4 magi Simply Ian

Reflections of a Legacy: The Enduring Words of Jimmy Carter

(The Center Square) – More than $225 million in grants have been allocated to assist and expand law enforcement and prosecutorial jobs in rural areas of Texas. Recognizing the need to increase salaries and recruit and retain law enforcement staff in rural areas where resources are limited and can’t compete with larger cities, in 2023, the state legislature passed SB 22, the Rural Law Enforcement Grant Program, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was an advocate for the bill, which received bipartisan support. The law appropriated $330 million for the program in the 2024-2025 biennium. In fiscal 2024, which ended Aug. 31, the Texas Comptroller’s Office awarded $125.7 million to 502 grant recipients. In fiscal 2025, it awarded $98.4 million to 396 grant recipients. “Many rural law enforcement and prosecutor offices have lacked the resources they need to attract and retain personnel or to buy much-needed safety equipment, and this program bridges that gap. I'm humbled that the Legislature placed this responsibility with my agency,” Comptroller Glenn Hegar said. “These men and women form the backbone of rural communities across the great state of Texas, and it is critical that we ensure they have what they need to keep Texans safe and secure." Earlier this year, Hegar visited several recipients of the grant program through his Good for Texas Tour series to highlight how they used the funds. Grant money helped increase minimum salaries for constables and sheriffs; increase deputy, jailer and corrections officer salaries; hire new deputies and corrections officers; fill open positions; and purchase equipment. In county attorney offices, grant money helped supplement the salaries of assistant district attorneys or hire additional ones, hire legal assistants, investigators, victim assistant coordinators and others. Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez, who advocated for the legislation, told The Center Square, “The Rural Law Enforcement Grant Program has been critical to sheriffs in disadvantaged rural counties with budgetary shortfalls. I’ve been a recipient of the grant program and greatly appreciate the support of the legislature for approving Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s pledge to increase law enforcement funding.” Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd agrees, saying it’s the first time in his 30-plus year career “that the legislature has done something like this for law enforcement. It’s a huge benefit because it enabled us to provide much-needed pay raises for the deputies and the jailers.” Boyd founded and leads an Operation Lone Star Task Force with sheriffs and law enforcement officials from nearly 50 agencies in dozens of counties, The Center Square has exclusively reported. He explained that historically, commissioner’s courts have underfunded sheriff’s offices because they argued state law enforcement agencies were patrolling rural areas but that hasn’t been the case for a range of reasons, leaving the sheriff’s offices underfunded and underpaid. SB 22 provided a “much-needed boost especially during hard economic times that we’ve been facing,” he said. When Patrick and state lawmakers learned “how little deputies were being paid or that they were relying on food stamps, they were shocked,” Boyd said. Boyd’s first partner, when he began his career, “was on food stamps. It was the only way to feed his family. A program like this helps them out,” he told The Center Square. “To put the pay raise into perspective,” he said, when he was first elected sheriff and came into office in 2021, “deputies were making $35,000 a year. Now starting pay is $51,400.” Before the legislature acted, in some poor, rural counties, some sheriff salaries were $20,000 a year. “Recruiting skilled law enforcement deputies in rural counties has always been a challenge. The impact of a grant like this that helps us better compensate and retain talented lawmen cannot be overstated,” Kinney County spokesman Matt Benacci told The Center Square. Despite the best efforts of the legislature, not all sheriffs and their deputies are receiving the money intended for them through the law because county judges or commissioners have control over the funding process and won’t approve the grant for political reasons, they told The Center Square. Several sheriffs spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation from their county judge or commissioners. If county officials don’t accept the grant, sheriffs and their deputies won’t receive salary increases and aren’t able to hire additional deputies or other staff and jobs remain vacant. In one rural county, the judge and commissioners didn’t want to pay the sheriff a full salary because he came out of retirement to take the job, one sheriff in a rural county said. The reasoning was that he didn’t need it because he was collecting retirement from his previous law enforcement job. In one border county, the county judge wouldn’t release funds for a sheriff’s office that was participating in Operation Lone Star. In another, the commissioners didn’t want the sheriff to make the minimum $75,000 under the law because it was more than they made and rejected the grant money. The sheriffs argue one way for the legislature to improve the program is to allow the sheriffs to apply directly for the grant and receive the funding directly. Criteria for the grant program can be found here . Those serving in jurisdictions with populations of 300,000 or less, whose fiscal years begins Jan. 1, have until Jan. 31, 2025, to apply.

WASHINGTON — Jimmy Carter, the earnest Georgia peanut farmer who as U.S. president struggled with a bad economy and the Iran hostage crisis but brokered peace between Israel and Egypt and later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work, has died, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Sunday. He was 100. A Democrat, he served as president from January 1977 to January 1981 after defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 U.S. election. Carter was swept from office four years later in an electoral landslide as voters embraced Republican challenger Ronald Reagan, the former actor and California governor. ADVERTISEMENT Carter lived longer after his term in office than any other U.S. president. Along the way, he earned a reputation as a better former president than he was a president -- a status he readily acknowledged. His one-term presidency was marked by the highs of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, bringing some stability to the Middle East. But it was dogged by an economy in recession, persistent unpopularity and the embarrassment of the Iran hostage crisis that consumed his final 444 days in office. In recent years, Carter had experienced several health issues including melanoma that spread to his liver and brain. Carter decided to receive hospice care in February 2023 instead of undergoing additional medical intervention. His wife, Rosalynn Carter, died on Nov. 19, 2023, at age 96. He looked frail when he attended her memorial service and funeral in a wheelchair. Carter left office profoundly unpopular but worked energetically for decades on humanitarian causes. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 in recognition of his "untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." Carter had been a centrist as governor of Georgia with populist tendencies when he moved into the White House as the 39th U.S. president. He was a Washington outsider at a time when America was still reeling from the Watergate scandal that led Republican Richard Nixon to resign as president in 1974 and elevated Ford from vice president. "I'm Jimmy Carter and I'm running for president. I will never lie to you," Carter promised with an ear-to-ear smile. Asked to assess his presidency, Carter said in a 1991 documentary: "The biggest failure we had was a political failure. I never was able to convince the American people that I was a forceful and strong leader." ADVERTISEMENT Despite his difficulties in office, Carter had few rivals for accomplishments as a former president. He gained global acclaim as a tireless human rights advocate, a voice for the disenfranchised and a leader in the fight against hunger and poverty, winning the respect that eluded him in the White House. Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts to promote human rights and resolve conflicts around the world, from Ethiopia and Eritrea to Bosnia and Haiti. His Carter Center in Atlanta sent international election-monitoring delegations to polls around the world. A Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher since his teens, Carter brought a strong sense of morality to the presidency, speaking openly about his religious faith. He also sought to take some pomp out of an increasingly imperial presidency - walking, rather than riding in a limousine, in his 1977 inauguration parade. The Middle East was the focus of Carter's foreign policy. The 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, based on the 1978 Camp David Accords, ended a state of war between the two neighbors. Carter brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland for talks. Later, as the accords seemed to be unraveling, Carter saved the day by flying to Cairo and Jerusalem for personal shuttle diplomacy. The treaty provided for Israeli withdrawal from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the establishment of diplomatic relations. Begin and Sadat each won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. By the 1980 election, the overriding issues were double-digit inflation, interest rates that exceeded 20% and soaring gas prices, as well as the Iran hostage crisis that brought humiliation to America. These issues marred Carter's presidency and undermined his chances of winning a second term. ADVERTISEMENT On Nov. 4, 1979, revolutionaries devoted to Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seized the Americans present and demanded the return of the ousted shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was backed by the United States and was being treated in a U.S. hospital. The American public initially rallied behind Carter. But his support faded in April 1980 when a commando raid failed to rescue the hostages, with eight U.S. soldiers killed in an aircraft accident in the Iranian desert. Carter's final ignominy was that Iran held the 52 hostages until minutes after Reagan took his oath of office on Jan. 20, 1981, to replace Carter, then released the planes carrying them to freedom. In another crisis, Carter protested the former Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. He also asked the U.S. Senate to defer consideration of a major nuclear arms accord with Moscow. Unswayed, the Soviets remained in Afghanistan for a decade. Carter won narrow Senate approval in 1978 of a treaty to transfer the Panama Canal to the control of Panama despite critics who argued the waterway was vital to American security. He also completed negotiations on full U.S. ties with China. Carter created two new U.S. Cabinet departments -- education and energy. Amid high gas prices, he said America's "energy crisis" was "the moral equivalent of war" and urged the country to embrace conservation. "Ours is the most wasteful nation on earth," he told Americans in 1977. ADVERTISEMENT In 1979, Carter delivered what became known as his "malaise" speech to the nation, although he never used that word. "After listening to the American people I have been reminded again that all the legislation in the world can't fix what's wrong with America," he said in his televised address. "The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America." As president, the strait-laced Carter was embarrassed by the behavior of his hard-drinking younger brother, Billy Carter, who had boasted: "I got a red neck, white socks, and Blue Ribbon beer." Jimmy Carter withstood a challenge from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination but was politically diminished heading into his general election battle against a vigorous Republican adversary. Reagan, the conservative who projected an image of strength, kept Carter off balance during their debates before the November 1980 election. Reagan dismissively told Carter, "There you go again," when the Republican challenger felt the president had misrepresented Reagan's views during one debate. ADVERTISEMENT Carter lost the 1980 election to Reagan, who won 44 of the 50 states and amassed an Electoral College landslide. James Earl Carter Jr. was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, one of four children of a farmer and shopkeeper. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, served in the nuclear submarine program and left to manage the family peanut farming business. He married his wife, Rosalynn, in 1946, a union he called "the most important thing in my life." They had three sons and a daughter. Carter became a millionaire, a Georgia state legislator and Georgia's governor from 1971 to 1975. He mounted an underdog bid for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination, and out-hustled his rivals for the right to face Ford in the general election. With Walter Mondale as his vice presidential running mate, Carter was given a boost by a major Ford gaffe during one of their debates. Ford said that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration," despite decades of just such domination. Carter edged Ford in the election, even though Ford actually won more states -- 27 to Carter's 23. Not all of Carter's post-presidential work was appreciated. Former President George W. Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, both Republicans, were said to have been displeased by Carter's freelance diplomacy in Iraq and elsewhere. ADVERTISEMENT In 2004, Carter called the Iraq war launched in 2003 by the younger Bush one of the most "gross and damaging mistakes our nation ever made." He called George W. Bush's administration "the worst in history" and said Vice President Dick Cheney was "a disaster for our country." In 2019, Carter questioned Republican Donald Trump's legitimacy as president, saying "he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf." Trump responded by calling Carter "a terrible president." Carter also made trips to communist North Korea. A 1994 visit defused a nuclear crisis, as President Kim Il Sung agreed to freeze his nuclear program in exchange for resumed dialog with the United States. That led to a deal in which North Korea, in return for aid, promised not to restart its nuclear reactor or reprocess the plant's spent fuel. But Carter irked Democratic President Bill Clinton's administration by announcing the deal with North Korea's leader without first checking with Washington. In 2010, Carter won the release of an American sentenced to eight years hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. Carter wrote more than two dozen books, ranging from a presidential memoir to a children's book and poetry, as well as works about religious faith and diplomacy. His book "Faith: A Journey for All," was published in 2018. ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .

Elon Musk wrote a message on Friday to those who want to end the H1-B visa program: “F**k yourself in the face.” Siriam Krishnan’s appointment as a senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy sparked a widespread debate over the H1-B visa program. Conservatives have slammed the program as “abusive” and said it is designed to undercut wages of white-collar Americans. Vivek Ramaswamy supercharged the debate when he claimed that America “has venerated mediocrity over excellence.” Musk is a vehement supporter of the H1-B visa program. One X user on Friday stated, “Let’s optimize H1-B,” a reference to Musk’s belief that things that should not exist should not be optimized. “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk raged in response to the X user. “Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.” The foul-mouthed command is a paraphrase of a line from the 2008 comedy film Tropic Thunder. This is not the first incendiary comment Musk has made during the contentious online debate about the H1-B visa. He accused many users who are critical of the visa program of racism and said that these “contemptible fools” must be removed from the Republican Party, although he later emphasized that he was specifically referring to the “hateful, unrepentant racists”: “They will absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed,” he added. A Rasmussen Reports poll found that 60 percent of likely American voters believe the country does not need more foreign H1-B visa workers to fill white-collar jobs. Breitbart News has long reported the countless incidents where white-collar Americans are laid off and forced to train their foreign replacements. Not all of those in the world of technology agree with Musk’s pro-H1-B visa stance: Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in 2024, is staunchly critical of the program. On Thursday, she said that the visa program delivers “massive breaks” for cheap labor for tech companies, and those with the visas are essentially ‘indentured servants’ for big tech”: Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3 .

TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. Is he a hero? A killer? Both? About the same time the #FreeLuigi memes featuring the mustachioed plumber from "Super Mario Brothers" mushroomed online this week, commenters shared memes showing Tony Soprano pronouncing Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering the UnitedHealthcare CEO in Manhattan, a hero. There were the posts lionizing Mangione's physique and appearance, the ones speculating about who could play him on "Saturday Night Live," and the ones denouncing and even threatening people at an Altoona McDonald's for spotting him and calling police. It was all too much for Pennsylvania's governor, a rising Democrat who was nearly the vice presidential nominee this year. Josh Shapiro — who was dealing with a case somewhere else that happened to land in his lap — decried what he saw as growing support for "vigilante justice." As with so many American events at this moment in the 21st century, the curious case of Brian Thompson and Luigi Mangioni has both captivated and polarized a media-saturated nation. The saga offers a glimpse into how, in a connected world, so many different aspects of modern American life can be surreally linked — from public violence to politics, from health care to humor (or attempts at it). And it summons a question, too: How can so many people consider someone a hero when the rules that govern American society — the law — are treating him as the complete opposite? He's being cast as a romantic figure Mangione is in a Blair County jail cell as he awaits extradition to New York on murder charges. Little new information is available about a possible motive, though writings found in Mangione's possession hinted at a vague hatred of corporate greed and an expression of anger toward "parasitic" health insurance companies. That detail came after earlier clues showed some... Associated PressGun found on suspect in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO matches shell casings at scene, police say ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — New York City’s police commissioner says the gun found on the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO matches shell casings found at the crime scene. Commissioner Jessica Tisch also said Wednesday that lab results matched suspect Luigi Mangione’s prints to a water bottle and a snack bar wrapper found near the scene of the killing. Police had said earlier that they believed the gunman bought the items at a nearby coffee shop while awaiting his target. Mangione is jailed in Pennsylvania on weapon and forgery charges, but he also has been charged in New York with murder in Brian Thompson's death. His lawyer has noted that Mangione is presumed innocent. Authorities are scrutinizing evidence and the suspect’s experiences with the health care industry. Arguments over whether Luigi Mangione is a 'hero' offer a glimpse into an unusual American moment Memes and online posts in support of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who's charged with killing UnitedHealthcare's CEO, have mushroomed online. Some cast Mangione as a hero. That's too far, says Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a rising Democrat who was almost the Democratic vice presidential nominee this year. CEO Brian Thompson's death touched off off these ripples. They offer a glimpse into how so many different aspects of 21st-century life can be surreally connected, from public violence to politics, from health care to humor, or attempts at it. FBI Director Wray says he intends to resign before Trump takes office in January WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Christopher Wray says he plans to resign at the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January. The announcement Wednesday comes a week and a half after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate loyalist Kash Patel for the position. His impending resignation will bring him three years short of the completion of a 10-year term during which he tried to keep the FBI out of politics even as the bureau found itself entangled in a string of explosive investigations. Trump applauded the news Wednesday, saying it will end the weaponization of what he called the “Department of Injustice.” Donald Trump will ring the New York Stock Exchange bell as he's named Time's Person of the Year NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange for the first time and be named Time magazine's Person of the Year. Thursday's events will be a notable moment of twin recognitions for Trump, a born-and-bred New Yorker who has long seen praise from the business world and media as a sign of success. Four people with knowledge of his plans told The Associated Press that Trump was expected to be on Wall Street on Thursday to mark the ceremonial start of the day's trading, while a person familiar with the selection confirmed that Trump had been selected as Time's Person of the Year. The Trump and Biden teams insist they're working hand in glove on foreign crises WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t think much of Joe Biden’s foreign policy record. He frequently casts the outgoing Democratic president as a feckless leader who shredded American credibility around the world during his four-year term. But the Trump and Biden national security teams have come to an understanding that they have no choice but to work together as conflicts in Gaza, Syria and Ukraine have left a significant swath of the world on a knife’s edge. It’s fuzzy how much common ground Biden and Trump’s teams have found as they navigate crises that threaten to cause more global upheaval as Trump prepares to settle back into the White House. Syrians flock to morgues looking for loved ones who perished in Assad's prisons DAMASCUS (AP) — Many bodies have been found in Syrian detention centers and prisons since President Bashar al-Assad's government fell. Now Syrians around the world are circulating images of the corpses in hopes that they will see slain loved ones whose fate had been a mystery. At the morgue visited by The Associated Press on Wednesday in Damascus, families flocked to a wall where some of the pictures were pinned in a haunting gallery of the dead. Relatives desperately scanned the images for a recognizable face. Some of the prisoners died just weeks ago. Others perished months earlier. US warns Russia may be ready to use new lethal missile against Ukraine again in 'coming days' WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says Russia could launch its lethal new intermediate-range ballistic missile against Ukraine again soon. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh cited a U.S. intelligence assessment in telling reporters on Wednesday that an attack could come “in the coming days.” She says the U.S. does not consider the Oreshnik missile a game changer on the battlefield. But that Russia is using the weapon to intimidate Ukraine as both sides wrestle for an advantage that will give them leverage in any negotiations to end the war. The Russian Defense Ministry also is warning it may retaliate against Kyiv for an attack on a military base in the Rostov region in southern Russia on Wednesday. Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 33 including children, Palestinian medics say DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 33 people. One of the strikes hit a home where displaced people were sheltering in the isolated north, killing 19. A separate strike outside nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital killed a woman and her two children, and another strike in central Gaza killed at least seven people. Israel's military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and accuses militants of hiding among them, putting their lives in danger. Local health officials say Israel’s retaliatory offensive after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 has killed over 44,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Hannah Kobayashi, missing Hawaii woman whose disappearance prompted a massive search, is found safe LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hannah Kobayashi has been found safe. That’s according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Kobayashi vanished last month in Los Angeles. The missing Hawaii woman's disappearance prompted a massive search and a missing persons investigation. It was not immediately clear where she was found, but police previously said she had voluntarily crossed the border into Mexico. The LAPD said Wednesday the department will wrap up its investigation. Kobayashi's family reported her missing to law enforcement on Nov. 11 after relatives received “strange and cryptic, just alarming” text messages. Kobayashi’s mother and sister said they are “grateful” she has been found safe. Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup. But when exactly? ZURICH (AP) — Saudi Arabia scored a major win in its campaign to attract major sports events to the kingdom when it was formally appointed as the 2034 World Cup host on Wednesday. Still, many questions remain about the tournament. Key issues include during which part of the year to stage the tournament, where to play the games, whether alcohol will be allowed at all and how to protect workers rights in the massive construction projects required to host the World Cup.

Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge

Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, Perth, Darwin, Lord Howe Island, and Gold Coast Host Epic New Year Celebrations for Travelers to Australia Boosting Tourism