7xm is legit Tafara Gapare throws down 19 points and a highlight dunk, and Maryland beats Bucknell 91-67Walmart’s DEI rollback signals a profound shift in the wake of Trump’s election victoryChina launches new compact radiation detection chip for semiconductor self-reliance

Tulsa’s First Black Mayor Says He Plans To Address The City’s Ugly History Head-On

Wheel of Fortune’s most prized tradition is the bonus round, where each episode’s winner is faced with one last puzzle and a mere 10 seconds to come away with an even bigger bundle of cash (or not). But fans want a word with host Ryan Seacrest about how he’s presenting the prizes after giving a puzzling amount of build-up to a player’s $40,000 win. On Friday, November 22’s episode, Brittany Brock, a kindergarten teacher from Chicago, Illinois, was the player to proceed to the coveted bonus round. By then she had won $17,300 in cash, a trip to Kauai, and selected “Living Thing” as her category. With the savvy additional letters of “DPBI” the two-word puzzle read as, “‘_ _ DDL_’ ‘P_PP_'”. Near-instantly, she correctly solved it as “Cuddly Puppy.” The broadcast cut to Seacrest and an excited Brock, and it was time to reveal how much she won from the prize wedge she picked. Seacrest opened the gold prize card and glanced at the figure. “And...” he told her with a surprised grin (below). After a few seconds he added, “Ready?” Broke clasped her hands over her mouth in anticipation as Seacrest then revealed she won an extra $40,000, the least one can win in the bonus round. “$40,000!” he exclaimed. This brought her to a grand total of $57,381 and she was overjoyed nonetheless, embraced her husband. On Social media, many fans celebrated the big win while left wondering why Seacrest presented the prize with such a prolonged rollout that it seemed like a bigger value and as if the confetti was about to overflow onto the Sony Pictures Studios parking lot. “Ryan acting like it’s $75,000 or $100,000 with the slow way he shows the amount,” one fan wrote when the game show shared the clip to YouTube. Over on the WoF Reddit, a fan dedicated a discussion thread to the moment titling it, “Bonus Reveal... lolz.” They continued, “I like Seacrest, but gotta admit, I’m not a fan of the dramatic 40K reveals lol.” “Agreed...” a second user wrote, arguing that a contestant in the future could be “disappointed” it’s not more. “The Mrs. and I commented on that last night. He presents it like it’s something more than the minimum prize amount! One of these days, the contestant is going to react disappointedly.” A third wrote, “He also contorts his body awkwardly and bounces around to just flip the card open. Then says ‘it was this much’ as if he can’t say the amount. Kind of weird. But the lack of higher amounts lately is noticed. I’m glad it’s been all cash so far. A lot of the cars prior were 30k, which is nice, but they were lowest prize.” “I agree, feels like he’s forcing it,” wrote a fourth. A fifth was even more critical, “I’m sorry I know a lot of people are going to get mad at me but I just don’t like him. There’s something about him, that I just don’t enjoy watching him in anything at all.” Meanwhile , Seacrest, of course, had huge shoes to fill replacing the legendary Pat Sajak alongside the iconic Vanna White after four decades for Season 42. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years, and viewers were already treated to a viral moment (via a round of sausage) . That said, there have been some other questionable moments according to fans. In September, Seacrest suffered what fans dubbed his “first blooper” , involving a prolonged reaction to rewarding a bonus round. Fans also called out the host for ruling against another player before the timer was up. There have also been a few on-screen “glitches,” and a minor spelling error in a Thanksgiving puzzle . Many fans also blamed a lack of experience on Seacrest’s mishandling of a contestant’s $1million wedge, which she instantly forfeited. Wheel of Fortune , Weeknights, Check your local listings More Headlines:NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart’s sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump’s incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches — the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President — are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI,” Glasgow said. “The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America’s top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart’s announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart’s need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer’s ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart.” Walmart’s announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including , Harley-Davidson, and . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.

KASPER SCHMEICHEL held an on-field inquest after Celtic fell a goal behind to Club Brugge. But no fingers were pointed. 4 Kasper Schmeichel had sympathy with Cameron Carter-Vickers Credit: EPA 4 The defender's howler put Celtic up against it 4 But Diazen Maeda came to the rescue with a cracking finish Credit: Getty Likewise Brendan Rodgers refused to heap the blame on Cameron Carter-Vickers for his no-look backpass that trundled into the net. It gave the Hoops a mountain to climb - but they did thanks to Daizen Maeda's slip and strike in the second half . VAR also had a hand in ruling out another Brugge strike for a trailing leg offside. Celtic had looked improved after the break and Schmeichel reckons the chance to reset at the interval played a big part in the point that could prove pivotal further down the line. Read More Celtic stories BILL LECKIE Point proven by Celtic after Brugge battle - these nights are becoming the norm STRUGGLING BHOY Celtic hero pinpoints the Hoops star who left him 'disappointed' vs Brugge They now sit comfortably within the play-off positions in the new-look League phase - and are guaranteed to stay there into the new year . But it didn't seem that way after a slow start and then shocking howler from the American defender during an almighty defensive mix-up. Schmeichel explained: “The goal was one of those things. I was showing for a pass from Nicolas Kuhn but he hasn’t passed to me. “Cameron was surprised by it and he’s been pressed. Most read in Football BLUES BROTHERS Club Brugge fans sing Gers song as they march to Celtic Park for Euro clash Celtic 1 Club Brugge 1 Maeda spares Carter-Vickers' blushes as Hoops plug away to big point EYES FRONT Rangers boss Philippe Clement opens up on talks with new CEO Patrick Stewart BUS BEAST Kilmarnock fan famous for foul-mouthed post-match rants exposed as paedophile “It’s so loud in here and I was screaming at him that I wasn’t in the goal. It’s one of these things - it happens. “It’s important when things like that happen that you have a reset. Celtic have had 'Trampoline Effect' since Borussia Dortmund mauling, says Brendan Rodgers “They were having a little too much time on the ball and a little too much joy. It was important for us to shore things up. “On reflection, I don’t think we were ourselves in the first half. We didn’t get up to the tempo of the game and didn’t play up to the intensity of it. “Luckily, we had half-time to change that and things were better in the second half. “There were chances for us to win it and chances for them to win, so we have to be reasonably happy.” 4 On goal hero Maeda, the veteran keeper added: “He’s a top-class player. “He’s been playing in China with Japan and travelling. He’s played two games in a short period of time. “But he has that output and that energy . We know about his quality but the energy drives the team.” Read more on the Scottish Sun LOOKING UP I'm a four-time world champ but my eyesight is going so I've made crucial change ISLE SAY Stunning home with panoramic views for sale for just £135k - but there's a catch Hoops captain Callum McGregor added: “They edged it in the first half and we edged it in the second so it’s a fair result in the end. “This is a tough level. It’s a steady point and keeps us moving in the right direction.” Keep up to date with ALL t h e latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page

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