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Last month's heavy rainfall has affected some of Maine's largest industries including farming and tourism. In the tourist haven of Old Orchard Beach, businesses reported seeing a noticeably slower June. But business owners and beach goers are hopeful for sunny skies in August.
Every summer, nearly five million tourists pack the sandy beaches of Old Orchard Beach. The small coastal town of about 9,000 residents traces its roots as a popular travel destination as far back as the 1820s. But this summer got off to a rocky start.
In June and part of July, heavy rainfall washed out nearly every sunny day.
"Several of our businesses here in town are down because of the rain and that includes restaurants, hotels, and some of our campgrounds, too," says Kim Howard, executive director of the Old Orchard Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Howard says it's too early to know how much business is down.
But Michael Rioux of the Sandpiper Hotel says he's never seen anything like it in his three decades working in the hotel industry.
"I've never seen a Fourth of July that slow and having an almost empty parking lot. I think we had maybe three rooms rented, which is unheard of on Fourth of July night. It's definitely had an impact as well as guests wanting to leave early and trying to get their money back. It puts us in a tough position because it's such a short season with high expenses and rising costs," he says.
Pete Duhamel says his business is also way down. He runs a popular restaurant called Dewey's that has served the Old Orchard Beach community for 25 years.
"The rain in June has cut my business down in half at least. This has probably been the worst year I've ever had the entire time I've been here," he says.
And that's not all. Paul Golder, the president of the popular amusement park Palace Playland, says some rides are not able to operate in certain conditions.
"It seems like even when it's not raining, we're still getting a lot of moisture to the point where it sort of interferes with the operation of some of the machines here. We'd have to close things down 'cause of the condensation in the air on top of the extra rain we've been getting," he says.
Golder remains hopeful. He says June is typically a slow time for businesses, but mid-July and August is peak season. And some tourists say they aren't letting the weather spoil their plans.
"Massachusetts has had also a very rainy summer so far, so we lucked out. The weather outlook for this week is beautiful. We're just very fortunate," said Tiffany Bell of Boston, who visited Old Orchard Beach with her family last week.
A recent study from Dartmouth College revealed that warming climate conditions will increase extreme precipitation in the Northeast by 52% by the end of the century.
For now, there are sunny skies ahead, and businesses say things appear to be picking up.
"I would say that while June was a rainy, slower month, all indications are that things have bounced back," says Becky Jacobson with HospitalityMaine.
Jacobson says July looks like it will wind up being a solid month, and everyone who caters to tourists, she says, is still looking forward to August.
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https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-31/maines-beach-towns-see-slow-start-to-summer-but-hope-for-sunny-skies-ahead
| 2023-07-31T21:32:57
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https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-31/maines-beach-towns-see-slow-start-to-summer-but-hope-for-sunny-skies-ahead
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German shepherds that were being transported from Chicago to a training center for police dogs in Michigan City, Ind., died in the heat Thursday after an air conditioning unit that was being used to keep the animals cool failed, local authorities said.
The Lake Station Police Department, which responded to a chaotic scene at a gas station off the interstate in Lake Station, Ind., did not specify in a statement issued Friday how many dogs had been en route to the training center or how many had died. A local animal rescue organization in Hobart, about 3 miles south, estimated that 18 dogs had been in the vehicle and that at least eight of them had died during or after the episode.
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The driver had been stuck in a traffic delay for two hours and had not been aware of the air conditioner’s failure because the dogs were in a separate cargo area, the statement said. The driver was alerted to their distress when he heard barking.
The area near Hobart reached highs of at least 91 degrees Thursday, according to the Chicago forecast office of the National Weather Service.
The Police Department said it responded to 911 calls after the driver of the vehicle stopped at a Road Ranger convenience store, and, seeing that the dogs were in distress, began to remove their crates.
Jennifer Webber, executive director of the Humane Society of Hobart, who went to the gas station to provide assistance Thursday, said in an interview Sunday that she was “heartbroken” by what she saw and by the conditions of the transport truck. She said that some of the dogs died from heatstroke while “seizing and convulsing” at the scene, and that other dogs appeared to have died in their crates, which had very small water bowls.
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“It was something I’ve never experienced and hope I never do again,” she said, adding, “It’s not safe to travel with animals when temperatures are that high.”
Webber said that four of the dogs were dead or died at the scene and that at least four others had to be euthanized after being taken to an animal clinic, though police did not confirm that account. She said that the gas station allowed for its convenience store to be used to cool some of the animals.
The Humane Society, which is a contractual partner of the Police Department, said in a statement Friday that care and safety protocols had not been followed in transporting the dogs. The nonprofit said that it had recommended all of the animals be seized until “compliance was proved” by the owner, but that the request was denied by a sergeant at the scene.
Chief James Richardson of the Lake Station Police Department said in an email Sunday that the department would not be issuing any further statements until an investigation was completed.
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/nation/dogs-die-heat-related-injuries-their-way-police-training/
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Goldman Sachs senior analyst missing after attending NYC concert
John Castic was leaving Zeds Dead concert in Brooklyn
A Goldman Sachs senior analyst vanished after leaving a New York City concert early Saturday morning, weeks after another man who disappeared from the same venue turned up dead, according to police and his friends.
John Castic, 27, was last seen about 2:30 a.m. outside The Brooklyn Mirage near the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn after an electronic music show, according to police.
A missing-person flyer says he was wearing a navy and white button-down floral shirt.
"One of my best friends, John Castic, went missing after the Zeds Dead show Friday night in NY," his friend, Sara Kostecka, wrote Monday on Facebook. "Any information would be greatly appreciated, as well as sharing this to anyone in NYC that might have seen him."
She added that she had heard rumors about patrons being asked to "hop in a taxi/cab from some creepy people" near the music venue.
"I’m supposed to walk with him in my brother's wedding next week … we just want to find John," she added.
MODERN DAY HUCKLEBERRY FINN VANISHES OFF GRID FOR OVER MONTH
He was reported missing Sunday, according to the NYPD. Another of Castic's concerned friends, Jonah Shales, told Fox News Digital that his phone died at some point after he left the venue and hasn't been on since.
"We’re absolutely very worried about him," Shales said. "No one has had any contact with him.
Castic, who graduated from DePaul University, started working for Goldman Sachs about a year ago, according to his LinkedIn profile.
A representative for Goldman Sachs didn't immediately return a request for comment.
Another 27-year-old man tried to attend a concert at The Brooklyn Mirage on June 11 but was turned away because he allegedly appeared to have consumed alcohol, per EDM Identity.
The online publication, which covers the electronic dance music industry, reported that Karl Clemente was found dead in a creek near the venue a week later.
Kostecka told Fox News Digital she has known Castic for seven years and that he has never been unreachable. She is fearing the worst.
"I know there’s been a series of young adult males, mid 20s, going missing and ending up in bodies of water in Chicago recently," Kostecka said, referencing the Smiley Face Killer theory. "I’m praying this isn’t related, but I fear it is."
Citizen sleuths have speculated online that a serial killer is responsible for nearly a dozen bodies pulled out of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan in 2022.
The NYPD confirmed that Castic was reported missing but did not have an update on his case.
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https://www.foxnews.com/us/goldman-sachs-senior-analyst-missing-attending-nyc-concert
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WASHINGTON — An advisory board to President Biden has recommended limiting the FBI’s ability to use a controversial warrantless surveillance program to hunt for information about Americans, even as it urged lawmakers to renew the law that authorizes it.
The panel, known as the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, suggested barring the bureau from searching a database of intercepted information when looking for evidence about Americans in criminal investigations that do not involve foreign intelligence. Under the proposal, however, the FBI could still conduct such searches in investigations related to national security.
The board — composed of private citizens who have security clearances, although some are former senior government officials — delivered the recommendation in a declassified 39-page report made public Monday. It came as Congress was debating whether to extend the law authorizing the program, known as Section 702, which is set to expire at the end of the year.
The White House was studying the recommendation, a senior administration official said in a background briefing Monday. In a statement, the FBI did not directly address the proposed new limit but said, “We agree that Section 702 should be reauthorized in a manner that does not diminish its effectiveness, as well as reassures the public of its importance and our ability to adhere rigorously to all relevant rules.”
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Under Section 702, the government can collect — from US companies such as Google and AT&T without a warrant — the communications of targeted foreigners abroad, even when they are talking to or about Americans. The program traces back to a once secret warrantless surveillance program that the George W. Bush administration started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. After the program was exposed, Congress legalized a version of it.
The advisory board also made several other recommendations.
They included seeking court approval to use Section 702 for counternarcotic purposes. The US government can currently use the program to gather information about other governments, counterterrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
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The panel also recommended that agencies such as the FBI that have access to raw Section 702 information emulate an existing National Security Agency rule that two officials sign off that standards have been met before conducting any query using Americans’ identifiers, such as their names, phone numbers, or email addresses.
How the government can use its database of intercepts that have been already collected when scrutinizing Americans has been a subject of heated debate.
Limiting the FBI to sift through Section 702 information for investigations related to foreign intelligence would put it on the same footing as other agencies that have access to the database of intercepted information, such as the CIA or the NSA.
In practice, purely criminal investigations involving Americans and without any nexus to national security — such as espionage or international terrorism — are a small part of how the FBI has used Section 702. It made 13 purely criminal queries using Americans’ identifiers in 2021 and 16 in 2022, according to a recent report — years during which the overall number of American queries were about 3.4 million and just over 200,000.
Still, the notion that Section 702 creates a backdoor to the Fourth Amendment by allowing the FBI to read private communications to or from an American without a warrant in ordinary criminal contexts has raised particular alarm. In 2018, Congress required the FBI to get a court order before analysts could read any material that came up in response to purely criminal inquiries when there was an open criminal investigation, but the bureau never obtained such an order, leading to some compliance incidents.
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Civil libertarians have long wanted to end or place more limits on the program because of its impact on the privacy of Americans, but Congress reauthorized it in 2012 and 2018. This cycle, however, those skeptics have been joined by Republicans who have aligned themselves with former President Donald Trump’s hatred of the FBI. In particular, he has been aggrieved by the multiple investigations into him, including an inquiry into ties between Russia and his 2016 campaign, as well as a court-authorized search of his Florida club and residence last year.
Repeated findings that FBI analysts violated standards limiting when the bureau may lawfully search the repository using identifiers of Americans have provided fodder to critics.
While the FBI has enacted changes intended to improve compliance, such as requiring analysts to provide a written justification of why each search of the Section 702 repository meets the standard, it is not clear that will be enough to persuade lawmakers to reauthorize the program. In making its recommendation, the advisory board suggested it could satisfy interest in imposing more limits on the FBI as part of any reauthorization bill.
“The cost of failure is real,” the report said. “If Congress fails to reauthorize Section 702, history may judge the lapse of Section 702 authorities as one of the worst intelligence failures of our time.”
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But the board rejected as unjustified the more sweeping reform proposal that libertarians have long advocated: to require the government to obtain a court warrant before using Americans’ identifiers to search the repository.
Requiring a court order before doing so, the board said, would prevent intelligence agencies from discovering threats to the country in a timely manner because there would be too many requests to process.
“Often, there is not enough information to prove probable cause when a US person query is being conducted,” it added. “It likely cannot be determined at that point whether the US person is a potential victim or perpetrator involved in a foreign threat to the United States.”
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/nation/intelligence-board-recommends-curbing-fbis-power-use-surveillance-program/
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Updated July 31, 2023 at 5:05 PM ET
A rising star in American cycling, 17-year-old Magnus White, has died after a driver hit him while he was cycling on the shoulder of a highway in his hometown of Boulder, Colo.
White had been preparing to head to Glasgow, Scotland, to compete in the Junior Men's Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Championships next week.
A member of USA Cycling's junior men's national team, White won the 2021 USA Cyclocross Junior Men's National Championship. He represented the U.S. in his first cyclocross world championship last year in Fayetteville, Ark., and competed in his second earlier this year in the Netherlands. (USA Cycling describes cyclocross as a combination of "road cycling, mountain biking and steeplechase.")
"Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the tragic loss of our beloved son, Magnus White," his parents Michael and Jill White said in a statement Monday.
"Magnus was dedicated to his family and friends and loved to surround them with laughter. He had an amazing smile that always lit up the room, bringing joy to those around him."
White's passion for cycling started at the age of two on a strider bike, they said, and he began racing at age 8. He grew up in Boulder and trained with Boulder Junior Cycling. He was also an avid skier and a committed student who aspired to attend business school, according to his website. He planned to graduate from high school a semester early so he could focus on international competition in spring 2024.
In addition to his parents, White is survived by his brother Eero. A family friend has set up a GoFundMe to support the family, USA Cycling confirms.
"Magnus was taken from us while doing what he loved most, riding his bike," writes Christine Lipson, the fundraiser's organizer.
"He began cycling when he was eight and quickly rose through the cycling ranks. Magnus's journey in cycling was driven by a tireless work ethic and a deep desire to achieve his personal best. He was proud to represent his community and country around the world," writes Lipson, whose son was a close friend and teammate of White's.
White was riding on the shoulder of Highway 119, known as the Diagonal, in Boulder on Saturday afternoon when he was hit by a 23-year-old woman driving a Toyota Matrix. The driver crossed from the right-hand lane onto the shoulder, striking White from behind before she crashed into a fence, according to an incident report from the Colorado State Patrol. White was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead. The car's driver was uninjured.
Neither drugs, alcohol nor excessive speed are suspected factors in the crash, according to the state patrol.
USA Cycling said in a statement Sunday that White was a rising star in off-road cycling and "his passion for cycling was evident through his racing and camaraderie with his teammates and local community."
"We offer our heartfelt condolences to the White family, his teammates, friends, and the Boulder community during this incredibly difficult time," the statement continued. "We ride for Magnus."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-31/top-american-cyclist-magnus-white-17-dies-after-being-hit-by-a-car
| 2023-07-31T21:32:57
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BAYREUTH, Germany (AP) — Two years after the debut of the Bayreuth Festival’s first female conductor, Nathalie Stutzmann became the second to lead a Richard Wagner opera in the Festpielhaus’ famous covered pit.
The 58-year-old former contralto, fresh off her first season as Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director, drew a luminous performance of “Tannhäuser” on Friday night in a revival of the Tobias Kratzer 2019 production — the one featuring the title character in a clown suit and a murder in a Burger King parking lot.
“It’s good news to be second,” Stutzmann said. “It proves that things are moving.”
Launched by Richard Wagner in 1876 and currently run by great-granddaughter Katharina Wagner, the festival broke its conductor gender barrier when Oksana Lyniv led a new staging of “Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)” in 2021. The 45-year-old returned this summer to preside over the Dmitri Tcherniakov production for the third straight year.
“They are very highly accepted,” Katharina Wagner said. “I hope that this question would disappear with time, that we are just talking about good conductors and not female and male conductors anymore.”
Stutzmann’s year so far has also included debuts with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, where she provoked the orchestra when she alleged in a New York Times interview that musicians were bored playing while not being able to see onstage activity. The orchestra criticized her in a statement, prompting Stutzmann to apologize.
At Bayreuth, conductors must adjust to a pit Richard Wagner designed to keep the orchestra hidden from the audience, arranged in nine rows that descend toward the stage: violins in the first two, followed by violas, cellos, double basses, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The instrumental sound mixes with voices before traveling out to 30 rows of seats and three tiers of boxes.
“I had done a lot of research, so I knew the experience would be new and unexpected and tricky,” Stutzmann said in a response to an emailed question. “We hear the sound completely different from what the audience hears, that’s why we have to rely on our assistants. … You hardly hear the singers on stage and they sound always late even when we are perfectly together!”
Stutzmann’s performance, using the original Dresden score, featured unusual clarity when the overture slowed and the volume lowered during a pilgrims’ chorus repeat in the overture. She was greeted with boisterous applause and foot-stomping during 14 minutes of curtain calls.
Stutzmann has been invited back to conduct the 2024 revival of the sold-out “Tannhäuser” staging, notorious for the director adding the drag queen Le Gateau Chocolat and dwarf actor Manni Laudenbach, who combine with the title character and the goddess Venus to form a counterculture clique Richard Wagner never could have envisioned for a work that premiered in 1845.
During an interview in New York before heading to Germany, Stutzmann said “Tannhäuser” was the perfect vehicle for her Bayreuth debut, given her quarter-century as a contralto and the opera’s full title, which translates to “Tannhäuser and the Minstrels’ Contest at Wartburg.”
She winked.
“It’s a singer competition, after all,” she said with a laugh.
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https://www.wdtn.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-nathalie-stutzmann-become-second-woman-to-conduct-at-bayreuth-2-years-after-gender-barrier-broken/
| 2023-07-31T21:32:57
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https://www.wdtn.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-nathalie-stutzmann-become-second-woman-to-conduct-at-bayreuth-2-years-after-gender-barrier-broken/
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Jackpocket Crowns its First $100K Winner in Massachusetts, Partnership With Circle K Offers a New, Convenient Way to Play the Lottery
BOSTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jackpocket, America's #1 lottery app*, launched in Massachusetts in partnership with Circle K, one of the largest convenience store brands in the United States.
Yesterday, a Jackpocket customer ordered a $100,000 winning lottery ticket for the daily "Mass Cash" drawing using the app.
"We are excited that our partnership with Circle K landed our first $100K winner in the Bay State, cementing Jackpocket's presence in Massachusetts," said Peter Sullivan, CEO of Jackpocket. "Jackpocket's mission is to make the lottery more accessible and convenient to play. As Tuesday's Mega Millions crosses the $1 billion mark, it's easier than ever to play your favorite games from anywhere in Massachusetts."
To celebrate the new partnership, Jackpocket is offering lottery fans across the state their first lottery ticket for free on the app. New players will receive a $2 lottery ticket by entering the code HEYMASS at checkout. Lottery fans can play Powerball and Mega Millions—currently over $1.05B—as well as local favorites MassCash (the game responsible for the $100K winning ticket), Megabucks Doubler, Lucky for Life, and The Numbers Game.
"We're proud to partner with Jackpocket in Massachusetts and make this fun and convenient experience available to every lottery player across the state," said Melissa Lessard, the head of North American marketing at Circle K. "At Circle K, we are always looking for ways to make life a little easier for our customers and providing the opportunity for customers to order official state lottery tickets with just the tap of a button through the Jackpocket app is yet another example of that commitment."
Massachusetts is now the 17th state available for lottery play on the Jackpocket app. Jackpocket is iCAP certified for best practices in player protection, backed by the expertise of the National Council on Problem Gambling. To ensure player safety, Jackpocket offers consumer protections such as daily deposit and spend limits, self-exclusion, and in-app access to responsible gambling resources.
*According to data from AppFollow
*Must be 18 or older to play. Jackpocket is not affiliated with and is not an agent of the Massachusetts State Lottery. Please visit jackpocket.com/tos for full terms of service. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-327-5050.
Are You Our Next BIG Winner? Visit play.jackpocket.com or download Jackpocket for iOS and Android and get in the game. New players can receive a $2 lottery ticket by entering the code HEYMASS at checkout.
About Jackpocket
Jackpocket is on a mission to create a more convenient, fun, and responsible way to take part in the lottery. The first licensed third-party lottery courier app in the United States, Jackpocket provides an easy, secure way to order official state lottery tickets. Jackpocket is currently available in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington D.C., and West Virginia, and is expanding to many new markets. Download the app on iOS and Android or participate via desktop. Follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Circle K and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and mobility, operating in 25 countries and territories, with more than 14,400 stores, of which approximately 11,000 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Approximately 128,000 people are employed throughout its network.
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SOURCE Jackpocket
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/massachusetts-lottery-fans-can-now-play-record-105b-mega-millions-their-phone/
| 2023-07-31T21:32:59
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Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 3:05 PM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
Broadband revenue up 20% and Video SaaS revenue up 58% year over year
SAN JOSE, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced its unaudited results for the second quarter of 2023.
"While we achieved double digit year over year Broadband and Video SaaS revenue growth and strong gross margins for the second quarter, we experienced hardware sales delays across our business segments resulting in total revenue that was below our expectations," said Patrick Harshman, president and chief executive officer of Harmonic. "Despite these short-term headwinds, we have the largest backlog in our Company's history and our operating model continued to deliver solid profitability. The strength of our market position was reinforced by several new customer wins which further supports our multi-year growth plan."
Q2 Financial and Business Highlights
Financial
Revenue: $156.0 million, down 1% year over year
Gross margin: GAAP 54.5% and non-GAAP 54.7%, compared to GAAP 52.3% and non-GAAP 52.8% in the year ago period
Operating income: GAAP income $10.0 million and non-GAAP income $18.2 million, compared to GAAP income $15.1 million and non-GAAP income $21.4 million in the year ago period
Net income: GAAP net income $1.6 million and non-GAAP net income of $14.0 million, compared to GAAP net income $14.8 million and non-GAAP net income $17.6 million in the year ago period
Adjusted EBITDA: $21.1 million income compared to $24.3 million income in the year ago period
EPS: GAAP net income per share of $0.01 and non-GAAP net income per share of $0.12, compared to GAAP net income per share of $0.14 and non-GAAP net income per share of $0.16 in the year ago period
Cash: $71.0 million, down $50.8 million year over year
Business
CableOS® solution commercially deployed with 98 customers, serving 21.0 million cable modems, and initial orders received from two new Tier 1 customers
Recognized for the first time as the "cable broadband equipment" market share leader, by the most recent Dell'Oro Group1 report
Signed a follow-on multi-year software contract with an existing Tier 1 customer
Live sports streaming SaaS expansions and new wins drove 58.3% Video SaaS revenue growth year over year
Select Financial Information
Explanations regarding our use of non-GAAP financial measures and related definitions, and reconciliations of our GAAP and non-GAAP measures, are provided in the sections below entitled "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and "GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations".
Financial Guidance
Conference Call Information
Harmonic will host a conference call to discuss its financial results at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) on Monday, July 31, 2023. The live webcast will be available on the Harmonic Investor Relations website at http://investor.harmonicinc.com. To participate via telephone, please register in advance using this link, https://register.vevent.com/register/BI455acac6063542fb837fd89bddfb1d84. A replay will be available after 5:00 p.m. PT on the same web site.
About Harmonic Inc.
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband and video delivery solutions, enables media companies and service providers to deliver ultra-high-quality video streaming and broadcast services to consumers globally. The company revolutionized broadband networking via the industry's first virtualized broadband solution, enabling cable operators to more flexibly deploy gigabit internet service to consumers' homes and mobile devices. Whether simplifying OTT video delivery via innovative cloud and software platforms, or powering the delivery of gigabit internet cable services, Harmonic is changing the way media companies and service providers monetize live and on-demand content on every screen. More information is available at www.harmonicinc.com.
Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements related to our expectations regarding: net revenue, gross margins, operating expenses, operating income (loss), Adjusted EBITDA, tax expense and tax rate, EPS and cash. Our expectations regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks include, in no particular order, the following: the market and technology trends underlying our Video and Broadband businesses will not continue to develop in their current direction or pace; the possibility that our products will not generate sales that are commensurate with our expectations or that our cost of revenue or operating expenses may exceed our expectations; the impact of general economic conditions on our sales and operations; the mix of products and services sold in various geographies and the effect it has on gross margins; delays or decreases in capital spending in the cable, satellite, telco, broadcast and media industries; customer concentration and consolidation; our ability to develop new and enhanced products in a timely manner and market acceptance of our new or existing products; losses of one or more key customers; risks associated with our international operations; exchange rate fluctuations of the currencies in which we conduct business; risks associated with our CableOS and VOS product solutions; dependence on various video and broadband industry trends; inventory management; the lack of timely availability or the impact of increases in the prices of parts or raw materials necessary to produce our products; the effect of competition, on both revenue and gross margins; difficulties associated with rapid technological changes in our markets; risks associated with unpredictable sales cycles; our dependence on contract manufacturers and sole or limited source suppliers; and the effect on our business of natural disasters. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Harmonic's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and Harmonic disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The Company reports its financial results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP" or referred to herein as "reported"). However, management believes that certain non-GAAP financial measures provide management and other users with additional meaningful financial information that should be considered when assessing our ongoing performance. Our management regularly uses our supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business, establish operating budgets, set internal measurement targets and make operating decisions.
These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative for, measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. The Company believes that non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with Harmonic's results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and that these measures should only be used to evaluate Harmonic's results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures.
The Company believes that the presentation of non-GAAP measures, when shown in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures, provides useful information to investors and management regarding financial and business trends relating to its financial condition and its historical and projected results of operations. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative to, the Company's reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP.
The non-GAAP measures presented here are: Gross profit, operating expenses, income (loss) from operations, non-operating expenses and net income (loss) (including those amounts as a percentage of revenue), Adjusted EBITDA and net income (loss) per diluted share. The presentation of non-GAAP information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and is not necessarily comparable to non-GAAP results published by other companies. A reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this press release to the most directly comparable historical GAAP financial measures is included with the financial statements provided with this press release. The non-GAAP adjustments described below have historically been excluded from our GAAP financial measures.
Our non-GAAP financial measures reflect adjustments based on the following items, as well as the related income tax effects:
Stock-based compensation - Although stock-based compensation is a key incentive offered to our employees, we continue to evaluate our business performance excluding stock-based compensation expenses. We believe that management is limited in its ability to project the impact stock-based compensation would have on our operating results. In addition, for comparability purposes, we believe it is useful to provide a non-GAAP financial measure that excludes stock-based compensation in order to better understand the long-term performance of our core business and to facilitate the comparison of our results to the results of our peer companies.
Restructuring and related charges - Harmonic from time to time incurs restructuring charges which primarily consist of employee severance, one-time termination benefits related to the reduction of its workforce, lease exit costs, and other costs. These charges are associated with material business shifts. We exclude these items because we do not believe they are reflective of our ongoing long-term business and operating results.
Non-cash interest expense and other expenses related to convertible notes and other debt - We record the amortization of issuance costs as non-cash interest expense. We believe that excluding these costs provides meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity, along with enhancing investors' ability to view the Company's results from management's perspective. In addition, we believe excluding these costs from the non-GAAP measures facilitates comparisons to our historical operating results and comparisons to peer company operating results.
Gain and losses on equity investments - We exclude the gain and losses from the sale of our equity investments in calculating our non-GAAP financial measures. We exclude these items because we do not believe they are reflective of our ongoing long-term business and operating results.
Discrete tax items and tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments - The income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments relates to the tax effect of the adjustments that we incorporate into non-GAAP financial measures in order to provide a more meaningful measure of non-GAAP net income.
Depreciation - Depreciation expense, along with interest, tax and stock-based compensation expense, and restructuring charges, is excluded from Adjusted EBITDA because we do not believe depreciation and the other items relate to the ordinary course of our business or are reflective of our underlying business performance.
Non-recurring advisory fees - There were non-recurring costs that we excluded from non-GAAP results relating to professional accounting, tax and legal fees associated with strategic corporate initiatives, including assessing corporate structure and organization, as we seek to optimize value for our business.
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc.
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/harmonic-announces-second-quarter-2023-results/
| 2023-07-31T21:32:58
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/harmonic-announces-second-quarter-2023-results/
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Damakant Jayshi
It was a mixed fair at the Wausau Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday regarding Wausau’s historic landmarks.
The commission voted to initiate the landmarking process for the Jacob Kolter house at 202 Grand Avenue, pulled the Henry Miller House at 1314 Grand Avenue from consideration, tabled a proposal on a Marathon County Home and Hospital at 1200 Lakeview Drive and discarded, for now, a move to designate a portion of the UW-Stevens Point at Wausau campus as a historic district.
The 202 Grand Ave. property is a two-and-a-half story “Italianate style house with wide eaves and elaborately carved brackets” built in the 1870s by Jacob Kolter. He made contributions to the city in other areas too, building a music hall at the corner of Third and Washington Streets, according to city documents.
Next steps in the process: more research, a public information hearing and then a vote by the Plan Commission, with a final decision made by the Wausau City Council. The property owners can withdraw the building from consideration anytime if they so choose. Commission Chair Gary Gisselman said the group aims to accommodate owner requests.
A landmarking request for the Henry Miller House at 1314 Grand Avenue was pulled from consideration at the request of the property owners.
Meanwhile, the commission tabled the nomination process of landmarking the Marathon County Home and Hospital at 1200 Lakeview Drive until next month to allow time for additional research.
Gisselman, who represents Dist. 5 on the City Council and also sits on the Marathon County Board of Supervisors, said he put the item on the agenda to get the “flavor of the commission before we took some unofficial action.” He added he will approach county officials, who have not yet been consulted, on the matter.
The Marathon County Home and Hospital is the lone surviving building on the grounds of a former Wausau asylum, according to the documents from the City of Wausau and North Central Health Care. NCHC grew out of the Marathon County Home and Hospital in the early 1970s.
The asylum itself was built in 1893 for $80,000 at the end of Sturgeon Eddy Road in Wausau, at the urging of Judge Louis Marchetti, and was called the Asylum for the Chronic Insane. Built next door to the insane asylum was the Marathon County Home and Hospital, which served as maternity and general hospital for poor residents.
According to the information on the NCHC website, the Marathon County Home and Hospital began providing care for people with tuberculosis beginning in 1910.
The building has a “barrel tile roofing and arcuated portico,” which give evidence of Mediterranean influence in its construction.
An article published in 1925 in The Wausau Pilot refers to the hospital with pride, saying it is “one of the best conducted institutions in the state.” A photo of the asylum appeared in an article on the Wisconsin Central Time News in 2018.
The Commission will write a letter of support in the Wausau River District’s fundraising campaign for the Memorial Bridge restoration. River District Executive Director Blake Blake Opal-Wahoske told the commission that such a letter could help in their fundraising effort.
According to the documents shared at the commission’s meeting, the WRD also wants the commission “to consider placing the historic elements of Memorial Bridge on the historic landmarks list to ensure it doesn’t fall into disrepair in the future.”
The commission will also explore designating a portion of the Wausau downtown area with a concentration of churches as a local historic district.
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/historic-preservation-commission-mulls-wausau-landmarking-decisions/
| 2023-07-31T21:32:59
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose Pee-wee Herman character — an overgrown child with a tight gray suit and an unforgettable laugh — became a 1980s pop cultural phenomenon, has died at 70.
Reubens, who’s character delighted fans in the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and on the TV series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he kept private, his publicist said in a statement.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released Monday with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
Created for the stage, Pee-wee with his white chunky loafers and red bow tie would become a cultural constant in both adult and children’s entertainment for much of the 1980s, though an indecent exposure arrest in 1991 would send the character into entertainment exile for years.
The laugh that punctuated every sentence, catch phrases like “I know you are but what am I” and a tabletop dance to the Champs’ song “Tequila” in a biker bar in “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” were often imitated by fans, to the joy of some and the annoyance of others.
Reubens created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at a Los Angeles theater in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show.
The show closely resembled the format the Saturday morning TV “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” would follow years later, with Herman living in a wild and wacky home with a series of stock-character visitors, including one, Captain Karl, played by the late “Saturday Night Live” star Phil Hartman.
HBO would air the show as a special.
Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen with 1985’s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” which takes the character outside for a nationwide escapade. The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, “The Bicycle Thief.” Directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Hartman, the movie was a success, grossing $40 million, and continued to spawn a cult following for its oddball whimsy.
A sequel followed three years later in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” in which Pee-wee seeks to join a circus. Reubens’ character wouldn’t get another movie starring role until 2016’s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced Pee-wee’s big-screen revival.
His television series, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, earned 22 Emmys and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday-morning TV.
Jimmy Kimmel posted on Instagram that “Paul Reubens was like no one else — a brilliant and original comedian who made kids and their parents laugh at the same time. He never forgot a birthday and shared his genuine delight for silliness with everyone he met.”
Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee-wee universe was a trippy place, populated by things like a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though Reubens insists that wasn’t the plan.
“It’s for kids,” Reubens told The Associated Press in 2010. “People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid-friendly.
“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the AP. “That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know, and two, I don’t want to know, and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”
Reubens’ career was derailed when he was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult movie theater in Sarasota, Florida, the city where he grew up. He was handed a small fine but the damage was incalculable.
He became the frequent butt of late-night talk show jokes and the perception of Reubens immediately changed.
“The moment that I realized my name was going to be said in the same sentence as children and sex, that’s really intense,” Reubens told NBC in 2004. “That’s something I knew from that very moment, whatever happens past that point, something’s out there in the air that is really bad.”
Reubens said he got plenty of offers to work, but told the AP that most of them wanted to take “advantage of the luridness of my situation”,” and he didn’t want to do them.
“It just changed,” he said. “Everything changed.”
He did take advantage of one chance to poke fun at his tarnished image. Just weeks after his arrest, he would open the MTV Video Music Awards, walking on to the stage alone and saying, “Heard any good jokes lately?” (Herman appearances on MTV had fueled Pee-wee’s popularity in the early 1980s.)
In 2001, Reubens was arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography after police seized images from his computer and photography collection, but the allegation was reduced to an obscenity charge and he was given three years probation.
Born Paul Rubenfeld in Peekskill, New York, in 1952, the eldest of three kids, he grew up in Sarasota where his parents ran a lamp store and he put on comedy shows for neighbor kids.
After high school he sought to study acting. He spent a year at Boston University, and was then turned down by the Juilliard School and Carnegie-Mellon University. So he enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts. That would lead to appearances at local comedy clubs and theaters and joining the Groundlings.
After the 1991 arrest, he would spend the decade playing primarily non-Pee-wee characters, including roles in Burton’s 1992 movie “Batman Returns,” the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” film and a guest-star run on the TV series “Murphy Brown.”
He also appeared in the 1999 comedy film “Mystery Men” and Johnny Depp’s 2001 drug-dealer drama “Blow.”
Reubens — who never lost his boyish appearance even in his 60s, would slowly re-introduce Pee-wee, eventually doing a Broadway adaptation of “The Pee-wee Herman Show” in 2010, and the 2016 Netflix movie.
Reubens was beloved by his fellow comedians, and fans of Pee-wee spanned the culture.
Director Guillermo del Toro tweeted Monday that he was “one of the patron saints of all misfitted, weird, maladjusted, wonderful, miraculous oddities.”
___
Associated Press Writer Alicia Rancilio and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
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https://www.wdtn.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-pee-wee-herman-actor-paul-reubens-dies-from-cancer-at-70/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:03
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https://www.wdtn.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-pee-wee-herman-actor-paul-reubens-dies-from-cancer-at-70/
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13% Sequential Revenue Growth Including 10% Organic
Maintains Strong Balance Sheet Post-Acquisitions of Atreus and businessfourzero
CHICAGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSII) ("Heidrick & Struggles", "Heidrick" or the "Company") announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2023.
Second Quarter Highlights:
- Net revenue of $271.2 million increased 13% sequentially, 10% organically
- Operating income of $13.6 million decreased $4.2 million sequentially and operating margin was 5.0%
- Adjusted operating income of $20.8 million increased 17% sequentially and adjusted operating margin was 7.7%
- Adjusted EBITDA of $36.4 million increased 33% sequentially and adjusted EBITDA margin was 13.4%
- Net income was $9.0 million and diluted earnings per share was $0.44; adjusted net income was $15.0 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.73
"We are very pleased with the second quarter results which included the first full quarter of results from our recent acquisition of Atreus Group ("Atreus") in our On-Demand Talent segment, as well as the results from businessfourzero ("B4Z") in our Heidrick Consulting segment. Even before the positive effects of these acquisitions, each of our lines of business demonstrated organic sequential growth, despite ongoing macro uncertainty and an anticipated return to more normalized levels of business performance. This validates our focus on the steadfast execution of our strategy while maintaining strong profitability," stated Heidrick & Struggles' President and Chief Executive Officer, Krishnan Rajagopalan. "Importantly, the integrations of both our recent acquisitions are progressing smoothly. We are advancing our diversification strategy while continuing to make appropriate investments in our digital capabilities and technologies throughout the company. These initiatives are aimed at providing our clients with the next generation of talent and leadership advisory services, enabling them to achieve higher performance through their leaders and teams in an ever-evolving business landscape."
2023 Second Quarter Results
Consolidated net revenue of $271.2 million compared to record consolidated net revenue of $298.7 million in the 2022 second quarter. Consolidated financial results include the first full quarter of contribution from the Company's recent acquisitions of Atreus and B4Z.
On a sequential basis, 2023 second quarter net revenue increased 13.3% from the 2023 first quarter, 10% of that growth was organic, as the Company experienced growth in Executive Search driven by the Americas and Europe markets, partially offset by a decline in the Asia Pacific market, along with sequential revenue growth in Heidrick Consulting and On-Demand Talent. 2023 second quarter adjusted operating income increased 17.2% and adjusted operating margin increased 30 basis points to 7.7% compared to 7.4% in the 2023 first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA of $36.4 million in the 2023 second quarter increased 33% sequentially and adjusted EBITDA margin increased 190 basis points to 13.4% compared to 11.5% in the 2023 first quarter. 2023 second quarter adjusted net income was $15.0 million compared to $15.6 million in the 2023 first quarter. This generated adjusted diluted earnings per share in the 2023 second quarter of $0.73 compared to $0.76 in the 2023 first quarter.
Executive Search net revenue of $206.8 million compared to net revenue of $253.9 million in the 2022 second quarter reflecting an anticipated market slowdown combined with a return to more normalized operating levels. Excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations, which negatively impacted results by 0.3%, or $0.8 million, net revenue decreased 18.2%, or $46.3 million, from the 2022 second quarter. Net revenue decreased 21.3% in the Americas (down 21.2% on a constant currency basis), decreased 5.3% in Europe (down 6.1% on a constant currency basis), and decreased 23.9% in Asia Pacific (down 20.5% on a constant currency basis) when compared to the prior year second quarter. The Social Impact and Industrial practice groups exhibited growth over the prior year.
The Company had 423 Executive Search consultants at June 30, 2023, compared to 388 at June 30, 2022. Productivity, as measured by annualized Executive Search net revenue per consultant, was $1.9 million compared to $2.6 million in the 2022 second quarter, reflecting a higher number of consultants combined with lower revenue. Average revenue per executive search was approximately $143,000 compared to $153,000 in the prior year period. The number of search confirmations decreased 12.7% compared to the year-ago period.
On-Demand Talent net revenue of $39.2 million, an increase of 75.5% compared to net revenue of $22.4 million in the 2022 second quarter, primarily due to the acquisition of Atreus, partially offset by a decrease in the volume of legacy on-demand projects.
Heidrick Consulting net revenue of $25.2 million compared to net revenue of $22.4 million in the 2022 second quarter. The Company had 89 Heidrick Consulting consultants at June 30, 2023, compared to 66 at June 30, 2022.
Consolidated salaries and benefits decreased $28.8 million, or 13.9%, to $178.9 million compared to $207.7 million in the 2022 second quarter. Year-over-year, fixed compensation expense increased $18.8 million due to base salaries and payroll taxes, the deferred compensation plan, reorganization, and retirement and benefits, as well as the acquisitions of Atreus and B4Z, partially offset by a decrease in stock compensation. Variable compensation decreased $47.6 million due to lower bonus accruals related to decreased consultant productivity. Salaries and benefits expense was 66.0% of net revenue for the quarter compared to 69.5% in the 2022 second quarter.
General and administrative expenses increased $5.3 million, or 15.1%, to $40.5 million compared to $35.2 million in the 2022 second quarter. The increase was due to intangible amortization and accretion, office occupancy, IT, and taxes and licenses, partially offset by a decrease in business development travel. As a percentage of net revenue, general and administrative expenses were 14.9% for the 2023 second quarter compared to 11.8% in the 2022 second quarter.
The Company's cost of services was $25.3 million, or 9.3% of net revenue for the quarter, compared to $17.4 million, or 5.8% of net revenue in the 2022 second quarter. This related to an increase in the volume of On-Demand Talent projects driven by the acquisition of Atreus.
The Company's research and development expenses were $5.7 million, or 2.1%, of net revenue for the quarter compared to $4.5 million, or 1.5%, of net revenue for the second quarter 2022.
In the 2023 second quarter, the Company recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $7.2 million associated with the Company's Heidrick Consulting segment. In the 2022 fourth quarter, the Company conducted its most recent annual goodwill impairment evaluation, which indicated that the carrying value of the Heidrick Consulting reporting unit was less than its fair value. During the 2023 second quarter, the Company acquired B4Z and recorded approximately $7.1 million of goodwill in the Heidrick Consulting reporting unit. Due to the inclusion of goodwill in a reporting unit with a pre-existing fair value shortfall, the Company identified a triggering event and performed an interim goodwill impairment evaluation during the 2023 second quarter, which resulted in the impairment of the recently acquired B4Z goodwill.
Including the previously mentioned non-cash impairment charge, operating income was $13.6 million for the quarter compared to $33.9 million in the 2022 second quarter. Operating income margin was 5.0% versus 11.3% in the 2022 second quarter. Excluding the non-cash impairment charge, adjusted operating income in the 2023 second quarter was $20.8 million and adjusted operating margin was 7.7%.
Adjusted EBITDA was $36.4 million compared to $36.8 million in the 2022 second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 13.4%, compared to 12.3% in the 2022 second quarter. In Executive Search, adjusted EBITDA was $53.9 million compared to $52.3 million in the prior year period. In On-Demand Talent, adjusted EBITDA was $2.6 million versus $0.6 million in the prior year period. In Heidrick Consulting, adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $1.6 million compared to a loss of $0.1 million in the prior year period.
Net income was $9.0 million and diluted earnings per share was $0.44, with an effective tax rate of 46.8%. This compares to net income of $24.1 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.19, with an effective tax rate of 30.9% in the 2022 second quarter. Excluding the non-cash impairment charge recorded in the 2023 second quarter, adjusted net income was $15.0 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.73, with an adjusted effective tax rate of 37.7%.
Net cash provided by operating activities was $46.9 million, compared to $82.7 million in the 2022 second quarter. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at June 30, 2023 was $239.0 million compared to $336.6 million at June 30, 2022 and $621.6 million at December 31, 2022. The Company's cash position typically builds throughout the year as employee bonuses are accrued, mostly to be paid out in the first half of the year.
2023 Six Months Results
For the six months ended June 30, 2023, consolidated net revenue was $510.5 million compared to $582.6 million in the first six months of 2022. Excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations, which negatively impacted results by 1.0%, or $6.1 million, consolidated net revenue decreased 11.3%, or $65.9 million, compared to the prior year period.
Executive Search net revenue in the first six months of 2023 decreased 20.0%, or $99.2 million, to $397.3 million from $496.5 million in the first six months of 2022. Excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations, which negatively impacted results by 1.0%, or $5.1 million, net revenue decreased 19.0%, or $94.1 million. Net revenue decreased 21.5% in the Americas (decreased 21.3% on a constant currency basis), decreased 13.7% in Europe (decreased 11.3% on a constant currency basis), and decreased 21.9% in Asia Pacific (decreased 18.0% on a constant currency basis). Only the Social Impact and Industrial practice groups exhibited growth over the prior year. Productivity was $1.9 million for the first six months of 2023 compared to $2.6 million in the first six months of 2022. The average revenue per executive search was $133,000 in the first six months of 2023 compared to $137,000 the same period in 2022, while search confirmations decreased 17.6%.
On-Demand Talent net revenue in the first six months of 2023 was $70.4 million compared to $45.7 million in the same period of 2022. The increase in net revenue was primarily driven by the acquisition of Atreus, as well as an increase in the volume of legacy on-demand projects.
Heidrick Consulting net revenue in the first six months of 2023 increased 6.3%, or $2.5 million, to $42.9 million from $40.4 million in the first six months of 2022. Excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations, which negatively impacted results by 2.0%, or $0.8 million, Heidrick Consulting revenue increased 8.3%, or $3.3 million, compared to the prior year period.
Operating income for the first six months of 2023 was $31.4 million compared to operating income of $64.1 million in the same period of 2022. The operating income margin was 6.1% compared to 11.0% in the first six months of 2022. Excluding the non-cash impairment charge recorded in the 2023 year-to-date period, adjusted operating income was $38.6 million and adjusted operating income margin was 7.6%.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first six months of 2023 was $63.8 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.5%, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $72.5 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.4% for the same period in 2022. In Executive Search, adjusted EBITDA was $102.3 million compared to $104.2 million in the prior year period. In On-Demand Talent, adjusted EBITDA was $1.2 million versus $0.9 million in the prior year period. In Heidrick Consulting, adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $4.3 million compared to a loss of $1.9 million in the prior year period.
Net income for the first six months of 2023 was $24.6 million and diluted earnings per share was $1.19, with an effective tax rate of 38.1%. This compares to net income of $42.6 million and diluted earnings per share of $2.08, with an effective tax rate of 32.2%, in the first six months of 2022. Excluding the restructuring charge recorded in the 2023 year-to-date period, adjusted net income was $30.6 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $1.48 with an adjusted effective tax rate of 34.8%.
Dividend
The Board of Directors declared a 2023 second quarter cash dividend of $0.15 per share payable on August 25, 2023, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 11, 2023.
2023 Third Quarter Outlook
The Company expects 2023 third quarter consolidated net revenue of between $245 million and $265 million, which reflects typical summer seasonality, while acknowledging that continued fluidity in external factors, such as the foreign exchange and interest rate environments, foreign conflicts, inflation and macroeconomic constraints on pricing actions, may impact quarterly results. In addition, this outlook is based on the average currency rates in June 2023 and reflects, among other factors, management's assumptions for the anticipated volume of new Executive Search confirmations, On-Demand Talent projects, and Heidrick Consulting assignments, consultant productivity, consultant retention, and the seasonality of the business along with the current backlog.
Quarterly Webcast and Conference Call
Heidrick & Struggles will host a conference call to review its second quarter results today, July 31, 2023 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time. Participants may access the Company's call and supporting slides through its website at www.heidrick.com or by dialing (888) 440-4091 or (646) 960-0846, conference ID# 6106012. For those unable to participate on the live call, a webcast and copy of the slides will be archived at www.heidrick.com and available for up to 30 days following the investor call.
About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
Heidrick & Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII) is a premier provider of global leadership advisory and on-demand talent solutions, serving the senior-level talent and consulting needs of the world's top organizations. In our role as trusted leadership advisors, we partner with our clients to develop future-ready leaders and organizations, bringing together our services and offerings in executive search, diversity and inclusion, leadership assessment and development, organization and team acceleration, culture shaping and on-demand, independent talent solutions. Heidrick & Struggles pioneered the profession of executive search more than 65 years ago. Today, the firm provides integrated talent and human capital solutions to help our clients change the world, one leadership team at a time. ® www.heidrick.com
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement the financial results presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"), Heidrick & Struggles presents certain non-GAAP financial measures. A "non-GAAP financial measure" is defined as a numerical measure of a company's financial performance that excludes or includes amounts different than the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP in the statements of comprehensive income, balance sheets or statements of cash flow of the Company.
Non-GAAP financial measures used within this earnings release are adjusted operating income, adjusted operating income margin, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share, adjusted effective tax rate, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and consolidated net revenue excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations. These measures are presented because management uses this information to monitor and evaluate financial results and trends. Management believes this information is also useful for investors to evaluate the comparability of financial information presented. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP are provided as schedules attached to this release.
Adjusted operating income reflects the exclusion of goodwill impairment.
Adjusted operating income margin refers to adjusted operating income as a percentage of net revenue in the same period.
Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share reflect the exclusion of goodwill impairment, net of tax.
Adjusted effective tax rate reflects the exclusion of goodwill impairment, net of tax.
Adjusted EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, intangible amortization, equity-settled stock compensation expense, earnout accretion, earnout obligation adjustments, contingent compensation related to acquisitions, deferred compensation plan income and expense, reorganization costs, impairment charges, restructuring charges, and other non-operating income (expense).
Adjusted EBITDA margin refers to adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net revenue in the same period.
The Company evaluates its results of operations on both an as reported and a constant currency basis. The constant currency presentation is a non-GAAP financial measure, which excludes the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The Company believes providing constant currency information provides valuable supplemental information regarding its results of operations, consistent with how it evaluates its performance. The Company calculates constant currency percentages by converting its financial results in a local currency for a period using the average exchange rate for the prior period to which it is comparing. This calculation may differ from similarly titled measures used by other companies.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding guidance for the third quarter of 2023. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about the industry in which we operate and management's beliefs and assumptions. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "outlook," "projects," "forecasts," "aim" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, rely on a number of assumptions, and involve certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, many of which are beyond our control. Factors that may cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from what is expressed, forecasted, or implied in the forward-looking statements include, among other things, our ability to attract, integrate, develop, manage and retain qualified consultants and senior leaders; our ability to prevent our consultants from taking our clients with them to another firm; our ability to maintain our professional reputation and brand name; our clients' ability to restrict us from recruiting their employees; our heavy reliance on information management systems; risks arising from our implementation of new technology and intellectual property to deliver new products and services to our clients; our dependence on third parties for the execution of certain critical functions; the fact that we face the risk of liability in the services we perform; the fact that data security, data privacy and data protection laws and other evolving regulations and cross-border data transfer restrictions may limit the use of our services and adversely affect our business; any challenges to the classification of our on-demand talent as independent contractors; the increased cybersecurity requirements, vulnerabilities, threats and more sophisticated and targeted cyber-related attacks that could pose a risk to our systems, networks, solutions, services and data; the impacts, direct and indirect, of the COVID-19 pandemic (including the emergence of variant strains) or other highly infectious or contagious disease on our business, our consultants and employees, and the overall economy; the aggressive competition we face; the fact that our net revenue may be affected by adverse economic conditions including inflation, the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; our ability to access additional credit; social, political, regulatory, legal and economic risks in markets where we operate, including the impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the risks of an expansion or escalation of that conflict; unfavorable tax law changes and tax authority rulings; the timing of the establishment or reversal of valuation allowance on deferred tax assets; the fact that we may not be able to align our cost structure with net revenue; any impairment of our goodwill, other intangible assets and other long-lived assets; our ability to execute and integrate future acquisitions; and the fact that we have anti-takeover provisions that could make an acquisition of us difficult and expensive. We caution the reader that the list of factors may not be exhaustive. For more information on these risks, uncertainties and other factors, refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, under the heading "Risk Factors" in Item 1A, as updated in Part II of our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Investors & Analysts:
Suzanne Rosenberg, Vice President, Investor Relations
srosenberg@heidrick.com
Media:
Nina Chang, Vice President, Corporate Communications
nchang@heidrick.com
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SOURCE Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/heidrick-amp-struggles-reports-second-quarter-2023-results/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:05
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Tech Veteran Brings Nearly Three Decades of Experience to Help Drive Growth for Leading Fast-Casual Mexican Restaurant
SAN DIEGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern Restaurant Concepts ("MRC"), a leading fast-casual restaurant platform comprised of the QDOBA and Modern Market Eatery brands, announced that Prashant Budhale has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. Budhale brings more than 28 years of experience in technology leadership to MRC, and as CTO, will lead all technology across MRC brands.
"We are excited for Prashant to join the MRC team," said John Cywinski, CEO of Modern Restaurant Concepts. "I view technology as a foundational enabler of all that we do in the restaurant business, from a guest, team member, and corporate enterprise perspective. Prashant will lead our strategy to drive technology as a powerful brand differentiator, and he will be a terrific collaborator with our existing leadership team as well as our franchise partners moving forward."
"I'm excited about QDOBA's history of strong same store sales growth, potential for net unit growth, and the ability for technology to make a positive impact to both guest and team member experiences," Budhale said. "I'm also very encouraged by John's vision and Butterfly Equity's commitment to the growth of brands within MRC portfolio."
Prior to joining Modern Restaurant Concepts, Budhale served as Head of Technology for SONIC Drive-In, part of the Inspire Brands portfolio. At SONIC, he was responsible for the vision, development, and implementation of all technology initiatives across the 3,550 unit, $6B brand. Prior to SONIC, Prashant was Senior Director for Pizza Hut, part of YUM! Brands, where he led retail technology. Earlier in his career, Prashant worked as a software development consultant with IBM, Allstate, Oracle, Capgemini, and Fujitsu America.
QDOBA is a fast casual Mexican restaurant with over 750 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Committed to delivering flavor to people's lives, QDOBA uses ingredients prepared in-house, by hand, and fresh throughout the day, to create delicious menu options. Guests can experience QDOBA's delicious flavors by enjoying one of its signature menu options that are chef-crafted for convenience and ease or by customizing their burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, salads, quesadillas, and nachos to fit their personal tastes. For five years running, QDOBA has been voted the "Best Fast Casual Restaurant" as part of the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. Discover more at www.QDOBA.com or on the QDOBA app.
For more information on the company, please visit www.QDOBA.com or follow the brand on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
About Modern Restaurant Concepts
Modern Restaurant Concepts is one of the largest fast casual restaurant platforms in North America with nearly 800 units across two brands, QDOBA and Modern Market Eatery. The system operates corporate-owned and franchised units across nearly every U.S. state as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. Modern Restaurant Concepts is owned by Butterfly Equity, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm specializing in the food sector, with more than $10 billion of equity capital in companies ranging from growth-stage to Fortune 500 enterprises.
QDOBA is a fast casual Mexican restaurant with over 750 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Committed to delivering flavor to people's lives, QDOBA uses ingredients prepared in-house, by hand, and fresh throughout the day, to create delicious menu options. Guests can experience QDOBA's delicious flavors by enjoying one of its signature menu options that are chef-crafted for convenience and ease or by customizing their burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, salads, quesadillas, and nachos to fit their personal tastes. For five years running, QDOBA has been voted the "Best Fast Casual Restaurant" as part of the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. Discover more at www.QDOBA.com or on the QDOBA app.
Modern Market Eatery is a food forward, sustainable fast casual restaurant concept that operates in Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and Indiana. Delivering the freshness and flavors of the market in a modern dining format and environment, Modern Market Eatery's menu of protein-centric bowls, garden fresh salads, toasted sandwiches and brick-oven pizzas redefine what it means to eat well at a reasonable price. For additional information about Modern Market Eatery, please visit www.modernmarket.com.
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SOURCE QDOBA
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/modern-restaurant-concepts-announces-appointment-prashant-budhale-chief-technology-officer/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:05
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/modern-restaurant-concepts-announces-appointment-prashant-budhale-chief-technology-officer/
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The intense heat blanketing much of the United States may be keeping a lid on gas prices as Americans scale back their driving habits while seeking to avoid the outdoors. But prices are still at an eight-month high.
A gallon of gas was $3.73 on average, according to AAA gas price data. Stacker compiled statistics on gas prices in Wisconsin. Gas prices are as of July 28.
In recent weeks, nationwide gas demand has stayed relatively flat, according to an AAA statement, but that overall figure masks a higher demand in places without intense heat waves—and a much lower demand in hotter places.
Problems at refineries and low levels of stored gas mean prices are surging worldwide, according to Bloomberg. This has sparked fears of more inflation as nations with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are expected to cut oil production in August.
Wisconsin by the numbers
– Gas current price: $3.54
– Week change: +$0.14 (+4.0%)
– Year change: -$0.42 (-10.7%)
– Historical expensive gas price: $4.92 (6/12/22)
– Diesel current price: $3.71
– Week change: +$0.16 (+4.4%)
– Year change: -$1.35 (-26.7%)
– Historical expensive diesel price: $5.52 (6/25/22)
Metros with most expensive gas in Wisconsin
#1. Superior: $3.71
#2. Pierce -St. Croix County: $3.66
#3. Kenosha County: $3.65
#4. Wausau: $3.60
#5. Racine: $3.59
#6. Milwaukee-Waukesha: $3.56
#7. La Crosse (WI only): $3.55
#8. Eau Claire: $3.54
#9. Green Bay: $3.52
#10. Oshkosh: $3.51
#11. Appleton: $3.50
#12. Sheboygan: $3.48
#13. Madison: $3.46
#14. Fond du Lac: $3.46
#15. Janesville-Beloit: $3.38
States with the most expensive gas
#1. California: $4.95
#2. Washington: $4.93
#3. Hawaii: $4.70
States with the least expensive gas
#1. Mississippi: $3.21
#2. Alabama: $3.32
#3. Louisiana: $3.32
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/how-gas-prices-have-changed-in-wisconsin-in-the-last-week/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:07
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — If you believe Janelle Monae ’s hyper-sexual expression is a front, think again.
These days, Monae is unapologetically living her truth in a bold manner while trying to avoid negativity. The star, once known for sporting custom-made suits, has shed that attire (at least for now) to nearly bare all, like on the cover of her latest studio album, “The Age of Pleasure,” where she’s seen swimming topless in a pool. It’s her first release since 2018’s “Dirty Computer,” which was nominated for album of the year at the Grammys.
In recent months, Monae hasn’t been afraid of risque looks and nudity. She revealed herself during an event celebrating the release of her single “Lipstick Lover” and again onstage at an Essence Music Festival set — which drew some social media criticism including from singer India Arie and rapper Uncle Luke. She also attended the 2023 Met Gala in a barely-there outfit.
For Monae, this is her time to be free.
Monae spoke recently with The Associated Press about her supportive mother, side-stepping criticism and teasing her upcoming North American tour, which kicks off Aug. 30 in Seattle. Other tour stops include New York and Nashville and she’ll wrap in Los Angeles in mid-October.
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AP: Since you haven’t toured since 2019, was your recent Essence Festival performance a tune up for your upcoming tour?
MONAE: Yeah, we’re testing out the songs. You‘re getting them in your body. Right now, we don’t have a lot of muscle memory with the new songs. We haven’t toured them. I know if you come into the show, you’ll love the songs. But hearing them live is a different experience, especially when you’re putting them with songs from previous work. We’re basically just putting a show together based on what we feel is good. Sometimes you just don’t know until you get on stage.
AP: What do you want people to take away from your show?
MONAE: Tap into your free (expletive) energy. That’s rooted in self-love — not arrogance. Tap into that space and then take care of each other. That’s what I hope. With the shows that I do, and when I look out, it’s an experience. It’s like our own church. You want to take care of each other.
Even if your freedom doesn’t look like that person’s freedom, you understand that we’re fighting against something much bigger than us. We’re systemically fighting against something much bigger than us, so we got to band together, we got to stick together. We have to make sure that we’re showing up for each other. If we have privilege in certain areas, making sure that we’re lending a hand, lending a voice, amplifying a message.
AP: How has it been to walk in your truth while facing criticism about your racy performances from people like Arie and Uncle Luke?
MONAE: That has absolutely nothing to do with me. I love everybody. I’m in the age of pleasure.
AP: When did you feel comfortable with living life the way you want without caring about others’ opinions?
MONAE: It’s not like I don’t care what people think. I care what some people think. I don’t care what everybody thinks. That’s the same when it comes to music. When you make a new song, I can’t go soliciting everybody’s opinions about the song. By the time I get back to the second pass of it, it’s all over the place. Everybody’s going to have an opinion. For me, it’s like, whose voice do I trust? Who do I know that loves me, cares about me, whose taste do I like, who actually is evolved enough to even understand what it is that I’m doing? Who understands nuance?
You shouldn’t care what anybody has to say. You just care what the right people have to say and everything else is muted.
AP: Who are those right people for you?
MONAE: Family. Close friends.
AP: In your journey, your mother has been a huge supporter. Whenever you have fallen under certain criticisms, how has she helped you navigate the critics?
MONAE: My mom is like ride or die. I have to tell her like “Mom, you don’t need to defend me. You don’t need to defend my life or my decisions.” For her, I’m her baby. Like any mama bear, you might get punched in the eye if you say something. You might. But I’ve calmed her down over the years. For the most part, we mostly respond to love. It’s a lot of people that love where I am and who I am and what I’m doing, and they feel really empowered and inspired by it, and that makes my mom proud, and it makes me happy.
AP: How do you avoid the naysayers?
MONAE: I’m too busy living life to be distracted. The positive things are always amazing too, but I also don’t go fishing for that. One of the things about being in the age of pleasure is being present and making sure that I’m dipping in on social media, saying what I need to say, showing love, saying “thank you,” putting up my art and leaving, going to go create more things and make more memories and more experiences.
I’m in the middle of putting together a tour for North America. We haven’t been on tour since 2019. For me, I have a lot of things that keep me busy. I’m practicing guitar. I’m having the best sex of my life. I’m happy. Even in the middle of all that’s going on in this world, I’m finding time to steal joy and to center joy and to stay surrounded by the people that bring me joy and that I can bring joy too.
AP: How did “Age of Pleasure” define where you are in life?
MONAE: I wanted to create a soundtrack to our lifestyle. I think this album like all my albums reflect exactly where I am at that time. Each album will let you know where I was in my evolution process, what things I had to unlearn, what things I learned. I love that. I love that you can always look at an artist working, sort of see what they were on at that time.
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https://www.wdtn.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-qa-janelle-monae-talks-about-freedom-how-new-album-defines-her-and-getting-ready-to-tour-again/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:11
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AUSTIN, Minn., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL), a Fortune 500 global branded food company, invites interested parties to participate in a webcast and conference call with Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer; Jacinth Smiley, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and Deanna Brady, executive vice president, Retail; to discuss the company's third quarter financial results. The company will issue its earnings release before the markets open on Thursday, August 31, 2023, and will host a conference call at 8 a.m. CT (9 a.m. ET).
The webcast, replay and other information related to the event can be accessed on the company's investor website, http://investor.hormelfoods.com.
ABOUT HORMEL FOODS — Inspired People. Inspired Food.™
Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $12 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters®, SKIPPY®, SPAM®, Hormel® Natural Choice®, Applegate®, Justin's®, WHOLLY®, Hormel® Black Label®, Columbus®, Jennie-O® and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the "Global 2000 World's Best Employers" list by Forbes magazine for three years, is one of Fortune magazine's most admired companies, has appeared on the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list by 3BL Media 13 times, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement — Inspired People. Inspired Food.™ — to bring some of the world's most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com.
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SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/hormel-foods-corporation-hold-third-quarter-earnings-conference-call/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:13
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/hormel-foods-corporation-hold-third-quarter-earnings-conference-call/
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For Wausau Pilot & Review
MEQUON – Things did not go Wausau’s way in this two-game set against Lakeshore over the weekend as the Chinooks completed a two-game sweep with a 4-2 victory over the Woodchucks in Northwoods League baseball action Sunday at Kapco Park.
Trailing 2-1 late in the game, Wausau (29-28, 9-13 second half) scored a run as Jake Baker (Kansas) came home on a wild pitch.
Lakeshore (24-35, 10-15 second half) added two in the eighth though, highlighted by another costly error in the set by the Woodchucks that allowed the winning runs in both contests of the series.
Wausau has now dropped five straight games, which extends its longest losing streak of the season.
Wausau pitcher Chandler Freeman (Baylor) had his best start of the season, going six full innings, striking out four while only allowing two runs and two hits. He also retired the first 12 batters he faced before allowing his first hit in the fifth.
Wausau is back at Athletic Park on Monday for a doubleheader with Wisconsin Rapids. First pitch of the resumption of last Friday’s contest will be at 4:05 p.m. Game 2 will begin as soon as possible after game one and will be seven innings.
For tickets or more information visit www.woodchucks.com or call 715-845-5055.
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/lakeshore-chinooks-double-up-wausau-woodchucks-complete-two-game-sweep/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:13
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Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd talks with NPR Politics Podcast co-hosts about why he thinks Trump is vulnerable.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd talks with NPR Politics Podcast co-hosts about why he thinks Trump is vulnerable.
Copyright 2023 NPR
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https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-31/white-house-hopeful-and-former-congressman-will-hurd-on-the-race-to-dethrone-trump
| 2023-07-31T21:33:13
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https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-31/white-house-hopeful-and-former-congressman-will-hurd-on-the-race-to-dethrone-trump
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Missing Indiana woman Andi Wagner's mother pleads for answers 1 year after disappearance
Elane Garcia says her daughter Andi Wagner's disappearance 'wasn't a coincidence'
The mother of Andi Wagner, a missing 25-year-old Indiana woman who disappeared nearly one year ago, is still pleading for answers regarding her daughter's whereabouts.
Wagner vanished from Evansville, Indiana, around Aug. 6, 2022, when she was 24, and has not been heard from since.
"I always said Evansville’s going to swallow her whole," Wagner's mother, Elane Garcia, told Fox News Digital while holding back tears.
Police believe she was last seen in Oakland City, Indiana, about 40 minutes south of Evansville on the border of Kentucky, or Newburgh, which is about 20 minutes west of Evansville.
Garcia initially moved to Texas several years ago, when Wagner was just entering adulthood, because she "didn't like what was going on in Evansville." She said she tried to convince Wagner to move with her, but she was insistent upon staying in her hometown near her father, grandparents and friends.
INDIANA SEARCH TEAMS RECOVER BODY OF MISSING 18-YEAR-OLD IN LAKE MICHIGAN
But in the years that followed, Wagner got caught up in a crowd of people who used drugs, her mom said.
"I saw a change in her. She didn’t want to play softball anymore. She didn’t want to work anymore. She was doing strange things… like dozing off," her mother recalled. "…We would FaceTime each other, and I could see it. She said she wanted to move to Texas with me, and she didn't want to wake up in pain every morning."
MEXICAN NAVY FINDS MISSING AMERICAN'S BOAT, BUT NO SIGNS OF CAPTAIN
So, Garcia and her eldest daughter made plans to live together in Texas. She was going to move down in August, but two weeks before the move, she vanished.
"It wasn't a coincidence," her mother said.
Wagner said her daughter was "excited" to move to Texas and told lots of friends and family about her plans. Garcia speculates that someone may have found out about her move and decided to hurt her daughter before she had a chance to leave.
Wagner's sister, Alix, who lived in Evansville at their grandparents' house at the time of her sister's disappearance, briefly saw Wagner the morning of Aug. 6 when she stopped by the house and then left minutes later. That was the last day anyone had heard from or seen the then-24-year-old.
Garcia believes Wagner was with an ex-boyfriend just before she vanished.
Six days later, on Aug. 12, Wagner's family reported her missing to the Evansville Police Department (EPD).
EPD Sgt. Anna Gray told Fox News Digital that Wagner is still considered a missing person, and there is an open and active investigation into her disappearance with a lead detective assigned to the case.
Gray said that due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, EPD could not publicly share information about any potential leads.
Garcia says she can't remember the last time police reached out to her directly. She has received tips from people on social media and has since moved from Texas back to Evansville to take matters into her own hands and search for her daughter or any leads regarding her whereabouts.
She thinks her daughter's drug addiction has led police to possibly overlook her disappearance as an overdose despite the fact that her family has not received any answers yet.
She said the process has been "emotional" and "exhausting."
"I just want people to keep sharing her photo," Garcia said when asked if she had a message for the public.
Wagner is described as a White woman with brown hair and brown eyes, standing 5-foot-4 and weighing about 115 lbs. Authorities are asking anyone with information regarding Wagner's whereabouts to contact the Evansville Police Adult Investigations Unit at 812-436-7979.
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https://www.foxnews.com/us/missing-indiana-woman-andi-wagner-mother-pleads-answers-1-year-after-disappearance
| 2023-07-31T21:33:13
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PHOENIX — Patients with heat stroke and burns from the asphalt are swamping hospitals. Air conditioners are breaking down at homeless shelters. The medical examiner’s office is deploying trailer-sized coolers to store bodies, for the first time since the early days of COVID-19.
For 31 straight days — from the last day of June through Sunday, the second-to-last day of July — Phoenix has hit at least 110 degrees, not merely breaking its 18-day record in 1974, but setting a significant new one. The city smashed through another record last week, racking up the most 115-degree days ever in a calendar year, part of a global heat wave that made July Earth’s hottest month on record.
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This has been Phoenix’s July in hell — an entire month of merciless heat that has ground down people’s health and patience in the city of 1.6 million, while also straining a regionwide campaign to protect homeless people and older residents who are most vulnerable.
“I’m so sick of this,” Rae Hicks, 45, said this past week as she sat with her 7-year-old son on the floor of a clammy cooling center in Tempe, their suitcases clustered around them.
It was 118 degrees outside, and they had nowhere to stay after the center closed down that evening, like thousands of other people around Phoenix left homeless by rising rents and a resurgence of evictions. The record heat has made their summer a desperate game of survival — bouncing between libraries, supermarkets, and relief centers during the day, and sleeping in motels, cars, or shelter beds at night to avoid the scorching streets.
With at least two more hot months ahead, some residents said they did not know how much more they could take.
“It’s wearing on people,” said Kevin Conboy, a physician assistant with Circle the City, a medical charity that treats homeless people across Phoenix. “Everyone’s temperatures are hovering at 100. Everyone is complaining of feeling so fatigued and tired.”
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Even the group’s mobile medical buses are succumbing to the heat, forcing them out of service to get repaired.
The medical examiner in Phoenix has reported 25 heat-related deaths this year, and said it is also investigating an additional 249 deaths for ties to heat. There were a record-breaking 425 heat-related deaths last year across Maricopa County.
Hospitals around Phoenix also say they treated more people for heat ailments and burns in July compared with previous summers, infusing them with cold saline or packing them into ice-filled body bags that sometimes leak and cause nurses to slip in icy puddles.
“We are very full,” said Dr. Kara Geren, an emergency-medicine doctor at Valleywise Health Medical Center in central Phoenix. “We have everything from heat cramps to heat stroke and death.”
Geren said the emergency department was treating more homeless patients and drug users with heat-related illnesses this summer, as well more people who burn their legs and backs by falling on pavement that can heat up to 180 degrees. This week, a woman in her 80s came to the hospital for burn treatment after falling outside her home, then lying on the searing pavement for two hours before anyone heard her calls for help.
Towering saguaro cactuses are collapsing from the heat, and the agaves, creosote bushes, and stubby barrel cactuses that spangle highways are turning yellow. Hiking trails have been closed at midday for more than a month to protect hikers (and the paramedics who have to rescue them).
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Even the local news media seemed to hit a breaking point this past week, when The Arizona Republic cried out: “Will the inferno never end?”
Austin Davis, who runs a tiny homeless-outreach charity called AZ Hugs, spends his days trying to answer calls from unsheltered people desperate to avoid sleeping out in the heat.
“I can’t tell you how many people called me crying, asking for a hotel room, saying, I can’t make it through another day like this,” he said.
Many of Phoenix’s shelters are full, and waiting lists for publicly funded housing are weeks or months long, families said in interviews. They find Davis’s number scrawled on whiteboards at cooling centers, get it from shelter employees or other people on the street, and call in a last bid for help. On Thursday afternoon, he had 268 unread text messages.
“My family is sleeping in the park right now myself my husband and our 7 children,” read one. Davis responded by asking for birth dates, income levels, and other information he would need to start connecting them with housing and shelter programs and signed off with two heart emoji.
Another call came from Melissa Duckett, 40, who had been sleeping in her car with her wife and their 11-year-old son since being evicted in the spring. Duckett said they had been in a subsidized apartment, but had fallen behind on the rent when she got sick.
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When the heat waves first started to bake central Phoenix in late June, they had talked about driving up to Flagstaff, where it was cooler. Then their car died in the heat. Their new respite was a trailer that Davis had fitted out with bunk beds and a working air conditioner as an emergency stopgap for families.
“We’re just going to be happy to be out of the heat,” Duckett said.
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/nation/phoenixs-month-hell-31-days-extreme-heat-tests-city/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:13
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Celebrate the Blooms with Inaugural National Sunflower Day on August 5
BISMARCK, N.D., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In late July and into August, vast fields of brilliant yellow sunflowers blanket North Dakota during the peak growing season and visitors are awed by the landscape awash in summery hues. This year, North Dakota Tourism invites visitors to celebrate these picturesque fields with the inaugural National Sunflower Day on August 5, 2023.
The National Day Calendar recognition, slated for the first Saturday each August, is a collaboration between the National Sunflower Association and North Dakota Tourism and recognizes the inherent happiness the sunflowers evokes and the prominence of North Dakota's agricultural industry in growing the cheerful blooms.
For visitors planning a picture-perfect road trip for National Sunflower Day and beyond, North Dakota Tourism has launched the state's 2023 Sunflower Blooms Guide detailing the location of more than a dozen stunning sunflower fields. Weekly bloom updates will highlight the progress of the seasonal color as it unfolds across the state making the map a perfect tool for making the most of the waning days of summer. North Dakota Tourism is also making an ideal road trip snack available to visitors with packets of savory sunflower seeds in mailboxes at select fields.
To capture the iconic blooms in photos and videos, keep the following tips in mind:
- In general, visitors are welcome to stop by fields included on the Sunflower Blooms Guide as long as they are respectful and don't enter or drive into the fields.
- Scout the field location early to capture that golden hour image or video just-after sunrise or just-before sunset. Visitors will want to set up early to take advantage of the golden hues.
- Keep in mind that cloudy days are often some of the best times to capture vibrant close-ups and more subtle variations in shadows.
- Tag your photos and videos on social media using #BeNDLegendary to celebrate your love of the sunny blooms.
- Fuel your photoshoot with a beloved North Dakota snack with Fargo's irresistible SunButter made from roasted sunflower seeds or Wahpeton's Giants Snacks with original and kettle roasted flavors of sunflower seeds.
As the top sunflower producing state last year, North Dakota farmers planted 702,000 acres of the beautiful blooms in 2022, and the state is the top producer of edible sunflower seeds in the U.S. More sunflower recipes, videos and little-known facts are available at Brighten Your Day with the Amazing Sunflower. For more on planning a trip to North Dakota, visit NDtourism.com.
Follow North Dakota Tourism on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TravelND, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/northdakotalegendary/ on or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NorthDakota and get tips on what to see and do all year long.
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SOURCE North Dakota Tourism Division
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NEW YORK (AP) — When actor Casey Likes watched “Back to the Future” growing up, his mom would always say he reminded her a lot of the film’s star, Michael J. Fox. Something in the universe agrees: He’s taken on Fox’s classic movie role on Broadway.
The rising stage star plays Marty McFly for a musical adaptation of the beloved 1985 sci-fi comedy about a time-traveling duo who go back to the 1950s in a souped-up, gull-winged DeLorean.
“I remember growing up and just really, really loving the film. It kind of sat in that realm of like ‘E.T.’ and ‘Close Encounters’ — movies that came at a time when film was magical,” says Likes, 21. “I hope we accomplish something kind of similar with Broadway.”
The show, which won the Olivier Award for best new musical last year in London, arrives at the Winter Garden Theatre this summer with a story by Bob Gale, who previously co-created and co-wrote the movie with Robert Zemeckis. It hews very closely to the original, including having a DeLorean onstage and the shout “Great Scott!”
Broadway veteran and Tony Award-winner Roger Bart takes on Christopher Lloyd’s role of Doc Brown, the oddball scientist with a knack for inventions. Bart recalls seeing “Back to the Future” in his early 20s when it first appeared in movie theaters. He watched with three friends from theater school and they were all secretly jealous of Fox.
“None of my friends — even knowing each other as well as we did — none of them, including my mother, ever nudged me and said, ‘No, no, kid. You’re Doc Brown. Just be patient,’” the Tony-winner says laughing.
Like the film, the musical centers on Marty McFly traveling back to his hometown in 1955. Once there, he gets caught up in the soap opera lives of his own teenage parents, including his mom, who develops a crush on her future son. He must reconnect mom and dad or he risks disappearing from history.
“We feel like it’s very important – I’m sure Casey would agree — for the public to come to the show and recognize that they are seeing that story in a different form but with all of its charms very deeply intact,” says Bart, whose Broadway credits include “The Producers,” “Disaster!” and “Young Frankenstein.”
New songs have been crafted by the film’s composer Alan Silvestri and songwriter and producer Glen Ballard. Some Huey Lewis and the News songs from the movie also have been included, like the theme tune “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time,” as well as Marty McFly’s futuristic rendition of “Johnny B. Goode.”
“We go back to the ‘50s, you get some songs that sound like ’Grease,’ like ‘Bye Bye Birdie.’ And then we have some ‘80s moments in there that are very ’Footloose,’” says Likes. “It feels kind of like the greatest hits of not only rock ‘n’ roll, but of musical theater.”
While both men are fans of the films — and both got to meet the original stars at a gala last week — neither Bart nor Likes want to straightjacket themselves into the way Fox and Lloyd performed their roles.
“I don’t want to impersonate the movie. I want to remind you of the movie,” says Likes, who made his Broadway debut last year as the Cameron Crowe-inspired lead character of the musical “Almost Famous.”
“There’s a lot of things that Roger is doing that are similar, and there’s a lot of things that I’m doing that hopefully are similar to Michael. But we’re really just reminding you of their brilliance. Hopefully, at the same time, you’re able to kind of go along the journey with our Marty and Doc.”
In addition to being a cultural touchstone, “Back to the Future” was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry and the American Film Institute listed it as the No. 10 best science-fiction film. Bart thinks the movie’s staying power is because it manages to straddle many worlds.
There’s a time travel story and one about getting to know your parents as peers. There’s a love story between Marty’s parents and there’s also a buddy movie — Marty and Doc putting their friendship on the line.
“Between all of these elements, it answers so many of the things that we love about that era of moviemaking and storytelling,” says Bart. “I think that’s one of the reasons why it is has sort of stuck around so long.”
Not to mention the fact that audiences can appreciate the story at different parts of their lives. Kids can enjoy the thrills and special effects; adults can be moved by the notion of meeting their own moms and dads. “Part of its sustaining power is the fact that it can mean one thing at one age and another at another,” says Bart.
Likes also adds another reason: Marty initially only wants to get back to his own time period to reconnect with his girlfriend. But his reasons start to change — save Doc, save his family, save the world.
“As the show goes on, there’s more stacked up reasons as to why he has to get back. And I think that’s a really interesting thing to think about in our own life,” he says. “What would be our reasons to to get back to our current life?”
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Mark Kennedy can be reached at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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Ohio police chief arrested in Florida after allegedly assaulting homeless man
Boston Heights Police Chief Chad McArdle told police he was attacked
A police chief from a small village in Ohio was arrested in Florida after allegedly attacking a homeless man last week.
Boston Heights Police Chief Chad McArdle, 40, was charged with misdemeanor-level battery early on Friday morning. He was arrested by police officers in Key West.
According to an arrest report obtained by Fox News Digital, a taxi driver called police at around 1 a.m. and told them that a shirtless man was banging on his door. The man, who was identified as McArdle, told the driver that he was stabbed and that people wanted to kill him before laying down and crying on the sidewalk.
Key West police soon arrived and found McArdle, who appeared lost and stressed. He told officers that he was pushed and dragged into a vehicle and stabbed by two suspects, but police could not find any stab wounds.
MIAMI-DADE POLICE DIRECTOR IN STABLE CONDITION AFTER REPORTED SHOOTING INCIDENT
"Mcardle [sic] could not describe the stick or which of the two males stabbed him…[he] stated that he was able to grab the stick from the male and stabbed the male in the throat with that stick; Mcardle [sic] said that the man was probably dead now," the police report read.
Police noted that there was no blood on McArdle's hands and believed he was giving contradictory information.
Officers later found a homeless man who was lying on the ground in the alley. The man reported that he was attacked.
FLORIDA POLICE SHOOT, KILL SUICIDAL KNIFE-WIELDING WOMAN WHO CHARGED AT THEM: POLICE
"[The victim] said he was standing in the alley, and the unknown male kicked him in the back," the arrest report read. "[The victim] said he fell to the ground and that an unknown male kicked him in the back several times."
The homeless man later told police that he recognized McArdle was the man who kicked him. McArdle's shoes were found in the alley.
"To be noted, that no evidence was found during the investigation that could prove Mcardle's [sic] statements," police said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Village of Boston Heights for a statement, but has not heard back.
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After 40 years, the NAACP convention has returned to Boston — specifically to the new Boston that is even whiter than the old.
Some 10,000 delegates have been gathering at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in the Seaport district, a locale described in a 2017 Boston Globe Spotlight report as “one of the city’s whitest neighborhoods.” How white? “Lenders have issued only three residential mortgages to Black buyers in the Seaport’s main census tracts, out of 660 in the past decade,” reported the Spotlight team at the time. “The population is 3 percent Black and 89 percent white with a median household income of nearly $133,000, the highest of any Boston ZIP code, according to recent US census estimates.” Median income has only increased since then and the Black population is still only 3 percent, according to the website niche.com. Beyond the whiteness of this neighborhood, the Globe recently reported that four Black employees of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority — which oversees the convention center — filed formal complaints with the state attorney general charging racial discrimination in hiring, promotion, and working conditions.
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Ever since delegates arrived in town, there has been a lot of hopeful talk about how much this gathering might change Boston’s image as a racist city. Candor about the old and new Boston is part of the strategy to make that happen, said Tanisha Sullivan, president of the NAACP Boston chapter.
“One of the things we’ve been very intentional about is working to ensure a welcoming experience for our guests. We’ve hit the mark on that,” Sullivan told me. “But one of the other things that’s important is to be honest about where we are and to talk about what our aspiration is. We are making sure our guests know this is not the most diverse neighborhood in Boston, but that the Seaport is a place where Black Boston can show up and feel welcomed and where Latino Boston can show up and feel welcomed.”
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Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, an activist who helped organize the 1982 NAACP convention, acknowledges some irony in holding this year’s convention in an overwhelmingly white neighborhood, against the backdrop of discrimination charges connected with the convention center authority. But still, she sees a better Boston in 2023, compared to the Boston of 1982, where “there was rampant segregation even in public housing, the housing of last resort, and forget about living in pearly white suburbs.” Progress, said Ferriabough Bolling, is what the NAACP stands for, and what it fights for. For example, after that 1982 convention, Ferriabough Bolling said the NAACP worked to desegregate public housing. “Of all the organizations, I’d put my money on the NAACP to meet all challenges big and small. I see the folks at this convention being super-charged,” she said.
Back in 1982, the perception of the city was still very much shaped by headlines about the violence associated with school desegregation. Black people were afraid to come here and especially fearful of neighborhoods like Charlestown, which was known for incidents of racially motivated violence. In fact, when NAACP delegates visited the Bunker Hill Monument in 1982, they arrived with a police escort. Standing at the foot of the monument, Thomas I. Atkins, the NAACP general counsel and a former member of the Boston City Council, told the visitors: “This is the picture that is worth 1,000 words.”
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Indeed, the picture of the NAACP delegates visiting Bunker Hill sent a message of courage, resilience, and the power of organization and community. But it did not instantly change the Charlestown neighborhood or Boston as a whole. Indeed, it took another 40 years for the perception of Boston to change enough to allow it to host the NAACP convention. In similar fashion, the thousands of Black delegates who attended the convention in the Seaport district also create a picture that sends a message of diversity and inclusiveness. But that picture doesn’t change the underlying disparities that helped to create a new, mostly white Seaport neighborhood of tremendous wealth.
“Boston being the world-class city we are, we are used to playing host to people all over the world. We tend to show up really well when the guests are here,” Sullivan said. “Our challenge is ensuring the Seaport being open and welcoming to all people isn’t just for the NAACP convention, but from this point going forward, for all of us.” She added: “We need to see more Black-owned businesses. We needed to see more Black and brown people living in the Seaport. "
That means changing the vast income disparities that determine who can afford to live in certain Boston neighborhoods. It means changing the way wealth is shared by expanding opportunities for all Bostonians. It also means creating a safe and supportive workplace for Black employees at a place like the convention center.
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That’s what will really change Boston’s image and Boston’s Black leaders know that.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her @joan_vennochi.
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Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 3:15 PM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
Second Quarter Highlights
Second quarter 2023 net income attributable to Huntsman of $19 million compared to $228 million in the prior year period; second quarter 2023 diluted earnings per share of $0.11 compared to $1.10 in the prior year period.
Second quarter 2023 adjusted net income attributable to Huntsman of $39 million compared to $250 million in the prior year period; second quarter 2023 adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.22 compared to $1.21 in the prior year period.
Second quarter 2023 adjusted EBITDA of $156 million compared to $410 million in the prior year period.
Second quarter 2023 net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations was $40 million. Free cash flow from continuing operations was a use of cash of $11 million for the second quarter 2023 compared to a source of cash of $178 million in the prior year period.
Repurchased approximately 3.8 million shares for approximately $98 million in the second quarter 2023.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) today reported second quarter 2023 results with revenues of $1,596 million, net income attributable to Huntsman of $19 million, adjusted net income attributable to Huntsman of $39 million and adjusted EBITDA of $156 million.
Peter R. Huntsman, Chairman, President, and CEO, commented:
"During the quarter, business activity in each of our core regions remained under pressure, although we did see demand fundamentals in many of our core markets stabilize, albeit at a lower level than the prior year. We continued to drive efficiencies in our cost structure which will ensure we are well positioned to improve profitability once demand returns to a more normalized level. We remain positive on the long-term trends and value we will capture in energy efficiency and lightweighting in the construction, transportation, and industrial markets. Over the past several years we have made a significant effort to reduce leverage and drive capital discipline. The output of this effort is now allowing us to return significant amounts of capital to shareholders during a year which for the chemical industry may end up being just as, if not more, challenging than the pandemic year 2020. Our financial strength is also allowing us to evaluate both organic and in-organic investment opportunities to strengthen our Company for the long-term, however, we will continue to be disciplined with our available capital and protect our investment grade rating."
Segment Analysis for 2Q23 Compared to 2Q22
Polyurethanes
The decrease in revenues in our Polyurethanes segment for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to the same period of 2022 was primarily due to lower sales volumes, lower MDI average selling prices and the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements against the U.S dollar. Sales volumes decreased primarily due to lower demand, primarily in the Americas. MDI average selling prices decreased primarily due to less favorable supply and demand dynamics. The decrease in segment adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to lower sales volumes, lower MDI margins, the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements against the U.S. dollar and a gain from an insurance settlement received in the second quarter of 2022, partially offset by higher equity earnings from our minority-owned joint venture in China and cost savings achieved from our cost optimization programs.
Performance Products
The decrease in revenues in our Performance Products segment for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to the same period of 2022 was primarily due to lower sales volumes and reduced average selling prices, partially offset by improved sales mix. Sales volumes decreased in all regions primarily due to slowing construction activity, and reduced demand in coatings and adhesives, lubes and other industrial markets. The decrease in segment adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to decreased sales volumes and lower average selling prices.
Advanced Materials
The decrease in revenues in our Advanced Materials segment for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to the same period of 2022 was primarily due to lower sales volumes, partially offset by higher average selling prices. Sales volumes decreased primarily due to reduced customer demand in our infrastructure markets and the deselection of lower margin business. Average selling prices increased largely due to improved sales mix. The decrease in segment adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to lower sales volumes.
Corporate, LIFO and other
For the three months ended June 30, 2023, adjusted EBITDA from Corporate and other was a loss of $38 million, which remained the same as a loss of $38 million for the same period of 2022.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
During the three months ended June 30, 2023, our free cash flow from continuing operations was a use of cash of $11 million as compared to a source of cash of $178 million in the same period of 2022. As of June 30, 2023, we had approximately $1.9 billion of combined cash and unused borrowing capacity.
During the three months ended June 30, 2023, we spent $51 million on capital expenditures from continuing operations as compared to $65 million in the same period of 2022. During 2023, we expect to spend between $230 million to $250 million on capital expenditures.
Income Taxes
In the second quarter of 2023, our effective tax rate was 46% and our adjusted effective tax rate was 39%. We expect our 2023 adjusted effective tax rate to be approximately 26% to 29%. We expect our long-term adjusted effective tax rate to be approximately 22% to 24%. Our second quarter 2023 tax expense was negatively impacted by an $8 million non-cash valuation allowance increase.
Earnings Conference Call Information
We will hold a conference call to discuss our second quarter 2023 financial results on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The conference call will be accompanied by presentation slides that will be accessible via the webcast link and Huntsman's investor relations website, www.huntsman.com/investors. Upon conclusion of the call, the webcast replay will be accessible via Huntsman's website.
Upcoming Conferences During the third quarter 2023, a member of management is expected to present at: UBS Chemical Conference on September 6, 2023 Jefferies Industrials Conference on September 7, 2023
A webcast of the presentation, if applicable, along with accompanying materials will be available at www.huntsman.com/investors.
About Huntsman: Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2022 revenues of approximately $8 billion from our continuing operations. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more than 60 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 7,000 associates within our continuing operations. For more information about Huntsman, please visit the company's website at www.huntsman.com.
Forward-Looking Statements: This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements include statements concerning our plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events, future revenue or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs, plans or intentions relating to acquisitions, divestitures or strategic transactions, business trends and any other information that is not historical information. When used in this press release, the words "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "likely," "projects," "outlook," "plans," "intends," "believes," "forecasts," or future or conditional verbs, such as "will," "should," "could" or "may," and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, management's examination of historical operating trends and data, are based upon our current expectations and various assumptions and beliefs. In particular, such forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company's operations, markets, products, prices and other factors as discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Significant risks and uncertainties may relate to, but are not limited to, increased energy costs in Europe, inflation and resulting monetary tightening in the US, geopolitical instability, volatile global economic conditions, cyclical and volatile product markets, disruptions in production at manufacturing facilities, reorganization or restructuring of the Company's operations, including any delay of, or other negative developments affecting the ability to implement cost reductions and manufacturing optimization improvements in the Company's businesses and to realize anticipated cost savings, and other financial, operational, economic, competitive, environmental, political, legal, regulatory and technological factors. Any forward-looking statement should be considered in light of the risks set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, which may be supplemented by other risks and uncertainties disclosed in any subsequent reports filed or furnished by the Company from time to time. All forward-looking statements apply only as of the date made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc.
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WATKINSVILLE, Ga. and ELBERTON, Ga., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oconee Financial Corporation (OTCQX: "OSBK") ("Oconee") announced today it has completed its acquisition of Elberton Federal Savings & Loan Association ("Elberton Federal") of Elberton, GA, and its related common stock offering, in a conversion merger transaction, effective July 31, 2023.
As a result of the conversion merger, Elberton Federal converted from a mutual savings association to a stock savings association and immediately merged with and into Oconee's wholly owned subsidiary, Oconee State Bank. On August 1, 2023, Elberton Federal's financial center on East Church Street in Elberton will open as a branch of Oconee State Bank.
In the stock offering required by regulations applicable to the merger conversion, Oconee sold 149,015 shares of common stock, at a discounted price of $28.94 per share, to depositors and borrowers of Elberton Federal in a subscription offering, and to stockholders of Oconee and members of the general public in a community offering. Gross offering proceeds totaled approximately $4.3 million. The stock offering was oversubscribed.
"We are thrilled by the overwhelming interest we received from investors in the offering," remarked Oconee President and CEO Neil Stevens. "The transaction closed at the maximum of the authorized offering range and generated a lot of interest in the banking experience we are bringing to our customers."
Stevens continued: "We welcome the addition of Elberton Federal President and CEO Daniel Graves, a number of new teammates, and our newest customers in Elbert County. We aim to provide them the same high level of service and care our current customers enjoy."
Graves will serve as Senior Vice President and Community President of the Northeast Georgia market.
"It is a privilege to join such a high-quality institution and group of people in partnering with Oconee," Graves said. "Neil and I talk often about the importance of culture, and this is a perfect fit. We are thrilled about the opportunity this presents for our people and our customers, and we look forward to being an even more meaningful part of the next chapter of prosperity in Elbert County."
Performance Trust Capital Partners assisted Oconee, on a best-efforts basis, in selling its common stock in the subscription and community offerings and served as financial advisor to Oconee in connection with the merger. RP Financial LC provided the conversion appraisal. Alston & Bird LLP served as legal counsel to Oconee, Fenimore Kay Harrison LLP served as legal counsel to Elberton Federal, and Luse Gorman PC served as legal counsel to Performance Trust Capital Partners.
About Oconee Financial Corporation
Oconee State Bank was established in 1960 and is headquartered in Watkinsville, Georgia. It operates six full-service financial centers in Georgia, located in Oconee, Athens-Clarke, Gwinnett, and Macon-Bibb counties, including its newest location in Elbert County. Pro forma for this transaction, the bank has approximately $556 million in assets. The bank is the only locally owned and operated community bank headquartered in Oconee County. Oconee State Bank proudly serves its communities, providing unparalleled commitment to personalized service, innovative products and solutions, and brings exceptional value to all stakeholders, through local ownership, involvement, and decision making. The bank strives to be essential to those it serves, by creating remarkable experiences that significantly mark the lives of others. Oconee Financial Corporation was established in January 1999 to serve as the holding company of Oconee State Bank.
Please visit Oconee State Bank's website, www.oconeestatebank.com for a full listing of products and services.
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SOURCE Oconee Financial Corporation
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Wausau Pilot & Review
A police chase and a series of weather-related incidents were among the notable events recorded by Lincoln County deputies in recent days.
On July 26, a deputy on routine patrol on Horn Lake Rd in the Town of Birch spotted a vehicle that was not only exceeding the speed limit but also matched the description of one possibly involved in a burglary. The driver refused to stop, leading the deputy on a 5.3-mile chase before fleeing on foot. The suspect has been identified, but the investigation is ongoing. No injuries or damage resulted from the pursuit.
Just a day later, on July 27, deputies in the area were kept busy responding to widespread damage from storms. At least 18 weather-related calls were made, most of which were related to trees down blocking the road or power lines down.
The end of the week brought more action for the deputies. On July 29, the sheriff’s office received a complaint of a vehicle weaving erratically northbound on USH 51. According to the report, the vehicle cut off another driver and varied its speed. A deputy, along with a Wisconsin State Trooper, located the suspect vehicle and pulled it over on USH 8 near CTH Y in the Town of Bradley.
The driver, a 46-year-old Oconomowoc man, displayed signs of impairment and subsequently failed a series of sobriety tests. He was arrested for a second offense OWI and transported to Lincoln County Jail, where he was released after sobering up.
Also reported during the week were three car versus deer crashes, one of which resulted in minor injuries.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — This year Whitney Houston would have turned 60, and a special celebration to raise money for a good cause is being planned for her birthday.
Houston’s estate, Sony and Primary Wave Music will host the 2nd annual Whitney Houston Legacy of Love on Aug. 9, which will benefit the late singer’s foundation aimed at helping young people.
Houston’s close friends BeBe Winans and Kim Burrell will perform at the gala at Atlanta’s St. Regis Hotel, as will Whitney’s brother, Gary, who toured with her for three decades.
“When I turned 50, Whitney gave me two celebrations — one in Ireland and one in London. I always tell everyone now that one of them was for her,” says Pat Houston, Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law and the executor of her estate. Houston died in February 2012 at age 48. “This year is Whitney at 60 — we’re all looking forward to being a part of the power of love in that room.”
Houston found the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children in 1989 with the goal of empowering youth, providing resources to unhoused children, giving out college scholarships, and raising funds for charities like the Children’s Defense Fund and St. Jude Children’s Research.
A charity auction will raise money for the foundation, which is now called the Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation.
“We’re going to auction off a beautiful lavender dress Dolly Parton wore when she sang ‘I Will Always Love You’ at Country Music Television’s ‘100 Greatest Love Songs of Country Music’ special in 2004,” says Pat Houston. “This dress is particularly special because it’s lavender, and lavender is Whitney’s favorite color.”
The song, originally written by Parton, was recorded by Houston and became one of her great, everlasting hits. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it diamond early last year, which means the track has sold and streamed 10 million equivalent units in the United States. It became her first diamond single, and made Houston the third woman to ever achieve diamond-status with both a single and an album, following Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift.
Clive Davis will serve as honorary chairman. Recording Academy President Harvey Mason jr. is scheduled to attend. Also expected are Gamma’s Larry Jackson and Whitney Houston’s musical director Rickey Minor.
“I always tell people, Whitney is the star,” Pat Houston said. “Everybody in that room is royalty, but she’s loyalty — and she’s still showing that.”
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https://www.wdtn.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-whitney-houstons-estate-announces-second-annual-legacy-of-love-gala-with-bebe-winans-kim-burrell/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:23
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Virginia veterinary technician sentenced to 20 months for role in dogfighting scheme
Carlos Warren distributed a magazine that reported on dogfighting news and results, the Justice Department said
A Virginia veterinary technician who once distributed a magazine nationwide on the illegal dogfighting business was sentenced to 20 months in prison, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Carlos Warren, 49, a resident of Rapidan, was charged with conspiring to fight dogs and promote dogfighting using interstate publications and ordered to forfeit all dogs and animal-fighting equipment that was seized during a March 2022 search of his home.
"Dog fighting is savage and inhumane, and it will not be tolerated," said U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh. "The individuals involved in the breeding, training and cruel deaths suffered by innocent animals – especially in a case like this at the hands of a trained veterinary technician – will be held accountable and justly punished by the Justice Department."
Warren began dogfighting as a teenager, the Justice Department said. While living in Virginia and California, he distributed "The Connector," a magazine that contained the latest news of the illegal trade.
VIRGINIA MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER OF COUNCILWOMAN, EXTRADITED TO NEW JERSEY
The publication covered interviews with known dogfighters, fight results, pedigree information and ads for dogs and the sale of illegal steroids and other substances for dogs.
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When he moved to Virginia, he set up a dogfighting yard and hosted various dogfights, prosecutors said. While working as a veterinary technician, he stole or obtained medications and other supplies to treat dogs during fights until they lost or refused to fight, authorities said.
When the dogs couldn't or refused to fight, they were electrocuted by Warren, federal prosecutors said. Upon his release from federal prison, Warren will be subject to three years of supervised release and will be prohibited from owning or caring for any animals.
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https://www.foxnews.com/us/virginia-veterinary-technician-sentenced-20-months-dogfighting-scheme
| 2023-07-31T21:33:25
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FOXBOROUGH — As the end of Monday’s training camp practice neared, Patriots coach Bill Belichick gathered all players and coaches together for a full-team huddle. The meeting lasted just a couple of minutes, before the offense and defense wrapped up the day with a competitive 11-on-11 period on the goal line.
So, what did Belichick have to say?
The message was simple, according to the players who spoke after practice. Belichick reminded the group about the importance of staying disciplined — even when the pads come on.
“We know how to practice, but guys are just excited,” safety Jabrill Peppers said. “We’re competitive. But you’ve got to know how to practice to keep guys healthy.”
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Monday marked the first padded session for the Patriots this summer. With the intensity and physicality set to increase, Belichick wanted his players to maintain perspective and temper their approach. The intervention seemed needed, as multiple players exited the field with injuries and others practiced in a limited capacity.
Left guard Cole Strange left the field after tweaking his knee during a one-on-one drill. He spent a significant amount of time in the medical shed before testing his knee on the sidelines. Strange ultimately did not return to action, but he stayed to watch the remainder of practice with his helmet on.
Tight end Scotty Washington, guard Chasen Hines, and wide receiver Jalen Hurd also visited the medical shed. And safety Brad Hawkins needed help limping off the field following a collision during an 11-on-11 play.
Although Strange is the only starter of the banged-up bunch, Belichick’s message is clearly one the Patriots should heed.
“Everybody wants to prove what they can do, but it’s the first day in pads,” defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said. “Nobody is going to make the team today. But you can improve. Everybody wants to be aggressive in pads, but it’s just the first day.”
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Other notes and observations from Day 5 of training camp …
▪ The introduction of pads often spotlights the line of scrimmage, but the Patriots were missing important players in key position groups.
Offensive tackle Trent Brown and running back Rhamondre Stevenson spent the bulk of practice on the lower fields. With Strange sidelined and right guard Michael Onwenu still on the physically unable to perform list, the Patriots practiced without three of their starting five offensive linemen during team drills.
Brown, who was barely a participant in the spring, had practiced in full the previous four days. Belichick noted that he’s “in good shape” and “lighter than he’s been.”
Stevenson also was limited last Thursday, but he hasn’t shed light on why his levels of participation have differed. Given the team’s weak backfield depth, it makes sense if the Patriots are being cautious with his workload.
Outside linebacker Matthew Judon also joined Brown and Stevenson on the lower fields. Judon, who practiced in full for the first time Friday, said he is not “holding in” for an adjusted contract, though his actions sure seem to indicate otherwise. According to Judon, he and the training staff are easing him into camp to ensure his conditioning is up to standard.
Wide receiver/running back Ty Montgomery did not practice for the third straight day, as he continues to deal with a leg injury suffered last week. Offensive tackle Calvin Anderson (non-football injury list), safety Cody Davis (PUP), offensive lineman Jake Andrews, and linebacker Terez Hall also did not practice.
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Hall, who had been limited the past two practices, was the lone new absence.
Rookie wide receiver Kayshon Boutte returned to the field after missing Sunday’s practice.
▪ The Patriots have worked out three veteran running backs — most recently, Ezekiel Elliott — but Pierre Strong is paying no mind to any potential roster changes.
“I don’t really look at that type of stuff,” Strong said. “I just do what’s best for me and what’s best for the team.”
It sure seems as though the Patriots are looking to bolster their backfield, with Stevenson as their only proven player. For now, though, both Strong and Kevin Harris are looking to show they are deserving of larger roles headed into their second NFL seasons.
With Stevenson limited on the lower fields and Montgomery injured, Strong, Harris, and J.J. Taylor split reps Monday. Strong projects to contribute on third down as a pass-catcher, while Harris plays more between the tackles.
“It’s my time to show what I can do,” Strong said. “[Stevenson] is a great player. He’s down there, and he’s my brother, but up here, when it’s just us three rotating, I got to show what I can do. Because, at the end of the day, it’s my future as well.”
Strong, who logged multiple carries in just two games last season, said he spent the offseason honing his speed, route-running, and blitz protection in hopes of becoming an all-around back. Strong is known for registering the fastest 40-yard dash (4.37 seconds) among all running back prospects at the combine in 2022.
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▪ The Patriots seem to be experimenting with options at fullback, slotting in linebacker Jahlani Tavai for a handful of snaps as the lead blocker at the goal line. Godchaux joked that when he first saw Tavai move to offense, he said, “OK, we’re going to sting your [expletive] now.”
Nicole Yang can be reached at nicole.yang@globe.com.Follow her @nicolecyang.
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/sports/with-pads-patriots-get-more-physical-other-observations-training-camp/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:25
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ARMONK, N.Y., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The IBM (NYSE: IBM) board of directors has elected Michael Miebach to the board, effective October 30, 2023.
Michael Miebach, 55, is the chief executive officer of Mastercard Incorporated and a member of its board of directors. An innovator and technologist, Mr. Miebach has led Mastercard, a global technology company in the payments industry, since January 2021. Previously Mastercard's chief product officer, Mr. Miebach has deep experience in digital transformation, cybersecurity and delivering data-driven insights.
Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman and chief executive officer, said: "We are delighted that Michael Miebach will join the IBM board of directors. Michael is an accomplished technologist and international business leader. His insights and experience will strongly benefit IBM and its shareholders."
Mr. Miebach is a member of the Business Roundtable, the Business Council and the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. He is a trustee of the United States Council for International Business and also serves on the United States Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity.
Mr. Miebach holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Passau in Germany.
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SOURCE IBM
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/ibm-elects-michael-miebach-its-board-directors/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:26
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DENVER, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) today announced that it was selected by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to support coordination between federal and commercial licensees of the 3450 - 3550 MHz spectrum band. Palantir will provide its software platform to enable end-to-end automation that will enhance coordination between the Department of Defense and commercial spectrum licensees for shared use of the 3450-3550 MHz band within cooperative planning area (CPA) and periodic use area (PUA) coordination zone boundaries.
As part of an ongoing interagency effort to facilitate the shared usage of critically important mid-band spectrum, Palantir's software will enable DISA's Defense Spectrum Organization (DSO) to support formal and informal coordination processes between the Department of Defense and commercial licensees. Existing and future government activities in the spectrum band are vital to protect national security and ensure military readiness.
Palantir software will be used to integrate multiple existing functions and capabilities into a single infrastructure that will result in more efficient workflows, reducing the timelines for licensee coordination with DoD to establish sharing agreements and enable deployment of 5G wireless services within CPA/PUA boundaries. Palantir software will also be used to demonstrate the ability to support more advanced spectrum sharing use cases.
"We are proud to partner with DISA DSO to support the complex task of sharing limited spectrum resources between federal and commercial users," said Akash Jain, President, Palantir USG. "We are excited to rapidly deploy software that will accelerate and automate coordination workflows and enable the increasingly dynamic and efficient use of spectrum."
"As military and commercial use of radio-frequency spectrum continues to grow, spectrum coordination will be increasingly necessary to preserve the effectiveness of critical national security capabilities while enabling U.S. commercial leadership in 5G and other critical technology areas. Palantir looks forward to working alongside the Department of Defense to deploy innovative software solutions that support advanced spectrum sharing workflows and processes," said Miriam Marwick, SVP, Emerging Technologies, Palantir USG.
About Palantir Technologies Inc.
Foundational software of tomorrow. Delivered today. Additional information is available at https://www.palantir.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements may relate to, but are not limited to, Palantir's expectations regarding the amount and the terms of the contract and the expected benefits of our software platforms. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and were based on current expectations as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management as of that time with respect to future events. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties include our ability to meet the unique needs of our customer; the failure of our platforms to satisfy our customer or perform as desired; the frequency or severity of any software and implementation errors; our platforms' reliability; and our customer's ability to modify or terminate the contract. Additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.
Media Contact
Lisa Gordon
media@palantir.com
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SOURCE PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/palantir-selected-by-department-defense-automate-spectrum-coordination-workflows/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:26
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Wausau, WI – The growing season is not over yet! Fall is still a great time to add some perennials to your garden or a new splash of color to your porch with some annuals. Monk Botanical Gardens’ fall plant sale opens to the public on Friday, August 4. All purchases support the Gardens.
Order your plants online from August 4 through August 18 (or until sold out) and pick them up on August 22 from 5-7 pm at the Gardens located at 1800 N 1st Avenue in Wausau.
Monk Botanical Gardens members get first access to plants! Members may order online starting August 1st at 9 am. They will receive a link to order in their email. If you are not a member you can learn more about the benefits and join easily online at
Plants are from Bauman Nursery & Landscaping in Edgar, WI. They are cold hardy to zone 4 and arrive free of disease and insects.
Potting soil, Compost, and Natural Hardwood Mulch from Hsu Growing Supply. Hsu’s will also have a pop-up sale table during pickup on August 22nd, for any last-minute soil, compost, or mulch needs.
A variety of fall planters will be available from Grass Creek Greenhouse in Athens, WI. Planters come in Half bushel, 12-inch, and 10-inch sizes, full of Chrysanthemums, Purple Fountain Grass, Ornamental Kale and Peppers, and more!
More information about the available plant varieties and the sale can be found on our website https://monkgardens.org/plant-sales/.
Contact Monk Botanical Gardens with any questions at info@monkgardens.org or 715-261-6309.
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/monk-botanical-gardens-fall-plant-sale/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:26
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President Biden overturned a decision from the Trump administration to relocate the temporary headquarters of Space Command to Alabama, deciding instead to keep the base in Colorado.
The decision was made because Biden believes keeping the HQ in Colorado Springs, rather than relocating it to Huntsville, would maintain stability and not impact readiness, according to a senior U.S. official.
The senior administration official said Biden consulted with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other military leaders before deciding to keep the base in Colorado permanently.
Gen. James Dickinson, the head of Space Command, also helped to convince Biden to not relocate the base, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. Space Command headquarters is set to achieve “full operational capability” at Colorado Springs later this month, according to the senior administration official.
The official said moving the headquarters to Alabama would force a transition process that does not allow the new base to open until the mid-2030’s.
“The President found that risk unacceptable, especially given the challenges we may face in the space domain during this critical time period,” the official said. “Locating Headquarters U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs ensures peak readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period.”
Biden’s reversal is likely to spark the fury of Alabama Republicans who have for months feared the administration would scrap the relocation plan.
Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers (R), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has been investigating the delay behind the relocation plan, which was first put in motion when Space Command was resurrected in 2019.
Former President Trump’s decision to temporarily establish a headquarters in Colorado and relocate Space Command to Alabama was criticized as a political choice based upon a more favorable constituency in the Yellowhammer state.
Since coming into office, the Biden administration ordered reviews of the decision, none of which found anything improper in Trump’s decision, though they found the former president could have followed better practices in the process.
The delayed relocation reached new heights over the spring when NBC News reported the Biden administration was considering scrapping the relocation plan because of restrictive abortion laws in Alabama.
Rogers and other Alabama Republicans objected to any such plan, saying Huntsville, also known as Rocket City, was selected based on its merits and in a fair process, while pointing to the reviews that found nothing improper.
The House version of the annual defense bill that passed earlier this month includes provisions that slash funding for the Air Force Secretary until the administration makes a final decision. It’s unclear whether Rogers will be satisfied with a reversal.
Other Alabama politicians, including Gov. Kay Ivey (R), are likely to also object to the decision.
Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said the base Redstone Arsenal in Alabama was the correct location based on its merits, arguing “Biden has irresponsibly decided to yank a military decision out of the Air Force’s hands in the name of partisan politics.”
“The President’s blatant prioritization of partisan political considerations at the expense of our national security, military modernization, and force readiness is a disservice and a dishonor to his oath of office as our nation’s Commander-in-Chief,” she said in a statement.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennett (D) joined officials from his state in celebrating Biden’s decision.
“Over the past two and half years, we have repeatedly made the case that the Trump administration’s decision to relocate U.S. Space Command was misguided,” the senator wrote on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Today’s decision restores integrity to the Pentagon’s basing process and sends a strong message that national security and the readiness of our Armed Forces drive our military decisions,” he added.
Updated at 5:01 pm ET.
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https://www.wdtn.com/hill-politics/biden-overturns-trump-decision-to-move-space-command-hq-from-colorado-to-alabama/
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15-judge bench to hear anti-judicial reform petitions, Israeli Supreme Court says
Judicial overhaul, championed by right-wing PM Netanyahu, subject of intense, sustained protests across Israel
Israel's Supreme Court said Monday that a full panel of 15 justices would hear petitions in September against a contentious law that was passed last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and which has spurred mass protests.
The law was one of a series of proposed changes to Israel's judiciary put forward by Netanyahu's government earlier this year that seek to curb the power of the Supreme Court. The judicial overhaul plan has been met with months of sustained mass protest against the legislation and drawn criticism from the White House.
Critics of the overhaul say that the package of laws would concentrate power in the hands of the ruling coalition and erode the system of checks and balances between branches of government. Proponents say the measures are necessary to limit the power of unelected judges who they say are overly activist.
Netanyahu and his allies passed a law last week that removes the high court's ability to annul government decisions considered "unreasonable." The "reasonableness standard" was implemented by the Supreme Court earlier this year to thwart the appointment of a Netanyahu ally as interior minister after he had recently pleaded guilty to tax offenses.
The court said the hearing concerning the law striking down the "reasonableness standard" would take place on Sept. 12 with a full bench of 15 justices. The Supreme Court typically hears cases with smaller panels of justices, but appears to have opted for a full complement of judges because of the highly delicate nature of the matter.
The Netanyahu administration's push to overhaul the judiciary has deeply divided an already highly polarized country and sparked the longest sustained protests in the country's history.
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Netanyahu and his allies took office in December after the country's fifth election in under four years, most of them referendums on the longtime leader's fitness to serve while on trial for corruption.
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/15-judge-bench-hear-anti-judicial-reform-petitions-israeli-supreme-court-says
| 2023-07-31T21:33:31
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/15-judge-bench-hear-anti-judicial-reform-petitions-israeli-supreme-court-says
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NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS – SOURCES OF DISTRIBUTION UNDER SECTION 19(a)
BOSTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund (NYSE: PDT) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC and subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, announced today sources of its monthly distribution of $0.0825 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of July 13, 2023, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund (NYSE: PDT) with important information concerning the distribution declared on June 30, 2023, and payable on July 31, 2023. No action is required on your part.
The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable July 31, 2023, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.
You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.
The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."
The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.
The Fund has declared the July 2023 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed monthly distributions in the amount of $0.0825 per share, which will continue to be paid monthly until further notice.
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.
About John Hancock Investment Management
A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.
About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.
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SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:32
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A one-day sales event unlike any other invites customers to stock up on used books for just one cent per page.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The busiest day of the year at 2nd & Charles is officially on the docket: Penny-A-Page, happening on Saturday, August 12, at all 2nd & Charles locations nationwide.
Where miles of books are surrounded by pure, boundless energy, customers can purchase up to five books for just one cent per page during 2nd & Charles' first-ever Penny-A-Page.
This unique and rare promotional event applies to all used books, giving customers the opportunity to fill their shelves with lengthy, expensive, and well-loved volumes – all for a fraction of the price. Yes, on a 250-page book, 2nd and Charles customers will pay just $2.50.
"Our loyal customers love it when we offer a discount on multiple books at the same time," says Eric Bishop, Senior Vice President at 2nd & Charles. "This is a 'can't miss' day! We are opening early at 9 a.m. to accommodate all our impassioned readers wanting to get a head start on their summer reading," he says.
Communities across the nation now have a remarkable opportunity to find their next stack of great books at an extraordinary price. Arrive early for the best selection! Come in, get lost, and find yourself at 2nd & Charles.
ABOUT 2ND & CHARLES
2nd & Charles is a unique retail concept specializing in an ever-changing inventory of new and used books, music, games, toys, collectibles, decor, accessories, and pop culture merchandise. Since its first store opened in Birmingham, AL, in 2010, 2nd & Charles has expanded to include more than 40 stores in 18 states—and counting.
A sister store to Books-A-Million, the nation's second largest book retailer, 2nd & Charles has established itself as a hip and fun-loving purveyor of passions catering to readers, gamers, and collectors of all ages. Through the store's buyback program, customers can sell their gently used merchandise in exchange for cash or store credit.
Click here to find your nearest 2nd & Charles store, and follow 2nd & Charles on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
CONTACT
Olivia Anderson McDaniel
Vice President of Marketing, Omnichannel
205.909.3563
mcdanielo@booksamillion.com
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SOURCE Books-A-Million, Inc.
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:32
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Veterans are invited to the 3rd Annual Veterans Tribute Celebration on Saturday, August 12, to the Biergarten tent at Bull Falls Brewery on Thomas Street. The celebration is from 11 to 4 pm. The event is free for all veterans and their guests. There’s plenty of handicap parking and golf cart transportation.
The Veterans Tribute event provides all US Veterans a chance to celebrate and be recognized for their service to America. It also gives everyone a chance to recognize three individuals for their service, as nominated by the American Legion Post 10 and Post 492, and the Man of Honor. Refreshments and food are available for purchase during the event. Music will be by DJ Jim Yunek and Bull Falls German brass style band.
Veteran entry fees were paid the day that they enlisted. Veteran verification is a membership card from any military service or support organization, a VA card, or a DD-214.
Looking forward to sharing this celebration with you on August 12th. Any questions, call event Chairman – Bob Weller 715-571-3476.
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/plan-to-attend-the-veterans-tribute-celebration/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:33
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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)– With 14 different types of cheesesteaks, Norwood’s AJ’s Cheesesteaks visited the Living Dayton Kitchen on Monday!
Owner Ty Velez and Waitress Zoe showcased many different menu items including the Chipotle Cheesesteak, Smoked Bacon & Ranch Cheesesteak and Pepper Jack Cheesesteaks. Ty’s variety of spices and seasonings are a homemade secret, but he loves to sprinkle in banana peppers, green peppers, sweet peppers, sauteed onions and mushrooms for his wife Laura.
Waitress Zoe started working at AJ’s Cheesesteaks when she was 14 and over the years, she single-handedly crafted her Zoe Special. The Zoe Special tends to be extremely spicy, filled with jalapenos and ties perfectly with pepper jack cheese. It’s not on the menu, but Zoe can whip one together in no time!
To check out AJ’s Cheesesteaks menu, click here or watch the video above!
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:36
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Nearly 400 Pakistani migrants rescued in eastern Libya from trafficking warehouses
Among those rescued were children; migrants were later transferred to nearby police headquarters
Security authorities in eastern Libya freed at least 385 Pakistani migrants who were held in trafficking warehouses in an overnight raid, a migrant rights group said Monday.
Al-Abreen, a group which helps migrants in Libya, said the Pakistani nationals were released early Monday from smugglers' warehouses in the al-Khueir area, roughly 5 miles south of the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk. The migrants — among them children — were later transferred to a nearby police headquarters, it said in a post on its official Facebook page.
Esreiwa Salah, an activist with al-Abreen, told The Associated Press the Pakistani migrants arrived in Libya intending to travel to Europe but were detained by smugglers who demanded a ransom for their release. No further details were given.
Several pictures posted on al-Abreen's Facebook page showed dozens of purportedly freed Pakistani migrants sitting outside of a warehouse.
IRANIAN HORNET'S NEST OF TERROR GROUPS SURROUND ISRAEL AMID CALLS FOR NEW US SANCTIONS
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Libya is the dominant transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to make it to Europe. The country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Oil-rich Libya has been ruled for most of the past decade by rival governments in eastern and western Libya, each backed by an array of militias and foreign governments.
Human traffickers have benefited from the decade of instability, smuggling migrants across borders from six nations, including Egypt, Algeria and Sudan. They then pack desperate migrants seeking a better life in Europe into ill-equipped rubber boats and other vessels for risky voyages on the perilous Central Mediterranean Sea route.
A vessel that departed from Libya carrying an estimated 700 migrants, including about 350 Pakistanis, sank of the Greek coast in June. Only 104 people, including 12 Pakistanis, were rescued.
Pakistan is experiencing an economic crisis that is driving thousands of mostly young men to seek work abroad. Many travel to Libya with the hope of eventually reaching European shores.
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/nearly-400-pakistani-migrants-rescued-eastern-libya-trafficking-warehouses
| 2023-07-31T21:33:37
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NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS – SOURCES OF DISTRIBUTION UNDER SECTION 19(a)
BOSTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (NYSE: HTD) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC and subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, announced today sources of its monthly distribution of $0.1380 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of July 13, 2023, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (NYSE: HTD) with important information concerning the distribution declared on July 3, 2023, and payable on July 31, 2023. No action is required on your part.
The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable July 31, 2023, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.
You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.
The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."
The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.
The Fund has declared the July 2023 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed monthly distributions in the amount of $0.1380 per share, which will continue to be paid monthly until further notice.
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.
About John Hancock Investment Management
A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.
About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.
View original content:
SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:39
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DENVER, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Principal Real Estate Income Fund (NYSE:PGZ) announces the sources of a distribution paid on July 31, 2023 of $0.1050 per share to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 18, 2023, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and includes the notice below sent to shareholders regarding the source of the distribution.
Statement Pursuant to Section 19(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940
The following table sets forth the estimated amount of the sources of distribution for purposes of Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the related rules adopted thereunder. In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), the Fund estimates the following percentages, of the total distribution amount per share, attributable to (i) current and prior fiscal year net investment income, (ii) net realized short-term capital gain, (iii) net realized long-term capital gain and (iv) return of capital or other capital source as a percentage of the total distribution amount. These percentages are disclosed for the current distribution as well as the fiscal year-to-date cumulative distribution amount per share for the Fund.
The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with 'yield' or 'income'.
The timing and character of distributions for federal income tax purposes are determined in accordance with income tax regulations, which may differ from GAAP. As such, all or a portion of this distribution may be reportable as taxable income on your 2023 federal income tax return. The final tax character of any distribution declared in 2023 will be determined in January 2024 and reported to you on IRS Form 1099-DIV.
The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this 19(a) Notice are only estimates and not for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.
Presented below are return figures, based on the change in the Fund's Net Asset Value per share ("NAV"), compared to the annualized distribution rate for this current distribution as a percentage of the NAV on the last day of the month prior to distribution record date.
While the NAV performance may be indicative of the Fund's investment performance, it does not measure the value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund. The value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund is determined by the Fund's market price, which is based on the supply and demand for the Fund's shares in the open market. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's Managed Distribution Plan.
Furthermore, the Board of Trustees reviews the amount of any potential distribution and the income, capital gain or capital available. The Board of Trustees will continue to monitor the Fund's distribution level, taking into consideration the Fund's net asset value and the financial market environment. The Fund's distribution policy is subject to modification by the Board of Trustees at any time. The distribution rate should not be considered the dividend yield or total return on an investment in the Fund.
Please retain this document for your records.
ALPS Advisors, Inc. is the investment adviser to the Fund.
Principal Real Estate Investors LLC is the investment sub-adviser to the Fund. Principal Real Estate Investors LLC is not affiliated with ALPS Advisors, Inc. or any of its affiliates.
ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc. is the FINRA Member.
PRE000386 7/31/2024
View original content:
SOURCE Principal Real Estate Income Fund
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Today in History
Today is Monday, July 31, the 212th day of 2023. There are 153 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 31, 1777, during the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.
On this date:
In 1715, a fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast; of some 2,500 crew members, more than 1,000 died.
In 1919, Germany’s Weimar Constitution was adopted by the republic’s National Assembly.
In 1922, 18-year-old Ralph Samuelson rides world’s 1st water skis (Minnesota).
In 1945, Pierre Laval, premier of the pro-Nazi Vichy government in France, surrendered to U.S. authorities in Austria; he was turned over to France, which later tried and executed him.
In 1953, Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, known as “Mr. Republican,” died in New York at age 63.
In 1957, the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, went into operation.
In 1970, “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” came to an end after nearly 14 years as co-anchor Chet Huntley signed off for the last time; the broadcast was renamed “NBC Nightly News.”
In 1971, Apollo 15 crew members David Scott and James Irwin became the first astronauts to use a lunar rover on the surface of the moon.
In 1972, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.
In 1981, a seven-week-old Major League Baseball strike ended.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.
In 2003, the Vatican launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions was “gravely immoral” and urging non-Catholics to join the offensive.
In 2020, a federal appeals court overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, saying the judge who oversaw the case didn’t adequately screen jurors for potential biases. (The Supreme Court later reimposed the sentence.)
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama’s national security team acknowledged for the first time that, when investigating one suspected terrorist, it could read and store the phone records of millions of Americans. Voters in Zimbabwe went to the polls in national elections that were won by President Robert Mugabe amid opponents’ allegations of fraud.
Five years ago: Jury selection began in the trial of Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman; he was accused of failing to report tens of millions of dollars in Ukrainian political consulting fees. (Manafort was sentenced to a total of seven and a-half years in prison after being convicted at trial in Virginia and pleading guilty in Washington to two conspiracy counts.) Actor Alan Alda revealed that he has Parkinson’s disease, telling “CBS This Morning” that he’d been diagnosed three and a half years ago.
One year ago: Bill Russell, the NBA great who anchored a Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years — the last two as the first Black head coach in any major U.S. sport — and marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., died at age 88. Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died at 89.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Don Murray is 94. Jazz composer-musician Kenny Burrell is 92. Actor France Nuyen is 84. Actor Susan Flannery is 84.
Singer Lobo is 79. Actor Geraldine Chaplin is 79. Former movie studio executive Sherry Lansing is 79. Singer Gary Lewis is 78. Actor Lane Davies is 73. Actor Susan Wooldridge is 73. International Tennis Hall of Famer Evonne Goolagong Cawley is 72. Actor Barry Van Dyke is 72. Actor Alan Autry is 71. Jazz composer-musician Michael Wolff is 71. Actor James Read is 70. Actor Michael Biehn is 67. Rock singer-musician Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets) is 66. Actor Dirk Blocker is 66. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban is 65. Rock musician Bill Berry (R.E.M.) is 65. Actor Wally Kurth is 65. Actor Wesley Snipes is 61. Country singer Chad Brock is 60. Musician Fatboy Slim is 60. Rock musician Jim Corr is 59. Author J.K. Rowling is 58. Actor Dean Cain is 57. Actor Jim True-Frost is 57. Actor Ben Chaplin is 54. Actor Loren Dean is 54. Actor Eve Best is 52. Actor s(pah-REES’) is 48. Country singer-musician Zac Brown is 45. Actor-producer-writer B.J. Novak is 44. Actor Eric Lively is 42. Singer Shannon Curfman is 38. NHL center Evgeni Malkin is 37. Hip-hop artist Lil Uzi Vert is 29. Actor Reese Hartwig is 25. Actor Rico Rodriguez is 25.
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/today-in-history-today-is-monday-july-31-the-212th-day-of-2023/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:39
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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)– Having any kind of car trouble on the roads can be stressful, but when your car breaks down in the middle of a heat wave that could bring many a variety of challenges for drivers.
Huber Heights AAA Tire & Auto Center Manager Dustin Shafner advises families to not skip a car-evaluation check before a long road trip because it may just save them from being stranded on the road.
Shafner says intense summer heat waves can cause many issues, but a main concern is your car’s battery. He says a car battery acts very similarly like a cell phone battery when it comes to being overheated. If you leave your cell phone out in the sun, the battery will overheat, turn off and need to cool down. Well, the same thing can happen to your car battery during long road trips. Additionally, drivers may be tempted to crank their AC unit to stay cool but Shafner says before turning that dial, you should double check your coolant levels. Coolant levels are something many drivers may overlook but during the summer, coolant levels control many things in your car including keeping your engine cool.
To avoid many disasters on the roadway, Shafner says Huber Height’s AAA Tire & Auto Center is a one stop shop for drivers! To plan ahead, AAA can change your oil, check fluids, tire pressure, breaks and get your battery tested.
For more information, click here or watch the video above!
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https://www.wdtn.com/living-dayton/huber-heights-aaa-can-get-your-family-car-ready-for-vacation-with-one-simple-stop/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:42
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PORT ANGELES, Washington (WJW) – An 8-year-old child was attacked by a cougar at Olympic National Park’s Lake Angeles on Saturday evening.
The child was with their family at Lake Angeles, south of Port Angeles, when the attack happened Saturday night, the National Park Service said Monday.
“The cougar casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child’s mother,” NPS wrote in a news release. The child suffered only minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
Park officials then evacuated the remaining campers in the Lake Angeles area, closing the space and Heather Park to the public. Olympic National Park wildlife biologist Tom Kay said in a statement that the decision to close the Lake Angeles Trail, Heather Park Trail, Switchback Trail, and the entire Klahhane Ridge Trail was made “out of an abundance of caution.”
Early Sunday morning, park law enforcement and wildlife personnel who specialize in cougar tracking were dispatched to the last known location of the cougar at Lake Angeles, the park service reported. If located, the cougar will be euthanized and removed from the park for a necropsy.
“This may provide clues as to why the animal attacked since cougars are rarely seen and attacks on humans are extraordinarily rare,” park officials said. “Olympic National Park has extensive protocols in place for wildlife observations, interactions, and attacks and the lethal removal of this cougar is in line with these protocols.”
Because Olympic National Park is considered “cougar territory,” NPS recommends visitors be prepared for the encounter. They should not hike or jog alone, and children should remain near adults. Pets should also be left at home.
Should you encounter a cougar, you should remain calm and avoid running, according to wildlife experts. Do your best to appear as large as possible, continue watching the animal, and be loud. NPS also recommends throwing items like rocks or sticks at the cougar.
There have been no recent deaths caused by cougars in Olympic National Park, according to NPS data.
It’s not the first wildlife attack in the national parks this year, though.
Last week, a woman was found dead after an “apparent bear encounter” near Yellowstone National Park. Earlier this month, a woman in the park suffered “significant injuries” after being gored by a bison.
The park warns that between mid-July and mid-August, bison are in mating season and “can become agitated more quickly.”
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https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/child-8-attacked-by-cougar-in-olympic-national-park-saved-by-mother/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:44
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President Joe Biden has decided to keep U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the Trump administration to move it to Alabama and ending months of politically fueled debate, according to senior U.S. officials.
The officials said Biden was convinced by the head of Space Command, Gen. James Dickinson, who argued that moving his headquarters now would jeopardize military readiness. Dickinson's view, however, was in contrast to Air Force leadership, who studied the issue at length and determined that relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, was the right move.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the decision ahead of the announcement. The president, they said, believes that keeping the command in Colorado Springs would avoid a disruption in readiness that the move would cause, particularly as the U.S. races to compete with China in space. And they said Biden firmly believes that maintaining stability will help the military be better able to respond in space over the next decade.
Biden's decision is sure to enrage Alabama lawmakers and fuel accusations that abortion politics played a role in the choice. The location debate has become entangled in the ongoing battle between Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville and the Defense Department over the move to provide travel for troops seeking reproductive health care. Tuberville opposed the policy is blocking hundreds of military promotions in protest.
Formally created in August 2019, the command was temporarily based in Colorado, and Air Force and Space Force leaders initially recommended it stay there. In the final days of his presidency Donald Trump decided it should be based in Huntsville.
The change triggered a number of reviews.
SEE MORE: U.S. Space Command Is Reestablished After 17 Years
Proponents of keeping the command in Colorado have argued that moving it to Huntsville and creating a new headquarters would set back its progress at a time it needs to move quickly to be positioned to match China’s military space rise. And Colorado Springs is also home to the Air Force Academy, which now graduates Space Force guardians, and more than 24 military space missions, including three Space Force bases.
Huntsville, however, scored higher than Colorado Springs in a Government Accountability Office assessment of potential locations and has long been a home to some of earliest missiles used in the nation’s space programs, including the Saturn V rocket. It is home to the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command.According to officials, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who ordered his own review of the matter, leaned toward Huntsville, while Dickinson was staunchly in favor of staying put.
The officials said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin presented both options to Biden.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:44
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Wendy Le Hermening
Wendy Le Hermening (nee Anderson), age 63, of Mosinee, Wisconsin, passed away peacefully in her sleep and entered eternal life on Thursday, July 27, 2023. She was born on January 24, 1960, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Today, she is dancing, singing, and enjoying a glass of red wine in Heaven itself.
Wendy is survived by her devoted husband and life partner of 35 years, Kevin, daughters Kacey Hermening and Kaitlyn Carrillo (Andrew), grandson Theodore, sister Tammy Kocher, brother Jon Kubasa, stepdad Stephen Kubasa, and many aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins, and sisters- and brothers-in-law. She was preceded in death by her father, Albert Anderson, and mother, Beverly Montgomery Kubasa.
She graduated from Waukesha South High School and received her Medical Assistant certification from Concordia College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Previously, she worked for the Chief of Medicine at Deaconess Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Jose Kanshepolsky, Racine, Wisconsin, and Westhill Medical Clinic, Wausau, Wisconsin. Wendy was the long-time Director of First Impressions of Hermening Financial Group. She was a “sister” or “mom” to all the company’s colleagues and clients.
Wendy loved Jesus most of all, and her strong Christian faith was lived out daily in her life. She was never bashful about sharing that the only way to eternal life is through faith in Jesus’ life, substitutionary death, and resurrection. She was a faithful and devoted Bible reader and never missed a day of devotions and prayer to God.
Her most treasured roles were those of wife and mother.
Wendy loved to travel, but she truly loved the contentment of sitting on her glider rocking chair in her living room, enjoying a glass of red wine, or dining with Kevin at the Pinewood Supper Club in Mosinee, which always had a corner table waiting for her.
Despite being allergic to cats, Wendy fell in love with several strays that made their way first into her garage, and then her heart, and then her home. They are Maddie, Simba, Trudy, Annie, and Timmy.
Wendy never sought the limelight and relished the supporting role throughout her whole life. She always elevated others, whether it was her husband, her daughters, or through business and community and other volunteer activities.
Fifteen years ago, as her daughters graduated from high school and left home and Wisconsin to attend college and pursue their careers and passions (music, of course) elsewhere, she built a life of amazingness in her community while supporting and occasionally visiting her girls where they lived, especially aboard various cruise ships.
Last month, both of her daughters told Wendy that they were moving back to Central Wisconsin. She had been telling everyone how excited she was that for the first time in a long time, she would finally have her babies back near her home. And she was looking forward to holding her first grandson, Theodore, in September.
Wendy was a member of Good News Church, Mosinee, Wisconsin.
A visitation will be held on Thursday, August 3rd from 4:00-8:00 PM at the Brainard Funeral Home in Weston, Wisconsin. A Celebration of Wendy’s Life will be held on Friday, August 4, 2023, at the Patriot Center (Central Wisconsin Convention and Expo Center, 10101 Market Street, Rothschild, WI) with a visitation from 9:00-11:00 AM, followed by a service at 11:00 AM. A meal will follow the service.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one or more of Wendy’s supported organizations:
Child Evangelism Fellowship (Madison, WI), Good News Church-Youth Group Fund (Mosinee, WI), Cedar Bay Camp & Retreat Center (Cedarville, MI), Mosinee Community Theater (Mosinee, WI), Wausau Children’s Theater (Wausau, WI), Wausau Community Theater (Wausau, WI), Junior Achievement (Wausau, WI), Never Forgotten Honor Flight (Wausau, WI), Special Operations Warriors Foundation (Tampa, FL).
Leland F. Hanks
Leland Hanks, age 85, passed away on July 24, 2023. Lee graduated from Wauatosa High School in 1956 and Iowa State University. Leland was born in Milwaukee, WI to Stanley Hanks and Mary Hanks. Leland married Anna Hanks (Schroeder) of Wausau, Wisconsin on April 25, 1987, in Milwaukee, WI. Lee had 32 years of service with the USDA Forest Service until retirement in January 1994. Lee’s last part-time job was sitting at a computer at home in his PJ’s’ doing paperwork to acquire used Military trucks for Volunteer Fire Departments in northern Wisconsin. Over the years Lee loved to go camping, canoeing, fishing, cross-county skiing (at times guiding the blind for Ski for Light) and playing golf. He especially enjoyed spending time with his family and friends.
Lee is survived by his loving wife Anna Hanks of Wausau. Daughter Leanne Heilman: Grandson, Daniel Garcia and niece and nephew. He was preceded in death by his parents Stanley and Mary Hanks; son Scott W. Hanks; grandson Christopher J. Gerard and sister Nancy Stollen.
Visitation will be Saturday, August 5th from 9:30-11am with Memorial Service at 11 at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Wausau with Father Samuel Cripps officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials go to St John’s Episcopal Church in Wausau, WI or the American Heart Association.
Phyllis J. Lubbe
Phyllis Jean Lubbe, 86, of Rothschild, passed away on July 28, 2023. She was born October 24, 1936 in Quincy, IL to Marvin and Catherine (Boden) Halle. She married Alan Lubbe on September 6, 1958, in St. Francis Catholic Church in Quincy. Phyllis was an active partner in Alan’s businesses and an “able-bodied assistant” in the many projects they worked on together during their marriage of over 50 years. An active member of St. Mark’s Church, Phyllis was a willing volunteer and a longtime member of the choir. She was involved in the busy lives of her children and, in recent years she enjoyed visiting them and their families. Her children and grandchildren gave her great joy, as she loved interacting with them and watching their many activities. An employee of Weyerhaeuser Paper, Phyllis served in the personnel and finishing departments. She is preceded in death by her parents Marvin and Catherine, husband Alan, brothers Robert and Richard Halle. Survivors include daughter, Sharon (Paul) Baxter of New Berlin, WI and sons, Mike (Julie) Lubbe of Las Vegas, NV, Jeff (Margaret) Lubbe of Mentor, OH and Dave (Lynn) Lubbe of Burlington, NJ; eight grandchildren, six great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Phyllis enjoyed the company of many close friends and the family gives special mention to long time friends Judy Thompson, Velma Javoroski, and Deborah Puckett.
A Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday August 4, 2023 at St. Mark Catholic Parish. (602 Military Rd, Rothschild, WI 54474). Visitation will be held on Friday August 4, 2023 from 9:30 AM until the hour of the Mass at the church.
The family would like to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone for all their prayers and acts of kindness. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to St. Mark Catholic Parish in Rothschild. Condolences may be expressed online at www.brainard.com.
Donald R. Petruzates
Donald R. Petruzates, 66, longtime resident of Mount View Care Center passed away on July 29, 2023.
Donald was born February 3, 1957 in Wausau son of Larry Petruzates, and the late Bernetta (Bragstad) Petruzates. He was a delightful, curious and sometimes mischievous child. He was charming in the way only a two year old can be with a charismatic smile and giggle.
When Donnie was three years old, his parents noticed some alarming symptoms. He stiffened up while sitting in a chair and started turning the color blue. They got him into the doctors and it turned out he was suffering from epilepsy. He was having grand mal seizures and continued to for many years. The doctors were unable to find the formula to keep him seizure free. His life became a struggle for him and also for his family. When Donnie was 45 he suffered a severe stroke and was paralyzed and unable to talk. From that time, until his death he lived at Mount View Care Center in Wausau. His caretakers took good care of him and some treated him like family.
He was a graduate of Merrill High School class of 1976, and later worked as a Security Guard.
He is survived by his father, and four siblings: Thomas Petruzates, Jerry (Diana) Petruzates, Diane Bendrick, and Sue (Brian) Ott. He also leaves numerous nieces and nephews along with his favorite Aunt, Christine Buss, and his many caretakers. He is preceded in death by a sister Barbara Meunier and his Daughter, Melissa Petruzates.
Visiation will be held on Monday, August 7th from 2 PM – 3 PM at Brainard Funeral Home – Weston a service will follow at 3 PM in the funeral home. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be directed to the Epilepsy Foundation.
Patrick D. Page
Patrick Dennis Page, 81, passed away Tuesday, July 25, 2023, in Wausau, Wisconsin. Patrick was born July 4, 1942, to Lamont and Marie (Weigle) Page in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the third of four children. He graduated from Regis High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and went on to get an undergraduate degree from UW Eau Claire and finished his masters in psychology at UW Menominee.
In 1965, Patrick began his lifetime career of teaching in Baldwin, Wisconsin. Two years later, in 1967, he started teaching psychology at Mosinee High School, where he stayed until he retired in 2002. He loved teaching and started the peer support program at Mosinee High School, along with coaching football and counseling the students. Along with his teaching career, he loved golfing, hunting in the pheasant club with his beloved dogs, visiting his many friends in the Wausau area and helping kids by counseling them through a county program. Fishing was always something he enjoyed and traveling to Eau Claire to watch his alma mater UW Eau Claire Blue Golds too. He had the gift of making students feel comfortable coming to him for help and his door was always open. He took pride in his career and was proud of his students.
Patrick is survived by his daughter, Jamie; brother, Lamont (Lori) and sister, Roxy Kurtzweil; several nieces and nephews, too. He is preceded in death by his parents; sister, Bonnie; nephews, David and Danny.
A celebration of life will occur with details to be determined.
William O. Jones
William (Bill) Oliver Jones, 80, of Kronenwetter, WI, passed away on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, with his wife by his side.
He was born on September 18, 1942, to the late Colbie and Lurla (Lane) Jones, in Richmond, KY.
William, upon graduation from Madison Model High School, entered the Marine Corps. Served in Vietnam, was honorably discharged and moved to Wisconsin. He went to work for Becher-Hoppe where he did surveying. Later he worked for Twin City Testing and River Valley Testing where he did soiling and structural testing. All through this he continued his studies in this field finally opening his own business White Star Testing from which he then retired.
He met Leslie in 1968, and they married in 1969. They were blessed with 3 beautiful children, Jonathon, Aaron and Hilary.
William loved the outdoors. Sailing was his passion. He sailed many types of boats loving his Trimoline the most. Bill was a proud member of the Lake Dubay Sailors. On a Tuesday night one could find him sailing on Dubay with the rest of the club members. He amassed numerous trophies and awards for his sailing in regattas and races. He would winter in Florida sailing around the Keys mooring at the various points.
William will be missed by his wife, Leslie (Stubbe) Jones; children, Jonathan (Ruth) Jones, and Hilary (Wesley) Locklear; grandchildren, Lindsy (Hunter) Bechtol, Hayley (John) Deckow, Ashley Jones (David Emmerich), Calvin Jones (Lizzy Hompertz), Savannah Dobbs, Landon Locklear, Drake Locklear, Matt (Melissa) Lashua, and Anthony (Samantha) Lashua, as well as 14 great-grandchildren; and his brothers, Robert (Louise) Jones, Lewis (Jewell) Jones.
He preceded in death by his beloved son, Aaron Jones; sisters, Virginia (Robert) Vardon, and Dolores (Ebb) Alexander; and an infant brother.
Funeral services will take place on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. noon, at Helke Funeral Home in Wausau. A visitation will run from 9:00 a.m. until the time of services at the funeral home. Entombment will take place at Restlawn Memorial Park following services with military honors just prior to entering the Masoleum.
Pallbearers will be, Calvin Jones, John Deckow, David Emmerich, Matt Wills, Zander Waurio and Daniel Westcott.
The family of Bill would like to thank Aspirus Hospice House for their care, with a special thanks to Lacie, Ellie, and Home Hospice nurse Jason.
Jeanette M. Fechner
Jeanette Margaret Fechner, age 95, formerly of Merrill, WI and Avon Park, FL passed away July 28, 2023 at Riverwood Senior Living in Wisconsin Dells, WI with family at her side.
Jeanette was born April 3, 1928 in Merrill, daughter of Harry E. and Esther D. (Buhler) Nelson. Jeanette grew up in the Merrill area and graduated from Merrill High School in 1946. She married Elmer J. (Jim) Fechner on September 10, 1949 in Merrill and they lived in Ohio and West Virginia for a couple of years while Jim served in the Air Force before returning to Merrill in 1951. Jeanette worked a variety of clerical office jobs, most notably with Public Service in the Merrill area while raising her family.
She and Jim enjoyed camping with a group of friends in northern Wisconsin and took family camping trips to the western U.S. They realized their dream of retiring to Florida and moved to Avon Park, Florida as “snow birds” and continued to travel back and forth for almost 20 years. Jeanette enjoyed her family, playing cards, shuffleboard, swimming and the warmth and sunshine of Florida.
Preceding Jeanette in death were her husband, “Jim” Fechner; her parents, Harry and Esther Nelson; brothers-in-law William Fechner, John Fechner and John Ochodnicky; and sister-in-law Miyako Fechner.
She is survived by three daughters; Terri (Chris) Hanson of Merrimac, WI; Mary (Glenn) Raddatz of White Bear Lake, MN; and Cindy (Steve) Sabatke of Merrill; seven grandchildren; Nick (Amy) Hanson, Alex (Rachel) Hanson, Sarah (Aaron) Gertz, Laura (Carlos) Hidalgo, Pennie (Mike) Sladky, Paige Sabatke and Rachel (Martin) Schaub; and thirteen great grandchildren; Siena Hanson, Madison Hanson, Jordan Hanson, Nolan Hanson, Adrian Gertz, Nathan Gertz, Damian Hidalgo, Dylan Hidalgo, Colten Sladky, Eliana Sladky, Gavin Sladky, Lena Sladky and Lawson Sladky. She is also survived by sisters-in-law, Marge Rankin and Janet Fechner.
Interment will be at a later date at Ft Snelling National Cemetery next to her husband “Jim”.
Written condolences, cards and messages can be sent to Terri Hanson at S8123B Kassner Rd, Merrimac, WI 53561. The family would like to thank all of the staff at Riverwood Senior Living in Wisconsin Dells, Haven Hills Assisted Living in Lodi, ProMedica Hospice and Inclusa Managed Care for their support to Jeanette and her family over the last several years.
Mid Wisconsin Cremation Society is assisting family at this time. Online condolences may be expressed at MWCS.WS
Walter W. Zimdars, Jr.
Walter William (Bill) Zimdars, Jr. was called home on July 27, 2023 after an extended fight with Parkinson’s disease.
Bill was born on October 21, 1933 in Watertown, WI to Bill Sr. and Elda Zimdars. He attended Immanuel Lutheran grade school and graduated from Watertown High School. Then attended UW-Whitewater where he met his wife, Kathy. After serving in the US Navy on the USS Keppler and teaching for a few years, he attended UW-Superior where he received his Master’s Degree.
He is survived by his children Karen (Dan) Clark, Weston, WI, Jody, Plover, WI, Kurt, Stevens Point, WI, and Eric (Cheri), Whitewater, WI, beloved grandchildren Michael (Nicole) and Brian Clark, Jon, Sydney, Caitlyn, Brianna and Peter Zimdars, treasured great-grandchildren Madelyn and Mason Clark. Much loved brother of Darlene Turke, nephews Arthur (Jenny)Turke, Andy Turke, and niece Constance (Jay Richardson) Turke. Brother-in-law of Muggs & Harry Bolanowski. Further survived by other cousins, nieces, nephews, great nieces & nephews, and cherished friends.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents Bill Zimdars, Elda (Schwefel) Staude, infant son Keith and beloved wife Kathy.
A celebration of life for Bill and Kathy (who passed away during COVID) will be held on August 12 at 2:00pm with an hors d’oeuvres reception with the family to follow at Redeemer /Beloved Community Church, 900 Brilowski Road, Stevens Point, WI 54482. Private burial will be held at a later date in Old Lebanon, WI.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Stevens Point Area YMCA, c/o Adaptive Recreation Program (local Special Olympics program) 1000 Division Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481, Portage County Public Library Foundation (PCPL), 1001 Main Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481 or to Redeemer/Beloved Community church.
The family would like to extend a sincere thanks to the entire staff of Dimensions Assisted Living who cared for him the past four years, the Interm Hospice team for their compassionate care the past few weeks and to his devoted friends who visited him in his last days.
Mid Wisconsin Cremation Society is assisting family at this time. Online condolences may be expressed at MWCS.WS
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:46
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MENLO PARK, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert Half Inc. (NYSE: RHI) announced today that its board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.48 per share. The cash dividend will be paid on Sept. 15, 2023, to all shareholders of record as of Aug. 25, 2023.
Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized talent solutions and business consulting firm that connects people with meaningful work and provides companies with the talent and subject matter expertise they need to confidently compete and grow. Robert Half is the parent company of Protiviti®, a global consulting firm that provides internal audit, risk, business and technology consulting solutions. Robert Half, including Protiviti, has been named to the Fortune® Most Admired Companies™ and Most Innovative Companies lists and is a Forbes Best Employer for Diversity. Robert Half has talent solutions and consulting operations in more than 400 locations worldwide.
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/robert-half-announces-quarterly-dividend/
| 2023-07-31T21:33:46
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LINKBANCORP, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results
Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 3:30 PM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
HARRISBURG, Pa., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LINKBANCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: LNKB) (the "Company"), the parent company of LINKBANK (the "Bank") reported net income of $1.35 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. Excluding merger related expenses, adjusted earnings were $1.60 million1, or $0.101 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2023.
Second Quarter 2023 Highlights
Total deposits grew $50.3 million, or 20.5% annualized during the second quarter over the prior quarter end, including an increase in noninterest bearing deposits of $36.2 million, and $14.1 million in interest bearing deposits. Estimated uninsured deposits, excluding collateralized public funds and affiliate company accounts, totaled $378.7 million, or 36.7% of total deposits as of June 30, 2023, compared with $387.8 million, or 39.4% of total deposits as of March 31, 2023.
The Company enhanced its on-balance sheet liquidity, with cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2023 of $123.2 million, up from $51.7 million at March 31, 2023 and $30.0 million at December 31, 2022. Total liquidity, including all available borrowing capacity and brokered deposit availability, together with cash and cash equivalents and unpledged investment securities, totaled approximately $507.4 million as of June 30, 2023.
Total loans grew $24.2 million during the second quarter, representing a 10.3% annualized growth rate, driven primarily by commercial and industrial and commercial real estate loan activity.
Net interest income for the second quarter of 2023 was $8.1 million, compared to $8.0 million for the first quarter of 2023. Net interest margin was 2.81% for the second quarter of 2023, compared to 2.95% for the first quarter of 2023. The linked quarter decrease was primarily due to higher interest expense on deposits continuing to outpace the increase in interest income from loans.
The Company recorded a $493 thousand negative provision for credit losses for the second quarter of 2023, resulting in an allowance for credit losses of $10.2 million, or 1.05% of total loans at June 30, 2023. The negative provision for credit losses was primarily driven by refinement of the population of loans individually assessed for impairment under the current expected credit losses ("CECL") accounting standard, improvements in internal credit metrics and external forecast indexes, as well as $97 thousand in net recoveries, offset by loan growth in the period.
On June 22, 2023, shareholders of the Company and Partners Bancorp ("Partners"), each approved the merger of Partners with and into the Company, with the Company as the surviving corporation pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 22, 2023. The merger is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and certain other customary closing conditions.
"We are pleased to report results that evidence continued balance sheet strength, including increased on-balance sheet liquidity, a growing core deposit base, and excellent credit quality." said Andrew Samuel, Chief Executive Officer. "Although significant uncertainty remains in the external environment, we are optimistic that the pace of margin compression will continue to stabilize. Our teams are highly focused on providing superior service to meet our clients' needs and we believe the Company is well positioned to successfully navigate through this climate."
Income Statement
Net interest income before the provision for credit losses for the second quarter of 2023 increased to $8.1 million compared to $8.0 million in the first quarter of 2023. Net interest margin was 2.81% for the second quarter of 2023 compared to 2.95% for the first quarter of 2023. The decrease in net interest margin for the current quarter was due to the higher average rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities, which outpaced the increase in the average yield on interest earning assets. The overall rate and yield increases were driven by the multiple federal funds rate increases that occurred over the preceding twelve months, coupled with competition for deposits in the market. The rate of increase in the cost of funds moderated to 30 basis points in the second quarter of 2023, primarily resulting from strong growth in the average balance of non-interest bearing deposits, which increased approximately $17.0 million to $209.1 million, compared to $192.1 million for the first quarter. The 30 basis points increase in the cost of funds to 2.29% during the second quarter of 2023 was partially offset by a 15 basis point increase in the average yield on interest-earning assets to 5.00%. The increase in the average yield on interest-earning assets was primarily due to the increase in the average yield on loans of 11 basis points to 5.20% during the second quarter of 2023.
During the second quarter, the Company continued to recognize results from its increased internal focus and strategy on core deposit generation, including 123 net new checking accounts opened for a total of $38 million in new deposits. Additionally, further momentum in executing the Company's strategies to service the needs of professional services firms resulted in 58 new accounts opened during the quarter, which are expected to fund over the course of the third quarter. As a result of these positive trends, the Company expects to allow higher cost brokered deposits to mature, replaced by core accounts at a lower cost, contributing to further stabilization in net interest margin.
Noninterest income (expense) improved from a $1.9 million expense in the first quarter of 2023, driven by recognition of a loss upon the sale of debt securities of $2.37 million, to $886 thousand in income in the second quarter of 2023. Excluding the first quarter loss on the sale of debt securities, adjusted noninterest income for the second quarter of 2023 increased $369 thousand to $886 thousand, primarily due to gains on the sale of Small Business Administration ("SBA") loans of $296 thousand and $57 thousand in commercial loan-related interest rate swap fees.
Noninterest expense for the second quarter of 2023 increased to $7.8 million compared to $7.7 million for the first quarter of 2023. Excluding one time charges relating to the pending merger with Partners Bancorp of $587 thousand in the first quarter of 2023 and $315 thousand in the second quarter of 2023, adjusted noninterest expense increased by $351 thousand in the second quarter, impacted by increased equipment and data processing expense as the Company continues to enhance its technology platform, as well as elevated accrual of fraud and operating losses.
Balance Sheet
Total assets were $1.31 billion at June 30, 2023 compared to $1.21 billion at March 31, 2023 and $1.06 billion at June 30, 2022. Deposits and net loans as of June 30, 2023 totaled $1.03 billion and $959.3 million, respectively, compared to deposits and net loans of $984.5 million and $934.8 million, respectively, at March 31, 2023 and $902.4 million and $786.5 million, respectively, at June 30, 2022.
Total loans increased $24.2 million from March 31, 2023 to June 30, 2023, or 10.25% annualized, with the average commercial loan commitment originated during the second quarter of 2023 totaling approximately $500,000.
The Company has proactively taken additional steps during the quarter to enhance its on-balance sheet liquidity. Cash and cash equivalents increased to $123.2 million at June 30, 2023 compared to $51.7 million at March 31, 2023 and $30.0 million at December 31, 2022. In addition to growth in core deposits, this position was supported by an additional $43.7 million in borrowings related to $75.0 million in wholesale funding in connection with the execution of a pay-fixed/receive-floating interest rate swap. The interest rate swap has a fixed rate of 3.28%, a maturity of five years and is designated against either a mix of one-month FHLB advances or brokered certificates of deposits. Classified as a cash flow hedge, the market fluctuations will not impact future earnings, but will impact accumulated other comprehensive loss.
Deposits at June 30, 2023 totaled $1.03 billion, an increase of $50.3 million compared to $984.5 million at March 31, 2023. Average deposits increased by $17.0 million during the quarter, or 6.9% annualized, driven by a 35.3% increase in average noninterest bearing deposits from $192.1 million for the first quarter of 2023 to $209.1 million for the second quarter of 2023.
Shareholders' equity increased from $141.6 million at March 31, 2023 to $142.5 million at June 30, 2023. The increase included an increase in retained earnings due to net income for the current quarter, and a decrease in other comprehensive loss resulting from changes in the interest rate environment, offset by dividends paid of $1.2 million.
Asset Quality
In the second quarter of 2023, the Company recorded a negative provision for credit losses, calculated under the CECL model, of $493 thousand, compared to a provision for credit losses of $293 thousand in the first quarter. The negative provision for credit losses included the impact of reductions in the allowance for credit losses due to refinement of the population of loans individually assessed for impairment under CECL, improvements in internal credit metrics and external forecast indexes, as well as $97 thousand in net recoveries, offset by loan growth in the period.
Asset quality metrics remain strong. As of June 30, 2023, the Company's non-performing assets were $2.9 million, representing 0.22% of total assets. Non-performing assets at June 30, 2023 excluded purchased with credit deterioration ("PCD") loans with a balance of $2.1 million. Loans 30-89 days past due at June 30, 2023 were $1.8 million, representing 0.18% of total loans.
The allowance for credit losses-loans was $10.2 million, or 1.05% of total loans at June 30, 2023, compared to the allowance for credit losses-loans of $10.5 million, or 1.11% of total loans, at March 31, 2023. The allowance for credit losses-loans to nonperforming assets was 358.12% at June 30, 2023, compared to 438.95% at March 31, 2023.
The Company's risk management function incorporates extensive diversification, monitoring and hold limits with respect to the commercial real estate loan portfolio and management closely monitors concentration reports and related analyses. The commercial real estate loan portfolio is well-diversified, with limited exposure to higher risk segments such as hotels and retail. Management believes that the office space portfolio, which includes medical and mixed-use space, and does not involve properties in major metropolitan business districts, is stable and does not pose excessive risk. Specifically, at June 30, 2023, the Company had 68 loans related to office space, with an average loan size of $1.8 million and total current outstanding balances of $103.0 million. The largest exposure relating to office space is $8.8 million for a construction loan that will constitute owner-occupied real estate upon completion. Eighty-four percent (84%) of office space loans are guaranteed by high-quality principals and no office loans are past due 30 days or greater.
Capital
The Bank's regulatory capital ratios are well in excess of regulatory minimums to be considered "well capitalized" as of June 30, 2023. The Bank's Total Capital Ratio and Tier 1 Capital Ratio was 13.55% and 12.94% , respectively, at June 30, 2023, compared to 13.53% and 12.32%, respectively, at March 31, 2023 and 12.89% and 12.41%, respectively, at December 31, 2022. The Company's ratio of Tangible Common Equity to Tangible Assets was 8.31%2 at June 30, 2023.
ABOUT LINKBANCORP, Inc.
LINKBANCORP, Inc. was formed in 2018 with a mission to positively impact lives through community banking. Its subsidiary bank, LINKBANK, is a Pennsylvania state-chartered bank serving individuals, families, nonprofits and business clients throughout Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania through 10 client solutions centers and www.linkbank.com. LINKBANCORP, Inc. common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol "LNKB". For further company information, visit ir.linkbancorp.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not statements of current or historical fact and involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "intends," "plans," "projects," "may," "will," "should," and other similar expressions can be used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those described in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the following: costs or difficulties associated with newly developed or acquired operations; risks related to the proposed merger with Partners; changes in general economic trends, including inflation and changes in interest rates; increased competition; changes in consumer demand for financial services; our ability to control costs and expenses; adverse developments in borrower industries and, in particular, declines in real estate values; changes in and compliance with federal and state laws that regulate our business and capital levels; our ability to raise capital as needed; and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken by governments, businesses and individuals in response. The Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements, except as required by law. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
LB-E LB-D
Appendix A – Reconciliation to Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This document contains supplemental financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). Management uses these non-GAAP measures in its analysis of the Company's performance. These measures should not be considered a substitute for GAAP basis measures nor should they be viewed as a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP. Management believes the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures that exclude the impact of specified items provide useful supplemental information that is essential to a proper understanding of the Company's financial condition and results. Non-GAAP measures are not formally defined under GAAP, and other entities may use calculation methods that differ from those used by us. As a complement to GAAP financial measures, our management believes these non-GAAP financial measures assist investors in comparing the financial condition and results of operations of financial institutions due to the industry prevalence of such non-GAAP measures. See the tables below for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.
Contact: Nicole Ulmer Corporate and Investor Relations Officer 717.803.8895 IR@LINKBANCORP.COM
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc.
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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)– Grab your clubs and get decked out in pink, for the Annual Mercedes-Benz Championship Golf Tournament this Sunday and next Monday. It’s a fun event for a great cause, raising money for local women with breast cancer and raising awareness about the disease.
Jenell Ross, owner of Mercedes-Benz of Centerville, started raising awareness for breast cancer after her mother, Norma J. Ross lost her battle to breast cancer in 2010. Ross has made it her life mission to educate women in the Miami Valley about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, and to catch it early enough to make an impact. Her foundation has partnered with Premier Health and Kettering Health to support women who are uninsured to still be able to get a mammogram when needed.
To register for the golf tournament or get more information, click here or watch the video above!
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https://www.wdtn.com/living-dayton/norma-j-ross-memorial-foundation-raising-breast-cancer-awareness-through-golf/
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Climate change has been an important issue for President Joe Biden since the beginning of his administration. And while a majority of Americans agree that we need to work to reduce global warming, the partisan divide surrounding climate change is growing.
"I don't think anybody can deny the impact of climate change anymore," Biden said during a press conference on extreme heat.
Amid a sizzling hot summer, Biden announced new actions to combat extreme heat and drought. It comes as Americans across the country are feeling first-hand evidence of the changing climate.
"All of these kinds of events are really starting to literally hit home. And many Americans are starting to go, 'Oh my God, this isn't distant in time and space. This is happening right now. And we need to act,'" said Anthony Leiserowitz, the director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
SEE MORE: Extreme heat expected to be costly, especially in Texas
According to polling from the Pew Research Center,a majority of Americans, 54%, think climate change is a major threat, but there's also a stark partisan divide. Over last 15 years, the percent of Democrats who say climate change is a major threat has gone up, while that answer went down among Republicans.
That partisan impact means politicians aren't the best messengers for climate change. But experts say new voices are stepping up to raise alarm about the warming planet in an impactful way.
"We're now seeing doctors and nurses talking about how climate change is showing up in their emergency room and in the waiting room. We're hearing from faith leaders saying our religion, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, all of these major leaders have said climate change is a fundamental moral issue that we must address as religious people," said Leiserowitz.
Local meteorologists can be some of the most effective messengers for climate change, and the White House appears to recognize that. The vice president's office has reached out to local weather forecasters to start a discussion on best practices for talking about climate change and its impact.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com
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https://www.ksby.com/despite-rising-concerns-climate-change-is-still-a-partisan-issue
| 2023-07-31T21:33:50
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PHILADELPHIA, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Livent Corporation (NYSE: LTHM) today published its 2022 Sustainability Report, with the theme Reimagining Possibilities. The report provides updates on the company's progress against its 2030 and 2040 sustainability goals, includes new disclosures and reaffirms Livent's commitment to responsible production and expansion.
Paul Graves, president and chief executive officer of Livent, commented: "We believe the lithium industry will play an increasingly important role in the clean energy transition towards a more sustainable, low-carbon future. Our 2022 Sustainability Report demonstrates how Livent is reimagining what's possible for producing more of the lithium the world needs while continuing to lead our industry forward in corporate social responsibility, environmental stewardship and transparency."
Report Highlights:
- Initial global Scope 3 screening of Livent's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and first disclosures on global air pollutants
- Completion of ISO-compliant Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for all of Livent's major lithium chemical products, ahead of the original 2025 target
- Achievement of Livent's 2030 Waste Disposed intensity reduction target, ahead of schedule
- Summary of recent water and biodiversity studies conducted at the Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina
- Updates on other key collaborations and initiatives to support a low-carbon future, minimize environmental impacts, expand local community engagement and development efforts, protect human rights, and build a more engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce
To view Livent's 2022 Sustainability Report, visit livent.com/sustainability. The report will be made available in multiple languages.
Key ESG metrics in the report were reviewed and assured by ERM Certification and Verification Services (ERM CVS).
About Livent
For nearly eight decades, Livent has partnered with its customers to safely and sustainably use lithium to power the world. Livent is one of only a small number of companies with the capability, reputation, and know-how to produce high-quality finished lithium compounds that are helping meet the growing demand for lithium. The Company has one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry, powering demand for green energy, modern mobility, the mobile economy, and specialized innovations, including light alloys and lubricants. Livent has a combined workforce of approximately 1,350 full-time, part-time, temporary, and contract employees and operates manufacturing sites in the United States, England, China and Argentina. For more information, visit Livent.com.
Livent Forward-Looking Statements
Statement under the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current views and assumptions regarding future events, future business conditions and the outlook for the company based on currently available information. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "may," "might," "will," "will continue to," "will likely result," "is on track," "should," "expect," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believe," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "continue," "could," "forecast," "future," "is confident that," or "projects," the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by any forward-looking statement. These factors include, among other things, the risk factors and other cautionary statements included within Livent's 2022 Form 10-K filed with the SEC as well as other SEC filings and public communications. Livent cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the above cautionary statement. Livent undertakes no obligation, and specifically disclaims any duty, to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which they were made, except as otherwise required by law.
The Company's investor relations website, located at https://ir.livent.com, should be considered as a recognized channel of distribution, and the Company may periodically post important information to the website for investors, including information that the Company may wish to disclose publicly for purposes of complying with federal securities laws.
Media contact: Juan Carlos Cruz +1.215.299.6725
juan.carlos.cruz@livent.com
Investor contact: Daniel Rosen +1.215.299.6208
daniel.rosen@livent.com
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SOURCE Livent Corporation
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Wausau Pilot & Review
Find More Donation + Volunteer Opportunities: Go to the United Way Volunteer Connection volunteer website at unitedwaymc.galaxydigital.com.
Share A Ride: Faith in Action is looking for volunteers living in the outlying areas of Marathon County (e.g., Marathon, Mosinee, Athens, Hatley) to drive seniors living in rural areas to their doctors’ visits, grocery shopping, and other appointments. Volunteers are contacted as needed, usually with about a week’s notice. Commitment level is flexible. Contact Jamie at Faith in Action at 715-848-8783 or WausauFIAinfo@gmail.com to apply.
Help Families Access Free Clothing: United Way of Marathon County is looking for Donation Processing volunteers to organize Community Closet donations, ensure they are in good condition, and prepare them for the shopping floor. Volunteers are asked to commit to at least two shifts per month, Wednesdays 1-4pm and/or Fridays 9am-12pm. Sign up at unitedwaymc.org/volunteer or contact Carly at channey@unitedwaymc.org or 715-298-5719 for more information!
Are You Looking For A Rewarding Experience? Our volunteers spend time socializing and providing companionship with individuals receiving ProMedica Hospice Services. Activities include reading to patients, playing cards, going on walks, providing caregiver relief, watching game shows, and listening to their stories. Visit schedule is set by the volunteer and is very flexible! Please contact our office today at 715-344-4541 and ask for Mary to learn how to become a part of our team. You can also email Mary at Mary.Dulske@ProMedica.org.
Do You Have Office Skills?
The Women’s Community is looking for a kind and capable receptionist to be the first person guests see when they come in. This volunteer answers phones and transfers calls, answers the door and lets people in, manages the meeting room schedules, and processes donations. Training provided; must be age 18+. Please contact Allie at allie@womenscommunity.org or 715-842-5663 to apply.
In-Kind Donated Items Needed
More Donation + Volunteer Opportunities: Go to the United Way Volunteer Connection volunteer website at unitedwaymc.galaxydigital.com.
Appliances Needed!: Used appliances in good working condition are high in demand in our community. Donations sold at the Habitat ReStore help fund the Habitat for Humanity mission to bring people together to build homes. Looking for refrigerators, microwaves, freezers, electric stoves, washers, electric dryers, and small countertop appliances such as coffee makers, crock pots, and irons. Donations can be dropped off at 1810 Schofield Ave. in Weston on Tuesdays 8am-12pm, Thursday & Friday 8am-4pm and Saturdays 9am-1pm. Contact our office to find out if your donation is eligible for pickup: 715-848-5042, store@habitatwausau.org.
Hygiene and Home Items Needed: The Neighbors’ Place is in need of donations or drives for hygiene and household cleaning products. Groups interested in initiating and planning a specific drive for these items are also welcome. For further information, please contact Elizabeth at 715-845-1966.
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:52
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Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 3:30 PM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
Business highlights include $50 million share repurchase, continued progress integrating recent acquisitions, ongoing development and implementation of organic growth and customer experience initiatives including our new University Park, IL service center, and eighth consecutive increase in the quarterly dividend. Quarterly results include strong cash flow generation.
CHICAGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI), a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, today reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.
Highlights:
Achieved Net Income attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation of $37.6 million with Adjusted EBITDA1, excluding LIFO of $70.1 million
Earned Diluted EPS2 of $1.06 on revenue of $1.3 billion
Generated Operating Cash Flow of $115.3 million and Free Cash Flow of $69.1 million
Maintained Net Leverage ratio within target range at 1.4x, debt of $396 million and net debt3 of $366 million as of June 30, 2023
Repurchased 1.4 million shares directly from an affiliate of Platinum Equity, concurrent to their secondary public offering, creating value for shareholders and contributing to free float increasing to 77% as of June 30, 2023
Announced third quarter 2023 dividend of $0.1825 per share, a 1.4% increase from the prior quarter
A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP measure is included below in this news release.
Management Commentary Eddie Lehner, Ryerson's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I want to thank all of my Ryerson teammates for their continued dedication to operating safely and productively, and I want to thank our customers for the opportunity to create and deliver better customer experiences which we never take for granted. Counter-cyclical industry conditions, particularly within our stainless-steel products franchise, arrived mid-quarter and were evidenced by industrial metals bellwether price index declines and demand contraction in Ryerson's later-cycle end markets. Counter-cyclical conditions as experienced during the second half of last year re-emerged in the second quarter of this year for a myriad of reasons. Shifting consumer spending patterns, higher interest rates, quieted but still present financial system stress and tightening as well as an economic recovery in China that has failed to materialize all contributed to a subdued manufacturing macro environment during the quarter. Ryerson is investing in and preparing for the next synchronized manufacturing upturn whose secular characteristics around the necessity of above trend growth in fixed-asset investment with greater supply-chain resiliency remain intact. We are confident that carrying our growth and operating model investments across counter-cyclical waters as expressed through our recent acquisitions, greenfield service centers and facility modernizations and capital expenditures around value-added fabrication as well as ongoing investments in digitalization, future-state systems and additive manufacturing will position Ryerson well for both the next cyclical upturn and the longer term secular growth in North American manufacturing activity that is underway. As we have during past counter-cycles, we will take out non-value-added costs, flex expenses down, and better optimize our industrial metals inventories as we move through the third quarter and back-half of the year."
Second Quarter Results Ryerson generated net sales of $1.3 billion in the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of 4.5%, compared to the first quarter of 2023. This was largely driven by sequentially lower volumes, which decreased 4.4%, while average selling prices remained unchanged, compared to the first quarter of 2023.
Gross margin expanded sequentially by 60 basis points to 19.4% in the second quarter, compared to 18.8% in the first quarter. Gross Margins reflected LIFO income of $9M, as the commodity price curves for our metals products sales mix decreased resulting in a LIFO credit in costs of goods sold.
Excluding the impact of LIFO, gross margin contracted 40 basis points to 18.7% in the second quarter, compared to 19.1% in the first quarter. This was primarily driven by a decrease in stainless steel commodity prices coupled with continued high inventories in the channel that put downward pressure on average selling prices. Warehousing, delivery, selling, general and administrative expenses increased 4.3% to $202.6 million in the second quarter, compared to $194.2 million in the first quarter, primarily driven by expense related to acquisitions, higher depreciation expense driven by higher capital expenditures on growth initiatives, reorganization expenses related to an ERP systems implementation and start-up costs associated with the University Park service center, which were partially offset by lower fixed operating expenses.
Net income attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation for the second quarter of 2023 was $37.6 million, or $1.06 per diluted share, compared to net income of $47.3 million, or $1.27 per diluted share in the previous quarter. Ryerson generated Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO of $70.1 million in the second quarter, compared to the first quarter Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO of $90.1 million.
Liquidity & Debt Management Ryerson generated $115.3 million of cash from operations in the second quarter of 2023, supported by net income attributable to Ryerson Holding of $37.6 million and working capital release of $37.8 million. The Company ended the second quarter of 2023 with $396 million of debt and $366 million of net debt, sequential increases of $1 million and $15 million, respectively, compared to the first quarter. Ryerson's leverage ratio as of the second quarter was 1.4x, within the Company's target leverage range. Ryerson's global liquidity, composed of cash and cash equivalents and availability on its revolving credit facilities was $790 million as of June 30, 2023.
Shareholder Return Activity
Dividends. During the second quarter of 2023, Ryerson paid a quarterly dividend in the amount of $0.1800 per share, amounting to a cash return of approximately $6.2 million. On July 31, 2023, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1825 per share of common stock, payable on September 14, 2023, to stockholders of record as of August 31, 2023.
Share Repurchase. On May 8, 2023, Ryerson repurchased 1,369,300 shares of common stock for approximately $50.0 million directly from an affiliate of Platinum Equity. Additionally, over the course of the second quarter of 2023, the Company repurchased 12,872 shares for $0.4 million in the open market. In total, Ryerson repurchased 1,382,172 shares of common stock resulting in a return to shareholders of approximately $50.4 million for the second quarter of 2023. Ryerson made these repurchases in accordance with its share repurchase authorization, which allows the Company to acquire up to an aggregate amount of $100.0 million of the Company's common stock through April of 2025. As of June 30, 2023, $49.6 million of the $100.0 million remained under the existing share repurchase authorization.
Outlook Commentary For the third quarter of 2023, Ryerson expects a continuation of slowing demand conditions, with customer shipments expected to decrease approximately 2% to 4%, quarter-over-quarter. The Company anticipates third-quarter net sales to be in the range of $1.25 billion to $1.30 billion, with average selling prices decreasing 1% to 2%. LIFO income in the third quarter of 2023 is expected to be $2 million. We expect adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO in the range of $43 million to $47 million and earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.31 to $0.43.
Earnings Call Information Ryerson will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2023 financial results for the period ended June 30, 2023, on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The live online broadcast will be available on the Company's investor relations website, ir.ryerson.com. A replay will be available at the same website for 90 days.
About Ryerson Ryerson is a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. Founded in 1842, Ryerson has around 4,300 employees in approximately 100 locations. Visit Ryerson at www.ryerson.com.
Notes: 1For EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO please see Schedule 2 2EPS is Earnings per Share 3Net debt is defined as long term debt plus short term debt less cash and cash equivalents and excludes restricted cash
Legal Disclaimer The contents herein are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute an offer to sell or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security ("Security") of the Company or its affiliates ("Ryerson") in any jurisdiction. Ryerson does not intend to solicit, and is not soliciting, any action with respect to any Security or any other contractual relationship with Ryerson. Nothing in this release, individually or taken in the aggregate, constitutes an offer of securities for sale or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any Security in the United States, or to U.S. persons, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is unlawful.
Safe Harbor Provision Certain statements made in this presentation and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, objectives, or projections relating to the future. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "objectives," "goals," "preliminary," "range," "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Among the factors that significantly impact our business are: the cyclicality of our business; the highly competitive, volatile, and fragmented metals industry in which we operate; the impact of geopolitical events, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and global trade sanctions; fluctuating metal prices; our indebtedness and the covenants in instruments governing such indebtedness; the integration of acquired operations; regulatory and other operational risks associated with our operations located inside and outside of the United States; the ownership of a significant portion of our equity securities by a single investor group; work stoppages; obligations under certain employee retirement benefit plans; currency fluctuations; and consolidation in the metals industry. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various factors, including those set forth above and those set forth under "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022,our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, we caution against placing undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, new information or otherwise.
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Churchill Downs will implement safety measures for its September meet including new track surface maintenance equipment and additional monitoring and equine care following 12 horse deaths before and after the Kentucky Derby that spurred suspension of its spring meet.
Racing is scheduled to resume Sept. 14 and run through Oct. 1 at the historic track, which paused racing operations on June 7 to conduct an internal safety review following the spate of horse deaths from racing or training injuries. Seven died in the days leading up to the 149th Derby on May 6, including two in races preceding the premier event.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority recommended suspending the remainder of the meet, which moved to Ellis Park in western Kentucky. Training continued at Churchill Downs during the investigation, and a release on Monday stated that while industry experts found no issues with the racing surfaces, the track invested in new maintenance equipment. It will also double the frequency of surface testing among infrastructure upgrades.
Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen said the track’s commitment to safety “remains paramount” in the release and added, “our participants, fans and the public can be assured that we will continue to investigate, evaluate and improve upon every policy and protocol.”
The announcement comes days after Carstanjen said racing would resume this fall with no changes and called the deaths “a series of unfortunate circumstances” in an earnings call with CDI investors.
Churchill Downs veterinarians will receive additional resources for specialized horse care and to assist in pre-race inspections and entry screening, the release added. The track will work with HISA and industry experts to predict at-risk horses through advanced analytic techniques.
A safety management committee including horsemen, track employees and veterinarians will also be created.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:54
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The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Simplemost may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
Malala Yousafzai is a Barbie Girl in the real world.
It may not sound like a quality connected with the 26-year-old activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. However, the proof is in a post of a photo showing her and her husband, Asser Malik, in a movie theater’s promotional “Barbie Box” this past weekend.
Yousafzai shared a picture on her social media channels that echoed the movie’s cast announcements, which were set on a Barbie-packaging backdrop and included marketing blurbs (“This Barbie is a mermaid,” “This Barbie has a Nobel Prize in physics” or “He’s just Ken”) for each character. Yousafzai and Malik look relaxed and happy in their photo. But it’s the caption that makes this post social media perfection.
“This Barbie has a Nobel Prize He’s just Ken,” she wrote.
This Barbie has a Nobel Prize He’s just Ken pic.twitter.com/Ljbqdfpgfd
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 30, 2023
MORE: ‘Barbie’ is hitting the big screen, but is the movie meant for kids?
And how does this Barbie’s “Ken” feel about his new title?
Malik countered with a comment that will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie — specifically Ken’s “I am Kenough” sweatshirt in the closing scenes.
I’m Kenough
— Asser Malik (@MalikAsser) July 30, 2023
“I’m Kenough,” he replied, clearly in on his wife’s joke.
The Twitter post has nearly 42 million views and is closing in on 1 million likes as of July 31.
In a longer post on her Instagram account, Yousafzai shared the couple’s reaction to the movie and explained that her joke was not meant as a jab against her beloved husband.
“We loved the movie. It was so funny and thoughtful ,” she wrote in her Instagram post. “I hope this caption doesn’t hurt all the Kens as much as the movie Ken.”
These viral social media posts are the latest images of the evolution of Malala Yousafzai since the world first got to know her in 2012 at age 15, when she was attacked on a school bus in her homeland of Pakistan for speaking out in favor of education rights for all people.
Following her attack, her family moved to England, where the young girl continued to advocate for gender equality in education. In 2013, she wrote “I Am Malala,” a best-selling book which, along with other writings and outreach, helped the teenager to become the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2014.
Since that time, Yousafzai launched the Malala Fund, graduated from Oxford University and continues to advocate for accessible education for everyone.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
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| 2023-07-31T21:33:56
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Jackpocket Crowns its First $100K Winner in Massachusetts, Partnership With Circle K Offers a New, Convenient Way to Play the Lottery
BOSTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jackpocket, America's #1 lottery app*, launched in Massachusetts in partnership with Circle K, one of the largest convenience store brands in the United States.
Yesterday, a Jackpocket customer ordered a $100,000 winning lottery ticket for the daily "Mass Cash" drawing using the app.
"We are excited that our partnership with Circle K landed our first $100K winner in the Bay State, cementing Jackpocket's presence in Massachusetts," said Peter Sullivan, CEO of Jackpocket. "Jackpocket's mission is to make the lottery more accessible and convenient to play. As Tuesday's Mega Millions crosses the $1 billion mark, it's easier than ever to play your favorite games from anywhere in Massachusetts."
To celebrate the new partnership, Jackpocket is offering lottery fans across the state their first lottery ticket for free on the app. New players will receive a $2 lottery ticket by entering the code HEYMASS at checkout. Lottery fans can play Powerball and Mega Millions—currently over $1.05B—as well as local favorites MassCash (the game responsible for the $100K winning ticket), Megabucks Doubler, Lucky for Life, and The Numbers Game.
"We're proud to partner with Jackpocket in Massachusetts and make this fun and convenient experience available to every lottery player across the state," said Melissa Lessard, the head of North American marketing at Circle K. "At Circle K, we are always looking for ways to make life a little easier for our customers and providing the opportunity for customers to order official state lottery tickets with just the tap of a button through the Jackpocket app is yet another example of that commitment."
Massachusetts is now the 17th state available for lottery play on the Jackpocket app. Jackpocket is iCAP certified for best practices in player protection, backed by the expertise of the National Council on Problem Gambling. To ensure player safety, Jackpocket offers consumer protections such as daily deposit and spend limits, self-exclusion, and in-app access to responsible gambling resources.
*According to data from AppFollow
*Must be 18 or older to play. Jackpocket is not affiliated with and is not an agent of the Massachusetts State Lottery. Please visit jackpocket.com/tos for full terms of service. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-327-5050.
Are You Our Next BIG Winner? Visit play.jackpocket.com or download Jackpocket for iOS and Android and get in the game. New players can receive a $2 lottery ticket by entering the code HEYMASS at checkout.
About Jackpocket
Jackpocket is on a mission to create a more convenient, fun, and responsible way to take part in the lottery. The first licensed third-party lottery courier app in the United States, Jackpocket provides an easy, secure way to order official state lottery tickets. Jackpocket is currently available in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington D.C., and West Virginia, and is expanding to many new markets. Download the app on iOS and Android or participate via desktop. Follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Circle K and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and mobility, operating in 25 countries and territories, with more than 14,400 stores, of which approximately 11,000 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Approximately 128,000 people are employed throughout its network.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Jackpocket
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SAN JOSE, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanmina Corporation ("Sanmina" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: SANM), a leading integrated manufacturing solutions company, today reported financial results for the fiscal third quarter ended July 1, 2023 and outlook for its fiscal fourth quarter ending September 30, 2023.
"Our third quarter results were in line with our outlook. We continue to execute well and deliver consistent operating margins and solid cash generation," stated Jure Sola, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our strong performance in the first nine months and achievement of our outlook for the fourth quarter would result in fiscal 2023 revenue growth of approximately 14 percent and non-GAAP EPS growth of approximately 35 percent. The team remains focused on excellence in quality, delivery and consistently meeting the needs of our customers. We have a strong foundation and promising future," Sola concluded.
Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Outlook
The following outlook is for the fiscal fourth quarter ending September 30, 2023. These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially.
- Revenue between $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion
- GAAP diluted earnings per share between $1.24 to $1.34
- Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share between $1.47 to $1.57
Safe Harbor Statement
The statements above concerning our financial outlook for the fourth quarter fiscal 2023 and our expectations for growth in revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal 2023 should such outlook be achieved, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in these statements as a result of a number of factors, most notably ongoing supply chain constraints and geopolitical uncertainty, including from the conflict in Ukraine. Other factors that could cause our results to differ from our forward-looking statements include adverse changes to the key markets we target; significant uncertainties that can cause our future sales and net income to be variable; reliance on a small number of customers for a substantial portion of our sales; risks arising from our international operations; and the other risk factors set forth in the Company's annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities Exchange Commission.
The Company is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter any of the forward-looking statements made in this earnings release, the conference call or the Investor Relations section of our website whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by law.
Company Conference Call Information
Sanmina will hold a conference call to review its financial results for the third quarter and outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 on Monday, July 31, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. PT). The access numbers are: domestic 833-816-1390 and international 412-317-0483. The conference will also be webcast live over the Internet. You can log on to the live webcast at Q3 Webcast Link. Additional information in the form of a slide presentation is available on Sanmina's website at www.sanmina.com. A replay of the conference call will be available for 48-hours. The access numbers are: domestic 877-344-7529 and international 412-317-0088, access code is 1520057.
About Sanmina
Sanmina Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading integrated manufacturing solutions provider serving the fastest growing segments of the global Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) market. Recognized as a technology leader, Sanmina provides end-to-end manufacturing solutions, delivering superior quality and support to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) primarily in the industrial, medical, defense and aerospace, automotive, communications networks and cloud infrastructure markets. Sanmina has facilities strategically located in key regions throughout the world. More information about the Company is available at www.sanmina.com.
Sanmina Contact
Paige Melching
SVP, Investor Communications
408-964-3610
Schedule 1
The statements above and financial information provided in this earnings release include non-GAAP measures of operating income, operating margin, net income, diluted earnings per share and pre-tax return on invested capital (ROIC). Management excludes from these measures stock-based compensation, restructuring, acquisition and integration expenses, impairment charges, amortization charges and other unusual or infrequent items, as adjusted for taxes, as more fully described below.
Management excludes these items principally because such charges or benefits are not directly related to the Company's ongoing core business operations. We use such non-GAAP measures in order to (1) make more meaningful period-to-period comparisons of the Company's operations, both internally and externally, (2) guide management in assessing the performance of the business, internally allocating resources and making decisions in furtherance of Company's strategic plan, (3) provide investors with a better understanding of how management plans and measures the business and (4) provide investors with a better understanding of our ongoing, core business. The material limitations to management's approach include the fact that the charges, benefits and expenses excluded are nonetheless charges, benefits and expenses required to be recognized under GAAP and, in some cases, consume cash which reduces the Company's liquidity. Management compensates for these limitations primarily by reviewing GAAP results to obtain a complete picture of the Company's performance and by including a reconciliation of non-GAAP results to GAAP results in its earnings releases.
Additional information regarding the economic substance of each exclusion, management's use of the resultant non-GAAP measures, the material limitations of management's approach and management's methods for compensating for such limitations is provided below.
Stock-based Compensation Expense, which consists of non-cash charges for the estimated fair value of equity awards granted to employees and directors, is excluded in order to permit more meaningful period-to-period comparisons of the Company's results since the Company grants different amounts and value of equity awards each quarter. In addition, given the fact that competitors grant different amounts and types of equity awards and may use different valuation assumptions, excluding stock-based compensation permits more accurate comparisons of the Company's core results with those of its competitors.
Restructuring, Acquisition and Integration Expenses, which consist of severance, lease termination costs, exit costs, environmental investigation, remediation and related costs and other charges primarily related to closing and consolidating manufacturing facilities and those associated with the acquisition and integration of acquired businesses, are excluded because such charges (1) can be driven by the timing of acquisitions and exit activities which are difficult to predict, (2) are not directly related to ongoing business results and (3) generally do not reflect expected future operating expenses. In addition, given the fact that the Company's competitors complete acquisitions and adopt restructuring plans at different times and in different amounts than the Company, excluding these charges or benefits permits more accurate comparisons of the Company's core results with those of its competitors. Items excluded by the Company may be different from those excluded by the Company's competitors and restructuring and integration expenses include both cash and non-cash expenses. Cash expenses reduce the Company's liquidity. Therefore, management also reviews GAAP results including these amounts.
Impairment Charges, which consist of non-cash charges, are excluded because such charges are non-recurring and do not reduce the Company's liquidity. In addition, given the fact that the Company's competitors may record impairment charges at different times, excluding these charges permits more accurate comparisons of the Company's core results with those of its competitors.
Amortization Charges, which consist of non-cash charges impacted by the timing and magnitude of acquisitions of businesses or assets, are also excluded because such charges do not reduce the Company's liquidity. In addition, such charges can be driven by the timing of acquisitions, which is difficult to predict. Excluding these charges permits more accurate comparisons of the Company's core results with those of its competitors because the Company's competitors complete acquisitions at different times and for different amounts than the Company.
Other Unusual or Infrequent Items, such as charges or benefits associated with distressed customers, expenses, charges and recoveries relating to certain legal matters, gains and losses on sales of assets, deferred tax adjustments and discrete tax items, are excluded because such items are typically non-recurring, difficult to predict or not directly related to the Company's ongoing or core operations and are therefore not considered by management in assessing the current operating performance of the Company and forecasting earnings trends. However, items excluded by the Company may be different from those excluded by the Company's competitors. In addition, these items include both cash and non-cash expenses. Cash expenses reduce the Company's liquidity. Management compensates for these limitations by reviewing GAAP results including these amounts.
Adjustments for Taxes, which consist of the tax effects of the various adjustments that we exclude from our non-GAAP measures, and adjustments related to deferred tax and discrete tax items. Including these adjustments permits more accurate comparisons of the Company's core results with those of its competitors. We determine the tax adjustments based upon the various applicable effective tax rates. In those jurisdictions in which we do not expect to realize a tax cost or benefit (due to a history of operating losses or other factors), a reduced tax rate is applied.
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/10544/SANMINA_CORPORATION_LOGO.jpg
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SOURCE Sanmina Corporation
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By The Associated Press
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hunt” with Sigourney Weaver and Quavo’s album “Rocket Power” are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you
Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are “Mixtape,” a Paramount+ documentary celebrating hip-hop, and the return of the acclaimed comedy “Reservation Dogs” for its third and final season on FX on Hulu.
NEW MOVIES TO STREAM
— James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” reaches an appropriately sincere, satirical and cornball finale in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” The film, one of the few non-“Barbie” or “Oppenheimer” summer hits, arrives Wednesday on Disney+ having already grossed $844 million in worldwide ticket sales. Gunn’s underdog superhero trilogy culminates with a tale focused on a backstory for Rocket, Bradley Cooper’s wise-cracking raccoon, and a showdown with a supervillain (Chukwudi Iwuji) hellbent on repopulating Earth with a “perfect” species. In my review, I praised the conviction of Gunn’s soupy sci-fi spectacle, writing: “Whatever this sweet, surreal sci-fi shamble is that Gunn has created, everyone here seems to believe ardently in it.”
— “Oppenheimer” isn’t the only movie around returning to Los Alamos. Steve James, the acclaimed documentarian of “Hoop Dreams,” in “A Compassionate Spy” details the story of physicist Ted Hall, a brilliant 18-year-old Harvard student when he was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project and went on to pass nuclear information to the Soviets. He confessed in 1998, a year before his death. Hall, one of several scientists to leak information from the atom bomb project, maintained he did it for the good of humanity and to prevent a nuclear monopoly. “A Compassionate Spy” debuts Friday, Aug. 4 on video-on-demand and in theaters.
— “Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb,” a documentary of the decades-long collaboration between the “Power Broker” author and his revered editor is a stirring and affection portrait of two literary giants. The film, directed by the editor’s daughter, Lizzie Gottlieb, will begin streaming Tuesday on the Criterion Channel, just weeks after the death of Gottlieb, who edited novels by Toni Morrison, John Cheever, Joseph Heller and many others. In my review of the film, I wrote: “Civil wars over semicolons and heated debate over the word ‘looms’ would not, on the face of it, seem like the stuff of a gripping big-screen movie. But make no mistake about it, ‘Turn Every Page’… is as much a rock ’em, sock ’em clash of heavyweights as found in any blockbuster.”
NEW MUSIC TO STREAM
— Quavo will release “Rocket Power,” his first album since fellow Migos member Takeoff was shot and killed outside a bowling alley in November 2022. Quavo introduced the new LP with a trailer that features a massive CGI rocket preparing to launch into space. In a statement, he shared: “Through the process of healing I’ve learned to turn tragedy into triumph. I had to dig deep into my purpose and find the power to keep striving.” This summer, Quavo and Future shared a new song, “Turn Your Clic Up,” which followed recent singles “Greatness” and “Honey Bun.” Shortly before his death, Quavo and Takeoff had shared their joint LP, “Only Built for Infinity Links.”
— Rick Springfield, whose hits include “Human Touch,” and, of course, “Jessie’s Girl,” is putting out his 21st album, “Automatic.” Written and produced by Springfield, the collection features 20 new songs. “My goal was solid three-minute tunes with the biggest hooks I could come up with,” he said in a news release. Springfield previewed his sound by releasing the title track and “She Walks With the Angels.” The album is dedicated to Matty Spindel, a friend and soundman of 25 years who died in 2022. Springfield will be hitting the road this summer on the I Want My ’80s Tour.
— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy
NEW SERIES TO STREAM
— Hip-hop is markings its 50th anniversary and Paramount+ will stream a documentary called “Mixtape” beginning Tuesday. The film explores how before the hip-hop genre had radio play, streaming or social media, its songs were often shared via mixtapes. Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, 2 Chainz, Big Boi and KRS-One are just a few of the artists featured in the doc about mixtape culture.
— The half-hour critically acclaimed comedy “Reservation Dogs” returns for its third and final season on Wednesday on FX on Hulu. The series follows four Indigenous teens who, when we first meet them in season one, are reeling from the death of their friend Daniel. Daniel’s dream was to leave rural Oklahoma for California. The group decides the best way to honor Daniel is by fulfilling his goal and traveling to this magical state he was enamored with. To get there, they’ll steal and scheme but it’s not an easy road. In this new season, they’ve made it to California but don’t have the means to return home. Now that the friends have achieved Daniel’s wish, they also must decide what to do next with their own lives. The Indigenous representation in “Reservation Dogs” also extends behind-the-camera with each of its writers, directors and crew.
— Netflix’s popular British rom-com drama series “Heartstopper,” starring Joe Locke and Kit Connor returns for its second season on Wednesday. Locke and Connor play Charlie and Nick, two high school schoolmates who fell in love in season one. The series has been praised for its portrayal of LGTBQ+ characters.
— Sigourney Weaver and Alycia Debnam-Carey co-star in “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hunt” for Prime Video. The story is based on a novel of the same name by Holly Ringland. Debnam-Carey plays Alice, who as a young girl, moved in with her grandmother June – played by Weaver – after a family tragedy. June is a flower farmer and teaches Alice how flowers can be used as a form of self-expression. The story spans two decades and follows Alice into adulthood. The series debuts Friday, Aug. 4 on the streamer.
NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY
— Dungeons & Dragons has seen a boom in popularity over the last few years, with a hit movie, live-streamed games and a major supporting role on “Stranger Things.” But it’s been a while since we’ve gotten a true D&D video game. That drought ends with Baldur’s Gate 3. You begin as just some poor sap with an evil parasite stuck in your brain, but once you round up the typical gang of wizards, brawlers, clerics and rogues, the fate of D&D’s sprawling Forgotten Realms is in your hands. Developer Larian Studios, best known for the terrific Divinity: Original Sin, has shown it has the chops to create stirring role-playing adventures, and has promised that this one could take up to 200 hours to fully explore. You can pick up your sword or wand Thursday on PC, or hold out for the PlayStation 5 version in September.
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/what-to-stream-this-week-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-3-quavo-reservation-dogs-and-mixtape/
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell has been sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival in a case that included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and that she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.
Vallow Daybell was found guilty in May of killing her two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, her fifth husband’s previous wife. Vallow Daybell will serve three life sentences one after the other, the judge said.
The husband, Chad Daybell, is awaiting trial on the same murder charges. Vallow Daybell also faces two other cases in Arizona — one on a charge of conspiring with her brother to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and one of conspiring to kill her niece’s ex-husband. Charles Vallow was shot and killed in 2019, but her niece’s ex survived an attempt later that year.
At the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, Judge Steven W. Boyce said the search for the missing children, the discovery of their bodies and the evidence photos shown in court left law enforcement and jurors traumatized, and he would never be able to get images of the slain children out of his head.
A parent killing their own children “is the most shocking thing really that I can imagine,” Boyce said.
Vallow Daybell justified the murders by “going down a bizarre religious rabbit hole, and clearly you are still down there,” the judge said.
“I don’t think to this day you have any remorse for the effort and heartache you caused,” he said.
Boyce heard testimony from several representatives of the victims, including Vallow Daybell’s only surviving son, Colby Ryan.
“Tylee will never have the opportunity to become a mother, wife or have the career she was destined to have. JJ will never be able to grow and spread his light with the world the way he did,” Ryan wrote in a statement read by prosecuting attorney Rob Wood. “My siblings and father deserve so much more than this. I want them to be remembered for who they were, not just a spectacle.”
Ryan also wrote about his own grief.
“I’ve lost the opportunity to share life with the people I love the most. I have lost my sister, father, brother and my mother,” he wrote. “I pray for healing for everyone involved, including those who took the lives of everyone we loved.”
The murder scheme and Tammy Daybell’s death left a deep rift in her family, Tammy’s sister Samantha Gwilliam told the court.
“Why? Why plan something so heinous? You are not exalted beings, and your behavior makes you ineligible to be one,” Gwilliam said, referring to the unusual religious claims. “Because of the choices you made, my family lost a beloved mother, sister and daughter.”
Tammy Daybell’s mother was fighting cancer, and spent the last months of her life watching the murder trial, Gwilliam said. The family has also been hounded by media and others drawn by “all of the salacious scandal you stirred up,” Gwilliam told Vallow Daybell, who looked down as she sat between her defense attorneys.
“I miss my sister every day. I will grieve her, and the loss of my mother, every single day of my life,” Gwilliam said. “As for you, I choose to forget you and as I leave the courtroom here today, I choose to never think of you again.”
Boyce also heard from Vallow Daybell before handing down the sentence. She quoted Bible verses about how people should not judge each other. She said she too mourned the deaths of her children and Tammy Daybell but knew they would be together in the afterlife.
She claimed she is regularly visited by the spirits of her dead children, as well as the spirit of her “eternal friend,” Tammy Daybell, and suggested that the three weren’t murdered at all.
“Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case,” she said. “Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medication happen.”
Wood pointed to the two Arizona cases as well as the three murders in six weeks in Idaho.
“A defendant who is willing to murder her own children is willing to murder anyone,” Wood said. “Society can only be protected from this defendant by a sentence of life in prison without parole.”
Vallow Daybell was committed multiple times for treatment to make her mentally competent for the court proceedings. But Wood said there is no evidence that her crimes were impacted by her “alleged mental illness” — which includes delusional disorder with grandiose features, according to reports referenced in court.
“The evidence is overwhelming that she did know right from wrong,” Wood said, noting testimony from several people who said she lied to them about the deaths.
In July 2019, Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, in a suburban Phoenix home. Cox told police he acted in self-defense. He was never charged and later died of what authorities determined were natural causes.
Vallow Daybell was already in a relationship with Chad Daybell, a self-published writer of doomsday-focused fiction loosely based on Mormon teachings. She moved to Idaho with her kids and brother to be closer to him.
The children were last seen alive in September 2019. Police discovered they were missing a month later after an extended family member became worried. Their bodies were found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard the following summer.
During the trial, experts said Tylee appeared to have been stabbed and her body burned before it was buried in a pet cemetery, Wood said.
JJ’s head was wrapped in tape and plastic, asphyxiating him, Wood said, speculating that his last thoughts must have “been filled with fear and betrayal.”
Tammy Daybell’s body was bruised, suggesting she fought back as she was asphyxiated in her bed, Wood said.
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow married in November 2019, about two weeks after Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy, was killed. Tammy Daybell initially was described as having died of natural causes, but an autopsy later showed she had been asphyxiated, authorities said.
Defense attorney Jim Archibald argued during the trial that there was no evidence tying Vallow Daybell to the killings, but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met Chad Daybell and fell for his “weird” apocalyptic religious claims. He suggested that Daybell and Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, were responsible for the deaths.
Daybell told her they had been married in several previous lives and she was a “sexual goddess” who was supposed to help him save the world by gathering 144,000 followers so Jesus could return, Archibald said.
Vallow Daybell’s former friend Melanie Gibb testified during the trial that Vallow Daybell believed people in her life had been taken over by evil spirits and turned into “zombies,” including JJ and Tylee.
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https://www.wdtn.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-idaho-mom-lori-vallow-daybell-faces-sentencing-in-deaths-of-2-children-and-her-romantic-rival/
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A Santa Barbara man was found guilty of second-degree murder for killing a man in Goleta in February of 2022, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
In addition to second-degree murder, Isaiah Ramirez Alexander, 36, was found guilty of other charges including shooting at an inhabited vehicle, residential burglary, commercial burglary and other special allegations and enhancements, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office.
The charges are related to incidents occurring from Feb. 9, 2022 through Feb. 14, 2022.
On Feb. 10, 2022, Alexander got into a confrontation at Pacifica Suites Hotel in Goleta with 43-year-old Richard Cardona. The confrontation turned violent, according to the district attorney’s office, which led to a shootout inside one of the hotel rooms between Alexander and Cardona.
RELATED: Two men arrested in Goleta homicide investigation
Alexander chased down a fleeing Cardona and shot him while Cardona was in his vehicle. Alexander fled the scene and attempted to conceal the firearm used in the murder.
Cardona later died at a local hospital, Ashton McIntyre of KSBY previously reported.
The day prior on Feb. 9, Alexander burglarized a residential apartment in Santa Barbara, which the DA’s office said led to the violent confrontation at the Goleta hotel between Alexander and Cardona, who had known each other.
Alexander was arrested on Feb. 14, 2022 at La Quinta Inn, where he was found to be in possession of stolen property.
“Thank you to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s personnel led by Detective Maxwell for superb work on a difficult investigation,” Santa Barbara County District Attorney John T. Savrnoch said in the release, “and the Prosecution Team led by Senior Deputy Kevin Weichbrod for their work in holding this individual accountable for his actions.”
Alexander is being held without bail, the DA’s office said.
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 19, 2023 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court at 8:30 a.m. in Department 2 where Alexander faces 121 years to life, according to the DA’s release.
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https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/santa-barbara-man-found-guilty-of-second-degree-murder-stemming-from-hotel-room-shootout
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https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/santa-barbara-man-found-guilty-of-second-degree-murder-stemming-from-hotel-room-shootout
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New documentary series “Rewind the 90s” airs tonight at 9/8c. Watch National Geographic docs on Disney+, and stream the premiere for free with a Fubo, Sling, and/or DIRECTV Stream trial.
About:
“Rewind the 90s” looks to pop culture experts, icons, onlookers, and more for their takes on notable ‘90s events. The series mixes personal memories with deep dives into the moments and movements that defined the era — and ultimately the social trajectory of the next decade — looking into everything “from Y2K to Viagra, Tupac to Titanic and Rock the Vote to RuPaul” says Nat Geo.
Watch the premiere of “Rewind the 90s” tonight at 9/8c on National Geographic.
Where to watch:
- Disney+ - For $7.99/month, subscribe and enjoy Disney originals, National Geographic, and more. Click here to get started, and check out the Disney Bundle. Unlock Hulu, ESPN+, and Disney+ all for $12.99/month (19.99/month ad-free), or opt to stream a Hulu and Disney+ duo for $9.99/month.
- Fubo (free trial) - For $74.99/month, switch to FuboTV and access 100+ channels of documentaries, movies, news, and more. Click here to watch.
- Sling (try today) - With plans starting at $20 (half off) for your first month, register for Sling and stream everything from sporting events, to movies, to Nat Geo docuseries. Click here to get started.
- DIRECTV Stream (start free trial) - With plans starting at $64.99/month, ditch cable and enjoy more than 75 channels. Click here to register.
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https://www.mlive.com/tv/2023/07/how-to-watch-rewind-the-90s-on-nat-geo.html
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https://www.mlive.com/tv/2023/07/how-to-watch-rewind-the-90s-on-nat-geo.html
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Tech Veteran Brings Nearly Three Decades of Experience to Help Drive Growth for Leading Fast-Casual Mexican Restaurant
SAN DIEGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern Restaurant Concepts ("MRC"), a leading fast-casual restaurant platform comprised of the QDOBA and Modern Market Eatery brands, announced that Prashant Budhale has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. Budhale brings more than 28 years of experience in technology leadership to MRC, and as CTO, will lead all technology across MRC brands.
"We are excited for Prashant to join the MRC team," said John Cywinski, CEO of Modern Restaurant Concepts. "I view technology as a foundational enabler of all that we do in the restaurant business, from a guest, team member, and corporate enterprise perspective. Prashant will lead our strategy to drive technology as a powerful brand differentiator, and he will be a terrific collaborator with our existing leadership team as well as our franchise partners moving forward."
"I'm excited about QDOBA's history of strong same store sales growth, potential for net unit growth, and the ability for technology to make a positive impact to both guest and team member experiences," Budhale said. "I'm also very encouraged by John's vision and Butterfly Equity's commitment to the growth of brands within MRC portfolio."
Prior to joining Modern Restaurant Concepts, Budhale served as Head of Technology for SONIC Drive-In, part of the Inspire Brands portfolio. At SONIC, he was responsible for the vision, development, and implementation of all technology initiatives across the 3,550 unit, $6B brand. Prior to SONIC, Prashant was Senior Director for Pizza Hut, part of YUM! Brands, where he led retail technology. Earlier in his career, Prashant worked as a software development consultant with IBM, Allstate, Oracle, Capgemini, and Fujitsu America.
QDOBA is a fast casual Mexican restaurant with over 750 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Committed to delivering flavor to people's lives, QDOBA uses ingredients prepared in-house, by hand, and fresh throughout the day, to create delicious menu options. Guests can experience QDOBA's delicious flavors by enjoying one of its signature menu options that are chef-crafted for convenience and ease or by customizing their burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, salads, quesadillas, and nachos to fit their personal tastes. For five years running, QDOBA has been voted the "Best Fast Casual Restaurant" as part of the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. Discover more at www.QDOBA.com or on the QDOBA app.
For more information on the company, please visit www.QDOBA.com or follow the brand on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
About Modern Restaurant Concepts
Modern Restaurant Concepts is one of the largest fast casual restaurant platforms in North America with nearly 800 units across two brands, QDOBA and Modern Market Eatery. The system operates corporate-owned and franchised units across nearly every U.S. state as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. Modern Restaurant Concepts is owned by Butterfly Equity, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm specializing in the food sector, with more than $10 billion of equity capital in companies ranging from growth-stage to Fortune 500 enterprises.
QDOBA is a fast casual Mexican restaurant with over 750 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Committed to delivering flavor to people's lives, QDOBA uses ingredients prepared in-house, by hand, and fresh throughout the day, to create delicious menu options. Guests can experience QDOBA's delicious flavors by enjoying one of its signature menu options that are chef-crafted for convenience and ease or by customizing their burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, salads, quesadillas, and nachos to fit their personal tastes. For five years running, QDOBA has been voted the "Best Fast Casual Restaurant" as part of the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. Discover more at www.QDOBA.com or on the QDOBA app.
Modern Market Eatery is a food forward, sustainable fast casual restaurant concept that operates in Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and Indiana. Delivering the freshness and flavors of the market in a modern dining format and environment, Modern Market Eatery's menu of protein-centric bowls, garden fresh salads, toasted sandwiches and brick-oven pizzas redefine what it means to eat well at a reasonable price. For additional information about Modern Market Eatery, please visit www.modernmarket.com.
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SOURCE QDOBA
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/modern-restaurant-concepts-announces-appointment-prashant-budhale-chief-technology-officer/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:06
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/modern-restaurant-concepts-announces-appointment-prashant-budhale-chief-technology-officer/
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By Shereen Siewert
For the second time in less than a week, rescue crews were paged to the Wisconsin River in downtown Wausau for a water rescue.
Wausau Fire Chief Robert Barteck said the initial call came in at about 4:15 am Monday, July 31 reporting a woman in the water near the Scott Street Bridge. The location is close to the area in which a homeless resident drowned last week.
Emergency crews responded to the gazebo at 5 Scott St., while an airboat was dispatched to the boat launch at Gilbert Park.
Wausau Police officers spotted the person in the water close to the train trestle on the west side of Barker Stewart Island and assisted the person out of the water. They were assessed and treated, Barteck said.
Last week, the lifeless body of 55-year-old Tammy Miller was pulled from the river.
The name, age and gender of the victim in Mondays water rescue has not been released.
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/woman-pulled-from-wisconsin-river-days-after-wausau-drowning/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:07
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https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/31/woman-pulled-from-wisconsin-river-days-after-wausau-drowning/
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SEATTLE, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seabourn, the leader in ultra-luxury voyages and expedition travel, took delivery of its second expedition ship, Seabourn Pursuit, today during an official handover maritime ceremony at the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, Italy. Seabourn Pursuit is the company's second purpose-built, ultra-luxury expedition ship and the newest expedition ship in the industry.
"I am honored to share this incredible moment with the entire Seabourn family as we welcome Seabourn Pursuit, our highly anticipated second ultra-luxury expedition ship, into our fleet," expressed Natalya Leahy, Seabourn President. "With remarkable craftsmanship by the Mariotti team, an abundance of space, and the breathtaking style of Tihany Design, Seabourn Pursuit raises the bar for ultra-luxury expedition travel. We are grateful to Mariotti and Tihany Design for their expertise in shaping and making our dream come true for our guests."
Leahy added that the state-of-the-art Seabourn Pursuit will provide the perfect combination of luxury and expedition. "Seabourn Pursuit offers the best of both worlds: our well-known signature luxury and elegance with the world of exploration and adventure. The ship is masterfully designed for our guests, who are extraordinary people looking for out of the ordinary experiences. Our guests will indulge in Seabourn's ultra-luxury style and enjoy our intuitive, personalized service, while the ship takes them to awe-inspiring destinations around the world that only few will ever visit in a lifetime."
"Today, one year after the delivery of Seabourn Venture, we are very happy to have completed and delivered her sister ship, Seabourn Pursuit," said Marco Ghiglione, Managing Director of T. Mariotti. "We are truly proud to have built the most outstanding ultra-luxury expedition ship for Seabourn, one of the leading cruise lines in the luxury market. This is another important masterpiece for Italian shipbuilding coming out of T. Mariotti shipyard, demonstrating again that our leadership in this sector is well consolidated. Thanks to Seabourn, all people involved in this journey, Lloyd's Register and the pencil of Adam Tihany, here is the new expedition jewel."
Seabourn Pursuit offers the same luxurious "yacht like" small ship experience that travelers have come to expect from Seabourn, enhanced by world-class equipment that allows the line to offer its widest range of expedition activities led by an expert 24-person expedition team of scientists, scholars, naturalists, and more. Seabourn Pursuit is designed and built for remote, diverse environments to PC6 Polar Class standards and will include a plethora of modern hardware and technology that will extend the ship's global deployment and capabilities. Seabourn Pursuit has close to 30,000 square feet of deck space and special touches at every turn. Those include indoor and outdoor guest areas with nearly 270-degree views, and a 4K GSS Cineflex Camera mounted on the mast of the Constellation Lounge capable of broadcasting imagery from miles ahead on monitors located throughout the ship and in guest suites.
In addition, Seabourn Pursuit, like the rest of the ships in the Seabourn fleet, offers an abundance of space and elegance, eight dining facilities serving gourmet cuisine, and luxurious all-suite accommodations, including a pair of two-level Wintergarden suites.
Seabourn Pursuit is scheduled to enter service August 12, 2023, and will sail five voyages in the Mediterranean before embarking on two voyages across the Atlantic and through the Caribbean. On October 10, 2023, the ship will arrive in Barbados to begin its expedition journeys, taking guests to remote corners of the globe. Seabourn Pursuit will head south for expeditions exploring coastal South America, the Amazon, and Antarctica into late March 2024.
Following its inaugural Antarctic season, the ship will head across the islands of the South Pacific and eventually to Australia, which will be the start of the line's first exploration of the Kimberley region in the Northern Territory and Western Australia between June and August 2024. The iconic Kimberley, with its red sandstone gorges, rivers, waterfalls, wildlife, and Aboriginal life and history, is the ideal setting for a truly, world-class expedition experience. In addition to the Kimberley, Seabourn Pursuit will visit Papua New Guinea, West Papua, Indonesia, and sail across the South Pacific between Chile and Melanesia between March and October 2024.
For more details about Seabourn, or to explore the worldwide selection of Seabourn cruising options, contact a professional travel advisor, call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.
About Seabourn:
Seabourn represents the pinnacle of ultra-luxury ocean and expedition travel and operates a suite of six modern ships with one under construction. The all-inclusive, boutique ships offer all-suite accommodations with oceanfront views; award-winning dining; complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available at all times; renowned service provided by an industry-leading crew; a relaxed, sociable atmosphere that makes guests feel at home; a pedigree in expedition travel through the Ventures by Seabourn program and two new ultra-luxury purpose-built expedition ships, including Seabourn Venture that launched in 2022 and Seabourn Pursuit scheduled to enter service in 2023. Seabourn takes travelers to every continent on the globe, visiting more than 400 ports including marquee cities and lesser-known ports and hideaways. Guests of Seabourn experience extraordinary offerings and programs, including partnerships with leading entertainers, dining, personal health and wellbeing, and engaging speakers.
For more details about Seabourn, or to explore the worldwide selection of Seabourn cruising options, contact a professional travel advisor, call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.
Seabourn is a brand of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL and NYSE: CUK).
Find Seabourn on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.
Notes to Editors:
Seabourn is consistently ranked among the world's top travel choices by professional critics and the discerning readers of prestigious travel publications such as Departures, Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler. Its stylish, distinctive cruising vacations are renowned for:
- Purpose-built expedition ships, PC6 ice-strengthened hull, with advanced maneuvering technology for superior stability, safety, and comfort
- World-class Expedition Team, delivering immersive experiences
- All veranda, all ocean-front suites luxuriously appointed
- Handcrafted itineraries developed for the expedition traveler to the most coveted and familiar remote destinations in the world
- Intimate ships with a private club atmosphere
- Intuitive, personalized service provided by staff passionate about exceeding guests' expectations
- Inclusive expedition experiences with Zodiacs, scuba diving and snorkeling
- Optional expedition experiences with kayaks and custom-built, 6-guest submarines giving the option to extend your expedition further for greater ocean exploration**
- Welcome toast and complimentary in-suite bar stocked with your preferences
- Hosted bridge policy* with Expedition team members providing firsthand access to the ship's command center and officers navigating your journey
- World-class dining venues are all complimentary, dine where, when and with whom you wish
- Tipping is neither required, nor expected
- Complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available on board at all times
- Meticulous and purposeful adventurers' resort at sea designed for the luxury traveler with unique attributes and spaces to enhance your experience
- Spa & Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil, featuring an exclusive mindful living program**
- Committed to environmental stewardship and sustainability
*At the Captain's discretion
** Optional programs, for additional charge
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SOURCE Seabourn
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/seabourn-takes-delivery-seabourn-pursuit-lines-second-purpose-built-ultra-luxury-expedition-ship/
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/seabourn-takes-delivery-seabourn-pursuit-lines-second-purpose-built-ultra-luxury-expedition-ship/
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These days, there are so many options to watch content online. A Forbes survey found 86% of people pay for more than one streaming service each month.
What if you were scrolling for something to watch on one of those streaming services, and half of the shows and movies were created by artificial intelligence?
Would you want to know which ones were, and which ones weren't?
This isn't a reality yet, but it's a possibility in our future and a big reason why both screenwriters and actors are on strike right now. They want to have rules and guidance surrounding artificial intelligence so they still have jobs in a decade.
Sachin Dharwadker is a Writers Guild of America screenwriter in Los Angeles. He’s written one tv show so far, and was in the final stages of developing his own show when the strike started.
"I think if you go out and ask anyone if they want to watch stuff written by AI or kind of spearheaded by AI, most of them would laugh at that," Dharwadker said. "Most of them would say, like, 'that sounds horrible.' When it comes down to it, I don't think people actually want to watch that. And that's ultimately the question that has to be answered."
Dharwadker says he hopes there will be strict cap on how AI can be used.
"There is not a viable path for it to have like anything more than a supporting role in what we do," Dharwadker said. "Writing is a very difficult profession, and it requires, if you want to make a good story about human experience, you have to be a human. I mean, you just can't be something else."
AI expert Chris Gomes Muffat is the founder of Promptify. It's a service that will soon let you design a template for AI to write a screenplay or novella.
He doesn't believe the need for screenwriters will disappear, but he thinks they will see a major shift in their career.
"I think they will be the one that will prompt the generative AI to produce the story," Muffat said. "And your ability to be a good writer will not be in producing the right content, but rather asking the right question."
Muffat says there will need to be rigorous testing for bias within the AI, but he thinks it will increase productivity.
He also thinks it will open up the screenwriting industry to more people.
"I can compete with Hollywood just because of the technology I have access to," Muffat said.
Whether AI becomes a huge part of the screenwriting experience or not, Dharwadker says he doesn't plan to use it.
In the meantime, while he waits for the unions and Hollywood industry to come to an agreement, he’s exploring other creative avenues to pay the bills like posting a Substack newsletter about the strike and movies he’s watching.
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https://www.ksby.com/news/national/will-artificial-intelligence-take-away-the-need-for-screenwriters
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court said Monday that a full panel of 15 justices would hear petitions in September against a contentious law that was passed last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and which has spurred mass protests.
The law was one of a series of proposed changes to Israel’s judiciary put forward by Netanyahu’s government earlier this year that seek to curb the power of the Supreme Court. The judicial overhaul plan has been met with months of sustained mass protest against the legislation and drawn criticism from the White House.
Critics of the overhaul say that the package of laws would concentrate power in the hands of the ruling coalition and erode the system of checks and balances between branches of government. Proponents say the measures are necessary to limit the power of unelected judges who they say are overly activist.
Netanyahu and his allies passed a law last week that removes the high court’s ability to annul government decisions considered “unreasonable.” The “reasonableness standard” was implemented by the Supreme Court earlier this year to thwart the appointment of a Netanyahu ally as interior minister after he had recently pleaded guilty to tax offenses.
The court said the hearing concerning the law striking down the “reasonableness standard” would take place on Sept. 12 with a full bench of 15 justices. The Supreme Court typically hears cases with smaller panels of justices, but appears to have opted for a full complement of judges because of the highly delicate nature of the matter.
The Netanyahu administration’s push to overhaul the judiciary has deeply divided an already highly polarized country and sparked the longest sustained protests in the country’s history.
Netanyahu and his allies took office in December after the country’s fifth election in under four years, most of them referendums on the longtime leader’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption.
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https://www.wdtn.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-israels-full-high-court-to-hear-petitions-against-judiciary-law-in-september-that-spurred-protests/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:08
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2025 Cruises and Cruisetours from Alaska's Leading Cruise Line
on Sale August 3
Family Favorite Caribbean Princess to Sail Alaska for First Time
SANTA CLARITA, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Princess Cruises has unveiled its 2025 Alaska cruise and cruisetours season, featuring three captivating roundtrip itineraries and an exclusive new National Parks Cruisetour. These remarkable offerings are available for booking starting August 3.
New Adventures and Extended Journeys Await, including a Departure from LA:
New for 2025 from the cruise line that brings the most guests to Alaska every year is a 22-day roundtrip voyage sailing from San Francisco on Ruby Princess that coincides with the Summer Solstice, and a 17-day roundtrip cruise from Seattle on Grand Princess featuring three days of scenic glacier viewing. For guests seeking to sail from Southern California, a new 16-day roundtrip Inside Passage voyage from Los Angeles on Grand Princess offers a convenient and affordable option.
National Parks Cruisetour
Following its debut in 2024, the National Parks Cruisetour returns in 2025 with a 15-night adventure to five of Alaska's most breathtaking parks. Guests will have the opportunity to explore Glacier Bay, Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias, Kenai Fjords National Parks, and Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway. Unique to Princess, this experience combines a seven-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise, scenic rail travel, and multiple days on land, including stays at four Princess-owned wilderness lodges.
"As the market leader in Alaska, we're excited to offer guests even more exciting ways to see the natural beauty of Alaska with itineraries in 2025 that serve up new adventures and extended journeys that first-time guests and repeat visitors are going to find intriguing," said John Padgett, Princess Cruises president. "We're also making it easier for guests to access an Alaska cruise by bringing back a roundtrip option out of Los Angeles, which also make it more affordable for millions within that drive market."
Caribbean Princess to Debut in Alaska in 2025
In 2025, seven Princess ships will sail to Alaska, including Caribbean Princess for the first time. In addition, the number of Princess homeports offering Alaska voyages expands to five with the addition of Los Angeles, with the season featuring 21 cruise destinations and four glacier-viewing experiences, highlighted by 88 visits to Glacier Bay National Park, taking more guests to this spectacular national park than any other cruise line.
With 155 total departures on 18 unique itineraries ranging in length from 4 to 22 days, cruise and cruisetour choices include:
Cruises – Seven Ships, Five Homeports
- NEW! Ultimate Alaska Solstice with Glacier Bay National Park: 22-day roundtrip from San Francisco on Ruby Princess – departs June 6, 2025
- NEW! Ultimate Alaska with Glacier Bay National Park: 17-day roundtrip from Seattle on Grand Princess – departs May 6, 2025
- Inside Passage with Glacier Bay National Park: 16-day roundtrip from Los Angeles on Grand Princess visiting Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, Sitka, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan and Victoria, B.C. – departs August 30, 2025
- Voyage of the Glaciers: This top-rated seven-day itinerary features Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and two glacier-viewing experiences at Glacier Bay National Park and Hubbard Glacier or College Fjord. Caribbean Princess, Coral Princess, and Sapphire Princess offer weekly northbound and southbound cruises from Vancouver, B.C. to Anchorage (Whittier) and vice versa. Guests can combine select seven-day voyages for an amazing 14-day Voyage of the Glaciers Grand Adventure – operates May 10 to September 13, 2025.
- Inside Passage: Princess' signature seven-day roundtrip sailings from Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., as well as 11-day roundtrip departures from San Francisco and Vancouver that include four ports of call and a day of glacier viewing. Many Inside Passage cruises include Glacier Bay National Park. Discovery Princess and Royal Princess sail from Seattle weekly, May 4 – September 21, 2025. Grand Princess offers weekly cruises from Vancouver, B.C., May 27 – August 19, 2025. Ruby Princess sails 11-day cruises roundtrip from San Francisco May 4 – September 13, 2025.
- Alaska Samplers: Three itineraries of four to five days offer shorter voyages for guests looking for a quick getaway. Discovery Princess, Royal Princess and Grand Princess operate four-day, roundtrip voyages between Vancouver, B.C. to Seattle with a stop in Ketchikan – departing April 30, May 13 and May 23, 2025. Caribbean Princess sails a four-day, roundtrip cruise from Vancouver, B.C., with a visit to Ketchikan departing September 13, 2025, and a five-day roundtrip cruise from Vancouver, B.C., with stops in Sitka and Ketchikan sailing May 5, 2025.
Cruisetours
- More than 26 cruisetour options give guests variety of choice with four styles of travel including Denali Explorer tours, On Your Own options, Connoisseur Deluxe Escorted and Off the Beaten Path.
- The exclusive Direct-to-the-Wilderness rail service ensures a seamless transition between the ship in Whittier and the Denali area on the same day.
Award-Winning North to Alaska Program
Princess' award-winning North to Alaska program enriches the onboard and onshore experience with local lumberjacks, Iditarod champions, and storytellers sharing their Alaska experiences and insights. Other offerings include Wild for Alaska seafood menus, a variety of shore excursions, Puppies in the Piazza to meet sled-dog puppies, Junior Ranger program for youth, and authentic commentary by Glacier Bay Park Rangers and Naturalists.
Visit www.princess.com/alaska for more details on the 2025 Alaska cruises and cruisetours season from Princess Cruises.
Additional information about Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-Princess (1-800-774-6237) or by visiting www.princess.com.
About Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises is The Love Boat, the world's most iconic cruise brand that delivers dream vacations to millions of guests every year in the most sought-after destinations on the largest ships that offer elite service personalization and simplicity customary of small, yacht-class ships. Well-appointed staterooms, world class dining, grand performances, award-winning casinos and entertainment, luxurious spas, imaginative experiences and boundless activities blend with exclusive Princess MedallionClass service to create meaningful connections and unforgettable moments in the most incredible settings in the world - the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Europe, South America, Australia/New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hawaii, Asia, Canada/New England, Antarctica, and World Cruises. The company is part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE:CCL; NYSE:CUK).
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SOURCE Princess Cruises
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/national-parks-cruisetour-longer-adventures-new-itineraries-highlight-princess-cruises-2025-alaska-season/
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Companies combine expertise to deliver innovative technology solutions for arenas, stadiums, convention and exhibition centers, and performing arts venues
TUCSON, Ariz., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Simpleview and ASM Global are pleased to announce a partnership created to provide a unified network of websites and technology solutions for the ASM Global portfolio of venues. The partnership was strategically designed to develop cohesive branding powered by a best-in-class technology stack and ticketing integrations that promote visitors and drive web conversions for arenas, stadiums, convention and exhibition centers, and performing arts venues.
Simpleview, a leading provider of CRM, CMS, and marketing solutions for destinations worldwide, and ASM Global, the world's leading venue management and services company, will serve the meetings and events ecosystem; by leveraging Simpleview's advanced technology and ASM Global's extensive global network, this partnership will enable clients to create captivating digital experiences that drive engagement and ticket sales and enhance venue marketing efforts.
Highlights of the partnership include:
- Enhanced Website Capabilities: a new generation of website solutions with state-of-the-art features and functionalities equipped with user-friendly content management systems, robust event and ticketing integrations, interactive mapping tools, and seamless integration with social media platforms
- Personalized Experiences: clients can deliver tailored content and offers to individual users, ensuring a highly personalized and engaging journey for every visitor
- Mobile-Optimized Design: prioritization of mobile optimization, ensuring that websites are fully accessible across all screen sizes and platforms
- Data-Driven Insights: comprehensive analytics and reporting gain insights into visitor behavior, marketing performance, and conversion rates so venues can make informed decisions and optimize marketing strategies effectively
"ASM Global is thrilled to work in partnership with Simpleview to create a cohesive, best-in-class website solution for our diverse global portfolio of stadiums, arenas, theaters, and convention centers," said Alex Merchán, chief marketing officer at ASM Global. "From the start of this relationship, Simpleview has impressed us with its tech stack, service offering, data-driven approach, and talented team. We look forward to building and scaling this partnership in the years ahead."
About Simpleview
Simpleview is a worldwide leading provider of CRM, CMS, website design, digital marketing services, and data insights for convention bureaus, venues, tourism boards, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), and attractions. The company employs staff across the globe, serving clients of all sizes, including small towns, world capitals, top meeting destinations, and countries across multiple continents.
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SOURCE SIMPLEVIEW
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/simpleview-amp-asm-global-partnership-provide-cutting-edge-network-websites-portfolio-venues/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:14
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KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — An Afghan branch of Islamic State on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Pakistan that killed at least 54 people at a pro-Taliban party’s election rally, in one of the region’s worst attacks in recent years.
Islamic State in Khorasan Province made the claim in a statement posted on its Amaq website. It said the attacker detonated an explosive vest, and that the bombing Sunday in the northwestern town of Bajur was part of the group’s continuing war against forms of democracy it deems to be against Islam.
Hours earlier, hundreds of mourners in Bajur carried caskets draped in colorful cloths to burial sites following the previous day’s attack at the election rally for the Jamiat Ulema Islam party. Officials said the bombing killed 54 people, including at least five children, and wounded nearly 200.
The attack appeared to reflect divisions between Islamist groups, which have a strong presence in the district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. The Jamiat Ulema Islam party has ties to the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.
At least 1,000 people were crowded into a tent near a market for the rally ahead of fall elections, according to police.
“People were chanting God is Great as the leaders arrived,” said Khan Mohammad, a local resident who said he was standing outside the tent, “and that was when I heard the deafening sound of the bomb.”
Mohammad said he heard people crying for help, and minutes later ambulances arrived and began taking the wounded away.
Police had suggested in their initial investigation that Islamic State in Khorasan Province was a suspect. The group is based in neighboring Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province and is a rival of the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida.
Pakistan security analyst Mahmood Shah also previously had said that breakaway factions of the Pakistani Taliban could be possible suspects, though the group distanced itself from the attack.
The Pakistani military spent years fighting the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, in Bajur before declaring the district clear of militants in 2016. But the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, headed by hard-line cleric and politician Fazlur Rehman, has remained a potent political force.
On Monday, police recorded statements from some of the wounded at a hospital in Khar, the district’s principal town.
Female relatives and children wailed and beat their chests at family homes Monday as the dead were taken for funerals, following local customs. Hundreds of men followed the caskets to mosques and open areas for special funeral prayers and then into the hills for burial.
As condolences continued to pour in from across the country, dozens of people who had lesser injuries were discharged from hospital, while the critically wounded were taken to the provincial capital of Peshawar by army helicopters. The death toll continued to rise as some critically wounded people died in hospital, physician Gul Naseeb said.
Gul Akbar, the father of an 11-year-old boy who was wounded in the attack, told The Associated Press that his entire family was in a state of shock after hearing about the bombing Sunday. He said he first went to the scene of the attack, and later found his son Taslim Khan being treated in a hospital in Khar.
“What would I have done if he had also been martyred? Five children died in this barbaric attack, and we want to know what our children did wrong,” he said.
Rehman’s party is preparing to contest elections, which are expected in October or November. Abdul Rasheed, one of the party’s senior leaders, said the bombing was aimed at weakening the party but that “such attacks cannot deter our resolve.”
Rehman’s party is part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government, which came to power in April 2022 by ousting former Prime Minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence vote in the legislature.
Sharif called Rehman to express his condolences and assure the cleric that those who orchestrated the attack would be punished. Khan condemned the bombing Sunday, as did the U.S. and Russian embassies in Islamabad.
The Pakistani Taliban also distanced themselves from the bombing, saying that it was intended to set Islamists against each other. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, wrote in a tweet that “such crimes cannot be justified in any way.”
The bombing came hours before Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng arrived in Islamabad, where he signed new agreements to boost trade and economic ties to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a sprawling package under which China has invested $10 billion in Pakistan over 10 years, according to Sharif.
“We will not tolerate any obstacles in the way of friendship with China,” Sharif said, as he stood next to He.
But the government canceled a cultural event that had been arranged in honor of He, according to Sharif, while the nation mourns.
Some Chinese nationals have also been targeted by militants in northwestern Pakistan and elsewhere.
Rehman, who has long supported Afghanistan’s Taliban government, survived at least two known bomb attacks in 2011 and 2014, when bombings damaged his car at rallies.
Sunday’s bombing was one of the worst in northwestern Pakistan in the last decade. In 2014, 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar.
In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. And in February, more than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at a mosque inside a high-security compound housing Peshawar police headquarters.
___
Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this story from Islamabad.
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| 2023-07-31T21:34:15
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author C.K. Chau about her new book, Good Fortune — a Pride and Prejudice retelling with some delicious twists set in Chinatown in New York City during the early 2000s.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author C.K. Chau about her new book, Good Fortune — a Pride and Prejudice retelling with some delicious twists set in Chinatown in New York City during the early 2000s.
Copyright 2023 NPR
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https://www.kanw.com/2023-07-31/c-k-chaus-take-on-pride-and-prejudice-takes-readers-to-2000s-new-york-chinatown
| 2023-07-31T21:34:18
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$4,000 taken from video lottery in Jefferson
Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 4:54 PM EDT|Updated: 39 minutes ago
JEFFERSON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Sheriff’s deputies are searching for a man accused of breaking into a video lottery business and taking cash out of a safe.
According to the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the breaking and entering at Nikki’s Hotspot on MacCorkle Avenue SW in Jefferson as reported on Sunday, July 30.
Deputies say the man is accused of breaking a rear window of the building and breaking into a security safe, taking $4,397.
Surveillance video captured the person believed to be responsible, according to the sheriff’s office.
Anyone with information regarding the break-in is asked to contact the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office.
Keep checking the WSAZ app for the latest information.
Copyright 2023 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
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| 2023-07-31T21:34:18
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Celebrate the Blooms with Inaugural National Sunflower Day on August 5
BISMARCK, N.D., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In late July and into August, vast fields of brilliant yellow sunflowers blanket North Dakota during the peak growing season and visitors are awed by the landscape awash in summery hues. This year, North Dakota Tourism invites visitors to celebrate these picturesque fields with the inaugural National Sunflower Day on August 5, 2023.
The National Day Calendar recognition, slated for the first Saturday each August, is a collaboration between the National Sunflower Association and North Dakota Tourism and recognizes the inherent happiness the sunflowers evokes and the prominence of North Dakota's agricultural industry in growing the cheerful blooms.
For visitors planning a picture-perfect road trip for National Sunflower Day and beyond, North Dakota Tourism has launched the state's 2023 Sunflower Blooms Guide detailing the location of more than a dozen stunning sunflower fields. Weekly bloom updates will highlight the progress of the seasonal color as it unfolds across the state making the map a perfect tool for making the most of the waning days of summer. North Dakota Tourism is also making an ideal road trip snack available to visitors with packets of savory sunflower seeds in mailboxes at select fields.
To capture the iconic blooms in photos and videos, keep the following tips in mind:
- In general, visitors are welcome to stop by fields included on the Sunflower Blooms Guide as long as they are respectful and don't enter or drive into the fields.
- Scout the field location early to capture that golden hour image or video just-after sunrise or just-before sunset. Visitors will want to set up early to take advantage of the golden hues.
- Keep in mind that cloudy days are often some of the best times to capture vibrant close-ups and more subtle variations in shadows.
- Tag your photos and videos on social media using #BeNDLegendary to celebrate your love of the sunny blooms.
- Fuel your photoshoot with a beloved North Dakota snack with Fargo's irresistible SunButter made from roasted sunflower seeds or Wahpeton's Giants Snacks with original and kettle roasted flavors of sunflower seeds.
As the top sunflower producing state last year, North Dakota farmers planted 702,000 acres of the beautiful blooms in 2022, and the state is the top producer of edible sunflower seeds in the U.S. More sunflower recipes, videos and little-known facts are available at Brighten Your Day with the Amazing Sunflower. For more on planning a trip to North Dakota, visit NDtourism.com.
Follow North Dakota Tourism on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TravelND, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/northdakotalegendary/ on or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NorthDakota and get tips on what to see and do all year long.
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SOURCE North Dakota Tourism Division
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/north-dakota-landscape-awash-vibrant-yellow-sunflowers/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:19
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BALTIMORE, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ-GS: TROW) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.22 per share payable September 28, 2023, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 15, 2023.
ABOUT T. ROWE PRICE
Founded in 1937, T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW) helps people around the world achieve their long-term investment goals. As a large global asset management company known for investment excellence, retirement leadership, and independent proprietary research, the firm is built on a culture of integrity that puts client interests first. Investors rely on the award-winning firm for its retirement expertise and active management approach of equity, fixed income, alternatives, and multi-asset investment capabilities. T. Rowe Price manages $1.40 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023, and serves millions of clients globally. News and other updates can be found on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and troweprice.com/newsroom.
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SOURCE T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with trucker Alex Mai, who runs a YouTube Channel about trucking news, about how 30,000 workers are losing their jobs as the shipping company Yellow has shut down operations.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with trucker Alex Mai, who runs a YouTube Channel about trucking news, about how 30,000 workers are losing their jobs as the shipping company Yellow has shut down operations.
Copyright 2023 NPR
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https://www.kanw.com/2023-07-31/how-the-shutdown-of-transport-company-yellow-could-have-ripple-effects-for-truckers
| 2023-07-31T21:34:24
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https://www.kanw.com/2023-07-31/how-the-shutdown-of-transport-company-yellow-could-have-ripple-effects-for-truckers
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as a Democrat against President Joe Biden, tells many stories on the campaign trail about himself, his life’s work and what he stands for that are the opposite of what his record actually shows.
The Associated Press found that Kennedy’s insistence that he is not anti-vaccine doesn’t square with his long record of opposition to vaccines. His claims that he is a true Democrat inheriting the mantle of his famous family are contradicted by his alignment with far right figures and support from Republicans. And despite listing the environment as a campaign priority, he has pushed bitcoin — a cryptocurrency that requires massive amounts of electricity from supercomputers to generate new coins, prompting most environmental advocates to loudly oppose it.
Kennedy’s campaign is widely considered a long shot, but it’s gained media attention due to his famous name and the possibility that his run could weaken Biden ahead of what is expected to be a close general election in 2024.
The campaign didn’t return emails seeking comment about the contradictions in his candidacy.
Here are the key takeaways from the AP’s reporting:
KENNEDY’S ANTI-VACCINE RECORD
Kennedy told a congressional committee this month: “I have never been anti-vaxx. I have never told the public to avoid vaccination.” But Kennedy has a long record of anti-vaccine comments and rose to public prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic through the work of his anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense.
Just this month, Kennedy said in a podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” and told FOX News that he still believes in the long-ago debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism. In a 2021 podcast, he recalled telling people on hiking trails not to get their children vaccinated.
That same year, Kennedy appeared in a video promoting an anti-vaccine sticker campaign by his nonprofit. A sticker shown beside him declared “IF YOU’RE NOT AN ANTI-VAXXER YOU AREN’T PAYING ATTENTION.”
The AP found that anti-vaccine activists are at the heart of Kennedy’s campaign. FEC records show several people paid to work on the campaign previously worked for Children’s Health Defense.
Kennedy has also received substantial support from the anti-vaccine community.
Children’s Health Defense currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.
ASSOCIATION WITH FAR RIGHT HAS RAISED KENNEDY’S PROFILE
Kennedy is running as a Democrat, yet he has aligned himself with far right figures who have worked to subvert American democracy.
He has appeared on Infowars, the channel run by Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. He has granted interviews to former President Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson. After he headlined a stop on the ReAwaken America Tour, the Christian nationalist road show put together by former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, he was photographed backstage with Flynn and Trump ally Roger Stone.
Those appearances have led to goodwill on the right. Trump supporters have floated a Trump-Kennedy unity ticket.
Kennedy’s run is also getting financial support from the right. A super PAC supporting Kennedy’s presidential run, called Heal the Divide PAC, has deep ties to Republicans, Federal Election Commission records show.
Kennedy denied knowing the PAC when it came up at a recent congressional hearing, but video available online shows he was a guest speaker at a Heal the Divide event just two days earlier.
SUPPORT FOR BITCOIN RUNS COUNTER TO ENVIRONMENTAL STANCE
Kennedy lists the environment as one of six top priorities on his campaign website and has spent many years speaking against pollution and climate change as an environmental lawyer. Yet he has made supporting the energy-intensive cryptocurrency bitcoin a key part of his platform.
Bitcoin mining, the process of generating new coins, uses massive amounts of electricity — more than some entire countries, experts say.
Kennedy has acknowledged the environmental downsides, but says he wouldn’t let them hinder its use. He promotes the argument that demand for the cryptocurrency will boost investment in renewable energy projects.
Kennedy has invested between $100,001 and $250,000 in bitcoin, his financial disclosure documents show.
KENNEDY INVOKES HIS FAMOUS FAMILY, WHILE RELATIVES DENOUNCE HIM
Though Kennedy peppers his speeches, podcast appearances and campaign materials with invocations of the Democratic Party legacies of his uncle President John F. Kennedy and his father Robert F. Kennedy, his relatives have distanced themselves from him and even denounced him.
“He’s trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame,” Jack Schlossberg, President Kennedy’s grandson, said of his cousin in an Instagram video earlier this month. “I’ve listened to him. I know him. I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president. What I do know is, his candidacy is an embarrassment.”
Kennedy’s recent comments that COVID-19 could have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people — which he denies were antisemitic but concedes he should have worded more carefully — also drew a condemnation from his sister, Kerry Kennedy.
___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Country singer Craig Morgan reenlists in military while on Grand Ole Opry stage
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Gray News) – Country singer Craig Morgan reenlisted in the military Saturday night while on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in hopes of encouraging others to enlist.
According to a news release, Morgan was sworn into the U.S. Army Reserve on stage by U.S. Army Forces Command Gen. Andrew Poppas.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn joined them on stage.
After the ceremony, Morgan returned to the microphone to perform his song “Soldier.”
Morgan previously served in the Army for 17 years, with certifications including Airborne, Air Assault and Rappel Master.
“I’m excited to once again serve my country and be all I can be in hopes of encouraging others to be a part of something greater than ourselves,” Morgan said in a news release. “I love being an artist, but I consider it a true privilege and honor to work with what I believe are the greatest of Americans, my fellow soldiers. God Bless America. Go Army.”
Morgan plans to continue touring and releasing new music while serving in the Army Reserve.
The 59-year-old singer is known to frequently perform at military bases both in the U.S. and abroad. In 2006, Morgan was awarded the USO Merit Award for his support.
Morgan began his music career in 2000. He is best known for his No. 1 single “That’s What I Love About Sunday” from 2004.
He was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2008.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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National Night Out with the Huntington Police Department
Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 5:07 PM EDT|Updated: 26 minutes ago
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - National Night Out is tomorrow. It’s an event that helps law enforcement connect with the communities they serve.
Chief Phil Watkins and Community Outreach Officer Jeff Ash with the Huntington Police Department stopped by First Look at Four to tell us how they’re celebrating.
Copyright 2023 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
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Updated July 31, 2023 at 4:09 PM ET
Pee-wee Herman, the comic creation of actor/writer Paul Reubens, would often toss taunts of the schoolyard into his casual conversation. It was one of the character's go-to bits.
"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer!"
"That's my name! Don't wear it out!"
And, most iconically,
"I know you are, but what am I?"
Of course, when it came to Pee-wee himself, with his tight gray suit, red bow tie, crew cut, rouged cheekbones and ruby-red lips, "What am I?" was the real question – it was the one he posed merely by existing.
Reubens died Sunday of cancer at the age of 70. He was an actor – but for a long time, he tried to convince the public that Pee-wee was a real person, not a character.
Folks didn't know what to make of Reubens' petulant man-child at first. Created in 1977, while Reubens was a member of the Los Angeles sketch troupe The Groundlings, Pee-wee was part prop comic, part brat and part trickster spirit. There was something fearless in Pee-wee, something unapologetic and brash that took you a second to process. The character was very obviously and intentionally what folks used to call a sissy – but how could a sissy own the stage like he did? Bask in the spotlight like he did? How could a sissy so confidently and explicitly dictate the terms for his audience on how to experience him?
The Pee-wee Herman Show at The Groundlings Theatre soon had LA hipsters lining up around the block for a midnight show that mixed puppets and parody with archival educational films – the precise fuel mixture that powered Reubens' later CBS Saturday morning show, Pee-wee's Playhouse.
It was never Peter Pan, what he was doing. Yes, Pee-wee was a boy who never grew up, but he was more than that — he was one singular adult's remembrance of what it was like being a kid. Specifically, of those parts of childhood we pretend not to see in our own children — the narcissism, the selfishness, the utter lack of basic human empathy. The monstrous bits.
In Pee-wee's Big Adventure, it manifested in his hilariously obsessive drive to recover his stolen bike — a quest which would cause him to trample on the feelings of friends like Amazing Larry (Lou Cutell) and Dottie (E.G. Daily). On Pee-wee's Playhouse, it took the form of gleeful admonitions to his viewers to "scream real loud" whenever anyone said the week's secret word. (Spare a thought for the long-suffering parents who'd hoped that sitting their kids in front of the TV would allow them a moment's peace to finish their coffee.) On 1988's magnificent holiday staple Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, Reubens zeroed in kids' ravenous greed for presents, turning Pee-wee into a monster who only reluctantly sees the light once guilted into it. (Like Scrooge, he's a lot more fun to hang around with before his last-minute epiphany.)
To watch Pee-wee was to re-experience childhood the way we'd forgotten it actually was – pure, concentrated, distilled to its essence, when riding your bike and playing with your toys and screaming real loud was all it took to fill a day. Pee-wee was a creature of impulse, anarchy and id – which is probably why Reubens' frequent appearances on Late Night with David Letterman helped launch him to stardom.
Reubens' silliness worked on a different frequency than Letterman's – Pee-wee was wilder and far less inhibited than Letterman could ever hope to be, and Letterman knew to play up his own tetchy, aggrieved discomfort at Pee-wee's hijinks for comedic effect. The two men vibrated at opposite ends of the comedic spectrum, but they worked together brilliantly. In those interview segments, which quickly devolved into Pee-wee's signature giggles, you laughed at Reubens' ability to take complete control of the experience, and at Letterman's entirely uncharacteristic willingness to give over the reins.
In the coming days, our social media feeds will fill up with a lot of Pee-wee's greatest hits – Large Marge; "Tequila!"; Jambi the Genie; Chairy; Reubens' extended and entirely improvised death scene in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie; "I'm a loner, Dot. A rebel."; and, of course, "Come on, Simone. Let's talk about your big 'but.'"
Me, though, I'll be putting on the aforementioned Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, because it will remind me of one of Reubens' most overlooked talents – his ability to sneak an artisanal blend of fey subversiveness into the mainstream. That special injected a defiantly, yet matter-of-fact, queer sensibility into the CBS primetime airwaves of Reagan's America: The Del Rubio Triplets! Zsa Zsa Gabor! Little Richard! Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon! KD Lang! Charo! The LA Men's Chorus dressed up as a Marine choir! And, most indelibly, Grace Jones as green Gumby, drag singing a club mix of "The Little Drummer Boy."
Keep your "I meant to do that." Keep your dancing on the biker bar to "Tequila." The image of Reubens that I'll be holding closest to my heart over the next few days is of him rocking out in the background as Jones sings in the glare of the spotlight.
Because I swear you can see, in just the way he holds his body, the mischievous delight he's taking in what he's unleashing on an unsuspecting public: Grace Jones, ladies and gentlemen, delivered unto your living rooms, pulling up to the bumper of your cozy family holiday special, an entirely singular brand of weirdness served up to you hot and fresh, with a high, unselfconscious giggle.
Jennifer Vanasco contributed to earlier versions of this story.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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San Francisco prosecutors lay out murder case against consultant in death of Cash App’s Bob Lee
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — DNA from a bloody knife and video footage are crucial pieces of evidence against a tech consultant charged with murder in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee, who was found bleeding on a deserted San Francisco street in April, prosecutors argued Monday.
The San Francisco prosecutor’s office began laying out its case against Nima Momeni, 38, at a preliminary hearing in which a judge will decide if there’s enough evidence to go to trial.
Prosecutors say Momeni planned the attack, drove Lee to a secluded spot and stabbed him three times after a dispute related to Momeni’s younger sister.
They have not spelled out a motive, but previously offered a timeline in a case that has drawn outsized media attention, partly due to Lee’s status in the tech world. Lee created Cash App, a mobile payment service, and was the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin.
Momeni, who has been in jail since his arrest April 13, has pleaded not guilty. He faces 26 years to life if convicted.
The arrest came more than a week after Lee, 43, was found in a deserted part of downtown San Francisco early April 4. He later died at a hospital.
On Monday morning, Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai introduced evidence, including photos of a knife that prosecutors say Momeni used to stab Lee, a trail of blood left by Lee as he staggered for help, and video footage showing the two men leave Momeni’s sister’s condo building before the stabbing.
Talai said at a May hearing that the weapon was part of a unique kitchen set belonging to his sister and that analysis showed Momeni’s DNA on the weapon’s handle and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade. Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade at the scene.
Saam Zangeneh, one of Momeni’s lawyers, suggested to reporters Monday during a break that the investigation conducted by the San Francisco police was far from thorough.
He questioned why the rubber handle of the knife was tested for only DNA and not fingerprints. SFPD crime scene investigator Rosalyn Check said that it is difficult to get prints off rubber.
“When you want to see if someone’s touching something, you do fingerprint analysis, right?” he said. “And they weren’t done on the handle, which is the most important, relevant portion of who, if any, was handling that item.”
Zangeneh has yet to elaborate on the defendant’s version of events.
Momeni brought in Zangeneh and Bradford Cohen, both based in Florida. His first attorney, Paula Canny, withdrew in late May, citing a conflict of interest that she declined to disclose.
At prosecutors’ urging, Momeni has been held without bail. In arguing for release pending trial, Canny said that Momeni was not a flight risk and would not leave the two people he loves most, his sister and mother. She said Momeni needs to fight the charges or face deportation to Iran, a country that his mother fled when the children were younger to escape a violent husband.
An unnamed friend of Lee told homicide investigators they had been hanging out and drinking with Momeni’s sister the day before the stabbing, prosecutors said in their motion to deny bail.
The friend said Momeni later questioned Lee about whether his sister was doing drugs or otherwise engaging in inappropriate behavior and Lee said she had not.
Surveillance video showed Lee later entering the posh Millennium Tower downtown, where Momeni’s sister Khazar lives with her husband, prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia. Video footage then showed Lee and Momeni leaving the building together shortly after 2 a.m. and driving off in Momeni’s car.
Lee was found shortly after 2:30 a.m. in the Rincon Hill neighborhood, which has tech offices and condominiums but little activity in the early morning hours.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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WATKINSVILLE, Ga. and ELBERTON, Ga., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oconee Financial Corporation (OTCQX: "OSBK") ("Oconee") announced today it has completed its acquisition of Elberton Federal Savings & Loan Association ("Elberton Federal") of Elberton, GA, and its related common stock offering, in a conversion merger transaction, effective July 31, 2023.
As a result of the conversion merger, Elberton Federal converted from a mutual savings association to a stock savings association and immediately merged with and into Oconee's wholly owned subsidiary, Oconee State Bank. On August 1, 2023, Elberton Federal's financial center on East Church Street in Elberton will open as a branch of Oconee State Bank.
In the stock offering required by regulations applicable to the merger conversion, Oconee sold 149,015 shares of common stock, at a discounted price of $28.94 per share, to depositors and borrowers of Elberton Federal in a subscription offering, and to stockholders of Oconee and members of the general public in a community offering. Gross offering proceeds totaled approximately $4.3 million. The stock offering was oversubscribed.
"We are thrilled by the overwhelming interest we received from investors in the offering," remarked Oconee President and CEO Neil Stevens. "The transaction closed at the maximum of the authorized offering range and generated a lot of interest in the banking experience we are bringing to our customers."
Stevens continued: "We welcome the addition of Elberton Federal President and CEO Daniel Graves, a number of new teammates, and our newest customers in Elbert County. We aim to provide them the same high level of service and care our current customers enjoy."
Graves will serve as Senior Vice President and Community President of the Northeast Georgia market.
"It is a privilege to join such a high-quality institution and group of people in partnering with Oconee," Graves said. "Neil and I talk often about the importance of culture, and this is a perfect fit. We are thrilled about the opportunity this presents for our people and our customers, and we look forward to being an even more meaningful part of the next chapter of prosperity in Elbert County."
Performance Trust Capital Partners assisted Oconee, on a best-efforts basis, in selling its common stock in the subscription and community offerings and served as financial advisor to Oconee in connection with the merger. RP Financial LC provided the conversion appraisal. Alston & Bird LLP served as legal counsel to Oconee, Fenimore Kay Harrison LLP served as legal counsel to Elberton Federal, and Luse Gorman PC served as legal counsel to Performance Trust Capital Partners.
About Oconee Financial Corporation
Oconee State Bank was established in 1960 and is headquartered in Watkinsville, Georgia. It operates six full-service financial centers in Georgia, located in Oconee, Athens-Clarke, Gwinnett, and Macon-Bibb counties, including its newest location in Elbert County. Pro forma for this transaction, the bank has approximately $556 million in assets. The bank is the only locally owned and operated community bank headquartered in Oconee County. Oconee State Bank proudly serves its communities, providing unparalleled commitment to personalized service, innovative products and solutions, and brings exceptional value to all stakeholders, through local ownership, involvement, and decision making. The bank strives to be essential to those it serves, by creating remarkable experiences that significantly mark the lives of others. Oconee Financial Corporation was established in January 1999 to serve as the holding company of Oconee State Bank.
Please visit Oconee State Bank's website, www.oconeestatebank.com for a full listing of products and services.
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As work begins on the largest US dam removal project, tribes look to a future of growth
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The largest dam removal project in United States history is underway along the California-Oregon border — a process that won’t conclude until the end of next year with the help of heavy machinery and explosives.
But in some ways, removing the dams is the easy part. The hard part will come over the next decade as workers, partnering with Native American tribes, plant and monitor nearly 17 billion seeds as they try to restore the Klamath River and the surrounding land to what it looked like before the dams started to go up more than a century ago.
The demolition is part of a national movement to return the natural flow of the nation’s rivers and restore habitat for fish and the ecosystems that sustain other wildlife. More than 2,000 dams have been removed in the U.S. as of February, with the bulk of those having come down within the last 25 years, according to the advocacy group American Rivers.
When demolition is completed by the end of next year, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) of river will have opened for threatened species of fish and other wildlife. By comparison, the 65 dams removed in the U.S. last year combined to reconnect 430 miles (692 kilometers) of river.
Along the Klamath, the dam removals won’t be a major hit to the power supply; they produced less than 2% of power company PacifiCorp’s energy generation when they were running at full capacity -- enough to power about 70,000 homes. Though the hydroelectric power produced by dams is considered a clean, renewable source of energy, many larger dams in the U.S. West have become a target for environmental groups and tribes because of the harm they cause to fish and river ecosystems.
The project will empty three reservoirs over about 3.5 square miles (9 square kilometers) near the California-Oregon border, exposing soil to sunlight in some places for the first time in more than a century.
For the past five years, Native American tribes have gathered seeds by hand and sent them to nurseries with plans to sow the seeds along the banks of the newly wild river. Helicopters will bring in hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs to plant along the banks, including wads of tree roots to create habitat for fish.
This growth usually takes decades to happen naturally. But officials are pressing nature’s fast-forward button because they hope to repel an invasion of foreign plants, such as starthistle, which dominate the landscape at the expense of native plants.
“Why not just let nature take its course? Well, nature didn’t take its course when dams got put in. We can’t pretend this gigantic change in the landscape has not happened and we can’t just ignore the fact that invasive species are a big problem in the west and in California,” said Dave Meurer, director of community affairs for Resource Environmental Solutions, the company leading the restoration project.
PacifiCorp built the dams starting in 1918 to generate electricity. The dams halted the natural flow of the river and disrupted the lifecycle of salmon, a fish that spends most of its life in the Pacific Ocean but returns to the chilly mountain streams to lay eggs. The fish are culturally and spiritually significant to a number of Native American tribes, who historically survived by fishing the massive runs of salmon that would come back to the rivers each year.
A combination of low water levels and warm temperatures in 2002 led to a bacterial outbreak that killed more than 34,000 fish, mostly Chinook salmon. The loss jumpstarted decades of advocacy from Native American tribes and environmental groups, culminating last year when federal regulators approved a plan to remove the dams.
“The river is our church, the salmon is our cross. That’s how it relates to the people. So it’s very sacred to us,” said Kenneth Brink, vice chairman of the Karuk Tribe. “The river is not just a place we go to swim. It’s life. It creates everything for our people.”
The project will cost $500 million, paid for by taxpayers and PacifiCorps ratepayers. Crews have mostly removed the smallest of the four dams, known as Copco No. 2. The other three dams are expected to come down next year. That will leave some homeowners in the area without the picturesque lake they have lived on for years.
The Siskiyou County Water Users Association, which formed about a decade ago to stop the dam removal project, filed a federal lawsuit. But so far they have been unable to stop the demolition.
“Unfortunately it’s a mistake you can’t turn back from,” association President Richard Marshall said.
The water level in the lakes will drop between 3 feet and 5 feet (1 meter to 1.5 meters) per day over the first few months of next year. Crews will follow that water line, taking advantage of the moisture in the soil to plant seeds from more than 98 native plant species including wooly sunflower, Idaho fescue and Blue bunch wheat grass.
Tribes have been invested in the process from the start. Resource Environmental Solutions hired tribal members to gather seeds from native plants by hand. The Yurok Tribe even hired a restoration botanist.
Each species has a role to play. Some, like lupine, grow quickly and prepare the soil for other plants. Others, like oak trees, take years to fully mature and provide shade for other plants.
“It’s a wonderful marriage of tribal traditional ecological knowledge and western science,” said Mark Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the nonprofit entity created to oversee the project.
The previous largest dam removal project was on Washington state’s Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Congress in 1992 approved the demolition of the two dams on the river constructed in the early 1900s. After two decades of planning, workers finished removing them in 2014, opening about 70 miles (113 kilometers) of habitat for salmon and steelhead.
Biologists say it will take at least a generation for the river to recover, but within months of the dams being removed, salmon were already recolonizing sections of the river they had not accessed in more than a century. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, which has been closely involved in restoration work, is opening a limited subsistence fishery this fall for coho salmon, its first since the dams came down.
Brink, the Karuk Tribe vice chair, hopes similar success will happen on the Klamath River. Multiple times per year, Brink and other tribal members participate in ceremonial salmon fishing using handheld nets. In many years, there have been no fish to catch, he said.
“When the river gets to flow freely again, the people can also begin to worship freely again,” he said.
___
Associated Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten Oaks Group, a recognized family office and standout in the corporate carve out sector, proudly announces the addition of four exceptional professionals to its esteemed team of Operating Partners. The recent hiring of James Deng, Greg Warren, David Izquierdo, and Lauren Celano underscores Ten Oaks Group's commitment to bringing accomplished talent with diverse capabilities and amplifying its capacity for turnaround, legal, and international investment exceptionalism.
James Deng assumes the position of Operating Partner at Ten Oaks Group. Prior to joining, he was a Vice President at Audax Private Equity supporting value creation initiatives. James has also served as Director of Revenue Growth Management at Keurig Dr Pepper and a management consultant at Ernst & Young focused on Corporate and Growth Strategy.
Greg Warren brings a wealth of legal and restructuring knowledge as he joins as Assistant General Counsel and Operating Partner. Greg previously was a member of White & Case LLP's financial restructuring and insolvency practice, representing debtors and creditors both in and out of bankruptcy. Greg has experience in operational, corporate, and financial matters, as well as litigation and acquisitions.
David Izquierdo joins as an Operating Partner focused on Ten Oaks Group's European portfolio companies. Prior to Ten Oaks, David focused on designing and implementing strategic and transformation programs across a wide variety of industries in roles in corporate development at Selenis and management consulting at Monitor Deloitte and PwC.
Lastly, Lauren Celano joins the team as Associate Operating Partner, leveraging her vast experience from the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, where she also led business development efforts. Additionally, she has experience at Alvarez & Marsal and other private equity and venture capital firms.
"At Ten Oaks Group, we believe that attracting top-notch talent is essential for leading value creation efforts for our portfolio," said Kendall Thurlow, head of value creation at Ten Oaks Group. "Lauren, James, David, and Greg embody the caliber of professionals we seek to bring on board, and we are excited to welcome them as valuable members of our team of Operating Partners."
Ten Oaks Group is committed to cultivating a dynamic and growth-oriented environment for its practitioners. With a commitment to fostering private equity careers, the company offers comprehensive opportunities for professional development and advancement.
To learn more about the background and expertise of the newly hired Operating Partners and explore potential career opportunities with Ten Oaks Group, visit www.tenoaksgroup.com.
About Ten Oaks Group:
Ten Oaks Group is a family office focused exclusively on investing in corporate divestitures. It brings speed, flexibility and certainty to divestitures of non-core businesses that no longer fit their parent company's corporate strategy. Following acquisition, Ten Oaks Group leverages its experienced team of Operating Partners to manage the transition and separation process and implement operational strategies that reveal and optimize the underlying potential of each business.
Each company within Ten Oaks Group operates independently under its own dedicated management team and receives management support services from Ten Oaks Management, LLC. Ten Oaks Group was founded by Matt Magan and Mike Hahn and has closed 25 carve-out transactions across 10 countries since inception.
To learn more about Ten Oaks Group's unique approach to corporate divestitures, please visit www.tenoaksgroup.com.
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NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The world is levying economic sanctions over a coup against one of the West’s last democratic partners against Islamic extremists in West Africa. Families in one of the world’s poorest nations could pay the price.
In the capital of Niger, many people live in makeshift shelters tied together with slats of wood, sheets and plastic tarps because they can’t pay rent, and they scramble daily to make enough money to feed their children.
Salou Hassan and his family live in a two-room hut on the side of the road, along with some 140 people. The family sleeps on wooden slats close to the floor, with no electricity or running water, and they bathe in public showers.
“The most difficult part is finding food for my children,“ said Hassan, 30, whose sons are 5 and 6 years old.
Hassan sells water door to door, earning about $6 a day when things go well. His wheelbarrow’s been broken and he doesn’t have nearly $70 he needs to fix it. His wife sweeps stalls at the central market making less than half what Hassan does.
Hassan has hardly been aware that the country’s president was overthrown.
“I’m looking for money for food for my family,” he said.
Meanwhile, Niger’s neighbors are threatening armed intervention against the junta run by the head of the presidential guard, although analysts say there is only a slim chance of the regional body successfully sending troops.
Both the United States and France have sent forces and hundreds of millions of military and humanitarian aid in recent years to Niger, which was a French colony until 1960. The French and the US train Nigerien forces, and the French military carries out joint operations in the north.
Since the coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, people have been toting Russian flags and praising that country in pro-junta demonstrations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Niger in March to strengthen ties and announce $150 million in direct assistance, calling the country “a model of democracy.” France pulled out of Mali last year and has some 1,500 troops in Niger.
The West African regional body known as ECOWAS announced travel and economic sanctions against Niger on Sunday over the coup, and said they would use force if the coup leaders don’t reinstate him within one week.
Since the 1990s, the 15-nation bloc has unsuccessfully tried to protect democracies against the threat of coups, with mixed success.
Niger relies heavily on foreign aid and sanctions could further impoverish its more than 25 million people. ECOWAS suspended all commercial and financial transactions between its member states and Niger, as well as freezing Nigerien assets held in regional central banks.
The sanctions could be disastrous and Niger needs to find a solution to avoid them, the country’s Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou told French media outlet Radio France Internationale on Sunday.
“When people say there’s an embargo, land borders are closed, air borders are closed, it’s extremely difficult for people … Niger is a country that relies heavily on the international community,” he said.
Four nations are run by military governments in West and Central Africa, where there have been nine successful or attempted coups since 2020.
In the 1990s, ECOWAS intervened in Liberia during its civil war, one of the bloodiest conflicts in Africa and one that left many wary of intervening in internal conflicts. In 2017, ECOWAS intervened in The Gambia to prevent the new president’s predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, from disrupting the handover of power. Around 7,000 troops from Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal entered the country, according to the Global Observatory, which provides analysis on peace and security issues. The intervention was largely seen as accomplishing its mission.
If the regional bloc uses force, it could trigger violence not only between Niger and ECOWAS forces but also between civilians supporting the coup and those against it, Niger analysts say.
While unlikely, “the consequences on civilians of such an approach if putschists chose confrontation would be catastrophic,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank.
Lyammouri does not see a “military intervention happening because of the violence that could trigger,” he said.
Blinken on Sunday commended the resolve of the ECOWAS leadership to “defend constitutional order in Niger” after the sanctions announcement, and joined the bloc in calling for the immediate release of Bazoum and his family.
The military junta, which seized power on Wednesday when members of the presidential guard surrounded Bazoum’s house and detained him, is already cracking down on the government and civil liberties.
On Sunday evening it arrested four government officials, including the minister of petroleum and son of a former president; the minister of education; the minister of mines; and the president of the ruling party. The arrests were recounted to The Associated Press by a person close to the president, who was not authorized to speak about the situation, and a Nigerien analyst who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.
Also Sunday, junta spokesman Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane banned the use of social media to put out messages he describe as harmful to state security. He also claimed that Bazoum’s government had authorized the French to carry out strikes to free Bazoum, allegations that were not confirmed.
Observers believe Bazoum is being held at his house in the capital, Niamey. The first photos of him since the coup appeared Sunday evening, sitting on a couch smiling beside Chad’s President Mahamat Deby, who had flown in to mediate between the government and the junta.
In anticipation of the ECOWAS decision Sunday, thousands of pro-junta supporters took to the streets in Niamey, denouncing France, waving Russian flags ong with signs reading “Down with France” and supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and telling the international community to stay away. Protesters also burned down a door and smashed windows of the French Embassy, before the Nigerien army dispersed them.
France said Monday that President Emmanuel Macron is closely monitoring the situation in Niger and has discussed the crisis with regional leaders and European and international partners.
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DENVER, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) today announced that it was selected by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to support coordination between federal and commercial licensees of the 3450 - 3550 MHz spectrum band. Palantir will provide its software platform to enable end-to-end automation that will enhance coordination between the Department of Defense and commercial spectrum licensees for shared use of the 3450-3550 MHz band within cooperative planning area (CPA) and periodic use area (PUA) coordination zone boundaries.
As part of an ongoing interagency effort to facilitate the shared usage of critically important mid-band spectrum, Palantir's software will enable DISA's Defense Spectrum Organization (DSO) to support formal and informal coordination processes between the Department of Defense and commercial licensees. Existing and future government activities in the spectrum band are vital to protect national security and ensure military readiness.
Palantir software will be used to integrate multiple existing functions and capabilities into a single infrastructure that will result in more efficient workflows, reducing the timelines for licensee coordination with DoD to establish sharing agreements and enable deployment of 5G wireless services within CPA/PUA boundaries. Palantir software will also be used to demonstrate the ability to support more advanced spectrum sharing use cases.
"We are proud to partner with DISA DSO to support the complex task of sharing limited spectrum resources between federal and commercial users," said Akash Jain, President, Palantir USG. "We are excited to rapidly deploy software that will accelerate and automate coordination workflows and enable the increasingly dynamic and efficient use of spectrum."
"As military and commercial use of radio-frequency spectrum continues to grow, spectrum coordination will be increasingly necessary to preserve the effectiveness of critical national security capabilities while enabling U.S. commercial leadership in 5G and other critical technology areas. Palantir looks forward to working alongside the Department of Defense to deploy innovative software solutions that support advanced spectrum sharing workflows and processes," said Miriam Marwick, SVP, Emerging Technologies, Palantir USG.
About Palantir Technologies Inc.
Foundational software of tomorrow. Delivered today. Additional information is available at https://www.palantir.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements may relate to, but are not limited to, Palantir's expectations regarding the amount and the terms of the contract and the expected benefits of our software platforms. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and were based on current expectations as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management as of that time with respect to future events. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties include our ability to meet the unique needs of our customer; the failure of our platforms to satisfy our customer or perform as desired; the frequency or severity of any software and implementation errors; our platforms' reliability; and our customer's ability to modify or terminate the contract. Additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.
Media Contact
Lisa Gordon
media@palantir.com
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MESA, Ariz., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Verra Mobility Corporation (NASDAQ: VRRM), a leading provider of smart mobility technology solutions, announced today that it will report financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023, after market close on August 9, 2023.
Verra Mobility's Chief Executive Officer, David Roberts, and Chief Financial Officer, Craig Conti, will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss financial results for investors and analysts at 5:00 p.m. ET on August 9, 2023.
To access the conference call, dial 1-888-886-7786 (U.S. toll-free) or 1-416-764-8658 (International) with conference ID 11014275 or click on the following link and request a return call: callme.viavid.com. A live webcast will be available on the Company's Investor Relations website at ir.verramobility.com.
An audio replay of the call will also be available until 11:59 p.m. ET on August 23, 2023, by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (U.S. toll-free), or 1-412-317-6671 (International) and entering passcode 11014275.
In addition, an archived webcast will be available in the "News & Events" section of Verra Mobility's Investor Relations website at ir.verramobility.com.
About Verra Mobility
Verra Mobility Corporation (NASDAQ: VRRM) is a leading provider of smart mobility technology solutions that make transportation safer, smarter and more connected. The company sits at the center of the mobility ecosystem, bringing together vehicles, hardware, software, data and people to enable safe, efficient solutions for customers globally. Verra Mobility's transportation safety systems and parking management solutions protect lives, improve urban and motorway mobility and support healthier communities. The company also solves complex payment, utilization and compliance challenges for fleet owners and rental car companies. Headquartered in Arizona, Verra Mobility operates in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, please visit www.verramobility.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about Verra Mobility's plans, objectives, expectations, beliefs and intentions and other statements including words such as "hope," "anticipate," "may," "believe," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "continue" and "potential" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. The forward-looking statements herein represent the judgment of the Verra Mobility, as of the date of this release, and Verra Mobility disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. This press release should be read in conjunction with the information included in Verra Mobility's other press releases, reports and other filings with the SEC and on the SEC website, www.sec.gov. Understanding the information contained in these filings is important in order to fully understand Verra Mobility's reported financial results and our business outlook for future periods. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions and estimates used as a basis for the forward-looking statements.
Additional Information
We periodically provide information for investors on our corporate website, www.verramobility.com, and our investor relations website, ir.verramobility.com. We intend to use our website as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor our website, in addition to following the Company's press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An escalating dispute over a gas field in the Persian Gulf poses an early challenge to a Chinese-brokered agreement to reconcile regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Saudi Arabia and neighboring Kuwait jointly claim the offshore Al-Durra gas field. Iran says it has rights to the field, which it refers to as Arash. The two sides held talks in Iran in March but were unable to agree on a border demarcation.
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said the country would not tolerate any infringement on its rights, echoing remarks by the country’s oil minister the previous day.
“We have expressed our readiness to engage in dialogue with the Kuwaiti side,” Kanaani told reporters Monday. “But if there is no interest in mutual utilization of this joint field, the Islamic Republic of Iran has naturally put the exploration and utilization of the resources on its agenda.”
Kuwait’s oil minister told Sky News Arabia last week that his country would commence drilling and production without waiting for a deal.
Saudi Arabia has sided with Kuwait, saying the two countries have exclusive ownership of the field, and has called on Iran to return to negotiations.
Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have backed opposite sides in conflicts across the Middle East and accused each other of destabilizing the region, formally restored diplomatic relations in April following a seven-year freeze. They have since reopened embassies and welcomed senior officials on visits.
But they continue to back opposite sides in Yemen’s civil war, which is ongoing despite a 15-month cease-fire. Saudi Arabia is also in negotiations with the United States over potentially normalizing relations with Israel, which Iran’s leaders have said should be wiped off the map.
“Any step in the direction toward normalization of ties with this aggressive regime will only serve to give it more leeway to commit more atrocities against the Palestinian nation,” Kanaani, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.
It’s unclear whether the dispute over the gas field, which goes back to the 1960s, will escalate beyond rhetoric. But tensions are already high in the Persian Gulf, where the U.S. is building up military forces in response to what it says is Iran’s unlawful seizure of oil tankers and harassment of commercial vessels.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait agreed last year to jointly develop the gas field. Kuwait said at the time that they aimed to produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 84,000 barrels of liquefied gas per day. Iran denounced the agreement as illegal and said it should be included in any such plans.
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| 2023-07-31T21:34:38
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A one-day sales event unlike any other invites customers to stock up on used books for just one cent per page.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The busiest day of the year at 2nd & Charles is officially on the docket: Penny-A-Page, happening on Saturday, August 12, at all 2nd & Charles locations nationwide.
Where miles of books are surrounded by pure, boundless energy, customers can purchase up to five books for just one cent per page during 2nd & Charles' first-ever Penny-A-Page.
This unique and rare promotional event applies to all used books, giving customers the opportunity to fill their shelves with lengthy, expensive, and well-loved volumes – all for a fraction of the price. Yes, on a 250-page book, 2nd and Charles customers will pay just $2.50.
"Our loyal customers love it when we offer a discount on multiple books at the same time," says Eric Bishop, Senior Vice President at 2nd & Charles. "This is a 'can't miss' day! We are opening early at 9 a.m. to accommodate all our impassioned readers wanting to get a head start on their summer reading," he says.
Communities across the nation now have a remarkable opportunity to find their next stack of great books at an extraordinary price. Arrive early for the best selection! Come in, get lost, and find yourself at 2nd & Charles.
ABOUT 2ND & CHARLES
2nd & Charles is a unique retail concept specializing in an ever-changing inventory of new and used books, music, games, toys, collectibles, decor, accessories, and pop culture merchandise. Since its first store opened in Birmingham, AL, in 2010, 2nd & Charles has expanded to include more than 40 stores in 18 states—and counting.
A sister store to Books-A-Million, the nation's second largest book retailer, 2nd & Charles has established itself as a hip and fun-loving purveyor of passions catering to readers, gamers, and collectors of all ages. Through the store's buyback program, customers can sell their gently used merchandise in exchange for cash or store credit.
Click here to find your nearest 2nd & Charles store, and follow 2nd & Charles on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
CONTACT
Olivia Anderson McDaniel
Vice President of Marketing, Omnichannel
205.909.3563
mcdanielo@booksamillion.com
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Funding by California Transportation Commission and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
LONG BEACH, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of opening the nation's largest public charging depot for electric commercial trucks at the Port of Long Beach, WattEV announced today it has secured $40.5 million in grants to further expand its growing network of electric truck stops into Northern California and Oregon.
WattEV, the industry leader in heavy-duty freight electrification, has been awarded two separate grants: one for a solar-powered truck charging depot across Interstate 5 from the airfreight hub adjacent to Sacramento International Airport, and another for a grid-connected charging depot along Interstate 5 in Salem, Ore.
WattEV has secured a $34 million federal grant through the California Transportation Commission to build and operate what will become the nation's largest electric charging depot on more than 100 acres of land immediately south of Sacramento International Airport (SMF) on Interstate 5.
The SMF project is expected to open in mid- to late-2025 with 15.6 MW of solar power supplemented by 7.2 MW of grid power supplied by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.
The SMF depot will have 30 DC fast chargers for passenger vehicles, 90 high-power CCS-1 cords for medium- and heavy-duty commercial electric vehicles, and 18 megawatt cords for pass-through charging of HD trucks using the upcoming Megawatt Charging Standard (MCS).
"We're proud to partner with WattEV as they continue to advance transition of U.S. trucking transport to zero emissions," said Cindy Nichol, Director of Sacramento County Department of Airports. "Sacramento International Airport's proximity to one of largest goods distribution centers in the state makes this an ideal location to serve California's 'electric highway.'"
WattEV was also awarded $6.5 million from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to build a 6-acre EV charging depot. The Salem, Ore., site will be grid-connected in cooperation with Portland General Electric.
Planning for the Salem electric truck stop includes 30 CCS 240 KW chargers and six MCS 1200 KW chargers. It's expected to open in 2025 as well.
"These grant awards will allow us to meet our plans to expand our network of electric-truck charging depots from the Mexican border to Portland, Oregon, via Interstate 5, on what government planners and industry stakeholders are calling the 'electric highway,'" explained WattEV co-founder and CEO Salim Youssefzadeh.
The grant for the SMF project comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Trade Corridor Enhancement Program," which distributes funding through state transportation agencies.
"We're building out the West Coast corridor while also reaching eastward along the I-10 toward Arizona and Texas and, eventually, to the East Coast," Youssefzadeh said. "To expand the WattEV network, we'll match our grants with private capital to fund this massive infrastructure buildout."
WattEV selects the locations of its charging depots based on analysis of freight routes, range of electric trucks and energy supply.
"We picked our site in Sacramento because of its strategic location next to the Metro Air Park Logistics Center, where more than 10-million square-feet of warehouse space is planned," said Youssefzadeh, "and its close proximity to downtown Sacramento – just 10 minutes away."
Sacramento County and surrounding areas contain one of the largest concentrations of California's goods distribution centers, serving many of the largest shippers in the country.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (Sac Metro Air District) has committed to working closely with WattEV on the project as it will have significant air quality benefits for Sacramento.
"Emissions from fossil-fuel powered cars and trucks are the largest source of air pollution in the Sacramento region," said Sac Metro Air District Transportation and Climate Change Program Manager Raef Porter. "Over the past 25 years, the Air District has invested $300 million in clean air projects. We're proud to continue that commitment by partnering with WattEV on this transformative solar-powered, electric charging depot. Building new electric vehicle infrastructure is imperative to the successful transition to clean transportation and ensuring a clean air and low carbon future for all."
The SMF depot will initially serve as a charging hub for local and regional distribution centers, and later as a depot serving the north-south freight corridor stretching from WattEV's newly opened charging depot in the Port of Long Beach, connecting to Oregon and Washington state.
"We not only have the demand for regional distribution in Sacramento County," Youssefzadeh explained, "but we also have existing shippers asking us to transport freight from their logistic centers in the Los Angeles area to distribution centers of retailers in Sacramento."
About WattEV
WattEV's mission is to accelerate the transition of U.S. trucking transport to zero emissions. It relies on a combination of business and technology innovations to create charging infrastructure and data-driven workflow that provide truckers and fleet operators the lowest total cost of ownership. WattEV's goal is to get 12,000 heavy-duty electric trucks on California roads by the end of 2030, exceeding existing forecasts. More information is available online at www.WattEV.com.
About the Sac Metro Air District
The Sac Metro Air District is the leading Sacramento region agency responsible for monitoring air quality, reducing air pollution, enforcing air quality regulations, and promoting decarbonization efforts through innovative incentive programs and projects. The Air District also works to ensure clean air and meet National Ambient Air Quality standards. For more information about the Air District, please visit www.AirQuality.org.
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| 2023-07-31T21:34:40
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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s economy has grown modestly after months of stagnation, but higher interest rates designed to fight inflation are casting a shadow as they make it more expensive for households and businesses to borrow, invest and spend.
The 20 countries that use the euro currency and their 346 million people saw 0.3% growth in the April-to-June period, compared with the first three months of the year, the EU statistics agency Eurostat reported Monday.
That’s an improvement over zero growth in the first quarter and a slight decline in fourth quarter of last year — but not by much. Plus, one-time factors and an outsized bump from Ireland made things look better than they really were.
The eurozone got a boost by 0.5% growth in France and 0.4% in Spain, where lower inflation has helped lift consumer spending power.
Yet the French figure was increased by the delivery of one very large manufactured item — a cruise ship. That statistical quirk flattered French growth but does little to disguise weak demand for goods in the eurozone’s second-largest economy.
Ireland’s growth of 3.3%, largest in the eurozone, also distorted the overall picture. Its growth figures often show large swings due to major international companies housing their headquarters there, including tech giants like Meta, Google and Apple.
Without Ireland, euro-area growth would have been only 0.1%, said Franziska Palmas, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics.
The overall figure “was driven by a few country idiosyncrasies and masks an underlying momentum that is likely much closer to stagnation,” said Marc de Muizon, senior European analyst at Deutsche Bank Research.
Europe’s largest economy, Germany, struggled in the second quarter, recording zero growth after two straight quarters of falling output as it grappled with high energy costs tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Italy, the No. 3 economy, shrank by 0.3%.
The eurozone growth figures for the first quarter were revised from a decline of 0.1%, statistically erasing what had been two straight quarters of contraction — one definition of recession.
Inflation in the eurozone, meanwhile, continued its gradual decline, falling to 5.3% in July from 5.5% in June.
Europe is still struggling with the aftershocks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including Moscow cutting off most of its natural gas to the continent that sharply raised prices for the fuel and the electricity it generates.
In Germany, Europe’s manufacturing powerhouse, Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck has proposed capping energy prices for industry with government help.
The worst of the price spike is over, but costs are still higher than before the war began. Energy has faded as a main driver of inflation, but price rises are hitting Europeans when they shop for groceries, clothes and more, and the rebound for services companies — such as hotels and restaurants that suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic — has mostly run its course.
Food prices rose 10.8% in July from a year earlier, an improvement from June and previous months but still a pain point for households. Energy, meanwhile, kept dropping, falling 6.1%. Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, core inflation held steady at 5.5% — a key indicator that has not fallen as much as central bankers want.
In a bright spot for Europe, rebounding travel, especially in the Mediterranean countries that heavily rely on tourism, is expected to support growth in the upcoming third quarter as people flock to the beach for their summer holidays in Greece, Spain and Italy, despite recent heat waves and wildfires.
Other than that, prospects for the rest of the year are muted. Another drag on the economy is the rapid series of interest rate increases that the European Central Bank has unleashed to knock down inflation.
The ECB made its ninth straight hike Thursday, bringing its key deposit rate from minus 0.5% to 3.75% in just one year, a record pace since the creation of the euro in 1999. The result has been higher mortgage rates and canceled construction plans due to expensive or unavailable credit.
The central bank’s lending survey shows the lowest level of business loans and credit lines since the statistics started in 2003.
Bank President Christine Lagarde left open whether the bank will keep hiking rates at its next meeting on Sept. 14, saying the decision will depend on incoming inflation data.
Since the rate hikes began, inflation has steadily fallen from a peak of 10.6% in October, but July’s figure of 5.3% is still well above the ECB’s 2% target.
Bank officials say tough action now will spare even more painful restriction of credit later if inflation gets completely out of control.
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| 2023-07-31T21:34:44
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DENVER, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Principal Real Estate Income Fund (NYSE:PGZ) announces the sources of a distribution paid on July 31, 2023 of $0.1050 per share to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 18, 2023, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and includes the notice below sent to shareholders regarding the source of the distribution.
Statement Pursuant to Section 19(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940
The following table sets forth the estimated amount of the sources of distribution for purposes of Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the related rules adopted thereunder. In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), the Fund estimates the following percentages, of the total distribution amount per share, attributable to (i) current and prior fiscal year net investment income, (ii) net realized short-term capital gain, (iii) net realized long-term capital gain and (iv) return of capital or other capital source as a percentage of the total distribution amount. These percentages are disclosed for the current distribution as well as the fiscal year-to-date cumulative distribution amount per share for the Fund.
The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with 'yield' or 'income'.
The timing and character of distributions for federal income tax purposes are determined in accordance with income tax regulations, which may differ from GAAP. As such, all or a portion of this distribution may be reportable as taxable income on your 2023 federal income tax return. The final tax character of any distribution declared in 2023 will be determined in January 2024 and reported to you on IRS Form 1099-DIV.
The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this 19(a) Notice are only estimates and not for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.
Presented below are return figures, based on the change in the Fund's Net Asset Value per share ("NAV"), compared to the annualized distribution rate for this current distribution as a percentage of the NAV on the last day of the month prior to distribution record date.
While the NAV performance may be indicative of the Fund's investment performance, it does not measure the value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund. The value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund is determined by the Fund's market price, which is based on the supply and demand for the Fund's shares in the open market. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's Managed Distribution Plan.
Furthermore, the Board of Trustees reviews the amount of any potential distribution and the income, capital gain or capital available. The Board of Trustees will continue to monitor the Fund's distribution level, taking into consideration the Fund's net asset value and the financial market environment. The Fund's distribution policy is subject to modification by the Board of Trustees at any time. The distribution rate should not be considered the dividend yield or total return on an investment in the Fund.
Please retain this document for your records.
ALPS Advisors, Inc. is the investment adviser to the Fund.
Principal Real Estate Investors LLC is the investment sub-adviser to the Fund. Principal Real Estate Investors LLC is not affiliated with ALPS Advisors, Inc. or any of its affiliates.
ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc. is the FINRA Member.
PRE000386 7/31/2024
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WOW! Internet, TV & Phone (NYSE: WOW), a leading broadband provider in the United States, announced today it will host a webcast and conference call on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss financial and operating results for the second quarter 2023. WOW! will issue a news release reporting its results earlier that morning.
The conference call will be broadcast live on the company's investor relations website at ir.wowway.com. Those parties interested in participating via telephone should dial (888) 330-3556 with the conference ID number 4844814. International callers should dial (646) 960-0826 and use the same conference ID number.
A replay of the call will be available August 8, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. ET, on the investor relations website or by telephone. To access the telephone replay, which will be available until August 22, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. ET, please dial (800) 770-2030 or (647) 362-9199 and use conference ID 4844814.
About WOW! Internet, TV & Phone
WOW! is one of the nation's leading broadband providers, with an efficient and high-performing network that passes nearly 2 million residential, business and wholesale consumers. WOW! provides services in 15 markets, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast, including Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, including the new all-fiber network in Central Florida. With an expansive portfolio of advanced services, including high-speed Internet services, cable TV, home phone, mobile phone, business data, voice, and cloud services, the company is dedicated to providing outstanding service at affordable prices. WOW! also serves as a leader in exceptional human resources practices, having been recognized 10 times by the National Association for Business Resources as a Best & Brightest Company to Work For in the Nation, winning the award for the last six consecutive years and making the 2022 Top 101 National Winners list. Visit wowway.com for more information.
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SOURCE WideOpenWest, Inc.
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https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/wideopenwest-inc-announce-second-quarter-2023-financial-results/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:47
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The Fitness Superstore to Exclusively Carry the REP Line
DENVER, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Home and commercial gyms in the United Kingdom and Ireland are about to level up.
One of the USA's top gym equipment brands has joined forces with the UK's largest speciality fitness retailer. Starting this summer, Bodypower Sports Ltd. (trading as Fitness Superstore) will carry a large range of REP Fitness equipment. This expansion was in response to a growing demand overseas, after REP took the US by storm. It kicks off the launch of REP products throughout all of Europe, so more people can have access to REP's versatile, quality, innovative equipment.
REP, founded a decade ago in Colorado by two gym-loving brothers, has risen to become America's most popular brand in the home gym market. It offers a full line of gym gear, all designed by in-house, weightlifting engineers for both commercial and home gyms.
REP's award-winning power racks, benches, functional training gyms, and more will soon be available for UK customers to try out and order in Fitness Superstore showrooms across the UK (11 stores). Fitness Superstore, founded in 1994, is the largest supplier of specialist fitness equipment in the UK and is proud to feature the largest fitness equipment showrooms in the UK.
Fitness Superstore will also carry REP on its website, to be delivered throughout the UK and Ireland.
"Fitness Superstore is proud to exclusively represent this fantastic and innovative brand in the UK," says Paul Walker, Fitness Superstore managing director and owner.
Ryan McGrotty, co-founder or REP, echoes that. He says Fitness Superstore and REP make a great partnership because both are staffed by real-life fitness enthusiasts and professionals; they both offer a full range of equipment, and they both value creating community and making fitness accessible to all.
"We're excited to be working with such a strong partner in the UK with Fitness Superstore. We know they will offer a great shopping experience for all our fans in the UK who have been eagerly awaiting the availability of our products," says McGrotty. "Their broad store footprint will make it convenient for everyone to easily see and test our products before taking them home.
ABOUT REP
REP Fitness designs and sells world-class, innovative strength equipment that is sold around the world. REP was founded in Colorado in 2012 by two brothers with a shared passion for fitness and has grown into more than 300,000 square feet of office and distribution space and a team of more than 150 dedicated fitness enthusiasts. That shared passion for fitness is what drives REP's innovative spirit, where creating class-leading fitness equipment, with an emphasis on incredible home gyms, is paramount.
REP has been listed twice on the Inc. 5,000 fastest-growing companies — in 2018 and in 2021. REP products are frequently listed as top choices in many fitness publications, such as Men's Health.
For more information, visit repfitness.com. Connect with REP on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
ABOUT FITNESS SUPERSTORE
Fitness Superstore, founded in 1994, is the largest supplier of specialist fitness equipment in the UK and is proud to feature the largest fitness equipment showrooms in the UK.
Learn more at fitness-superstore.co.uk. You can also connect with Fitness Superstore on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
View original content:
SOURCE Rep Fitness
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/rep-fitness-equipment-now-available-pre-order-uk-ireland/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:51
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/rep-fitness-equipment-now-available-pre-order-uk-ireland/
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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Greece’s prime minister said Monday that his government wants to take full advantage of a developing positive political climate with neighboring Turkey in order to improve bilateral relations despite a string of decades-old disputes.
But Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that doesn’t mean Turkey has “substantially changed” its stance on key differences between the two countries and needs to “decisively abandon its aggressive and unlawful conduct” against Greece’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Turkey and Greece remain at odds over maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean, a dispute that affects irregular migration into the European Union, mineral rights and the projection of military power.
Mitsotakis said that he agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12 to initiate new “lines of communication” and to maintain “a period of calm.”
High-level talks between the the two countries are expected to take place in the Greek city of Thessaloniki later this year.
However, the Greek prime minister said that Erdogan’s outreach to the EU can’t come at the expense of efforts to heal Cyprus’ nearly half-century ethnic division.
Speaking after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Mitsotakis said that he told Erdogan that improved European-Turkish ties can’t exclude a Cyprus peace accord and that the issue can’t be “left by the wayside.”
Turkey and the breakaway Turkish Cypriots have insisted on a two-state solution since July 2017 when the most recent round of U.N.-facilitated peace talks collapsed.
That position overturned a long-standing agreement sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council in numerous resolutions that any peace deal would aim for a reunified Cyprus as a federation made up of Greek and Turkish speaking zones.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the island’s northern third, where more than 35,000 Turkish troops are stationed.
On Friday, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar repeated that peace talks could resume only if Greek Cypriots recognize the Turkish Cypriots’ “sovereign equality.”
Christodoulides said Monday that any improvement in European-Turkish relations should be based on reciprocal action by Turkey, adding that the EU prioritizes a Cyprus peace deal in line with U.N. resolutions.
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https://www.wdtn.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-greek-prime-minister-seeks-improved-relations-with-turkey-but-says-ankara-needs-to-drop-aggression/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:51
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Delivered record-breaking second quarter performance in Total Revenues, Operating Profit and net new adds
Total Revenues up 25%; System Sales grew 32% in constant currency; Operating Profit increased 216%
Store openings accelerated, 655 net new adds in the first half, on track for full-year net new store target
SHANGHAI, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yum China Holdings, Inc. (the "Company" or "Yum China") (NYSE: YUMC and HKEX: 9987) today reported unaudited results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.
Second Quarter Highlights
- Total revenues increased 25% year over year to $2.65 billion from $2.13 billion (a 32% increase excluding foreign currency translation ("F/X")).
- Total system sales increased 32% year over year, with increases of 32% at KFC and 30% at Pizza Hut, excluding F/X. Growth was mainly attributable to same-store sales, new unit contribution and lapping of temporary store closures in the prior year.
- Same-store sales increased 15% year over year, with increases of 15% at KFC and 13% at Pizza Hut, excluding F/X.
- Opened 422 net new stores during the quarter; total store count reached 13,602, as of June 30, 2023.
- Operating Profit increased 216% year over year to $257 million from $81 million (a 228% increase excluding F/X), primarily driven by sales leveraging and margin expansion.
- Adjusted Operating Profit increased 215% year over year to $259 million from $82 million (a 227% increase excluding F/X).
- Restaurant margin was 16.1%, compared with 12.1% in the prior year period.
- Effective tax rate was 24.7%.
- Net Income increased 138% to $197 million from $83 million in the prior year period, primarily due to the increase in Operating Profit.
- Adjusted Net Income increased 137% to $199 million from $84 million in the prior year period (a 207% increase excluding the net loss of $9 million in the second quarter of 2023 and net gain of $16 million in the second quarter of 2022, from the mark-to-market equity investment in Meituan; a 219% increase if further excluding F/X).
- Diluted EPS increased 135% to $0.47 from $0.20 in the prior year period.
- Adjusted Diluted EPS increased 135% to $0.47 from $0.20 in the prior year period (a 206% increase excluding the net loss from the mark-to-market equity investments in the second quarter of 2023 and net gain in the second quarter of 2022; a 219% increase if further excluding F/X).
Key Financial Results
CEO and CFO Comments
Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China, commented, "We achieved outstanding results, delivering substantial growth in the top-line and bottom-line, in the second quarter, thanks to our teams' dedication and creativity. This once again demonstrates our anti-fragile business model and ability to capture opportunities in good times and stay resilient in bad times. Our innovative products and compelling value captured customer demand and drove double-digit same-store sales growth. KFC's "K-zza" and Pizza Hut's new menu items were hugely popular. Our exciting campaign with Genshin Impact and fun toy offerings with Sanrio and Pokemon spurred strong demand and brought consumers moments of joy. We registered record daily transactions of 8.5 million on Children's Day. Our amazing operations team, robust end-to-end digital capabilities and agile supply chain enabled us to flexibly handle surges in customer traffic through holiday periods and special marketing campaigns, while maintaining consistent quality and customer service. As a result of these collective efforts, our operating profit for the first half of this year already exceeded the entire year of 2022."
Wat continued, "We accelerated the pace of new store openings in the second quarter and celebrated two milestones. Pizza Hut surpassed 3,000 stores in China and KFC exceeded 500 stores in Shanghai alone. With 655 net new stores in the first half of 2023, we are on track to meet our expansion goals for the year. Importantly, new store payback periods remain healthy. Furthermore, we see abundant white space in China. With a presence in 1,900 cities, we are still tracking over 800 cities without a KFC. Similarly, Pizza Hut has a great potential for expanding its footprint. With our flexible store formats, we continue to expand addressable markets across city tiers. By actively pursuing our RGM (Resilience-Growth-Moat) strategy and leveraging our industry-leading strengths, we are confident in our ability to capture long-term growth opportunities."
Andy Yeung, CFO of Yum China, added, "We delivered record second-quarter revenues and profits, despite challenging macro conditions and an uptick of COVID infections during the quarter. When customer demand softened in May, we adjusted nimbly to address consumer needs, captured holiday spending and successfully regained sales momentum. Sales growth and proactive cost structure rebasing helped us improve operating leverage, expanding restaurant margins and delivering record operating profit in the quarter. Even though same-store sales remained below 2019 levels, our revenue in the second quarter has increased by 25% and operating profits have risen by 26% compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019."
"As we move into the third quarter, driving sales remains our top priority. We have lined up exciting marketing campaigns and resources to seize sales opportunities in the peak summer season. Our efforts on efficiency improvement and cost structure rebasing should continue to benefit profitability in the long run. But, it is worth noting that last year's record third-quarter restaurant margins set a relatively high benchmark, due to austerity measures and temporary reliefs. We will continue to stay agile through evolving market conditions, expand our store network and fortify our competitive moat to drive sustainable long-term growth," Yeung concluded.
Share Repurchases and Dividends
- During the second quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 1 million shares of Yum China common stock for $62 million at an average price of $60.23 per share. As of June 30, 2023, approximately $1 billion remained available for future share repurchases under the current authorization.
- The Board declared a cash dividend of $0.13 per share on Yum China's common stock, payable on September 18, 2023 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 28, 2023.
Digital and Delivery
- The KFC and Pizza Hut loyalty programs exceeded 445 million members combined, as of quarter-end. Member sales accounted for approximately 66% of system sales in the second quarter of 2023.
- Delivery contributed approximately 35% of KFC and Pizza Hut's Company sales in the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of 3% compared with the prior year period.
- Digital orders, including delivery, mobile orders and kiosk orders, accounted for approximately 90% of KFC and Pizza Hut's Company sales in the second quarter of 2023.
New-Unit Development and Asset Upgrade
- The Company opened 422 net new stores in the second quarter of 2023, mainly driven by development of the KFC and Pizza Hut brands.
- The Company remodeled 171 stores in the second quarter of 2023.
Restaurant Margin
- Restaurant margin was 16.1% in the second quarter of 2023 compared with 12.1% in the prior year period, driven primarily by sales leveraging and ongoing benefits of cost structure rebasing efforts; partially offset by lapping austerity measures in the prior year, higher promotion costs, and wage inflation.
2023 Outlook
The Company's fiscal year 2023 targets remain unchanged:
- To open approximately 1,100 to 1,300 net new stores.
- To make capital expenditures in the range of approximately $700 million to $900 million.
Company Updates
- On July 17, 2023, the Company announced the appointment of Mr. David Hoffmann to the Board of the Directors. With this appointment, the Board is now comprised of 10 directors, nine of whom are independent.
Note on Non-GAAP Measures
Reported GAAP results include Special Items, which are excluded from non-GAAP adjusted measures. Special Items are not allocated to any segment and therefore only impact reported GAAP results of Yum China. See "Reconciliation of Reported GAAP Results to Non-GAAP Adjusted Measures" within this release. In addition, for the non-GAAP measures of Restaurant profit and Restaurant margin, see "Reconciliation of GAAP Operating Profit to Restaurant Profit" under "Segment Results" within this release.
Conference Call
Yum China's management will hold an earnings conference call at 8:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Monday, July 31, 2023 (8:00 a.m. Beijing/Hong Kong Time on Tuesday, August 1, 2023).
A live webcast of the call may be accessed at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/4rchbbk4/.
To join by phone, please register in advance of the conference through the link provided below. Upon registering, you will be provided with participant dial-in numbers, a passcode and a unique access PIN.
Pre-registration Link: https://s1.c-conf.com/diamondpass/10031360-wcv829.html
A replay of the conference call will be available one hour after the call ends until Tuesday, August 8, 2023 and may be accessed by phone at the following numbers:
Additionally, this earnings release, the accompanying slides, as well as the live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at Yum China's Investor Relations website at http://ir.yumchina.com.
For important news and information regarding Yum China, including our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, visit Yum China's Investor Relations website at http://ir.yumchina.com. Yum China uses this website as a primary channel for disclosing key information to its investors, some of which may contain material and previously non-public information.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including under "2023 Outlook." We intend all forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and by the use of forward-looking words such as "expect," "expectation," "believe," "anticipate," "may," "could," "intend," "belief," "plan," "estimate," "target," "predict," "project," "likely," "will," "continue," "should," "forecast," "outlook," "commit" or similar terminology. These statements are based on current estimates and assumptions made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that we believe are appropriate and reasonable under the circumstances, but there can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future strategies, growth, business plans, investment, dividend and share repurchase plans, earnings, performance and returns of Yum China, anticipated effects of population and macroeconomic trends, the expected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, pace of recovery of Yum China's business, the anticipated effects of our innovation, digital and delivery capabilities and investments on growth and beliefs regarding the long-term drivers of Yum China's business. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and could cause our actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by those statements. We cannot assure you that any of our expectations, estimates or assumptions will be achieved. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are only made as of the date of this press release, and we disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law. Numerous factors could cause our actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: whether we are able to achieve development goals at the times and in the amounts currently anticipated, if at all, the success of our marketing campaigns and product innovation, our ability to maintain food safety and quality control systems, changes in public health conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic, our ability to control costs and expenses, including tax costs, as well as changes in political, economic and regulatory conditions in China. In addition, other risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial could affect the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty. You should consult our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the information set forth under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q) for additional detail about factors that could affect our financial and other results.
About Yum China Holdings, Inc.
Yum China is the largest restaurant company in China with a mission to make every life taste beautiful. The Company has over 400,000 employees and operates over 13,000 restaurants under six brands across 1,900 cities in China. KFC and Pizza Hut are the leading brands in the quick-service and casual dining restaurant spaces in China, respectively. Taco Bell offers innovative Mexican-inspired food. Yum China has also partnered with Lavazza to develop the Lavazza coffee concept in China. Little Sheep and Huang Ji Huang specialize in Chinese cuisine. Yum China has a world-class, digitalized supply chain which includes an extensive network of logistics centers nationwide and an in-house supply chain management system. Its strong digital capabilities and loyalty program enable the Company to reach customers faster and serve them better. Yum China is a Fortune 500 company with the vision to be the world's most innovative pioneer in the restaurant industry. For more information, please visit http://ir.yumchina.com.
In this press release:
- The Company provides certain percentage changes excluding the impact of foreign currency translation ("F/X"). These amounts are derived by translating current year results at prior year average exchange rates. We believe the elimination of the F/X impact provides better year-to-year comparability without the distortion of foreign currency fluctuations.
- System sales growth reflects the results of all restaurants regardless of ownership, including Company-owned, franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurants that operate our restaurant concepts, except for non-Company-owned restaurants for which we do not receive a sales-based royalty. Sales of franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurants typically generate ongoing franchise fees for the Company at an average rate of approximately 6% of system sales. Franchise and unconsolidated affiliate restaurant sales are not included in Company sales in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income; however, the franchise fees are included in the Company's revenues. We believe system sales growth is useful to investors as a significant indicator of the overall strength of our business as it incorporates all of our revenue drivers, Company and franchise same-store sales as well as net unit growth.
- Effective January 1, 2018, the Company revised its definition of same-store sales growth to represent the estimated percentage change in sales of food of all restaurants in the Company system that have been open prior to the first day of our prior fiscal year, excluding the period during which stores are temporarily closed. We refer to these as our "base" stores. Previously, same-store sales growth represented the estimated percentage change in sales of all restaurants in the Company system that have been open for one year or more, including stores temporarily closed, and the base stores changed on a rolling basis from month to month. This revision was made to align with how management measures performance internally and focuses on trends of a more stable base of stores.
- Company sales represent revenues from Company-owned restaurants. Company Restaurant profit ("Restaurant profit") is defined as Company sales less expenses incurred directly by our Company-owned restaurants in generating Company sales, including cost of food and paper, restaurant-level payroll and employee benefits, rent, depreciation and amortization of restaurant-level assets, advertising expenses, and other operating expenses. Company restaurant margin percentage is defined as Restaurant profit divided by Company sales.
- Certain comparative items in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been reclassified to conform to the current period's presentation to facilitate comparison.
Reconciliation of Reported GAAP Results to Non-GAAP Adjusted Measures
(in millions, except per share data)
(unaudited)
In addition to the results provided in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP") in this press release, the Company provides non-GAAP measures adjusted for Special Items, which include Adjusted Operating Profit, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Earnings Per Common Share ("EPS"), Adjusted Effective Tax Rate and Adjusted EBITDA, which we define as net income including noncontrolling interests adjusted for equity in net earnings (losses) from equity method investments, income tax, interest income, net, investment gain or loss, certain non-cash expenses, consisting of depreciation and amortization as well as store impairment charges, and Special Items. We also use Restaurant profit and Restaurant margin (as defined above) for the purposes of internally evaluating the performance of our Company-owned restaurants and we believe Restaurant profit and Restaurant margin provide useful information to investors as to the profitability of our Company-owned restaurants.
The following table set forth the reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures to the non-GAAP adjusted financial measures. The reconciliation of GAAP Operating Profit to Restaurant Profit is presented in Segment Results within this release.
Net income, along with the reconciliation to Adjusted EBITDA, is presented below:
Details of Special Items are presented below:
(1) In February 2020, the Company granted Partner PSU Awards to select employees who were deemed critical to the Company's execution of its strategic operating plan. These PSU awards will only vest if threshold performance goals are achieved over a four-year performance period, with the payout ranging from 0% to 200% of the target number of shares subject to the PSU awards. Partner PSU Awards were granted to address increased competition for executive talent, motivate transformational performance and encourage management retention. Given the unique nature of these grants, the Compensation Committee does not intend to grant similar, special grants to the same employees during the performance period. The impact from these special awards is excluded from metrics that management uses to assess the Company's performance.
(2) The tax expense was determined based upon the nature, as well as the jurisdiction, of each Special Item at the applicable tax rate.
The Company excludes impact from Special Items for the purpose of evaluating performance internally. Special Items are not included in any of our segment results. In addition, the Company provides Adjusted EBITDA because we believe that investors and analysts may find it useful in measuring operating performance without regard to items such as equity in net earnings (losses) from equity method investments, income tax, interest income, net, investment gain or loss, depreciation and amortization, store impairment charges, and Special Items. Store impairment charges included as an adjustment item in Adjusted EBITDA primarily resulted from our semi-annual impairment evaluation of long-lived assets of individual restaurants, and additional impairment evaluation whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the assets may not be recoverable. If these restaurant-level assets were not impaired, depreciation of the assets would have been recorded and included in EBITDA. Therefore, store impairment charges were a non-cash item similar to depreciation and amortization of our long-lived assets of restaurants. The Company believes that investors and analyst may find it useful in measuring operating performance without regard to such non-cash item.
These adjusted measures are not intended to replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP. Rather, the Company believes that the presentation of these adjusted measures provides additional information to investors to facilitate the comparison of past and present results, excluding those items that the Company does not believe are indicative of our ongoing operations due to their nature.
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SOURCE Yum China Holdings, Inc.
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| 2023-07-31T21:34:54
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MENLO PARK, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert Half Inc. (NYSE: RHI) announced today that its board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.48 per share. The cash dividend will be paid on Sept. 15, 2023, to all shareholders of record as of Aug. 25, 2023.
Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized talent solutions and business consulting firm that connects people with meaningful work and provides companies with the talent and subject matter expertise they need to confidently compete and grow. Robert Half is the parent company of Protiviti®, a global consulting firm that provides internal audit, risk, business and technology consulting solutions. Robert Half, including Protiviti, has been named to the Fortune® Most Admired Companies™ and Most Innovative Companies lists and is a Forbes Best Employer for Diversity. Robert Half has talent solutions and consulting operations in more than 400 locations worldwide.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Robert Half
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https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/robert-half-announces-quarterly-dividend/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:57
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WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than a year, the U.S. economy has defied predictions of a forthcoming recession. It has withstood 10 interest rate hikes in 16 months from an inflation-fighting Federal Reserve. In June, America’s employers added a healthy 209,000 jobs.
Will the economy remain resilient? Can the Fed achieve a notoriously difficult “soft landing” — slowing growth just enough to tame inflation without causing a recession?
The Associated Press spoke recently with Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: The job market is cooling but remains strong. Does that suggest a soft landing?
A: What we have seen in the job market so far in 2023 is consistent with a soft landing. Over the past three months, we’ve added 244,000 jobs per month. That’s still too high from the Fed’s perspective but much better than what we had at the end of last year. Although it’s consistent with a soft landing, it’s also consistent with a story where job growth continues to slow, the economy continues to weaken and we get a recession at the end of 2023. We don’t know what the outcome will be. It’s more likely than not that we get a recession.
Q: When would a downturn begin?
A: A few months ago, we were seeing it starting in the second half of 2023. Now we’re seeing late 2023 or early 2024. The labor market is still holding up. Consumers are still in decent shape. But I do think we will continue to feel the impact of the Fed’s monetary tightening. By the end of this year or sometime early next year, those higher rates will be a significant drag on economic activity and lead to recession. But the economy has held up somewhat better than we were expecting.
The economy just can’t continue to add this many jobs per month. We just don’t have the labor force out there.
Q: Where is inflation headed?
A: We will see slowing inflation. If you go back to 2021, 2022, a lot of that inflation was coming on the goods side. Now, the inflation is coming on the services side. Services inflation tends to be stickier, and it tends to be more driven by what’s going on in the labor market. So the tight labor market is contributing to high services inflation. That will contribute to inflation remaining higher than the Fed would like in the near term. By the end of this year, early next year, we will see a significant softening in the labor market that will help bring inflation down to the Fed’s 2% target.
Q: Will the job market continue to favor workers over the longer term?
A: We have seen structural changes. The pandemic pushed forward a lot of retirements. You had people who were close to retirement in 2020 and planning on working a few more years. But when the pandemic came along, they decided to retire. The remaining workers have more bargaining power. Businesses are going to need to rethink a lot of things about pay, about benefits, about workplace flexibility.
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https://www.wdtn.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-insider-qa-an-economist-who-sees-a-recession-coming-despite-economys-resilience-so-far/
| 2023-07-31T21:34:59
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Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 3:30 PM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
Business highlights include $50 million share repurchase, continued progress integrating recent acquisitions, ongoing development and implementation of organic growth and customer experience initiatives including our new University Park, IL service center, and eighth consecutive increase in the quarterly dividend. Quarterly results include strong cash flow generation.
CHICAGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI), a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, today reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.
Highlights:
Achieved Net Income attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation of $37.6 million with Adjusted EBITDA1, excluding LIFO of $70.1 million
Earned Diluted EPS2 of $1.06 on revenue of $1.3 billion
Generated Operating Cash Flow of $115.3 million and Free Cash Flow of $69.1 million
Maintained Net Leverage ratio within target range at 1.4x, debt of $396 million and net debt3 of $366 million as of June 30, 2023
Repurchased 1.4 million shares directly from an affiliate of Platinum Equity, concurrent to their secondary public offering, creating value for shareholders and contributing to free float increasing to 77% as of June 30, 2023
Announced third quarter 2023 dividend of $0.1825 per share, a 1.4% increase from the prior quarter
A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP measure is included below in this news release.
Management Commentary Eddie Lehner, Ryerson's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I want to thank all of my Ryerson teammates for their continued dedication to operating safely and productively, and I want to thank our customers for the opportunity to create and deliver better customer experiences which we never take for granted. Counter-cyclical industry conditions, particularly within our stainless-steel products franchise, arrived mid-quarter and were evidenced by industrial metals bellwether price index declines and demand contraction in Ryerson's later-cycle end markets. Counter-cyclical conditions as experienced during the second half of last year re-emerged in the second quarter of this year for a myriad of reasons. Shifting consumer spending patterns, higher interest rates, quieted but still present financial system stress and tightening as well as an economic recovery in China that has failed to materialize all contributed to a subdued manufacturing macro environment during the quarter. Ryerson is investing in and preparing for the next synchronized manufacturing upturn whose secular characteristics around the necessity of above trend growth in fixed-asset investment with greater supply-chain resiliency remain intact. We are confident that carrying our growth and operating model investments across counter-cyclical waters as expressed through our recent acquisitions, greenfield service centers and facility modernizations and capital expenditures around value-added fabrication as well as ongoing investments in digitalization, future-state systems and additive manufacturing will position Ryerson well for both the next cyclical upturn and the longer term secular growth in North American manufacturing activity that is underway. As we have during past counter-cycles, we will take out non-value-added costs, flex expenses down, and better optimize our industrial metals inventories as we move through the third quarter and back-half of the year."
Second Quarter Results Ryerson generated net sales of $1.3 billion in the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of 4.5%, compared to the first quarter of 2023. This was largely driven by sequentially lower volumes, which decreased 4.4%, while average selling prices remained unchanged, compared to the first quarter of 2023.
Gross margin expanded sequentially by 60 basis points to 19.4% in the second quarter, compared to 18.8% in the first quarter. Gross Margins reflected LIFO income of $9M, as the commodity price curves for our metals products sales mix decreased resulting in a LIFO credit in costs of goods sold.
Excluding the impact of LIFO, gross margin contracted 40 basis points to 18.7% in the second quarter, compared to 19.1% in the first quarter. This was primarily driven by a decrease in stainless steel commodity prices coupled with continued high inventories in the channel that put downward pressure on average selling prices. Warehousing, delivery, selling, general and administrative expenses increased 4.3% to $202.6 million in the second quarter, compared to $194.2 million in the first quarter, primarily driven by expense related to acquisitions, higher depreciation expense driven by higher capital expenditures on growth initiatives, reorganization expenses related to an ERP systems implementation and start-up costs associated with the University Park service center, which were partially offset by lower fixed operating expenses.
Net income attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation for the second quarter of 2023 was $37.6 million, or $1.06 per diluted share, compared to net income of $47.3 million, or $1.27 per diluted share in the previous quarter. Ryerson generated Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO of $70.1 million in the second quarter, compared to the first quarter Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO of $90.1 million.
Liquidity & Debt Management Ryerson generated $115.3 million of cash from operations in the second quarter of 2023, supported by net income attributable to Ryerson Holding of $37.6 million and working capital release of $37.8 million. The Company ended the second quarter of 2023 with $396 million of debt and $366 million of net debt, sequential increases of $1 million and $15 million, respectively, compared to the first quarter. Ryerson's leverage ratio as of the second quarter was 1.4x, within the Company's target leverage range. Ryerson's global liquidity, composed of cash and cash equivalents and availability on its revolving credit facilities was $790 million as of June 30, 2023.
Shareholder Return Activity
Dividends. During the second quarter of 2023, Ryerson paid a quarterly dividend in the amount of $0.1800 per share, amounting to a cash return of approximately $6.2 million. On July 31, 2023, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1825 per share of common stock, payable on September 14, 2023, to stockholders of record as of August 31, 2023.
Share Repurchase. On May 8, 2023, Ryerson repurchased 1,369,300 shares of common stock for approximately $50.0 million directly from an affiliate of Platinum Equity. Additionally, over the course of the second quarter of 2023, the Company repurchased 12,872 shares for $0.4 million in the open market. In total, Ryerson repurchased 1,382,172 shares of common stock resulting in a return to shareholders of approximately $50.4 million for the second quarter of 2023. Ryerson made these repurchases in accordance with its share repurchase authorization, which allows the Company to acquire up to an aggregate amount of $100.0 million of the Company's common stock through April of 2025. As of June 30, 2023, $49.6 million of the $100.0 million remained under the existing share repurchase authorization.
Outlook Commentary For the third quarter of 2023, Ryerson expects a continuation of slowing demand conditions, with customer shipments expected to decrease approximately 2% to 4%, quarter-over-quarter. The Company anticipates third-quarter net sales to be in the range of $1.25 billion to $1.30 billion, with average selling prices decreasing 1% to 2%. LIFO income in the third quarter of 2023 is expected to be $2 million. We expect adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO in the range of $43 million to $47 million and earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.31 to $0.43.
Earnings Call Information Ryerson will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2023 financial results for the period ended June 30, 2023, on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The live online broadcast will be available on the Company's investor relations website, ir.ryerson.com. A replay will be available at the same website for 90 days.
About Ryerson Ryerson is a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. Founded in 1842, Ryerson has around 4,300 employees in approximately 100 locations. Visit Ryerson at www.ryerson.com.
Notes: 1For EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO please see Schedule 2 2EPS is Earnings per Share 3Net debt is defined as long term debt plus short term debt less cash and cash equivalents and excludes restricted cash
Legal Disclaimer The contents herein are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute an offer to sell or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security ("Security") of the Company or its affiliates ("Ryerson") in any jurisdiction. Ryerson does not intend to solicit, and is not soliciting, any action with respect to any Security or any other contractual relationship with Ryerson. Nothing in this release, individually or taken in the aggregate, constitutes an offer of securities for sale or buy, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any Security in the United States, or to U.S. persons, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is unlawful.
Safe Harbor Provision Certain statements made in this presentation and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, objectives, or projections relating to the future. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "objectives," "goals," "preliminary," "range," "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Among the factors that significantly impact our business are: the cyclicality of our business; the highly competitive, volatile, and fragmented metals industry in which we operate; the impact of geopolitical events, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and global trade sanctions; fluctuating metal prices; our indebtedness and the covenants in instruments governing such indebtedness; the integration of acquired operations; regulatory and other operational risks associated with our operations located inside and outside of the United States; the ownership of a significant portion of our equity securities by a single investor group; work stoppages; obligations under certain employee retirement benefit plans; currency fluctuations; and consolidation in the metals industry. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various factors, including those set forth above and those set forth under "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022,our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, we caution against placing undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, new information or otherwise.
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc.
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PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s journalists on Monday protested against the government’s decision to suspend a private television station’s operations.
Authorities made the move last week because they said there were irregularities concerning the registration of Klan Kosova’s business license that violated the country’s constitution.
Scores of journalists and members of civil society organizations gathered in downtown Pristina in front of the main government building to protest the suspension of the broadcaster’s operations.
The demonstrators said it was a “politically motivated” action taken by the government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti. It was the first closure of a media outlet since the end of Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war, they said, holding a banner that read “Democracy dies in darkness.”
Last week, Kosovo’s Ministry of Industry and Trade suspended Klan Kosova’s license, after the documentation of its business registration in neighboring North Macedonia showed that its owners had named Kosovo’s municipalities as if belonging to Serbia, “which is a violation of our constitution,” according to a statement released Monday.
The journalist accused the government’s decision as “an open and unprecedented war … against the media,” urging owners of Klan Kosova to continue its legal fight at the court.
Klan Kosova’s editor-in-chief, Gazmend, Syla called the suspension “unfair.”
“We consider this a kind of pressure to stop us doing of what we are doing,” he told The Associated Press, adding they would challenge the government’s decision in court.
Last month, Kosovo’s Agency of Business Registration found the alleged fault and decided to suspend the operations of the television station, a move supported last week by the ministry.
The station has said it had already fixed the problems as requested.
Klan Kosova was launched in 2009 to become the country’s biggest private television station.
The embassies of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the European Union in Kosovo, expressed “their deep concern” about the suspension of Klan Kosova’s business license considering it “a disproportionate decision that will have repercussions on media plurality in Kosovo.”
Kosovo is a former province in Serbia, which doesn’t recognize Pristina’s 2008 declaration of independence. Kosovo’s sovereignty is backed by the U.S. and most EU nations, but not by Russia and China.
Serbia pulled out of Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombed the country to stop the onslaught against ethnic Albanian separatists. At least 10,000 civilians, most of them ethnic Albanians, were killed in the conflict.
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Llazar Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.
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Many public housing residents are especially vulnerable to extreme heat, but there's no federal requirement for air conditioning. That leaves cash-strapped local agencies struggling to provide it.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Many public housing residents are especially vulnerable to extreme heat, but there's no federal requirement for air conditioning. That leaves cash-strapped local agencies struggling to provide it.
Copyright 2023 NPR
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https://www.knkx.org/2023-07-31/getting-ac-to-residents-of-public-housing-where-extreme-heat-can-be-dangerous
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Today is the last day that the city of Birmingham’s three pools will be open as the school year begins for kids.
Despite high temperatures of heat, Birmingham’s Park and Recreation director Ronald Hicks said the pools are closing for the summer because most of the lifeguards are high school and college students with prior obligations. But he doesn’t expect that to be the case next summer. “We are working on a solid plan to open more pools with longer open dates for the upcoming year,” Hicks said.
During summer 2023, pools were open six days a week, costing only $1 for admission (not limited to city of Birmingham residents). However, the limited pool access was due to an ongoing issue: A lifeguard shortage.
According to an interview with NPR, Bernard J. Fisher II, director of health and safety at the American Lifeguard Association, said the COVID-19 pandemic caused a ripple effect on people not getting trained, certifications expiring and people choosing higher paying jobs.
Birmingham’s Parks and Rec director Hicks said the pools at Memorial, Crestwood and MLK Recreation Centers were the only ones open and operating this summer. “Six certified lifeguards have to be on duty at a rec center facility in order for the pools to be open,” Hicks said.
He said the pools still faced lifeguard shortage despite Mayor Woodfin’s call out to get more lifeguards and announced a pay increase to $15.15. But that didn’t make a difference.
Hicks also said some pool locations aren’t open because there may not be a demand in some neighborhoods. “For example, Roosevelt City, if we only have three people who come to the pool, it costs us more money for staff to be there,” he said.
When asked about unused pool locations closing permanently in the future, Hicks did not provide a comment.
But he noted, for the most part, there’s a demand for pools to be open. Although they’ve had a handful of lifeguards complete training, he said some guards fail drug tests or don’t feel comfortable going into certain neighborhoods. Hicks said security is offered at some of the pool locations based on a high volume of vandalism and truancy.
To combat this issue, the city of Birmingham worked with the YMCA’s lifeguard training program, as part of their goal of hiring 1,500 guards to address the shortage. According to Hicks, once the Y finished filling in the gaps of their own shortage, they sent remaining lifeguards throughout the greater Birmingham community, and specifically to the city of Birmingham’s park and recreation department.
Jude Dooley, senior vice president at the Greater Birmingham YMCA, said they trained more than 800 lifeguards through their program, but only needed to hire 80 for their various Y locations. He said the other lifeguards worked at pools in other communities and country clubs. But he thinks another issue is cause for concern.
“There’s a need for swim lessons for kids and adults in Birmingham,” Dooley said. “The community is faced with people who are not confident swimmers. And when we’re trying to identify people that live in the community to keep the pool safe, we just don’t have access to adults who feel confident in the water.”
Dooley said that only a very small percentage of the lifeguards who completed the training actually live in Birmingham. Most of the people who finished live in Over the Mountain communities, but the Y is planning to do something about that.
“We are offering swim lessons at the Downtown Youth Center YMCA. We also bring kids from the Northeast YMCA for lessons at the Youth Center,” said Dooley.
Dooley said the YMCA is not done with its training program. The Y is still aiming for a total of 1,500 lifeguards by the end of 2023 with preparations to launch water safety classes in 2024.
The city of Birmingham is doing something similar. Ronald Hicks said the Park and Rec department is preparing for free lifeguard training classes that will be held at the East Pinson Valley location starting as early as September. The program will last for a year.
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