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Cork champions secure Munster Intermediate and Junior hurling titlesBy Wendy Fry | CalMatters If you’ve hunted for apartments recently and felt like all the rents were equally high, you’re not crazy: Many landlords now use a single company’s software — which uses an algorithm based on proprietary lease information — to help set rent prices. Federal prosecutors say the practice amounts to “an unlawful information-sharing scheme” and some legislators throughout California are moving to curb it. San Diego’s city council president is the latest to do so, proposing to prevent local apartment owners from using the pricing software, which he maintains is driving up housing costs. Also see: California rent hikes: Where are the biggest increases in November? San Diego’s proposed ordinance, now being drafted by the city attorney, comes after San Francisco supervisors in July enacted a similar, first-in-the-nation ban on “the sale or use of algorithmic devices to set rents or manage occupancy levels” for residences. San Jose is considering a similar approach. And California and seven other states have also joined the federal prosecutors’ antitrust suit , which targets the leading rental pricing platform, Texas-based RealPage. The complaint alleges that “RealPage is an algorithmic intermediary that collects, combines, and exploits landlords’ competitively sensitive information. And in so doing, it enriches itself and compliant landlords at the expense of renters who pay inflated prices...” But state legislators this year failed to advance legislation by Bakersfield Democratic Sen. Melissa Hurtado that would have banned the use of any pricing algorithms based on nonpublic data provided by competing companies. She said she plans to bring the bill back during the next legislative session because of what she described as ongoing harms from such algorithms. “We’ve got to make sure the economy is fair and ... that every individual who wants a shot at creating a business has a shot without being destroyed along the way, and that we’re also protecting consumers because it is hurting the pocketbooks of everybody in one way or another,” said Hurtado. RealPage has been a greater impetus for all of the actions. The company counts as its customer landlords with thousands of apartment units across California. Some officials accuse the company of thwarting competition that would otherwise drive rents down, exacerbating the state’s housing shortage and driving up rents in the process. “Every day, millions of Californians worry about keeping a roof over their heads and RealPage has directly made it more difficult to do so,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta in a written statement. A RealPage spokesperson, Jennifer Bowcock, told CalMatters that a lack of housing supply, not the company’s technology, is the real problem — and that its technology benefits residents, property managers, and others associated with the rental market. The spokesperson later wrote that a “misplaced focus on nonpublic information is a distraction... that will only make San Francisco and San Diego’s historical problems worse.” As for the federal lawsuit, the company called the claims in it “devoid of merit” and said it plans to “vigorously defend ourselves against these accusations.” “We are disappointed that, after multiple years of education and cooperation on the antitrust matters concerning RealPage, the (Justice Department) has chosen this moment to pursue a lawsuit that seeks to scapegoat pro-competitive technology that has been used responsibly for years,” the company’s statement read in part. “RealPage’s revenue management software is purposely built to be legally compliant, and we have a long history of working constructively with the (department) to show that.” The company’s challenges will only grow if pricing software becomes another instance in which California lawmakers lead the nation. Following San Francisco’s ban, the Philadelphia City Council passed a ban on algorithmic rental price-fixing with a veto-proof vote last month. New Jersey has been considering its own ban. According to federal prosecutors, RealPage controls 80% of the market for commercial revenue management software. Its product is called YieldStar, and its successor is AI Revenue Management, which uses much of the same codebase as YieldStar, but has more precise forecasting. RealPage told CalMatters it serves only 10% of the rental markets in both San Francisco and San Diego, across its three revenue management software products. Here’s how it works: In order to use YieldStar and AIRM, landlords have historically provided RealPage with their own private data from their rental applications, rent prices, executed new leases, renewal offers and acceptances, and estimates of future occupancy, although a recent change allows landlords to choose to share only public data. This information from all participating landlords in an area is then pooled and run through mathematical forecasting to generate pricing recommendations for the landlords and for their competitors. The San Diego council president, Sean Elo-Rivera, explained it like this: “In the simplest terms, what this platform is doing is providing what we think of as that dark, smoky room for big companies to get together and set prices,” he said. “The technology is being used as a way of keeping an arm’s length from one big company to the other. But that’s an illusion.” In the company’s own words, from company documents included in the lawsuit, RealPage “ensures that (landlords) are driving every possible opportunity to increase price even in the most downward trending or unexpected conditions.” The company also said in the documents that it “helps curb (landlords’) instincts to respond to down-market conditions by either dramatically lowering price or by holding price.” Providing rent guidance isn’t the only service RealPage has offered landlords. In 2020, a Markup and New York Times investigation found that RealPage, alongside other companies, used faulty computer algorithms to do automated background checks on tenants. As a result, tenants were associated with criminal charges they never faced, and denied homes. Thirty-one-year-old Navy veteran Alan Pickens and his wife move nearly every year “because the rent goes up, it gets unaffordable, so we look for a new place to stay,” he said. The northeastern San Diego apartment complex where they just relocated has two-bedroom apartments advertised for between $2,995 and $3,215. They live in an area of San Diego where the U.S. Justice Department says information-sharing agreements between landlords and RealPage have harmed or are likely to harm renters. The department in August filed its antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, alleging the company, through its legacy YieldStar software, engaged in an “ unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing ”. The complaint names specific areas where rents are artificially high. Beyond the part of San Diego where Pickens lives, those areas include South Orange County, Rancho Cucamonga, Temecula, and Murrieta and northeastern San Diego. In the second quarter of 2020, the average rent in San Diego County was $1,926, reflecting a 26% increase over three years, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune . Rents have since risen even more in the city of San Diego, to $2,336 per month as of November 2024 – up 21% from 2020, according to RentCafe and the Tribune. That’s 50% higher than the national average rent. The attorneys general of eight states, including California, joined the Justice Department’s antitrust suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. The California Justice Department contends RealPage artificially inflated prices to keep them above a certain minimum level, said department spokesperson Elissa Perez. This was particularly harmful given the high cost of housing in the state, she added. “The illegally maintained profits that result from these price alignment schemes come out of the pockets of the people that can least afford it.” Renters make up a larger share of households in California than in the rest of the country — 44% here compared to 35% nationwide. The Golden State also has a higher percentage of renters than any state other than New York, according to the latest U.S. Census data . San Diego has the fourth-highest percentage of renters of any major city in the nation . The recent ranks of California legislators, however, have included few renters: As of 2019, CalMatters could find only one state lawmaker who did not own a home — and found that more than a quarter of legislators at the time were landlords. Studies show that low-income residents are more heavily impacted by rising rents. Nationally between 2000 and 2017, Americans without a college degree spent a higher percentage of their income on rent. That percentage ballooned from 30% to 42%. For college graduates, that percentage increased from 26% to 34%. “In my estimation, the only winners in this situation are the richest companies who are either using this technology or creating this technology,” said Elo-Rivera. “There couldn’t be a more clear example of the rich getting richer while the rest of us are struggling to get by.” Private equity giant Thoma Bravo acquired RealPage in January 2021 through two funds that have hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from California public pension funds, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Regents of the University of California and the Los Angeles police and fire pension funds, according to Private Equity Stakeholder Project. “They’re invested in things that are directly hurting their pensioners,” said K Agbebiyi, a senior housing campaign coordinator with the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit private equity watchdog that produced a report about corporate landlords ‘ impact on rental hikes in San Diego. RealPage argues that landlords are free to reject the price recommendations generated by its software. But the US Justice Department alleges that trying to do so requires a series of steps, including a conversation with a RealPage pricing adviser. The advisers try to “stop property managers from acting on emotions,” according to the department’s lawsuit. Related Articles Housing | California rent hikes: Where are the biggest increases in November? Housing | 20%-plus of US spends entire paychecks on rent, poll says Housing | Why US sued to stop landlords colluding on rents Housing | Rent inflation won’t cool until 2026, Cleveland Fed says Housing | California has 18 of 20 costliest US cities to rent a house Read this story in Spanish If a property manager disagrees with the price the algorithm suggests and wants to decrease rent rather than increase it, a pricing advisor will “escalate the dispute to the manager’s superior,” prosecutors allege in the suit. In San Diego, the Pickenses, who are expecting their first child, have given up their gym memberships and downsized their cars to remain in the area. They’ve considered moving to Denver. “All the extras pretty much have to go,” said Pickens. “I mean, we love San Diego, but it’s getting hard to live here.” “My wife is an attorney and I served in the Navy for 10 years and now work at Qualcomm,” he said. “Why are we struggling? Why are we struggling?”None

Fazl says govt has no justification to remain in power even for a single dayNoneRepublican Sen. Eric Schmitt said that one of Donald Trump ‘s first priorities in office should be to exact revenge. He suggested that Trump get rid of any Justice Department employees who were involved in cases that brought charges against the former president. “First and foremost, the people involved with this should be fired immediately,” Schmitt, who was a contender for Trump’s attorney general nomination, said on Sunday’s Meet the Press. “Anybody part of this effort to keep President Trump off the ballot and to throw him in jail for the rest of his life because they didn’t like his politics and to continue to cast him as a quote, unquote threat to democracy was wrong, and so we’ll see where that goes,” he added. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading criminal investigations into Trump’s role in attempting to subvert the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents, has said he plans to wind down his efforts ahead of Trump’s inauguration due to the “unprecedented circumstance” that the defendant was elected president. The Justice Department has long upheld a policy of not prosecuting presidents. Smith could still author a report on his findings, but Attorney General Merrick Garland would decide whether or not to release it publicly. Trump has threatened he will fire Smith and his entire team within “two seconds” of returning to power. This past August, Trump re-shared a post on Truth Social that said Smith “should be prosecuted for election interference & prosecutorial misconduct.” As Rolling Stone reported in August , Trump has planned since 2021 — when he left office — to indict those he perceives to be his enemies. In addition to Smith, that includes Garland, President Joe Biden, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and others. Trump continued to threaten retribution during the 2024 presidential campaign. “There are almost too many targets to keep track of,” a Trump adviser familiar with the discussions told Rolling Stone. Pam Bondi is Trump’s choice for attorney general following former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s withdrawing his own nomination due to allegations in a House Ethics Committee report that he had sex multiple times with a 17-year-old. Bondi has endorsed Trump’s revenge plans, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity in 2023 that when Trump returns to the White House, “the Department of Justice, the prosecutors, will be prosecuted.” “The investigators will be investigated,” Bondi added, “because the deep state — last term for President Trump — they were hiding in the shadows. But now they have a spotlight on them, and they can all be investigated and the house needs to be cleaned out.” Schmitt said he will be a “yes” vote on Bondi’s nomination. He also confirmed he will vote to confirm Trump’s choices of Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence.

Iran restores access to WhatsApp and Google Play after they were banned amid protests

The Baltimore City government helps local non-profits use a financial structure that keeps the public in the dark about some organizations’ finances, even when they receive government money. This practice of “fiscal sponsorship” allows established non-profits to provide a variety of services to smaller non-profits, which are often newly created and not registered with the IRS. These services include handling their finances, allowing the smaller non-profits to avoid filing public tax disclosures. “The IRS must investigate these kinds of arrangements for impropriety and bending of the rules,” said Scott Hodge, a senior policy advisor at the Tax Foundation. “These too-clever partnerships are a sign that federal tax-exempt rules are broken and should be reformed.” Baltimore City has a lucrative network of fiscal sponsors that expanded since the COVID-19 pandemic. This effort was steered by prominent foundations, such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Open Society Institute. The collaboration between wealthy foundations, established fiscal sponsors and local non-profits was later boosted by Baltimore City taxpayer dollars through the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund (BCYF). BCYF was created through a city charter amendment in 2016 and was touted by elected leaders as a plan to support youth-focused community projects after the death of Freddie Gray. The program is funded exclusively by Baltimore City taxpayers, but is run through a separate non-profit, meaning there is no regular performance auditing of the fund. There is also no sunset date on the money it receives. A previous FOX45 investigation identified an extensive list of 2022 BCYF grant recipients that did not file tax forms in recent years or are not registered as non-profits with the IRS. Community leaders capitalized on the passage of BCYF to boost the fiscal sponsor network in Baltimore City. BCYF hosted an educational event titled “Understanding Baltimore’s Fiscal Sponsorship Landscape” in January 2021, which it posted on YouTube a month later. The event hosted three panelists: Danielle Torrain of the Open Society Institute; Changa Onyango of Fusion Partnerships, which is a fiscal sponsor; and Candace Chance of The VPI Firm, which provides consulting services. The panelists advocated for government entities and local non-profits to increase payments and coordination with fiscal sponsors in the community, which they said was essential to aid Black-led organizations and counter racism. Torrain said local leaders should focus on reforming what she described as a “non-profit industrial complex” that roots in a “very exploitative form of capitalism.” “I do view this as not only a racial justice issue but an economic justice issue,” Torrain said. “So when we think about the work of reimagining our local fiscal sponsorship ecosystem and what it can and should look like, it’s a part of the work of actually reimagining economic systems, and reimagining them in ways of being more regenerative and non-exploitative and more restorative and also rooted in our values as people.” Onyango emphasized the need to take advantage of what he described as a flawed non-profit ecosystem. “We know that the non-profit complex overall is a tax dodge,” he said. “The cat is out the bag. To my funding section, I would just ask you to relent on the pettiness, relent on the pettiness, do some research, let go of your fear, undo the racism, so that we can get on with the business of building what we need to build and coming back to the equilibrium of human beings.” Fusion Partnerships secured a $1.5 million grant from BCYF in June 2021, according to documents obtained by FOX45 through a public information request. The grant came six months after Fusion pleaded for more support for fiscal sponsors as a panelist in the BCYF event. The grant document reveals how BCYF leveraged its youth-focused program to boost fiscal sponsors. “BCYF’s multi-year funding investment will allow Fusion Partnerships (Fusion) to sustain and expand capacity by supporting the strengthening of its business model, to support its current portfolio of fiscally sponsored grantees, and to contribute to growing Fusion’s working capital,” the project summary reads. “This investment will bring to fruition BCYF’s plan to invest in Baltimore’s fiscal sponsorship landscape, thereby supporting the success of grassroots organizations who need fiscal sponsorship. This investment also allows BCYF to support an organization that has been a key partner for BCYF grantees. Fusion supports our partners through its fiscal sponsorship, community grants and capacity building programs. This infusion of cash will strengthen those small organizations, bolster the fiscal sponsorship ecosystem, and increase their grantees’ capacity to support the City’s youth and families.” Fusion Partnerships received grants from a variety of other sources within the Baltimore City government as well, according to the Baltimore City Board of Estimates website. The six government grants to the organization over the past two years total $536,780. A number of the grants were earmarked for fiscally sponsored organizations, such as the Baltimore Doula Project and Challenge2Change. A spokesman for Fusion Partnerships previously acknowledged to FOX45 that “some of our partner projects have received funding from BCYF,” but declined to specify those projects. The group did not respond to questions regarding why it needs funds from local organizations and taxpayers. The push to expand the fiscal sponsorship network in Baltimore City continued when the Casey Foundation and Open Society Institute initiated a study in August 2021 titled “Mapping Baltimore’s Fiscal Sponsorship Landscape.” Researchers interviewed local non-profit and fiscal sponsor leaders. The report recommends that grant distributors pay fiscal sponsors in addition to the grants awarded to community non-profits. “These cash reserves could be done as one-time direct investments into specific fiscal sponsors, such as BCYF did with Fusion Partnership,” the report recommended with a likely reference to Fusion Partnership’s $1.5 million contract with BCYF. More grants to fiscal sponsors soon followed. BCYF awarded a $2 million grant in December 2021 to the Fund for Educational Excellence (FFEE), a fiscal sponsor, for its “Baltimore’s Promise Summer Funding Collaborative” program, according to documents obtained by FOX45 in a public information request. FFEE continued to receive grants from BCYF for this summer program, according to additional documents, including $2 million in 2022 and $1.85 million in 2024. A review of FFEE’s non-profit tax forms revealed the group appeared to use its BCYF summer funding award to distribute an extensive list of grants of its own to other non-profits. This trail of payments accounts for a significant majority of FFEE’s dispersed grants. FFEE listed 80 of its 104 grant distributions in its fiscal year 2023 tax form as being for a “summer funding” program. Its fiscal year 2022 tax form listed 66 of its 82 grants under this qualification and fiscal year 2021 listed 52 of its 65 grants. The majority of these “summer funding” grants from FFEE appeared to go to smaller, local non-profits. However, some went to additional fiscal sponsors. FFEE gave Fusion Partnerships $374,022 between fiscal years 2022 and 2023 listed for “summer funding collaborative.” It gave Fusion Partnerships another $575,000 in fiscal year 2021 for “B’more Invested & Summer Grant.” B’more Invested is a non-profit focused on grantmaking that is “anchored” by the Open Society Institute, according to the group’s website. FFEE gave a series of recent grants to Bmore Empowered, a fiscal sponsor whose operations director, Hana Pugh, is married to Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott. Some of these grants appear to be tied to BCYF taxpayer dollars through the summer funding program. A $55,230 grant from FFEE in fiscal year 2023 to Bmore Empowered was listed for “Summer Funding / B’more Invested.” A $13,051 grant in fiscal year 2022 to the group was listed for “Summer Funding Collaborative.” A $150,000 grant in fiscal year 2021 was listed for “B’more Invested.” Another fiscal sponsor, the Maryland Philanthropy Network, received $377,000 from FFEE between fiscal years 2021 and 2023 for B’more Invested, “Summer Grant” and the “healing cities” program. Fusion Partnerships, FFEE and Bmore Empowered did not respond to questions about its fiscal sponsorship operations. BCYF mentioned the Summer Funding Collaborative program in its 2023 grant awardees announcement, stating its goal to “fund different types of summer programs to keep students engaged and reduce summer learning loss so that more youth can reach their full potential.” However, BCYF did not mention FFEE in its description of the program. BCYF listed $8.4 million in grant funding to 60 organizations in its 2023 announcement. It listed $5.25 million in grants to 35 organizations in its 2022 announcement. The Summer Funding Collaborative program has its own website that describes its operations as a “partnership between public, private and non-profit organizations that supports high-quality summer programs serving children and youth from low-income backgrounds in Baltimore City.” David Williams, the president of the non-partisan Taxpayer Protection Alliance, warned this trail of funds from BCYF to fiscal sponsors and then to smaller non-profits exposes a series of transparency concerns. “Every time you go from one non-profit to another, you’re getting less transparency and less accountability of the money,” Williams said. “When you create multiple non-profits, you’re creating a mini army that is marching in lockstep with you. And they look independent, but they aren’t.” Baltimore City did not respond to questions about its funding of fiscal sponsors. The reshaped fiscal sponsorship network in Baltimore City followed years of troubled finances. Strong City, a fiscal sponsor, abandoned its clients in May 2021 after it mismanaged $14 million in assets, as previously reported by The Baltimore Sun. At one point, the organization sponsored more than 150 programs. A 2019 city audit found BCYF had “opportunities for improvement” on its grant distributions. BCYF was restructured as its own non-profit shortly thereafter. The 2019 audit was ordered amid the Healthy Holly scandal that led to a three-year prison sentence for Former Baltimore City Mayor Catherine Pugh. This story is part of an ongoing investigation into taxpayer money going to non-profits and how that money is spent. Got a story tip or comment? Reach Patrick Hauf via email at pjhauf@sbgtv.com.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs released their final injury reports of the week ahead of their Christmas Day matchup on Wednesday and a total of four players have been ruled out and another three are questionable for Week 17. Before we get to the players who will sit out for Pittsburgh, it's worth mentioning the players who will be making their returns to the field, a list that includes wide receiver George Pickens, cornerback Donte Jackson, defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi and safety DeShon Elliott, all of whom sat out last week. On the flip side, the Steelers have two players ruled out in cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and wide receiver Ben Skowronek. Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Cory Trice and James Pierre will help fill the void , and Pittsburgh will ultimately deploy the hot hand between the two. The only player with a questionable tag for Pittsburgh is backup quarterback Justin Fields, who turned in a pair of limited sessions during the week. If he's inactive, Kyle Allen will be Russell Wilson's backup. For the Chiefs, the biggest names we're keeping an eye on are superstar defensive lineman Chris Jones and right tackle Jawaan Taylor, both of whom are listed as questionable. Jones was upgraded to a limited practice to close out the week, while Taylor turned in two limited sessions over the last two days. The Chiefs don't need to win this game, so it's possible they play it safe with both, although that's just a guess. On top of those two, defensive back Chamarri Conner and left tackle D.J. Humphries have been ruled out for Kansas City. Now, a look at the full list of injury designations for the Steelers and Chiefs ahead of kickoff on Wednesday afternoon. Steelers injury designations QB Justin Fields (abdominal): Questionable WR Ben Skowronek (hip): Out CB Joey Porter Jr. (knee): Out Full Steelers Week 17 injury report Chiefs injury designations DT Chris Jones (calf): Questionable RT Jawaan Taylor (knee): Questionable DB Chamarri Conner (concussion): Out LT D.J. Humphries (hamstring): Out Full Chiefs Week 17 injury report MORE PITTSBURGH STEELERS NEWS Ben Roethlisberger reveals what scares him about Steelers Ex-Steelers WR Diontae Johnson claimed by AFC playoff team NFL power rankings Week 17: Are Steelers still in top 10 after Ravens loss?By PETER SMITH A social-media tribute to Coptic Christians. A billboard in Amish country. A visit to a revered Jewish gravesite. While Donald Trump’s lock on the white evangelical vote is legendary, he and his campaign allies also wooed smaller religious groups, far from the mainstream. As it turned out, Trump won by decisive margins, but his campaign aggressively courted niche communities with the understanding that every vote could be critical, particularly in swing states. Voter surveys such as exit polls, which canvass broad swaths of the electorate, aren’t able to gauge the impact of such microtargeting, but some backers say the effort was worth it. Just one week before the election, Trump directed a post on the social-media platform X to Coptic Christians in the United States —- whose church has ancient roots in Egypt. He saluted their “Steadfast Faith in God, Perseverance through Centuries of Persecution and Love for this Great Country.” “This was the first time seeing a major U.S. presidential candidate address the community in this manner,” said Mariam Wahba, a Coptic Christian and research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute. “It was really a profound moment.” She said many Copts share the conservative social views of other Christian groups in the Republican constituency, and they may already have been Trump supporters. But the posting reinforced those bonds. Coptic bishops sent the president-elect congratulations after his victory and cited their “shared social and family values.” Some Assyrian Christians — another faith group with Middle Eastern roots — similarly bonded with Trump, whose mispronunciation of “Assyrian” at a rally created a viral video moment and drew attention to their support. Sam Darmo, a Phoenix real estate agent and co-founder of Assyrians for Trump, said many community members cited the economy, illegal immigration and other prominent voter issues. They echoed other conservative Christians’ concerns, he said, on issues such as abortion, gender identity and religious expression in public. But he said Trump supported various Middle Eastern Christians recovering from the Islamic State group’s oppressive rule. Darmo also credited Massad Boulos, father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, for mobilizing various Middle Eastern Christian groups, including Chaldean Catholics, and other voters, particularly in Michigan, such as Muslims. “He brought all these minority groups together,” he said. “We’re hoping to continue that relationship.” But members of Middle Eastern-rooted Christian groups, and their politics, are far from monolithic, said Marcus Zacharia, founder of Progressive Copts, a program of Informed Immigrants, an organization that promotes dialogue on sensitive topics among such groups in the United States and Canada. He said many younger community members question Trump’s stances on issues such as immigration, and sense that conservatives sometimes tokenize them by focusing on the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East while neglecting wider issues of repression in countries there that the U.S. supports. He said there needs to be more informed dialogue across the political divide in these communities. “There is no more high time than these next four years to have that way of conducting conversations,” he said. Republicans also made an aggressive push for Amish voters , particularly in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where they are most numerous at about 92,000 (many below voting age). The GOP has made similar efforts in the past, even though researchers have found that less than 10% of them typically vote, due to their separatism from society. But Republicans used billboards, mailers, ads and door-to-door campaigner to drive turnout in Lancaster County, home base to the nation’s largest Amish settlement. On Election Day, Amish voters Samuel Stoltzfus and his wife Lillian Stoltzfus said they were supporting Trump, citing their anti-abortion beliefs. “We basically look at it as murder,” Stoltzfus, 31, said outside a polling center in the Lancaster County community of New Holland, where dozens of other members of the local Amish community voted. Trump has wavered on the issue, dismaying some abortion opponents, though many have said Republicans still align more closely to their views. Stolzfus added: “Make America great again and keep the moral values,” he said. “Let’s go back to the roots.” Steven Nolt, a history professor at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster College who studies the Amish and their voting patterns, said that while it’s too early to say definitively without further research, he doesn’t see evidence of a larger turnout this year. Lancaster County as a whole — most of which is not Amish — is a GOP stronghold that Trump won handily, though both parties’ votes edged up from 2020, according to unofficial results posted by the Pennsylvania Department of State. Trump’s biggest increases were in urban or suburban areas with few Amish, while some areas with larger Amish populations generally saw a modest increase in the Trump vote, said Nolt, director of the college’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. “Bottom line, percentage-wise, not much change in the parts of Lancaster County where the Amish live,” he said. Trump directly reached out to members of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism. Related Articles National Politics | Trump convinced Republicans to overlook his misconduct. But can he do the same for his nominees? National Politics | Trump gave Interior nominee one directive for a half-billion acres of US land: ‘Drill.’ National Politics | Trump’s team is delaying transition agreements. What does it mean for security checks and governing? National Politics | Judge delays Trump hush money sentencing in order to decide where case should go now National Politics | Republicans scramble to fill JD Vance’s Ohio Senate seat On Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Trump made a symbolically resonant visit to the “Ohel,” the burial site of the movement’s revered late leader, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Wearing a yarmulke, the traditional Jewish skullcap, Trump, who has Jewish family members, brought a written prayer to the Ohel and laid a small stone at the grave in keeping with tradition. The site in New York City, while particularly central to Chabad adherents, draws an array of Jewish and other visitors, including politicians. About two-thirds of Jewish voters overall supported Trump’s opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. But the Trump campaign has made a particular outreach to Orthodox Jews, citing issues including his policies toward Israel in his first administration. Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowitz of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida said it was moving for him to see images of Trump’s visit. “The mere fact that he made a huge effort, obviously it was important to him,” he said. Associated Press journalist Luis Henao contributed.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers have had plenty of time to gear up to face the Cincinnati Bengals to kick off December football. However, the Bengals have had some time of their own. While the Steelers had a mini bye week after playing on Thursday Night Football in Week 12, Cincinnati had a full bye. Both teams should be well-rested and well-prepared to face each other, especially with what they have to fight for. The 8-3 Steelers are looking to keep control of the AFC North, while the 4-7 Bengals have their whole season on the line. While doing his usual breakdowns on The Mike Tomlin Show , Head Coach Mike Tomlin may have helped the Bengals out a little bit. Whether he dropped a truth bomb or not could be up for debate, but the team likely won't take kindly to his subtle jab at them. "[The Cincinnati Bengals] are a good football team, but like Bill Parcells says, 'you are what your record says you are,'" Tomlin said. "They haven't won the close ones, but I doubt that has affected their feeling about themselves. They got some talented players. They just hadn't made some plays in some waning moments, really kind of in all three phases." The Bengals definitely have not made life very easy on themselves, and every little mistake they make tends to stack up and lead to a close loss. Six of their seven defeats have been by one possession, as opposed to just two wins by that same margin. Even then, they usually lose these games in the final few minutes, as Tomlin said. In their Week 2 contest against the Kansas City Chiefs, they held a slim 25-23 lead in the game's final seconds, but a brutal pass interference penalty put the Chiefs in field goal range, and Kansas City won at the buzzer. On two separate occasions, the Bengals got into a shootout with the Baltimore Ravens. Both games ended thanks to a heartbreaking mistake: an interception in the first contest at Cincinnati, then a failed game-winning two-point conversion attempt in Baltimore. There are more examples of the Bengals making backbreaking blunders to cost themselves a win throughout the 2024 season, but at the end of the day, it just proves Tomlin's point. They have all kinds of talent in all three phases, especially on offense, but they just fail in the worst possible moments. That is an indictment on Head Coach Zac Taylor. His team has all the talent in the world, they are usually prepared for their opponents, but when it comes down to the biggest possessions, they can't find ways to win. Tomlin is always harping on doing the little things right. Taylor might want to take notes if he wants to save his job. Steelers Need To Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is In Week 13 Even with the Steelers' great season so far, this is no automatic game for them. On top of that, they have a history of overlooking and not preparing for weaker opponents. They even allegedly fell for that trap the week before, as Greg Newsome II accused the Steelers of having no respect for his Cleveland Browns . If Tomlin makes that same mistake again, the Bengals will feast on Pittsburgh's weaknesses. Yes, they are what their record says they are, but that means nothing in the grand scheme of things. They are still insanely talented, and they are fighting for their lives. While a loss to the Steelers won't officially end their season, it makes it so a perfect stretch of games on won't be enough to make the playoffs on their own. With that in mind, plus the fact that Tomlin subtly said that they are actually not a good team despite the talent on the team, the Bengals will be ready to play. What better way would there be to prove yourself as a true threat than to go up against the division leader and punch them in the mouth? This article first appeared on SteelerNation.com and was syndicated with permission.John Nacion/Getty is opening up about his painful past, as well as his hopes and fears for the future, in a wide-ranging sit-down interview in New York City. On Dec. 4, the Duke of Sussex, 40, stepped out in N.Y.C. to attend the 2024 DealBook Summit organized by . Prince Harry joined Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist and founder of the outlet's DealBook business and policy column, for a conversation on the main stage about disinformation in the media. "I've seen stories written about myself not exactly based in reality." Prince Harry said at the event. "When you grow up with that environment, you find yourself questioning the validity of the information, but also what other people are thinking as well, and how dangerous it can be over the course of time." "I think again, when you are kind of trapped within this bubble, it kind of feels like there's no way out," he added. "What happened to my mom and the fact that I was a kid and felt helpless, there comes the inner turmoil. I felt helpless. One of my biggest weaknesses is feeling helpless." Harry said, "What worried me most was worrying that would happen to me, or to my wife, or to my kids." Eugene Gologursky/Getty Of reading about himself in the press, he told Sorkin, "Throughout my life there would be moments in my life when I read a lot and moments when I read nothing. I highly recommend the latter," he added to laughter from the audience. "Once you stop reading the stuff about yourself, you automatically remove the power from their hands. With that element of fear comes an element of control. and one of the reasons I probably didn't, I guess, remove myself from that situation sooner was that very fear: 'Well, they control the narrative,' whatever I do or say, they can effectively control me and keep me in that space.'" Of his complicated relationship with the press since the death of his mother in 1997 when he was just 12 years old, he said: "I was always convinced I needed to be angry or frustrated towards the press because of what they did to my mom," adding that going to therapy a "blessing," like "cleaning the windshield." He also divulged that to protect his peace, he doesn't have Google alerts on himself and he doesn't have social media. Related: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Of his forthcoming phone hacking case in the U.K., he said, "This claim, the hacking stuff, is almost 15 years old. The coverup of the hacking is relatively new. I think that will be the piece that shocks the world. I scratch my head thinking, 'You know, has this passed?' And certainly that's what they would like to think. In these five years, the retaliation and the intimidation for me as a witness has been extraordinary, especially towards my wife and children." Of the dangers of social media, an issue that has become increasingly important to his work through his and Meghan's Archewell Foundation, he said: "I try to think at these things through the lens as a dad." Eugene Gologursky/Getty "That's one of the reasons we're so focused on The Parents Network," he said, referring to a piece of the work he and Meghan do with their non-profit Archewell for parents whose children's lives have been lost to social media. "It's not a coincidence that the world has become more volatile and more divided since social media has been around for 20 years," Harry added. Harry expressed his desire to collaborate with shareholders of social media companies to discuss better protections for children. “I would welcome the chance to sit down with the shareholders, because their shareholders are the ones that really are in control.” He added, “I’m sure they are parents, and I’m sure hopefully they would agree that kids need to be kept safe.” When asked what he thought of the First Amendment, he said to laughter, "There's no way I'm going to talk about that." Closing out his panel discussion, Sorkin asked Harry what he wants to be known for in 30 years' time, to which Harry replied: "The main goal for me at the moment is being the best husband and the best dad that I can be." "The thing that means the most to me and the things I want to be known for is that no matter what was happening around [is] that he stuck to his values and he always stayed true to that principle," he added. Michael M. Santiago/Getty The 2024 DealBook Summit has a starry lineup, and other mainstage interviews include , , , (a friend of Harry and Meghan's), Open AI co-founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Prince Harry's appearance at the DealBook Summit may be his debut appearance at the event, but he's actually following in his wife's footsteps! Meghan, 43, was by Sorkin as part of DealBook Online Summit in November 2021. The Duchess of Sussex participated in a discussion titled "Minding the Gap" about how women can reach economic and professional parity, where spoke about her view of paid leave as a "humanitarian issue." While Prince Harry is out on the East Coast, Meghan has a glamorous night ahead on the West Coast. The Duchess of Sussex is expected to attend the 2024 Paley Honors Fall Gala tonight in Beverly Hills, where she’ll help honor Perry with The Paley Honors Award, the highest honor from The Paley Center for Media. Kevin Mazur/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were both on the hosting committee for their friend Perry, who is a godfather to their daughter, , 3, and appeared in their 2022 Netflix docuseries, . (Prince Harry and Meghan also share son , 5.) As for Harry's calendar, described the DealBook Summit as a live journalism event which "will feature wide-ranging discussions on the most important stories across business, politics and culture." A previous about Prince Harry's participation listed his roles as the co-founder of the Archewell Foundation and Chief Impact Officer of BetterUp. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched the Archewell charity as a vehicle for their philanthropic work after stepping back from their royal roles and relocating to her home state of California in 2020. He took on the CIO role with BetterUp, a coaching and mental health platform, in 2021. Prince Harry's solo trip to N.Y.C. is his second in two months. In September, the Duke of Sussex spent a few days in New York City for a that a spokesperson said would "advance a number of his patronages and philanthropic initiatives." Riccardo Savi/Getty Harry's busy itinerary included a dinner with the World Health Organization, Concordia Summit panel for The Diana Award (the only charity established in memory of his mother, the late ) and engagements with The HALO Trust (the landmine-clearing charity that Princess Diana famously backed), African Parks and Travalyst. He also spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative about the Archwell Foundation's and the United Nations for an event hosted by Lesotho, where his charity Sentebale works. Christina Williams is a Diana Award recipient who spoke onstage with Prince Harry, and told PEOPLE that his empathy left an impression. "I think my impression of him was that here is someone who is in a high-level role, who really cares about young people — cares about our voices and our actions," Williams, 27, told PEOPLE. "He really cares about the causes that he represents." Read the original article onMinnesota looks to stop skid vs. Bethune-Cookman

DC Edit | Hard line, freebies aided NDA in Maha; JMM tooTesla Robots Invade the Gaming World! A New Frontier UnfoldsINDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jarvis Walker's 20 points helped IU Indianapolis defeat Trinity Christian 106-49 on Saturday. Walker shot 7 for 12, including 6 for 10 from beyond the arc for the Jaguars (4-5). Paul Zilinskas shot 5 for 9, including 4 for 7 from beyond the arc to add 15 points. DeSean Goode had 14 points and shot 4 of 5 from the field and 5 for 5 from the line. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get updates and player profiles ahead of Friday's high school games, plus a recap Saturday with stories, photos, video Frequency: Seasonal Twice a week

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Chicago Atlantic REFI REFI stands out in the cannabis finance sector, receiving an “Overweight” rating from senior analyst Pablo Zuanic at Zuanic & Associates . With a near 14% dividend yield, REFI offers an attractive, less volatile way to gain exposure to the cannabis market. The company's loan portfolio boasts a yield to maturity (YTM) of over 18%, indicating the potential average annual return from its loans if held until repayment. Furthermore, with 4.6% of loans in non-accrual status—meaning borrowers have stopped making payments—REFI demonstrates robust risk management. Get Benzinga's exclusive analysis and the top news about the cannabis industry and markets daily in your inbox for free. Subscribe to our newsletter here . You can’t afford to miss out if you're serious about the business. Loan Portfolio And Yield REFI's new loans, up 32% year-over-year, highlight its strong growth potential in year-to-date funding. This growth is supported by a $559 million pipeline, with additional upside from potential cannabis legalization in states like Pennsylvania and Virginia , which could boost demand for financing. The portfolio includes loans across diverse markets, with top states such as Maryland (14%), Pennsylvania (12%) and Missouri (10%) representing a significant portion of the book. Its 1.2% expected credit loss (CECL) reserve and ongoing reversals of provisions signal the stability of its loan book. "We see REFI's dividend as secure, with 118% coverage in Q3 and a pipeline that should sustain growth," Zuanic stated. "The stock offers one of the most compelling risk-adjusted returns in the cannabis sector today." Leveraging Credit Facilities And Operational Leverage REFI has room to increase its leverage, with its gross debt-to-equity ratio at 18% as of September 2024. The company has tapped into only a portion of its $150 million revolving credit facility , leaving significant room to expand. According to Zuanic, REFI is well-positioned to capitalize on the constrained capital environment for cannabis operators. Read Also: 85% Of Cannabis Companies Report Positive Earnings, But Not All Are Winning – See Who’s Leading Loan Book Risk The loan book's risk ratings show that 71% of the portfolio is rated 1-2, indicating low to moderate risk. REFI's exposure to loans with real estate collateral coverage of less than 1x has increased to 39% as of Q3 2024, up from 19% at the end of 2022. However, Zuanic notes that 17% of the book is in markets with challenging economics. The company's focus on high-quality borrowers, including those in states like Michigan , Maryland and New York , underpins the portfolio's stability. Comparisons To Sector Peers And Market Position Among other cannabis capital providers AFCG AFCG , IIPR IIPR , New Lake Capital Partners NLCP and REFI stand out for their lower non-accruals and stronger growth outlook. While AFCG has a similar dividend yield, REFI's loan book is in better shape, with non-accruals at less than 5% compared to AFCG's higher rate. Additionally, REFI’s mortgage REIT competitors, like IIPR and NLCP , offer lower yields and trade at premiums to their book values. By contrast, REFI trades at a 6% premium to book value, with its 18% YTM making it one of the most compelling investment opportunities in the cannabis finance space. Read Also: Better Than The Bank: Weed Real Estate Investment Company’s 14% Yield Beats Traditional Savings Strong Dividend Yield And Earnings Power REFI’s dividend yield remains one of the highest in the sector, with the regular dividend of 47 cents per share well-covered by distributable earnings, which came in at 56 cents per share in Q3 2024—up 12% sequentially. Zuanic estimates that REFI will continue to pay a special dividend of 29 cents in December, bringing the total annual dividend to $2.17 per share, or 13.6% yield on the current share price of $16.01. This represents a compelling yield compared to the 10-year Treasury yield of 4.15%, positioning REFI as an attractive choice for income-focused investors. Read Next: Is MariMed A Safe Haven In The Wake Of Florida’s Cannabis Legalization Defeat? © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.