LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Thomas Brown insists he's focused on the job at hand and not the one he might have down the line. His immediate task as the interim coach of the Chicago Bears is helping the team finish strong over the final five games, starting this weekend at San Francisco. The rest of his life can wait. “I think about just the moment. ... I obviously understand the role that I'm in, understand what might come with it," he said Wednesday. "But I also understand that we make most situations bigger than what it has to be because of the outside noise, what everybody else puts a value on it.” The Bears are in a moment unlike any other in the history of the founding NFL franchise. They fired a head coach for the first time during a season when they let Matt Eberflus go on Friday with a 4-8 record and the team in a six-game losing streak marked by head-scratching decisions. They promoted Brown, who in a span of three weeks went from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator and now the person in charge. The tipping point was a 23-20 loss at Detroit on Thanksgiving, when the Bears let the clock run down rather than call a timeout following a sack. It led to Caleb Williams throwing an incomplete pass from the Lions 41 as time expired when Chicago should have been able to run more than one play. Star cornerback Jaylon Johnson interrupted Eberflus' postgame speech and made his feelings clear. Other players had gone public in recent weeks with their frustrations over the coaching decisions, and they didn't exactly hide their emotions following the Detroit game. On Wednesday, defensive end DeMarcus Walker said he sensed a change was coming after the loss to the Lions. “You guys just look at the whole turnaround, how everything had been going, we just knew some changes were going to be made,” he said. The 38-year-old Brown now has a huge opportunity. He spent last season as Carolina's offensive coordinator and the previous three on Sean McVay's staff with the Los Angeles Rams — the final two as assistant head coach. Prior to that, he spent nine years as a college assistant, including stops at Wisconsin, Georgia, Miami and South Carolina. It's his job to help right a team that came into the season thinking a playoff spot was in reach. Williams' development obviously will be front and center. To that end, the No. 1 overall draft pick has looked more comfortable in the three games since Brown took over for the fired Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator, completing 75 of 117 passes for 827 yards with five touchdowns, no interceptions and a rating of 99.2. Though Brown will continue to call plays, the Bears have another new offensive coordinator in wide receivers coach Chris Beatty. “I think it is a stepping stone actually with my development because I think down the line I’ll have different OCs or different head coaches or whatever the case may be,” Williams said. “And so being able to handle it my first year, handle a new playbook, handle all these different changes, handle all of this I think it definitely will help the development instead of hurting it or anything like that.” Beyond the development of the prized quarterback, Brown also will be judged during his audition for the regular job on his preparation, decisions during games and command of the locker room. He said he reached out to each player individually on Friday and Saturday and tried to set a tone when the team met on Monday. “I want them to be excellent,” Brown said. “I can nitpick at every single play and tell a guy how he wasn’t perfect. And, so, perfection’s not the goal. It’s to excel at your craft.” Notes: The Bears had a lengthy injury report on Wednesday. WRs Keenan Allen (ankle) and DJ Moore (quad), RBs D'Andre Swift (quad) and Roschon Johnson (concussion), DB Elijah Hicks (ankle) and OL Ryan Bates (concussion) all missed practice. S Kevin Byard (shoulder) and OLs Darnnell Wright (knee) and Coleman Shelton (knee) were limited. AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLScripps Health researchers received a $317,000 grant award from the National Institutes of Health to develop a “smart shoulder” replacement implant, it was announced Thursday. The award will go toward the first phase of research over the next two years at the Shiley Center for Orthopaedic Research and Education at Scripps Clinic on Torrey Pines Mesa. “Shoulder replacement surgery represents an important area of study,” Dr. Darryl D’Lima, director of orthopedic research at Scripps Health and the initiative’s co-lead investigator, said in a statement. “Studies show that the number of these procedures has grown significantly in recent years in the United States and the trend is expected to continue. “We need to gather and review data to better understand ways we can improve shoulder prosthetics and rehab approaches for patients, and this grant funding is an important first step toward that goal.” Dr. Heinz Hoenecke, an orthopedic surgeon and researcher at Scripps Clinic, is co-lead investigator. The team intends to plan, develop, produce and monitor the effectiveness of a prototype which can remotely and continuously transmit data about a new shoulder after surgery. According to Scripps, the doctors plan to modify an existing shoulder implant by adding wireless technology and sensors, as well as rechargeable power. They intend to test the concept in the shoulder of a human cadaver. We have launched our year-end campaign. Our goal: Raise $50,000 by Dec. 31. Help us get there. Times of San Diego is devoted to producing timely, comprehensive news about San Diego County. Your donation helps keep our work free-to-read, funds reporters who cover local issues and allows us to write stories that hold public officials accountable. Join the growing list of donors investing in our community's long-term future. “The smart implant will serve as both a functional shoulder joint replacement, as well as a research tool that can continually record and transmit data from inside the patient’s shoulder, such as mechanical forces, temperature, range of motion and other metrics,” a statement from the healthcare company read. Scripps has made history in prosthetics before, when in 2004, Dr. Clifford Colwell implanted the world’s first electronic knee prosthesis into a patient at Scripps Green Hospital. This milestone provided insight into how forces impact the knee. The initial grant funding comes from the National Institute on Aging , part of the National Institutes of Health . After the initial two-year period, Scripps will seek additional grant funding for clinical studies. Get Our Free Daily Email Newsletter Get the latest local and California news from Times of San Diego delivered to your inbox at 8 a.m. daily. Sign up for our free email newsletter and be fully informed of the most important developments.Alabama Farm Credit Joins the Land Broker Co-op as an Official Lending Partnerslot game website 。

Speaker Mike Johnson discussed the Kids Online Safety Act in his weekly press conference on Tuesday. A Politico reporter said he received thousands of angry, profane attacks and had his account briefly taken down on the progressive-leaning social media platform Bluesky for sharing a seemingly innocuous post about rival platform X. Politico's Michael Kruse recounted sharing on Bluesky a story from a colleague about whether Democrats should continue to engage on X, formerly known as Twitter, since it was bought by Elon Musk and has become a liberal bogeyman of sorts. He posted a quote with the story link from an anonymous Democratic communications staffer that said, "Leaving X because you don’t like Elon is the kind of purity politics that landed Democrats in this mess to begin with." In response, Kruse was flooded with thousands of angry responses, which included calling him a "f---ing dork," "f---ing moron," "dumb f---" and "b---h," among other colorful phrases. Another user added a graphic description of where to put a running chainsaw as "the best thing you could possibly do to make the United States a better place." Kruse shared the anecdote due to Bluesky's liberal reputation as a "safe space" from X, which left-wingers often complain has become a hateful cesspool under Musk. Kruse said he had never received such an avalanche of personal attacks on X, but Bluesky users were infuriated that he would question why they left Musk's site behind. The logo of social media platform Bluesky displayed on a mobile device. (Photo by Ian LANGSDON / AFP) (Photo by IAN LANGSDON/AFP via Getty Images) CULTURE OF LIFE? UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO'S MURDER MOCKED AND CELEBRATED BY FAR-LEFT "On the one hand, it’s not a big deal, because it’s part of the deal — regrettably commonplace in what passes for internet discourse. And I get far less of this abuse than people who are not white, male and gentile," Kruse wrote . "On the other hand, this was notable, because with the exception of a couple episodes — and long before Musk took over — I have on Twitter never been on the receiving end of such a sustained assault. Bluesky says it basically and principally exists as an alternative for those for whom X.com had gotten too noxious, and yet the vitriol here was overwhelmingly ad hominem attacks." Kruse said he was puzzled by Bluesky users' tone if the point was for the platform to be an oasis from so-called toxicity. "The toxin is what exactly? Unpleasant ideas? Ugly reactions? Maybe the toxin is far bigger than Bluesky could possibly address. Social media overall? People writ large? Even the notion of a safe space — as a smart Democrat texted me as this was going on, safe for whom, and from what?'" he wrote. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) MARK CUBAN RUNS TO 'LESS HATEFUL' SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM AFTER SCRUBBING X ACCOUNT OF HARRIS SUPPORT Kruse said he didn't get an answer from Bluesky about why his account was taken down, but it was reinstated shortly after without any further explanation. Bluesky has picked up millions of new accounts since the election, many of them left-leaning media figures fed up with X and Musk's support of President-elect Donald Trump. It's generated headlines for its seeming focus on progressive purity, such as conservative satire site The Babylon Bee being censored for sharing an article calling transgender Biden administration official Rachel Levine a "man of the year." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to Bluesky and Kruse for comment.

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HOUSTON , Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy, Inc.'s CNP Board of Directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.2200 per share on the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock payable on March 13 , 2025 to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 20, 2025. This quarterly dividend represents a $0.010 increase over the prior quarter. This dividend growth rate aligns with the high end of the company's previously announced 6-8% non-GAAP earnings per share growth target. About CenterPoint Energy, Inc. As the only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in Texas , CenterPoint Energy, Inc. CNP is an energy delivery company with electric transmission and distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution operations that serve more than 7 million metered customers in Indiana , Louisiana , Minnesota , Mississippi , Ohio and Texas . With approximately 9,000 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com. For more information, contact: Communications Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/centerpoint-energy-declares-regular-common-stock-dividend-of-0-2200--302331738.html SOURCE CenterPoint Energy, Inc © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.ATLANTA — A month after the November election, a series of major developments has shaken up Georgia’s political landscape as Donald Trump prepares his return to the White House. The president-elect’s announcement Wednesday that he will nominate former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler to his Cabinet was his second appointment that will have broad implications for Georgia’s 2026 races. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Walmart’s Mexico subsidiary said Friday it plans to appeal a $4.6 million fine for alleged anti-competitive practices involving suppliers. Walmart de Mexico said in a statement that it had talked with suppliers to see if there were any concerns. The agency that issued the fine, known as the Federal Competition Commission, expressed concerns about a “relative monopolistic practice.” The commission, Mexico's main anti-monopoly regulatory agency, is one of several independent agencies soon to be eliminated as part of what the government describes as a money-saving measure. It apparently levied the fine after at least one rival store chain accused Walmart of using its substantial purchasing power to gain discounts that put other sellers at a disadvantage. Walmart is by far the largest retail chain in Mexico. It called the decision “incorrect” and said it contained “errors in applying the law.” The company said it would abide by the agency’s ruling Thursday, but would appeal the decision. Walmart's shares rose about 7.5% on the Mexican stock exchange Friday. Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more.