Percentages: FG .432, FT .724. 3-Point Goals: 12-36, .333 (Sears 6-15, Carter 3-10, Givens 1-2, Bailey 1-3, V.Miller 1-5, Mike.Williams 0-1). Team Rebounds: 12. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 4 (Reed 2, Chest, Sears). Turnovers: 17 (Carter 5, Reed 3, Bailey 2, Givens 2, Sears 2, Fountain, R.Miller, V.Miller). Steals: 11 (Carter 3, Chest 3, Bailey 2, Reed, Sears, V.Miller). Technical Fouls: None. Percentages: FG .407, FT .720. 3-Point Goals: 10-34, .294 (Ivy-Curry 5-12, Da.Johnson 4-8, Hall 1-6, B.Williams 0-1, Di.Johnson 0-1, Taylor 0-1, Jocius 0-2, Coleman 0-3). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 7 (B.Williams 2, Thiam 2, Coleman, Hendricks, Jocius). Turnovers: 15 (Ivy-Curry 4, Da.Johnson 3, Hall 3, B.Williams, Coleman, Jocius, Taylor, Thiam). Steals: 15 (Coleman 5, Da.Johnson 5, B.Williams 2, Ivy-Curry, Machowski, Thiam). Technical Fouls: None. A_1,112 (2,000).
Texas spotlights unaccompanied migrant children ahead of Trump deportation pushIndore (Madhya Pradesh): Citing demand by graduates, Devi Ahilya University Alumni Association (DUAA) has extended the last date for registering for the alumni get-together titled ‘Samagam 2.0’ till December 19. Earlier, the deadline was December 14. A day before the last date, DUAA president Maya Ingle said that they had extended the registration deadline to December 19 owing to requests by alumni who could not apply for the get-together so far. The DUAA has received over 250 registrations for the two-day event on December 23 and 24. Institute of Engineering and Technology leads with around 50 registrations followed by School of Journalism and Mass Communication and School of Chemical Sciences. DUAA joint-secretary Govind Maheshwari is hopeful of speedy registration from here. “Our experience is that the registrations suddenly skyrocket when the event draws closer,” he said. DAVV is all set to host the much-awaited second season of its annual alumni meet bringing together graduates from various teaching departments for a two-day celebration. This year, a special highlight is the inclusion of spouses and children allowing alumni to bring their families to the get-together. The inaugural event will kick-start at the university’s auditorium on UTD campus on December 23, where alumni will gather for a grand opening ceremony. The inaugural event will followed by a cultural programme and dinner. The following day, a series of activities will be held at the departmental level allowing alumni to reconnect with their respective faculties and peers and current students. The departments/institutes have organised recreational activities, industry-academia sessions and more.Featured Stories Lifestyle Philacatessen Synagogue Spotlight Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer Andrew Altman is the president of Keneseth Israel on Old York Road in Elkins Park, a role he has occupied for three years. Altman and his husband joined the congregation in 2007 and he has continuously upped his involvement since then. Altman loves the KI community and looks forward to dedicating his time to its betterment each day. With that being said, he is perfectly happy to be honest when asked how it is that he ended up as president. “I’m not sure,” he laughed. “That’s a whole investigation of its own!” While he doesn’t remember exactly how he ended up in KI’s Oval Office, Altman said that the reasons his family joined the synagogue as members are still clear to him. He said that for him and his husband, who isn’t Jewish, they prioritized a welcoming community that wouldn’t question their identities or backgrounds. “What we felt was just a real natural embrace when we walked through those doors. We were coming in the door as an interfaith, same-sex couple with an adopted baby, so we weren’t sure how we would be seen. We were ready to fight for our family and our friends, and we never had to,” he said. “We came in to open arms. What I have taken from our cantor, Amy Levy, is something she used to say about KI having so many different doors for people to walk through, so they could find what makes sense to them.” The idea of different options appealing to different people, with none being more valid than any other, is essential to the environment that has been cultivated at KI over the decades. Around 650 families take part in a litany of activities that include things ranging from a presentation and discussion on a formative figure in the American abolitionist movement to regular teen club meetings with dinner and educational components. “We have events that address spirituality, simcha, culture, music, arts, and social justice and social action, and it all just brings us together,” Altman said. Keneseth Israel brings in classical music concerts four times a year and has several choirs and music programs run by the cantor and men’s and women’s groups. In the KI lobby is the Temple Judea museum, with thousands of items and rotating exhibits on Jewish history and culture. For Keneseth Israel, another key emphasis is on making sure interfaith couples are welcomed, with no exceptions. This tradition started before Altman and his family joined and will continue after they are gone, but the current president said he is thrilled to get to be a part of that tradition as a member of that very community. “When [my family] first [joined], it was a question for us: How are we going to be seen as a couple? How’s [my husband] going to be seen individually? But frankly, I think there were, until very recently, a lot of people who didn’t know he wasn’t Jewish, because he was involved and engaged and we don’t ask,” Altman said. “We have people who were brought up Orthodox and reform and conservative, that doesn’t matter either.” In fact, Altman said, oftentimes he sees a situation in which the Jewish parent initiates the spouse’s shift to the religion, but soon enough the onus has completely shifted to the convert. “The person who wasn’t brought up Jewish is oftentimes the one who is driving the kids to religious school or being more active on the committee or going to an event or something like that,” he said. “All of us are here to live a Jewish life and promote Jewish values.” The temple’s promotion of Jewish values is in part exemplified by Keneseth Israel’s Hamotzi program, which is in its 10th year of addressing food insecurity in the community. It started as a single event, with five or ten people going out in Philadelphia and inviting people to attend a free dinner. A handful attended, which was enough for the congregation to go all in. A decade later, KI serves about 300 dinners a month and has a crew of dedicated volunteers who donate, prepare and serve meals to those who need them. “We’re in discussion with a local food bank to partner with, which is very exciting. That attracted over 100 volunteers a month, and it works like clockwork at this point,” Altman said. Looking ahead, the KI community is getting ready for the annual Spring Celebration, which is the shul’s largest fundraiser of the year. This year, the event will honor the Hamotzi program and leadership team. There are raffles, dancing, games, and food at this event, which Altman said is regularly a highlight of the programming schedule. Keneseth Israel has been a staple of the city’s Jewish community since the James K. Polk administration, and Altman knows that as president he is largely responsible for continuing to advance the shul’s reputation as a beloved center for Jews of all backgrounds. “The area that we’re in is a very strong Jewish corridor, and our philosophy is that we want to be working closely with everyone else while we’re all strong, because obviously, nationwide, there’s a lot of synagogues shrinking or closing,” Altman said. “We’re in conversation with as many people as possible about more collaboration, more space sharing, more opportunities for union and merger. And so that’s one of our very biggest priorities: to work together.” [email protected] TAGS Congregation Keneseth Israel Elkins Park Old York Road Philadelphia
As a new resident in need of a California license, I put off visiting my local Department of Motor Vehicles office as long as possible. Expecting long lines and someone behind the counter telling me that I had neglected to bring the correct documents, I arrived at my scheduled appointment prepared for the worst. Thirty minutes later, I was out the door, temporary license in hand and surprised by the ease of it all. DMV offices offer the public a rare glimpse of often tedious and convoluted government bureaucracy. And until recently, California offices embodied that governmental tedium. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom noted just how dissatisfied Californians were with their DMV experiences. “I am not naive about the challenges at the DMV. The technology is byzantine,” that year, announcing overhauls to the department and naming Steve Gordon as the DMV’s new director. Since Gordon, a former technology entrepreneur, took over at the DMV, the department has moved more services online and taken other steps to increase the sprawling public-facing agency’s efficiency. Those changes caught the attention of Stanford researchers who recently published a ’s leadership of the DMV as a means of teaching business school students and industry leaders how to cut through red tape. When Stanford Professor Emeritus Robert Sutton went to his local DMV to transfer the title of his mother’s car after she passed away, he was shocked by how quickly he was in and out the door. The experience diverged sharply from Sutton’s previous DMV trips, prompting him to investigate what had changed. Sutton, an organizational psychologist at Stanford Engineering who coauthored the case study, was interested in how Gordon has made changes based on frontline employees’ direct feedback. One example included in the case study detailed changes the department made to confusing questions about organ donation on drivers license applications after two DMV staff members pointed out how the questions often tripped up customers, causing delays. “If you see that one of our processes is not working, say something,” Gordon said in an internal video shared with DMV employees. “Talk to your supervisor. Send me an email if you’d like. We can’t fix something if the right people don’t know that that thing is broken.” The case study noted Gordon’s emphasis on moving services like renewing a license or registration online. Earlier this year, Newsom touted in a that nearly 300 DMV kiosks across the state have helped Californians avoid trips to offices: Between 2019 and 2023, the number of online transactions grew by 44%. Customer satisfaction survey results the DMV shared with the Stanford researchers found that between 2018 and 2024, satisfaction scores significantly increased, from 2.5 out of 5, to 4.25. The case study also noted the wait time to see a DMV representative without an appointment dropped from more than an hour and a half in 2018 to 13 minutes in 2021. Sutton noted that his case study is dissimilar from articles and academic papers in that the subject — in this case Gordon — was given the opportunity to review them before publication. But he maintains that the business world can learn a lot about reducing red tape from the California DMV. From a customer’s perspective, the red tape was minimal. The ease of my first DMV experience in California didn’t leave me dreading next year’s task of renewing my car’s registration. Though on the topic of the licensing test for new California drivers, I have no comment. ©Senator Rand Paul , a Kentucky Republican , said on Sunday that while he supports the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, he does not support President-elect Donald Trump 's plan to use the U.S. military to expel migrants "because it's illegal." Trump heavily campaigned on the issue of immigration in this year's election cycle, which has been a central focus of his platform since stepping onto the political stage in 2016. He promised to carry out the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants on the campaign trail and on Monday, he confirmed that his incoming administration is prepared to declare a national emergency to carry out his mass deportation plan and will use the U.S. military in some form to help. Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday morning, Paul, a ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, told Margaret Brennan, "I'm a 100 percent supportive of going after the 15,000 murders, the 13,000 sexual assault perpetrators, rapists—all of these people. Let's send them on their way to prison or back home to another prison...but you don't do it with the army because it's illegal and we've had a distrust of putting the army into our streets." Paul was referring to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) report released in September on noncitizens who have been convicted or charged with a crime. The senator seemed to mix up the numbers as ICE reports 13,099 noncitizens convicted of murder and 15,811 convicted of sexual assault. Also, these numbers span decades, including people who entered the country over the past 40 years or more. "The police understand the Fourth Amendment. They have to go to judges. They have to get warrants; it has to be specific. I'm for removing these people, but I would do it through the normal process of domestic policing," Paul told Brennan. Newsweek reached out to Paul's office and Trump's team via email for comment Sunday afternoon. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says he supports President-elect Donald Trump's plan for mass deportations, but not his suggestion of using the military for it, "because it's illegal." "We've had a distrust of putting the army into our streets," he says, calling for deportations "through... pic.twitter.com/WUms7FSu66 Brennan mentioned how taxing a mass deportation plan would be on immigration authorities, saying, "There are just 6,000 agents, 41,000 detention beds to carry out the assignment of rounding up millions of undocumented people, potentially." She then asked Paul, "How do you suggest they implement it?" "I will not support and will not vote to use the military in our cities. I think it's a terrible image," Paul said, using the same language as in an interview with Newsmax he did earlier this week. Paul said he would use the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ), ICE and Border Patrol to carry out the deportations. "It's not about detaining [the migrants]. In all likelihood, they should be going to a jail, either a jail here or in the country they came from," he added. The senator also said he doesn't think deputizing the U.S. National Guard to carry out the deportations is "the best way to do it." "It's less clear whether that's legal or illegal. Typically it has to be done at the behest of the governors. I still don't like a militarization of police, whether it's National Guard or Army," he said. Senator Richard Blumenthal , a Connecticut Democrat who also sits on the Homeland Security Committee, said Trump using the military to carry out mass deportations would be against the Insurrection Act, which allows presidents to use troops on American soil to restore order when they decide it's warranted. "We're pursuing whatever we can do to make clear that the Insurrection Act should not permit that use of the military," Blumenthal told The New York Times in an article published Monday. Under the Insurrection Act, "if there is no threat to public order of a fundamental, far-reaching kind, it would be illegal," the senator said.
Republican fined for campaign violations dating to St. Louis County executive bid
Romeo Doubs out with concussionBottom line: Regulators worldwide are trying to balance innovation, competition, and user protection in the mobile ecosystem. A UK investigation, in particular, could have far-reaching implications for mobile browser competition, app development, and user experience on iOS devices. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released provisional findings suggesting that Apple's restrictions on mobile browsers hamper innovation and deprive iPhone users of potentially beneficial features. Its investigation is part of a broader inquiry into mobile ecosystems. "Through our investigation, we have provisionally found that competition between different mobile browsers is not working well and this is holding back innovation in the UK," said Margot Daly, chair of the CMA's independent inquiry group. The group concluded that Apple's Safari browser policies prevent rival browsers from implementing some advanced features. One notable example is the restriction on faster webpage loading technologies, which, if allowed, could significantly enhance user experience. The investigation revealed a strong preference among UK app developers for offering progressive web apps as an alternative to traditional App Store distribution. However, current iOS limitations make this approach impractical, potentially stifling innovation and reducing options for developers and users. The CMA also has concerns regarding a revenue-sharing agreement between Apple and Google. This arrangement significantly lowers financial incentives to compete in the iOS mobile browser space, potentially limiting the drive for innovation and improvement. The regulator believes Apple and Google can manipulate users' browser choices. These companies can make their offerings appear as the clearest or easiest options, potentially influencing user decisions and further cementing their market positions. The CMA recommends addressing these issues through the UK's upcoming Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act, which will take effect in January 2025. This new legislation will grant the CMA enhanced powers to designate firms as having "Strategic Market Status" and impose appropriate interventions to promote competition. While the investigation initially covered both mobile browsers and cloud gaming, the CMA has decided not to pursue action on the latter. This decision came after Apple began allowing cloud gaming apps in the App Store, effectively addressing the primary concern in this area. Apple told MacRumors that it disagreed with the report's conclusions regarding Safari, WebKit, and in-app browsing on iOS. "We face competition in every segment and jurisdiction where we operate, and our focus is always the trust of our users," it said. Apple also raised concerns that the potential interventions discussed in the report, which the CMA could implement under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act, might undermine user privacy and security and hinder their ability to develop the technology that sets Apple apart in the market. It also pointed out that it offers a variety of WebKit-based third-party browsers on the App Store, which compete alongside Safari, and that iOS includes settings that allow users to switch their default browser, promoting user choice. The CMA's investigation is not an outlier. The European Commission and the United States Department of Justice are also conducting similar probes into mobile browser competition, indicating a growing scrutiny of mobile ecosystem practices. A notable recent example is the Justice Department's proposal that would force Google to sell its Chrome browser to address monopolistic concerns in the search market. The UK regulator is now accepting public comments on its provisional findings until December 13. It will release its final decision in March 2025.Originally published Nov. 21 on IdahoCapitalSun.com . Pete Hegseth, president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense , has close ties to an Idaho-based Christian nationalist church that aims to turn America into a theocracy. Hegseth is a member of a Tennessee congregation affiliated with Christ Church, a controversial congregation in Moscow, Idaho, that has become a leader in the movement to get more Christianity in the public sphere. In an appearance last year on the Christ Church-connected streaming show “Crosspolitic,” Hegseth talked about how building up fundamentalist Christian education systems is important in what he sees as a “spiritual battle” with the secular world. He sees Christian students as foot soldiers in that war and refers to Christian schools as “boot camp.” “We’re in middle phase one right now, which is effectively a tactical retreat where you regroup, consolidate and reorganize and as you do so, you build your army underground with the opportunity later on of taking offensive operations – and obviously all of this is metaphorical and all that good stuff,” he said on the show. Hegseth did not immediately respond to requests for an interview. HEGSETH HAS SPOKEN POSITIVELY ABOUT CHRIST CHURCH PASTOR DOUG WILSON'S WRITINGS Christ Church is led by Pastor Doug Wilson, who founded the Calvinist group of churches called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC. CREC has congregations in nearly all 50 states and several foreign countries. Hegseth’s church is a member of CREC, and Hegseth has spoken positively of Wilson’s writings. Wilson and his allies have a rigid patriarchal belief system and don’t believe in the separation of church and state. They support taking away the right to vote from most women, barring non-Christians from holding office and criminalizing the LGBTQ+ community. Recently, Wilson has increased his influence nationally as he’s built a religious, educational and media empire. His Association of Classical Christian Schools has hundreds of fundamentalist schools around the country, and his publishing outfit Canon Press churns out dozens of titles a year as well as popular streaming shows that highlight unyielding socially conservative ideals. In the recently released podcast, “Extremely American” (created by this reporter), Wilson says one of his goals is to get like-minded people into positions of influence. In an emailed response for this story, he said he’s closer to that post-election and that he supports Hegseth’s nomination, though he downplayed any influence he has on him. “I was grateful for Trump’s win, and believe that it is much more likely that Christians with views similar to mine will receive positions in the new administration,” he said. HEGSETH NOMINATION COULD THREATEN COHESION, DIVERSITY OF U.S. MILITARY, EXPERTS SAY That’s what worries Air Force veteran Mikey Weinstein, who is the president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation . Weinstein says Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, would threaten the cohesion of a religiously and racially diverse U.S. military. “Pete Hegseth is a poster child for literally everything that would be the opposite of what you would want to have for someone who’s controlling the technologically most lethal organization in the history of this country,” he said. Weinstein sees Hegseth’s nomination as an example of the dangers of Project 2025, a 900-page policy paper written by far-right political activists. It lays out a plan to gut the federal government and install Christian nationalist ideals. “Christian nationalism is an absolute fatal cancer metastasizing at light speed (for) the national security of this country,” he said. “It is a Christian version of the Taliban.” Matthew D. Taylor, senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, said Hegseth is “one of the most extreme far right figures ever nominated to a cabinet post, at least in modern memory.” Taylor said he’s broadly concerned about Christian nationalists, who tend to take a dim view of democracy, potentially having a lot of sway in this administration. “I think we should expect a profound degradation of our democratic norms of the rule of law, and I think we are edging closer to a de facto Anglo Protestant establishment, of the kind where Anglo Protestant Christianity as the de facto official religion in the United States,” he said. Hegseth faces some headwinds in his nomination process due to multiple marital sex scandals and the recent revelation that he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in exchange for her not speaking about it. He denies he assaulted her but admits he paid her . He’s also gotten criticism for tattoos that are symbols of the Crusades and wrote a book titled “American Crusade,” where he derides Muslims. Before becoming a TV personality, Hegseth led the conservative veterans group Concerned Veterans for America, which advocated for increased privatization of veterans’ health care. He has also said that women should not be allowed to serve in combat roles in the military, and has complained about what he terms “woke” policies in the military.
The highest amount Victorian punters can put into poker machines at one time will be slashed from $1000 to $100 under major gambling reforms. or signup to continue reading Gaming Minister Melissa Horne will introduce the gambling legislation amendment to state parliament on Tuesday, almost 18 months after then-premier Daniel Andrews previewed the changes. The proposed reforms will include the introduction of carded play on pokies, which will require patrons to insert a player card to operate a gaming machine, mandatory closing times at venues and slower spin rates for new pokies. The cards will give people access to information about their gambling and allow set limits on how much they are willing to lose. A pilot of the carded play will start in mid-2025 in selected venues across Victoria. Under the reforms, any new gaming machines approved after December 2025 must have a spin rate of at least three seconds per game, compared to the current spin rate of 2.14 seconds. From the same month, the amount of money people can load onto a machine at any time will be reduced to $100, down from $1000. Mandatory closure periods from 4am to 10am for gaming areas in all Victorian hotels and clubs come into effect from August 30, 2025. Ms Horne said the reforms were aimed at stopping the far-reaching impact of problem gambling. "Almost 30 per cent of Victorians who play gaming machines experience gambling harm," she said. "Gambling harm has consequences, not just for the person gambling but for everyone around them." Some of Victoria's reforms were initially expected to be implemented by mid-2024 when first announced by Mr Andrews 12 months earlier. Tasmania was slated to implement similar cashless gaming card reforms before saying it would prefer to work with other states to come up with a pre-commitment solution earlier in November. Independent MP Kristie Johnson questioned Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff's decision to scrap plans for the card due to the findings of several reports which had yet to be publicly released. "The Deloitte report says the economic impact of the card is minimal on pubs and clubs but the economic impact on communities is significant when you think where that money could be spent elsewhere," she told ABC Radio on Tuesday. National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858 DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Advertisement Advertisement
Senior students in Surrey high schools will get a chance to take online classes next school year, in the board's latest strategy to free up classroom space. "Hybrid learning is a blend of face-to-face and online learning for students and in our context, for kids in the senior Grades 10, 11 and 12," explained Perry Smith, assistant superintendent for Guildford-area schools. Exploring hybrid learning is motivated by a "capital crunch" trustee Bob Holmes says the district is facing, as student enrolment outpaces available school space. While the permanent implementation of hybrid classes would be new, students got a taste for the model during the pandemic years when schools were running classes virtually. As well, teachers became accustomed to the model and likely have learned lessons to improve on this time around, district staff suggested. "We identified many benefits of hybrid learning in our secondary schools," Smith said, pointing to research on the topic to support the claim. The superintendent explained that students will have a choice of going home for their online blocks, staying at school in shared spaces or being out in the community, for example, at a library. For those students who do not have access to internet services or personal electronic devices, technology will be provided so the opportunity is more inclusive, Smith said. He added that the district would receive a grant to make this possible. "While there is a side benefit for students to get ready for the 21st century, as previous speakers have mentioned, the reality is that this was driven because we have such a shortage of space," chair Gary Tymoschuk said. The issue of overcrowding in Surrey Schools can be seen at nearly every school, with trustee Laurie Larsen noting Walnut Road Elementary, that is set to receive a prefabricated module. "They have had one playground for 800 students because the other playground has been cordoned off, they have no greenspace, they have no adequate parking for parents, visitors or for staff. Staff are double parking so they all have to know which teacher is in front of them so they can let them know when they have to leave," Larsen said. The trustee added that prefabs do not provide everything. "We appreciate the modulars, I don’t want to say that we don’t but the modulars do only give the classroom," Larsen said. "They don’t give the gym space, they don’t give any extra outdoor space, they don’t give any library space and especially for the gym so in that school, they have to have three assemblies for every event.. because the gym is too small and the occupancy is just over 300 people." Walnut Road also has nine portables on school site and with the addition of the modulars, whether those portables will remain on site is still unknown. According to the board, affording to relocate the portables may be a challenge. Staff recommended for the board to approve the implementation of up to three senior level courses in a hybrid learning model at secondary schools as a trial for next school year, available on an optional basis. The board unanimously passed the motion.
Fingered for thumbnails: Inside one family's digital nightmareEmerging tight end Noah Gray gives Mahomes and the Chiefs another option in passing game(BPT) - Tech gifts are consistently some of the most popular presents to give and receive during the holidays. In fact, according to the annual Consumer Technology Holiday Purchase Patterns report , a record 233 million U.S. adults (89%) will buy tech products during the 2024 holiday season. But with so many devices out there, it can be hard to decide on the perfect option for the loved one on your list. A tablet like the new Fire HD 8 from Amazon offers the versatility of an all-in-one device, with access to streaming, gaming, video chatting, reading or writing all at your fingertips. Fire HD 8 also features a vibrant 8-inch HD display and lightweight, portable design, for high-quality entertainment on the go. Plus, Fire HD 8 comes with three new AI features that can help you get the most out of your tablet experience. Check them out below and learn how they can help you with daily tasks this holiday season and beyond. 1. Meet your personal writing assistant Do you struggle with writing a heartfelt message or finessing a tricky email? Fear not! Writing Assist is here to help. Writing Assist works as part of your Fire tablet's device keyboard and compatible apps, including email, Word documents and social media. In just a few taps, you can transform your writing from good to great. Try Writing Assist's pre-set styles to turn a simple email into a professionally written note. Or, you can ask Writing Assist for grammar suggestions to make your writing more concise, or elaborate on your ideas. You can even "emojify" your writing to add more fun and personality. 2. Learn more in less time Say goodbye to scrolling through pages of information. The new Webpage Summaries feature allows you to learn pertinent information as quickly as possible. Available on the Silk browser on Fire tablets, Webpage Summaries provides quick insights on web articles. In a matter of seconds, this feature will distill the key points in an article or on a webpage into a clear, concise summary of what you need to know. 3. Get creative with your device wallpaper With Wallpaper Creator, you can easily add a touch of creative flair and customization to your tablet's home screen. You can choose from one of the curated prompts to get started on creating a unique background. Or, if you're ready to let your imagination run wild, type a description of what you'd like to see. For example, you can ask for an image of a tiger swimming underwater or a watercolor-style image of a desert landscape in space. Wallpaper Creator will then turn your vision into a reality, delivering a high-resolution image that you can use as your tablet's wallpaper. Celebrate an AI-powered holiday season Writing Assist, Webpage Summaries, and Wallpaper Creator are now available on Amazon's new Fire HD 8 and other compatible Fire tablet devices, including the latest Fire HD 10 and Fire Max 11 tablets. To learn more, or to order a new Fire tablet this gift-giving season, visit Amazon.com .
Article content Vernon Fiddler scratched and clawed his way to almost 900 NHL games as a dogged, heart-and-soul centre after everybody passed on him come NHL Draft time. But Fiddler’s son Blake, 17, in his second junior season with Fiddler’s hometown Edmonton Oil Kings, will likely be a first-round pick this upcoming June. Blake looks today like what every NHL team is after—a right-shot, possible top-4 defender with impressive size (six-foot-four, 210 pounds). He could go in the No. 20 range in the 2025 draft after he was the first player taken in the WHL’s U.S. import priority draft in 2022, but before the draft next summer, Blake will be auditioning as alternate captain of the CHL rep team against the U.S. Development Program squad in a much-anticipated, highly-scouted two-game series in Ontario—in London Tuesday, in Oshawa Wednesday. The Canada-U.S. exhibition series could feature as many as 15 potential first-round choices in the 2025 draft, so half of the first round, and Fiddler is one of those who brings a lot to the table. “He’ll play in the NHL, probably as a support player to a No. 3, a second-pairing guy. He really defends well, plays within himself. Yeah, he’s going in the first round I would say,” assessed a long-time NHL amateur scout. The scouts will be watching—ex-Oiler captain Shawn Horcoff’s son Will, a forward, will be on the U.S. team, a nice twist because Will and Blake used to hang out at the Dallas Stars rink when Horcoff, now Detroit Red Wings’ assistant GM, and Fiddler were playing for the Stars. Blake’s pro pops Vern, 44, who lives in the Dallas area after playing for the Stars, and is in the residential real estate business, is more dad than instructor these days even if he coached Blake on rep teams in the 10-gallon Texas minor hockey market. Vern’s certainly keen on the Canada-U.S. bragging rights matchup this week but more the Oil Kings because it’s where Vern grew up. When the Oil Kings drafted Blake, it didn’t get any better than that. “Everything has just fallen into place,” said Vern, whose mother Pat looks after Blake at a townhouse in Sherwood Park that Vern bought for the family. “There were opportunities with the U.S. Development program for Blake but we started talking with the Oil Kings the January of his (import) draft year and we always looked at him playing junior,” said Vern, who was in the WHL once upon a time. “We wanted him in a big city so it would be easier for us to come and watch him. I was honest upfront and told the Kings (before the import draft) that I would like it if it was Seattle or Spokane (for better U.S. travel) but Edmonton would be perfect for my brothers and sisters there. “When it came to fruition and they took Blake, it was almost too good to be true.” Familiar surroundings for Blake. “We came up to Edmonton lots when I was younger, spent a couple of Christmases here and we would also be here in the summer. I’m pretty familiar with the city,” said Blake. “Living with my grandma, it’s awesome. She loves and so I do. I get great meals.” In an age when all NHL clubs are looking for offensive young D, Blake doesn’t fall into that realm. But he’s a right shot, something all teams crave for on the back-end. He’s a big teenage body, a player who shoos opposing players away from his net, and is an excellent, efficient skater. “For me it starts in the D zone, when I’m defending hard, making good first passes. That leads to getting my legs going, joining the rush. But the D zone...that’s a priority of mine,” said Blake, who is averaging about 22 minutes a game with the Oil Kings, and has had several phone calls and Zoom calls with NHL clubs already. He’s much taller than his dad, who is 5’11”. “I think I get my height from my mum’s side. Her side of the family is Croatian and my great grandpa was seven feet apparently and I have a cousin who played basketball and is 6’10”, said Blake. Being the son of a former NHLer always leads to questions about having a leg up on what being a pro is all about, of course. “It’s definitely an advantage. I was lucky that my kids caught the last four or five years of my NHL career and they remember the rinks, the dressing room, the morning skates. These kids soak everything in. They see dad cold-tubbing, and they’re curious about what that does,” said Vern. “Sometimes I question whether it was the right thing to get my kids into hockey but when you grow up around dressing rooms, you see your dad working out all the time, stretching, eating the right things,” said Vern. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of parents doing the right thing but it’s definitely an advantage (apple falling not far from the tree). And in the summers, you’re working out, or shooting pucks in the garage.” “It’s your line of work and the mental side, that’s the biggest part...being able to tell them what to hang onto and what not. We had other dads (NHL players) around too. Ray Whitney’s boy, Horcoff’s son, Travis Moen’s youngster,” he said. All good stuff for Blake. “My dad played in the NHL for a long time and I’ve got to spend a lot of time around pros, seeing how they prepare and play. It’s pretty cool,” said Blake. “From a young age, I’ve seen how hard NHLers work in the gym and it leads to their success on the ice.” ‘I coached him...but I’m his dad forever’ Blake never felt behind the 8-ball, growing up in Dallas, rather than in hockey-mad Canada. “We were on the planes a lot, we would have about 12 tournaments a year (rep hockey) and we would skate pretty much every day. I knew I was always getting enough work in,” said Blake. Seconded by dad Vern. “In the summers now Blake’s able to train at the Dallas Stars facility which is just down the street from where we live. He’s bumping elbows with Jamie Benn and skating with Wyatt Johnston. It’s not just me he’s learning from. He’s keeping an eye on Jamie or Tyler Seguin in the gym,” said Vern. “Yeah, later in the summers I’ve been able to skate with those guys (Benn, Johnston, Kevin Connauton), seeing what I could take away from those guys,” said Blake. Trying to steal some of their tricks of the trade? “For sure,” said Blake, with a knowing smile. Fiddler steadfastly has allowed to breathe. No telling him what he did wrong in the car after games. “When I was coaching him we had a rule. We just talked at the rink and once we got in the car if Blake asked me something I would talk, but I grew up in a family where everything was positive. In the car, it was always ‘You had a great game.’ If you had a bad game, you evaluated that yourself,” said Vern. “I coached him a little bit but I’m his dad forever.” “Blake can reach out to me and ask questions and I will give him information,” said Vern. “Sometimes it’s more honest than he would like it to be but I’m not there attacking him.” “I”ve tried to step away and the coaching staff is just outstanding (Luke Pierce, Devan Praught, Kyle Chipchura and Ladislav Smid),” he said. “He’s a long way from home but Luke and (GM) Kirt Hill are looking after him. He’s in good hands and it’s taken a lot of stress off us.” “It’s allowed me to be a dad,” said Vern. And Blake is living the hockey dream like his pops. Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here. You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.
A letter sent by an alderman to Illinois state authorities decries the degree to which school board members are allegedly involved in ongoing teachers negotiations and asks for an investigation and opinion regarding the potential legal and ethical breaches as a result. Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, hand-delivered his message Thursday to Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Dr. Tony Sanders, state superintendent of education. “Various media outlets have published disturbing reports of conduct on the part of some personnel associated with Chicago Public Schools, potentially implicating unfair labor practices and breaches of fiduciary duty,” Villegas wrote. CTU’s contract expired in June and bargaining has been ongoing for months — ramping up recently as both sides make public their frustrations with negotiations. CTU members argue that the election of Donald J. Trump adds urgency as the nation’s new leader promises to dismantle the Department of Education and lead the largest deportation efforts in the history of the United States. Meanwhile, some aldermen — like Villegas — have questioned the school board’s alignment with Mayor Brandon Johnson and the powerful teachers union that helped him rise to power. The mayor is a former teacher and CTU organizer. “We have conflicts of interest just all over the place,” Villegas said in an interview with the Tribune. “I want to make sure that the teachers have a fair contract, but I also want to make sure that the taxpayers are also protected as well. I don’t feel that (the) second part is being taken into consideration.” The letter urges the importance of ethical governance within CPS. Villegas suggests that the Chicago Teachers Union and board members are “cutting out” the district’s chief of staff, Pedro Martinez, in collective bargaining negotiations. Under the Illinois School Code, Martinez has exclusive statutory authority to negotiate collective bargaining agreements, Villegas wrote. Villegas called the board’s discussions of contract negotiations ahead of time “troubling.” The board’s role, he said, is “to wait until the CEO CPS and their staff have agreed to a contract ... and then the board is to approve the contract” after getting briefed. In a post on social media, CTU said the board is not “colluding” with the union during contract negotiations. CTU called the letter “an absurd and legally incoherent accusation.” “There isn’t an organization in America where the CEO gets to operate independently from its board of directors or a school district in America where a superintendent gets to override the school board,” CTU wrote. Ultimately, the CEO and board are supposed to have a collaborative relationship. The CEO reports to the board, which studies the needs of the students and community. According to the district’s board rules, Martinez negotiates all collective bargaining agreements on behalf of the board and submits tentative agreements to the board for adoption and approval. The board and CEO have been at odds for months, however, over a financial dispute that led to the resignation of all seven members in early October. Johnson appointed a new board just days later. The union and district are getting closer to a resolution at the bargaining table, both union and district officials said Thursday. But the letter suggests that lines between the distinct Board of Education and the CTU are being blurred in murky ways. Beyond concerns about overstepping the CEO’s authority, Villegas wrote about how some board members participating in negotiations have a direct connection to CTU, “presenting a clear conflict between CPS interests and CTU interests.” Villegas cited a 1984 Illinois Appellate Court case between the Board of Education of Niles Township and the Regional Board of School Trustees of Cook County that he said emphasized the invalidity of board decisions when there are conflicts of interest. Moving forward, Villegas directed the two Illinois state officials and recipients of the letter to investigate whether the involvement of one or more school board members in CTU collective bargaining matters constitutes a breach of labor practices and to provide an opinion on how the district or public can respond. Raoul said he would review the letter and follow up with Villegas. Sanders did not immediately respond when asked for comment. nsalzman@chicagotribune.com
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