President of fractious teachers union pulling plug after single termATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a Gwinnett County man whom medical experts say was wrongly convicted of the shaken-baby murder of his son. The high court on Monday said it will review a Sept. 25 order signed by Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor that denied Danyel Smith’s request for a new trial. Smith’s legal team said scientific advances have led to a major shift in how the medical community diagnoses abusive head trauma — or shaken baby — cases. Earlier this year, Smith’s medical experts testified that 2-month-old Chandler died from natural causes brought on by seizures and a premature birth. In a brief order, a unanimous Supreme Court said it wants to know if Batchelor applied “the appropriate legal framework for deciding extraordinary motions for new trial like Smith’s that are based on new expert analysis of existing physical evidence.” Batchelor’s order, which Smith’s lawyers say is replete with grammatical errors and “clearly erroneous factual determinations,” was written by Gwinnett prosecutors and signed by the judge. The Gwinnett DA’s office had asked the state Supreme Court not to hear Smith’s appeal, saying the case was correctly diagnosed and there is no evidence that “the scientific foundations for this conviction, under the specific facts of this case, have been undermined.” Smith took the stand at his 2003 trial and strongly denied shaking his son to death. Last year, he turned down an offer by Gwinnett prosecutors to plead guilty to the crime in exchange for a sentence of time-served. This will be the second time the state Supreme Court hears an appeal from Smith’s case. In 2022, Batchelor, signing another order prepared by the DA’s office, denied requests by Smith’s lawyers to hold a hearing on his new claims. This would include testimony from medical experts, including an eminent pediatric neurosurgeon, who would say they believe there were reasons other than violent shaking that caused Chandler’s death. But later that year, the state Supreme Court reversed that decision and ordered the hearing to be held. This past spring, Batchelor held the hearings, which included testimony from both defense and prosecution experts, and later denied the request for a new trial. In recent weeks, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and four dozen forensic science experts, including Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck, asked the Supreme Court to hear the latest appeal. The brief filed by the forensic experts said medical and technological advancements show that “outdated and unreliable” evidence was used to secure Smith’s conviction. “We are grateful that the Supreme Court granted review,” said Southern Center for Human Rights attorney Mark Loudon-Brown, a member of Smith’s legal team. “After serving two decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Mr. Smith declined an offer to plead guilty in exchange for his immediate freedom. We now look forward to presenting our case to Georgia’s high court.” Gwinnett DA Patsy Austin-Gatson did not respond to a request for comment.MDT Ventures Closes Fund III & IV at $570 Million, Exceeding $525 Million TargetWall Street's primary indexes closed on a high note Monday, with the Nasdaq and Dow Jones achieving a three-day winning streak. The gains were bolstered by influential tech stocks, especially on a day with reduced trading due to the holiday. Tech giants Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Tesla exhibited significant increases, ranging from 2.3% to 3.7%. Their performance helped the Nasdaq and Dow Jones secure their consecutive wins, while the S&P 500 marked its second rise in three sessions. The rally follows a challenging period, notably after the U.S. Federal Reserve adjusted its rate cut predictions. Despite some volatility, trends in tech stocks remain strong, with a potential 'Santa Claus Rally' anticipated by market analysts as the year-end approaches. (With inputs from agencies.)A�’��}�c�ˆ���5�g7r,�)Pֱ��OE��9+ɯX�4y�(��uȰprf+]/E�@�$ʣ���+*�e��z��$��!Xז�lv��_�|ē�����。

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Australians have been warned blackouts could threaten Christmas lunch as temperatures are set to soar. Temperatures are set to reach nearly 40C on Christmas Day, with Adelaide tipped to be the hottest city across the country with a high of 37C. As Aussie’s whip up a storm in the kitchen for the special day, PSS Distributors general manager Terrence Daniel has warned the festive period is “vulnerable” to power outages. “The days over Christmas, with homes full of friends and family, fridges stocked to the brim and air conditioners running at full blast, is one of the most vulnerable times for power outages — so it pays to be ready,” Mr Daniel said. Milk, yoghurt and soft cheeses, raw, cooked or thawed meat and seafood, and cooked meals and cut fruit and vegetables aren’t safe to eat after being left out for more than four hours. However sauces and condiments like tomato sauce, as well as whole fruits and vegetables, are typically safe for longer. In addition, a freezer can keep food frozen for up to two days — or 24 hours if the freezer is only half full — so long as the door is kept closed. If food has been kept above 5C for more than four hours it’s a good idea to throw it out. To avoid the scramble of attempting to preserve food during a blackout, PSS Distributors general manager Terrence Daniel suggested a battery-backup system. In the instance of a power outage, Mr Daniel urged Aussies to “resist the urge to check (the) fridge constantly” and keep fridge and freezer doors shut if a blackout does occur. “Every time you open the door, you let cold air out,” Mr Daniel said. “Keep the doors closed and you buy yourself more time to save your food.” Moving food to an esky could be a good way to try and save food, however Mr Daniel warned if the food’s temperature has risen to 5C for more than two hours then “the safety of your food may be compromised”. “If you move food to an esky with ice packs, monitor the temperature periodically,” he said. If the worst does happen, Mr Daniel also suggested sharing the Christmas cheer with neighbours or shelters. “If the power is out too long, consider donating usable food to neighbours or shelters before it spoils,” he said. Finally, he urged Aussies to check whether their insurance policy covered the cost of spoiled food during unplanned outages. Adelaide is tipped to hit a top of 37C on Christmas, while Melbourne and Brisbane are both expected to hit 30C. Sydney is expected to reach a high of 26C, with Perth to hit 24C, Hobart 23C, Canberra 32C, and Darwin 34C with a chance of thunderstorms.Italian village offers $1 homes to Americans seeking to move after U.S. election

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB BEIRUT (AP) — In 2006, after a bruising monthlong war between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militant group, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution to end the conflict and pave the way for lasting security along the border. But while there was relative calm for nearly two decades, Resolution 1701’s terms were never fully enforced. Now, figuring out how to finally enforce it is key to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal approved by Israel on Tuesday. In late September, after nearly a year of low-level clashes , the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah spiraled into all-out war and an Israeli ground invasion . As Israeli jets pound deep inside Lebanon and Hezbollah fires rockets deeper into northern Israel, U.N. and diplomatic officials again turned to the 2006 resolution in a bid to end the conflict. Years of deeply divided politics and regionwide geopolitical hostilities have halted substantial progress on its implementation, yet the international community believes Resolution 1701 is still the brightest prospect for long-term stability between Israel and Lebanon. Almost two decades after the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, the United States led shuttle diplomacy efforts between Lebanon and Israel to agree on a ceasefire proposal that renewed commitment to the resolution, this time with an implementation plan to try to bring the document back to life. What is UNSC Resolution 1701? In 2000, Israel withdrew its forces from most of southern Lebanon along a U.N.-demarcated “Blue Line” that separated the two countries and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, which most of the world considers occupied Syrian territory. U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL , increased their presence along the line of withdrawal. Resolution 1701 was supposed to complete Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon and ensure Hezbollah would move north of the Litani River, keeping the area exclusively under the Lebanese military and U.N. peacekeepers. Up to 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers would help to maintain calm, return displaced Lebanese and secure the area alongside the Lebanese military. The goal was long-term security, with land borders eventually demarcated to resolve territorial disputes. The resolution also reaffirmed previous ones that call for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon — Hezbollah among them. “It was made for a certain situation and context,” Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general, told The Associated Press. “But as time goes on, the essence of the resolution begins to hollow.” Has Resolution 1701 been implemented? For years, Lebanon and Israel blamed each other for countless violations along the tense frontier. Israel said Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and growing arsenal remained, and accused the group of using a local environmental organization to spy on troops. Lebanon complained about Israeli military jets and naval ships entering Lebanese territory even when there was no active conflict. “You had a role of the UNIFIL that slowly eroded like any other peacekeeping with time that has no clear mandate,” said Joseph Bahout, the director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy at the American University of Beirut. “They don’t have permission to inspect the area without coordinating with the Lebanese army.” UNIFIL for years has urged Israel to withdraw from some territory north of the frontier, but to no avail. In the ongoing war, the peacekeeping mission has accused Israel, as well as Hezbollah , of obstructing and harming its forces and infrastructure. Hezbollah’s power, meanwhile, has grown, both in its arsenal and as a political influence in the Lebanese state. The Iran-backed group was essential in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power when armed opposition groups tried to topple him, and it supports Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Yemen. It has an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles pointed at Israel, and has introduced drones into its arsenal . Hanna says Hezbollah “is something never seen before as a non-state actor” with political and military influence. How do mediators hope to implement 1701 almost two decades later? Israel’s security Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The ceasefire is set to take hold at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday. Efforts led by the U.S. and France for the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah underscored that they still view the resolution as key. For almost a year, Washington has promoted various versions of a deal that would gradually lead to its full implementation. International mediators hope that by boosting financial support for the Lebanese army — which was not a party in the Israel-Hezbollah war — Lebanon can deploy some 6,000 additional troops south of the Litani River to help enforce the resolution. Under the deal, an international monitoring committee headed by the United States would oversee implementation to ensure that Hezbollah and Israel’s withdrawals take place. It is not entirely clear how the committee would work or how potential violations would be reported and dealt with. The circumstances now are far more complicated than in 2006. Some are still skeptical of the resolution’s viability given that the political realities and balance of power both regionally and within Lebanon have dramatically changed since then. “You’re tying 1701 with a hundred things,” Bahout said. “A resolution is the reflection of a balance of power and political context.” Now with the ceasefire in place, the hope is that Israel and Lebanon can begin negotiations to demarcate their land border and settle disputes over several points along the Blue Line for long-term security after decades of conflict and tension.

U.S. District Court Awards 10x Genomics Permanent Injunction in Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Bruker Corporation's GeoMx ProductsEuropean head of public policy Christine Grahn said the site would not function as a social network if they did not make users feel safe. The safety of TikTok users “is at the core of the platform”, one of the social media giant’s executives has said as it announced 175 million people now use the platform each month. Christine Grahn, TikTok’s head of European public policy, said users needed to feel safe in order to properly use a platform, and this was a key factor for the company. She was speaking as the shortform video giant held its European Safety Forum in Dublin, where the company discussed upcoming new safety features, including looking into ways of using new machine learning technology to better spot under-13s trying to join the service, and announced plans to add more age restrictions to some facial effects and provide more information to younger users on how an effect might alter their appearance if applied. “If people don’t feel safe, they are not going to bring their authentic selves to the platform and express themselves, and that means that we don’t have the platform that we’re hoping to create,” Ms Grahn told the PA news agency. “In order for us to achieve the best result, which is, at the end of the day, safety for our users, we have everything to gain from working with partners of various sorts. “We adapt our products based on the research that comes out of that work, and we also work with academic partners to integrate their experience. “The end result is going to be so much better if we work together as a society to address societal issues rather than trying to do so in silos.” Richard Collard, associate head of policy for child safety online at the NSPCC, said it was “encouraging” to see TikTok looking to tackle age-related online safety issues. “Given the well documented risks and harmful content that proliferates on some social media platforms, it’s vital that tech companies do everything in their power to ensure the youngest children are not accessing their sites,” he said. “However, age limits only work if they are meaningfully enforced. It’s encouraging to see TikTok recognising this challenge and taking responsibility by using technology to help them uphold their own terms and conditions and keep children safer. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Other social media sites must step up and find effective ways to assess the ages of their users. “Ofcom and the Government also have an important role to play in compelling tech bosses to deliver age-appropriate experiences for all their users.” Despite its efforts on safety, concerns have been raised in the US and elsewhere about the platform’s possible links to China – TikTok’s parent company is the China-based ByteDance – and critics have raised concerns TikTok could be pressured into handing over data to the Chinese government. TikTok remains banned from government devices in the UK, and its future in the US remains uncertain over a law that requires the site to be sold by ByteDance by January or face being banned in the United States – although it is unclear if president-elect Donald Trump will uphold these plans when he takes office in the same month. In response to these concerns, TikTok has repeatedly denied it does or ever would share data with the Chinese government, and has begun a £10 billion scheme to move its European user data to data centres in Europe to further enhance its security credentials. The scheme also includes independent oversight by a British cybersecurity firm, NCC Group, something Ms Grahn hailed as “unprecedented”. “We’re very proud of this industry-leading data security project, that aims to keep our users even more secure,” she told PA. “There’s a number of different parts in this project, but maybe one of the most interesting is this unprecedented third-party external oversight by British cybersecurity company NCC Group. “They are continuously monitoring the security gateways that surround the European enclave where we store European TikTok user data.” She added: “From our perspective, this has been a massive undertaking – 12 billion euros over the course of 10 years – and we are quite proud of the fact that we’re building out this model, and we do see it to be truly industry leading. “I think some of the aspects of this will also be industry-wide challenges, but we’re happy to be on this journey and we’re quite proud of the progress that we’ve made so far.”

Harris Dickinson was nervous to approach Nicole Kidman . This would not necessarily be notable under normal circumstances, but the English actor had already been cast to star opposite her in the erotic drama “Babygirl,” as the intern who initiates an affair with Kidman's buttoned-up CEO. They’d had a zoom with the writer-director Halina Reijn, who was excited by their playful banter and sure that Dickinson would hold his own. And yet when he found himself at the same event as Kidman, shyness took over. He admitted as much to Margaret Qualley, who took things into her own hands and introduced them. “She helped me break the ice a bit,” Dickinson said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. On set would be an entirely different story. Dickinson might not be nearly as “puckishly audacious” as his character Samuel but in the making of “Babygirl,” he, Kidman and Reijn had no choice but to dive fearlessly into this exploration of sexual power dynamics, going to intimate, awkward, exhilarating and meme-able places. It’s made the film, in theaters Christmas Day, one of the year’s must-sees. “There was an unspoken thing that we adhered to,” Dickinson said. “We weren’t getting to know each other’s personal lives. When we were working and we were the characters, we didn’t veer away from the material. I never tried to attach all of the history of Nicole Kidman. Otherwise it probably would have been a bit of a mess.” His is a performance that reconfirms what many in the film world have suspected since his debut seven years ago as a Brooklyn tough questioning his sexuality in Eliza Hittman’s “Beach Rats” : Dickinson is one of the most exciting young talents around. Dickinson, 28, grew up in Leytonstone, in East London — the same neck of the woods as Alfred Hitchcock. Cinema was in his life, whether it was Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” films at the local multiplex or venturing into town to see the more social realist films of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. “Working class cinema interested me,” he said. “People around me that represented my world.” Appropriately, his entry into making art started behind the camera, with a comedy web series he made as a kid, which he now describes as “really bad spoofs” of films and shows of the time. But things started to really click when he began acting in the local theater. “I remember feeling invigorated by it and accepted,” he said. “I felt myself for the first time and felt able to express myself in a way where I didn’t feel vulnerable and I felt alive and ignited by something.” At around 17, someone suggested that he should give acting a try professionally. He hadn’t even fully understood that it was a career possibility, but he started auditioning. At 20, he was cast in “Beach Rats” and, he said, just “kept going.” Since then, he’s gotten a wide range of opportunities in films both big, including “The King’s Man,” and small. He’s captivated as a male model in Ruben Östlund’s Cannes-winning “Triangle of Sadness,” an estranged father to a 12-year-old in Charlotte Regan’s “Scrapper,” an actor bringing an ex-boyfriend to life in Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II,” the charismatic, tragic wrestler David Von Erich in Sean Durkin’s “The Iron Claw” and a soldier in Steve McQueen’s “Blitz.” But “Babygirl” would present new challenges and opportunities with a character who’s almost impossible to define. “He was confusing in a really interesting way. There wasn’t loads of specificity to it, which I enjoyed because it was a bit of a challenge to sort of pinpoint exactly what it was that drove him and made him tick,” Dickinson said. “There was a directness that unlocked a lot for me, like a fearlessness with the way he spoke, or a social unawareness in a way — like not fully realizing what he’s saying is affecting someone in a certain way. But I didn’t make too many rules for him.” Part of the allure of the film is the ever-shifting power dynamics between the two characters, which could change over the course of a scene. As Reijn said, “It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when you suppress your own desires.” She was especially in awe of Dickinson's ability to make everything feel improvised and the fact that he could look like a 12-year-old boy in one shot and a confident 45-year-old man in the next. Since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year, the film has led to some surprisingly direct conversations with audiences spanning generations. But that, Dickinson understood, was what Reijn wanted. “She really wanted to show the ugliness and the awkwardness of these things, of these relationships and sex,” he said. “That sort of fumbly version and the performative version of it is way more interesting, to me at least, than the kind of fantasized, romanticized, sexy thing that we’ve seen a lot.” Dickinson recently stepped behind the camera again, directing his first feature film under the banner of his newly formed production company. Set against the backdrop of homelessness in London, “Dream Space” is about a drifter trying to assimilate and understand his cyclical behavior. The film, which wrapped earlier this year, has given him a heightened appreciation for just how many people are indispensable in the making of a film. He’s also started to understand that “acting is just being able to relax.” “When you’re relaxed, you can do stuff that is truthful,” he said. “That only happens if you’ve got good people around you: The director that creates the good environment. The intimacy coordinator facilitating a safe space. A coworker in Nicole encouraging that kind of bravery and performance with what she’s doing.” Dickinson did eventually get to the point where he managed to ask Kidman questions about working with Stanley Kubrick and Lars Von Trier. But he also kept one shattering possibility between himself and his director. “There is a world in which Samuel doesn’t even exist. He’s just a sort of a device or a figment for her own story. And I like that because it kind of means you can take the character into a very unrealistic realm at times and be almost like a deity in the story,” Dickinson said. “We didn’t talk about it with Nicole.” Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press

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MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City's players were booed by their own fans Tuesday after blowing a three-goal lead against Feyenoord in the Champions League to extend their winless run to six games. Jeers rang around the Etihad Stadium after the final whistle of a dramatic 3-3 draw. After five-straight losses in all competitions, City looked to be cruising to victory after going three up inside 50 minutes. But Feyenoord mounted an improbable comeback and leveled the game in the 89th minute to leave the home crowd stunned. While the worst losing streak of Guardiola’s managerial career was brought to an end, his wait for a first win since Oct. 26 goes on. Erling Haaland had scored twice, with Ilkay Gundogan also on target to put City in control. But goals from Anis Hadj Moussa in the 75th, Santiago Gimenez in the 82nd and David Hancko in the 89th turned the game on its head. City's players, including Bernardo Silva, Josko Gvardiol and Haaland looked visibly frustrated as they left the field to cheers of the delirious traveling Dutch fans in the away section of the stadium. City plays Premier League leader Liverpool on Sunday — defeat would leave it 11 points adrift of its title rival. James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Analytic Partners Placed Highest for Ability to Execute and Furthest for Completeness of Vision MIAMI , Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Analytic Partners, the Commercial Intelligence company for insights-driven brands, today announced it has been recognized as a Leader in the inaugural Gartner® Magic QuadrantTM for Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) Solutions. Analytic Partners is positioned highest in Ability to Execute and furthest in Completeness of Vision. "We believe our position as a Leader underscores our dedication to our customers and our ongoing commitment to innovation," said Nancy Smith , President and CEO of Analytic Partners. "We appreciate the extensive research Gartner has done in guiding our industry forward. This recognition, we feel, highlights the critical role Commercial Analytics plays in delivering forward-looking decisioning for lasting, meaningful growth." Elevating Insights Beyond MMM and MTA Analytic Partners' longstanding commitment to deliver insights and solutions extends well beyond Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and MMM. Analytic Partners' Commercial Analytics solution integrates all factors driving performance outcomes – including finance, supply chain and other enterprise functions. This holistic, company-wide approach provides a forward-looking decisioning framework that brands rely on to measure both short-term and long-term impact, ensuring sustained growth. GPS Enterprise: A Powerful Platform for Enabling Growth Powered by the GPS Enterprise platform, Commercial Analytics combines data science and technology to deliver actionable insights that enable brands to make proactive, forward-looking commercial decisions. This end-to-end platform, informed by ROI Genome intelligence, ensures streamlined data management, application of advanced analytics and multi-objective optimizations to help brands meet their growth goals. Recognition extends to Gartner Critical Capabilities Report for MMM Solutions The recognition also extends beyond the Magic QuadrantTM. In the accompanying Critical Capabilities report for MMM Solutions, Analytic Partners received the highest scores across all 8 Use Cases, including: Magic Quadrant reports are a culmination of rigorous, fact-based research in specific markets, providing a wide-angle view of the relative positions of the providers in markets where growth is high, and provider differentiation is distinct. Providers are positioned into four quadrants: Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries and Niche Players. The research enables businesses to get the most from market analysis in alignment with your unique business and technology needs. To read the full Magic QuadrantTM report, access a complimentary copy here . Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Marketing Mix Modeling Solutions, Matt Wakeman , David Walters , Joseph Enever , Weicong Zhao , November 19, 2024 GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About Analytic Partners Analytic Partners is the leader in Commercial Analytics, providing adaptive solutions for deeper business understanding, right-time planning and optimization for marketing and beyond. We turn data into expertise so our customers can create powerful connections with their customers and achieve commercial success. For more information, visit analyticpartners.com . Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2565668/Analytic_Partners.jpg View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/analytic-partners-recognized-as-a-leader-in-inaugural-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-marketing-mix-modeling-solutions-302314467.html SOURCE Analytic Partners

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If the thought of a cranberry vodka slush or frozen hot chocolate raises your holiday spirits high, then Walmart might have exactly what you want to see underneath your Christmas tree . The Ninja SLUSHi 3-in-1 Professional Frozen Drink Maker is back in stock at Walmart, and it doesn’t come with the typical $300 price tag that you’ll see on the Ninja website (or at retailers like Kohl’s and Target, when it’s actually in stock). This Walmart-exclusive special edition SLUSHi is marked down from $300 to $249, for a total $51 savings, and you can’t find it anywhere else. Shop Walmart’s full Black Friday sale now. With Ninja’s proprietary RapidChill Technology, you can turn your favorite cold drinks into frosty delights in just 15 minutes. The machine works by swirling liquids around a chilling cylinder and adjusting the temperature and texture to get a perfect, smooth consistency without any ice. The 72-ounce version is perfect for smaller kitchens, but also just as suitable for people who can appreciate a frozen bevvy once in a while, but don’t need to have everything they’re drinking on the frozen side. Instead of the larger 88-ounce iteration that has five presets — Slush, Spiked Slush, Milkshake, Frappé and Frozen Juice — this one just has the Slush, Spiked Slush and Milkshake. So, if you’re not a frozen ‘snow salt chococcino’ connoisseur or a fan of icy juices, then you definitely don’t need to have the bigger slush machine. You can still everything from cranberry orange slushies to candy cane mocha iced martinis and even gingerbread milkshakes or fizzy and frozen pomegranate champagne floats. Whether you’re hosting a party or just enjoying a cozy night in during the busy holiday season, your Ninja SLUSHi will be the biggest conversation piece in your kitchen. I say this, too, because it has been a major hit in mine ever since I got it in August. I can’t wait to make some “toasted elves” (think: amaretto, coffee liquor, vodka and chocolate syrup) when we’re putting up our tree in the next few weeks! Shop the Ninja SLUSHi 72 oz. 3-Programs Professional Frozen Drink Maker for $249 at Walmart here. And keep these other Ninja deals in mind, as well. The Best Black Friday Deals in 2024 Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com . Danielle Halibey can be reached at dhalibey@njadvancemedia.com . Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips .