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Their ages vary. But a conspicuous handful of filmmaking lions in winter, or let’s say late autumn, have given us new reasons to be grateful for their work over the decades — even for the work that didn’t quite work. Which, yes, sounds like ingratitude. But do we even want more conventional or better-behaved work from talents such as Francis Ford Coppola? Even if we’re talking about “Megalopolis” ? If Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2” gave audiences a less morally complicated courtroom drama, would that have mattered, given Warner Bros.’ butt-headed decision to plop it in less than three dozen movie theaters in the U.S.? Coppola is 85. Eastwood is 94. Paul Schrader, whose latest film “Oh, Canada” arrives this week and is well worth seeking out, is a mere 78. Based on the 2021 Russell Banks novel “Foregone,” “Oh, Canada” is the story of a documentary filmmaker, played by Richard Gere, being interviewed near the end of his cancer-shrouded final days. In the Montreal home he shares with his wife and creative partner, played by Uma Thurman, he consents to the interview by two former students of his. Gere’s character, Leonard Fife, has no little contempt for these two, whom he calls “Mr. and Mrs. Ken Burns of Canada” with subtle disdain. As we learn over the artful dodges and layers of past and present, events imagined and/or real, Fife treats the interview as a final confession from a guarded and deceptive soul. He’s also a hero to everyone in the room, famous for his anti-Vietnam war political activism, and for the Frederick Wiseman-like inflection of his own films’ interview techniques. The real-life filmmaker name-checked in “Oh, Canada” is documentarian Errol Morris, whose straight-to-the-lens framing of interview subjects was made possible by his Interrotron device. In Schrader’s adaptation, Fife doesn’t want the nominal director (Michael Imperioli, a nicely finessed embodiment of a second-rate talent with first-rate airs) in his eyeline. Rather, as he struggles with hazy, self-incriminating memories of affairs, marriages, one-offs with a friend’s wife and a tense, brief reunion with the son he never knew, Fife wants only his wife, Emma — his former Goddard College student — in this metaphoric confessional. Schrader and his editor Benjamin Rodriguez Jr. treat the memories as on-screen flashbacks spanning from 1968 to 2023. At times, Gere and Thurman appear as their decades-young selves, without any attempt to de-age them, digitally or otherwise. (Thank god, I kind of hate that stuff in any circumstance.) In other sequences from Fife’s past, Jacob Elordi portrays Fife, with sly and convincing behavioral details linking his performance to Gere’s persona. We hear frequent voiceovers spoken by Gere about having ruined his life by age 24, at least spiritually or morally. Banks’ novel is no less devoted to a dying man’s addled but ardent attempt to come clean and own up to what has terrified him the most in the mess and joy of living: Honesty. Love. Commitment. There are elements of “Oh, Canada” that soften Banks’ conception of Fife, from the parentage of Fife’s abandoned son to the specific qualities of Gere’s performance. It has been 44 years since Gere teamed with Schrader on “American Gigolo,” a movie made by a very different filmmaker with very different preoccupations of hetero male hollowness. It’s also clearly the same director at work, I think. And Gere remains a unique camera object, with a stunning mastery of filling a close-up with an unblinking stillness conveying feelings easier left behind. The musical score is pretty watery, and with Schrader you always get a few lines of tortured rhetoric interrupting the good stuff. In the end, “Oh, Canada” has an extraordinarily simple idea at its core: That of a man with a movie camera, most of his life, now on the other side of the lens. Not easy. “I can’t tell the truth unless that camera’s on!” he barks at one point. I don’t think the line from the novel made it into Schrader’s script, but it too sums up this lion-in-winter feeling of truth without triumphal Hollywood catharsis. The interview, Banks wrote, is one’s man’s “last chance to stop lying.” It’s also a “final prayer,” dramatized by the Calvinist-to-the-bone filmmaker who made sure to include that phrase in his latest devotion to final prayers and missions of redemption. “Oh, Canada” — 3 stars (out of 4) No MPA rating (some language and sexual material) Running time: 1:34 How to watch: Opens in theaters Dec. 13, running 1in Chicago Dec. 13-19 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.; siskelfilmcenter.org Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.Albertsons sues Kroger for billions after merger bid ends

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As America prepares to transition to a new presidential administration, I want to take stock of the progress we have made together in laying the foundations for an economy that creates opportunity for all Americans. Over the last four years, we’ve faced some of the most challenging economic conditions in our history. Not only have we recovered, we’ve come out stronger, and have laid foundations for a promising new chapter in our American comeback story. It will take years to see the full effects in terms of new jobs and new investments all around the country, but we have planted the seeds that are making this happen. If these investments and actions are built upon, U.S. economic leadership will be stronger and the middle class more secure in the years and decades ahead. When I took office, the economy wasn’t working for most Americans. It was clear that a fundamentally new playbook was essential. My focus was to transform the economy to improve the lives of regular Americans, the kinds of people I grew up with. That’s why I fought to invest in the jobs of the future, lower costs, raise wages, and strengthen workers and small businesses—because I know this will help American families and build the economy from the middle out and bottom up. At that time, economic policy was in the grip of a failed approach called trickle-down economics. Trickle-down tried to grow the economy from the top down. It slashed taxes for the wealthy and large corporations and tried to get government “out of the way,” instead of delivering for working people, investing in infrastructure, and ensuring America stays at the leading edge of innovation. But this approach failed. Too many Americans saw an economy that was stacked against them with failing infrastructure, communities that had been hollowed out, manufacturing jobs that were offshored to China, prescription drugs that cost than in any other developed country, and workers who had been left behind. I believe that, from America’s earliest days, we have been at our best when we have taken on important challenges and fought to deliver big things on behalf of the American people—from the Erie Canal to the transcontinental railroad, from the Hoover Dam to rural electrification, from the Social Security system to the National Highway System. As president, I fought to write a new economic playbook that builds the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. I fought to make smart investments in America’s future that put us in the lead globally. I fought to create good jobs that give working families and the middle class a fair shot and the chance to get ahead. I fought to lower costs for consumers and give smaller businesses a fair chance to compete. In what follows, I describe why this new approach is so important. I have always seen the economy from the perspective of the small city where I grew up—a city with a proud history of making things in America, a city that fell on hard times when politicians turned their backs on communities like mine. Too many corporations moved their supply chains overseas and focused on quarterly profits and share buybacks instead of investing in their workers and communities here at home. Our fell further and further behind, and a flood of cheap, subsidized imports from China and other countries our factory towns. Economic opportunity and innovation became more and more in a few major cities, while heartland communities were left behind. Scientific discoveries and inventions developed in America were in countries abroad, bolstering their manufacturing instead of ours. I came to office with a different vision. When I said I was president of all America, I meant it. I was determined we would invest in the places that have suffered from neglect and disinvestment: rural areas, manufacturing towns, coal and power plant communities, in red states and blue states. I was determined to create good jobs with family-sustaining wages that don’t require a four-year college degree. I vowed to restore U.S. leadership in the industries of the future—like semiconductors and clean energy—while fortifying our infrastructure and supply chains. I committed to putting the United States back in a position of clean-energy leadership and building a 100 percent clean power grid. We succeeded in securing historic investment laws to turn those goals into reality. My Investing in America Agenda—the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—together mark the most in the United States since the New Deal. For many years, this country’s infrastructure was underresourced and neglected. Since the passage of the BIL, we have been hard at work expanding high-speed internet, replacing pipes to provide clean drinking water in every community, and rebuilding roads and bridges and ports and airports . These projects are creating millions of good jobs—many of them unionized—so American families across America will share in the benefits of the infrastructure investments. In the years since I took office, we’ve funded over infrastructure and clean-energy projects in every state and territory in the country. The has hit record highs. Already, tens of thousands of skilled construction workers are hard at work building the factories of the future. Soon, these factories will be hiring advanced manufacturing workers, and products from semiconductors to batteries to electric vehicles will be rolling off of these new, American production lines. The Inflation Reduction Act is the single investment in clean energy in the history of the world. It is creating good-paying jobs and investing in American manufacturing, while also taking action to reduce emissions. It is spurring investments to build solar panels in ; to build wind towers in ; and to manufacture and recycle batteries in . Our place-based investment approach is creating economic opportunity in communities across the country that had been . Our investments in high-speed internet and transportation networks are reconnecting these communities to jobs and revitalizing small businesses. We are investing in technology and innovation engines in every region of the country that will sustain economic development for years to come. We are supporting farmers that use climate-smart agriculture practices and ensuring rural small businesses can access historic development resources that will cut energy costs and increase energy efficiency. Communities across the country are poised for economic comebacks. With the benefit of our special investment incentives, the places hit hardest by and by are receiving a disproportionate share of new investment, bringing hope to communities that have been . For instance, the first in 40 years will be built in Kentucky, powered entirely by clean energy. We have taken on behalf of American workers, businesses, and factory towns to counter violations of our trade laws. China is using unfair practices to flood global markets with underpriced goods in sectors like vehicles and solar cells and wafers. That’s why we imposed tariffs on imports from China in key sectors. A on Chinese electric vehicles, for instance, is enabling American auto communities to continue powering the global car industry. But tariffs by themselves are no panacea. To regain and sustain America’s lead in areas from clean energy to semiconductors, it is vital to couple targeted tariffs with strong investments in manufacturing, R&D, and workforce. While semiconductors were invented in America, for too many years politicians in Washington gave up on the semiconductor industry, and leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing moved to Asia. But thanks to the CHIPS and Science Act, some of the most advanced semiconductors in the world will be built in ; ; ; and . Before the CHIPS and Science Act, of the world’s leading-edge chips were manufactured in Taiwan. Some skeptics said America could never compete. They were wrong. With the benefit of a CHIPS award, not only has global leader TSMC committed to build three - manufacturing plants in Arizona, but in October it was early production yields at one of those plants met those at manufacturing plants in Taiwan. And America will be the only economy in the world to have all five of the most advanced semiconductor manufacturers in the world operating on its shores—no other economy has more than two. My investment agenda is already attracting in commitments of private capital so far, not crowding it out. These investments are helping to strengthen our supply chains, so that we won’t be dependent on a single foreign country for the semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, or critical minerals that we need. And they are starting to create opportunities for workers, businesses, and communities to contribute to the economy in the world. This is my vision—a future that is made by American workers across America. It will take years to see the full effects in terms of new jobs and new investments all around the country, but we have laid strong foundations, and now it is important to build on and not reverse the progress we have made. I’ve long seen the economy through the eyes of my dad, who used to say, “A job is a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about your place in the community.” But trickle-down economics ignored this basic truth. Tax cuts for the wealthy create opportunities for workers and their families. Instead, factory towns were hollowed out, and fewer Americans ended up than their parents. My middle-out/bottom-up economic playbook instead puts working families and the middle class at the center of all of my economic policies. When I took office, the economy was in chaos. of businesses were shut down, and of Americans were out of a job. As soon as I came to office, I signed the American Rescue Plan that vaccinated the nation and got our economy going again. As a result, America returned to full employment than other advanced economies, and has seen the lowest average of any administration in 50 years. The share of working-age Americans who are employed is at a multi-decade high, at over . We’ve also seen record lows in unemployment for workers who have often been previous recoveries. In our full-employment expansion, the real pay of low-wage workers that of higher-paid workers, the reverse of what we saw under trickle-down. The pandemic and the inflation it created caused enormous pain and hardship for families across America. That’s true not just for us but for every major economy in the world. But now, inflation has come down in the United States— than almost any of the world’s other advanced economies. I know how important it is to provide pathways to middle-class careers for the who choose not to pursue a four-year college degree. The many investments I described above have provided an unprecedented opportunity to create good jobs in construction and manufacturing. We created in areas with new investments to align high schools, community colleges, unions, businesses, and local governments around stackable credentials that enable students to move seamlessly from the classroom to careers, and allow workers to upskill and secure better jobs. To build the pipeline of skilled and trained workers for the industries of the future, we’ve also invested in registered apprenticeships and career technical education programs than any previous administration, with hired during my time in office. Many of these apprenticeship programs are sponsored by unions, which means that graduates will earn a good union wage with benefits and retirement. The middle-out/bottom-up playbook supports unions because unions have been vital to building the middle class by providing pathways to family-sustaining careers. When I came to office, union workers and retirees faced cuts of or more to their earned benefits through no fault of their own. But we fought for and secured the Butch Lewis Act to restore and protect the pension benefits they earned. Because of this law, we have protected the pensions of union workers and retirees so far. Expanding unionization is essential to creating a fairer economy. The evidence is clear: Unions are the best way for American workers to get their fair share. I was proud to be the president to walk a picket line with workers. I appointed members to the National Labor Relations Board to enforce our labor laws rather than undermine them, as happened under the previous administration. It is no accident that union election petitions have since I took office. Support for unions is the it’s been in more than half a century, and the labor movement is expanding to new companies and industries. The middle-out/bottom-up playbook is not just about giving working families a fair shot, it is also about asking the very wealthy and most profitable corporations to pay their fair share. We need to balance our tax system to work in favor of the middle class and working families, not the rich and well-connected. Tax fairness is central to building an economy that works for all Americans—where growth is broadly shared and we keep our commitments to seniors and have the resources to meet key national needs over the long run. I promised not to raise taxes on middle-class families, and I kept my promise. Instead, I delivered tax cuts to help families raise children and afford health care. I fought hard to expand the Child Tax Credit because it is one of the investments we can make, cutting child poverty nearly in in 2021. I also secured an expansion of the premium tax credits to make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans, which helped lift health insurance coverage to levels and doubled Black and Hispanic enrollment, with over people enrolled. I also secured investments to make sure wealthy taxpayers pay what they owe and play by the same rules. After a decade of severe underfunding, I fought hard to secure an investment in modernizing the IRS that is already paying off. The IRS is already collecting over a from wealthy tax cheats. It has successfully rolled out Direct File, offering millions of Americans a free and easy way to file their taxes for the first time. I’ve also long seen the economy from the perspective of my family’s kitchen table growing up, so I know that the high prices from the pandemic have been hard on American consumers. That’s why I have been laser-focused on lowering costs for hardworking Americans. Our work to help unsnarl supply chains helped bring inflation back down to the levels right before the pandemic. But even with pandemic inflation back down, many consumer prices are too high. In some sectors of the economy, high prices reflect inadequate competition. And too often, politicians in Washington haven’t had the courage to take on big corporate interests when they use their market power to mark up their prices. Promoting competition is central to my vision for an American economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out. I came to office determined to make promoting competition a priority for every agency. Fair competition means better choices, a fair shot for small businesses, a more resilient economy, and lower prices. This is particularly important in health care. It’s not right that Americans more to buy a prescription drug in Chicago than it costs elsewhere in the world. I am proud that I took on the pricing power of Big Pharma and secured major cost savings in the Inflation Reduction Act. Due to the IRA, people with Medicare pay no more than $35 a month for insulin, down from as much as $400. Out-of-pocket drug costs for people with Medicare will be capped at $2,000 starting next year. But seniors are already saving on lower prescription drug costs thanks to the IRA. In just the first six months of 2024, seniors got $1 billion back in their pockets with additional savings in the years ahead thanks to this historic legislation. Starting in 2026, prices will be reduced by on key drugs for people with Medicare, and taxpayers will save roughly $160 billion over a decade. We also worked to lower gas prices. After Russia’s war against Ukraine caused gas prices to spike globally, I undertook the biggest of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in history. I also encouraged oil and gas companies to take their record profits and invest in more production. Today, American energy production is at —including record oil and gas production—and the price of a gallon of gas is below the level before the time of the invasion. In addition, we have successfully replenished all of our reserves while making taxpayers a profit . By , we lowered costs for families while securing a good deal for U.S. taxpayers. Fair competition is especially important for small businesses, which need a level playing field to have a fair shot to compete and win. Our competition and investment policies are unleashing a wave of new business startups on Main Streets in towns and cities across the country. In fact, we have seen new business applications during this administration—the three strongest years on record. Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs have been leaders of this small-business boom, with Black business ownership and Hispanic business ownership since before the pandemic. The share of women business owners is also on the . The bottom line is, the past four years have been marked by some of the toughest economic challenges in American history. We took decisive action and it paid off, with the strongest economic comeback in the world. Even while managing that recovery, we made generational investments in our economy and balanced the scales more toward workers and the middle class. Outside have noted that due to our policies, “President-elect Trump is receiving the strongest economy in modern history which is the envy of the world.” It is worth reviewing the facts on the U.S. economy that I am handing off to my successor: Unemployment has been at the lowest average rate of any administration in 50 years. We have created over 16 million new jobs, and more than 1.5 million of those are in manufacturing and construction. Inflation has been brought down close to 2 percent, the same level as right before the pandemic. Incomes are up adjusted for inflation, and unions have won wage increases in industries like autos, ports, aerospace, and trucking. We’ve seen 20 million applications to start small businesses. Our economy has grown 3 percent per year on average the last four years— than any other advanced economy. Domestic energy production is at a record high, and gas prices are around $3 per gallon. When I came to office, I believed the only way for a president to lead America was to lead of America. In fact, the historic investments I made went more to red states than blue states. I believe that the economy as I leave is stronger for Americans. And I believe there is no country on Earth better positioned to lead the world in the years to come than America today. Now we are at an inflection point. The next four years will determine whether the incoming administration builds on this strength. If it does, then 10 or even 50 years from now, U.S. economic leadership will be even stronger than it is today—proving that when the middle class does well, we all do well.Transcontinental Inc. Announces Results for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024

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'Out of control': readers' frustration grows with the uncut long grassNoneFor-profit consultants across the country make millions each year by charging military veterans for help in filing their disability claims with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The practice exists in a legal loophole: It’s illegal under federal law for companies that aren’t accredited by the VA to charge veterans fees for helping file their disability claims, but there’s no criminal penalty for breaking the law, and many consultants contend that the services they provide aren’t explicitly forbidden. Recent attempts to regulate this for-profit shadow industry have stalled in Congress. While some state lawmakers are trying to close the loophole by filing bills to restrict the practice, they’re up against their legislative peers and a cadre of industry leaders with a stable of lobbyists who want the loophole sealed into place at the state level. Three states — Maine, New Jersey and New York — passed laws in the past year cracking down on for-profit consultants. Similar bills were introduced in 17 other states. Meanwhile, Louisiana enacted a law hailed by the for-profit industry as a win; it allows companies to charge up to $12,500 in fees for a task that veterans service organizations such as The American Legion will do for free. The issue is pitting veterans against one another. “When we have organizations and companies out there like these claim sharks that are preying on our veterans and taking away their hard-earned benefits and making a profit off them, there’s something empirically wrong with that,” said Missouri Republican state Rep. Dave Griffith, a former Green Beret in the U.S. Army 8th Special Forces Group. Griffith introduced a bill earlier this year that would impose criminal penalties on those receiving compensation for helping a veteran apply for benefits. The bill died in committee, but Griffith has refiled it for the upcoming legislative session. “What’s even more disturbing to me,” said Griffith, who served in Vietnam, “is that many of these organizations are run by veterans.” The for-profit consulting industry argues that veterans should have the freedom to hire whomever they want to help them navigate the VA’s plodding, glitchy application process. Disability claims currently take four or five months on average to resolve, according to VA data, though some languish for a year or more. Some veterans have reported that the expense is worth it — and have chided the government for not doing a better job marketing directly to vets about how to get their benefits. The companies charging exorbitant fees, industry representatives say, are just a few bad apples. “The key for us is having transparent disclosures, processes and statements of fees so veterans can make informed decisions,” said Peter O’Rourke, president of the National Association for Veteran Rights, a newly formed trade association for the claims consulting industry. O’Rourke, a U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force veteran, was formerly acting secretary of Veterans Affairs during the Trump administration before he was forced out in 2018. O’Rourke estimated he and his team have been to 38 states to testify at committee hearings and speak with legislators. “There’s a better way of doing business, and we need to have more of that discussion, versus going back in time and criminalizing what the market has been able to provide veterans,” he said. Promises and profits The urgency from all sides of the issue follows Congress’ passage two years ago of the PACT Act, the largest expansion of veterans’ benefits in generations. It offers disability-related benefits for veterans suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, toxic burn pits in recent wars and other toxic exposures over the past several decades. Under the act, millions more veterans could qualify for aid. That increased funding represents a potential bonanza for private consultants who promise to help military veterans access it — for a price. Veterans with a service-related disability, from cancer to asthma to depression, can apply to receive a monthly cash benefit from the government. Their checks could range from $500 to more than $4,000 per month, depending on the severity of the disability and other factors, such as their number of dependents. But getting approved takes months. The claims process — sluggish and riddled with glitches, according to veterans and the VA’s own data — requires a lengthy application and detailed medical documentation. Enter the private claims consultant. For a fee or a cut of a veteran’s future disability benefits — often five times what the veteran stands to receive from the VA, amounting to thousands of dollars — the consulting company promises to help smooth the process and maximize the veteran’s disability check. “Veterans are often facing delays with the VA, and I can see why there’s a desire to get results. But these companies sometimes use exploitative practices and seize a big chunk of your benefits,” said Florida Democratic state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani. She partnered with Republican state Rep. Michelle Salzman, an Army veteran, to introduce a claim shark bill in the most recent legislative session. The bill died in committee, but Eskamani said they plan to continue talking with veterans and introduce a similar bill next session. Since January, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in at least 17 states — from Rhode Island to Mississippi to California — have introduced bills to ban or restrict private claim consultants from profiting off veterans. Most are based on the federal GUARD Act, currently stalled in Congress, which would impose penalties on unaccredited consultants who charge veterans for claims filing assistance. Organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and The American Legion have been outspoken supporters of the GUARD Act and similar state efforts to rein in for-profit consultants. Last year, New Jersey became the first state to make it illegal for anyone lacking VA accreditation to charge a veteran for assistance filing a disability claim. Maine and New York soon followed. The VA grants accreditation to attorneys, veterans service organizations and other claims agents that meet certain requirements, such as a background check and a written exam. Organizations such as the VFW and The American Legion provide their services for free, though attorneys and agents are allowed to charge fees to assist with some claims, including appeals. Griffith, the Missouri legislator, modeled his bill after the New Jersey law. When he first began researching the issue, he said, he didn’t like what he saw. Often, he said, companies will charge a fee for their services equal to five times the increase of the veteran’s monthly benefit. For example: A new veteran approved for 100 percent disability receives about $3,800 per month from the VA. For help filing that claim, a consulting company might charge a one-time fee of about $19,000. In some cases, Griffith said, consultants can pocket as much as $30,000 through tactics such as holding onto a claim for months before filing so that they can take their cut from the substantial backpay that the VA eventually awards the veteran. Criticism and pushback O’Rourke said his group is in favor of some legal guardrails at the federal or state level to protect veterans from exploitation, such as setting certain limits around fees or requiring transparency in contract agreements. But, he said, private consulting should be freely available because the VA and its current accreditation process haven’t kept up with the needs of veterans. “We’re looking at, after 20 years of war, a strain on our social infrastructure when it comes to how we take care of veterans,” he said, noting that the VA’s claims and appeals process is decades old, complex and cumbersome to navigate, even with accredited groups offering help. “Asking veterans to go into a system that uses a lot of their time and causes frustration ... veterans are going to try to find workarounds for that.” Groups including the VFW have been vocal opponents of for-profit consulting companies, urging lawmakers to take action and waging public relations battles against the industry. For-profit companies have been investigated by media and officials in states including Texas and Louisiana for potentially illegal practices. Last year, the VA issued a fraud alert, warning veterans to avoid consultants who aren’t accredited. But the industry is pushing back. One of the largest for-profit consulting companies spent more than $800,000 last year and $780,000 this year in federal lobbying efforts, according to data compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets. That included pushing for a bill that would make the legal loophole permanent. At the state level, representatives from some of the industry’s largest players are showing up in statehouses across the country to speak against bills. “I got very close to getting my bill passed last year,” said Griffith. But claims consulting companies hired a lobbyist in Missouri, he said. “They lobbied the [House] speaker’s office and he delayed the bill.” During a committee hearing, Missouri legislators heard opposition to the bill from O’Rourke, who also testified against Eskamani and Salzman’s bill in Florida. “I was surprised at the amount of money they’re willing to spend to try to keep things the way they are,” said Eskamani, who said she didn’t expect to see such a concerted effort to stop a bill in its first committee meeting. In June, Louisiana quietly enacted a law that will allow unregulated companies to profit from assisting veterans with their disability claims, though it caps consulting fees at $12,500. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry allowed the bill to become law without his signature. It marked an about-face for Landry: When he was the state attorney general, he worked to shut down the types of consulting businesses the law now explicitly allows. Similar bills were introduced this year in Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii and Kentucky, but did not pass. Last month in Alabama, members of the legislative committee for the state veterans affairs department voted to work with state lawmakers on a bill to prohibit claims consultants from profiting off veterans. The issue is likely to show up again next year in state legislative sessions around the country.

AP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:53 p.m. EST

What to know about Northern California's rare tsunami warningBETHESDA, Md. , Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) today announced its board of directors has elected Admiral John C. Aquilino , former commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, to the board, effective today. "Admiral Aquilino's service to the nation and extensive experience in complex, global operations, including in the Indo-Pacific, will bring valuable insight to the board," said Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and CEO Jim Taiclet. "His perspective as a leader and warfighter will enhance board oversight. We look forward to working with him as we continue to advance our 21st Century Security ® strategy to strengthen deterrence and create a more advanced, resilient and collaborative defense industrial base." Aquilino served as the 26th commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, responsible for all U.S. military activities in the Indo-Pacific, from 2021 until his retirement as a four-star admiral in July 2024 . His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Naval Forces Central Command, and the Commander of Carrier Strike Group 2. Commissioned in 1984 following graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy , Aquilino has served as a fighter pilot in every geographic combatant command and participated in nearly every major military operation after his commissioning, including Operations Deliberate Force, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and Inherent Resolve. He is also a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), Joint Forces Staff College and Harvard Kennedy School's executive education program in national and international security. Aquilino is considered an independent director under applicable rules and regulations and will serve on the Classified Business and Security Committee. About Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is a global defense technology company driving innovation and advancing scientific discovery. Our all-domain mission solutions and 21st Century Security ® vision accelerate the delivery of transformative technologies to ensure those we serve always stay ahead of ready. More information at LockheedMartin.com . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lockheed-martin-elects-john-c-aquilino-to-board-of-directors-302329516.html SOURCE Lockheed MartinLockheed Martin Elects John C. Aquilino to Board of Directors

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