p777 Donald Trump's worries mount after the MAGA war; now this: Low-income voters worry he'll cut benefits on which they rely

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona lost at home for the first time this season when the Liga leader was stunned by Las Palmas 2-1 on Saturday. Sandro Ramirez and Fábio Silva scored for the Canary Islands club on either side of Raphinha’s equalizer to give Las Palmas its first win at Barcelona in more than 50 years. 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 weekGeorgetown coasts to fourth straight win with domination of Albany

WHEELING, W.Va. , Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WesBanco, Inc. ("WesBanco") (Nasdaq: WSBC) and Premier Financial Corp. ("Premier") (Nasdaq: PFC) today announced that WesBanco's shareholders and Premier's shareholders have each voted overwhelmingly to adopt and approve, as applicable, all proposals relating to the previously announced merger agreement for WesBanco to acquire Premier. The votes were held at the respective special meetings of WesBanco's shareholders and Premier's shareholders today. Approximately 85% of the votes cast at WesBanco's special meeting voted to approve the merger and to approve the proposal to issue shares of WesBanco common stock as described in the joint proxy statement/prospectus for the special meeting, and approximately 68% of the outstanding shares of Premier common stock voted to approve the proposal to adopt the merger agreement. "Shareholder approval is a key milestone that reflects strong confidence in the opportunities this merger creates for our communities, customers, employees and shareholders," said Jeff Jackson , President and Chief Executive Officer of WesBanco. "With this step complete, we look forward to receiving the required regulatory approvals and then scheduling the closing of the merger, so we can bring our community commitment and the resources of a stronger organization to all of our communities." With the completion of this critical milestone, the companies believe the merger is on track to close during the first quarter of 2025. The transaction remains subject to the completion of customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals. The merger will create a regional financial services institution with approximately $27 billion in assets, significant economies of scale, and strong pro forma profitability metrics. With complementary and contiguous geographic footprints, the combined company would be the 8th largest bank in Ohio , based on deposit market share, have increased presence in Indiana , and serve customers in nine states. About WesBanco, Inc. With over 150 years as a community-focused, regional financial services partner, WesBanco Inc. (NASDAQ: WSBC) and its subsidiaries build lasting prosperity through relationships and solutions that empower our customers for success in their financial journeys. Customers across our eight-state footprint choose WesBanco for the comprehensive range and personalized delivery of our retail and commercial banking solutions, as well as trust, brokerage, wealth management and insurance services, all designed to advance their financial goals. Through the strength of our teams, we leverage large bank capabilities and local focus to help make every community we serve a better place for people and businesses to thrive. Headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia , WesBanco has $18.5 billion in total assets, with our Trust and Investment Services holding $6.1 billion of assets under management and securities account values (including annuities) of $1.9 billion through our broker/dealer, as of September 30, 2024 . Learn more at www.wesbanco.com and follow @WesBanco on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. About Premier Financial Corp. Premier Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: PFC), headquartered in Defiance, Ohio , is the holding company for Premier Bank. Premier Bank, headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio , operates 73 branches and nine loan offices in Ohio , Michigan , Indiana and Pennsylvania and also serves clients through a team of wealth professionals dedicated to each community banking branch. For more information, visit Premier's website at www.PremierFinCorp.com . Matters set forth in this press release contain certain forward-looking statements, including certain plans, expectations, goals, and projections, and including statements about the benefits of the proposed Merger between WesBanco and Premier, that are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those contained or implied by such statements for a variety of factors including: the effects of changing regional and national economic conditions, changes in interest rates, spreads on earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities, and associated interest rate sensitivity; sources of liquidity available to WesBanco and its related subsidiary operations; potential future credit losses and the credit risk of commercial, real estate, and consumer loan customers and their borrowing activities; actions of the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Institution Regulatory Authority, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the Securities Investors Protection Corporation, and other regulatory bodies; potential legislative and federal and state regulatory actions and reform, including, without limitation, the impact of the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act; adverse decisions of federal and state courts; fraud , scams and schemes of third parties; cyber-security breaches; competitive conditions in the financial services industry; rapidly changing technology affecting financial services; marketability of debt instruments and corresponding impact on fair value adjustments; and/or other external developments materially impacting WesBanco's operational and financial performance, the businesses of the WesBanco and Premier may not be integrated successfully or such integration may take longer to accomplish than expected; the expected cost savings and any revenue synergies from the proposed Merger may not be fully realized within the expected timeframes; disruption from the proposed Merger may make it more difficult to maintain relationships with clients, associates, or suppliers; the required governmental approvals of the proposed Merger may not be obtained on the expected terms and schedule; changes in economic conditions; movements in interest rates; competitive pressures on product pricing and services; success and timing of other business strategies; the nature, extent, and timing of governmental actions and reforms; and extended disruption of vital infrastructure; and other factors described in WesBanco's 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Premier's 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K, and documents subsequently filed by WesBanco and Premier with the SEC. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on information available at the time of the release. Neither WesBanco nor Premier assumes any obligation to update any forward-looking statement. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wesbanco-inc-and-premier-financial-corp-announce-shareholder-approvals-of-merger-agreement-302329433.html SOURCE WesBanco, Inc.Colorado vs. BYU live score, updates, highlights from Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders in 2024 Alamo Bowl | Sporting News

NEW YORK (AP) — In a string of visits, dinners, calls, monetary pledges and social media overtures, big tech chiefs — including Apple’s Tim Cook , OpenAI’s Sam Altman , Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg , SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — have joined a parade of business and world leaders in trying to improve their standing with President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office in January. “The first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said in remarks at Mar-a-Lago . “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.” Tech companies and leaders have now poured millions into his inauguration fund, a sharp increase — in most cases — from past pledges to incoming presidents. But what does the tech industry expect to gain out of their renewed relationships with Trump? RELATED COVERAGE Trump hosts Apple CEO at Mar-a-Lago as big tech leaders continue outreach to president-elect OpenAI’s legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI ‘dictatorship’ OpenAI’s Altman will donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund Clearing the way for AI development A clue to what the industry is looking for came just days before the election when Microsoft executives — who’ve largely tried to show a neutral or bipartisan stance — joined with a close Trump ally, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, to publish a blog post outlining their approach to artificial intelligence policy. “Regulation should be implemented only if its benefits outweigh its costs,” said the document signed by Andreessen, his business partner Ben Horowitz, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the company’s president, Brad Smith. They also urged the government to back off on any attempt to strengthen copyright laws that would make it harder for companies to use publicly available data to train their AI systems. And they said, “the government should examine its procurement practices to enable more startups to sell technology to the government.” Trump has pledged to rescind President Joe Biden’s sweeping AI executive order, which sought to protect people’s rights and safety without stifling innovation. He hasn’t specified what he would do in its place, but his campaign said AI development should be “rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.” Easier energy for data centers Trump’s choice to head the Interior Department, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, has spoken openly about the need to boost electricity production to meet increased demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. “The AI battle affects everything from defense to healthcare to education to productivity as a country,′′ Burgum said on Nov. 15, referring to artificial intelligence. “And the AI that’s coming in the next 18 months is going to be revolutionary. So there’s just a sense of urgency and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration′′ to address it. Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years due to the rapid growth of cloud computing and AI, and local governments are competing for lucrative deals with big tech companies. But as data centers begin to consume more resources, some residents are pushing back against the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities. Changing the antitrust discussion “Maybe Big Tech should buy a copy of ‘The Art of The Deal’ to figure out how to best negotiate with this administration,” suggested Paul Swanson, an antitrust attorney for the law firm Holland & Hart. “I won’t be surprised if they find ways to reach some accommodations and we end up seeing more negotiated resolutions and consent decrees.” Although federal regulators began cracking down on Google and Facebook during Trump’s first term as president — and flourished under Biden — most experts expect his second administration to ease up on antitrust enforcement and be more receptive to business mergers. Google may benefit from Trump’s return after he made comments on the campaign trail suggesting a breakup of the company isn’t in the U.S. national interest, after a judge declared its search engine an illegal monopoly . But recent nominations put forward by his transition team have favored those who have been critical of Big Tech companies, suggesting Google won’t be entirely off the hook. Fending off the EU Cook’s notoriously rocky relationship with the EU can be traced back to a 2016 ruling from Brussels in a tax case targeting Apple. Cook slammed the bloc’s order for Apple to pay back up to 13 billion euros ($13.7 billion) in Irish back taxes as “total political crap.” Trump, then in his first term as president, piled on, referring to the European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who was spearheading a campaign on special tax deals and a crackdown on Big Tech companies, as someone who “really hates the U.S.” Brussels was eventually vindicated after the bloc’s top court rejected Apple’s appeal this year, though it didn’t stop Cook from calling Trump to complain, Trump recounted in a podcast in October. Making amends? Altman , Amazon and Meta all pledged to donate $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund. During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and railed against the political coverage at The Washington Post, which billionaire Bezos owns. Meanwhile, Bezos had criticized some of Trump’s past rhetoric. In 2019, Amazon also argued in a court case that Trump’s bias against the company harmed its chances of winning a $10 billion Pentagon contract. More recently, Bezos has struck a more conciliatory tone. He recently said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York that he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term, while also endorsing president-elect’s plans to cut regulations. The donation from Meta came just weeks after Zuckerberg met with Trump privately at Mar-a-Lago. During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president, but voiced a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump’s response to his first assassination attempt. Still, Trump in recent months had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly. And Altman, who is in a legal dispute with AI rival Elon Musk, has said he is “not that worried” about the Tesla CEO’s influence in the incoming administration. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the company earlier this year alleging that the maker of ChatGPT betrayed its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. What about Elon Musk? “We have two multi-billionaires, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are tasked with cutting what they’re saying will be multiple trillions of dollars from the federal budget, reducing the civil service, the workforce,” said Rob Lalka, a business professor at Tulane University. Musk, he said, has a level of access to the White House that very few others have had -- access that allows him to potentially influence multiple policy areas, including foreign policy, automotive and energy policy through EVs, and tech policy on artificial intelligence. “Elon Musk walked into Twitter’s headquarters with a sink and then posted, ‘let that sink in,‘” he said. “Elon Musk then posted a status update on X, a picture of himself with a sink in the Oval Office and said, ‘Let that sink in.′"

Ireland's two main centre-right parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, are poised to maintain their grip on power following the recent election, but forming a stable government remains a challenge. They are expected to require additional coalition partners to achieve a majority, potentially leading to prolonged negotiations. The parties secured 20.5% and 21.9% of first-preference votes respectively, with Sinn Fein trailing at 19.1%. The prospect of forming a majority hinges on securing 88 seats, with Labour and the Social Democrats as potential coalition candidates. However, Ireland's proportional representation system may necessitate a wider coalition due to uncertain seat counts. Prime Minister Simon Harris's campaign suffered setbacks despite an expansive budget, affecting Fine Gael's standing. With public discontent over unfulfilled economic promises, and Sinn Fein's declining popularity, securing a stable government is crucial amid upcoming international economic challenges. (With inputs from agencies.)Road-weary Jets aim to keep division lead vs. resilient Stars

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Why you can trust AppleInsider Read how we test products or view our ethics policy . If you shop through our links, we may get a commission. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: The pinnacle of the portable Mac Andrew O'Hara | Nov 22, 2024 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Peak MacBook Pro 3 Facebook x.com Reddit The latest MacBook Pro update arrived in November, alongside multiple other Macs. We similarly got a new M4 -powered iMac and a completely redesigned Mac mini . Looking at the MacBook Pros specifically, they come in both 14- and 16-inch versions. You can get the 14-inch in M4 and M4 Pro versions and the 16-inch with the M4 Pro or M4 Max. This review is sponsored by tomtoc . Tomtoc is a design-driven, tech-savvy brand focused on providing innovative protection for your digital devices. With an emphasis on quality, functionality, and a perfect fit, tomtoc's products keep your gear safe in style. Get ready for their Black Friday sale with up to 50% off and don't miss your chance to upgrade your protection! We're looking at the Space Black 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 Max processor and its 40-core GPU. It has 1TB of storage and 64GB of unified memory. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Internals and ports Much of this machine is the same as before. The design is unchanged on the outside, other than that the base M4 model can now be obtained in the Space Black colorway that's become so popular. We still wish it was a bit darker. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: The left side has MagSafe 3, Thunderbolt 5 ports, and an audio jack As you face it, on the left of the machine is a MagSafe 3 port for charging at up to 140W, saddled by two Thunderbolt ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. The right has an SDXC card reader, another Thunderbolt port, and an HDMI connector. You get Apple's excellent built in keyboard above the still-spacious glass trackpad. Years later, Apple's trackpad is still unmatched by the competition. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: The keyboard is as good as ever and a joy to type on The display is 16.2-inches on the diagonal and measures 3456 by 2234 in resolution. It looks beautiful, has 1000 nits of typical brightness, ProMotion up to 120Hz, supports the P3 wide color gamut, and has TrueTone. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: What's new this time around? There are a number of improvements here, even if Apple kept the body the same. For example, the display's 1000 nit max brightness is 400 nits above where it was before. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: The screen looks gorgeous with the matte finish That's particularly useful when outdoors, no matter if you opted for the glossy or the new nano-texture finish. Similarly, it can get dimmer too. If you've ever worked into the wee hours or tried to use your computer in bed in the dark, you may have tried to turn your display brightness extremely low. Like the iPhone 16 line, it can now go as low as 1 nit. We certainly work into the wee hours of the night, frequently. So, this, like it was on the iPhone, has been a surprisingly useful feature. Not everyone is going to need this and it's not really that heavily promoted by Apple. For us, though, it's so helpful and more comfortable on our eyes. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: The new camera is 12MP and supports desk view Also on the display is a beefed up camera hiding in the notch. It's now 12MP and supports Desk View. Video is still capped at 1080p though. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Desk View on the upgraded camera Even if you don't use Desk View, the higher resolution and improved M4 ISP is welcomed and we were shocked at how much better we looked. We did a side-by-side with our M3 Max MacBook Pro and it was drastic. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: The old versus new camera quality The photo was richer with more contrast and better colors. It frankly makes the camera much more usable for processional applications. Thunderbolt 5 will be a standout feature — eventually After we got our first look at Thunderbolt 5 prototype devices at CES 2024, we're finally seeing the first cables and docks coming to market. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: A third party Thunderbolt 5 cable It's capable of 120Gb/s of aggregated data which is up to three times that of Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4. There aren't many devices now, but we're going to see many over the lifespan of this machine. When buying a Mac that you plan to use three, five, or even ten years you want it to support the latest technology. That's what this offers. It'll make more of a difference when there are more peripherals available. At the time of writing, only a few things have been announced. One thing we didn't get here was Wi-Fi 7 and we're sorely disappointed. This is the one upgrade we expected to get and didn't, purely based on the new wireless standard being finalized earlier this year. The iPhone 16 series also already supports it. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Apple has plenty of ports Once more, when you want a machine that will last, you want the latest standards and it's frustrating to see that omitted here. We'd prefer it on our Macs versus our iPhones. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Nano texture display Filed under "new changes in 2024" for the MacBook Pro is an optional nano texture finish. It's similar to what the iPad Pro , iMac, and Studio Display offer. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Trying to flash a light at the glossy (left) and matte (right) finish options We're not going to get into it again, given that this isn't Apple's first product with it. In short, it reduces glare and the impact of bright lights on the display. This diffused light, in our experience, makes the screen even better. There will be debate on what's better for color-specific workflows like video color grading or professional editing in Lightroom and Photoshop, but for us, it makes sense. Side by side, the color difference is minimal. If you are worrying that much about the color representation, a dedicated reference monitor may make more sense. With a laptop, the idea is to be portable and the nano texture affords that. The only downside is that because of the diffused light, it does appear slightly dimmer in certain environments. That's a worthwhile tradeoff though because we'd usually have to crank the brightness to battle the glare. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Testing the two displays outside When outside and the brightness cranks up to that 1000 nit level, that difference goes away and the new model looks just as bright as the older one. It also has great viewing angles, which is a plus. In all the environments we tested, the nano texture looked better. Even the clarity loss is minimal and we'd happily pay the $150 upgrade cost. Funny enough, the nano texture also kept out display cleaner. It still showed some oils, but overall looked and stayed cleaner than the normal glossy one. We've disliked the traditional anti-glare screens found on PCs and it's clear why Apple waited for a more suitable technology before introducing their own Mac-specific version of it. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Performance Here, we're testing the M4 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro which is a 16-core CPU with 12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Geekbench single-core results That's the same breakdown as the M3 Max. It's now faster though, increasing the clockspeed from 3.68GHz to 4.5GHz. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Geekbench multi-core results In terms of benchmarked performance, Geekbench 6 is showing us a 25% boost in the single core performance. We also saw a 30% boost in the multi-core performance. The Metal graphics test was a little more modest, going to 189752 from 163927. That's about a 15% increase for that 40-core GPU. Putting these numbers into perspective, the M4 Max easily outperforms the M2 Ultra CPU. That shouldn't be a huge surprise since we never got an M3 Ultra chip to compare with. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Blender GPU benchmarks Perhaps even more impressive, the M4 Max is also comparable to the GeForce 4080 super GPU in some workloads. That's a huge, desktop graphics card that has similar performance to a laptop. We wanted throw something different at the new machine in our testing, which was perfectly timed with Apple's new update to Final Cut Pro. One of the new features to that is Magnetic Mask, which is one of the more computationally intensive video tasks we do, outside of 3D motion graphics. It uses AI to track a subject, masking out the background without the need for a green screen. We applied it to a 12 minute 4K 24FPS video and it took 14 minutes and 27 seconds to complete. On the M3 Max model, it took a minute and 32 seconds longer. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Testing editing with Final Cut Pro Overall it's about a 10% boost in that performance. That's not a ton but on a longer or higher resolution project, that could amount to a serious time savings. Of course, higher-end workflows probably aren't using Magnetic Mask, but still. For completeness sake, we ran Cinebench R23 on both our last-gen and current gen machines. The M4 Max achieved 27108 for the multi-core sore and 2237 for the single-core, compared to 21355 and 1816 for the M3 Max respectively. That once more is showing about a 30% increase in multi-core performance. For a yearly update, that's a solid increase, and even more impressive compared to the exceptional M1 Max machine many still use. This may be a big enough jump to encourage holdouts to make the jump to Apple's latest and greatest portable Mac. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: M4 Pro is where it's at While the M4 Max is an incredibly powerful chip, and also points to a mind-bending M4 Ultra release down the pike, the real story seems to be the M4 Pro. Generationally, it's a bigger increase than its predecessor and at the rate of Apple Silicon , it's still more power than a lot of pro users will need. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Apple's M4 series chips are great Our most demanding workflow, multi-cam 4K video, is now barely taxing even for a base M4 processor. We'd be fine with an M4 Pro these days, even if we opt for the extra headroom and better performance the M4 Max offers. Notably, the M4 Pro is up to a 14-core, two more than before, but also increased the performance cores from six to ten. We'd have been fine had Apple gave us just more efficiency cores. Memory bandwidth also nearly doubled from 150GB/s to 273GB/s. It all amounts to an exceptional upgrade for the mid-tier chip. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Some of our benchmarking suite Last year, the M3 Pro felt like we got slighted with a middling update. It gave users more of a reason to jump to the "max" variant. This year, it feels like the M4 Pro is where it's at and unless you have an ultra-demanding workflow, it will probably keep up. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Should you buy Apple's new flagship portable Mac? Not every year of Apple Silicon needs to be a monumental increase. This year it was probably above average for the M4 Max, between 20% and 30% for the CPU and less for the GPU. Still, it's so impressive how much power Apple is able to pack into a laptop that is so incredibly portable. And unlike many Windows-based PCs, you don't see a massive performance dip when running on battery. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Sliding the MacBook Pro into a backpack is easy, even at 16 inches There's very little to criticize here as Apple has continued to refine and push the MacBook Pro line. There's the absence of Wi-Fi 7, but otherwise Apple knocked it out of the park. It's powerful, fast, elegant, portable, and reliable. It's the machine we turn to most often to get work done. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: The new MacBook Pro is incredibly good The only reason not to buy the M4 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro is if you don't need this much power. In that case, the M4 Pro model is perfectly suitable. Next year it's rumored we'll see a redesigned MacBook Pro that's even thinner and presumably adding Wi-Fi 7 and upgraded OLED displays. That's what's on the roadmap which will hopefully make any upgrade decisions easier. This is a workhorse of a machine and would be a solid upgrade choice before jumping to a redesigned model in a few years, when Apple has any first-gen bugs worked out. This is peak MacBook Pro. And we're here for it. 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Pros Nano-texture display is incredible upgrade Performance of M4 Pro and M4 Max are both outstanding New camera is markedly better Peak design and performance of the portable Mac Thunderbolt 5 will be a game changer New minimum brightness is great for late night working 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max review: Cons No Wi-Fi 7 Thunderbolt 5 accessories are still scarce to start 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max rating: 5 out of 5 This review is sponsored by tomtoc . Tomtoc is a design-driven, tech-savvy brand focused on providing innovative protection for your digital devices. With an emphasis on quality, functionality, and a perfect fit, tomtoc's products keep your gear safe in style. Get ready for their Black Friday sale with up to 50% off and don't miss your chance to upgrade your protection! Where to buy Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 Max at a discount The 2024 MacBook Pro 16-inch is already on sale at numerous Apple resellers, with discounted prices starting at $2,199 in our 16-inch MacBook Pro Price Guide . Amazon has M4 Max models marked down to as low as $3,199 at press time, reflecting a triple-digit discount off MSRP. AppleInsider readers can also save up to $300 on every CTO M4 MacBook Pro configuration with promo code APINSIDER at Apple Authorized Reseller Adorama. The same code takes $30 off three years of AppleCare for the 14-inch models and $40 off three years of AppleCare for the 16-inch MacBook Pro. You can also find the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro deals in our Price Guides: 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 prices 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Pro & M4 Max pricesNEW ORLEANS — A scruffy little fugitive is on the lam again in New Orleans, gaining fame as he outwits a tenacious band of citizens armed with night-vision binoculars, nets and a tranquilizer rifle. Scrim, a 17-pound mutt that's mostly terrier, has become a folk hero, inspiring tattoos, T-shirts and even a ballad as he eludes capture from the posse of volunteers. And like any antihero, Scrim has a backstory: Rescued from semi-feral life at a trailer park and adopted from a shelter, the dog broke loose in April and scurried around the city until he was cornered in October and brought to a new home. Weeks later, he'd had enough. Scrim leaped out of a second-story window, a desperate act recorded in a now-viral video. Since then, despite a stream of daily sightings, he's roamed free. The dog’s fans include Myra and Steve Foster, who wrote “Ode to Scrim” to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, “I’m a Travelin’ Man.” Michelle Cheramie, founder of Zeus' Rescues, at her office in New Orleans on Dec. 9 with a whiteboard index of sheltered cats and dogs and a Scrim look-alike recuperating in the background. Leading the recapture effort is Michelle Cheramie, a 55-year-old former information technology professional. She lost everything — home, car, possessions — in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in the aftermath, found her calling rescuing pets. “I was like, ‘This is what I should be doing,’” Cheramie said. “I was born to rescue.” She launched Zeus’ Rescues, a nonprofit shelter that now averages 600 cat and dog adoptions a year and offers free pet food to anyone who needs it. She helped Scrim find the home he first escaped from. It was Cheramie's window Scrim leaped from in November. She's resumed her relentless mission since then, posting flyers on telephone poles and logging social media updates on his reported whereabouts. She's invested thousands of dollars on wildlife cameras, thermal sensors and other gear. She took a course offered by the San Diego Zoo on the finer points of tranquilizing animals. And she's developed a network of volunteers — the kind of neighbors who are willing to grid-search a city at 3 a.m. Scrim on Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. People like writer David W. Brown, who manages a crowd-sourced Google Map of all known Scrim sightings. He says the search galvanized residents from all walks of life to come together. As they search for Scrim, they hand out supplies to people in need. “Being a member of the community is seeing problems and doing what you can to make life a little better for the people around here and the animals around you,” Brown said. Neighbor Tammy Murray had to close her furniture store and lost her father to Parkinson's disease. This search, she says, got her mojo back. “Literally, for months, I’ve done nothing but hunt this dog,” said Murray, 53. “I feel like Wile E. Coyote on a daily basis with him.” Murray drives the Zeus' Rescues van toward reported Scrim sightings. She also handles a tactical net launcher, which looks like an oversized flashlight and once misfired, shattering the van's window as Scrim sped away. After realizing Scrim came to recognize the sound of the van's diesel engine, Murray switched to a Vespa scooter for stealth. Michelle Cheramie, director of Zeus' Rescues, left, walks with Scrim on Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. Near-misses have been tantalizing. The search party spotted Scrim napping beneath an elevated house, and wrapped construction netting around the perimeter, but an over-eager volunteer broke ranks and dashed forward, leaving an opening Scrim slipped through. Scrim's repeated escapades prompted near-daily local media coverage and a devoted online following. Cheramie can relate. “We’re all running from something or to something," she said. "He's doing that, too.” Cheramie's team dreams of placing the pooch in a safe and loving environment. But a social media chorus growing under the hashtag #FreeScrim has other ideas — they say the runaway should be allowed a life of self-determination. The animal rescue volunteers consider that misguided. “The streets of New Orleans are not the place for a dog to be free,” Cheramie said. “It’s too dangerous.” Scrim rests in a kennel Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. Scrim was a mess when Cheramie briefly recaptured him in October, with matted fur, missing teeth and a tattered ear. His trembling body was scraped and bruised, and punctured by projectiles. A vet removed one, but decided against operating to take out a possible bullet. The dog initially appeared content indoors, sitting in Cheramie's lap or napping beside her bed. Then while she was out one day, Scrim chewed through a mesh screen, dropped 13 feet to the ground and squeezed through a gap in the fence, trotting away. Murray said Cheramie's four cats probably spooked him. Cheramie thinks they may have gotten territorial. Devastated but undeterred, the pair is reassessing where Scrim might fit best — maybe a secure animal sanctuary with big outdoor spaces where other dogs can keep him company. Somewhere, Murray says, “where he can just breathe and be.” Scrim sits in the arms of Zoey Ponder on Oct. 24 at Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie. Scrim at the Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter in Louisiana. A Scrim sticker for sale Dec. 9 at Zeus' Rescues office to raise money for the shelter in New Orleans. A homemade portrait of Scrim hangs Dec. 9 in the Zeus' Rescues shelter in New Orleans. Scrim spends some time outside Oct. 24 with Michelle Cheramie, director of Zeus' Rescues, in a fenced-in area at Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!

Will New Year's Eve be loud or quiet? What are the top 2025 resolutions? AP-NORC poll has answers

NEW YORK (AP) — In a string of visits, dinners, calls, monetary pledges and social media overtures, big tech chiefs — including Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — have joined a parade of business and world leaders in trying to improve their standing with President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office in January. “The first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said in remarks at Mar-a-Lago. “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.” Tech companies and leaders have now poured millions into his inauguration fund, a sharp increase — in [...]Mathbaria: Canal’s land grabbed for market