’ mission to spotlight books that make a difference in readers’ lives. For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN .Kidman, Pearce, Blanchett and Watts nominated for Golden Globes
Authorities in Bucks County found Haddon, 76, dead in a second-floor bedroom Friday morning after emergency dispatchers were notified about a person unconscious at the Solebury Township home. A 76-year-old man police later identified as Walter J. Blucas of Erie was hospitalized in critical condition. Responders detected a high level of carbon monoxide in the property and township police said Saturday that investigators determined that “a faulty flue and exhaust pipe on a gas heating system caused the carbon monoxide leak.” Two medics were taken to a hospital for carbon monoxide exposure and a police officer was treated at the scene. As a model, Haddon appeared on the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Esquire in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1973 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She also appeared in about two dozen films from the 1970s to 1990s, according to IMDb.com , including 1994’s “Bullets Over Broadway,” starring John Cusack. Haddon left modeling after giving birth to her daughter, Ryan, in the mid-1970s, but then had to reenter the workforce after her husband's 1991 death. This time she found the modeling industry far less friendly: “They said to me, ‘At 38, you’re not viable,’” Haddon told The New York Times in 2003. Working a menial job at an advertising agency, Haddon began reaching out to cosmetic companies, telling them there was a growing market to sell beauty products to aging baby boomers. She eventually landed a contract with Clairol, followed by Estée Lauder and then L’Oreal, for which she promoted the company's anti-aging products for more than a decade. She also hosted beauty segments for CBS’s “The Early Show.” "I kept modeling, but in a different way," she told The Times, “I became a spokesperson for my age.” In 2008, Haddon founded WomenOne, an organization aimed at advancing educational opportunities for girls and women in marginalized communities, including Rwanda, Haiti and Jordan.' Haddon was born in Toronto and began modeling as a teenager to pay for ballet classes — she began her career with the Canadian ballet company Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, according to her website . Haddon's daughter, Ryan, said in a social media post that her mother was “everyone’s greatest champion. An inspiration to many.” “A pure heart. A rich inner life. Touching so many lives. A life well lived. Rest in Light, Mom,” she said.TORONTO — Canada's decision to deploy a drone to spy on a New Zealand training session at the Paris Olympics was "completely stupid," says FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani. "In the sense that I have no idea what the hell you're going to get out of that," said Montagliani, a former Canada Soccer president who is also president of CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. The scandal cost Canada women's coach Bev Priestman her job, with assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joe Lombardi also leaving Canada Soccer. All three are serving one-year suspensions from FIFA. "Now, listen, do clubs and countries push the envelope to try to gain an upper hand? Yeah," said Montagliani when asked about the scandal at a media roundtable Monday. "If we say no to that, we're fools. "We've all been into countries that will do anything they can, whether its fireworks the night before a match. Whatever they think that will get you three points. Because when it comes to football, a lot of countries think it's war. But for me personally I just thought it (the drone spying) was the definition of stupidity." FIFA, which runs the football competition at the Olympics, also docked the Canadian women six points at the tournament after a Canadian staffer was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand team practices before the start of competition at the Paris Games. Canada Soccer was also fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($322,500). Canada Soccer continues to investigate just how deep a culture of spying was ingrained in the organization and has opened a disciplinary hearing into former Canada men's and women's coach John Herdman, who resigned as Toronto FC coach last month. "If any of this stuff reveals any new information whatsoever that's subject to FIFA jurisdiction, the FIFA ethics committee or discipline committee, or both, will act on it," Montagliani said. Montagliani says disciplinary issues in soccer usually fall under the national governing body. But Canada Soccer could refer the matter to FIFA if it has wider-ranging implications. --- Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2024. Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
Northwestern hopes hot streak continues vs. Northeastern
The country’s citizens are lucky, with uninterrupted electrical power supply met from large and small hydro power plants, thermal power stations owned by Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and private, also to a lesser degree with bio-energy, solar and wind power. The situation could be improved with moving over to more solar and wind power. Electricity generated from hydro-power, wind, solar and bio-energy are referred to as renewable energy. The country’s hydro power sources are almost exhausted. Wind and solar power have enormous potential, initial investments are slightly higher then thermal, but running costs are low, without imports. Solar is only during the day with intensity reducing with clouds, wind throughout the day and night, but wavering over the time and months. The country’s highest electricity demand is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thus solar could only contribute towards meeting the day time demand with hydro contributing throughout. Today, balance is met with thermally generated power. Recently pumped water storage is proposed, using excessive solar power during the day time to pump water to higher levels and using the same to generate electricity during the peak hours (more later). Biomass projects generate power by burning tree branch cuttings or paddy husk under controlled conditions. Branch cuttings of plants (mostly grilicedia) are collected from rural farmers and paddy husk produced during milling of paddy, that are normally disposed by burning. Gliricedia plant roots known for its nitrogen fixing abilities and improve soil fertility, whose leaves are generally used as animal feed, rots easily is an excellent manure. Most dendro-power plants located in the dry rural sector, provide employment and income opportunities to growers and transporters. Wind and solar power are highly acclaimed throughout the world, with energy produced causing least pollution and free, neither available uniformly nor throughout the day. Solar power is popular in Arab countries with massive investments. Technologies and equipment for solar and wind are imported from developed countries and are expensive, but with low running costs. Currently, Hambantota wind farm owned by CEB has a production capacity of 3 MW and the Puttalam farm with a capacity of 10 MW. A wind farm consisting of 30 towers generating 100 MW (Phase 1 – Thambapawani) was established on the southern coast of Mannar Island in 2021, with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The Buruthakanda Solar Park in Hambantota by Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA), first commercial scale solar power station completed in 2012, producing 737 KW in the first stage and 500 KW in the second stage. The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, officially handed over Sri Lanka’s first-ever floating solar photovoltaic power plant located at Chandrika Wewa and Kiriibban Wewa reservoirs. The $ 5 million project, with floating solar photovoltaic power plant capable of generating 1MW, uses the reservoir surface, conserving land resources while reducing environmental impact. A World Bank report of August 2007 identified nearly 5,000 sq. km with good-to-excellent wind resource potential of 24,000 MW. About 4,100 sq. km of land and 700 sq. km in lagoons, largely concentrated in the north western coast from Kalpitiya Peninsula north to Mannar Island, Jaffna Peninsula, also central highlands. A strong stream of wind passes through the Strait of Mannar. The high speed winds moving from south to north and vice versa between central mountains of Sri Lanka and South Indian mountains through Strait of Mannar, allows generation of electricity power. Using the same, State of Tamil Nadu has installed six wind power projects, with a capacity of 7,450 MW becoming the leader in India. The largest is the Muppandal Wind Farm with a capacity of 1,500 MW, making it the world’s forth largest onshore wind farm. CEB installed a 103 MW wind power plant in Mannar Island with ADB assistance, costing $ 135 million and commissioned on 18 May 2021, named “Thambapavani”. The plant with 30 wind turbine generators located along the southern coast of Mannar Island. The produced electricity generated by the wind plant cost less than 4 US Cents a kWHr. But the proposed project located on the narrow ‘movement corridor’ where millions of migratory birds moving from north to south and back are severely objected by the environmentalists. CEB’s Long Term Generation Expansion Plans (LTGEP) prepared for 2023-2042 proposes: In addition, the plan allows pumped storage of 300 MW each for years 2029 and 2030, also are 1,400 MW Pumped Hydro Storage development by 2032 and 3,365 MW Battery Energy Storage development by 2042, requiring an average annual investment of $ 1.4 billion for generation and storage capacity additions. As per CEB generation statistics on 21 November, the combined output from the Laxapana, Mahaweli, and Samanala hydro complexes, along with CEB and Small Power Producer (SPP), wind energy and SPP solar, biomass, and mini-hydro sources, amounted to 27.22 GWh. Considering total energy generated was 47.47 Gwh, renewable energy amounts approximately to 57.35% of total energy generation. Thus achieving 70% target by 2030, Sri Lanka needs to increase its RE contribution by 27% within the next five years. Up to now, CEB showed reluctance to connect small and medium renewable plants, claiming the connection will destabilise their distribution system. But, recently, ADB agreed to provide a loan of $ 200 million to Sri Lanka to upgrade the power sector infrastructure, enhancing the reliability of transmission and distribution facilities of renewable energy, which will enable CEB to connect the renewable systems. The Phase II of the Mannar Wind Energy Park of capacity 200 MW, similar to Phase I with a 5 km 132 kV transmission line. The proposed turbines located 2 km away from the existing wind turbines and production costs would be similar. In 2022, the billionaire Indian businessman Gautham Adani visited Sri Lanka and met the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and visited the proposed wind power project site. Subsequently, the Ministry of Power and Energy, received an unsolicited proposal for the construction and operation of the Mannar Wind Power Project (Phase-II), as Build, Own and Operate project for a 25-year period with an investment of $ 500 million. But with a lawsuit filed in New York court, by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Adani family are facing serious allegations of bribing personnel in implementing projects. Thus offering a project to Adani family would no longer feasible. Sri Lanka being close to the equator, receives an abundant supply of solar radiation year around without a marked seasonal variation. Roof-top solar is possible throughout the country except in higher elevations. Solar-parks are possible in the western coastal belt from Kalpitiya to Jaffna, Northern Province, also Hambantota and Monaragala districts due to flat dry terrain and low rain. In addition, parts of lagoons, lakes and reservoirs could host solar-parks. Thus the country’s solar and wind production capacity is beyond imagination, only needs implementation. SLSEA introduced rooftop solar power units in 2010 which became a success, and led to Surya Bala Sangramaya or the battle for solar energy in 2016. New program targets adding 1,450 MW by 2025. Currently 20,000 solar systems supply 215 MW to national grid, dominated by small roof-top solar installations. Thus rooftop solar needs to be promoted vehemently. Under the current system, rooftop solar producers up to 500 KWs are paid a Rs. 37 flat rate for 20 years, while systems above 50 KWs are paid Rs. 34.50 per unit. Sri Lanka’s first and the largest power station implemented as a joint venture by CEB with aid from EXIM Bank of China. It was constructed by China Machinery Engineering Corporation at a cost of $ 1.35 billion. The contract was signed in 2006 and the first phase of 300 MW was commissioned in 2011, including the construction of 115 km transmission line connecting the plant to the national grid through the Veyangoda substation. The Norochcholai Coal Power Plant located in Puttalam District, on the West Coast of the Kalpitiya Peninsula. The power plant proposed as 3 phases, each phase adding 300 MW, making the total power generated as 900 MW. A 300 MW unit of the Norochcholai plant would use between 650,000 to 700,000 tonnes of coal a year. There are large number of small and medium scale industries, who are occupied during daytime (when the sun is shining) with large roofs. Also are large number of supermarkets, all with large roofs. These roofs could be utilised effectively by installing solar power systems. Solar panels on the roof will reduce the sun-light on the roof, reducing the air-conditioning load below. Some Supermarkets already have solar panels on their roofs, others too could follow and owners cannot claim to be short of funds. I have installed a 14 kW solar system on my roof-top, costing Rs. 2.1 million, the system consisting of 34 solar panels. I have paid all requirements to CEB and am awaiting them to connect the solar power system. Now that Adani’s wind power proposal is no longer acceptable, the Governments need to call for expression of interest world-wide for future installation wind power systems in Mannar, Jaffna regions as well as up on the hills. In the hilly areas, most grounds are Government owned and there would be no objection for the locals. A pumped storage hydro-electric plant generally consists of two water reservoirs at different levels, connected with each other. During low electricity demand, excess generation capacity (excessive solar power) is used to pump water into the upper reservoir. With the high demand in peak hours, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine (usually a Francis turbine), generating electricity. Pumped storage plants, usually use reversible turbine/generator assemblies, acting both pump and as a turbine generator at variable speed operation, further optimising the efficiency in pumped hydro storage tanks. For pumping of water, also for power generation, the same pump is used by changing rotational direction and speed. Pumped storage power plants (PSPPs) have been identified as a viable solution for power generation for Sri Lanka. Wewatenna was identified in the Electricity Sector Master Plan Study of Sri Lanka conducted in 2018 as a suitable site. This study develops the basic design configuration and calculates the peaking energy of the proposed PSPP at Wewathenna using the methodologies employed in previous studies conducted in 2015. The proposed Wewathenna project uses existing Victoria reservoir as the lower pond. The catchment area of the existing “Victoria” is 6.64 km2 and to construct an artificial dam on the eastern side of Victoria Lake serving as the upper pond of capacity 0.33 km2. The net head and maximum discharge are planned as 686 m and 240 m3/s respectively, with a potential capacity of 1,400 MW. However, due to various restrictions, Wewatenna was based on 500 MW. But adhering to manufacturing limit of pump-turbines, the unit capacity was set at 350 MW. The regulator PUCSL requested CEB a revised plan for tariff reduction starting 1 January 2025, and set a deadline for submission by 6 December 2024. But CEB refused any reductions of rates, claiming excess water in reservoir need to be saved to cater till April, end of dry period. Failure will require power generation through oil and coal. Former PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake added that the generation cost of electricity has decreased from Rs. 50 to Rs. 28, and electricity tariffs should be reduced by at least 30% passing relief to the public. The consumers have noted that recent heavy rains have significantly boosted hydropower generation and would allow reduction of electricity charges. Meanwhile, CEB unions called for bonuses, highlighting that the CEB recorded a profit of Rs. 43 billion in 2023 and Rs. 161 billion in 2024. But CEB rejected the demand for bonus. Also no reduction in electricity prices during the next six months, due to lack of low cost energy sources. The country has almost exhausted its cheapest power hydro-electricity. Only possibility is major movement towards solar power, especially by small and medium scale industries and house owners. Most convenient new solar users would be factories and offices, who normally work during day-light hours. Also, most schools have fans in the classrooms. They could install solar panels on the roofs, eliminating electricity bills. The parents who installed the fans in classrooms could also install solar panels. Meanwhile, it was reported that Orion City, the nation’s premier IT and business park has invested in a 700 kW solar power at its Colombo 9 complex, ensuring 24/7 uninterrupted power supply to its customers, would be an example to others. Thus, the Government needs to submit a plan to encourage installation of solar power by individual homes and the industry, with reduced interest loans from commercial banks. Recently, delegates from Japan and Qatar met the President and have offered assistance for renewable energy. Also, a number of European countries have offered low interest loans for renewable power. If the Government takes initiative to get their assistance, new solar investors could be offered low interest loans, will be a great support to the new investors, and will improve the solar power industry and the country.
EEPC India proposes faceless GST audit to empower MSME sectorSTEVENSON, Wash. — Two Oregon men were found dead in a Washington state forest after they failed to return from a trip to look for Sasquatch, authorities said Saturday. The 59-year-old and 37-year-old appear to have died from exposure, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office said via Facebook. The weather and the men’s lack of preparedness led the office to draw that conclusion, it said. Sasquatch is a folkloric beast thought by some to roam the forests, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. The two men were found in a heavily wooded area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which is about 150 miles northeast of Portland. A family member reported them missing at around 1 a.m. on Christmas Day after they failed to return from a Christmas Eve outing. Sixty volunteer search-and-rescue personnel helped in the three-day search, including canine, drone and ground teams. The Coast Guard used infrared technology to search from the air. Authorities used camera recordings to locate the vehicle used by the pair near Willard, which is on the southern border of the national forest.Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Position in JPMorgan Hedged Equity Laddered Overlay ETF (NYSEARCA:HELO)
HealthEquity Reports Third Quarter Ended October 31, 2024 Financial ResultsOn June 20, 1979, President Jimmy Carter invited reporters up to the White House roof for a ceremony to inaugurate the installation of 32 solar water-heating panels. America was in the midst of an energy freak-out, with long lines at gas stations and not-crazy fear that the U.S. economy was going to be starved by its dependence on foreign oil. And Carter was paying the price: his approval rating was 28 percent, the lowest of his presidency. On that summer day, Carter acknowledged that “some few Americans have reached a state of panic.” But instead of pandering to Americans and promising more oil and gas, he challenged them, insisting that “America was not built on timidity or panic.” Carter announced that he was committed to spending more than $1 billion “to stimulate solar and other renewable forms of energy,” in the expectation that within two decades 20 percent of the nation’s energy would be generated by solar power. “In the year 2000,” Carter told the crowd on the rooftop that day, “this solar water heater behind me... will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy.” Then he added, prophetically, “A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.” Obviously, America did not take the road toward clean energy that Carter pointed toward on that day. In 1979, the U.S. relied on fossil fuels for about 90 percent of primary energy consumption. Today, fossil fuels still provide about 80 percent of the power consumed in America. But America’s failure is not Jimmy Carter’s failure. In fact, Carter had a visionary understanding of the road ahead, which only grows more profound with each passing year. “President Carter belongs at the top of any list of the greatest environmental presidents in American history,” says Gus Speth, chairman of Carter’s Council on Environmental Quality and a pioneering figure in the environmental movement. Editor’s picks The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time It is a fair claim. Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark off to explore the West, vastly expanding scientific knowledge of the natural world. Teddy Roosevelt was a rugged outdoorsman who created more than 190 million acres of new national forests, parks, and monuments. Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” plan was also responsible for the creation of the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. Impeached crook Richard Nixon founded the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Barack Obama passed the Clean Power Plan and signed the Paris Climate Agreement. Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will funnel $370 billion into climate and energy projects over the next decade. But it was Carter who first addressed the essential fact of our time, which is that modern life as we know it today has been both created by and is being destroyed by our entanglement with fossil fuels. “The challenge facing this country is the moral equivalent of war,” Carter said in 1979. He was talking about the threat from OPEC oil producers to strangle the U.S. economy with high oil prices, not the threat of rising CO2 pollution to cook the planet. But it hardly mattered. He was the Greta Thunberg of the 1970s, saying bold, politically blunt things about greed and consumption and fossil fuel addiction that nobody wanted to hear. And this was all the more remarkable because he was not a Swedish teenager. He was the President of the United States. Carter grew up barefoot and poor on a farm in southwestern Georgia. The farm had no electricity or running water, no diesel-fueled tractors, and of course no air-conditioning. He sweated in the fields with the other farmhands and felt the red dirt between his toes. He fished in the nearby rivers and lakes and learned to castrate a pig before he was old enough to drive and ate family meals of slaughtered steer brains mixed with scrambled eggs. But Carter was also a pragmatist. When he was 11, his father installed a windmill on their farm, giving them running water for the first time and showing young Jimmy the power of renewable energy. In the Navy, he became a nuclear engineer and risked his life to defuse a meltdown in an experimental nuclear reactor in Canada. Related Content Jimmy Carter, U.S. President and Prolific Humanitarian, Dead at 100 Trump EPA Pick Lee Zeldin Is Fossil Fuel’s Inside Man The Battle Against Trump 2.0 Begins in the States Green Energy Depends on Copper. 40 Billion Pounds Are Under an Apache Holy Site He also happened to be president during an energy crisis, when many Americans first woke up to the political and economic consequences of their fossil-fuel powered lives. As gas stations shut down in the 1970s and prices spiraled, Americans were at once terrified and angry. “Carter understood the dangers of fossil fuels from the geopolitics of it, which smacked him upside the head,” says Dan Dudek, a former senior economist with the Environmental Defense Fund. “How much of an environmental motivation he had for his actions is tough to say. But does that matter?” Whatever Carter’s motivation may have been, his record on energy and environmental issues is clear. In his four years in office, he signed 15 major pieces of environmental legislation, including the first toxic waste cleanup and the first fuel-economy standards. His two major legislative accomplishments, the National Energy Act of 1978 and the Energy Security Act of 1980, transformed the energy landscape of America. “So much happened in his four years and we still live with his administration’s effects today,” says Michael Webber, the Josey Centennial Professor in Energy Resources at the University of Texas, Austin and the author of Power Shift: The Story of Energy . Among other things, the legislation created the Department of Energy, which elevated energy to a cabinet-level priority and dramatically increased funding for energy research and development. The legislation also began the deregulation of gas and power sectors, which opened the door for cheaper, cleaner power. “The decarbonization and decentralization that is well on its way in the electric utility industry today can be credited in large part to the policies started in the Carter Administration,” says James Van Nostrand, a law professor at West Virginia University and author of The Coal Trap: How West Virginia Was Left Behind in the Clean Energy Revolution. Van Nostrand points to the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act of 1978 (PURPA), which was part of the National Energy Act and broke up the power of electric utilities and encouraged competition in electricity generation markets. “All the competition that currently exists in the wholesale power markets can be traced back to the original incarnation of PURPA in 1978,” says Van Nostrand. PURPA also encouraged small power production facilities, primarily cogeneration and hydro. “A lot of what we know about distributed energy resources can be traced back to encouraging cogeneration, which is a much more efficient way to generate electricity, by capturing the waste heat and using it for some other industrial process,” says Van Nostrand. PURPA also required state regulators to think differently about how electricity is priced, encouraging time-of-use rates and requiring utilities to use load management techniques, which we now know today as demand response, to reduce energy usage. None of this came without a fight. “The influence of the oil and gas industry is unbelievable,” Carter once complained, “and it’s impossible to arouse the public to protect themselves.” Although Carter’s biggest accomplishments were in transforming the energy landscape, he also did more to protect America’s wild places than any president since Teddy Roosevelt. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (1980), which Carter engineered through a clever usage of executive power in the Antiquities Act, provided various levels of protection to 157 million acres — an area roughly the size of California and Oregon combined. Carter’s energy and environmental legacy is not unblemished or uncontroversial. Gus Speth credits Carter for halting a headlong rush to build a new fleet of breeder reactors for electricity generation. “He stopped the plutonium economy before it could get started,” Speth argues. But other energy experts fault Carter for banning the reprocessing of nuclear waste, which essentially killed the evolution of nuclear power in the U.S. “As our one and only nuclear engineer president, he gutted the American nuclear industry forever with his decision not to reprocess nuclear waste,” Webber says. “He knew too much and the risks that reprocessing would enable loose weapons grade materials in a decade rife with terrorism made him nervous; we pay the price for that today.” Carter is also responsible for the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 , which Webber calls “one of our worse energy policies ever.” Webber argues that the legislation banned new natural gas power plants, leading to the development of 80 gigawatts of coal instead. “That’s had huge greenhouse gas and air pollution consequences that still live with us today,” Webber says. On climate, Carter understood the threat of rising CO2 pollution as well as any scientist of his time. “Carter had started studying the issue in 1971,” biographer Jonathan Alter has said. “I found in his files from when he was governor underlinings in the journal Nature about carbon pollution and global warming. Other politicians played golf — Carter played tennis — but he was reading scientific journals. That’s how he got his jollies.” By the time Carter took office, the risks of climate change were becoming well-documented throughout the federal government. Barely six months into Carter’s term, Frank Press, the President’s science adviser sent him a memorandum summarizing the threat from the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the warming that would result from it. “The urgency of the problem derives from our inability to shift rapidly to non-fossil fuel sources once the climatic effects become evident not long after the year 2000; the situation could grow out of control before alternate energy sources and other remedial actions become effective.” Although Press did not call for emergency action, he advised Carter that “we must now take the potential CO2 hazard into account in developing our long-term energy strategy.” Other climate reports followed, including one in 1979 by a group of top scientists headed by meteorologist Jule Charney, titled “Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment.” The Charney report, which is now remembered by historians as a prime example of how well scientists understood the threat of climate change nearly a half-century ago, stated that when the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere doubled, the planet would most likely warm by three degrees Celsius — a calculation that is remarkably close to the best estimates today. “A warming ... will probably be conspicuous within the next twenty years,” the report read, calling for early action: “Enlightened policies in the management of fossil fuels and forests can delay or avoid these changes, but the time for implementing the policies is fast passing.” Another report at the very end of Carter’s presidency by the White House Council on Environmental Quality reached similar conclusions. None of it was news to Carter, who directed the National Academy of Sciences to prepare a comprehensive, $1 million analysis of the greenhouse effect. “Carter was the first leader anywhere in the world who considered [climate change] a problem,” says Alter. Although Carter talked about the risks of rising CO2 levels in several speeches, he never launched a campaign to directly confront climate change — in part because he was too consumed with the energy crisis in real-time and in part because he was too consumed with the politics of getting re-elected. If he had won a second term, would he have sounded the climate alarm? It would have been a complicated call for Carter, if only because he had backed coal — the most carbon-intensive of all fossil fuels — and synthetic fuels as a way to get off imported oil. But it’s hard to imagine that Carter would not have pushed global warming forward as a major issue. “It’s been enormously frustrating to realize that if we had started with Carter and continued after his administration, we could have been on a smooth trajectory to reduce fossil fuel use,” Speth says. “If that had happened, we could be getting out of the fossil fuel business right now. But, of course, that’s not what happened.” What happened was Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the anti-Carter, a president who saw consumption as next to godliness and economic growth as a religious force. He ripped the solar panels off the White House roof and they ended up on a farm in Maine, at the Smithsonian, and at a solar exhibit in China. He cut clean energy research and reduced taxes on oil and gas and made America safe again for fossil fuel barons. “The big oil companies finally have a friend in the White House,” the New Republic reported soon after Reagan took office in 1981. And in many ways, America has never looked back. Carter had imaged that by 2020, America would be creating 20 percent of its electricity from the sun. The hard reality: In 2022, solar generated about 3 percent of U.S. electricity (all non-hydro renewables — wind, solar, biomass, geothermal — generate about 14 percent). Even more disturbing is the fact that U.S. CO2 emissions are about the same today as they were in 1976 when Carter took office. If you consider historical emissions, the U.S. is by far the largest contributor to the climate crisis. And without U.S. leadership, the climate crisis has only accelerated. From 1980 to 2019, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere grew from 339 parts per million to 419 ppm. “America’s energy policy of the last four decades is the greatest dereliction of civic responsibility in the history of the Republic,” Speth argues. Carter himself never gave up the fight. When he was 92, he installed 3,852 solar panels on his land in Plains, Georgia, which create enough electricity to power half of the town. It was a powerful reminder, if such a reminder were needed, that when Carter installed the solar panels on the White House in 1979, he had been right about the direction the world was going, even if he had been wrong about the timing. Perhaps the most enduring aspect of Carter’s legacy on energy and the environment is that it forces us to remember that where we are today has been a choice. Carter did his part, both as president and as a citizen. It’s not too late for us to do ours.
While Berlin and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments in the war-ravaged nation, Austria signalled it would soon deport refugees back to Syria. Far-right politicians elsewhere made similar demands, including in Germany -- home to Europe's largest Syrian community -- at a time when immigration has become a hot-button issue across the continent. Alice Weidel, of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, reacted with disdain to Sunday's mass rallies by jubilant Syrians celebrating Assad's downfall. "Anyone in Germany who celebrates 'free Syria' evidently no longer has any reason to flee," she wrote on X. "They should return to Syria immediately." World leaders and Syrians abroad watched in disbelief at the weekend as Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus, ending Assad's brutal rule while also sparking new uncertainty. A German foreign ministry spokesman pointed out that "the fact that the Assad regime has been ended is unfortunately no guarantee of peaceful developments" in the future. Germany has taken in almost one million Syrians, with most arriving in 2015-16 under ex-chancellor Angela Merkel. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said many Syrian refugees "now finally have hope of returning to their Syrian homeland" but cautioned that "the situation in Syria is currently very unclear". The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had imposed a freeze on decisions for ongoing asylum procedures "until the situation is clearer". She added that "concrete possibilities of return cannot yet be predicted and it would be unprofessional to speculate in such a volatile situation". Rights group Amnesty International slammed Germany's freeze on asylum decisions, stressing that for now "the human rights situation in the country is completely unclear". The head of the UN refugee agency also cautioned that "patience and vigilance" were needed on the issue of refugee returns. In Austria, where about 100,000 Syrians live, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer instructed the interior ministry "to suspend all ongoing Syrian asylum applications and to review all asylum grants". Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added he had "instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation programme to Syria". "The political situation in Syria has changed fundamentally and, above all, rapidly in recent days," the ministry said, adding it is "currently monitoring and analysing the new situation". The French interior ministry said it too would put asylum requests from Syrians on hold, with authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway announcing similar moves. Britain's interior ministry said it was taking the same measure "whilst we assess the current situation". The Italian government said late Monday after a cabinet meeting that it too was suspending asylum request "in line with other European partners." The leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, a coalition partner in the government, said residence permits for Syrian refugees should now be "reviewed". "Destructive Islamist forces are behind the change of power" in Syria, wrote their leader Jimmie Akesson on X. "I see that groups are happy about this development here in Sweden. You should see it as a good opportunity to go home." In Greece, a government spokesman voiced hope that Assad's fall will eventually allow "the safe return of Syrian refugees" to their country, but without announcing concrete measures. In Germany, the debate gained momentum as the country heads towards February elections. Achim Brotel, president of a grouping of German communes, called for border controls to stop fleeing Assad loyalists reaching Germany. The centre-right opposition CDU suggested that rejected Syrian asylum-seekers should now lose so-called subsidiary protection. "If the reason for protection no longer applies, then refugees will have to return to their home country," CDU legislator Thorsten Frei told Welt TV. CDU MP Jens Spahn suggested that Berlin charter flights to Syria and offer 1,000 euros ($1,057) to "anyone who wants to return". A member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats criticised the debate as "populist and irresponsible". Greens party deputy Anton Hofreiter also said "it is completely unclear what will happen next in Syria" and deportation talk was "completely out of place". Many Syrians in Germany have watched the events in their home country with great joy but prefer to wait and see before deciding whether to return. "We want to go back to Syria," said Mahmoud Zaml, 25, who works in an Arabic pastry shop in Berlin, adding that he hopes to help "rebuild" his country. "But we have to wait a bit now," he told AFP. "We have to see what happens and if it is really 100 percent safe, then we will go back to Syria." burs-fz/rlp/phz/gv/giv
Stock analysts at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics ( NASDAQ:FDMT – Get Free Report ) in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 2.70% from the company’s previous close. Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on FDMT. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Leerink Partners restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded 4D Molecular Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, 4D Molecular Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.13. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on 4D Molecular Therapeutics 4D Molecular Therapeutics Price Performance Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FDMT. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $504,000. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in 4D Molecular Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $344,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 4D Molecular Therapeutics by 25.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,339,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,551,000 after acquiring an additional 473,094 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356 shares during the period. Finally, Bellevue Group AG bought a new stake in shares of 4D Molecular Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $500,000. 99.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About 4D Molecular Therapeutics ( Get Free Report ) 4D Molecular Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company, develops genetic medicines using its therapeutic vector evolution platform in the Netherland and the United States. The company develops a portfolio of genetic medicine product candidates focuses in three therapeutic areas for ophthalmology, cardiology, and pulmonology. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for 4D Molecular Therapeutics Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for 4D Molecular Therapeutics and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Unrivaled Brands, Inc. ( OTCMKTS:TRTC – Get Free Report )’s share price crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $0.37 and traded as low as $0.35. Unrivaled Brands shares last traded at $0.50, with a volume of 4,894 shares trading hands. Unrivaled Brands Price Performance The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $0.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $0.42. About Unrivaled Brands ( Get Free Report ) Terra Tech Corp. cultivates, produces, and retails medical and adult use cannabis products. The company also operates medical marijuana retail and adult use dispensaries, cultivation, and production facilities in California and Nevada under the BlÃ1⁄4m name in California and Nevada. Terra Tech Corp. was founded in 2010 and is based in Santa Ana, California. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Unrivaled Brands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Unrivaled Brands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
