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Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in IDACORP, Inc. ( NYSE:IDA – Free Report ) by 67.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,707 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,274 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in IDACORP were worth $4,918,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in IDACORP by 1,020.9% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,253 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 2,052 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of IDACORP by 4.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 55,144 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,158 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IDACORP during the first quarter worth about $314,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of IDACORP by 120.6% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,341 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 5,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in IDACORP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,023,000. 89.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have issued reports on IDA. Bank of America raised shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho upgraded shares of IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $102.00 to $116.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of IDACORP from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on IDACORP from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on IDACORP in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.83. IDACORP Stock Up 0.1 % Shares of NYSE:IDA opened at $118.91 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $106.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. IDACORP, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.43 and a 12 month high of $120.02. The company has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.60. IDACORP ( NYSE:IDA – Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by ($0.05). IDACORP had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 15.35%. The company had revenue of $528.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $524.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that IDACORP, Inc. will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year. IDACORP Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from IDACORP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. IDACORP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.82%. IDACORP Profile ( Free Report ) IDACORP, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, purchase, and sale of electric energy in the United States. The company operates 17 hydropower generating plants located in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon; three natural gas-fired plants in southern Idaho; and interests in two coal-fired steam electric generating plants located in Wyoming and Nevada. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IDA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for IDACORP, Inc. ( NYSE:IDA – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for IDACORP Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for IDACORP and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .The Philadelphia Eagles ruled wide receiver DeVonta Smith out for Sunday night's game at the Los Angeles Rams due to a hamstring injury. Smith did not practice all week and will miss his second game of the season and just the third of his four-year NFL career. He was inactive in a Week 4 loss at Tampa Bay due to a concussion. Smith, 26, leads the Eagles with 41 receptions and four touchdown catches ands ranks second with 516 receiving yards in nine starts this season. The former Heisman Trophy winner has 281 catches for 3,694 yards and 23 scores in 59 games (58 starts) since the Eagles drafted him with the 10th overall pick in 2021. NFC East-leading Philadelphia (8-2) takes a six-game winning streak to Los Angeles (5-5), which has won four of its last five games. --Field Level Media

For the first time in 16 years, Novak Djokovic will use the Brisbane International as his warm-up tournament for next month’s Australian Open . Queensland’s showpiece tournament announced on Wednesday that the 24-time grand slam champion would play the Brisbane International for the first time since 2009. “NOVAK DJOKOVIC,” the tournament’s social media account wrote. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today “Hitting #BrisbaneTennis this summer.” It will also be the first time he has played in any Brisbane event since the ATP Cup in 2020, which was held across three Australian cities. Djokovic joins Nick Kyrgios, Holger Rune and Francis Tiafoe as the marquee players in the Brisbane International’s 2025 draw, which kicks off on December 29 and runs until January 5. Last time he played in the tournament, Djokovic was upset by Ernests Gulbis in the first round. The 37-year-old shared the video announcing his inclusion on Instagram on Wednesday. Brisbane will also be the former world No.1’s first tournament since pulling out of November’s ATP Finals with an unspecified injury. Recharged and recovered, Djokovic will get to these Australian shores under the tutelage of longtime rival Andy Murray — his new coach — for the first time since their shock union. Murray, Britain’s greatest ever player, retired after this summer’s Olympics at the age of 37, finally admitting defeat in his battle against injury. It had been suggested Murray would one day return to tennis and become a coach, particularly due to his love of the sport, hard work and his tactical acumen. However, the unexpected announcement that he was to team up with Djokovic through to January’s Open in Melbourne caused quite a stir. Djokovic — beaten by Murray in the 2012 US Open final and again at Wimbledon the following year — admitted it was something even he could not have envisaged. “I was going through a process of thinking about next season in the last couple of months,” Djokovic said to Sky Sports at the Qatar Grand Prix. “I was trying to figure out what I need at this stage of my career, because I stopped with my (former) coach Goran Ivanisevic, who I was very successful with and worked for many years, in March. “So I took about six months to really think about if I need a coach and, if yes, who that’s going to be and the profile of the coach. “We were going through names and I realised that the perfect coach for me at this point would be someone who has been through the experiences I am going through, possibly a multiple Grand Slam winner, a former (world) No.1 “I was thinking about different people and a discussion about Andy Murray appeared on the table with me and my team. “We were like, ‘OK, I’m going to give him a call and see how it goes’. It caught him a little off guard as well because he wasn’t expecting it. “We connected really fast and he accepted it after a few days. I can’t be more excited about it.” Djokovic beat Murray in the 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 Australian Open finals as well as the French Open final in 2016. “This collaboration is a surprise to me as well, to everyone, but it is exciting for tennis,” Djokovic added. “He has been one of my greatest rivals. We are the same age, have played in all the biggest stadiums in our sport, so I cant wait to get out on the court and prepare for next season.” - With AAPVikings escape with 30-27 win over Bears in overtime thrillerNDDC To Boost Niger Delta Chamber Of Commerce With N30 Billion

XRAY Investors Have Opportunity to Lead Dentsply Sirona Inc. Securities Fraud LawsuitConcerns have also been raised about the “renormalisation” of smoking. Dr Rachel O’Donnell, senior research fellow at the University of Stirling’s Institute for Social Marketing and Health, said restrictions on smoking in outdoor places can “reinforce” a message that smoking “isn’t a socially acceptable thing to do” and could also help smokers to kick the habit. In November, it emerged that the UK Government is to scrap plans to ban smoking in the gardens of pubs and restaurants in England. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the hospitality industry has “taken a real battering in recent years” and it is not “the right time” to ban smoking outside pubs. But smoking and vaping could be banned in other public places in England – such as in playgrounds or outside of schools – under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. According to the World Health Organisation, there is no safe level of second-hand smoke exposure. In a briefing for journalists, Dr O’Donnell said decision-making “should be on the basis of all the evidence that’s available”. She added: “Any debate about legislation on smoking in outdoor settings shouldn’t only focus on air quality and second-hand smoke exposure levels, because the impacts of restrictions in outdoor settings are also evident on our social norms.” Smoke-free outdoor environments “reinforce smoke-free as the acceptable norm”, she said. “This, I think, is a critically important point at a time where in the media, over the last year, we’ve seen various reports and questions as to whether we might be on the cusp of renormalisation of smoking for various reasons, and so smoke-free public environments still have a critically important role to play. “If you reduce opportunities to smoke, it can also help individuals who smoke themselves to reduce the amount they smoke or to make a quit attempt.” Dr O’Donnell said visibility of tobacco products and smoking is a “form of marketing for tobacco companies” as she pointed to studies highlighting the increasing number of tobacco depictions on screen. She went on: “The more often young adults observe smoking around them, the more likely they are to believe that smoking is socially acceptable, which feeds back into this idea of renormalisation of smoking. “So, restrictions on smoking in outdoor public places have other positive knock-on effects, potentially for young people as well, just sending out that clear message that this isn’t a socially acceptable thing to do and see, and this could help to discourage smoking initiation among young people at quite a critical time.” On being exposed to second-hand smoke at work, she added: “I think sometimes when we think about exposure to second-hand smoke in outdoor settings, in pubs, in restaurants, we think about that sort of occasional customer exposure, the nuisance element of it when people are out enjoying a meal with friends, but we also need to be reminded that this is a repeated occupational exposure for those who are working in hospitality and serving drinks and food. “Now, as we’ve already seen, concentrations of second-hand smoke in these settings are generally low, and they’re likely to present a low risk to health for most healthy people. “But ... there’s no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke, and so any individual with pre-existing heart, lung or respiratory conditions may be particularly vulnerable even to low levels of exposure. “We know that second-hand smoke is its known carcinogen, and on that basis those exposed in the hospitality sector have a right to be protected. “On that basis, there’s a need to protect them, as there is anybody in any workplace setting from second-hand smoke exposure in all areas of workplaces and spaces.” Sean Semple, professor of exposure science at the University of Stirling’s Institute for Social Marketing and Health, said: “I think that if I were a policy-maker, which I am not, then I would be looking at those occupational exposures as well. “I have asthma, if I was being occupationally exposed to SHS (second-hand smoke), and knowing that I was one of a very small number of workers now being legally exposed to SHS in the workplace, then I might not be very happy about that.” A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “As part of our 10 Year Health Plan we are shifting focus from sickness to prevention, including tackling the harms of smoking and passive smoking. “The landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill is the biggest public health intervention in a generation and will put us on track towards a smoke-free UK.”

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FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Jalen Haynes scored 18 points as George Mason beat Mount St. Mary's 64-56 on Saturday. Haynes also added 16 rebounds for the Patriots (9-4). Darius Maddox shot 5 of 11 from the field, including 1 for 5 from 3-point range, and went 2 for 3 from the line to add 13 points. Brayden O'Connor shot 2 for 5 (2 for 3 from 3-point range) and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with nine points. The Mountaineers (8-5, 1-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) were led by Dola Adebayo, who recorded 13 points and seven rebounds. Mount St. Mary's also got 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks from Terrell Ard Jr.. Arlandus Keyes also had seven points. Haynes scored 11 points in the first half and George Mason went into halftime trailing 30-28. George Mason used a 10-3 second-half run to come back from a three-point deficit and take the lead at 34-30 with 17:54 remaining in the half before finishing off the victory. Maddox scored nine second-half points. George Mason plays Tuesday against Davidson at home, and Mount St. Mary's hosts Niagara on Sunday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he will lift his martial law decree, giving in to the parliament’s opposition, just hours after his dramatic move imposing it Tuesday. Yoon said in a televised address early Wednesday that he will “accept the National Assembly’s demand and lift the martial law through a cabinet meeting,” which he said he had called but its members hadn’t yet arrived. He will immediately lift the martial law when they convene, he said. Yoon, 63, stunned the nation, lawmakers and investors earlier by declaring martial law in a high-stakes move he claimed would prevent the opposition from trying to paralyze his administration amid a political rift that is set to deepen markedly. The South Korean leader’s political future will be put to test after his daring move, which caught even his fellow party members and foreign allies like the U.S. by surprise. “I request the National Assembly to immediately stop the reckless acts of paralyzing the functions of the state through repeated impeachments, legislative manipulation, and budget manipulation,” Yoon said in his earlier televised address. After Yoon announced he would lift the decree, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said its troops that had been mobilized for the martial law declaration have returned to their original posts as of 4:22 a.m., Yonhap reported. No unusual activities have been spotted from North Korea, it added. The move was viewed by analysts as a risky political play that was likely to backfire rather than an attempt to return to military-led regimes of the past. With his own government and party kept in the dark alongside the U.S. and other friendly nations, Yoon created a chaotic moment that left him isolated and even further from controlling the political agenda going forward. Early Wednesday morning, 190 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament unanimously voted to demand the lifting of martial law. The president had said his move was intended to protect freedom and constitutional order, that it wouldn’t have an impact on South Korea’s foreign policy, and that it would help eradicate the influence of North Korean supporters. A proclamation released after the address banned all political activities and strikes and said media would be subject to control of the Martial Law Command. Korean assets were battered during New York trading. The won suffered its sharpest drop since the global financial crisis to hit 1444.65 its lowest in over two years, before paring losses. Samsung Electronics’ London-listed shares fell as much as 7.2% then regained some ground. The finance minister and central bank chief met and promised to provide unlimited liquidity to markets if needed. The Bank of Korea will meet early Wednesday, just a week after a surprise rate cut partly triggered by heightened uncertainty generated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory. Adding to the sense of chaos, the nation’s largest union federation called a general strike in defiance of Yoon’s order. The shock announcement to impose martial law for the first time since the democratization of South Korea in 1987 caught even Yoon’s own party off guard. Han Dong-hoon, leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, condemned the move and vowed to stop it, in a sign of the president’s increasing isolation and his lack of consultation. The move also surprised the White House, prompting Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell to say that the Biden administration was watching the developments with “grave concern.” Yoon’s abrupt decision came after months of wrangling and deadlock in parliament between the president’s minority government and the main opposition Democratic Party, but with little expectation that the president would take such a drastic step. The opposition has been trying to force its budget proposal through parliament and has submitted an impeachment motion against the chief prosecutor after months of also trying to get Yoon’s wife prosecuted. Adding to the fractious political rift, the DP’s leader has faced multiple court cases and was convicted last month of election-law violations, barring him from running for president if it is finalized. Amid the political standoff, Yoon had vetoed a string of bills passed by parliament and at times angering his own party. His latest act ramped up tensions considerably domestically, while also creating high uncertainty abroad for the outlook of one of the world’s key suppliers of semiconductors and a stalwart U.S. ally in an increasingly complex security environment in Asia. Even though the martial law order lasted less than a day, the political instability it will generate is set to last two or three years, according to Lee Won-Jae, a sociology professor at at Kaist Graduate School of Culture Technology in Daejeon. “Martial law has lost its effect, so from this moment on, all state institutions exercising physical force, including the military and police of the Republic of Korea, are obligated not to follow unlawful or unfair instructions,” Han, the leader of Yoon’s party, said in a Facebook post. Yoon’s moves came at a time of high uncertainty for the nation as its trade-dependent economy faces potential tariffs from Trump’s incoming U.S. administration. Bloomberg Economics estimates that full imposition of tariffs on China, South Korea and other U.S. trading partners could reduce Seoul’s exports to the U.S. by as much as 55%. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to present a security concern as it deepens its ties with Russia, having sent thousands of troops there to help in Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Russia’s defense minister visited Pyongyang last week in the latest sign of talks between the two countries. Russia may help provide North Korea key technology for its weapons programs including its intercontinental ballistic missiles. “We shouldn’t be fooled — this has nothing at all to do with North Korea and all to do with domestic politics,” said Defense Priorities Fellow Daniel DePetris. China suggested its citizens residing in South Korea keep calm and try to avoid going outdoors for anything non-essential, the country’s embassy said in a post on social media Tuesday night. The embassy also asked Chinese citizens to comply with official orders from the Korean government and “use caution” over sharing political opinions. “The domestic uncertainty adds to the external pressures in recent weeks as the market is starting to price in the rise of higher U.S. tariffs under the new Trump administration,” said Aroop Chatterjee, a strategist at Wells Fargo. “Korea is an open economy sensitive to shifts in global export demand and spillovers from a weaker China.” While it remains to be seen if the short-lived declaration of martial law will have a lasting impact on markets and the economy, Yoon’s high-stakes move is certain to knock confidence in his leadership and his reliability as a bullwark of democracy in a nation with many authoritarian neighbors. “U.S. officials look to South Korea now as a beacon of democracy so for a president to pull a fast one like this is certainly shocking and unprecedented,” said DePetris. Bank of Korea’s monetary board, which unexpectedly cut the key rate last week, will also hold an extraordinary meeting Wednesday morning to discuss steps to shield the economy and markets. “From a near-term policy standpoint, apart from the market disruptions, uncertainty could also arise in the event of cabinet changes,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts Goohoon Kwon and Kamakshya Trivedi wrote in a note Tuesday. (With assistance from Maria Elena Vizcaino.) ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Ardelyx's regulatory officer sells $23,689 in stockWhen J. Bryan Quesenberry first learned that the federal government was sending out hundreds of billions of dollars to help businesses survive during the COVID-19 pandemic, he thought: “There’s going to be fraud here. There just has to be.” A few months later, Quesenberry began sifting through a list of businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program loans, which were intended to help small businesses ravaged by the pandemic continue paying their employees. The Oregon lawyer said he knew businesses were not allowed to receive more than one loan during a single round, so he searched for “double dippers.” He soon found dozens of businesses across the country that appeared to obtain PPP loans improperly. During the summer of 2020, Quesenberry started suing those firms to try to help the government recover funds. “It just blows my mind,” Quesenberry said. “That’s tax money that comes out of your pocket and that comes out of my pocket.” As federal officials try to retrieve billions in stolen pandemic relief funds, private citizens are scouring public data, company websites and social media pages to help identify potential cases. Those who have filed suits say they are motivated by the desire to root out wrongdoers and expose corporate fraud. But there is also a strong financial incentive. Under the False Claims Act originally enacted in 1863, private citizens can file lawsuits on behalf of the federal government against those who may have defrauded the United States. If the government recovers funds, those citizens can typically earn between 15% and 30% of that amount. That has allowed some private citizens to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, or in some cases more than $1 million, for chasing pandemic relief fraud. The practice has stirred up some controversy. Some argue that the provision was meant to encourage whistleblowers with insider knowledge to come forward. But some private citizens who have filed many suits said they had relied heavily on publicly available information, stitching together evidence they sourced from the internet to build their cases. The armchair sleuthing highlights how widespread pandemic fraud was and how federal investigators have struggled to keep up with it. In its haste to stave off an economic crisis and provide immediate aid to Americans, Washington distributed billions of dollars with few strings and little oversight. The Small Business Administration’s inspector general has estimated that more than $200 billion — or at least 17% of the pandemic loans the agency distributed — was awarded to “potentially fraudulent actors.” The majority of PPP loans have been forgiven by the federal government. While federal investigators have gone after some of the biggest perpetrators of fraud, limited resources have hindered their ability to go after the estimated thousands of people who took government money improperly. The effort by some private citizens to uncover pandemic fraud has not been warmly received by former Justice Department officials who worry that a deluge of lawsuits that lack insider knowledge could be straining federal resources. Federal officials have to investigate each whistleblower lawsuit to some extent, though the government ultimately declines to intervene in most suits that are filed. “I’m concerned about the consequences brought on by this,” said Michael Galdo, the former director of COVID-19 fraud enforcement at the Justice Department. “There’s a finite amount of resources that the Department of Justice has.” Galdo, now working as counsel at the King & Spalding law firm in New York, said he thinks private citizens without insider information are “clearly” filing suits for financial reasons. “They’re not saying, ‘Send all the money back to the government,’” he said. It is unclear how many whistleblower suits have been filed by private citizens who are not insiders, in part because many cases could still be sealed. As of April 1, the Justice Department had opened more than 1,200 civil pandemic fraud matters, including more than 600 “qui tam,” or whistleblower, cases. To date, more than $43 million has been awarded to whistleblowers, according to Justice Department data. Ethan P. Davis, a former acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, said he worried that some private citizens were finding red flags in the data that “may be completely innocuous.” “I fear that they may mislead the government into thinking that there is a real problem, and that can result in a pretty costly and expensive investigation for a company,” said Davis, now a partner at King & Spalding who has represented companies that have been accused of obtaining fraudulent PPP loans and investigated. Some private citizens said that it often took hours to investigate leads, and that they were unearthing cases that might otherwise slip through the cracks. Although Quesenberry said he relied primarily on information available on the internet to build cases, he said it was a time-intensive process that often required combing through government websites, Yelp pages, news articles and LinkedIn profiles. He said he thought he added value because he was pulling together evidence to “paint the picture of fraud.” Quesenberry has earned more than $400,000 from 10 cases that have helped the federal government recover more than $3 million, according to a review of documents from U.S. attorney’s offices. Quesenberry said he had been investigating pandemic fraud for about four and a half years and was now working on his cases full time. The Justice Department declined to comment. Hefty Settlements There are several private citizens who are prolific in suing PPP loan borrowers. In June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced that two homeowners associations and two country clubs would pay more than $5.8 million to settle allegations that they knowingly submitted false claims to obtain PPP loans. Some of the organizations said in statements that they had applied in good faith and thought they were eligible. The claims were brought by Wade Riner, a real estate investment business owner in Houston, who was awarded nearly $700,000 as part of the settlement. Riner learned that his own homeowners associations in Florida, where he owns property, and “numerous others” had obtained pandemic loans they were ineligible for, according to the complaint. He has since sued dozens of homeowners associations, condominium associations and country clubs across the country. Although he has seen some success in other districts, the federal government has not pursued most of the defendants he has sued. Riner declined to comment through his lawyer. David Abrams, a lawyer in New York, has also brought cases resulting in multimillion-dollar settlements. Abrams has been awarded more than $1.7 million through pandemic fraud-related lawsuits that have resulted in the government’s recovering more than $17 million, according to a review of documents from U.S. attorney’s offices. Abrams has filed many lawsuits under GNGH2 Inc., targeting borrowers who had links to China, among other things. He has also filed some suits under his organization, the Zionist Advocacy Center, which he said seeks to do “pro-Israel work in the court system.” In September, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced that Americans for Peace Now, a progressive Jewish nonprofit, had agreed to pay $261,890 to settle allegations that it improperly obtained a $130,945 PPP loan. In June, the office said the Middle East Institute had also agreed to pay $718,558 to settle allegations that it improperly obtained a PPP loan. Abrams, who sued both groups, accused them of fraudulently certifying that they were not “primarily engaged in political or lobbying activities,” according to the complaints. Hadar Susskind, president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now, said officials thought they had qualified for the loan because they did not consider the nonprofit to be a political organization. He said they had settled because it could have been costlier to go to court. Susskind said he had never met Abrams, but he believed the complaint was “very much ideologically motivated” because of the nonprofit’s work to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace. In an email, Abrams said: “In America these anti-Israel organizations have the right to spin, distort or even outright lie about Israel. However, they do not have the right to subsidize their activities with government monies for which they were not eligible.” Abrams said he had long done other activist work, including recently representing a Jewish high school student who was the victim of antisemitic bullying. He said he did not charge fees in those matters, and that the “whistleblower cases do generate significant revenue, so things more or less balance out.” Abrams declined to comment about lawsuits he has filed under GNGH2 because of “confidentiality concerns.” ‘A Gold Rush’ There are signs that more people are starting to notice cases that have resulted in big settlements. Jason Marcus, a partner at the Bracker & Marcus law firm in Atlanta, said he had filed about a hundred lawsuits on behalf of four clients who have been investigating pandemic fraud. One of those clients is Sidesolve, a company in San Jose, California, that was awarded $1 million last year after Empire Roofing and its network of affiliated companies agreed to pay $9 million to settle allegations that they falsely certified they were eligible to receive PPP loans. A representative for Empire Roofing said there “was no fraud,” and that the company had settled to resolve the matter quickly. Marcus said that after the case was announced last December, he started to get “calls all of the time from people who say, ‘How do I do this?’” “It’s like a gold rush,” he said. Marcus said he was selective with his clients, though, and that he thoroughly vetted cases before filing suits. Katy Levinson said she and her two co-founders at Sidesolve use artificial intelligence and other data science tools to analyze a mix of information, including publicly available data and private data they purchase. She said they started to investigate pandemic fraud full time in early 2021. The future of the whistleblower provision, though, has come into question. Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently declared the provision unconstitutional because it allowed private citizens to sue on behalf of the United States without proper appointment. The decision has been appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Jason M. Crawford, a partner at the Crowell & Moring law firm in New York, said the case seemed likely to eventually reach the Supreme Court. “I think the qui tam provisions could receive a lot of scrutiny from the high court,” he said. This article originally appeared in The New York Times .

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A surprise revelation that nobody was expecting was revealed in the jungle on ITV's I'm a Celebrity tonight. The campmates were agog by Coleen Rooney's story about the time she met Donald Trump. Although used to rubbing shoulders with the stars of sport and entertainment, Coleen recalled the time both she and her former Manchester United star husband, Wayne Rooney , were invited to the White House. In 2018 and 2019, Coleen and her family were living state-side when Wayne played for US soccer team DC United. Coleen shared with the camp: "When we lived in America, we were invited to the White House for Christmas , and we went in to meet Donald Trump. And we walked in and we got to get the official photograph taken in front of the Christmas tree. READ MORE: ITV I'm A Celebrity star seals 'first elimination' as he 'shows true colours' "So Donald Trump said to my son 'see? Told ya, all the soccer players get the good looking girls.' And I told my mum, I was like 'dirty b*****d'." Coleen then disclosed to the camp how Trump "wanted Wayne to go over to teach his son to play football." When Danny quizzed Coleen about Donald Trump, asking "Is he that orange?" Coleen replied: "He was very orange". Reacting to Coleen's revelation, viewers of the show took to X (formerly Twitter ). One viewer said: "Calling Trump a dirty b*****d wasn’t what I expected from this series but it just confirms she’s a smart cookie! #ImACeleb". A second viewer posted: "I absolutely love Coleen on this. She's one of those women you can imagine instantly being friends with. #ImACeleb". A third viewer posted: "the fact that Coleen also called Trump a dirty b*****d under her breath. What a queen #ImACeleb". On Saturday night, Coleen's husband Wayne Rooney stunned the stars of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here's spin-off show when he dropped a bombshell about appearing in the jungle himself as wife Coleen takes part in the current series. The former Manchester United and England star appeared on I'm A Celebrity: Unpacked on Saturday night (November 23) to chat about Coleen's I'm a Celeb adventure so far but went as far to admit that he would be up for doing the hit ITV reality show next. His comments came after he encouraged I'm A Celeb viewers to vote for his wife to do a Bushtucker Trial as he feels she would want to "put herself to the test". The 39-year-old said he was "proud" of how Coleen was doing in the Australian jungle in a post on social media ahead of Saturday's show. Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and, Breaking News group by clicking this link