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On Monday, Netflix Inc. NFLX prosecuted Broadcom Inc. ‘s AVGO cloud computing subsidiary VMware in a California court for allegedly infringing its patent rights. Netflix accused VMware of violating five patent rights in “virtual machines” that run another computer’s operating software on a host computer, according to the Reuters report. Broadcom’s U.S. lawsuit against Netflix will likely go to trial in June 2025. Netflix sought monetary damages. Broadcom held $9.35 billion in cash and equivalents as of November 3, 2024 . Also Read: Elon Musk’s xAI To Expand With New Chatbot App This is not the first case between the two companies – Broadcom filed a patent dispute case against Netflix in 2018 for alleged infringement of Broadcom patents related to video streaming technology. In 2023, Broadcom snapped VMware for $69 billion. Analyst opinions on Broadcom and Netflix: In September 2024, JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur lauded the VMware acquisition for impressive synergies , with a 25%+ sequential growth expectation in the fourth quarter. VMware helped infrastructure software revenue grow 41% in the third quarter, helping Broadcom’s revenue climb to $13.07 billion, topping consensus estimates. Sur flagged VMware’s strong software renewal rates and upsell opportunities, with revenue potentially reaching $4.5-$5 billion per quarter by 2025. Rosenblatt , B of A Securities , and JP Morgan raised their price targets on Broadcom after its fourth-quarter report, citing its custom-chip (ASIC) AI and ability to maintain a relationship with Apple Inc AAPL . Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein hailed Netflix as the sole investable mainstream media stock , citing its streaming moat and potential for live event upside. Price Actions: NFLX stock closed up 2.27% at $932.12 on Tuesday. AVGO up by 3.15%. Also Read: Biden Administration Targets Chinese Firm Over Taiwan Semiconductor Chip Found in Huawei Tech Image via Shutterstock © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Stock market holiday: Are BSE, NSE open or closed today for Christmas 2024?

LendingClub is a digital marketplace bank using data and analytics (over 150 billion data points collected) to improve its underwriting ability and overall profitability. Its growing customer base is comprised of high-income, high-credit-score consumers. And its business model, which focuses on loan fees and interest income, is proving to be resilient. LC’s third-quarter earnings for fiscal 2024 showed 8% revenue growth to more than $200 million. The company grew its loan originations by 6%, to $1.9 billion. That helped drive total asset growth, which was 25%, to more than $11 billion. LendingClub has also seen encouraging uptake of a new savings product, with over $500 million in deposits already. It’s no wonder LC shares are up 87% this year – and they could rise more. MAPsignals data shows how Big Money investors are betting heavily on the forward picture of the stock. Institutional volumes reveal plenty. In the last year, LC has enjoyed strong investor demand, which we believe to be institutional support. Each green bar signals unusually large volumes in LC shares. They reflect our proprietary inflow signal, pushing the stock higher: Plenty of financials names are under accumulation right now. But there’s a powerful fundamental story happening with LendingClub. Institutional support and a healthy fundamental backdrop make this company worth investigating. As you can see, LC has had strong sales and earnings growth: 3-year sales growth rate (+38.5%) 3-year EPS growth rate (+645.3%) Source: FactSet Also, EPS is estimated to ramp higher this year by +85.3%. Now it makes sense why the stock has been powering to new heights. LC has a track record of strong financial performance. Marrying great fundamentals with our proprietary software has found some big winning stocks over the long term. LendingClub has been a top-rated stock at MAPsignals. That means the stock has unusual buy pressure and growing fundamentals. We have a ranking process that showcases stocks like this on a weekly basis. It’s made the rare Top 20 report multiple times in the last year. The blue bars below show when LC was a top pick...making share values jump: Tracking unusual volumes reveals the power of money flows. This is a trait that most outlier stocks exhibit...the best of the best. Big Money demand drives stocks upward. The LC rally isn’t new at all. Big Money buying in the shares is signaling to take notice. Given the historical gains in share price and strong fundamentals, this stock could be worth a spot in a diversified portfolio. Disclosure: the author holds no position in LC at the time of publication. If you are a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) or are a serious investor, take your investing to the next level, learn more about the MAPsignals process here . This article was originally posted on FX Empire Trip.com Rises on Strong Demand, Big Money Big Money Joins the LendingClub USD/CAD’s Uptrend Could Continue Around the NFP Baltic States See Divergence in Their Macro-fiscal Outlooks Strength for the Dollar as the Fed Looks More Hawkish Capitulation Often Signals Big Gains AheadMLB insider is not worried about Red Sox not extending their All-Star outfielder just yet | Sporting NewsTitre Tesla Shocks the Gaming World! Discover the Technological Revolution

ZTE Corporation has teamed up with DITO Telecommunity to revolutionize network infrastructure in the Philippines. The partnership marks a significant step toward enhancing mobile connectivity and capacity nationwide through the deployment of TDD Massive MIMO technology. TDD (Time Division Duplex) Massive MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology is an advanced wireless communication method that enhances network performance by simultaneously using multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver ends. As the Philippines’ third-largest telco, DITO has been a game-changer since its 2019 debut. With over 7,000 physical sites, an 86 percent network coverage rate, and more than 13 million active users, DITO is leading rapid advancements in the telecom sector. It has particularly excelled in 5G services, outpacing competitors in speed and user experience. To address its growing 4G demand, DITO sought innovative solutions to maximize spectrum resources and boost network capacity. In 2024, DITO conducted rigorous evaluations of TDD Massive MIMO configurations, including 8T8R and 64T64R technologies. After careful analysis, the 32T32R solution emerged as the ideal choice, delivering superior performance and cost efficiency. Under the leadership of Vincent Zhou, Senior Advisor for Wireless and Network Planning at DITO, and with ZTE’s support, the companies launched pilot sites in high-demand areas. The results were groundbreaking: 99 percent improvement in spectrum efficiency; 92 percent increase in average cell traffic volume; and a 75 percent growth in average connected users.Stock market today: Wall Street wavers at the start of a holiday-shortened week

Brazos Home Care Receives the Reader's Choice Award for Excellence in Home Care for Veterans in Bryan, TXCohen: Protesters should learn more about NATO before smashing windows at the Palais des Congrès

Unlike scores of people who for the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight in recent years, Danielle Griffin had no trouble getting them. The 38-year-old information technology worker from New Mexico had a prescription. Her pharmacy had the drugs in stock. And her covered all but $25 to $50 of the monthly cost. For Griffin, the hardest part of using the new drugs wasn’t access. It was finding out that the didn’t really work for her. “I have been on Wegovy for a year and a half and have only lost 13 pounds,” said Griffin, who watches her diet, drinks plenty of water and exercises regularly. “I’ve done everything right with no success. It’s discouraging.” In clinical trials, most participants taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to treat obesity lost an average of 15% to 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases. But roughly 10% to 15% of patients in those trials were “nonresponders” who lost less than 5% of their body weight. Now that millions of people have used the drugs, several obesity experts told The Associated Press that perhaps 20% of patients — as many as 1 in 5 — may not respond well to the medications. It’s a little-known consequence of the obesity drug boom, according to doctors who caution eager patients not to expect one-size-fits-all results. “It’s all about explaining that different people have different responses,” said Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity expert at Massachusetts General Hospital The drugs are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists because they mimic a hormone in the body known as glucagon-like peptide 1. Genetics, hormones and variability in how the brain regulates energy can all influence weight — and a person’s response to the drugs, Stanford said. Medical conditions such as sleep apnea can prevent weight loss, as can certain common medications, such as antidepressants, steroids and contraceptives. “This is a disease that stems from the brain,” said Stanford. “The dysfunction may not be the same” from patient to patient. Despite such cautions, patients are often upset when they start getting the weekly injections but the numbers on the scale barely budge. “It can be devastating,” said Dr. Katherine Saunders, an obesity expert at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-founder of the obesity treatment company FlyteHealth. “With such high expectations, there’s so much room for disappointment.” That was the case for Griffin, who has battled obesity since childhood and hoped to shed 70 pounds using Wegovy. The drug helped reduce her appetite and lowered her risk of diabetes, but she saw little change in weight. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” she said. “You want it to work like it does for everybody else.” The medications are along with eating behavior and lifestyle changes. It’s usually clear within weeks whether someone will respond to the drugs, said Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Weight loss typically begins right away and continues as the dosage increases. For some patients, that just doesn’t happen. For others, side effects such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea force them to halt the medications, Dushay said. In such situations, patients who were counting on the new drugs to pare pounds may think they’re out of options. “I tell them: It’s not game over,” Dushay said. Trying a different version of the new class of drugs may help. Griffin, who didn’t respond well to Wegovy, has started using Zepbound, which targets an additional hormone pathway in the body. After three months of using the drug, she has lost 7 pounds. “I’m hoping it’s slow and steady,” she said. Other people respond well to older drugs, the experts said. Changing diet, exercise, sleep and stress habits can also have profound effects. Figuring out what works typically requires a doctor trained to treat obesity, Saunders noted. “Obesity is such a complex disease that really needs to be treated very comprehensively,” she said. “If what we’re prescribing doesn’t work, we always have a backup plan.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Jonel Aleccia, The Associated Press

Editor’s note: The 2024 election is The Eagle’s No. 7 news story of 2024. This is part of a daily series of the top 10 stories in Bryan-College Station and the Brazos Valley this year. Stories will appear daily with No. 1 running in the Dec. 31 edition. Some things changed and others stayed the same in the Brazos Valley during the 2024 election in November. In the Texas House races, the Republican Party held onto its seats in the districts that cover Brazos County but the occupants of those seats changed. After serving their House districts for more than a decade, both incumbents, Kyle Kacal in District 12 and John Raney in District 14, decided not to run for reelection. Trey Wharton and Paul Dyson, both supporters of Gov. Greg Abbott’s school voucher plan, won their seats handily. Both also voiced support to fund Texas public schools. “The public school has to be taken care of, especially in this [District 12] in the fact if the school district is not the largest employer in the community, it’s one of the largest,” Wharton told the Eagle in October. “We need to make sure that they are taken care of at the same time because we’ll have an economic crisis on our hands if we don’t get it right.” Wharton earned his seat in District 12 after defeating Dee Howard Mullins with almost 77% of the vote in the general election. Wharton won the Republican nomination after beating Ben Bius in a runoff election in May after neither won a majority in the March primary against John Harvey Slocum. “I was extremely excited,” Wharton said in November describing his emotions on hearing the results. “It was good to see my hard work pay off and I just want to be a voice for my district. I didn’t come into this with an agenda. My thing was I was doing this to give us a representative that would listen and be there.” District 12 encompasses most of Brazos County outside of Bryan, College Station and Kurten as well as all of Grimes, Madison, Robertson, Walker and Washington counties. In District 14, which is made up entirely of Bryan and College Station, Dyson defeated Democratic challenger Fred Medina with 61% of the vote. Dyson reached the general election after defeating Rick Davis in the Republican primary in March. “You take it all in, you’ve been doing this for a little over a year and there’s so many sacrifices that your family and a lot of other people around you do,” Dyson said on election night. “It’s definitely not just my win, it’s everybody’s win.” Both Dyson and Wharton have spent the month and a half since winning the election going back and forth between their district and Austin to learn more about being a representative. The swearing in of new representatives takes place Jan. 14 when the 89th legislative session convenes in Austin. “At the end of the day we are public servants and we always have to remember that we’re not there to move a personal agenda,” Dyson told the Eagle in October. “We’re there to make sure that our constituents, the people in my district, are properly represented while there in Austin.” At the city council level, College Station incumbents Linda Harvell, Elizabeth Cunha and Dennis Maloney chose not to run again so newcomers David White, Melissa McIlhaney and Scott Shafer were sworn in after winning on Election Day. White won Place 3 with 73% of the vote over Valen Cepak while McIlhaney captured Place 4 with 69.3% of the vote over Aron Collins. The narrowest margin came in the race for Place 6 with Scott Shafer winning the seat by just 221 votes. Bob Yancy ran unopposed in Place 5. All four incumbents held their seats on the Bryan City Council. In District 3, Jared Salvato won with 80.1% of the vote over Bob Achgill; James Edge kept his District 4 seat after earning 66.6% of the vote against Shane Savage; Marca Ewers-Shurtleff won reelection in District 5 with 59.3% of the vote against Patrick Giammalva; and Kevin C. Boriskie held on to At Large Place 6 seat after gaining 62.1% against Justin C. Wager. Bryan council members were sworn in at the November meeting. Republicans Bentley Nettles and Fred Brown prevailed in the Brazos County Commissioner’s Court races. Nettles won Precinct 1 unopposed after unseating incumbent Steve Aldrich in the spring. Brown won Precinct 3 after getting 69.7% of the vote against Libertarian Mike Southerland. Brown reached the general election after defeating incumbent Nancy Berry in the March Republican primary. “I’m excited, I’m humbled because I didn’t know how it would turn out,” Brown told the Eagle in November. “I’m just honored that the people in Precinct 3 had the faith in me to go in and do the things I told them I would do.” Brown and Nettles will be sworn in at the commissioners meeting on Jan. 1. Brazos County voters paralleled the state of Texas as a whole by backing Donald Trump over Kamala Harris for president and Ted Cruz over Collin Allred for senator. Cruz won with 59% of the county vote as opposed to 53% statewide. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, won another term in Texas’ 10th District, winning 63.4% of the vote over Democratic challenger Theresa Boisseau. “From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the people of TX-10 for entrusting me to continue serving them in Congress,” McCaul said in a statement. “it’s my duty — and my honor — to be a voice for Texans and to fight for conservative policies that will allow us to hand down a better America to the next generation.” The voters of Brazos County also had two propositions on the ballot that would change Brazos County from an open range county to a closed range county. Voters approved the two propositions but the enforcement has been put on hold after mistakes were made in the process of putting the propositions on the ballot. The first mistake had to do with the order approving the propositions. There should have been two different orders, one for the commissioners to sign and the other for the county judge to sign. Instead Brazos County General Counsel Bruce Erratt combined the two as one order. The second mistake made in the placing of the propositions on the ballot was that by Texas statute only landowners can vote on stock laws. “But there is also wording in the statute that describes who is qualified to vote on the Stock Laws,” Erratt said in a statement. “In order to vote on the Stock Laws, ‘a person must be a freeholder and a qualified voter.’ In the Nov. 5 election, voters were not qualified as being ‘freeholders’ (landowners).” Erratt has consulted with the state attorney general’s office and the secretary of state’s office. If the open/closed range county vote is voided, the process for getting the two propositions on the ballot would have to start over and the next vote would have to limited to qualified landowners.Big Money Joins the LendingClub

I watch porn daily before school pick-up – it makes me a better mum but my friends would be horrified if they found outThe Patriots will have a new starter at center on Saturday afternoon. Ben Brown wasn’t able to clear the concussion protocol in time for this weekend’s game with the Chargers, so he’s been downgraded to out. That means New England will likely start either Cole Strange or Lecitus Smith at center, neither of whom has a snapped a ball in a game for the Patriots this season. Strange’s story is well documented. A first-rounder in 2022, the guard suffered a knee injury so severe last December that he needed to learn how to walk again. Needless to say, it’s been an arduous recovery from the torn patellar tendon. “It was crazy,” Strange said. “I felt like a baby deer. It was awkward as hell. The only thing that goes on with it is just doing it. Walking with crutches and then walking without them. Forcing yourself not to limp – not to go onto the right leg. It’s not the same, but it’s kind of the same with football. It’s just doing it.” Since returning to practice last month, Strange has worked exclusively at center. He’d only played guard under Bill Belichick during his first two seasons in Foxborough, but vowed to be ready to start at his new spot if his number is called on Saturday afternoon. “I’m fired up for the opportunity, honestly,” Strange told Karen Guregian. “I feel like I’ve been working for this for a year now. And I’m just excited for the opportunity, really. “The position I’m in, is really no different than the position that a lot of guys across the league are in, coming back from injury. Maybe they’ve had a week or so of practice, I’ve had multiple weeks. I’m in a new position, so I’m still sort of figuring it out, but I’ve had plenty of time ... I feel very prepared.” If the Patriots don’t think Strange is ready, they can turn to Smith, who they’ve used as a jumbo tight end at times. A sixth-rounder in 2022, the 26-year-old has been with five different NFL organizations, but the Cardinals are the only other team he’s appeared in a game with. More Patriots Content

Kicker Greg Zuerlein set to return for Jets, wide receiver Davante Adams optimistic about playing"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" Thanks for your interest in Kalkine Media's content! To continue reading, please log in to your account or create your free account with us.

Linda Davis is a retired teacher who expects she will be able to recover some of the Social Security income she hasn’t been receiving if President Joe Biden signs a new bill to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald Linda Davis knew she needed to start planning for her future retirement, so she decided to meet with a financial adviser. That’s when she learned she wouldn’t be able to collect the full amount of Social Security benefits she had earned through part-time work and other odd jobs because of her career as a public school teacher. “I don’t think I would have entered the teaching profession if I had known what I found out later,” said the 75-year-old Portland resident. “I would be guaranteed more money upon retirement if I went into the private sector.” Davis is among the more than 25,000 Mainers — and nearly 3 million teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other public employees nationwide — who have been prevented from receiving full Social Security benefits because of two laws from the 1970s and 1980s. The Windfall Elimination Provision reduces the benefits available to public employees who don’t pay into Social Security through their government retirement plans, regardless of their contributions through other jobs. The other law, called the Government Pension Offset , decreases payments for surviving spouses if they receive their own government pension. But those restrictions are poised to be eliminated through the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act earlier this month. The bill, co-authored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, is now headed to President Joe Biden for his signature. “It has always bothered me that people who earned these benefits or whose spouses earned these benefits did not have the kind of security in their retirement years that they should have because of the reduced Social Security benefit,” Collins said in a recent interview. Collins has been working on repealing the two provisions for years, having held the first Senate hearing on the proposed policy in 2003 as chair of the Senate Government Affairs Committee and later introducing the Social Security Fairness Act in 2005 with the late Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-CA. Collins credited this year’s success with constituents being more organized in telling their stories, which was key to finally getting the legislation through Congress, she said. The bill also received overwhelming support in the House of Representatives, where it passed 327-75, before getting approved 76-20 in the Senate . In addition to Collins, it was also supported by the other three members of Maine’s Congressional delegation. “Across Maine, firefighters, police officers, teachers and other public servants put the well-being of our communities first; it’s past time they receive the benefits they so rightly have earned,” Sen. Angus King, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a written statement following the Senate vote. FOR TEACHERS, A RECRUITMENT GAIN Maine is among seven states that have state employee pension programs that do not include a Social Security component. As a result, the state is impacted by the two provisions at a higher rate than many others. Meanwhile, in some states, certain public sector employees do contribute to Social Security through their government retirement plans and therefore are not subject to the two provisions. Some public sector employees in Maine still pay into Social Security if they also work or have worked in the private sector. Like anyone else, they can access those benefits at age 62 if they’ve paid in for 10 years, though at a reduced rate. Davis, the retired teacher from Portland, spent about 30 years as an educator. But she also held other jobs — as a secretary, pumping gas, in catering — before her time as a teacher and during summers. Linda Davis expects she will be able to recover some of Social Security income if President Biden repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald She has a pension from her teaching work, but said it’s “not a livable pension,” so Social Security from her other jobs is an important piece of her retirement. Right now, because of the Windfall Elimination Provision, she gets 40% of what she’s earned in Social Security, or about $350 per month after Medicare is deducted. She also continues to substitute teach to supplement her income. She hopes the new law, if it’s signed by Biden, will not only increase her Social Security but make a difference for other teachers and help to address staffing shortages in education. “There are so many teachers that have part-time jobs,” Davis said. “I would say most teachers do. Why would they enter the teaching profession if they’re going to be punished financially?” Maine schools are currently facing shortages across several areas, said Steve Bailey, executive director of the Maine School Boards Association and Maine School Management Association. As a former teacher, principal and superintendent who also did other work outside the school system, Bailey sees about 30% of the Social Security he should be eligible for, or $340 per month, he said. “People who might have been thinking about coming into education before, they might have said, ‘I can’t risk losing 70% of my pension if I were to leave the private sector,'” he said. “So we view this as a very large recruitment and retention gain for people coming into education. They won’t have to think they’re risking their prior earnings that they had been putting away into Social Security.” Dan Possumato spent 25 years as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army but also worked a variety of private sector jobs over his lifetime and paid into Social Security. Because of the Windfall Elimination Provision, however, he wasn’t able to get all the benefits he was entitled to had he not also worked a federal job with a pension. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald AN ISSUE OF FAIRNESS Dan Possumato, a retired civilian employee of the U.S. Army, said the Windfall Elimination Provision has prevented him from getting about 45% of the Social Security benefits he earned in jobs before and after his government work. The 73-year-old Brunswick resident estimates he’s lost about $93,000 in the 13 years, or $600 per month, since he started drawing Social Security in 2011. Although he also has an Army pension, Possumato said the issue is about fairness. “I worked for this, just like the other people that are drawing more money with the same experience and earnings as myself,” Possumato said. “Why should I be penalized because Congress decided that was an easy target to get more revenue (from Social Security) to someone else? Every time this comes up among my fellow retirees, it’s a sore point.” Vicky Edwards, a retired teacher from Otisfield, has felt the loss of Social Security through the Government Pension Offset, which reduces the survivor benefits available to the spouse of a Social Security recipient — if the surviving spouse has their own government pension. Edwards’ husband died a year and a half into retirement. “He had paid in his entire life and he only got the benefit for a year and a half,” said Edwards, 65. She then learned that the benefits available to her would be reduced by two-thirds the amount of her pension. Other spouses are eligible for between 71% and 100% of their loved one’s benefits, according to the Social Security Administration, whereas the Government Pension Offset can result in the survivor not getting any spousal benefits. Edwards said she didn’t have an exact number for how much she thinks she will get if the law changes, but estimated it would be “more than hundreds of dollars” per month. “That’s a big difference in a retirement budget,” she said. Collins said it was that kind of anecdote that pushed her to change the law. She said opponents argued on the Senate floor that this will move up the date that the Social Security program could become financially unstable. “The Social Security system is not in good financial shape, that’s right, and that is something Congress will have to deal with,” Collins said. “But in the meantime, it’s not fair to continue this inequitable treatment of our school teachers, our firefighters, our police officers and those who have been serving the community.” She said she expects Biden to sign the legislation into law and has been in touch with the White House about the possibility of a signing ceremony. From there, she said, it will take time for the Social Security Administration to recalculate the benefits for everyone affected. The intent is to make the new be retroactive to January 2024, meaning that recipients would see about a year’s worth of back pay that they were previously ineligible for, though Collins said it’s too soon to say when people might receive the retroactive pay. “I am absolutely elated that we have finally passed legislation to fix this problem,” Collins said. “It’s long overdue.” Senate advances Social Security Fairness Act Comments are not available on this story. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous