okebet agent login ph The top five moments of 2024More than 40 years since the first American servicewomen were allowed to serve in combat, Idaho U.S. Sen. Jim Risch thinks the “jury’s still out” on how the U.S. military should manage women’s involvement in a war zone. The three-term Republican senator responded to a question over the weekend related to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon as U.S. defense secretary. Hegseth, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army National Guard member has said several times, including recently , that women shouldn’t serve in combat. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get the latest news, sports, weather and more delivered right to your inbox.None

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DALLAS (AP) — Juan Soto gets free use of a luxury suite and up to four premium tickets behind home plate for regular-season and postseason New York Mets home games as part of his record $765 million, 15-year contract that was finalized Wednesday. The Mets also agreed to provide personal team security for the All-Star outfielder and his family at the team’s expense for all spring training and regular-season home and road games, according to details of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press. Major League Baseball teams usually provide security for player families in seating areas at ballparks. New York also agreed to assist Soto's family for in-season travel arrangements, guaranteed Soto will have uniform No. 22 and included eight types of award bonuses. Soto's suite will be valued at the Mets' prevailing prices, presumably for tax purposes, and after 2025 he can by each Jan. 15 modify or give up his suite selection for the upcoming season. He can request the premium tickets, to be used by family members, no later than 72 hours before the scheduled game time. The Yankees had refused to offer Soto a free suite. “Some high-end players that make a lot of money for us, if they want suites they buy them ... whether it's CC (Sabathia), whether it’s (Aaron) Judge, whether it’s (Gerrit) Cole, whether it’s any of these guys," general manager Brian Cashman said. "We've gone through a process on previous negotiations where asks might have happened and this is what we did and we’re going to honor those, so no regrets there." Cashman said the Yankees have a shared suite for player families and a family room with babysitting. Soto gets a $75 million signing bonus, payable within 60 days of the agreement’s approval by the commissioner’s office. The deal for the 26-year-old, which tops Shohei Ohtani's $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers, was reached Sunday pending a physical that took place Tuesday. Soto receives salaries of $46,875,000 each in 2025 and 2026, $42.5 million in 2027, $46,875,000 apiece in 2028 and 2029 and $46 million in each of the final 10 seasons. Soto has a contingent right to opt out of the agreement within three days of the end of the 2029 World Series to become a free agent again, but the Mets have the an option to negate the opt-out provision by increasing the yearly salaries for 2030-39 by $4 million annually to $50 million and raising the total value to $805 million. If the club exercises its option to negate the opt-out provision, Soto can make his opt-out decision by the fifth day after the World Series. He has a full no-trade provision and gets a hotel suite on road trips. Soto would receive a $500,000 bonus for winning his first Most Valuable Player award and $1 million for each MVP award. He would get $350,000 for finishing second in the voting and $150,000 for finishing third through fifth. Soto was third in the AL voting this year. He would earn $100,000 for each All-Star selection and Gold Glove, $350,000 for World Series MVP and $150,000 for League Championship Series MVP. Soto would get $100,000 for selection to the All-MLB first or second team, $150,000 for Silver Slugger and $100,000 for the Hank Aaron Award. Award bonuses are to be paid by the Jan. 31 after the season in which the bonus is earned. AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlbHP reports soft Q1 guidance; shares tumble in afterhours trading

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Stock market today: Wall Street gets back to climbing, and the Nasdaq tops 20,000CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brandon Miller scored eight of his career-high 38 points in overtime, and the Charlotte Hornets hung on to beat the Detroit Pistons 123-121 on Thursday night. Miller was 8 for 12 from 3-point range — two of those coming in overtime — and LaMelo Ball had 35 points and nine assists before fouling out one second into OT as Charlotte prevailed after squandering a 20-point lead in the third quarter. Detroit's Cade Cunningham had 27 points and 10 assists before leaving the game with a hip injury with 48 seconds remaining in regulation after being fouled by Grant Williams. Cunningham made two free throws before leaving the game. Ball, who has struggled with foul trouble issues this season, picked up three in the first quarter and took a on the bench. He returned to score 13 of Charlotte’s 15 points in a stretch of the third quarter. The Pistons stormed back and took the lead on Cunningham's free throws. Ball tied the game with a floater and Malik Beasley missed two short-range shots. Ball had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but his floater didn't fall. Takeaways Pistons: Jalen Duren was a non-factor for most of the game, finishing with five points and nine rebounds despite facing a Hornets team playing without centers Mark Williams and Nick Richards. Hornets: Charlotte said Williams (foot tendon strain) and Richards (rib fracture) have “returned to group and team activities,” and are getting close to returning to action. Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) looks to pass the ball around Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. Credit: AP/Nell Redmond Key moment Miller drained his career-best eighth 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in overtime to give Charlotte a six-point lead. Key stat Miller and Ball became the first Hornets to score 35 points in the same game in franchise history. Up next Pistons visit the Orlando Magic on Saturday night, while the Hornets travel to face the Milwaukee Bucks.Year in Review: North Carolina’s 24 in 2024On a rare two-game skid, No. 24 Arizona faces Davidson

SPRINGFIELD — The minimum wage in Illinois will increase to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, completing a six-year transition period since the increase was approved in 2019. Beginning New Year’s Day, Illinois workers making minimum wage will see wages rise by $1 and tipped workers will see their paychecks bump to $9 an hour. Youth workers under 18 who work fewer than 650 hours a year will have a $13 minimum wage. The final increase, ending a six-year ramp which began with the minimum wage rising from $8.25 to $9.25 on Jan. 1, 2020, puts a bow on Gov. JB Pritzker’s first major legislative victory. He signed the wage increase in February 2019 about a month after being sworn in for his first term, checking off a top campaign promise. “Since day one of my administration, I’ve made it my mission to build an economy that works for everyone and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour fulfills that promise to our working families,” Pritzker said in a statement. “This increase honors the workers who power our state and ensures they can better support their families, bringing us closer to a stronger, more equitable economy for all.” People are also reading... Illinois will be one of 10 states with a minimum wage of $15 or greater, according to the National Employment Law Project. Twenty-two other states are also increasing their wages on Jan. 1. The minimum wage increase is one of many economic changes that have happened since 2019, including effects of the pandemic, Illinois Chamber of Commerce CEO Lou Sandoval told Capitol News Illinois. He said those have caused businesses to adjust their operations in a variety of ways, such as increasing automation. “I think you’re starting to see businesses pivot in terms of how they’re adjusting,” Sandoval said. “You’re seeing this at the national chains.” Some restaurants, for example, are “moving away from larger sit-down areas into grab-and-go.” Illinois job growth has been slow since October 2019, according to a November report by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. The state has seen a net increase of 28,700 jobs from October 2019 through October 2024. That’s a growth rate of 0.5%, compared to the national rate of 4.9%. The rate of new job postings by businesses at the beginning of the year will shed some light on how the jump to $15 on Jan. 1 is impacting business operations, Sandoval said. To help small businesses with the change, the state provides a tax credit through 2027 to businesses with 50 or fewer employees for wages paid to minimum-wage workers. The 2019 minimum wage law marked the first increase since the wage hit $8.25 in 2010. Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester, introduced a bill to raise it to $15 an hour in 2017 that was passed by the General Assembly and vetoed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Lightford sponsored the initiative again in 2019. “As a state, we have helped countless workers make ends meet, reduce financial stress, and provide a more solid foundation for their futures,” Lightford said in a statement. “The $15 minimum wage is a testament to our commitment to economic justice and our belief that everyone who works full time deserves a living wage.” The value of a $15 minimum wage, however, has changed since lawmakers acted in 2019. A person making $8.25 in February 2019 would need to earn $10.30 today to have the same buying power after inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index. A $15 hourly wage today has the buying power that $12.02 had in February 2019. A person would need to make an $18.72 wage today to have the same buying power that $15 had in February 2019. Top Democrats didn’t say if they will push for new increases. “As a Senator of 25 years, history has shown my commitment of fighting to ensure workers are paid a living wage. That commitment still holds strong today,” Lightford said in an email statement. Pritzker said he supports ideas that will help workers make more money, but didn’t commit to supporting any plan to raise the minimum wage further when pressed about it at a news conference Dec. 11. “We always are thinking about how do you balance the need for higher wages with the needs that businesses have to hire people and do it affordably. But I think we did it the right way when we did it back in 2019,” Pritzker said. The new $15 wage equates to a 40-hour-per-week annual salary of $31,200 before taxes. That equals the federal government’s poverty level for a four-person household. The poverty level is $15,060 in a single-person household. But according to calculations in a national project by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15 hourly still doesn’t equate to a “living” wage in Illinois, based on U.S. Census Bureau cost of living and other cost estimates provided by federal agencies adjusted for inflation. A single adult with no children needs a $22.86 hourly salary to make a living wage in Illinois, while a two-parent household with two working adults and three children would each need to earn $31.69. In a two-parent household with one working adult and one child, the worker needs $36.49 to make a living wage, according to the MIT project. Inflation is making it hard for workers to benefit from wage increases, Sandoval said, adding rising wages also cause businesses to raise prices. “They might get the wage increase on one side, but their cost of living goes up accordingly,” Sandoval said. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

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NoneNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes got back to climbing on Wednesday after the latest update on inflation appeared to clear the way for more help for the economy from the Federal Reserve . The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to break its first two-day losing streak in nearly a month and finished just short of its all-time high. Big Tech stocks led the way, which drove the Nasdaq composite up 1.8% to top the 20,000 level for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, lagged the market with a dip of 99 points, or 0.2%. Stocks got a boost as expectations built that Wednesday’s inflation data will allow the Fed to deliver another cut to interest rates at its meeting next week. Traders are betting on a nearly 99% probability of that, according to data from CME Group, up from 89% a day before. If they’re correct, it would be a third straight cut by the Fed after it began lowering rates in September from a two-decade high. It’s hoping to support a slowing job market after getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower rates would give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation. “The data have given the Fed the ‘all clear’ for next week, and today’s inflation data keep a January cut in active discussion,” according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Expectations for a series of cuts to rates by the Fed have been one of the main reasons the S&P 500 has set an all-time high 57 times this year , with the latest coming last week. The biggest boosts for the index on Wednesday came from Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks. Their massive growth has made them Wall Street’s biggest stars for years, though other kinds of stocks have recently been catching up somewhat amid hopes for the broader U.S. economy. Tesla jumped 5.9% to finish above $420 at $424.77. It’s a level that Elon Musk made famous in a 2018 tweet when he said he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share . Stitch Fix soared 44.3% after the company that sends clothes to your door reported a smaller loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also gave financial forecasts for the current quarter that were better than expected, including for revenue. GE Vernova rallied 5% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500. The energy company that spun out of General Electric said it would pay a 25 cent dividend every three months, and it approved a plan to send up to another $6 billion to its shareholders by buying back its own stock. On the losing end of Wall Street, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment tumbled 20.1% after reporting a worse loss for the latest quarter than expected. It also said CEO Chris Morris has resigned, and the board has been working with an executive-search firm for the last few months to find its next permanent leader. Albertsons fell 1.5% after filing a lawsuit against Kroger, saying it didn’t do enough for their proposed $24.6 billion merger agreement to win regulatory clearance. Albertsons said it’s seeking billions of dollars in damages from Kroger, whose stock rose 1%. A day earlier, judges in separate cases in Oregon and Washington nixed the supermarket giants’ merger. The grocers contended a combination could have helped them compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, but critics said it would hurt competition. After terminating the merger agreement with Kroger, Albertsons said it plans to boost its dividend 25% and increased the size of its program to buy back its own stock. Macy’s slipped 0.8% after cutting some of its financial forecasts for the full year of 2024, including for how much profit it expects to make off each $1 of revenue. All told, the S&P 500 rose 49.28 points to 6,084.19. The Dow dipped 99.27 to 44,148.56, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 347.65 to 20,034.89. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.27% from 4.23% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, edged up to 4.15% from 4.14%. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier and slipped 0.8% as Chinese leaders convened an annual planning meeting in Beijing that is expected to set economic policies and growth targets for the coming year. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1%, up for a second straight day as it climbs back following last week’s political turmoil where its president briefly declared martial law. AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.

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Employees of Winnipeg Transit, fed up with the spiral of violence and disorder on city buses and at bus stops, held a rally at City Hall Tuesday morning demanding action, not words, from City Council and Transit management to initiate pro-active protections for bus drivers and users. The rally was called by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505 (ATU) to protest ongoing attacks on transit operators and passengers, as well as supervisors. Dozens of ATU members, joined by members of The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 (CUPE) and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and a few transit riders, heard their leaders call for the enforcement of paying fares and for the development of plastic shields for the driver compartment. “We must fight to secure the safety of transit in this city ... we have the power to drive real change,” said ATU President Chris Scott. He said of elected officials, “their kids, their parents, their loved ones (take transit), what actions are they willing to take to make transit safer for all of them?” ATU executive vice-president Derek Hanley told the crowd that freeloaders are “empowered to act as they wish to act,” and cause mayhem and injuries. “We need everybody here to email your councillors, your MLAs and your MPs to fund public transit and public transit safety.” The union says that currently, 120 members are off work with physical or mental health issues. The rally was timed to coincide with a planned meeting of The Transit Advisory Committee, chaired by deputy mayor Janice Lukes. That meeting was not open to the public and the City web page listed four committee members whose terms had expired last Dec. 31. A member of that committee, Scott mentioned the upcoming meeting and explained to the media that “one particular manufacturer out of Quebec has offered to provide a shield designed for our bus at no cost to the city to test for six months ... that’s the kind of an issue we need to see from anybody that wants to do business with the City (but) unfortunately the wheels of government moves at a snail’s pace.” Fare education and enforcement are a priority for ATU, with Scott referencing the transit officers in Toronto who go on board to scan transfers and TTC payment cards. He suggested that a $17M federal fund could be tapped to underwrite the technology for Winnipeg Transit. Violent incidents in the past few months have included passengers being followed off the bus and beaten up and robbed, an on-board fight after a person pulled a gun and pointed it at another passenger, a mother and daughter stabbed on a bus by a girl gang, a driver being punched in the face, and a female operator crawling out a window to escape a knife attack. Last week a supervisor tackled a “sleeper” who, after being roused and made to exit a bus, aimed a makeshift blowtorch using a lighter and can of hairspray at the official. Scott told the Sun , “We’re coming up on eight years since (bus operator Irvine Jubal Fraser) was murdered. I don’t care what level of government you’re with or your party affiliation. If you choose to be inactive on safety, the next death, whether it’s a member of the riding public or an employee, that blood will be on your hands, not mine.” Council members are welcome to reach out to us, Scott said. “I’ll work with anybody willing to help improve safety on public transit, not only for the operators but for the riding public. The public needs to feel safe when they’re taking the service. Employees and the public who are using the public services that are funded by public tax dollars need to feel safe when they’re using the public services.” City council members have themselves seen the chaotic conditions on transit routes. Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie has told of a “just got out of jail” party that burst out on a bus he was taking, and previously stated, “I need to see some progress” not just with on-bus safety but with incidents at bus stops. North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty has said he saw open liquor and drugs being injected on a Sunday afternoon trip downtown from his ward. Eadie, Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) and Coun. Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-EK) all made appearances during the rally to converse with those in attendance. Schreyer told The Sun , “We know that almost 100% of violence to bus drivers does occur by people who don’t pay the fare. What’s obvious,” he said, is that “safety for the drivers in general means safety for the public too.” “This rally won’t do much until city council decides to get serious about transit,” Tim Solleveld told The Sun . “It’s time to start running transit like a business, and not like a charity, no more free rides and it’s time to hire fare and transit enforcement to help get rid of the trouble on the buses.” Solleveld, a regular user of transit, said, “The way transit runs their business is a mess, too many free rides and the buses aren’t safe, and until they take care of these two issues, the problems will continue, because it’s usually always the people that don’t pay their fare, are the ones who are causing the problems.”How Manmohan Singh's 'Epochal Budget' Helped India's GDP Shoot From Billions To Trillions

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