7xm 5 30 Academy ISD is ready to put a $330,535 Jobs and Education for Texans grant from the Texas Workforce Commission to use. The funding will allow the Health Science program at Academy High School to purchase new equipment, including an Anatomage table, a bariatric nursing mannequin, a blood pressure simulator, microscopes, a mobile charting work station and two SUSIE S2400 patient simulators — a mannequin that allows students to practice NG/OG feeding, heart and lung auscultation and tracheostomy care. Jennifer Chan, one of three Health Science teachers at Academy High School spoke to how these enhancements will prepare more than 100 career and technical education students for a future in the health care industry. “The addition of this equipment will revolutionize how our students learn,” she said. “Being able to use an Anatomage table and high-fidelity patient simulators in high school is a game-changer. It sets our students apart and gives them an incredible head start in their future careers.” Joycelynn Young, a colleague, wholeheartedly agreed. “It’s so exciting to think about how our students will engage with this technology,” the fellow Health Science teacher said. “These tools will allow them to practice skills in a realistic and safe environment, giving them the confidence and competence to excel.” Academy High School was among 35 recipients across the state to earn a JET grant. “This grant opens doors for our program,” Alyssa Williams, the third Health Science teacher at Academy High School, said. “The opportunity to use this level of equipment will inspire our students to dream bigger and work harder. They’re gaining access to resources that many college programs don’t even have.” There will be a check presentation — with representatives from the Texas Workforce Commission present — in early 2025 where officials from Academy ISD will highlight how the funding will help the Health Science program remain a cornerstone in the district. “This award demonstrates the strength of our programs and the dedication of our staff,” Academy ISD Superintendent Darla Nolen said. “Academy ISD is committed to fostering opportunities that prepare students for bright futures, and this grant is a shining example of that mission.”

Climate Change Don't miss out on the headlines from Climate Change. Followed categories will be added to My News. Australia’s delegation to the COP29 climate change conference has been labelled a “complete farce” after one speaker opened her remarks with an Indigenous Acknowledgment of Country — for an event in Azerbaijan. The two-week 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which wraps up on Friday, was held in the tiny former Soviet republic straddling eastern Europe and western Asia. Despite the fact that the capital Baku is more than 13,000 kilometres from Sydney, that did not stop Dr Clare Anderson from paying respects to Australia’s traditional owners, as is now customary before most corporate, government and sporting events. Dr Anderson, director of sustainability performance at engineering and professional services firm Worley, was speaking before a nearly empty crowd for the opening panel session at the Australian pavilion in Baku. Australia’s delegation to the COP29 conference in Baku. Picture: X “I’m very delighted to be here today,” she said. “To start, I might ... whilst we’re not on Australian lands, I’d still like to start with acknowledging the traditional owners of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.” A clip of the moment was shared on X by former Australian MP Craig Kelly . “What a complete farce — here’s a video from the ‘Australian Pavilion’ at the climate wankfest at Baku — funded by Australian taxpayers,” he wrote. “Imagine, all that coin to pay for constructing an exhibition stand, flying a delegation half way around world, setting up video facilities to record it all — and they get five people to attend.” He added that “I wonder if this would pass muster if we had an Australian DOGE”, referring to US President-elect Donald Trump’s Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency. Dr Clare Anderson, director of sustainability performance at Worley. Picture: Supplied The video sparked bemusement among many viewers. “Why are Australian government officials doing a welcome to country in Azerbaijan,” Nationals Senator Matt Canavan asked. “Welcome to Country ... in Baku,” said Freelancer chief executive Matt Barrie. One-time Liberal candidate Katherine Deves, who unsuccessfully ran for former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s northern beaches seat of Warringah in 2022, said, “Australia is an outpost. No one cares.” Several X users labelled it a “joke”. “Cancel the return flight, the credit cards and disavow. That will save lots of planet and our money,” one wrote. “We are not a serious country,” another said. After the failure of the Voice to Parliament referendum last year, some commentators have suggested the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgment of Country — now found everywhere from bus announcements and school assemblies to job interviews and pilates classes — should be scaled back. Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said earlier this year the overuse of the Welcome to Country in Australian public life could actually make people feel unwelcome in their own country. Ms Price told Sky News Australians should not be “confronted with it at every single opportunity”. In September, One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson called for ceremonies to be banned , saying Australians were “sick and tired of them”. “They are sick of being told Australia is not their country, which is what these things effectively do,” she wrote on X. frank.chung@news.com.au More Coverage Pauline calls for Welcome to Country ban James Dampney Kids told to repeat ‘always Aboriginal land’ Frank Chung Originally published as ‘Complete farce’: Australian delegate performs Acknowledgment of Country at COP29 in Azerbaijan Join the conversation Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout More related stories Breaking News ‘Suspicious’: Huge twist in bushfire chaos A chaotic bushfire which destroyed at least one home and burned through 1000ha of land may have been deliberately lit, authorities have revealed. Read more Breaking News ‘Not safe to return’ as Vic fires rage At least one home has been destroyed as fires tore through more than 2000 hectares of bushland, with authorities warning of “challenging” conditions yet to come. Read more

— — "Particularly thank-you letters." — — — — — "I moved to a tiny town and it is about a 45 drive to any chain, except Dairy Queen — the only fast-food joint in town. It is like living in the , and I love it. Plus, my husband bought a fixer-upper for $6k about six years ago and has fixed it up cash only. I work from home and now have about $1.5k in monthly expenses (car, insurance, groceries, etc.) and have a plan to save $700k in the next 10 years. The American Dream is still alive, at least in rural Minnesota, but most people can’t live without endless consumption." — — — "Oh yeah! My friends and I would always call those 'Track 99.' That reminds me — how about the beep tones at the end of a cassette tape to let you know you had to eject it and flip it over?" — — — "I'm always glad there were no cell phones when I was a kid. There would have been so many pictures of me being an idiot..." — — — — — "Wow, I’d totally forgotten about that. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face!" — — — — "I am feeling this hard. Yesterday, I spent 45 minutes on the phone. A total of three minutes, I was talking to an actual human; Two of the humans couldn't help and had to transfer me to a third, who initially kept repeating the script 'til they realized what I actually needed." — — "On my co-worker's daughter's first day of high school, she was glued to her phone, watching the app she had tracking her daughter (yes, the daughter knew about the tracker). 'Now she's walking to History.' 'Now the day is over, and she's walking home.' I can't imagine that's healthy for the daughter OR her mother." — — — "At Thanksgiving this year, I watched the parents of a little boy sit at the table looking at their phones while he was trying to get their attention. It made me so sad. He's being raised by people who are privileging a phone screen over eye contact, connection, attentiveness, etc." — — — "I recovered much of mine by spending a couple of hours each morning reading printed books and doing word puzzles on paper. It also just makes for a nice start to the day over a cup or two of coffee." — — — — — — "Standing in line for hours to buy concert tickets was a social thing. It was fun, and we didn't mind doing it. Total strangers stuck together just hanging out and having fun. I don't think there is anything like it now, and if there was, most people would just stand there scrolling and not interacting with each other." — — — — "And severe disappointment when mum’s finger was ALWAYS in the way or all the heads were cut off." — "My kids go online, swipe left or right, text someone, set up a meeting, and after a couple of meetings, they're having sex and practically living together. They never learn the nuances of the other person, never find out the skeletons in each other's closets, and then they get married. No wonder the divorce rate is astronomical. You married someone after six months that you are not the least bit compatible with." — "My family moved into the air-conditioned world in 1970. I continued my love of books but never completely disappeared into the pages as completely as I did on the shady porch." —TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Shaquil Barrett is rejoining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs signed the two-time Super Bowl champion on Saturday, while also announcing safety Jordan Whitehead was activated from injured reserve ahead of Sunday’s home game against the Carolina Panthers. Barrett spent five seasons with Tampa Bay from 2019 to 2023. He led the NFL with a franchise-record 19 1-2 sacks in his first year with the Bucs, then helped the team win its second Super Bowl title the following season. In all, Barrett started 70 games with Tampa Bay, amassing 45 sacks, 15 forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and three interceptions. He was released last winter in a salary cap move, signed a one-year contract with the Miami Dolphins in free agency, then abruptly announced his retirement on social media before the start of training camp in July. Barrett, who also won a Super Bowl during a four-season stint with the Denver Broncos, decided to unretire last month. He signed with the Bucs after clearing waivers earlier in the week. Whitehead has missed the past four games with a pectoral injury. His return comes of the heels of the Bucs placing safety Christian Izien on IR with a pectoral injury. On Saturday, the Bucs also activated rookie wide receiver Kameron Johnson from IR and elevated punter Jack Browning to the active roster from the practice squad. NFL:Hearing aids that form a bubble around two people in a crowded room to bring new life and interaction for the hearing impaired. A robot that delivers food to your table after the waitstaff takes the order. AI tutors that instantly customize a student assignment to develop a business plan, whether the interest is in sports, tribal sovereignty, education or geology. A personal AI in my pocket or at my fingertips to converse with me in Spanish or help me summarize a 20 page policy document that I now do not have to review over the weekend. All of this is happening today and made possible through the fast-moving developments in artificial intelligence. The explosion of capabilities will only accelerate. What is a leader’s responsibility to prepare for technological transformation? Imagine, as a leader, you could go back 25 years in time. Only you know everything about how cellphones and the internet have changed the world. How would you prepare your family, community and organization? If you tried to explain the details of all that was to come, you might be labeled a dreamer or a lunatic. A more effective approach would be to create discussion and together envision future possibilities. Of course, we can’t go back in time or know the future, but we can prepare for tomorrow. Whether you are a leader in government or a nonprofit, a regional company or an educational institution, there exists a leadership imperative – an AI leadership imperative. Embracing this imperative begins with a first step of engaging those in your orbit. Ask thoughtful questions about AI that allow others to speak, wonder and ideate without judgment. Discover who is secretly using AI (an AI cyborg), who is wary, and who is curious and wants to learn more. The second step: learn how AI is already impacting your spaces. AI applications are well underway in every field. Knowing what is happening in your industry paves the way for the third step, which is to experiment with AI in small, safe, and relevant ways. For some, experimentation might be how AI can assist with time-consuming calendaring tasks or transcribing notes and conversations, while bigger explorations might involve using AI to examine disparities in health outcomes among different populations. A fourth step a leader can take is to gather a team and imagine different scenarios of how to use AI for good, without naively ignoring the potential for harm. This also might involve a working group that develops principles to guide AI use to assure alignment with organizational values. Action characterizes all the steps. Action means fulfilling our responsibility to upskill students and employees (and leaders) for this new AI world. Inaction means no training, no new learning. Students and employees are then susceptible to deskilling (technology partly automates or simplifies tasks previously done solely by experts) or non-skilling (technology replaces tasks previously done by people, such as ATMs and self-driving vehicles). Action means strategically and responsibly integrating AI into our organizations to improve effectiveness and steward entrusted public or private resources. This may involve forming teams to address AI policy or strategically applying AI in a way that improves processes or service delivery. Inaction means remaining stuck in practices and processes that date back years or even decades while the competition embraces change and progress. Action means fulfilling our obligations to serve families, citizens, students, customers and clients. This takes many forms, from delivering lifesaving solutions to all – machine learning made the 2020 COVID-19 vaccine possible in record time – to supplementing faculty instruction with accessible, effective AI math tutoring for every student. Inaction means accepting disparities between those who have access to the social and cultural benefits that technological advancement offers and those who do not. The AI leadership imperative is upon us. It is critical for Southwest Colorado leaders to begin the AI Journey with steps to action. Let’s take these steps together. Mario Martinez is the provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at Fort Lewis College. He has been in leadership positions in public and private institutions of higher education since 2014. Sign up for the AI Institute newsletter bit.ly/AIInstitutenews to keep informed of all things AI at FLC and our region.

AP News Summary at 4:09 p.m. EST

Trump selects longtime adviser Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save And then there were eight. The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff tournament was off and running last weekend and boy is there a lot to dive into after the first four games. First, let me say I’m all for a 12-team playoff. In addition to opening up the field to more than a handful of teams each year, it allows for some fun regular season games between top teams that doesn’t necessarily spell the end of national title hopes for the losers. However, the setup for seeding (not rankings) and what the most important criteria should be is being called into question after four first-round blowouts. Now, we have had PLENTY of blowouts in the old system(s) so we shouldn’t be all that surprised that for the most part the outcomes were known early on last weekend. It’s always going to be a possibility, especially in the first-round games. People are also reading... Albany school support staff call for schools to close Jan. 6 As I See It: Why I really resigned from the Corvallis Planning Commission Unsafe left turn on Highway 20 in Linn County leads to fatal crash Two Albany residents killed in Linn County crash Samaritan Health Services CEO resigns Group wants to make Corvallis downtown more sophisticated Group wants to make Corvallis downtown more sophisticated Albany shelter faces federal lawsuit as whistleblower faces homelessness Family of hit-and-run victim seeks closure, clues that will lead to driver As I See It: The people of Benton County deserve leadership that promotes dialogue Christmas Eve hit-and-run causes domino effect in Albany Has a hard nonconference schedule prepared the Oregon State women's basketball team for the WCC? Corvallis high schoolers: We don't trust district to handle bias reports Albany man indicted in attempted murder case Oregon State celebrates Murphy's arrival while Washington State loses coach, quarterback What’s proven, at least to me, to be the most egregious error in the process of setting up the bracket is that four of the five automatic bids that go to the conference champs must be in the top four seeds, and thus receive a first-round bye. There is NO WAY Boise State and Arizona State should be seeded above Texas, Penn State or even Ohio State and Notre Dame. The proof is in the selection committee's final rankings of those teams — Boise State was No. 9 and Arizona State No. 12. But with Clemson “stealing” the ACC’s auto bid by edging SMU on a last-second field goal after blowing a big early lead, the Sun Devils, winners of the Big 12, moved up to the No. 4 seed with Clemson the No. 12 seed after being ranked No. 16. ASU was No. 12 in the final CFP rankings. So No. 9 and No. 12 got byes. Allowing teams to leapfrog others simply because they were conference champs makes no sense. All conferences are not equal, as was proven by the ACC and Big 12 with their champs being ranked No. 12 and No. 16. That’s like saying the champs of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC should all be No. 1 seeds in the NCAA basketball tournaments. Can you imagine a No. 5 seed winning the conference tournament and being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney? It also severely impacts the paths of teams to make it to the title game. Just ask Oregon. The Ducks, as the only undefeated team, received the No. 1 seed. Because of the auto bids getting byes, Oregon will now face No. 8 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes, who lost at Oregon by a single point and before a regular-season ending loss to Michigan was probably looked at as just as likely to win the title as Oregon, would have been the No. 6 seed. Instead, two of the favorites to win the title are playing in the quarters. Make it make sense. Had we gone by the rankings themselves, we would have had first-round matchups that pitted No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Notre Dame; No. 11 Arizona State at No. 6 Ohio State; No. 10 SMU at No. 7 Tennessee; and No. 9 Boise State at No. 8 Indiana. Yes, Tennessee and Indiana would have had home games instead of going on the road where they really were not competitive. Texas at No. 3 and Penn State at No. 4 would have received the byes. If all the home teams would have won, we would be waiting to see Oregon vs. Indiana, Georgia vs. Tennessee, Texas vs. Ohio State and Penn State vs. Notre Dame. Those, to me, are more compelling games and probably more evenly matched across the board. Had that been the case, Indiana’s coach wouldn’t have complained so much about whatever case he thought he was making. That leads me to my next disappointment: Did Indiana really belong in the top 12 anyway. Or SMU for that matter. Oh no, here comes some SEC bias. Well, yeah, maybe a little. Are you going to tell me either of those teams are clearly better than say Alabama (No. 11), Ole Miss (No. 14) or South Carolina (15)? Or even No. 13 Miami for that matter. As I have said, not all conferences are equal — nor are conference schedules. Is it surprising Indiana went 11-1 when the Hoosiers played seven of the bottom 10 teams in the 18-team conference? Their best win was against 7-5 Michigan and their only game against a better opponent was a 38-15 loss at Ohio State. Oh and wins over Florida International (4-8), Western Illinois (4-8) and Charlotte (5-7) don’t help their cause. Not including Ohio State (11-2), the combined record of the Hoosiers' opponents was (51-81). Add in the Buckeyes and that makes the opponents 62-83. As for SMU, the overall record in the regular season of their opponents was 76-72. That includes the loss to 10-2 BYU. So wins came against teams 66-72. The best wins were against Duke and Louisville, who tied for fourth with two other teams at 5-3 in ACC play. While winning should be an important factor, should we also put stock in strength of schedule, impressive wins and/or bad losses. While I have seen varying strength of schedule calculations, it would appear that both Alabama and Ole Miss had a better SOS than Indiana and SMU and it wasn’t close. Alabama and Ole Miss both defeated No. 2 Georgia. Indiana and SMU beat nobody in the final CFP top 25. Of course, Alabama lost on the road to Vanderbilt (the week after the Georgia win) and to Oklahoma (which appears to have sealed the Crimson Tide’s fate with a third loss.) Ole Miss lost at home to Kentucky, then fell at LSU and at Florida. Those three losses were by a combined 13 points. In addition to drubbing Georgia at home, Ole Miss beat South Carolina (27-3) on the road. Maybe Lane Kiffin's Rebels are the team that has the best argument to have been in the field. While South Carolina and Miami had good seasons, neither had a signature win other than the Gamecocks edging Clemson in the last game of the season. Now, would Alabama or Ole Miss have fared better than Indiana and SMU in the openers? Maybe, maybe not. Were both Indiana and SMU getting in the tournament “feel good” stories? Sure. But did they deserve it as two of the top seven at-large teams? Again, it goes back to what the mission of the CFP is and that is to get the five auto qualifiers in and the next seven best at-large teams. Look, the NCAA men’s tournament is so fun because there are so many upsets and Cinderella is usually alive and well into the Sweet 16 and beyond. It’s like we have that this year with Arizona State and Boise State making the quarters. But they didn’t have to win in the postseason to do it. They were simply awarded the spot because of the agreed upon format. That needs to change. Related story: Commentary: Is it now or never for Ducks to win first national title? Now that the dust has settled on one of the craziest regular seasons in recent history, the Ducks stand above the rest heading into the CFP. Steve Gress is the deputy editor for Mid-Valley Media. He can be reached at steve.gress@lee.net . Get local news delivered to your inbox! Deputy editor Author email {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Costco beats on earnings as membership fee hike boosts revenueMajor poll puts Ireland’s lead parties near neck-and-neck

Climate Change Don't miss out on the headlines from Climate Change. Followed categories will be added to My News. Australia’s delegation to the COP29 climate change conference has been labelled a “complete farce” after one speaker opened her remarks with an Indigenous Acknowledgment of Country — for an event in Azerbaijan. The two-week 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which wraps up on Friday, was held in the tiny former Soviet republic straddling eastern Europe and western Asia. Despite the fact that the capital Baku is more than 13,000 kilometres from Sydney, that did not stop Dr Clare Anderson from paying respects to Australia’s traditional owners, as is now customary before most corporate, government and sporting events. Dr Anderson, director of sustainability performance at engineering and professional services firm Worley, was speaking before a nearly empty crowd for the opening panel session at the Australian pavilion in Baku. Australia’s delegation to the COP29 conference in Baku. Picture: X “I’m very delighted to be here today,” she said. “To start, I might ... whilst we’re not on Australian lands, I’d still like to start with acknowledging the traditional owners of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.” A clip of the moment was shared on X by former Australian MP Craig Kelly . “What a complete farce — here’s a video from the ‘Australian Pavilion’ at the climate wankfest at Baku — funded by Australian taxpayers,” he wrote. “Imagine, all that coin to pay for constructing an exhibition stand, flying a delegation half way around world, setting up video facilities to record it all — and they get five people to attend.” He added that “I wonder if this would pass muster if we had an Australian DOGE”, referring to US President-elect Donald Trump’s Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency. Dr Clare Anderson, director of sustainability performance at Worley. Picture: Supplied The video sparked bemusement among many viewers. “Why are Australian government officials doing a welcome to country in Azerbaijan,” Nationals Senator Matt Canavan asked. “Welcome to Country ... in Baku,” said Freelancer chief executive Matt Barrie. One-time Liberal candidate Katherine Deves, who unsuccessfully ran for former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s northern beaches seat of Warringah in 2022, said, “Australia is an outpost. No one cares.” Several X users labelled it a “joke”. “Cancel the return flight, the credit cards and disavow. That will save lots of planet and our money,” one wrote. “We are not a serious country,” another said. After the failure of the Voice to Parliament referendum last year, some commentators have suggested the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgment of Country — now found everywhere from bus announcements and school assemblies to job interviews and pilates classes — should be scaled back. Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said earlier this year the overuse of the Welcome to Country in Australian public life could actually make people feel unwelcome in their own country. Ms Price told Sky News Australians should not be “confronted with it at every single opportunity”. In September, One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson called for ceremonies to be banned , saying Australians were “sick and tired of them”. “They are sick of being told Australia is not their country, which is what these things effectively do,” she wrote on X. frank.chung@news.com.au More Coverage Pauline calls for Welcome to Country ban James Dampney Kids told to repeat ‘always Aboriginal land’ Frank Chung Originally published as ‘Complete farce’: Australian delegate performs Acknowledgment of Country at COP29 in Azerbaijan Join the conversation Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout More related stories Breaking News ‘Suspicious’: Huge twist in bushfire chaos A chaotic bushfire which destroyed at least one home and burned through 1000ha of land may have been deliberately lit, authorities have revealed. Read more Breaking News ‘Not safe to return’ as Vic fires rage At least one home has been destroyed as fires tore through more than 2000 hectares of bushland, with authorities warning of “challenging” conditions yet to come. Read more

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Tyrese Hunter scored 17 of his 26 points after halftime to lead Memphis to a 99-97 overtime win against two-time defending national champion and second-ranked UConn on Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational . Hunter shot 7 of 10 from 3-point range for the Tigers (5-0), who were 12 of 22 from beyond at the arc as a team. PJ Haggerty had 22 points and five assists, Colby Rogers had 19 points and Dain Dainja scored 14. Tarris Reed Jr. had 22 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Huskies (4-1). Alex Karaban had 19 points and six assists, and Jaylin Stewart scored 16. Memphis led by as many as 13 with about four minutes left in regulation, but UConn chipped away and eventually tied it on Solo Ball’s 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining. Memphis: The Tigers ranked second nationally in field goal percentage going into the game and shot it at a 54.7% clip. UConn: The Huskies saw their string of 17 consecutive wins dating back to February come to an end. The teams were tied at 92 with less than a minute remaining in overtime when UConn coach Dan Hurley was assessed a technical foul for his displeasure with an over-the-back call against Liam McNeeley. PJ Carter hit four straight free throws — two for the tech and the other pair for the personal foul — to give Memphis a 96-92 lead with 40.3 seconds to play. UConn had three players foul out. Memphis attempted 40 free throws and made 29 of them. Memphis will play the winner of Colorado-Michigan State on Tuesday in the second round of the invitational. UConn will play the loser of that game in the consolation bracket. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball .Morrisons selling Easter eggs already as Christmas stock ditched