fortune gems game Mumbai Woman Forced To Strip, Loses Rs 1.7 Lakh In Digital Arrest ScamHello! I’m Mark Olsen . Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. I recently had the pleasure of moderating this year’s Envelope Directors Roundtable with the knockout lineup of Edward Berger (“Conclave”), Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”), Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”), James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”), Denis Villeneuve (“Dune: Part Two”) and Malcolm Washington (“The Piano Lesson”). The full video will broadcast on Spectrum and be available on YouTube later today. From our edited print transcript , the group began talking about what they can compromise on and what they cannot. Villeneuve and Fargeat said that, within the confines of their budget and logistics, they have an attitude of no compromise, as often as possible. As Fargeat said, “Everybody sometimes wants to try and change it and make a difference. It’s my job to keep it the way I had invented in my head.” Conversely, Berger noted that the vaping cardinal in “Conclave,” which has now become a meme and a fan favorite, wasn’t in the script, but was a response to the actor on set in his costume vaping between takes. Mangold, director of “A Complete Unknown,” said, “We all make plans before we start. But then the secret, at least in my experience — the work I’m most proud of is where I adapt. It’s not about compromise, but it’s that the world, the actor, in that moment, the weather, the location, the schedule, something within the very real confines that Denis was talking about comes up against your vision. ... The reality is how we adapt to the s— that happens, good and bad, which isn’t about compromise, but it’s about being alive.” A holiday harvest of new releases This holiday season has brought us a terrific bounty of films to round out our end-of-year moviegoing, with “Babygirl,” “The Fire Inside,” “A Complete Unknown” and “Nosferatu” all landing in theaters this week. (And that’s not even mentioning the see-it-to-believe-it “Better Man,” a biopic about British pop star Robbie Williams, portrayed by a CGI chimp.) Seeing all four of these movies in one day might be a stretch, but it would be doable to see at least three, or maybe break them up into two days of double features. I think I personally would suggest the order they land below for the best mix of genres and moods. If anyone thinks there is a better approach to this lineup, let me know. ‘Babygirl’ Written and directed by Halina Reijn, “Babygirl” stars Nicole Kidman as a Manhattan CEO who finds herself drawn into a submissive relationship with Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a strangely dominating new intern at her company. The film becomes an exploration of power dynamics and personal identity cloaked as an erotic thriller with a dash of corporate intrigue. In Amy Nicholson’s review , she noted, “Eight years into the #MeToo movement, our reaction to the plot could fall anywhere on a spectrum between ‘Yaaaas queen’ to ‘How hypocritical!’ ... Both know their affair is happening in a cultural minefield where the trip wires are economic, professional and generational. And nowadays, the intern recognizes his boss has the most to lose.” Amy added, “The smartest choice the film makes is that Samuel isn’t some “Fifty Shades of Grey” BDSM mastermind. He learns to control as she learns to submit. Their shared adventure plays out like two people learning to juggle while staring into each other’s eyes. Sometimes, it’s clumsy. Their first tryst starts off like a bad porno with Samuel and Romy improvising a script that feels phony even to them. They have to break the scene and start again, with Samuel trying to making Romy eat candy from his hand. She pauses. He’s frustrated. ‘Can you just try it?’ he asks. The whole movie hinges on that awkward moment. Right there, Reijn decides that the strongest foundation for all of our species’ sex angst is simply consent. Forget right or wrong. ‘Babygirl’s’ key question is yes or no.” Emily Zemler spoke to Dickinson , who explained how the sense of discovery in the movie is something he felt while making it as well. “I was fascinated by the writing and the character because I didn’t really know what I would do with it,” Dickinson said. “It scared me a little bit, in the sense of ‘I don’t know how exactly best to do this in a way that’s going to elevate the rest of the story.’ But I guess that’s why it eventually led me to do it.” Certified sex educator Laura Ramadei wrote about the film’s depiction of kink , noting, “‘Babygirl’ appears to understand a common reality behind the kink: Many accomplished, strong women (and men) want to turn their brains off and fully submit to the right Dom. It also highlights a common limitation — that for skillful domination, emotional intelligence is equally, if not more, important than physical talent. The film also understands the power of unlocking such a dynamic, without being gratuitous about the visual details.” ‘The Fire Inside’ Directed by Rachel Morrison from a screenplay by Barry Jenkins, “The Fire Inside” is based on the true story of Claressa Shields, who won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in women’s boxing. But the story isn’t a typical tale of sports triumph, instead paying attention to what happens — and doesn’t happen — to Shields (Ryan Destiny) and her coach (Brian Tyree Henry) after she wins her first gold. As Robert Abele put it in his review , “‘The Fire Inside’ is no pity party about a system’s inequality, and the movie’s refusal to paint anyone in Claressa’s life as simply an impediment or an ally is another sign of the movie’s welcome (and very Jenkins-esque) emotional intelligence. And while the boxing is kinetically directed, Morrison grasps that the movie’s fiercest stands are taken outside the ring, when Claressa — faced with tough choices about her future — asserts herself to the people who need to hear it. That spin on an ever-roiling motivation to win, even when the bout is over, is what sets ‘The Fire Inside’ apart from so many others of its ilk.” For The Envelope podcast , I spoke to Destiny about the role and what it means to bring Shields’ story to a broader audience. “The first time that I watched the movie, I was looking for different things that I kind of wanted to do better,” Destiny recalls. “I was just nitpicking myself. The second time it really hit me how incredible her story is and how much this means to people and to her and how much it’s needed. Her story is so inspiring and incredible, and I literally cried because it really touched me in a way that made me see it from a different standpoint and see the bigger picture of what it’s really about.” ‘A Complete Unknown’ Directed by James Mangold from a screenplay by Mangold and Jay Cocks (adapting Elijah Wald’s book, “Dylan Goes Electric!”) “A Complete Unknown” tells the story of a young Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) as he arrives in New York City in 1961, continuing through to his legendary performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. But it also very much tells the story of the people around Dylan, including his girlfriend Sylvie (Elle Fanning), singer and paramour Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and folk singer Pete Seeger (Edward Norton). Reviewing the film, Joshua Rothkopf wrote , “Superfans aren’t necessarily going to love this. It’s a movie made with affection, but also with the wisdom that visionaries can sometimes be jerks. Then again, their hero won’t get a fairer shake than in ‘A Complete Unknown,’ which presents the tunes vividly (classic after classic, all of them sung live by the cast) while keeping things neatly chronological among the four or so years that any biopic interested in Dylan’s artistic arrival would have to cover, from his penniless 1961 arrival in New York through his 1965 rebellion at the Newport Folk Festival. ... [Mangold and Cocks] have landed on a counterintuitive but brilliant organizing principle, one that no great-man biopic has, to my mind, ever tried. In order for this dream to happen, that is, in order for Dylan to become Dylan , a lot of other people’s dreams had to die.” Esther Zuckerman spoke to Fanning , whose character of Sylvie Russo is based on Suze Rotolo , the character’s name reportedly changed at the behest of Dylan himself. The singer’s involvement had an impact on Fanning’s performance, she said. “I was always aware that Bob Dylan himself wanted her name changed and that was the one character that he was very precious about,” Fanning said. “Knowing that, I just felt kind of this subconscious weight to want to do justice to what they had.” ‘Nosferatu’ Written and directed by Robert Eggers, “Nosferatu” is the filmmaker’s adaptation of the 1922 silent horror classic originally mounted by director F.W. Murnau and since remade by Werner Herzog and, to an extent, E. Elias Merhige with 2000’s “Shadow of the Vampire.” In this telling, young Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is dispatched to a remote castle to finalize the paperwork on a property purchase by the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). Hutter is unaware of the supernatural bond the Count has with his wife, Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), who has been suffering from an unknown condition. For The Times, Katie Walsh wrote , “Eggers’ version isn’t a ‘take’ on ‘Nosferatu’ so much as it is an overly faithful retelling, so indebted to its inspiration that it’s utterly hamstrung by its own reverence. If ‘Shadow of the Vampire’ was a playful spin, Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’ is an utterly straight-faced and interminably dull retread of the 1922 original. It’s the exact same movie, just with more explicit violence and sex. And while Eggers loves to pay tribute to styles and forms of cinema history in his work, the sexual politics of his remake feel at least 100 years old. ... The film is a feat of maximalist and moody production design and cinematography, but the tedious and overwrought script renders every character two-dimensional, despite the effortful acting and teary pronunciations.” Kenneth Turan spoke to Eggers , who talked about the intensely detailed research and production work that he has become notorious for in films such as “The Witch ” and “The Northman.” As Eggers said, “I personally enjoy the act of research and while I get tired of beating the drum for historical accuracy, I do believe an accumulation of details grounds and transports an audience, makes it easier for them to believe the metaphysical stuff in the film.” Points of interest Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Strange Days’ To launch its new series “Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema” and exhibition of the same name, the Academy Museum will be screening Kathryn Bigelow’s 1995 “Strange Days” on 35mm. Seeing this movie, arguably Bigelow’s best, big and loud in the academy’s huge David Geffen theater should be a dazzling experience. With a climax set around a massive New Year’s Eve party in downtown Los Angeles, the film is set on the cusp of the year 2000, then five years away. (The film’s screenplay was written by James Cameron and “A Complete Unknown’s” co-writer Jay Cocks.) Ralph Feinnes plays Lenny Nero, a former LAPD officer who traffics in underground videos that presage virtual reality. When a tape of the murder of a popular rapper threatens to implicate the LAPD and lands Lenny in danger, he turns to an old friend, Mace (Angela Bassett), for help. Playing Lenny’s former girlfriend, Juliette Lewis performs a couple of PJ Harvey songs onscreen in the film and is almost worth the price of admission alone. Reviewing the film at the time of its release, Kenneth Turan wrote , “Through it all, ‘Strange Days’ manages to be consistently loud, violent and sleazy, which is less of an accomplishment than it may sound.”Caricom remains committed to decisive leadership, says outgoing chairman

For Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, President-elect Donald Trump ’s pledge to end birthright citizenship is more than just a provocative anti-immigrant policy likely to be blocked by courts. It’s personal. Tong, 51, a Democrat who has served as the state’s top legal official since 2019, is the son of immigrants who came to the United States from China and Taiwan. He is the first member of his family to have been born on U.S. soil and is the first Asian American to be elected to statewide office in Connecticut. “I grew up working side by side with my parents in our family’s Chinese restaurant, and in one generation I’ve gone from that Chinese restaurant kitchen to be the attorney general of the state of Connecticut,” he said in an interview. “That only happens one place in this world, and that’s in America.” On the campaign trail, Trump promised to take action to end birthright citizenship on day one of his second term in office, a move that would immediately prompt legal challenges. “I would be the first to sue,” Tong promised. He is one of 23 Democratic state attorneys general who are likely to be regular opponents of Trump on various issues, ranging from immigration and LGBTQ rights to environmental policy and abortion, just as many were in the first Trump administration. Likewise, Republican attorneys general routinely sued to block President Joe Biden’s policies, notching up major victories on issues like student loan debt forgiveness and a Covid vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses. The fight over birthright citizenship might be one that challengers have a good chance of winning, even with a conservative Supreme Court that includes three justices appointed by Trump. The vast majority of legal scholars think there is no genuine legal dispute over the guarantee of birthright citizenship as enshrined in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,” the amendment states. James Ho, now a Trump-appointed judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who is considered a contender for the Supreme Court if Trump has a vacancy, wrote an article in 2006 rejecting the claim that the children of undocumented immigrants should not be considered citizens. “Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. That birthright is protected no less for children of undocumented persons than for descendants of Mayflower passengers,” he wrote. Ho himself was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States with his parents. Trump has said he will sign an executive order that would ensure children born to parents who do not have legal status in the U.S. will not be considered U.S. citizens. At least one parent would need to be a citizen or legal resident for a child to receive birthright citizenship, Trump said in a video announcing the plan last year. He indicated the policy would not apply retroactively. A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about the brewing plans to counter his efforts. The administration could try to implement the policy, thereby kicking off a legal fight, by ordering federal agencies to prevent people from obtaining passports or Social Security numbers. Supporters of limiting birthright citizenship say the language in the 14th Amendment referring to citizenship being awarded to people “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States does not include the children of undocumented immigrants. Conservatives have embraced the idea of declaring the act of migrants crossing the southern border as a form of invasion — a move that could have them treated more like enemy combatants than migrants. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken that approach , leading to conflicts with the Biden administration. A declaration along those lines by Trump could be used to defend a policy seeking to end automatic birthright citizenship, an approach Judge Ho outlined in remarks made after the November election that seem to backtrack on his earlier view. He said that “birthright citizenship obviously doesn’t apply in case of war or invasion.” Cecillia Wang, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is also gearing up to sue Trump on birthright citizenship and other policies, said calling immigration a form of invasion reflects “a white nationalist view” that is not supported by the facts. “I don’t think that anyone’s theory about so-called invasion ... should fly in the courts,” she added. From Tong’s perspective, any limitation on birthright citizenship would be a violation of the 14th Amendment. It is “beyond clear” what the law states, he said, and it will “get real when people’s lives and communities are impacted, or worse, destroyed” if Trump’s plan goes into effect. He was quick to cite the experience of his parents, who “ran for their lives” before reaching the United States and settling in Connecticut. “Let’s just cut the crap and acknowledge that we’re Americans. Everybody is as American as anybody else,” Tong added. “I mean, it strikes to the core of our constitutional foundation, the 14th Amendment.” This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( NASDAQ:TERN – Free Report ) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 53,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000. A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals by 12.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 2,261 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals by 28.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 5,049 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 5,409 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Terns Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,000. 98.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Insider Transactions at Terns Pharmaceuticals In related news, Director Hongbo Lu bought 476,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.50 per share, with a total value of $4,999,995.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 476,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,999,995. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink . Also, Director Jill M. Quigley sold 17,235 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $172,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,000. The trade was a 53.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Corporate insiders own 15.10% of the company’s stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on TERN Terns Pharmaceuticals Price Performance TERN opened at $6.24 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.49. The firm has a market cap of $530.03 million, a P/E ratio of -5.29 and a beta of -0.32. Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $4.19 and a 1-year high of $11.40. Terns Pharmaceuticals ( NASDAQ:TERN – Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.05. Equities analysts anticipate that Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.22 earnings per share for the current year. Terns Pharmaceuticals Profile ( Free Report ) Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops small-molecule product candidates for the treatment of oncology, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and obesity. The company develops TERN-701, an allosteric BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that is in phase 1 clinical trial for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a form of cancer that starts in bone marrow. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TERN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( NASDAQ:TERN – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Terns Pharmaceuticals Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Terns Pharmaceuticals and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Ukraine must be in strong position for negotiations, Starmer to say

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Stock Price Down 0.9% – Time to Sell?Taylor Swift's Eras Tour broke records and stadiums, Donald Trump won the US presidential election and Raygun kangaroo-hopped into history. or signup to continue reading 2024 was an Olympic-sized year; these are the stories that shaped it. First, Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson was crowned Queen of Denmark after Queen Margrethe II abdicated her throne during her New Year's speech. Queen Mary met the now King Frederik X in Sydney in 2000, where they met a tourist destination for the Danish. Australia was King Charles III, the first visit by the British monarch since his coronation. Independent senator Lidia Thorpe stirred up controversy after protesting during a parliamentary ceremony. The Indigenous senator was for her comments but did little to dissuade Ms Thorpe. "I don't give a damn about a censure motion - in fact, I'm going to use it for kindling," she said at the time. Samantha Murphy was last seen on February 4, 2024, when she left her home in Ballarat to go jogging. After a significant search in an effort to find Ms Murphy, was charged with her murder. Ms Murphy's body has never been found. Swifties were overjoyed as Taylor Swift for three of the biggest shows ever at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and two more at Accor Stadium in Sydney. The tour was hugely successful for Swift who during the tour. Next year's biggest tour hitting our shores? and coming to Australia for the first time in two decades. Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly shot Luke Davies and Jesse Baird dead with a NSW Police Service weapon on February 19. in Bungonia on February 27, with Lamarre-Condon charged with the murders of the two men, with the case adjourned until next year. The nation was rocked , of six people who were murdered at Bondi Westfield. 18 people were stabbed by Joel Cauchi before he was shot dead by NSW Police inspector Amy Scott. The massacre would leave an enduring mark on the suburb. Two days after the stabbings in Bondi, Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanual was allegedly stabbed during a live-streamed sermon. 40 people were charged in relation to a riot outside Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakely following the alleged stabbing. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb , which grew into hundreds, "turned on police". Bruce Lehrman raped Brittany Higgins by the Federal Court's Justice Michael Lee in April. "Having escaped the lion's den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of coming back for his hat," he said. Accused mushroom cook killer Erin Patterson for her role in a deadly lunch in July 2023. Patterson was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after three people died following a lunch at her Gippsland home. Labor MP Josh Burns' office in St Kilda and was covered in red-painted slogans, including "Zionism is fascism" on June 19. "It was clearly politically motivated," Mr Burns said of the vandalism. Wikileaks founder returned to Australia after more than 14 years after his site published classified defence documents alleging war crimes committed by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan. Landing in Canberra on June 26, home. "The case has dragged on for too long, there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration, and we want him brought home to Australia," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. The Construction, Forestry, and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) was hit with allegations of criminal behaviour and links with bikie gangs. The Victorian branch was on July 15, with the federal government appointing an independent administrator to take over the union. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said the CFMEU's reported actions were "abhorrent" and "intolerable". Paris became the focus of all our attention at the end of July for the . Australians were highly successful, with 18 gold medals by the time of the closing ceremony, and sporting heroes like Jess Fox, and 14-year-old Arisa Trew were champions in their sports. The medalists were overshadowed by a different name in the months after the Olympics however. Dr Rachel Gunn went viral for her performance in breaking at the Olympics. and awkward ground game gave her a level of infamy which saw worldwide ridicule. Jimmy Fallon brought out comedian Rachel Dratch to impersonate the dancer and featured in Call of Duty. Universities across Australia were the site of . The Australian National University, University of Newcastle and University of Wollongong were just some of the campuses which saw 'tent cities' demanding business with Israel be ceased. The driver of the wedding bus in Greta, which saw 10 people killed, Brett Andrew Button, on September 11. Leoni Bowey, who lost her niece and sister in the coach rollover, was surprised at the lengthy term. "I came in not believing very much in the justice system, but the result that they got was tremendous for us," she said. to return to the Oval Office four years after being turfed out. The campaign featured an assassination attempt and a late candidate switch but saw Trump win 276 Electoral College votes to win. The Albanese government people under 16 from using certain social media platforms. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the bill was about "protecting young people, not punishing or isolating them". Alan Jones was and arrested on November 18. The former shock faced court on December 18, with assault charges relating to 10 alleged victims for historical sexual offences spanning almost two decades. Jones's lawyer, Bryan Wrench, said his client before a jury to clear his name. Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, covering the local community. Got a tip? Send it through to me at joel.ehsman@austcommunitymedia.com.au. He/Him Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, covering the local community. Got a tip? Send it through to me at joel.ehsman@austcommunitymedia.com.au. He/Him DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. 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From the Nov. 14 edition of The Boston Globe: Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology, a private two-year college in Boston, offers an 800-hour certificate program in HVAC and refrigeration. President and CEO Aisha Francis said she’d like to break out segments of the program to create continuing education classes for HVAC technicians seeking to improve their skills — for example, offering a class in heat pump installation. But the school, which attracts primarily Black and Latino men interested in the trades, can’t make it work financially. About half the school’s students receive federal Pell grants to help finance their education, and short-term certificate classes are ineligible for Pell funding. “Most of our students are very low income, so even though they want the skill set, they’re not able to pay for them,” Francis said. Many fields today are facing workforce shortages. At the same time, there are students seeking a quick credential to enter the job market. Short-term certificate programs can help students get an entry-level job or gain new skills. For example, a student interested in medicine can train as a certified nursing assistant or emergency medical technician, then earn money while deciding whether they want to continue climbing the health care career ladder. Yet federal Pell grants — the major source of financial aid for low-income students — aren’t awarded for programs that are shorter than 600 hours or less than 15 weeks. That leaves low-income students, who are often those seeking certificates, scrambling to pay out of pocket and schools searching for alternative funding. Schools may offer fewer courses because interested students can’t afford to pay. Congress has been considering bipartisan bills to expand Pell eligibility for short-term classes. Passing legislation would be a win for Republicans advocating for more workforce-related education and for Democrats seeking to expand educational access for low-income students. More importantly, it would help students gain marketable skills and employers fill open jobs. While legitimate concerns have been raised about ensuring that Pell-eligible credential programs are high-quality, legislation could address those concerns by establishing objective standards programs must meet. For example, programs that train students for a licensing exam could only retain eligibility if a certain percentage of graduates pass the exam within a reasonable time frame after graduation. Other metrics could involve job placement rates, program completion rates, or enhanced earnings. “It’s increasingly clear that most jobs require some degree of postsecondary training, and it’s been hard to develop viable alternative pathways to college for students who are not enrolling in four-year degree programs without financial support,” said Martin West, academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Expanding Pell, West said, “could create innovation in that space.” Francis said Franklin Cummings Tech would offer more classes in construction-related fields like land surveying or blueprint reading if they were Pell eligible. And she expects that some people who earn short-term certificates would advance to other degrees. “We know these kinds of measures actually push more people into higher education,” Francis said. “It’s just a matter of will. Do we want to help more people get better educated or not?” The biggest proponents of expanding Pell have been community colleges. At North Shore Community College, around 500 students are enrolled in short-term professional programs in areas like health care and information technology. Jennifer James Price, assistant vice president of employer relations for the college, said she works with local hospitals, community health centers, and nursing homes, which are desperate for nursing assistants, phlebotomists, and other program graduates. To pay for these programs, the school has been chasing grants, but those aren’t reliable, and tuition for a health care certification can cost up to $3,000. (The state’s free community college program also doesn’t apply to certificate classes.) “It doesn’t build a steady expectation for students or businesses in the North Shore where (classes are) happening at a low cost all the time,” Price said. There is evidence that paying for workforce training works. In fiscal 2023 and 2024, Massachusetts created a $15 million state fund to pay for workforce training in high-need fields at community colleges. According to a report by the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges, 3,359 students completed these programs, the majority of them in health care, and 2,404 of those graduates (66 percent) found a job or were enrolled in continuing education within 90 days of program completion. Bills introduced in Congress would authorize Pell grants for students enrolled in programs with at least 150 hours, with guardrails to ensure the programs are high-quality and fulfill employer needs. There has been some dispute over whether to include for-profit colleges, which have historically charged students more money than nonprofits with worse outcomes. Guardrails that restrict eligibility to programs that meet objective criteria — like the ability to pass a licensing exam or get a job — would address concerns about quality, regardless of tax status. There would be an estimated $1.7 billion cost to US taxpayers over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. As the House considered advancing the bill earlier this year, Republicans inserted a poison pill, proposing to pay for the expansion by restricting federal loans to students at schools with large endowments. Give the size of the federal budget, experts say there are undoubtedly other, less controversial sources of money that can be tapped to pay to expand Pell, which is already an approximately $25 billion-a-year program. Expanding Pell eligibility to short-term certificate programs would help students, schools, and employers. Congress should resist the temptation to play politics and pass the policy.Shares of Energy Transfer LP ( NYSE:ET – Get Free Report ) dropped 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $19.10 and last traded at $19.24. Approximately 1,999,282 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 13,669,208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.26. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Energy Transfer from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.55. Get Our Latest Analysis on ET Energy Transfer Stock Performance Energy Transfer ( NYSE:ET – Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. The business had revenue of $20.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.59 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 5.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current year. Energy Transfer Cuts Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.3225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.85%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Energy Transfer Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Energy Transfer by 15.0% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 346,825 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,567,000 after buying an additional 45,172 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 242,042 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,885,000 after acquiring an additional 57,184 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,379,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $535,738,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,768 shares during the period. Clear Street Derivatives LLC bought a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,565,000. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 19,380.5% in the third quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 60,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $963,000 after purchasing an additional 59,692 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About Energy Transfer ( Get Free Report ) Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Energy Transfer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Energy Transfer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

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NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Jalon Moore scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, freshman star Jeremiah Fears added 19 and No. 12 Oklahoma remained one of the four unbeaten teams in Division I men's basketball by putting away a pesky Prairie View squad, 89-67 on Sunday. Prairie View cut the Oklahoma lead to single digits on several occasions in the second half, but could get no closer than eight before the Sooners (13-0) eventually pushed the lead above 20 points in the closing minutes. Oklahoma took a 43-32 halftime lead despite hitting only one field goal in the final 10 minutes. The Sooners compensated for that drought by hitting 18 of 19 free throws in the first 20 minutes. Duke Miles was 7 for 7 at the foul line and hit both field goal attempts, both 3-pointers, scoring 13 of his 17 points in the first half. Fears, twice the SEC freshman of the week this season, shot 7 of 11 to eclipse his average of 18 points per game. The loss was the 12th straight for Prairie View (1-12), with its only win this season coming against a non-NCAA team. Tanahj Pettaway scored 22 points and Marcel Bryant had 14. Oklahoma couldn’t put the Panthers away despite taking double-digits leads on several occasions in the game. Prairie View will finally return home for the first time in two months after playing 12 straight road games. Prairie View cut the Sooners' lead to nine for the final time with 8 minutes to play, before Moore sparked a 22-9 finish to clinch the victory. Oklahoma shot 35 free throws, hitting 32. Prairie View was just 5 for 7. The Sooners open the new year and SEC play at Alabama on Saturday afternoon. Prairie View hosts Grambling in its SWAC opener Saturday afternoon. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and College Basketball News: Rankings, Scores, Stats & More

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St. Peter's continued the 71-year Christmas tradition of making handmade stockings for patients and babies during the holiday season. This year's event had around 35 volunteers on Monday who made about 110 stockings for patients hospitalized over the Christmas holiday. The group also made 70 for babies born at St. Peter’s in December. Hosted by St. Peter’s Health and the St. Peter’s Hospital Association. the “Arlene Mathews Sock Sew,” is an annual event where volunteers make handmade stockings for patients hospitalized over the holiday and babies born in December at the St. Peter’s Health Regional Medical Center. The tradition was started by former St. Peter’s obstetrics nurse and long-time volunteer and association leader, Arlene Mathews. She started the effort from her basement in 1953. After her passing in 2020, dedicated volunteers have ensured the long-loved tradition continues. The St. Peter’s Hospital Association is a volunteer group formed in 1921 to support St. Peter’s Health in providing health care services. Since its inception, the association has surpassed $1 million in support.