Pelican Press

Stocks to trade mixed on Trump tariff worries Stocks to trade mixed on Trump tariff worries Tourists take photos in Shinsekai with Tsutenkaku tower in sight in Osaka, Japan, on December 12, 2024. Kichul Shin | Nurphoto | Getty Images Asia-Pacific markets were set to trade mixed Thursday, as investors weigh U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs of about 25% on autos, semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports. Trump, who said the duties could be implemented as soon as April 2, did not specify whether they will be targeted at imports from certain countries or be broad-based. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day down 0.94%, declining for the fourth straight day. The country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is set to rise 4.1% in January from 4% the month before, estimates from a Reuters’ poll shows. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 38,920 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 38,980, against the index’s last close of 39,164.61 Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 22,750, pointing to a slightly higher open compared to the HSI’s close of 22,944.24. Overnight in the U.S., stocks continued to rise even as the Federal Reserve remained more cautious and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened more tariffs. The S&P 500 rose 0.24%, settling at 6,144.15 and earning its second record close in a row. The index also touched a fresh all-time high during the session. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.07% to close at 20,056.25, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 71.25 points, or 0.16%, to end at 44,627.59. — CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report. Source link #Stocks #trade #mixed #Trump #tariff #worries Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Canada, U.S. ready for 4 Nations final with political tensions high off the ice Canada, U.S. ready for 4 Nations final with political tensions high off the ice Jon Cooper is a hockey coach. He’s also aware of the world outside the rink. Relations between Canada and the United States are as frosty as they’ve been in a long time. U.S. President Donald Trump has said repeatedly America’s northern neighbour and close ally should become its “51st state.” There have been tariff threats. Canada said it would respond in kind if the hammer fell. Political rhetoric has been ratcheted up on both sides of the border. Tensions are high. It’s against that backdrop Canada and the U.S. will play Thursday’s final of the 4 Nations Face-Off — the biggest men’s international hockey game between the rivals since the 2010 Olympic final. Both teams are downplaying what’s happening away from the rink. It’s also impossible to ignore. Story continues below advertisement “When you’re in the position we’re in to make a country proud, to make a country be able to stick its chest out a little bit farther, it’s rewarding, and we understand that,” Cooper, Canada’s head coach, said Wednesday. “But before that puck drops, I don’t think anybody will be thinking anything outside of this hockey game, other than winning. “These guys, they’re just all in it for each other, and knowing that there’s an outcome we want. But there’s a process we have to go through to get that outcome.” That outcome is something ********* captain Sidney Crosby and his teammates are desperate to achieve. 1:48 National pride on display at Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off opener “We’re a pretty hockey-proud country,” said the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, including in 2010 when he scored the overtime clincher against the U.S. “People have a lot of pride and hopefully we’re a team that’s represented that well to this point. Story continues below advertisement “Hopefully we can go out there and find a way to win it for them.” Get daily National news Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. The U.S. beat Canada 3-1 on Saturday in Montreal in the preliminary round following a chaotic start that included three fights in the first nine seconds. That was preceded by loud boos from many fans at the Bell Centre for the American national anthem — continuing a trend of jeers for The Star-Spangled Banner at NHL and NBA arenas across the country in recent weeks in apparent response to Trump — before a stirring rendition of O Canada from the crowd. 0:34 ********* sports fans boo U.S. national anthem in response to Trump tariffs ********* defenceman Cale Makar, who missed that one with an illness before returning for Monday’s 5-3 victory over Finland, acknowledged the final is about more than the game for some. “For sure,” said the Colorado Avalanche blueliner. “It’s definitely not something that in this room we’re worried about. Story continues below advertisement “We try just to keep it to hockey.” U.S. forward Dylan Larkin said any bad blood is more about NHL players taking part in a high-level international competition for the first time since the 2016 World Cup. The league missed the last two Olympics, but is poised to return to sports’ brightest spotlight in 12 months. “We’ve all grown up playing against Canadians, playing against Canada at minor hockey tournaments, going over the border,” he said. “That rivalry starts from a young age. As an American, you learn to not like playing against Canadians. “I’m sure every guy in Canada will say the same about Americans.” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin, meanwhile, stated earlier this week he would welcome a visit from Trump at Thursday’s game. Speaking on Fox News, the former NHLer credited the president for the heightened intensity in the teams’ first meeting. 2:27 Canada vs. U.S.: hockey rivalry heats up amid political tensions ********* superstar Connor McDavid steered clear of political questions ahead of the final at TD Garden. Story continues below advertisement “I’m excited to play in a big game on the biggest stage with a group that has come together really, really quickly,” said the Edmonton Oilers captain. U.S. and Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews had a similar response. “We’re just focused on playing,” he said. “All this stuff going on outside of it, I don’t really have too much.” Cooper said ********* players and coaches know what Thursday represents. That chatter also hasn’t entered the country’s locker room. The task at hand is too great to worry about anything else — at least for now. “If we pull this off,” Cooper said, “we’ll know what this will have meant for everybody at home. “We’re very cognizant that.” NO HUGHES There was talk Quinn Hughes would join the U.S. setup to be on standby after fellow defenceman Charlie McAvoy was ruled out for the final, but the Canucks captain was again on the ice at practice Wednesday in Vancouver. Hughes would have only been allowed to suit up if the Americans dropped below six healthy blueliners. MATTHEWS FINE The star centre missed Monday’s meaningless 2-1 loss to Sweden with an undisclosed injury. He said the issue was “new” and not related to the upper-body ailment that cost him 10 games earlier in the NHL schedule. Story continues below advertisement “There’s no way that I was missing this game,” Matthews said of Thursday. “I’ll be ready to go.” U.S. head coach Mike Sullivan added he expects both Matthew and Brady Tkachuk to be in the lineup. Matthew sat out Monday’s game, while Brady left with an injury and didn’t take part in Wednesday’s practice. CLAPPING BACK ********* forward Brandon Hagel, who fought Matthew Tkachuk off Saturday’s opening faceoff, made light of the Americans planning the fisticuffs beforehand via text message. The elder Tkachuk brother responded Wednesday. “Maybe their team doesn’t like each other if they don’t have group chats,” Matthew quipped. “Our team does not care about anything that they say.” &copy 2025 The ********* Press Source link #Canada #U.S #ready #Nations #final #political #tensions #high #ice Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

2 dead after 2 small planes collide midair in Arizona, officials say – CNN 2 dead after 2 small planes collide midair in Arizona, officials say – CNN 2 dead after 2 small planes collide midair in Arizona, officials say CNN2 dead after planes collide mid-air in Marana northwest of Tucson Arizona’s Family1 person is dead after a small plane collision in Arizona, authorities say YahooArizona midair collision over regional airport between Cessna, Lancair aircraft turns fatal Fox News2 dead from midair collision involving two planes near Marana Regional Airport The Arizona Republic Source link #dead #small #planes #collide #midair #Arizona #officials #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘Shameful’ Trump attack on Zelensky and ‘Tearful Emma’ ‘Shameful’ Trump attack on Zelensky and ‘Tearful Emma’ Most of Thursday’s papers lead with Donald Trump’s fresh attack on Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him a “dictator” and warning that he “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left”. The Daily Mail says the US president appalled the world and sparked international outrage with his remark. The Daily Express also reports on the global “backlash” to what it describes as Trump’s “onslaught”. It says Trump’s “dictator” comment is being described by critics as one of the most shameful remarks ever made by any US president. The Guardian suggests the US and Ukraine are now heading towards an “irreconcilable rift” after Trump’s “fiery rant”. It says the president’s comments came after Zelensky accused him of being “trapped” in a “bubble” of Russian disinformation. The paper describes the tensions between Washington and Kyiv as unprecedented. The Daily Star’s take is to describe Trump as “Putin’s poodle”, alongside an edited image of the US president as an orange dog being walked on a lead by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The paper calls Trump a “wingnut manbaby”, and suggests his remarks will come as a delight to Putin. A few of the papers focus on the response from Sir Keir who, the Times reports, “rebuked” Trump over the remarks. It says Downing Street issued a “pointed statement” which, while it didn’t criticise Trump directly, “flatly contradicted” him. It comes less than a week before Sir Keir is due to meet Trump in Washington, the Times adds. The Daily Mirror says Sir Keir called Zelensky on Wednesday night pledging the ***’s support. It also reports that the *** will “press ahead” with plans to give £4.5bn in aid to Ukraine this year. Officials told the paper that the *** would give an extra £1.5bn – on top of its current £3bn annual commitment – to help “keep Ukraine in the fight until they get peace”. The i newspaper also reports on the “global outrage”, and says *** Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also joined the condemnation of Trump’s “dictator” claim. The paper also reports more details of what the US president said, including his claim that Zelensky had done a “terrible job” and played Biden “like a fiddle”. For the Financial Times, Trump’s suggestion that Zelensky “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left” represents his “most overt threat yet to end the war on terms favourable to Moscow”. The Daily Telegraph says Trump’s attack gives the “clearest signal” that he will not support Ukraine in the same way that Europe or his predecessor Joe Biden have. Meanwhile the main photo on the front page of the Telegraph – as well as others – is of British tennis player Emma Raducanu who, the paper says, broke down on court after she spotted a man who had “exhibited fixated behaviour” towards her in the crowd. And with a separate story, the Metro asks: “Heard the one about comedy on the NHS?” It reports that trials have begun to see if “comedy on prescription” can help improve people’s mental health and reduce NHS costs by offering alternatives to anti-depressants. Company Craic Health has been given grant funding to run comedy-based workshops to help people who are isolated or lonely, the paper says. The Metro says anti-depressants are currently being taken by 8.7 million people in England. Source link #Shameful #Trump #attack #Zelensky #Tearful #Emma Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Man wields meat cleaver on Sydney Harbour Bridge Man wields meat cleaver on Sydney Harbour Bridge A man has wielded a meat cleaver at other drivers during a suspected road rage incident on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Source link #Man #wields #meat #cleaver #Sydney #Harbour #Bridge Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Most Americans Say They Have Good Health Insurance, Polls Show Most Americans Say They Have Good Health Insurance, Polls Show Americans voted last month in an election that polls showed was largely about the economy. Less than 1 percent of likely voters ranked health care as their top issue. Now, health care, and in particular the health insurance industry, is suddenly a big topic of debate. After the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, Brian Thompson, social media posts that cast him as a villain or expressed support for the gunman signaled to some a strong sense of dissatisfaction with the U.S. health insurance system. Public polls, which can provide a broader sample of Americans’ views than the echo chambers of social media, also show that many people have experienced problems with their insurance coverage. But they also suggest that Americans’ overall opinions on the industry are nuanced, particularly because most people with health insurance rate their own insurance positively. A Gallup poll released earlier this month found just 28 percent of Americans say health care coverage in the U.S. is excellent or good, the lowest figure the polling firm has found on that question since it started asking it in 2001. Yet 65 percent of Americans say their personal health care coverage is good or excellent, a contradiction that Megan Brenan, a senior editor at Gallup, said is not unusual in polling. “We can’t answer ‘why’ from our data, but this is a phenomenon that we see across subjects,” Ms. Brenan said in an email. “Americans often rate their own personal situation better than the nation’s. For instance, we see it in ratings of Congress versus their own member of Congress, education in the U.S. versus their child’s education, and crime in the U.S. versus crime in their area among others.” Similarly, in a survey last year from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group, nearly six in 10 insured Americans said they had encountered at least one problem using their coverage in the past year. Yet in that same survey, a vast majority, 81 percent, gave their health insurance an overall rating of “excellent” or “good.” Americans who rated their health as “fair” or “poor” were more likely to rate their health insurance negatively, as were those who were insured under the open marketplace through the Affordable Care Act. Even so, majorities of Americans in fair or poor health still rated their insurance positively, regardless of the type of insurance they carried. (About 8 percent of Americans were uninsured at the beginning of this year.) But polling confirms there is no shortage of frustrations around health insurance and health care in general, with costs the most frequently cited concern. In a separate poll KFF conducted in February about health care affordability, nearly three-quarters of Americans said they were very or somewhat worried about being able to afford unexpected medical bills or the cost of medical services. These concerns were cited by more Americans than any other cost asked about, including expenses like food, gas and electricity. Liz Hamel, director of public opinion and survey research at KFF, said that, in this way, Americans’ concerns about health care were somewhat wrapped up in their concerns about the economy as an election issue. “The data show that health care costs are a big part of people’s concerns about the economy,” she said. “Also, when we asked people what they wanted candidates to talk about when it came to health care, it was cutting costs.” In polling conducted last month by Gallup, Americans’ satisfaction with the cost of health care was low, and this was consistent across political affiliations. Just 15 percent of Republicans and 19 percent of Democrats said they were satisfied with the total cost of health care in the United States. A partisan split does emerge, however, when Americans are asked if they would prefer a government-run health care system, or one based mostly on private insurers. Seventy-one percent of Democrats preferred a government-run system, compared with just 21 percent of Republicans. Overall, the nation is split on which system they’d prefer, with 49 percent of Americans saying they favor private insurance and 46 percent saying they would prefer a government-run system. However, support for government-run health insurance has been growing in recent years, as support for private insurance has waned. And with the margin of error, the support for either system is essentially tied. Graphic by Francesca Paris. Source link #Americans #Good #Health #Insurance #Polls #Show Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Here Comes Santa Claus’s Approval Rating Here Comes Santa Claus’s Approval Rating There’s been a vicious rumor going around the last few years that Santa Claus is falling out of fashion among this generation of parents. Some parents have worried on social media (and in advice columns) that furthering the Santa Claus myth with their children amounts to an endorsement of dishonesty, and could even be traumatizing when the truth comes out. Developmental psychologists have studied the debate. But there’s a long tradition of polling on Saint Nick, and it shows that belief in Santa — and favorability and job approval ratings of the man in red — has been quite steady over the years. Of course, it’s hard to avoid politics in polls, and there’s disagreement over which party Americans think Santa Claus would back. But there’s plenty of consensus on his being real. On Christmas Eve in 1985, The New York Times ran a front-page article with the results of a Times poll of 261 children ages 3 through 10 that found a whopping 87 percent believed in Santa. Girls and boys, ****** children and white children, children from Catholic families and Protestant ones were all equally likely to believe in Santa Claus, The Times reported — as were kids being raised by both Democrats and Republicans. There was, unsurprisingly, variation by age, with every 3-year-old interviewed expressing belief, but just two-thirds of 10-year-olds. (Parents were asked if their children could be interviewed about Christmas, which may have excluded children of other faiths.) Unfortunately, there has been a dearth of polling that goes directly to the source on this question — children — since then. Instead, pollsters have tended to ask adults whether they believed as a child, or to ask parents if their children believe, leading to mixed results. In a 2006 poll from The Associated Press and AOL News, 86 percent of Americans said they believed in Santa as a child, and 60 percent of parents with children at home said Saint Nick was an important part of their holiday celebrations. In 2013, Pew Research Center found that roughly 58 percent of parents of children under 18 said a child in their household believed in Santa — not necessarily an indication of reduced belief, since this group would include older children and teenagers, who tend to disbelieve. And in 2022, a poll from The Deseret News and HarrisX found 83 percent of adults believed in Santa as a child, and 80 percent planned to teach their kids about Kriss Kringle. Gauging public belief in anything is a notoriously tricky problem for pollsters. People may interpret a question’s wording differently, even over the concept of belief itself. To wit: In a 2022 Ipsos survey, 21 percent of adults said they still believed in Santa Claus. Measuring belief among a population that is difficult to survey, children, makes it an even ******* challenge, said Taylor Orth, the director of survey data journalism at YouGov. “It’s really hard, especially because parents have kids of all different ages,” Dr. Orth said. “We try to take both approaches of asking the parents about their kids, and then also about their own memories. I would love to do more polling of kids, though — that would be great.” YouGov has done regular polling on Santa Claus and found that, between 2022 and 2024, the share of parents who reported their children believed in Saint Nick stayed relatively stable. In 2022, 65 percent of parents said a child under 18 in their household believed in Santa, while in 2024, 58 percent did — about the same rate in the Pew poll from over a decade ago. (Dr. Orth explained the variance between the YouGov polls was within the margin of error for that question.) In both polls, most parents said they planned to pretend Santa Claus would visit on Christmas or Christmas Eve. About 45 percent of adults said Santa plays an important role in their holiday celebrations. But around a quarter of adults said teaching children to believe in Santa “leads to feelings of mistrust and disappointment upon realizing he isn’t real.” That said, Americans generally feel pretty positive about Father Christmas. In 2020 (the most recent poll that asked), 81 percent had a favorable view of Santa, and 73 percent approved of how he was handling his job — an approval rating any politician would salivate over. When it comes to politics, though, Santa’s views are opaque. When asked this year which political party they thought Santa would support, 21 percent of adults said Democratic, 21 percent said Republican, and 30 percent said jolly old Saint Nick was an independent. (The rest weren’t sure.) Wherever you fall in that debate, you may sympathize with one of the children quoted in that 1985 article, Marian Mitchell, 10, of Macon, Ga.: “It was more fun for me when I believed in Santa Claus.” Source link #Santa #Clauss #Approval #Rating Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

HUD Could Cut Staff by Up to 50% in DOGE Purge HUD Could Cut Staff by Up to 50% in DOGE Purge The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could be on the brink of losing up to half of its staff as part of a wider federal government purge led by Elon Musk‘s DOGE task force, according to multiple reports. President Donald Trump‘s administration is aiming to cut HUD’s 9,600 workforce by around 50%, with some of the agency’s divisions potentially facing even more drastic layoffs of 75% of higher, according to NPR, citing a HUD employee with direct knowledge of the matter and a union leader. HUD representatives have not addressed the reports of plans for mass layoffs. Realtor.com® has reached out to HUD seeking comment. HUD Secretary Scott Turner, fresh off his Senate confirmation earlier this month, said in a statement on Feb. 13 that he has launched his own Department of Government Efficiency task force to “eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.” “HUD will be detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent to serve rural, tribal and urban communities,” Turner said. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are no longer in a business-as-usual posture and the DOGE task force will play a critical role in helping to identify and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse and ultimately better serve the American people.” Turner also bragged that he and his team have already identified more than $260 million in savings “and we have more to accomplish.” Meanwhile, Musk’s own DOGE squad reportedly has been busy trying to root out what it considers to be government waste at HUD. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency task force is targeting staff and budget cuts at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images) According to reporting by Politico, Musk’s aides have been holding regular meetings at HUD headquarters to go over the department’s budget with an eye for possible layoffs. DOGE’s official X account posted last Friday that “$1.9 billion of HUD money was just recovered after being misplaced during the Biden administration due to a broken process.” The anticipated HUD layoffs are part of a broader crusade led by Musk’s DOGE, which has already forced out thousands of federal workers across nearly a dozen agencies in the first month of Trump’s second term in office. What does HUD do? Created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty in 1965, HUD was charged with addressing America’s housing needs, improving communities, and enforcing fair housing laws, according to its website. More than 4.3 million low-income families currently rely on HUD to provide them with affordable housing through various means, including public housing, rental subsidies, and voucher programs. HUD also plays a major role in supporting homeownership among low- and middle-income families through the Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages for homes and other properties, including hospitals. Since its inception in 1934, FHA has insured more than 40 million home loans, according to its website. Which sectors of HUD could be at risk?HUD Secretary Scott Turner said he has created a task force to root out waste at his agency. (Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images) The fate of the FHA remains unclear at this time, with some news outlets suggesting that the mortgage insurer could be looking at only minor cuts. Meanwhile, Bloomberg Law is reporting that the agency could lose up to 40% of its workforce. Other divisions of HUD could see even more drastic reductions, with 3 out of every 4 workers potentially facing layoffs, according to the union official who spoke to NPR. A HUD employee speaking to the outlet on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation said their colleagues seemed visibly shaken by the “shocking” and “drastic” planned layoffs. If Turner and Musk move ahead with the cuts, half of HUD’s field offices could be shuttered nationwide, according to Antonio Gaines, president of HUD Council 222 of the American Federation of Government Employees. Gaines also told NPR that HUD offices that oversee homelessness programs, disaster recovery, affordable housing, civil rights laws, and housing research could be on the chopping block. Alarmed Democrats demand halt to HUD cuts The looming layoffs at HUD have set off a wave of panic through ranking Democrats on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, joined others on Sunday in sending a letter to Turner, warning him that cutting staff at HUD could jeopardize the agency’s ability to address the nation’s housing crisis and serve the needs of the most vulnerable groups, including homeless veterans and seniors. Musk, left, has already forced out thousands of federal workers through the efforts of DOGE. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) “We are deeply alarmed and troubled by reports that you terminated hundreds of probationary employees on Friday and are planning to cut the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) workforce by 50 percent or nearly 4,300 staff,” the senators wrote. The letter called on Turner to pump the brakes on any further staff cuts, warning that additional workforce reductions would worsen the housing crisis and possibly undermine HUD’s critical functions, such as disaster recovery. “Hastily gutting HUD’s workforce will inevitably lead to costly delays, and many housing projects will fall apart completely, only making our current housing crisis worse,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to immediately stop any additional cuts to HUD’s workforce.” Related Articles Source link #HUD #Cut #Staff #DOGE #Purge Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Estimated Gaza Toll May Have Missed 25,000 Deaths, Study Says Estimated Gaza Toll May Have Missed 25,000 Deaths, Study Says Deaths from bombs and other traumatic injuries during the first nine months of the war in Gaza may have been underestimated by more than 40 percent, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet. The peer-reviewed statistical analysis, led by epidemiologists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, used modeling in an effort to provide an objective third-party estimate of casualties. The United Nations has relied on the figure from the ******-led Ministry of Health, which it says has been largely accurate, but which Israel criticizes as inflated. But the new analysis suggests the ****** health ministry tally is a significant undercount. The researchers concluded that the death toll from Israel’s aerial bombardment and military ground operation in Gaza between October 2023 and the end of June 2024 was about 64,300, rather than the 37,900 reported by the ************ Ministry of Health. The estimate in the analysis corresponds to 2.9 percent of Gaza’s prewar population having been killed by traumatic injury, or one in 35 inhabitants. The analysis did not account for other war-related casualties such as deaths from malnutrition, water-borne illness or the breakdown of the health system as the conflict progressed. The study found that 59 percent of the dead were women, children and people over the age of 65. It did not establish what share of the reported dead were combatants. Mike Spagat, an expert on calculating casualties of war who was not involved in this research, said the new analysis convinced him that Gaza casualties were underestimated. “This is a good piece of evidence that the real number is higher, probably substantially higher, than the Ministry of Health’s official numbers, higher than I had been thinking over the last few months,” said Dr. Spagat, who is a professor at Royal Holloway College at the University of London. But the presentation of precise figures, such as a 41 percent underreported mortality, is less useful, he said, since the analysis actually shows the real total could be less than, or substantially more. “Quantitatively, it’s a lot more uncertain than I think comes out in the paper,” Dr. Spagat said. The researchers said their estimate of 64,260 deaths from traumatic injury has a “confidence interval” between 55,298 and 78,525, which means the actual number of casualties is likely in that range. If the estimated level of underreporting of deaths through June 2024 is extrapolated out to October 2024, the total Gazan casualty figure in the first year of the war would exceed 70,000. “There is an importance to war injury deaths, because it speaks to the question of whether the campaign is proportional, whether it is, in fact, the case that sufficient provisions are made to to avoid civilian casualties,” said Francesco Checchi, an epidemiologist with an expertise in conflict and humanitarian crises and a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who was an author on the study. “I do think memorializing is important. There is inherent value in just trying to come up with the right number.” The analysis uses a statistical method called capture-recapture analysis, which has been used to estimate casualties in other conflicts, including civil wars in Colombia and Sudan. For Gaza, the researchers drew on three lists: The first is a register maintained by the ************ Ministry of Health, which mainly comprises the dead in hospital morgues and estimates of the number of unrecovered people buried in rubble. The second is deaths reported by family or community members through an online survey form the ministry established on Jan. 1, 2024, when the prewar death registration system had broken down. It asked Palestinians inside and outside Gaza to provide names, ages, national ID number and location of death for casualties. The third source was obituaries of people who died from injuries that were published on social media, which may not include all of the same biographical details and which the researchers compiled by hand. The researchers analyzed these sources to look for individuals who appear on multiple lists of those killed. A high level of overlap would have suggested that few deaths were uncounted; the low amount they found suggested the opposite. The researchers used models to calculate the probability of each individual appearing on any of the three lists. “Models enable us to actually estimate the number of people who have not been listed at all,” Dr. Checchi said. That, combined with the listed number, gave the analysts their total. Patrick Ball, director of research at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, and a statistician who has conducted similar estimates of violent deaths in conflicts in other regions, said the study was strong and well reasoned. But he cautioned that the authors may have underestimated the amount of uncertainty caused by the ongoing conflict. The authors used different variations of mathematical models in their calculations, but Dr. Ball said that rather than presenting a single figure — 64,260 deaths — as the estimate, it may have been more appropriate to present the number of deaths as a range from 47,457 to 88,332 deaths, a span that encompasses all of the estimates produced by modeling the overlap among the three lists. “It’s really hard to do this kind of thing in the middle of a conflict,” Dr. Ball said. “It takes time, and it takes access. I think you could say the range is larger, and that would be plausible.” While Gaza had a strong death registration process before the war, it now has only limited function after the destruction of much of the health system. Deaths are uncounted when whole families are killed simultaneously, leaving no one to report, or when an unknown number of people die in the collapse of a large building; Gazans are increasingly buried near their homes without passing through a morgue, Dr. Checchi said. The authors of the study acknowledged that some of those assumed dead may in fact be missing, most likely taken as prisoners in Israel. Roni Caryn Rabin and Lauren Leatherby contributed reporting. Source link #Estimated #Gaza #Toll #Missed #Deaths #Study Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Thousands of public service jobs on the chopping block Thousands of public service jobs on the chopping block Thousands of public service jobs are set to be slashed as a debt-riddled state eyes billions of dollars of budget savings. A review of the Victorian public service has been commissioned by the Labor government, ahead of the May state budget. “This independent review … (will ensure) … a laser-focus on every dollar of expenditure in the Victorian government’s budget,” Premier Jacinta Allan said on Thursday. The review will be led by Helen Silver AO, who served as Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary under former premiers John Brumby (Labor) and Ted Baillieu (Liberals). She’s been tasked with axing between 2000 to 3000 jobs to find “several billion dollars” of savings. The looming losses would equate to about five to six per cent of state public sector jobs. The government wants to trim waste, duplication and inefficiencies linked to jobs and programs, however, frontline roles such as teachers, nurses, police, crime and child protection are not in the review’s scope. Treasurer Jaclyn Symes, who took over from long-time treasurer Tim Pallas in December, said the state had to deal with its “recurrent” budget problem. The aim is to get the public service down to the share of employment that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic. “I do not shy away that some of those (decisions) will be difficult and some people won’t like some of the recommendations,” Ms Symes said. Ms Silver will hand in interim recommendations to be considered for Ms Symes’ first budget on May 20, which was delayed until after the upcoming federal election. A final report is due by June 30 and will be released alongside a government response. Mr Pallas sought to cut 3000 to 4000 jobs in his 2023/24 state budget but the public sector wage bill is still expected to grow from $38.3 billion in 2024/25 to $41.6 billion in 2027/28. “Previous attempts haven’t worked,” Ms Symes said. “That’s why I’ve brought in an expert such as Helen. “I’m determined that this process will deliver results that Victorians expect of me.” The public service has already delivered more than $5 billion in savings in the last three budgets, Community and Public Sector Union state secretary Karen Batt said. “Crazy, ill-thought-through proposals end up costing the government more as our population booms and demand for services grows,” she said. “I thought the government said they’d learnt from Werribee.” Victoria’s net debt is on track to hit $187.8 billion by mid-2028. Source link #Thousands #public #service #jobs #chopping #block Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Online Therapy ***** Has Mainly Benefited Privileged Groups, Studies Find Online Therapy ***** Has Mainly Benefited Privileged Groups, Studies Find The number of Americans receiving psychotherapy increased by 30 percent during the pandemic, as virtual sessions replaced in-person appointments — but new research dampens the hope that technology will make mental health care more available to the neediest populations. In fact, the researchers found, the shift to teletherapy has exacerbated existing disparities. The increase in psychotherapy has occurred among groups that already enjoyed more access: people in higher-income brackets, living in cities, with steady employment and more education, researchers found in a series of studies, the most recent of which was, published Wednesday in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Among those who have not benefited from the *****, the team found, are children from low-income families, ****** children and adolescents, and adults with “serious psychological distress.” “I think that the whole system of care — and maybe the internet delivery is a piece of this — appears to be pivoting away from those in greatest need,” said Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the lead author of the studies on access to care. “We’re seeing that those with the greatest distress are losing ground, in terms of their likelihood of being treated, and that to me is a very important and disconcerting trend,” he added. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. In the 1990s, teletherapy was championed as a way to reach disadvantaged patients living in remote locations where there were few psychiatrists. A decade later, it was presented as a more accessible alternative to face-to-face sessions, one that could radically lower barriers to care. “Telehealth did not live up to the hype,” said C. Vaile Wright, senior director of the office of health care innovation at the American Psychological Association. The reasons, she added, are no surprise: Many Americans lack access to reliable broadband, and insurers do not adequately reimburse providers, who, in turn, choose to treat privately paying clients. “If you can’t afford it, no matter the modality, you just can’t afford it,” Dr. Wright said. It may be, she added, that weekly therapy sessions are simply not scalable to a broad population, and the field should explore light-touch alternatives, like single-session interventions and digital therapeutics. As telehealth platforms grow, they may be attracting clinicians from community settings with the promise of flexible hours and better conditions, said Dr. Jane M. Zhu, an associate professor of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University who studies the accessibility of mental health services. Selecting from a large patient pool, they may opt to treat patients with milder conditions and more ability to pay. “It’s certainly something we should know,” Dr. Zhu said. “There should be light around this. Who are these companies serving? And what does this mean for patients who are most in need?” The percentage of Americans receiving psychotherapy remained relatively steady, at 3 to 4 percent, for decades before beginning a gradual rise, said Dr. Olfson. Then two factors — the pandemic and the explosion of teletherapy — contributed to a sharp increase, with the number of adults receiving psychotherapy rising to 8.5 percent in 2021 from 6.5 percent in 2018. (By comparison, the annual percentage of adults taking psychotropic medication remained stable, at around 17.5 percent.) Dr. Olfson said he was surprised by the magnitude of the increase. “We haven’t had something like Covid before, and we haven’t had this technology before,” Dr. Olfson said. “There was a lot of social isolation, a lot of loneliness. And those are things that psychotherapy is designed to address, in a way that medication can’t.” The findings are based on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which is conducted by the federal government and measures how American civilians use and pay for health care. The survey does not include those in the military, incarcerated or in nursing homes, hospitals or homeless shelters. Previous studies, based on insurance data, showed that Americans’ mental health spending increased by 54 percent from 2020 to 2022, amid a tenfold increase in the use of teletherapy. The new studies flesh out which Americans are receiving the care. An analysis of 89,619 adults published in JAMA Psychiatry last month found psychotherapy use grew most among the youngest respondents, among the most educated and among those in the highest two income brackets. An analysis of the use of telehealth by children and adolescents from 2,445 households reached similar conclusions. The study, published today, found that children from wealthier families, using private insurance, were far more likely to use teletherapy. Children in urban areas were nearly three times as likely to use it as their rural counterparts. During the years of the pandemic, the use of mental health services by ****** children and adolescents decreased, falling to 4 percent in 2021 from 9.2 percent in 2019. In the same *******, the use of mental health care among white children rose, to 18.4 percent from 15.1 percent, the team found in another study. “What we find is that it does appear to be just exacerbating existing disparities,” Dr. Olfson said. “I think there’s a real need to try to address that.” Source link #Online #Therapy #***** #Benefited #Privileged #Groups #Studies #Find Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What Los Angeles Could Learn From Great Fires of the Past What Los Angeles Could Learn From Great Fires of the Past In the era when American cities regularly caught fire, the widespread destruction seeded what looks, in retrospect, like possibility. Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871 accelerated its rise as a dominant metropolis. In Boston, which burned in 1872, the value of land newly topped with better buildings surged. After its 1889 fire, Seattle built a taller downtown in brick and stone, with wider avenues and modern infrastructure. San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire built denser housing that could better hold all the westward migrants eager to move there. These cities changed in ways and at a speed that wouldn’t have been possible without fires. The lessons of that history are relevant in Los Angeles today, where elected officials have promised to speed the path to rebuilding from devastating wildfires — but only if residents rebuild exactly what was there before. That means, according to a mayoral order, clearing the way for new buildings of the same size, in the same location, intended for the same use, without adding any housing units. What other cities did more than a century ago doesn’t mean that Los Angeles should replace single-family homes with high-rises on the slopes of the Pacific Palisades, or that residential Altadena should ****** a commercial downtown. What these past fires presented was a rare chance to respond in new ways to the pressures bearing down on the cities — from population growth, or rising rents, or the evolving demands of a new century. Cities adapt slowly and often poorly to such pressures. But occasionally across history, a destructive tragedy can make doing so easier. For years now, Los Angeles has been straining under a housing crisis, one that will be worsened by the wildfires. Facing thousands of destroyed homes and newly homeless residents, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles’s mayor, Karen Bass, acknowledged that the region’s onerous obstacles to construction would impede recovery from disaster. Offering a measure of both certainty and compassion, they promised to waive environmental regulations, to speed up permitting, to create a “one-stop shop” for the bureaucracy of home building. It’s a sweeping act of permission that builders and advocates for housing have sought for years to address the region’s shortage of affordable housing. “Now suddenly we’re going to get it — but just for this,” said Paavo Monkkonen, a professor of urban planning and public policy at U.C.L.A. Chicago: Los Angeles won’t garner beautiful new downtown architecture out of this moment, Mr. Monkkonen said, but lasting impacts could lie in changing the region’s regulations and institutions — what would be an equally monumental legacy. Picture if the city and state now made it just as easy to build denser and affordable housing in the least fire-prone places. Or if burned-out residents could choose to swiftly build back something that reflects today’s needs rather than what was built in the area decades ago. Under the city’s order, there’s no relief from regulation if residents want to replace a single-family home with a duplex of the same size, or if they want to add a little backyard granny flat. “Let’s not let this crisis go to waste,” said Martin Muoto, the C.E.O. of SoLa Impact, which develops affordable housing projects in South Los Angeles. He lost his Palisades home in the fires. He applauded what he called a comprehensive and dramatic set of changes to building rules. But as a developer who houses formerly homeless residents, he wants what the city is now offering him as a homeowner — “to allow us to build faster, cheaper and better.” Disasters can enable change by clearing away seemingly intractable forces that constrain how cities grow. Normally, new buildings replace outdated ones only haltingly (and landlords who still profit off properties in disrepair may have little incentive to upgrade them). Large public works like wider streets and new parks are hard to insert into neighborhoods that are already full of hundreds of buildings and building owners. “Americans are not real good at thinking together collectively, particularly when it has to do with property,” said Carl Smith, a historian who has written about the Great Chicago Fire. No one wishes for disasters to happen. But when they do, he said, they can create an opportunity to rethink things, especially at a broad scale. (For their part, Chicagoans in the young and rapidly evolving city in 1871 were not particularly wedded to what they had already built, he added.) Boston: When much of downtown Boston burned a year after Chicago, property owners upgraded in a kind of virtuous cycle, erecting sounder and taller buildings and incentivizing their neighbors to do the same. The economists Richard Hornbeck and Daniel Keniston have found that land values increased substantially as a result in and near the fire zone. Had there not been a fire, Mr. Hornbeck said, “things limp along more, buildings kind of gradually get replaced and improved, but you don’t get the spurt of growth.” The 1889 fire that destroyed more than 25 square blocks of downtown Seattle helped the city evolve into a true metropolitan center, said Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, a professor in the department of architecture at the University of Washington. The city replaced its wood sidewalks and small wood-frame buildings, constructing commercial buildings several stories taller in brick and stone, some of which remain landmarks today. The city adopted a more stringent building code, too, and a professional fire department. It raised the street level around Pioneer Square to aid drainage and sewage. “The city modernized,” Mr. Ochsner said. Seattle: In San Francisco, blocks that burned after the 1906 earthquake were rebuilt with denser housing than similar blocks just outside the fire boundary. That disparity remained even a century later, according to research by James Siodla, a professor of economics at Colby College. Those rebuilt blocks also devoted less land to housing, making space for the city’s growing commercial and manufacturing needs. The era of devastating urban fires largely ended by the 1920s, as building codes, government enforcement, modern fire departments and electric lighting made fires less likely to spread, especially in the downtown heart of cities. Other kinds of disasters since have echoed some of the same lessons: In parts of London heavily bombed during the World War II ******* blitz, the city rebuilt taller than before; in Lower Manhattan after Sept. 11, amid the new construction, the city reconnected old streets and nurtured a neighborhood less defined by office work. By suddenly removing many of the constraints to change, these past disasters have a way of revealing how hard change is in normal times. “Cities change very, very slowly,” Mr. Siodla said. “It’s very, very difficult to change.” That was even truer in Los Angeles before the fires this month than it was in San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake. The earthquake was before the advent of zoning regulations. It was before the California Environmental Quality Act slowed building in the state. It was before the rise of local activism against new development. San Francisco: The Los Angeles fires make clear all those obstacles underlying the housing crisis. “We’ve been using crisis rhetoric for a decade with nothing to show for it,” said Nolan Gray, the senior director of legislation and research with the advocacy group California YIMBY. “The Palisades sort of calls that bluff.” The plans to rebuild there reveal what the city and state would have to do to construct housing with urgency everywhere. Source link #Los #Angeles #Learn #Great #Fires Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

This Is the Max Number of Bank Accounts You Should Have This Is the Max Number of Bank Accounts You Should Have ©Jen Yuson Photography In her book “Crush Your Money Goals,” financial coach and self-made millionaire Bernadette Joy writes that the first step toward achieving financial freedom is to “curate” your financial accounts. This means reviewing every financial account you have open — your bank accounts, credit cards, loans and properties in your name. Once you have a list of your accounts, it’s time to streamline them and consolidate them into 20. Learn More: 13 Banks With Immediate Sign-Up Bonuses and No Direct Deposit Required Try This: 5 Cities You Need To Consider If You’re Retiring in 2025 “When it comes to achieving financial independence, the fewer accounts you have, the fewer opportunities for mistakes or precious money to fall through the cracks,” she wrote. “Think of each of your financial accounts as a separate handbag,” Joy continued. “Having multiple checking, savings and investment accounts and credit cards is like carrying around an armful of handbags with just a little bit of money in each. It’s not efficient and it feels a little silly.” While Joy recommends having 20 financial accounts total, your bank accounts should be a small fraction of that. According to Joy, you should have no more than three bank accounts — or four if you own a business. Discover More: Top Banks in Each State “Keep it simple — one checking account for bills and everyday spending, one savings account for short-term goals and one high-yield savings account for long-term goals,” she told GOBankingRates. She explained that fewer accounts make it easier to take control of your finances. “Having too many bank accounts is like trying to juggle five different fitness plans — it’s overwhelming and makes it harder to track progress,” Joy said. “More clarity, less chaos.” More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Self-Made Millionaire: This Is the Max Number of Bank Accounts You Should Have Source link #Max #Number #Bank #Accounts Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Avowed – The Blade That Hungers Treasure Map Location Avowed – The Blade That Hungers Treasure Map Location In Avowed you can find rare and powerful loot in the world by using treasure maps to track down hidden gear. In Galawain’s Tusks, you can acquire The Blade that Hungers treasure map from Bulti, a vendor found in Solace Keep. He can be found on the upper floor of Solace Keep, in the shrine area. With the treasure map acquired, the side quest will start. The Blade that Hungers treasure location The treasure chest can be found in the northern most part of Ash Forest. The Blade that Hungers treasure can be found in a chest in the northern tip of the Ash Forest. Head to the northernmost point directly above the “S” in Ash, and you will spot a small cave opening. Head into the tunnel and follow it to find a chest further north, in an area that looks like it’s off the map. Inside the chest, you can find the Umbral Needle, a legendary unique dagger. Follow this cave to find the treasure chest. The Umbral Needle has two passives, Fampyr’s Bite, which restores 2% of damage dealt as health. The Greater Opening Strike gives 15% increased damage against enemies with full health. You can upgrade the Umbral Needle via the enchantment table in camp. Collecting the Umbral Dagger will mark the quest as complete. If you aren’t interested in the dagger, it can be broken down for upgrade materials or sold for a hefty 11,700 gold. Collect the Umbral Needle to complete the quest. Obsidian is no stranger to crafting compelling RPGs. For more help on the team’s latest effort, use our Avowed guides hub. Source link #Avowed #Blade #Hungers #Treasure #Map #Location Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Gold rally has more room to run as Trump uncertainty supercharges demand Gold rally has more room to run as Trump uncertainty supercharges demand Gold’s 2025 rally has further to run according to strategists, as factors including geopolitical volatility, continued central bank demand and perceptions of a shortage drive the precious metal higher. The spot gold price has been on a tear since late December, rising from $2,587.6 on Dec. 18 to $2,941.1 on Feb. 19, smashing through all-time highs and consecutive weekly gains this year. This year’s gains come after global gold demand hit a record high in 2024, according to the World Gold Council. A fresh assessment of market conditions has led UBS to revise its gold price forecast for the year higher, strategist Joni Teves said in a note this week, with a peak expected in the latter half of 2025 and a potential high upward of $3,200. UBS then sees prices gradually easing and settling at elevated levels in the coming years. A major factor that drove gold gains last year has only intensified in 2025: uncertainty over the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policymaking on the world economy and international relations. @GC.1 YTD line Gold COMEX. “The policies of the new U.S. administration — particularly the potential for tariffs — have already caused dynamics in the gold market to shift,” John Reade, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, told CNBC by email. “The first dynamic is around price, with uncertainty surrounding the scope, timing, and impact of these tariffs has heightened overall market risk, prompting investors to turn to gold as a safe-haven asset.” “The second changing dynamic is the movement of physical gold, and rumors of so-called shortages of gold,” Reade continued. “To be clear, there is no general shortage of gold, but large shipments of gold into the United States, done by traders to pre-empt possible U.S. import tariffs, has led to reduced availability of gold in the London market, which in turn has driven up borrowing costs,” Reade said. “With market and geopolitical uncertainty likely to persist, it is likely that disruptions to the gold market will continue for some time to come.” Investor ‘FOMO’ UBS’s Teves said that along with deep rooted bullish sentiment and stronger-than-expected central bank demand — which has been a key price driver in recent months, as the institutions seek to diversify their reserves and hedge against currency fluctuations — traders would have a degree of “FOMO,” or “fear of missing out,” on gold opportunity. “After missing several (brief/ shallow) buying opportunities in 2024, investors are likely wary of repeating the same patterns and may want to take advantage of corrections sooner this time around,” she said. “Moreover, liquidity issues could amplify rallies and make the market vulnerable on the upside to any pick up in physical demand.” Luciano Duque, chief investment officer at C3 Bullion, noted that the increase in central banks’ gold holdings have broken almost all records for gold purchases in the last 15 months. “The last 45 days or so have been particularly interesting regarding [metals futures and options market] Comex, where we had a big spike in delivery notices. It looks like big institutions are indeed adding to their gold stockpile,” Duque said by email. Gold-related stocks including Wheaton Precious Metals , Osisko Gold Royalties and Canada’s Franco-Nevada are set to benefit from these trends, analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a note last week. “The outlook for gold equities remains constructive, supported by attractive valuations, low crowding, and a supportive macro outlook for gold,” they said. Source link #Gold #rally #room #run #Trump #uncertainty #supercharges #demand Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump Raises New Threat to Sanctuary Cities: Blocking Transportation Dollars Trump Raises New Threat to Sanctuary Cities: Blocking Transportation Dollars The new U.S. Department of Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, issued an order this week that threatened to shift federal transportation funding away from local governments that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The order revives an unsettled legal fight from the first Trump term over whether the federal government can withhold funds from “sanctuary cities.” In early 2017, President Trump tried to block millions of dollars in law enforcement grants to Democratic-led cities and states that had policies declining to aid federal agents in identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants. Lawsuits against the effort never fully resolved by the end of his term. The money at stake now is potentially far larger than the law enforcement grants: The Department of Transportation sends billions of dollars annually to states and local governments to fund highways, transit systems, airports, bridges, commuter rail and ports, as well as road safety projects. “This is on a much, much larger scale,” said Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown. Legal scholars said that past rulings suggest the greater scale of money at play might make courts even less likely to go along. The full intent of the transportation memo was unclear, but the practical effect of withholding even some money would probably be to harm transit systems in big cities, given that the largest transit networks in the country tend to be in places that also have sanctuary policies. But were the federal government to try to block funding to entire states with sanctuary policies, like California, it could also affect the roads, highways and transit used by millions of rural Americans. The transportation department declined to clarify if it intends to block funds to sanctuary cities and states, referring questions about the order back to the text itself. That document — described as covering all grants, loans and contracts — said the agency should “prioritize” projects under a range of conditions, including that they “require” local compliance or cooperation with immigration enforcement. Mr. Duffy also directed the agency to give preference to communities with marriage and birthrates higher than the national average, a condition that baffled former government officials. “So if you have a sanctuary policy but you have a high birthrate, how does that work?” said Beth Osborne, the director of the advocacy group Transportation for America and a former official in the Obama transportation department who managed grants. “As someone who has run these programs, I do need so much more information to understand what they are doing.” It was unclear, too, if the agency was proposing to shift criteria for competitive and discretionary grants it awards, or if it was trying to attach new conditions to the vast transportation funds Congress allocates to states according to a funding formula set by law. A key role of the federal transportation department is simply to pass that money on to states to use as they see fit. The question of whether the government can punish sanctuary cities by withholding grants was left open at the end of the first Trump term. A consortium of states sued at the time, and lower courts were divided on the move’s legality. The Supreme Court was expected to take up the question in early 2021, then President Biden took office and changed policies, prompting the cases to be dismissed. “The two biggest things that distinguish this from that are both really bad for Trump,” Mr. Vladeck said of the comparison between the last, unsettled cases and the ones likely to come now. In a major 2024 decision, the Supreme Court curbed the power of federal agencies to set policies that go beyond what Congress explicitly instructs — to do, in effect, the very thing Mr. Duffy’s order proposes. The second difference is that transportation funds dwarf the law enforcement grants withheld before, and courts are likely to take note of that in weighing if the federal government is trying to coerce the states into changing policy. The legal precedents here date to a case with some direct parallels. In the 1980s, the federal government tried to encourage states to uniformly raise their drinking age to 21 by withholding some highway funds from states with lower age limits. South Dakota sued. In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled for the federal government, saying it could attach conditions to grants that were reasonable and not so large as to effectively force states to adopt the federal government’s preferred policy. The law at issue — passed by Congress and notably distinct from an agency memo — withheld only 5 percent of federal highway funds. “Here, if you don’t cooperate with ICE in apparently the subjective view of the president, you lose 100 percent, as I read the memo,” said Greg Shill, a law professor at the University of Iowa who studies transportation. “That seems much more coercive than losing 5 percent.” More recently, the Supreme Court in its 2012 case upholding key parts of the Affordable Care Act struck down one element that would have entirely stripped Medicaid funding from states unless they expanded the program to cover more people. (Again, that was a law written by Congress, not an agency memo.) No one can predict how the Supreme Court might decide a new round of questions arising from grants being withheld from sanctuary cities. But in that 2012 majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts “said essentially you can’t put a gun to the head of the states through federal spending,” said Justin Pidot, a law professor at the University of Arizona who was the general counsel at the White House Council on Environmental Quality in the Biden administration. “This sure seems a lot like that. Highway funding — it’s a huge amount of money, it’s very important. “It seems like the very point is to coerce the states here.” Source link #Trump #Raises #Threat #Sanctuary #Cities #Blocking #Transportation #Dollars Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump Rebuffs Senate G.O.P. and Backs House Budget Plan – The New York Times Trump Rebuffs Senate G.O.P. and Backs House Budget Plan – The New York Times Trump Rebuffs Senate G.O.P. and Backs House Budget Plan The New York TimesThune’s power move to advance Trump’s agenda CNNSenate GOP budget bill back on track hours after Trump threw it into turmoil The Boston Globe Source link #Trump #Rebuffs #Senate #G.O.P #Backs #House #Budget #Plan #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The U.S. Is Having Its Mildest Covid Winter Yet The U.S. Is Having Its Mildest Covid Winter Yet This winter’s Covid wave in the United States has been the gentlest to date, in a welcome reprieve. According to wastewater data aggregated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not only was there less Covid circulating over the holidays than in previous years, but there was also less virus in the wastewater than in all the summer waves the program has tracked. The Covid hospitalization rate stayed around half of what it was last year, and deaths fell too. In late December, around 600 people were dying each week. Last winter at that time, it was around 2,000. (During the Omicron surge at the end of 2021, weekly deaths were topping 10,000.) Although wastewater levels can’t tell us how many individual cases of Covid there are, the recent data reflects a significant lull in the virus’s five-year assault. “This is definitely the mildest Covid winter,” said Michael Mina, an epidemiologist and chief science officer for eMed. “In terms of hospitalizations, in terms of spread.” A new low One possible reason for the lull is that the population is still carrying some immunity from a large, later-than-usual summer surge, said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. This year’s vaccine was also a good match for the circulating variant, and more people got it this year than last, according to C.D.C. data. The virus also didn’t acquire the kind of mutations after the summer wave that would have allowed for significantly faster transmission or greater sickness, epidemiologists said. That’s not unexpected several years into a new virus, said Aubree Gordon, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. “You have two or three years of it being really bad,” she said. “Usually the first year is the worst — as far as incidence rates and severity goes — and then it settles out.” Epidemiologists don’t know yet what a “baseline” Covid wave will look like, and there’s no guarantee that each winter will be milder than the last. But the chances of a new variant that can cause significant harm are much lower now, Mr. Mina said. “Should we expect the variants to start to decline, in terms of how quickly they’re rising, and how aggressively?” he said. “The short answer is yes. The virus has grown up.” Americans’ immune systems have become very familiar with the virus, said Mr. Mina, through vaccination and prior infections, and on average are more capable of recognizing and attacking it. That means we might have a lower viral load when we become ill, he said, or clear the virus faster, getting less sick and infecting fewer people in the process. Fewer infections also give the virus fewer opportunities to mutate. Still other ways to get sick That said, if it feels as if almost everyone you know has gotten sick this winter (or still is), you’re not wrong: It’s been another tough season for other respiratory viruses. At its peak, the weekly flu hospitalization rate this year surpassed last winter’s high rate; hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus (R.S.V.) have similarly mirrored last year. (Norovirus, though not respiratory, is also notably high this year.) Flu and Covid have had roughly the same death toll so far this season — around 8,000 to 9,000 people as of mid-January, according to C.D.C. estimates. Covid deaths since the start of last summer have totaled around 25,000. (Though getting one virus can theoretically lower an individual’s risk of getting another for a short time, it’s still very possible for multiple viruses to surge at once.) The comparison with flu is useful because, like flu, Covid is here to stay. As with flu, there’ll be better and worse seasons. It might turn out that this winter was on the low side of our new baseline, Professor Gordon said. But unlike with flu, there will probably be more waves outside of winter. While the timing of Covid’s winter surge has been relatively consistent — peaking in early January each year — its other waves have yet to fall into a clear pattern. A mild surge during the winter holidays could mean a worse one later this year, possibly even later this winter. And for people who are at higher risk, that will continue to translate into severe illness and death, as well as new cases of long Covid. “There might be some good times, some bad times,” Dr. Chin-Hong said. “So whether or not we’ll get something later on? We have to have humility.” But for now, there’s a measure of relief for Americans, as well as for the experts who’ve tracked the virus for five long years. “If I never saw a crazy variant for the rest of my life,” he said, “I’d be so excited.” Source link #U.S #Mildest #Covid #Winter Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Two more staffers quit John Fetterman’s office as the senator carves his own lane with Trump Two more staffers quit John Fetterman’s office as the senator carves his own lane with Trump Two of Sen. John Fetterman’s longest-serving staff members are leaving his team as the senator takes a more open approach to President Donald Trump than many of his Democratic colleagues are. Charlie Hills, Fetterman’s communications director, and Tré Easton, his legislative director, are set to soon depart the Pennsylvania Democrat’s office. Both men worked on Fetterman’s 2022 campaign and have been with him during his two-year Senate career. “Working for John afforded me the opportunity to build a diligent policy team from scratch,” Easton said in a statement to NBC News. “Together we created a legislative body of work that I think is a blueprint for how Democrats should be governing when they have power. I’ll forever be grateful.” The departures come one month after Carrie Adams left as Fetterman’s communications director. She had garnered attention when she was quoted in a Free Press article disagreeing with the senator on Israel and the war in Gaza. That followed Fetterman losing three of his top communications staffers last March, before his chief-of-staff, Adam Jentleson, stepped down. The senator’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Fetterman’s gradual shift from supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in his 2016 presidential campaign to becoming the Democrats’ most outspoken pro-Israel advocate and leading internal critic of what he sees as the party’s anti-Trump excesses has surprised many who worked on or supported his 2022 Senate campaign. But even after his shift, he was a reliable Democratic vote in passing President Joe Biden’s agenda through Congress. Fetterman’s political evolution has won him newfound fans on the right. He was the first — and so far, only — Democratic senator to meet privately with Trump following his win last fall. Afterward, Trump called him “a commonsense person” in an interview with the Washington Examiner. Fetterman also spearhead Democratic support for the Laken Riley Act, which Trump signed into law last month. The legislation allows the Department of Homeland Security to detain noncitizens who are charged with certain crimes. Fetterman voted for a handful of Trump’s Cabinet picks who otherwise have received little Democratic support, including Lee Zeldin for Environmental Protection Agency administrator. He was also the only Democrat to vote for Pam Bondi as attorney general. But Fetterman, who has urged Democrats to stop “freaking out” over everything Trump does, has voted against other Trump picks, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. And on Monday, Fetterman, who has been complimentary of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who is spearheading Trump’s effort to radically upend and shrink the federal government, criticized the billionaire mogul as his so-called Department of Government Efficiency seeks access to private taxpayer data. “I want to save billions of your money and make our government more efficient,” Fetterman tweeted. “Rummaging through your personal s— is *not* that. A party of chaos loses — always.” This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Source link #staffers #quit #John #Fettermans #office #senator #carves #lane #Trump Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Senate GOP budget bill back on track hours after Trump threw it into turmoil – The Boston Globe Senate GOP budget bill back on track hours after Trump threw it into turmoil – The Boston Globe Senate GOP budget bill back on track hours after Trump threw it into turmoil The Boston GlobeThune’s power move to advance Trump’s agenda CNN Source link #Senate #GOP #budget #bill #track #hours #Trump #threw #turmoil #Boston #Globe Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Avowed – Dead Man’s Mail Treasure Map Location Avowed – Dead Man’s Mail Treasure Map Location In Avowed you can find three treasure maps in each region, leading you to unique loot if you can find the location shown. In Shatterscarp, you can find the Dead Man’s Mail treasure map in the Great Sand Sea, in a small camp directly underneath the “S” in Sea on the map. One of the tents in camp is open, with a skeleton inside. Loot the skeleton to find the treasure map, which will lead you further north from there. Note: You will need three lock picks to open the chest containing the treasure. Where to find the Dead Man’s Mail treasure Just north of Tago’s Tower are some ruins, the treasure chest can be found there. With the map in hand, travel to Tago’s Tower Beacon fast travel point in Shark’s Teeth. Head to the ruins to the north, where you will find a fallen pillar leading up onto the ruins. Head to the eastern part of the ruins to find a small campsite, with a treasure chest up against the ruins. Use the lock picks to open the chest and collect the Necropants inside, marking the quest as completed. Loot the Necropants from the chest to complete the quest. The Necropants are a unique piece of armor at Legendary quality, the highest possible in Avowed. It has two unique passives, one of which can be upgraded in camp at the enchantment table. First is Spectral Slave, which summons a Spectre to fight alongside you. The second is the Poison-Proofed passive, which provides 30% resistance to poison build-up. The Necropants can also be scrapped for materials, if you don’t want the armor. Obsidian is no stranger to crafting compelling RPGs. For more help on the team’s latest effort, use our Avowed guides hub. Source link #Avowed #Dead #Mans #Mail #Treasure #Map #Location Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

US official urges judge to toss case against NY mayor US official urges judge to toss case against NY mayor A US judge will consider a request by a top federal justice offiicial to drop corruption charges against embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams. Source link #official #urges #judge #toss #case #mayor Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

HBO Finally Sets A Date For The Last Of Us Season 2 HBO Finally Sets A Date For The Last Of Us Season 2 For months, HBO has been very vague about the Season 2 premiere date for The Last of Us. At the beginning of January, the company revealed that Season 2 will be coming this April, but declined to put a specific date on it. Now, the premium cable channel has finally announced that The Last of Us Season 2 will arrive on Sunday, April 13. A few weeks prior to this announcement, fans accurately predicted that April 13 was the most likely release date since it will arrive one week after the third season finale of The White Lotus. Season 2 will pick up five years after the events of Season 1, and begin the adaptation of The Last of Us Part II that will span multiple seasons. When Season 2 begins, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are emotionally estranged over the choices the former made during the previous season finale. This season will introduce viewers to Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a young woman who will have a profound impact on the story going forward. Isabela Merced is also joining the cast as Dina, alongside Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, and Danny Ramirez as Manny, Jeffrey Wright is reprising his role from the game as Isaac. HBO’s Executive Vice President of Drama, Francesa Orsi, has shared her belief that The Last of Us will only run for four seasons. Co-showrunners and series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann recently warned fans that Season 2 will feature deleted scenes from the game that were considered too brutal at the time. They also noted that the timeline of the show won’t necessarily line up with the game’s. The Last of Us Season 2 premiere will also be available on Max on April 13 at the same time as its debut on HBO. Source link #HBO #Finally #Sets #Date #Season Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Bulls, Blackhawks owners get the OK from City Council to transform area around United Center Bulls, Blackhawks owners get the OK from City Council to transform area around United Center CHICAGO (AP) — The owners of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and NHL’s Blackhawks got the go-ahead to transform the area surrounding the United Center on Wednesday when the Chicago City Council approved a $7 billion plan to replace the parking lots with green space, mixed-income housing, a music hall and more. The 1901 Project, touted as the largest private investment in Chicago’s West Side, is being spearheaded by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, who own the arena. It is to be built in phases on more than 55 acres of privately owned land over about a decade-long *******. “Today is a historic moment for the West Side,” Bulls CEO Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement. “This project is more than just development. It’s a bold and unprecedented commitment to the future of our community. We are excited for the opportunity to reimagine what the future can look like. Our team is eager to get to work and turn this vision into reality.” Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. The first phase calls for a 6,000-seat theater, multilevel parking facilities with rooftop greenspace, more pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and bike lanes, and hotel and retail space. Plans for future phases include housing and transportation enhancements. “We set out to do something with no existing blueprint,” Blackhawks chairman Danny Wirtz said. “Our commitment is to create spaces that empower all generations, fostering a thriving community that enhances the cultural and economic fabric of the West Side.” The approval for this project comes at a time when the NFL’s Chicago Bears and MLB’s Chicago White Sox — also owned by the Reinsdorfs — are looking to build new stadiums with public funding. The Bears are trying to build an enclosed stadium next to Soldier Field as part of a reimagined museum campus. They also own a 326-acre tract of land in suburban Arlington Heights that could also be the site of a future home, and have looked at the old Michael Reese Hospital site on the near South Side. The White Sox are looking to move out of Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side and construct a new stadium as part of a ballpark village in the city’s South Loop with green spaces, residences and businesses. ___ AP sports: Source link #Bulls #Blackhawks #owners #City #Council #transform #area #United #Center Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Avowed – Robe Of The Arcane Cheater Treasure Map Location Avowed – Robe Of The Arcane Cheater Treasure Map Location Throughout Avowed you can find treasure maps, which will lead you to unique gear, if you can decipher the location shown on the map. In Shatterscarp, you can obtain the Robe of the Arcane Cheater treasure map from Ihaka, a merchant located in the far east part of Deadfall Highlands, just west of Tago’s Tower and the Tago’s Tower Beacon fast travel point. With the treasure map in hand, you can track down the related treasure to complete the quest. Where to find the Robe of the Arcane Cheater treasure The Robe can be found in a small cave overlooking the lakebed in the southern part of the Ancient Lakebed. Head to the Ancient Lakebed and go to the lake on the map just south of the words Ancient Lakebed. Approach the lake from the cliff to the east, and drop down to where there is a ton of coral growing on the side of the rocks. There is a small cave located here if you don’t drop all the way down into the lake bed. Inside the cave, there is a chest that contains the Robes of Surpassing Brilliance. The cave is above the coral shown here. The Robes of the Surpassing Brilliance is a unique piece of armor of legendary quality, the highest possible quality in Avowed. The light armor offers two passive abilities, primarily focused on improving spell casting. The first is Overseeing, which offers a 15% increased area of effect damage, with the second being Innate Talent, giving 40 maximum essence. One of these unique abilities can be upgraded at camp, or you can scrap the armor for high-quality upgrade materials. Looting the Robes of Surpassing Brilliance will complete the quest. Obsidian is no stranger to crafting compelling RPGs. For more help on the team’s latest effort, use our Avowed guides hub. Source link #Avowed #Robe #Arcane #Cheater #Treasure #Map #Location Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]