646jili01 DENVER — Mayor Mike Johnston’s pointed comments last week about Denverites resisting a federal mass-deportation effort — including a suggestion that he would mobilize the Denver police department to face off with federal and National Guard troops — have generated blowback in Colorado and across the country. Even billionaire Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump’s most visible benefactor and adviser, appeared to weigh in on Saturday on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “Those who break the law will be arrested, and that includes mayors,” Musk posted in response to another post about the mayor’s comments. On Monday, Johnston reiterated his commitment to resisting what he views as a desire by Trump to abuse the power of the presidency by initiating a nationwide roundup and mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. But the second-year mayor stopped short of providing any specifics of what that resistance might look like. “Denver is proud to be a welcoming city, and we will do everything in our power to protect those who live here,” Johnston said in a statement. “We are considering a number of options to strengthen protections for all our residents, and we continue to provide education about the rights of our immigrant community so they can best protect themselves from any unlawful actions.” In the days following Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential race this month, Johnston told The Denver Post that the city would not cooperate with the incoming Republican president’s stated goal of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants in the country. He defended the city’s policies as a so-called sanctuary city that for years has refused to work with federal immigration officials on enforcement actions. He also touted his office’s program that has supported hundreds of asylum seekers from the U.S. southern border — mostly Venezuelans fleeing economic and political strife in that country — with housing, food and job training this year. They were among tens of thousands of migrants who have come to Denver in the last two years. But in an interview with Denverite published Wednesday, Johnston took his rhetoric to another level. He invoked pro-democracy protests in China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 as an analogy for Denver residents who would stand up against the federal government, should Trump follow through on threats to mobilize the military against communities that do not cooperate with his deportation plans. He also suggested the city’s police could be part of a resistance action. “More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said in that interview. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.” The comments generated near-immediate blowback in Colorado. George Brauchler, a conservative talk radio host and newly elected district attorney for Colorado’s 23rd Judicial District in south metro Denver, reacted to Johnston’s comments on Thursday morning by posting on his X account a portion of the oath Denver police officers take when they are sworn in. “Denver PD Oath: ‘I do swear by the ever-loving God to that I will support the Laws and Constitution of the United States and...’ Now what?” Brauchler wrote, pointing to the conflict between supporting the Constitution and following mayoral orders that could defy a presidential action. By Friday, Johnston was walking back some of his comments. But he also doubled down on his commitment to resist the Trump administration’s deportation plans. In an interview with 9News reporter Marc Sallinger, Johnston said he regretted invoking the image of Denver police officers facing off with federal troops. “I want to be clear, we have no plan for armed conflict with the federal government. We have no desire to do that. There is no interest and we have no plan to do that,” Johnston said. But in response to questions from Sallinger, Johnston said he would be willing personally to protest federal deportation actions — and, if necessary, face arrest. “If I believed that our residents are having their rights violated, if I think things are happening that are illegal or immoral or un-American in our city, I would certainly protest it, and I would expect other residents would do the same,” Johnston said. “I’m not afraid of (being arrested) — and I’m also not seeking that. I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people (on) how to solve hard problems.” That interview did not tamp down the criticism from some quarters nationally. After the right-wing account End Wokeness shared the clip on X of Johnston saying he did not fear arrest, Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s oldest son, reposted the clip with the comment: “Your terms are acceptable.” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, the far-right congresswoman who next year will take a new seat representing Colorado 4th Congressional District, has posted on her X account about Johnston’s comments on three of the last four days. On Monday, she shared the same interview snippet of Johnston saying he did not fear arrest for opposing deportation efforts, adding the comment: “If only the Left was as interested in taking care of Americans as they are in taking care of illegals. We could achieve great things working together. Instead, we have this!” ©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Andrew Luck returns to Stanford as the GM of the football programBy Stephen Beech Employees are suffering "techno-strain" as a result of digital systems making it difficult to switch off from work, warns a new study. Staff are experiencing mental and physical issues due to being "hyperconnected" through digital technology, according to the findings. Researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Schools of Psychology and Medicine conducted detailed interviews with employees from a variety of professions. They found that the cognitive and affective effort associated with constant connectivity and high work pace driven by the digital workplace is detrimental to employee well-being. The study is the final part of a research project exploring the "dark side effects" of digital working which include stress, overload, anxiety and fear of missing out. The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Organisational Psychology , highlight an "overarching" theme of "digital workplace technology intensity" as a result of digital workplace job demands. The research team says their findings indicate a "sense of burden" associated with working digitally which surfaced for most participants in perceptions of overload and feelings of being "overwhelmed" by the proliferation of messages, apps and meetings in the digital workplace. They say "fear of missing out" - or FOMO- on important information and contact with colleagues also contributed to stress and strain for digital workers, as did hassles encountered when using digital technologies. (Photo by Tara Winstead via Pexels) Study leader Elizabeth Marsh said: “Digital workplaces benefit both organizations and employees, for example by enabling collaborative and flexible work. "However, what we have found in our research is that there is a potential dark side to digital working, where employees can feel fatigue and strain due to being overburdened by the demands and intensity of the digital work environment. "A sense of pressure to be constantly connected and keeping up with messages can make it hard to psychologically detach from work." Fourteen employees were interviewed in detail and asked about their perceptions and experiences of digital workplace job demands and impacts to their health. Comments from interviewees included: “[It’s] just more difficult to leave it behind when it's all online and you can kind of jump on and do work at any time of the day or night.” Another participant said: “You kind of feel like you have to be there all the time. You have to be a little green light,” while another commented: “It's that pressure to respond [...] I've received an e-mail, I've gotta do this quickly because if not, someone might think “What is she doing from home?” In their analysis, the researchers explored potential underlying psychological, technological and organizational factors that may influence ways in which employees experience digital workplace job demands. The findings showed that participants' dark side experiences were particularly shaped by a pervasive and constant state of connectivity in the digital workplace, termed "hyperconnectivity." Those experiences contributed to a sense of pressure to be available and the erosion of work-life boundaries, according to the research team. (Photo by Thirdman via Pexels) They said the evidence also indicates that "hyperconnectivity" has become the norm among workers post-pandemic. PhD student Marsh said: “The findings underline the need for both researchers and professionals to identify, understand and mitigate the digital workplace job demands to protect the well-being of digital workers.” The research also makes practical suggestions for employers including helping workers improve their digital skills and empowering them to manage boundaries in the digital workplace. The team says their findings could also be used by IT departments to consider how to improve the usability and accessibility of the digital workplace, as well as reining in the proliferation of applications. Dr. Alexa Spence, Professor of Psychology, said: “This research extends the Job Demands-Resources literature by clarifying digital workplace job demands including hyperconnectivity and overload." She added: "It also contributes a novel construct of digital workplace technology intensity which adds new insight on the causes of technostress in the digital workplace. "In doing so, it highlights the potential health impacts, both mental and physical, of digital work.”

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 17, 2024-- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the world’s #1 AI CRM, today announced Agentforce 2.0: the newest version of Agentforce , the first digital labor platform for enterprises — a complete AI system for augmenting teams with trusted, autonomous AI agents in the flow of work. This release introduces a new library of pre-built skills and workflow integrations for rapid customization, the ability to deploy Agentforce in Slack, and advancements in agentic reasoning and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) . These advances will enable companies to scale their workforce with customized agents capable of handling complex, multi-step tasks with even more precision and accuracy. Why it’s relevant: Every team has more work to do than resources available, leading to poorer customer interactions and lengthy backlogs. Organizations are turning to AI to help, but have a low tolerance for inadequate solutions that provide generic responses. Existing solutions such as copilots struggle to provide accurate, trusted responses to complex requests — such as personalized guidance on a job application — and cannot take action on their own — like nurturing a lead with product recommendations. Organizations need a new type of platform designed to supply digital labor in the form of autonomous AI agents that can reason over data and tap into workflows to take action on behalf of overwhelmed teams. “Agentforce 2.0 takes our revolutionary Salesforce digital labor platform to another level, with new reasoning, integration and customization features that supercharge autonomous agents with unprecedented levels of intelligence, precision and accuracy,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce . “The demand for Agentforce has been amazing — no other company comes close to offering this complete AI solution for enterprises. We’re seamlessly bringing together AI, data, apps, and automation with humans to reshape how work gets done. Agentforce 2.0 cements our position as the leader in digital labor solutions, allowing any company to build a limitless workforce that can truly transform their business.” How the Adecco Group Uses Agentforce to Scale Personalized Recruiting with Digital Labor: "At the Adecco Group, we are committed to creating meaningful connections between candidates and opportunities. By centralizing data across over 40 systems with Salesforce's Data Cloud and leveraging Agentforce, we’re transforming the candidate experience. Agentforce will help prequalify candidates, enhance CVs, and ensure faster job placements. Agentforce agents also operate 24/7, freeing recruiters to focus on meaningful connections while delivering speed and personalization at scale." – Greg Shewmaker, Senior Vice President of Global Operations and AI, The Adecco Group New Library of Skills Brings Agentforce to Every Team and Workflow: Time and integration challenges make it difficult to build customized agents for individual business teams or departments. Agentforce 2.0 eliminates these barriers with a new library of pre-built agent skills — tasks Agentforce can perform — spanning CRM, Slack, Tableau, and partner-developed skills on the AppExchange. This latest release empowers customers to extend Agentforce to any system or workflow using MuleSoft. It also features an enhanced Agent Builder capable of interpreting natural language instructions, such as 'Onboard New Product Managers,' to auto-generate new agents. These agents seamlessly combine pre-made skills with custom logic built in Salesforce, offering unparalleled flexibility and speed. How Accenture Uses Agentforce to Scale Sales Productivity with Digital Labor: “At Accenture, we embrace emerging technologies first so we can help our clients go fast. Our sales team within Accenture’s Salesforce Business Group and Accenture Song are starting to use Agentforce to automate contact and close plan creation, surface insights through enterprise search, and keep teams aligned with dynamic updates. It’s helping to increase time-to-effectiveness, accelerate decision-making, and is allowing them to focus on delivering innovative solutions for their clients.” – Stephanie Sadowski, Salesforce Business Group lead at Accenture Agentforce in Slack — Humans with Agents Working Together Where Work Happens: As organizations look to unlock value from AI agents , they need solutions that are embedded where their employees already are. Agentforce 2.0 is deployable in Slack, bringing customizable digital labor into the messages (DMs) and channels where work happens. How Indeed Uses Agentforce to Scale Personalized Job Seeker Engagement with Digital Labor: “Indeed is the world’s leading job site, with three people hired every second through its platform. At the heart of Indeed’s success is its ability to match the 580 million profiles created by job seekers with over 3 million hiring employers. By harnessing the power of Data Cloud, Indeed has enhanced its data architecture, creating a solid foundation for its go-to-market strategies and enhancing connections to its rich job seeker profiles,” said Indeed CIO Anthony Moisant. “By leveraging Agentforce, Indeed can stay focused on its mission to help people find jobs while advancing its goals, including reducing time-to-hire by 50% and helping 30 million individuals facing barriers to employment secure jobs by fiscal year 2030.” - Anthony Moisant, CIO, Indeed Expert Answers to Complex Questions and Execute Actions with Agentforce 2.0: The Atlas Reasoning Engine is the brain behind Agentforce, enabling it to retrieve relevant data, then reason and act. With Agentforce 2.0, Salesforce is introducing enhanced reasoning and retrieval to handle deeply nuanced questions, powered by new capabilities in Data Cloud that fuel Agentforce with greater context — complementing structured and unstructured data with business-specific metadata for greater accuracy across the most complex, multi-faceted requests. How Salesforce provides faster, more personalized customer support with Agentforce: The Salesforce Help page receives more than 60 million visits a year from customers who need assistance with product support and account queries. Agentforce on help.salesforce.com provides customers with personalized, 24/7 service, while seamlessly escalating to human reps with the full case history and context when needed. Since launching in October, Agentforce is now solving 83% of customer queries without a human, has halved the number of issues that require human intervention, and has nearly doubled its average number of weekly conversations. Customer Perspectives: “At 1-800 Accountant, we’re using Agentforce to manage service inquiries, especially during tax season. With Agentforce now managing up to 90% of incoming requests, we can automate responses to common questions like tax return statuses, freeing up our team to focus on more complex tasks. This boosts efficiency, improves customer satisfaction, and ensures fast, secure, personalized support. Plus, Agentforce adheres to strict data security standards, keeping sensitive tax information safe and accessible only to authorized personnel. It’s a game-changer, helping us scale and serve our clients better during peak times.” – Ryan Teeples, CTO, 1-800 Accountant “Embracing autonomous agents is a game-changer for Bionic. We’re on a mission to make life radically easier for Britain’s small businesses by combining smart technology with expert human service. With agentic AI, we’re streamlining tasks like meter readings and switch tracking to deliver 24/7 support. This innovation empowers our 200,000 SME customers to save time and hassle so they can focus on growing their business.” – James Lomas, Chief Technology Officer, Bionic “With Agentforce, we want to transform Capita’s recruitment process into a fast, seamless and autonomous experience that benefits candidates, our people, and our clients. With autonomous agents providing 24/7 support, our goal is to enable candidates to complete the entire recruitment journey within days as opposed to what has historically taken weeks. At Capita, we give time back to our clients so they can focus on what they do best – and Agentforce will improve our ability to do just that. This is just the start of our agentic journey with Salesforce, where we believe an Agentic Economy can drive big growth potential for UK businesses.” – Adolfo Hernandez. Chief Executive Officer, Capita “ At Finnair, we will use Agentforce to transform our customer service operations, enabling us to efficiently handle routine inquiries and improve response times. With Agentforce automating a significant share of standard inquiries, our team can focus on more complex issues, ensuring faster and more accurate support. This allows us to provide a seamless experience for both customers and customer service personnel, reducing onboarding times for our contact center teams with quicker access to vital information.” – Tiina Vesterinen, Vice President, Commerce & CX Solutions, Finnair "With Salesforce's Agentforce, SharkNinja will be able to transform customer support across more than 30 markets, empowering our agents to deliver personalized, 24/7 service. By unifying data and addressing common inquiries like 'where is my order?', we can streamline agent workloads, enabling them to focus on meaningful, high-impact interactions. This integration will ensure a seamless shopper experience, offering tailored product support, FAQs, and personalized responses that meet consumers’ unique needs – helping us to create extraordinary experiences at every touch point." – Velia Carboni, CIO, SharkNinja "The travel industry is a 24/7 business, often involving unique and urgent requests. As our website, which offers luxury travel deals, continues to grow and attract new customers, we wanted a solution that could deliver a personalized service efficiently to our 60 million European members. Agentforce uses our unified data to automate routine tasks like processing cancellations, updating booking information, or even answering common travel questions about luggage, flight information, and much more, freeing up our customer service agents to handle more complex and last-minute travel needs to better serve our members.” – Kate Donaghy, Head of Business Technology, Secret Escapes “Unity Environmental University is leveraging Salesforce’s Agentforce to expand our support beyond routine inquiries, allowing our employees to focus on learners who need more personalized guidance. By integrating agentic AI into our workflows, we can quickly address standard questions like financial aid details or class registration while freeing our team to engage more deeply with students. This balanced approach ensures that every conversation is more meaningful, as some learners can rely solely on the AI for immediate answers, while others benefit from the combined efforts of both the AI and our dedicated staff. In doing so, we’re not only scaling from 10,000 to 50,000 students, but also enhancing the quality and impact of every interaction along the way and reducing our cost of acquisition per student.” – Dr. Melik Khoury, President & CEO, Unity Environmental University "At Wellness Extract, we’re excited about all of the new possibilities Agentforce can bring to our business. As we continue to grow, scaling customer support is key, and Agentforce offers the potential to automate inquiries across all our channels while still delivering personalized, seamless experiences for all of our buyers. With Salesforce’s Data Cloud, we’ll gain deeper insights into our customers, helping us boost website conversions, strengthen connections, and reduce costs. It’s an opportunity to not just streamline our business operations, but to elevate our brand and set the stage for even greater innovation in health and wellness.” – Arvind Madakan, Program Manager, Wellness Extract Availability: Learn more: Any unreleased services or features referenced here are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. About Salesforce Salesforce helps organizations of any size reimagine their business for the world of AI. With Agentforce, Salesforce's trusted platform, organizations can bring humans together with agents to drive customer success—powered by AI, data, and action. Visit www.salesforce.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241217795822/en/ CONTACT: Carolyn Guss pr@salesforce.com KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: DATA MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONS APPS/APPLICATIONS TECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE OTHER COMMUNICATIONS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SOURCE: Salesforce Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/17/2024 02:01 PM/DISC: 12/17/2024 02:03 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241217795822/en

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle are inactive for Sunday's matchup against the host Cleveland Browns. Tagovailoa was limited all week due to a hip injury and was downgraded to doubtful on Saturday afternoon. Waddle, in turn, was questionable to play versus the Browns after being limited in practice on Thursday and Friday. Tyler Huntley is expected to start under center for the Dolphins (7-8), who are fighting to stay in playoff contention and need a win against the Browns (3-12) to stay in the mix. Huntley, 26, has started three games this season for the Dolphins while Tagovailoa was out before suffering a shoulder injury. Huntley was 39 of 66 (59.1 percent) for 377 yards, one TD and one pick. He also ran 16 times for 67 yards and a score. Tagovailoa already has missed four games this season because of a concussion while starting the other 11. He is 291 of 399 (league-best 72.9 percent) for 2,867 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Waddle, 26, has 54 catches this season for 700 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to Tagovailoa and Waddle, linebackers Anthony Walker and Mohamed Kamara, cornerback Nik Needham, offensive lineman Andrew Meyer and wide receiver Erik Ezukanma are inactive for Sunday's game. For Cleveland, Jameis Winston will serve as the emergency third quarterback. Wide receiver Cedric Tillman, cornerback Chigozie Anusiem, defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo and tight end David Njoku also are inactive for the Browns. --Field Level Media

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Saquon Barkley ninth player with 2,000-yard rushing season'I'm looking to my own conscience': Three MPs on what they think of assisted dying billFormer U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died at 100 , the Carter Center announced on Sunday. He entered hospice care in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, in February 2023. Carter celebrated his 100th birthday in October. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter died in November 2023 at age 96. “When she passed, it was really hard for him,” grandson Jason Carter said in spring 2024. “He had this opportunity to say goodbye, and after that, he was just totally at peace with it, and it was an incredible thing — after 77 years of marriage — to watch that type of closure. “He was ultimately really proud that he was with her until the end,” Jason Carter said. Carter was the 39th U.S. president , serving from 1977 to 1981, after defeating Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon’s vice president, who served after Nixon’s resignation. Carter’s vice president was Walter Mondale. They served one term. Prior to and during his presidency, Carter made a number of trips to Pennsylvania. He campaigned in New Cumberland and Harrisburg in 1976. Carter also visited in the aftermath of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979. On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian demonstrators invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran , incited by their ayatollah to retaliate for the exiled former shah’s admission into the United States for medical treatment. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for more than a year. Carter tried to negotiate, and when that didn’t work, he ordered a military rescue that failed in April 1980. Eight Americans were killed in the attempt. It was Carter’s bleakest hour. The hostage crisis shadowed and essentially crippled Carter’s re-election campaign. He lost to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter carried six states to Reagan’s 44. Minutes after Reagan was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1981, the hostages were freed after 444 days in captivity. During his presidency, Carter engineered the Israel-Egypt peace accord during negotiations at Camp David in 1978. He won the beginnings of an energy conservation policy. He gained ratification of the treaties that yielded U.S. control of the Panama Canal. He opened full diplomatic relations with China. The departments of energy and education were created. After his presidency, Carter was known for his charitable works, including famously volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had three sons, John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip) and Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), and a daughter, Amy Lynn, who was a child when the Carters lived in the White House. Information from The Associated Press, the Carter Library and the White House.

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Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz faces a reelection challenge from a former labor leader affiliated with the Park District’s project at the former state mental health center. Running with Glotz on the One Tinley Park ticket are Village Clerk Nancy O’Connor and trustees William Brady, Dennis Mahoney and Colleen Sullivan. Glotz, elected in April 2021 , is a member of Operating Engineers Local 150. Brady was first elected in 2017 and Mahoney and Sullivan in April 2021. O’Connor was appointed village clerk in January 2022 and elected in April 2023. Michael Maloney heads the Tinley Together ticket, running with clerk candidate Cynthia “Cindy” O’Boyle and trustee candidates Melissa Sanfilippo, Eric Schmidt and Matthew Walsh. Maloney is the former president of Pipefitters Local 597 and was named by the Tinley Park-Park-District last year to oversee remediation of the 280-acre former Tinley Park Mental Health Center, which the Park District plans to redevelop for recreation uses. Maloney’s construction background includes managing workers on a variety of projects involving highly radioactive components in nuclear power stations across northern Illinois, according to the Park District. The Park District has begun work on the former state-owned property, northwest of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street, to clear buildings of environmental issues such as asbestos. The Park District envisions an initial phase on 90 acres that includes five baseball fields, six multipurpose athletic fields, a domed soccer field, stadium with running track, accessible playground and a pond. The state is providing the district with $15 million for environmental cleanup and demolition of buildings on the property. Sanfilippo was named to an advisory committee the Park District assembled to get resident input on the cleanup. The state property was the focus of a tug-of-war between the Park District and the village, which had hoped for commercial development, including retail and entertainment uses, that would provide sales tax revenue. The property had one point been considered for a combination harness racing track and casino. The Tinley Together organization was formed Nov. 7, according to a filing with the state election board. At the end of the July-September quarter, One Tinley Park showed cash on hand of $231,000, according to an election board filing. The party showed receipts of $6,000 during the period and expenses of $12,300. One Tinley Park reported receipts during the April-June quarter of just under $47,000. mnolan@southtownstar.com

Commentary: Philippines politics is often mad. It just got crazier