Rinnai America Joins Forces with Homes For Our Troops to Aid Injured VeteransPresident Javier Milei has fired the head of Argentina’s tax bureau after she authorised modifications to the agency’s “streamers and influencers” regime. Florencia Mizrahi was dismissed from her post on Saturday, with local media outlets reporting that the order to expel the director of the Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero (ARCA) came directly from Milei. Local news agencies said the decision was down to “differences in the direction of the organism,” but the government ARCA was recently given a new name, after the national government decided to rebrand the Administracion Federal De Ingresos Publicos (AFIP) tax bureau. Mizrahi will be replaced by Juan Pazo, who until today held a position in the Economy Ministry headed by Luis Caputo. “The President of the Nation took the decision to dismiss the head of ARCA and two officials for the modification of the streamers and influencers regime,” said Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni in a post on the X social network, referring to a resolution published earlier this week that would have the targeted groups begin paying tax on their economic activities. “Juan Pazo will take over as the new head of ARCA and Pablo Quirno will assume the role of Secretary of International Economic Relations of the Argentine Foreign Ministry,” he added. Mizrahi was appointed to her post in December 2023, but has failed to last a year in office of the agency, which manages tax and customs regimes. AFIP was renamed to ARCA in October earlier this year, with Milei administration officials announcing it would see a 34-percent reduction in staffing levels. It was created to “improve tax and customs control through a more agile operation, in line with the policies of reorganisation and administrative transparency promoted by the executive branch,” according to the government decree that created the agency. – TIMES/NA Ads Space Ads Spacewowjili code 。

NJIT defeats Morehead State 78-69

Percentages: FG .432, FT .724. 3-Point Goals: 12-36, .333 (Sears 6-15, Carter 3-10, Givens 1-2, Bailey 1-3, V.Miller 1-5, Mike.Williams 0-1). Team Rebounds: 14. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 4 (Reed 2, Chest, Sears). Turnovers: 17 (Carter 5, Reed 3, Bailey 2, Givens 2, Sears 2, Fountain, R.Miller, V.Miller). Steals: 11 (Carter 3, Chest 3, Bailey 2, Reed, Sears, V.Miller). Technical Fouls: None. Percentages: FG .407, FT .720. 3-Point Goals: 10-34, .294 (Ivy-Curry 5-12, Da.Johnson 4-8, Hall 1-6, B.Williams 0-1, Di.Johnson 0-1, Taylor 0-1, Jocius 0-2, Coleman 0-3). Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 7 (B.Williams 2, Thiam 2, Coleman, Hendricks, Jocius). Turnovers: 15 (Ivy-Curry 4, Da.Johnson 3, Hall 3, B.Williams, Coleman, Jocius, Taylor, Thiam). Steals: 15 (Coleman 5, Da.Johnson 5, B.Williams 2, Ivy-Curry, Machowski, Thiam). Technical Fouls: None. .

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow and received asylum from his longtime ally, Russian media said Sunday, hours after a stunning rebel advance seized control of Damascus and ended his family’s 50 years of iron rule . Thousands of Syrians poured into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire and waved the revolutionary flag in scenes that recalled the early days of the Arab Spring uprising, before a brutal crackdown and the rise of an insurgency plunged the country into a nearly 14-year civil war. The swiftly moving events raised questions about the future of the country and the wider region. “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East," President Joe Biden said , crediting action by the U.S. and its allies for weakening Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. He called the fall of Assad a “fundamental act of justice” but also a “moment of risk and uncertainty,” and said rebel groups are “saying the right things now” but the U.S. would assess their actions. Russia requested an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Syria, according to Dmitry Polyansky, its deputy ambassador to the U.N., in a post on Telegram. The arrival of Assad and his family in Moscow was reported by Russian agencies Tass and RIA, citing an unidentified source at the Kremlin. A spokesman there didn't immediately respond to questions. RIA also said Syrian insurgents had guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic posts in Syria. Earlier, Russia said Assad left Syria after negotiations with rebel groups and that he had given instructions to transfer power peacefully. The leader of Syria's biggest rebel faction, Abu Mohammed al-Golani , is poised to chart the country’s future. The former al-Qaida commander cut ties with the group years ago and says he embraces pluralism and religious tolerance. His Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the U.N. In his first public appearance since fighters entered the Damascus suburbs Saturday, al-Golani visited the Umayyad Mosque and described Assad's fall as “a victory to the Islamic nation.” Calling himself by his given name, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and not his nom de guerre, he said Assad had made Syria “a farm for Iran’s greed.” The rebels face the daunting task of healing bitter divisions in a country ravaged by war and split among armed factions. Turkey-backed opposition fighters are battling U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in the north, and the Islamic State group is still active in remote areas. Syrian state television broadcast a rebel statement saying Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners had been released. They urged people to preserve the institutions of “the free Syrian state,” and announced a curfew in Damascus from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m. An online video purported to show rebels freeing dozens of women at the notorious Saydnaya prison, where rights groups say thousands were tortured and killed . At least one small child was seen among them. “This happiness will not be completed until I can see my son out of prison and know where is he,” said one relative, Bassam Masr. "I have been searching for him for two hours. He has been detained for 13 years.” Rebel commander Anas Salkhadi appeared on state TV and sought to reassure religious and ethnic minorities, saying: “Syria is for everyone, no exceptions. Syria is for Druze, Sunnis, Alawites, and all sects.” “We will not deal with people the way the Assad family did," he added. Damascus residents prayed in mosques and celebrated in squares, calling, “God is great.” People chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked car horns. Teenage boys picked up weapons apparently discarded by security forces and fired into the air. Soldiers and police fled their posts and looters broke into the Defense Ministry. Families wandered the presidential palace, walking by damaged portraits of Assad. Other parts of the capital were empty and shops were closed. “It’s like a dream. I need someone to wake me up," said opposition fighter Abu Laith, adding the rebels were welcomed in Damascus with “love.” Rebels stood guard at the Justice Ministry, where Judge Khitam Haddad said he and colleagues were protecting documents. Outside, residents sought information about relatives who disappeared under Assad. The rebels “have felt the pain of the people,” said one woman, giving only her first name, Heba. She worried about possible revenge killings by the rebels, many of whom appeared to be underage. Syria’s historically pro-government newspaper al-Watan called it “a new page for Syria. We thank God for not shedding more blood.” It added that media workers should not be blamed for publishing past government statements ordered from above. A statement from the Alawite sect that formed the core of Assad's base called on young Syrians to be “calm, rational and prudent and not to be dragged into what tears apart the unity of our country.” The rebels mainly come from the Sunni Muslim majority in Syria, which also has sizable Druze, Christian and Kurdish communities. In Qamishli in the northeast, a Kurdish man slapped a statue of the late leader Hafez Assad with his shoe. The rebel advances since Nov. 27 were the largest in recent years, and saw the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs fall within days as the Syrian army melted away. The road to Damascus from the Lebanese border was littered with military uniforms and charred armored vehicles. Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, which provided crucial support to Assad, abandoned him as they reeled from other conflicts. The end of Assad’s rule was a major blow to Iran and its proxies, already weakened by conflict with Israel . Iran said Syrians should decide their future “without destructive, coercive, foreign intervention.” The Iranian Embassy in Damascus was ransacked after apparently having been abandoned. Hossein Akbari, Iran’s ambassador to Syria, said it was “effectively impossible” to help the Syrian government after it admitted the insurgents' military superiority. Speaking on Iranian state media from an undisclosed location, he said Syria's government decided Saturday night to hand over power peacefully. “When the army and the people could not resist, it was a good decision to let go to prevent bloodshed and destruction,” Akbari said, adding that some of his colleagues left Syria before sunrise. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking on state TV, said there were concerns about the “possibility of civil war, disintegration of Syria, total collapse and turning Syria into a shelter for terrorists.” Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali has said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and turn its functions over to a transitional government. A video on Syrian opposition media showed armed men escorting him from his office to a hotel. The U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, has called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” The Gulf nation of Qatar, a key regional mediator, hosted an emergency meeting of foreign ministers and top officials from eight countries with interests in Syria late Saturday, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey. Majed al-Ansari, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, said they agreed on the need “to engage all parties on the ground," including the HTS, and that the main concern is “stability and safe transition.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops had seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established in 1974, saying it was to protect Israeli residents after Syrian troops abandoned positions. Israel’s military later warned residents of five southern Syria communities to stay home for their safety, and didn’t respond to questions. Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it. The international community, except for the U.S., views it as occupied, and the Arab League on Sunday condemned what it called Israel’s efforts to take advantage of Assad’s downfall to occupy more territory. Sewell reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue, Sarah El Deeb and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Samar Kassaballi, Omar Sanadiki and Ghaith Alsayed in Damascus; Jon Gambrell in Manama, Bahrain; Josef Federman in Doha, Qatar; and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem, contributed.COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Tafara Gapare scored 19 points, freshman Derik Queen had 15 points and eight rebounds and Maryland beat Bucknell 91-67 on Wednesday night. Maryland opened the game on a 15-2 run, extended it to 25-7 with 10:38 left and led 51-28 at the break. The Terrapins led by at least 16 points the entire second half, which included runs of 12-0 and 9-0. Gapare scored the 10 straight points during the second-half run. Gapare threw down a highlight dunk while being fouled with 2:08 remaining to give Maryland an 89-62 lead. He was called for a technical foul after stepping over Patrick O’Brien, who was attempting to take a charge. Jayden Williams made the two free throws for Bucknell and Gapare missed his free-throw attempt that would have tied his career high of 20 points. Maryland (6-1) has won 20 consecutive home games against unranked nonconference foes with its last loss coming on Dec. 1, 2021, against Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Julian Reese added 14 points and Selton Miguel scored 13 for Maryland. Gapare, a Georgia Tech transfer, reached double-figure scoring as a Terp for the first time. The Terrapins shot 50% from the field with three 3-pointers apiece by Gapare and Miguel. Ruot Bijiek led Bucknell (4-4) with 20 points and Josh Bascoe added 10. The Bison turned it over 20 times leading to 22 Maryland points. Maryland stays at home to play Alcorn State on Sunday. Bucknell returns home to play Siena on Saturday. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketballMeet the 12 CFP Title Contenders: No. 12 Clemson

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ATLANTA (AP) — As she checked into a recent flight to Mexico for vacation, Teja Smith chuckled at the idea of joining another Women’s March on Washington . As a Black woman, she just couldn’t see herself helping to replicate the largest act of resistance against then-President Donald Trump’s first term in January 2017. Even in an election this year where Trump questioned his opponent’s race , held rallies featuring racist insults and falsely claimed Black migrants in Ohio were eating residents’ pets , he didn't just win a second term. He became the first Republican in two decades to clinch the popular vote, although by a small margin. “It’s like the people have spoken and this is what America looks like,” said Smith, the Los Angeles-based founder of the advocacy social media agency, Get Social. “And there’s not too much more fighting that you’re going to be able to do without losing your own sanity.” After Trump was declared the winner over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris , many politically engaged Black women said they were so dismayed by the outcome that they were reassessing — but not completely abandoning — their enthusiasm for electoral politics and movement organizing. Black women often carry much of the work of getting out the vote in their communities. They had vigorously supported the historic candidacy of Harris, who would have been the first woman of Black and South Asian descent to win the presidency. Harris' loss spurred a wave of Black women across social media resolving to prioritize themselves, before giving so much to a country that over and over has shown its indifference to their concerns. AP VoteCast , a survey of more than 120,000 voters, found that 6 in 10 Black women said the future of democracy in the United States was the single most important factor for their vote this year, a higher share than for other demographic groups. But now, with Trump set to return to office in two months, some Black women are renewing calls to emphasize rest, focus on mental health and become more selective about what fight they lend their organizing power to. “America is going to have to save herself,” said LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of the national voting rights group Black Voters Matter. She compared Black women’s presence in social justice movements as “core strategists and core organizers” to the North Star, known as the most consistent and dependable star in the galaxy because of its seemingly fixed position in the sky. People can rely on Black women to lead change, Brown said, but the next four years will look different. “That’s not a herculean task that’s for us. We don’t want that title. ... I have no goals to be a martyr for a nation that cares nothing about me,” she said. AP VoteCast paints a clear picture of Black women's concerns. Black female voters were most likely to say that democracy was the single most important factor for their vote, compared to other motivators such as high prices or abortion. More than 7 in 10 Black female voters said they were “very concerned” that electing Trump would lead the nation toward authoritarianism, while only about 2 in 10 said this about Harris. About 9 in 10 Black female voters supported Harris in 2024, according to AP VoteCast, similar to the share that backed Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Trump received support from more than half of white voters, who made up the vast majority of his coalition in both years. Like voters overall, Black women were most likely to say the economy and jobs were the most important issues facing the country, with about one-third saying that. But they were more likely than many other groups to say that abortion and racism were the top issues, and much less likely than other groups to say immigration was the top issue. Despite those concerns, which were well-voiced by Black women throughout the campaign, increased support from young men of color and white women helped expand Trump’s lead and secured his victory. Politically engaged Black women said they don’t plan to continue positioning themselves in the vertebrae of the “backbone” of America’s democracy. The growing movement prompting Black women to withdraw is a shift from history, where they are often present and at the forefront of political and social change. One of the earliest examples is the women’s suffrage movement that led to ratification in 1920 of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution , which gave women the right to vote. Black women, however, were prevented from voting for decades afterward because of Jim Crow-era literacy tests, poll taxes and laws that blocked the grandchildren of slaves from voting. Most Black women couldn’t vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Black women were among the organizers and counted among the marchers brutalized on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, during the historic march in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery that preceded federal legislation. Decades later, Black women were prominent organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police and vigilantes. In his 2024 campaign, Trump called for leveraging federal money to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government programs and discussions of race, gender or sexual orientation in schools. His rhetoric on immigration, including false claims that Black Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating cats and dogs, drove support for his plan to deport millions of people . Tenita Taylor, a Black resident of Atlanta who supported Trump this year, said she was initially excited about Harris’ candidacy. But after thinking about how high her grocery bills have been, she feels that voting for Trump in hopes of finally getting lower prices was a form of self-prioritization. “People say, ‘Well, that’s selfish, it was gonna be better for the greater good,''' she said. “I’m a mother of five kids. ... The things that (Democrats) do either affect the rich or the poor.” Some of Trump’s plans affect people in Olivia Gordon’s immediate community, which is why she struggled to get behind the “Black women rest” wave. Gordon, a New York-based lawyer who supported the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s presidential nominee, Claudia de la Cruz, worries about who may be left behind if the 92% of Black women voters who backed Harris simply stopped advocating. “We’re talking millions of Black women here. If millions of Black women take a step back, it absolutely leaves holes, but for other Black women,” she said. “I think we sometimes are in the bubble of if it’s not in your immediate circle, maybe it doesn’t apply to you. And I truly implore people to understand that it does.” Nicole Lewis, an Alabama-based therapist who specializes in treating Black women’s stress, said she’s aware that Black women withdrawing from social impact movements could have a fallout. But she also hopes that it forces a reckoning for the nation to understand the consequences of not standing in solidarity with Black women. “It could impact things negatively because there isn’t that voice from the most empathetic group,” she said. “I also think it’s going to give other groups an opportunity to step up. ... My hope is that they do show up for themselves and everyone else.” Brown said a reckoning might be exactly what the country needs, but it’s a reckoning for everyone else. Black women, she said, did their job when they supported Harris in droves in hopes they could thwart the massive changes expected under Trump. “This ain’t our reckoning,” she said. “I don’t feel no guilt.” AP polling editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux and Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says he wants to wait and see what policies the incoming Trump administration will implement before the central bank forecasts what it means for the economy. “There’s nothing to model right now,” Powell said at his November 7 press conference. “We don’t guess, we don’t speculate and we don’t assume.” That’s not how the Fed responded to President-elect Donald Trump’s win in 2016, transcripts from meetings at the time show. A month before the inauguration, the Fed’s staff began forecasting a fiscal boost to growth that would be partly offset by higher interest rates, based on an assumption that promised tax cuts would get passed. And several policymakers, including Powell, also incorporated fiscal policy changes into their forecasts. “It seems likely that more accommodative fiscal policy will arrive during 2017,” Powell, then a governor, wrote in comments submitted with his forecasts at the December 2016 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. “I have therefore followed the staff baseline in assuming a personal income tax cut of 1% of GDP, as a placeholder.” He went on to say he had changed his rate projections to incorporate three, instead of two, quarter-point interest-rate hikes in 2017. A spokesperson at the Fed declined to comment. Powell’s extra caution compared to 2016 is striking, given that Trump’s policies are expected to reignite price pressures, and Fed officials are still working to finish off their toughest bout with inflation in four decades. How much further they can lower interest rates will still depend, at some point, on how they see the cross-currents of tax, tariff and immigration policies affecting the economy. “The job’s not quite done” on inflation while the economy could get a lift from deregulation and business-friendly tax policies, said Randall Kroszner, a former Fed governor and a professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. “They are going to be on a shallower path” with interest rates in the short run “as the economy gets a boost.” Just how and when to position around fiscal stimulus is fraught with political risks for central bankers who have run afoul of tax-cutting presidents in the past. If they raise borrowing costs too early or too much to offset the effects, they get criticized for leaning against the administration’s policies. Raise rates too little or too late, and inflation may heat up as it did in 2021. Eight years ago, it proved difficult to accurately predict the impact of Trump’s proposed policies. The Fed ended up cutting rates beginning in July 2019, just 19 months after the passage of Trump’s signature package of tax cuts, in response to a slowdown in manufacturing and an inflation rate that had fallen back to below their 2% target. To former Fed Governor Laurence Meyer, who had to grapple with the George W Bush tax cuts in 2001, the Fed’s current response should remain strictly at the staff level. “They should be running alternative simulations” to get a sense of how the economy would perform if taxes were cut, he said. “They shouldn’t be basing their policy on something where they don’t know what is going to happen.” Still, others worry the Fed could err if they wait too long to react. Trump once again promised lower taxes, and with control of both the House and Senate, an extension of his first-term tax cuts is looking like a good bet. “The patterns we have here for unified Republican control has not been a model of restraint,” said Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “I could see why central bankers might want to duck out of the wind and get a better sense of what’s coming,” Binder added. “But it does risk getting behind the eight ball.” Several Wall Street banks haven’t waited. Since Trump’s re-election, economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co, Barclays Plc and Toronto-Dominion Bank have reduced the number of rate cuts they anticipate through next year. Investors have also pared back their expectations for rate cuts in 2025. Whatever the Fed’s response, what’s really required is a regularized process for handling potential action from the White House and Congress, said Ellen Meade, a former senior policy adviser at the Board of Governors who is now a research professor of economics at Duke University. “Having a systematic process around how and when prospective fiscal initiatives are incorporated into the baseline Tealbook forecast is critical to ensuring consistent treatment of prospective policies proposed by either political party,” she said, referring to the Fed staff’s forecast and strategy document. In December 2016, some Fed policymakers, including William Dudley, then president of the New York Fed, raised questions about the staff’s decision to pencil in a more expansionary fiscal policy. Dudley is now a Bloomberg opinion columnist. Stephanie Aaronson, then an assistant director of the Division of Research and Statistics, told the committee that House Republicans had a plan that was similar in magnitude to what staff built into their forecast. Aaronson is a senior associate director at the Fed today. Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow studying tax policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said that while that plan was more vision statement than draft legislation, it was nonetheless “a very reasonable assumption” in late 2016 that Congress would pass individual income tax cuts and boost demand. This time around, he said, it may not be so reasonable to do the same. “There is less agreement among the Republican caucus on what to do,” said Pomerleau. “The deficit is higher.”

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Americans made $3.6 billion in charitable donations this week — a double-digit increase of 16% from Giving Tuesday 2023’s total of $3.1 billion, according to The GivingTuesday Data Commons , the group that tracks the data. And more people than ever — 36.1 million — donated to a charity that day, up 7% from last year. Add this to the mix: Giving by individuals is predicted to increase by 2.6% in 2024 and by 3.4% in 2025, surpassing previous annual average giving bumps, according to research from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. That feels good. As we slide into December, many of us who bypassed the much-hyped Giving Tuesday, me included, are focusing on making charitable contributions by year-end to reduce taxes or simply revel in that holiday spirit of giving. For me, and I suspect lots of you, giving is really more about your heart than a tax strategy. People have similar motivations for giving, according to Fidelity Charitable’s research : making a difference, giving back to their community, and faith are aspects of financial giving donors find most rewarding. For Shannon Bonney, 26, that’s the case. Last year, she became a member of Many Hands , a nonprofit philanthropic “giving circle” with a membership of around 275 women. The collective giving organization supports nonprofits in the Washington, D.C., area focused on women, children, and families in socioeconomic need. Members under 35 make an annual gift of $300. Older donors contribute a minimum annual gift of $1,000. Donating through a giving circle , where individuals, often women, pool their funds and their decision-making to make grants, is the hottest trend in philanthropy. Per a report from Philanthropy Together, the number of giving circles and the number of people who are part of one tripled between 2007 and 2016 — and then tripled again between 2016 and 2023. There are now more than 4,000 giving circles across the country with 370,000 members. Among them, they gave away more than $3 billion over a five-year period ending in 2023. “I chose a giving circle because it’s the most effective way to pool money with people and then get that in a lump sum to the organization,” Bonney said. “It’s a lot more impactful to have your money be part of tens of thousands of dollars that are going to that group.” The amount of giving per member varies by giving circle. Some circles set a lower giving level that can range from $200 to $500 annually. Others opt to set it higher, say, $5,000 to $25,000 a year. (The Giving Compass site has a Giving Circle search tool to find ones near you focused on missions of interest). Read more: Wondering what to do with your tax refund? 5 ways to spend it wisely Most of us don’t know much about nitty-gritty tax strategies that could make our donations more financially impactful. To write off donations, your total tax deductions need to exceed the standard deduction to be worthwhile. For 2024, the standard deduction is $14,600 for single filers and $29,200 for married couples filing jointly. The tax deduction is a lure for most Americans, with retirees marginally less likely than others to say it’s important to their giving decision. One way to exceed that standard deduction threshold is to bunch together your contributions and give two years' worth of deductions in one year, so your total giving will be high enough to allow you to itemize. “This can be extremely effective for gifting in years of higher-than-normal income — for example, if you sold a business or real estate, received a large bonus payout, exercised stock options, or sold and diversified a concentrated low-basis stock position,” Brandon O’Neill, a certified financial planner and charitable planning consultant at Fidelity Charitable, told Yahoo Finance. Another tax-saving strategy is making a charitable donation of stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds you've held for more than a year. This is a way to avoid owing capital gains taxes on their profits. You might also consider a donor-advised fund (DAF), which is available from financial services firms like Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard. There could be minimum amounts to open an account and to give to an individual charity along with annual administrative fees. When you make a contribution of cash, stocks, mutual funds, or ETFs to a DAF, you immediately receive a tax deduction, provided you itemize. You can then invest the money for growth that is tax-free until you choose which charities you want to donate to. These funds are going mainstream but are still under-the-radar for many Americans. “A DAF is a simple, tax-effective way to dedicate money to charitable giving,” O’Neill said. “You can think about DAFs almost like a 529 or IRA for charitable giving because they allow you to strategize your giving.” Read more: Is GoFundMe tax deductible? What donors and beneficiaries should know. If you’re aged 701⁄2 or older, a qualified charitable distribution from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is another consideration. You make this distribution directly to a charity, reducing the amount of your taxable IRA that is subject to Required Minimum Distributions starting at age 73. You can't deduct the qualified charitable distribution, but the money won't be considered taxable income to you. Have a question about retirement? Personal finances? Anything career-related? Click here to drop Kerry Hannon a note. “The year-end retirement account balance is key to retirees because their required minimum distribution is based on that balance,” Ed Slott, a certified public accountant in New York and an expert on IRAs, previously told Yahoo Finance. “Your RMD is your best asset to give to charity.” This year you can donate up to $105,000 total to one or more charities directly from a taxable IRA. “You are getting it out at zero tax and giving it to a charity, something you would've done anyway,” Slott said. “Plus, if you do it correctly, with the timing of it, it can offset your RMD.” Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist, and the author of 14 books, including " In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in The New World of Work" and "Never Too Old To Get Rich." 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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Chargers running back J.K Dobbins is unlikely to play against the Atlanta Falcons this week because of a knee injury. Dobbins was hurt in the first half of the Chargers’ 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night. He had six carries for 40 yards and three catches for 19 yards before leaving the game. Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh declined to get into specifics of the injury Wednesday, other than confirming Dobbins is “working through something with his knee,” he said. Dobbins had been putting together a strong first season for the Chargers (7-4) after his past three years in Baltimore had been injury-riddled. He has 766 yards rushing and eight touchdowns through 11 games for Los Angeles, which had positioned Dobbins as a strong candidate for AP Comeback Player of the Year. Dobbins tore his Achilles tendon in the 2023 season opener for Baltimore. He also tore his ACL in 2021, and the effects of that injury lingered into the following season. Dobbins played in just 24 of a possible 67 regular-season games for the Ravens, who drafted him in the second round in 2020. “We feel horrible for him,” quarterback Justin Herbert said. “He’s such a tough, tough teammate, and the way he’s fought through so many injuries, we have no doubt he’s going to be back better than ever. And so it’s up to us. It’s our responsibility to hold it down while he’s gone.” The absence of Dobbins leaves Gus Edwards, Hassan Haskins and rookie Kimani Vidal as the Chargers’ current options at running back. Edwards missed four games because of a high ankle sprain and has 206 yards and one touchdown in seven appearances. Haskins has mostly been a special teams contributor, while Vidal has been inactive for seven games, including each of the past three. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLNATO and Ukraine to hold emergency talks after Russian attack with hypersonic missile

Trump Victory Forces Once Vocal Corner of Wall Street to Regroup - BloombergOn the first day of the new legislative session, Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, D-Anaheim, introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1 (ACA 1). The proposal would double the amount of state funds that could be placed in the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA) from 10% to 20% of the annual budget. The ostensible reason for the increase is to address the very real problem of revenue volatility. Because California is overly reliant on high income earners who generate massive amounts of capital gains and stock option funds in boom years, it is vulnerable to big drop-offs in revenue during the bust years. Indeed, revenue volatility has been such a large problem that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created the California Commission for the 21st Century Economy to come up with solutions. Regrettably, while there was a broad consensus that something should be done about the boom and bust cycle, the commissioners could not agree on what to do about it. The goal of placing more funds in reserve because of volatility makes sense, if it can be accomplished without violating the letter and the spirit of Gann spending limit. Unfortunately, ACA 1, in its current form does just that. Here’s how. Just a year after Proposition 13’s passage in 1978, California voters approved the Gann spending limit which, like Prop. 13, sought to restrain the size and growth of government. But unlike Proposition 13, which was a direct limit on taxation, Gann attempted to limit government spending. It limited the growth of state and local government expenditures to a base-year level adjusted annually to reflect increases in population and inflation. Initially, the Gann limit performed as designed and resulted in a modest rebate to taxpayers in 1987. But subsequent measures backed by special interests weakened the Gann limit by creating exceptions for education and transportation spending as well as substituting a far more generous inflation factor. Ironically, after these changes, most public finance observers – including yours truly – wrongfully assumed that California would never again bump up against the limit. But a big surplus in fiscal year 2022-23 put the state on the brink of reaching that limit. While that collision was briefly avoided due to COVID-19, California once again is confronted with a Gann issue that can no longer be ignored. For taxpayers, the best outcome would be to let the Gann limit run its course and return money to taxpayers “by a revision of tax rates or fee schedules within the next two subsequent fiscal years.” Cal.Const., Art. XIIIB, Section 2(a)(2). This is consistent with the plain language of Gann and is more than warranted given California’s heavy tax burden. Related Articles Opinion Columnists | End the IRS’s worldwide tax grab Opinion Columnists | Mass deportations are bad for everyone’s liberties Opinion Columnists | The draconian penalties that Hunter Biden escaped affect people whose fathers can’t save them Opinion Columnists | California politicians suddenly discover inflation in aftermath of election Opinion Columnists | How California ranks as the most active political state But ACA 1 might prevent taxpayer refunds due to the change in treatment of transfers into the budget stabilization account. Under Gann, the state and local governments may create reserve accounts, like the BSA, but those transfers are subject to Gann’s spending limits. On the other hand, spending out of a reserve account is not so limited. As currently drafted, it appears that ACA 1 would exempt transfers out of the reserve account – currently permissible under Gann – but would also exempt appropriations into the BSA: Section (i) provides, “Transfers to the Budget Stabilization Account pursuant to this section do not constitute appropriations subject to limitation as defined in Article XIII B.” This appears to create a fund into which unlimited funds can be appropriated, guaranteeing that taxpayers will never get a refund of their tax dollars. There are better ways to address revenue volatility without injury to the goal of the Gann Spending Limit, which was enacted to provide a modicum of spending restraint in a state that doesn’t have any. California taxpayers need something more than a rainy day fund that’s all slush. Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.