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Ripple Fiber, a fiber optic internet provider based in the Southeast, has opened a retail office in Hickory. The provider aims to bring its innovative technology to more than 16,000 homes in areas across Catawba County, including Hickory, St. Stephens and Conover. Construction is currently expected to be completed by mid-2026. During this phase, Ripple Fiber is encouraging people to preorder service, which can be done online, by phone, or in person at a Ripple Fiber retail location. “The continued evolution and growth of our city’s infrastructure is crucial. With Hickory’s established telecommunications industry, we understand the importance of access to fiber for our residents,” the Chamber of Catawba County said in a news release. “Ripple Fiber’s thoughtful planning in anticipation of this groundbreaking milestone demonstrates its commitment to providing our residents with expanded broadband access for generations to come.” Ripple Fiber continues increasing its footprint in western North Carolina, which includes active markets in Shelby, Kings Mountain, Gastonia, Cramerton and Cherryville. With a 10 Gbps-ready, 100% fiber optic network, Ripple Fiber delivers lightning-fast internet to thousands of homes using its patented technology, the company said in the news release. It said it is committed to constructing robust digital infrastructures nationwide. Whether using Wi-Fi for remote work, online learning, gaming or video streaming, customers can expect exceptional bandwidth and symmetrical upload and download speeds, the company said. Known for transparent pricing without contracts or hidden fees, Ripple Fiber now offers multiple package options, with three core products leading the way — 500 Mbps, 1 Gig, and 2 Gig. “The Ripple Fiber team is honored to expand our fiber internet network to provide more North Carolina communities with future-proof infrastructure,” Greg Wilson, founder and CEO of Ripple Fiber, said in the news release. “This area’s telecommunications history is inspiring and speaks to our fundamental goal of deploying cutting-edge technology to locations that need it. We’re pleased to contribute to the enhanced connectivity and transformative growth in Catawba County residents.” The local Ripple Fiber office is at 1410 Old Lenoir Road, Suite C, Hickory. Residents in Catawba County and the surrounding areas who would like to learn more about Ripple Fiber’s offerings and discover upcoming availability in their neighborhood can visit ripplefiber.com and follow along on social media (@ripple.fiber) for updates. Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. News Editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill a hospital director in Lebanon and wound 6 medics in Gaza
Semona scores 15 as Stonehill takes down Lafayette 70-65King scores 28, North Carolina Central downs Gardner-Webb 78-77Dec 9 (Reuters) - Out-of-form New Zealand opener Devon Conway will miss the third test against England in Hamilton to remain at home for the birth of his first child this week, the team said on Monday. Conway, who scored just 21 runs over four innings as the Black Caps suffered heavy losses in the first two tests, will be replaced in the squad by uncapped all-rounder Mark Chapman. "Family comes first in this environment and we're all really excited for Dev and his wife Kim to welcome their first child," said coach Gary Stead. "Mark was with the test squad in India recently and returned to the Plunket Shield by scoring an impressive 276 - so it's a good time for him to be joining us." The absence of Conway might also give the ultra-loyal Stead the opportunity to bring Will Young into the batting line-up for the final test of the series, which starts at Seddon Park on Saturday. Young scored 244 runs and was named Player of the Series when New Zealand stunned the cricketing world by sweeping India 3-0 in late October and early November but was dropped for Kane Williamson for the England series. Conway's wife Kim went public on social media after suffering a miscarriage at the start of the year, saying she did not want to feel ashamed or embarrassed about it. "We will have our miracle one day and we will love them with everything," she wrote in a post on Instagram. Sign up here. Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Editing by Toby Davis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab
It seems like someone — or the entirety of New York City — is really just fed up with the New York Giants. Before the Giants’ 1 p.m. game at MetLife Stadium today, a small plane flew over the venue and its tailgating crowd, pulling a sign reading, “MR. MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE.” The banner went viral on social media, with even ABC Sports Anchor Ryan Field tweeting, “The people have spoken.” A sign flying over MetLife this morning: “Mr Mara enough - plz fix this dumpster fire” The people have spoken. #Giants100 pic.twitter.com/y786USrXwD The Mr. Mara the banner is referring to is the Giants’ owner John Mara, the third-generation owner of Big Blue. According to the New York Post , the plane arrived at the stadium about an hour and a half before kickoff today. A sad season The Giants might be celebrating their 100th year anniversary in 2024, but their record doesn’t reflect the centurial accomplishment. A dismal 2 wins and 10 losses this season is looking like it could become 11 losses at the time of writing. RECOMMENDED • silive .com First international airport opens in this arctic territory Dec. 2, 2024, 1:43 p.m. NYC Weather: Rain and warmer temps possible for Tri-State area this week Dec. 8, 2024, 2:36 p.m. The Giants are battling against the New Orleans Saints today, but halftime rendered them behind with the Saints leading 7 to 3. This hasn’t been the first time some disgruntled fan flew a banner across the sky over the Giants, the Post wrote. “The last time a banner flew overhead with such negative feedback from disgruntled fans was back in 1978 when in the third quarter of a game against the Cardinals at Giants Stadium, a plane flew a banner that read, ‘15 YEARS OF LOUSY FOOTBALL ... WE’VE HAD ENOUGH,’” the Post reported.
STUART, Fla. , Dec. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Health In Tech, an Insurtech platform company backed by third-party AI technology, today announced the closing of its initial public offering of 2,300,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a public offering price of $4.00 per share, for gross proceeds of $9,200,000 , before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and estimated offering expenses. The Company has granted the underwriter an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus, to purchase an additional 345,000 shares of Class A common stock from Health In Tech at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. Assuming such option is fully exercised, the Company may raise a total of approximately US$10,580,000 in gross proceeds from the Offering Health In Tech intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for system enhancements, expansion of service offerings, sales and distribution channels, talent development and retention, working capital, and other general corporate purposes. American Trust Investment Services, Inc. acted as the sole book-running manager for the offering. A registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-281853) relating to the shares was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and became effective on December 19, 2024 . This offering was made only by means of a prospectus, forming part of the effective registration statement. A copy of the prospectus relating to the offering can be obtained when available, by contacting American Trust Investment Services, Inc., 230 W. Monroe Street , Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60606, or via E-Mail at ECM@amtruinvest.com. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About Health In Tech Health in Tech ("HIT") is an Insurtech platform company backed by third-party AI technology. We offer a dynamic marketplace designed to create customized healthcare plan solutions while streamlining processes through vertical integration, process simplification, and automation. By eliminating friction and complexities, HIT enhances value propositions for employers and optimizes underwriting, sales, and service workflows for Managing General Underwriters (MGUs), insurance carriers, licensed brokers, and Third-Party Administrators (TPAs). Learn more at healthintech.com . Forward-Looking Statements Regarding Health In Tech Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include estimates or expectations about Health In Tech's possible or assumed operational results, financial condition, business strategies and plans, market opportunities, competitive position, industry environment, and potential growth opportunities. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "design," "target," "aim," "hope," "expect," "could," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," "predict," "project," "potential," "goal," or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These statements relate to future events or to Health In Tech's future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Health In Tech's actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond Health In Tech's control and which could, and likely will, affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects Health In Tech's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to Health In Tech's operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. Investor Contact Investor Relations: ir@healthintech.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/health-in-tech-announces-closing-of-initial-public-offering-302338923.html SOURCE Health In Tech
Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday with former Rep. Matt Gaetz and spent the morning sitting in on meetings between Trump’s choice for attorney general and key Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The effort was for naught: Gaetz announced a day later that he was withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations and the reality that he was unlikely to be confirmed. Thursday morning Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth, the “Fox & Friends Weekend” host whom Trump has tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hegseth also has faced allegations of sexual assault that he denies. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings in coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump's picks. The role of introducing nominees around Capitol Hill is an unusual one for a vice president-elect. Usually the job goes to a former senator who has close relationships on the Hill, or a more junior aide. But this time the role fits Vance, said Marc Short, who served as Trump’s first director of legislative affairs as well as chief of staff to Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, who spent more than a decade in Congress and led the former president’s transition ahead of his first term. ”JD probably has a lot of current allies in the Senate and so it makes sense to have him utilized in that capacity,” Short said. Unlike the first Trump transition, which played out before cameras at Trump Tower in New York and at the president-elect's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this one has largely happened behind closed doors in Palm Beach, Florida. There, a small group of officials and aides meet daily at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to run through possible contenders and interview job candidates. The group includes Elon Musk, the billionaire who has spent so much time at the club that Trump has joked he can’t get rid of him. Vance has been a constant presence, even as he’s kept a lower profile. The Ohio senator has spent much of the last two weeks in Palm Beach, according to people familiar with his plans, playing an active role in the transition, on which he serves as honorary chair. Vance has been staying at a cottage on the property of the gilded club, where rooms are adorned with cherubs, oriental rugs and intricate golden inlays. It's a world away from the famously hardscrabble upbringing that Vance documented in the memoir that made him famous, “Hillbilly Elegy.” His young children have also joined him at Mar-a-Lago, at times. Vance was photographed in shorts and a polo shirt playing with his kids on the seawall of the property with a large palm frond, a U.S. Secret Service robotic security dog in the distance. On the rare days when he is not in Palm Beach, Vance has been joining the sessions remotely via Zoom. Though he has taken a break from TV interviews after months of constant appearances, Vance has been active in the meetings, which began immediately after the election and include interviews and as well as presentations on candidates’ pluses and minuses. Among those interviewed: Contenders to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray , as Vance wrote in a since-deleted social media post. Defending himself from criticism that he’d missed a Senate vote in which one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees was confirmed, Vance wrote that he was meeting at the time "with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.” “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” Vance added on X. “But that’s just me.” While Vance did not come in to the transition with a list of people he wanted to see in specific roles, he and his friend, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also a member of the transition team, were eager to see former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. find roles in the administration. Trump ended up selecting Gabbard as the next director of national intelligence , a powerful position that sits atop the nation’s spy agencies and acts as the president’s top intelligence adviser. And he chose Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services , a massive agency that oversees everything from drug and food safety to Medicare and Medicaid. Vance was also a big booster of Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will serve as Trump's “border czar.” In another sign of Vance's influence, James Braid, a top aide to the senator, is expected to serve as Trump’s legislative affairs director. Allies say it’s too early to discuss what portfolio Vance might take on in the White House. While he gravitates to issues like trade, immigration and tech policy, Vance sees his role as doing whatever Trump needs. Vance was spotted days after the election giving his son’s Boy Scout troop a tour of the Capitol and was there the day of leadership elections. He returned in earnest this week, first with Gaetz — arguably Trump’s most divisive pick — and then Hegseth, who has was been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, according to an investigative report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing. Vance hosted Hegseth in his Senate office as GOP senators, including those who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, filtered in to meet with the nominee for defense secretary. While a president’s nominees usually visit individual senators’ offices, meeting them on their own turf, the freshman senator — who is accompanied everywhere by a large Secret Service detail that makes moving around more unwieldy — instead brought Gaetz to a room in the Capitol on Wednesday and Hegseth to his office on Thursday. Senators came to them. Vance made it to votes Wednesday and Thursday, but missed others on Thursday afternoon. Vance is expected to continue to leverage his relationships in the Senate after Trump takes office. But many Republicans there have longer relationships with Trump himself. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said that Trump was often the first person to call him back when he was trying to reach high-level White House officials during Trump's first term. “He has the most active Rolodex of just about anybody I’ve ever known,” Cramer said, adding that Vance would make a good addition. “They’ll divide names up by who has the most persuasion here,” Cramer said, but added, “Whoever his liaison is will not work as hard at it as he will.” Cramer was complimentary of the Ohio senator, saying he was “pleasant” and ” interesting” to be around. ′′He doesn’t have the long relationships," he said. "But we all like people that have done what we’ve done. I mean, that’s sort of a natural kinship, just probably not as personally tied.” Under the Constitution, Vance will also have a role presiding over the Senate and breaking tie votes. But he's not likely to be needed for that as often as was Kamala Harris, who broke a record number of ties for Democrats as vice president, since Republicans will have a bigger cushion in the chamber next year. Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.Stock market today: Wall Street rallies ahead of ChristmasTrump’s transition team was ‘blindsided’ by new details of Pete Hegseth’s sexual-assault allegation
Wednesday, December 25, 2024 The holiday season is in full swing, and for many, that means embarking on journeys to reunite with loved ones or explore new destinations. However, the festive spirit is often accompanied by the stress of navigating crowded airports, delayed flights, and long lines. This year, the travel industry is witnessing a surge in demand, particularly in regions like America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, which are experiencing a resurgence in tourism following the pandemic. While this is undoubtedly good news for the industry, it also presents challenges for travelers and highlights the need for better infrastructure and more efficient travel solutions. A Global Travel Boom The travel industry is experiencing a significant rebound, with many regions witnessing a surge in demand. In the United States, domestic travel remains strong, with millions of Americans hitting the road or taking to the skies to visit family and friends during the holiday season. International travel is also on the rise, with popular destinations like Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean attracting a large number of American tourists. Europe, a perennial favorite among travelers, is witnessing a similar trend. Cities like London, Paris, and Rome are teeming with tourists, eager to experience the festive atmosphere and soak in the cultural richness of these iconic destinations. The continent’s efficient transportation network, coupled with its diverse attractions, makes it a popular choice for both leisure and business travelers. Asia, too, is experiencing a travel boom, with countries like Japan, Thailand, and Singapore witnessing a surge in tourist arrivals. The region’s unique cultural experiences, coupled with its stunning natural beauty, are attracting travelers from all corners of the globe. Moreover, the easing of travel restrictions in many Asian countries has further fueled the growth of the tourism sector. Australia, known for its stunning beaches, vibrant cities, and diverse wildlife, is also witnessing a resurgence in tourism. The country’s unique appeal, coupled with its robust infrastructure and welcoming culture, is attracting travelers from all over the world. Challenges and Opportunities While the surge in travel demand is undoubtedly a positive sign for the industry, it also presents several challenges. Overcrowding at airports and tourist hotspots, delayed flights, and long queues are becoming increasingly common, leading to frustration and inconvenience for travelers. To address these challenges, the travel industry needs to invest in infrastructure upgrades, such as expanding airport capacity and improving transportation networks. Additionally, there is a need for more efficient travel solutions, such as self-service kiosks, automated baggage handling systems, and mobile check-in options. The rise of technology is also playing a crucial role in shaping the future of the travel industry. Online travel agencies, travel apps, and social media platforms are empowering travelers with information and making it easier to plan and book their trips. Moreover, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming various aspects of the travel experience, from personalized recommendations to automated customer service. The Human Element Despite the increasing role of technology, the human element remains crucial in the travel industry. The quality of customer service, the warmth of hospitality, and the genuine human connection can make or break a travel experience. As the industry continues to evolve, it is essential to prioritize the human element and ensure that travelers feel valued and appreciated. Looking Ahead The travel industry is poised for continued growth in the coming years, driven by factors such as increasing disposable incomes, a growing global middle class, and a greater emphasis on leisure and experiential travel. However, the industry must also address the challenges associated with this growth, such as environmental sustainability and the impact of tourism on local communities. By embracing innovation, investing in infrastructure, and prioritizing the human element, the travel industry can continue to thrive while ensuring a positive and sustainable future for both travelers and the destinations they visit. Additional Insights Conclusion The travel industry is experiencing a period of significant growth, with regions like America, Europe, Australia, and Asia leading the way. While this surge in demand presents challenges, it also offers exciting opportunities for the industry to innovate and evolve. By embracing technology, prioritizing sustainability, and focusing on the human element, the travel industry can continue to thrive while ensuring a positive and enriching experience for travelers around the world. Discover everything and anything about travel , tourism , trade shows at the Travel And Tour World , including breaking travel news and weekly travel updates for travel trade , airlines , cruise , railways , technology , travel association , DMCs, and video interviews and promotional videos .The Arizona Cardinals announced they have placed LT Paris Johnson and RT Jonah Williams on injured reserve, ending their seasons. We have made the following roster moves: – Placed OL Paris Johnson Jr. and OL Jonah Williams on IR – Signed OL Jackson Barton to active roster from practice squad – Signed CB Darren Hall to practice squad – Signed LB Benton Whitley to the active roster — Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) December 24, 2024 Arizona promoted OL Jackson Barton from the practice squad to the active roster and signed OLB Benton Whitley to fill the open roster spots. The Cardinals also signed CB Darren Hall to the practice squad. Williams, 27, was selected by the Bengals in the first round out of Alabama in 2019. He played out the final year of a four-year, $17,630,162 rookie contract that included a $10,841,936 signing bonus. The Bengals exercised Williams’ fifth-year option which will cost them $13.2 million fully guaranteed for the 2023 season. Williams was testing the open market as an unrestricted this offseason when he signed with the Cardinals in March on a two-year, $30 million deal. In 2024, Williams appeared in six games for the Cardinals and made six starts at right tackle. Johnson, 23, moved from right guard to left tackle in 2022 and was a consensus All-American in his final season at Ohio State. The Cardinals drafted him with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He is in the second year a four-year, $30,359,563 contract that includes a $19,079,682 signing bonus and includes a fifth-year option for the 2027 season. In 2024, Johnson appeared in 14 games and made 14 starts for the Cardinals at left tackle. Pro Football Focus had him graded as the No. 14 tackle out of 79 qualifying players. This article first appeared on NFLTradeRumors.co and was syndicated with permission.Embiid scores 31 in triumphant NBA return for 76ers
PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.
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Ripple Fiber, a fiber optic internet provider based in the Southeast, has opened a retail office in Hickory. The provider aims to bring its innovative technology to more than 16,000 homes in areas across Catawba County, including Hickory, St. Stephens and Conover. Construction is currently expected to be completed by mid-2026. During this phase, Ripple Fiber is encouraging people to preorder service, which can be done online, by phone, or in person at a Ripple Fiber retail location. “The continued evolution and growth of our city’s infrastructure is crucial. With Hickory’s established telecommunications industry, we understand the importance of access to fiber for our residents,” the Chamber of Catawba County said in a news release. “Ripple Fiber’s thoughtful planning in anticipation of this groundbreaking milestone demonstrates its commitment to providing our residents with expanded broadband access for generations to come.” Ripple Fiber continues increasing its footprint in western North Carolina, which includes active markets in Shelby, Kings Mountain, Gastonia, Cramerton and Cherryville. With a 10 Gbps-ready, 100% fiber optic network, Ripple Fiber delivers lightning-fast internet to thousands of homes using its patented technology, the company said in the news release. It said it is committed to constructing robust digital infrastructures nationwide. Whether using Wi-Fi for remote work, online learning, gaming or video streaming, customers can expect exceptional bandwidth and symmetrical upload and download speeds, the company said. Known for transparent pricing without contracts or hidden fees, Ripple Fiber now offers multiple package options, with three core products leading the way — 500 Mbps, 1 Gig, and 2 Gig. “The Ripple Fiber team is honored to expand our fiber internet network to provide more North Carolina communities with future-proof infrastructure,” Greg Wilson, founder and CEO of Ripple Fiber, said in the news release. “This area’s telecommunications history is inspiring and speaks to our fundamental goal of deploying cutting-edge technology to locations that need it. We’re pleased to contribute to the enhanced connectivity and transformative growth in Catawba County residents.” The local Ripple Fiber office is at 1410 Old Lenoir Road, Suite C, Hickory. Residents in Catawba County and the surrounding areas who would like to learn more about Ripple Fiber’s offerings and discover upcoming availability in their neighborhood can visit ripplefiber.com and follow along on social media (@ripple.fiber) for updates. Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. News Editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill a hospital director in Lebanon and wound 6 medics in Gaza
Semona scores 15 as Stonehill takes down Lafayette 70-65King scores 28, North Carolina Central downs Gardner-Webb 78-77Dec 9 (Reuters) - Out-of-form New Zealand opener Devon Conway will miss the third test against England in Hamilton to remain at home for the birth of his first child this week, the team said on Monday. Conway, who scored just 21 runs over four innings as the Black Caps suffered heavy losses in the first two tests, will be replaced in the squad by uncapped all-rounder Mark Chapman. "Family comes first in this environment and we're all really excited for Dev and his wife Kim to welcome their first child," said coach Gary Stead. "Mark was with the test squad in India recently and returned to the Plunket Shield by scoring an impressive 276 - so it's a good time for him to be joining us." The absence of Conway might also give the ultra-loyal Stead the opportunity to bring Will Young into the batting line-up for the final test of the series, which starts at Seddon Park on Saturday. Young scored 244 runs and was named Player of the Series when New Zealand stunned the cricketing world by sweeping India 3-0 in late October and early November but was dropped for Kane Williamson for the England series. Conway's wife Kim went public on social media after suffering a miscarriage at the start of the year, saying she did not want to feel ashamed or embarrassed about it. "We will have our miracle one day and we will love them with everything," she wrote in a post on Instagram. Sign up here. Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Editing by Toby Davis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab
It seems like someone — or the entirety of New York City — is really just fed up with the New York Giants. Before the Giants’ 1 p.m. game at MetLife Stadium today, a small plane flew over the venue and its tailgating crowd, pulling a sign reading, “MR. MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE.” The banner went viral on social media, with even ABC Sports Anchor Ryan Field tweeting, “The people have spoken.” A sign flying over MetLife this morning: “Mr Mara enough - plz fix this dumpster fire” The people have spoken. #Giants100 pic.twitter.com/y786USrXwD The Mr. Mara the banner is referring to is the Giants’ owner John Mara, the third-generation owner of Big Blue. According to the New York Post , the plane arrived at the stadium about an hour and a half before kickoff today. A sad season The Giants might be celebrating their 100th year anniversary in 2024, but their record doesn’t reflect the centurial accomplishment. A dismal 2 wins and 10 losses this season is looking like it could become 11 losses at the time of writing. RECOMMENDED • silive .com First international airport opens in this arctic territory Dec. 2, 2024, 1:43 p.m. NYC Weather: Rain and warmer temps possible for Tri-State area this week Dec. 8, 2024, 2:36 p.m. The Giants are battling against the New Orleans Saints today, but halftime rendered them behind with the Saints leading 7 to 3. This hasn’t been the first time some disgruntled fan flew a banner across the sky over the Giants, the Post wrote. “The last time a banner flew overhead with such negative feedback from disgruntled fans was back in 1978 when in the third quarter of a game against the Cardinals at Giants Stadium, a plane flew a banner that read, ‘15 YEARS OF LOUSY FOOTBALL ... WE’VE HAD ENOUGH,’” the Post reported.
STUART, Fla. , Dec. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Health In Tech, an Insurtech platform company backed by third-party AI technology, today announced the closing of its initial public offering of 2,300,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a public offering price of $4.00 per share, for gross proceeds of $9,200,000 , before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and estimated offering expenses. The Company has granted the underwriter an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus, to purchase an additional 345,000 shares of Class A common stock from Health In Tech at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. Assuming such option is fully exercised, the Company may raise a total of approximately US$10,580,000 in gross proceeds from the Offering Health In Tech intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for system enhancements, expansion of service offerings, sales and distribution channels, talent development and retention, working capital, and other general corporate purposes. American Trust Investment Services, Inc. acted as the sole book-running manager for the offering. A registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-281853) relating to the shares was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and became effective on December 19, 2024 . This offering was made only by means of a prospectus, forming part of the effective registration statement. A copy of the prospectus relating to the offering can be obtained when available, by contacting American Trust Investment Services, Inc., 230 W. Monroe Street , Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60606, or via E-Mail at ECM@amtruinvest.com. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About Health In Tech Health in Tech ("HIT") is an Insurtech platform company backed by third-party AI technology. We offer a dynamic marketplace designed to create customized healthcare plan solutions while streamlining processes through vertical integration, process simplification, and automation. By eliminating friction and complexities, HIT enhances value propositions for employers and optimizes underwriting, sales, and service workflows for Managing General Underwriters (MGUs), insurance carriers, licensed brokers, and Third-Party Administrators (TPAs). Learn more at healthintech.com . Forward-Looking Statements Regarding Health In Tech Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include estimates or expectations about Health In Tech's possible or assumed operational results, financial condition, business strategies and plans, market opportunities, competitive position, industry environment, and potential growth opportunities. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "design," "target," "aim," "hope," "expect," "could," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," "predict," "project," "potential," "goal," or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These statements relate to future events or to Health In Tech's future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Health In Tech's actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond Health In Tech's control and which could, and likely will, affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects Health In Tech's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to Health In Tech's operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. Investor Contact Investor Relations: ir@healthintech.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/health-in-tech-announces-closing-of-initial-public-offering-302338923.html SOURCE Health In Tech
Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday with former Rep. Matt Gaetz and spent the morning sitting in on meetings between Trump’s choice for attorney general and key Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The effort was for naught: Gaetz announced a day later that he was withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations and the reality that he was unlikely to be confirmed. Thursday morning Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth, the “Fox & Friends Weekend” host whom Trump has tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hegseth also has faced allegations of sexual assault that he denies. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings in coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump's picks. The role of introducing nominees around Capitol Hill is an unusual one for a vice president-elect. Usually the job goes to a former senator who has close relationships on the Hill, or a more junior aide. But this time the role fits Vance, said Marc Short, who served as Trump’s first director of legislative affairs as well as chief of staff to Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, who spent more than a decade in Congress and led the former president’s transition ahead of his first term. ”JD probably has a lot of current allies in the Senate and so it makes sense to have him utilized in that capacity,” Short said. Unlike the first Trump transition, which played out before cameras at Trump Tower in New York and at the president-elect's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this one has largely happened behind closed doors in Palm Beach, Florida. There, a small group of officials and aides meet daily at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to run through possible contenders and interview job candidates. The group includes Elon Musk, the billionaire who has spent so much time at the club that Trump has joked he can’t get rid of him. Vance has been a constant presence, even as he’s kept a lower profile. The Ohio senator has spent much of the last two weeks in Palm Beach, according to people familiar with his plans, playing an active role in the transition, on which he serves as honorary chair. Vance has been staying at a cottage on the property of the gilded club, where rooms are adorned with cherubs, oriental rugs and intricate golden inlays. It's a world away from the famously hardscrabble upbringing that Vance documented in the memoir that made him famous, “Hillbilly Elegy.” His young children have also joined him at Mar-a-Lago, at times. Vance was photographed in shorts and a polo shirt playing with his kids on the seawall of the property with a large palm frond, a U.S. Secret Service robotic security dog in the distance. On the rare days when he is not in Palm Beach, Vance has been joining the sessions remotely via Zoom. Though he has taken a break from TV interviews after months of constant appearances, Vance has been active in the meetings, which began immediately after the election and include interviews and as well as presentations on candidates’ pluses and minuses. Among those interviewed: Contenders to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray , as Vance wrote in a since-deleted social media post. Defending himself from criticism that he’d missed a Senate vote in which one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees was confirmed, Vance wrote that he was meeting at the time "with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.” “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” Vance added on X. “But that’s just me.” While Vance did not come in to the transition with a list of people he wanted to see in specific roles, he and his friend, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also a member of the transition team, were eager to see former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. find roles in the administration. Trump ended up selecting Gabbard as the next director of national intelligence , a powerful position that sits atop the nation’s spy agencies and acts as the president’s top intelligence adviser. And he chose Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services , a massive agency that oversees everything from drug and food safety to Medicare and Medicaid. Vance was also a big booster of Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will serve as Trump's “border czar.” In another sign of Vance's influence, James Braid, a top aide to the senator, is expected to serve as Trump’s legislative affairs director. Allies say it’s too early to discuss what portfolio Vance might take on in the White House. While he gravitates to issues like trade, immigration and tech policy, Vance sees his role as doing whatever Trump needs. Vance was spotted days after the election giving his son’s Boy Scout troop a tour of the Capitol and was there the day of leadership elections. He returned in earnest this week, first with Gaetz — arguably Trump’s most divisive pick — and then Hegseth, who has was been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, according to an investigative report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing. Vance hosted Hegseth in his Senate office as GOP senators, including those who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, filtered in to meet with the nominee for defense secretary. While a president’s nominees usually visit individual senators’ offices, meeting them on their own turf, the freshman senator — who is accompanied everywhere by a large Secret Service detail that makes moving around more unwieldy — instead brought Gaetz to a room in the Capitol on Wednesday and Hegseth to his office on Thursday. Senators came to them. Vance made it to votes Wednesday and Thursday, but missed others on Thursday afternoon. Vance is expected to continue to leverage his relationships in the Senate after Trump takes office. But many Republicans there have longer relationships with Trump himself. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said that Trump was often the first person to call him back when he was trying to reach high-level White House officials during Trump's first term. “He has the most active Rolodex of just about anybody I’ve ever known,” Cramer said, adding that Vance would make a good addition. “They’ll divide names up by who has the most persuasion here,” Cramer said, but added, “Whoever his liaison is will not work as hard at it as he will.” Cramer was complimentary of the Ohio senator, saying he was “pleasant” and ” interesting” to be around. ′′He doesn’t have the long relationships," he said. "But we all like people that have done what we’ve done. I mean, that’s sort of a natural kinship, just probably not as personally tied.” Under the Constitution, Vance will also have a role presiding over the Senate and breaking tie votes. But he's not likely to be needed for that as often as was Kamala Harris, who broke a record number of ties for Democrats as vice president, since Republicans will have a bigger cushion in the chamber next year. Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.Stock market today: Wall Street rallies ahead of ChristmasTrump’s transition team was ‘blindsided’ by new details of Pete Hegseth’s sexual-assault allegation
Wednesday, December 25, 2024 The holiday season is in full swing, and for many, that means embarking on journeys to reunite with loved ones or explore new destinations. However, the festive spirit is often accompanied by the stress of navigating crowded airports, delayed flights, and long lines. This year, the travel industry is witnessing a surge in demand, particularly in regions like America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, which are experiencing a resurgence in tourism following the pandemic. While this is undoubtedly good news for the industry, it also presents challenges for travelers and highlights the need for better infrastructure and more efficient travel solutions. A Global Travel Boom The travel industry is experiencing a significant rebound, with many regions witnessing a surge in demand. In the United States, domestic travel remains strong, with millions of Americans hitting the road or taking to the skies to visit family and friends during the holiday season. International travel is also on the rise, with popular destinations like Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean attracting a large number of American tourists. Europe, a perennial favorite among travelers, is witnessing a similar trend. Cities like London, Paris, and Rome are teeming with tourists, eager to experience the festive atmosphere and soak in the cultural richness of these iconic destinations. The continent’s efficient transportation network, coupled with its diverse attractions, makes it a popular choice for both leisure and business travelers. Asia, too, is experiencing a travel boom, with countries like Japan, Thailand, and Singapore witnessing a surge in tourist arrivals. The region’s unique cultural experiences, coupled with its stunning natural beauty, are attracting travelers from all corners of the globe. Moreover, the easing of travel restrictions in many Asian countries has further fueled the growth of the tourism sector. Australia, known for its stunning beaches, vibrant cities, and diverse wildlife, is also witnessing a resurgence in tourism. The country’s unique appeal, coupled with its robust infrastructure and welcoming culture, is attracting travelers from all over the world. Challenges and Opportunities While the surge in travel demand is undoubtedly a positive sign for the industry, it also presents several challenges. Overcrowding at airports and tourist hotspots, delayed flights, and long queues are becoming increasingly common, leading to frustration and inconvenience for travelers. To address these challenges, the travel industry needs to invest in infrastructure upgrades, such as expanding airport capacity and improving transportation networks. Additionally, there is a need for more efficient travel solutions, such as self-service kiosks, automated baggage handling systems, and mobile check-in options. The rise of technology is also playing a crucial role in shaping the future of the travel industry. Online travel agencies, travel apps, and social media platforms are empowering travelers with information and making it easier to plan and book their trips. Moreover, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming various aspects of the travel experience, from personalized recommendations to automated customer service. The Human Element Despite the increasing role of technology, the human element remains crucial in the travel industry. The quality of customer service, the warmth of hospitality, and the genuine human connection can make or break a travel experience. As the industry continues to evolve, it is essential to prioritize the human element and ensure that travelers feel valued and appreciated. Looking Ahead The travel industry is poised for continued growth in the coming years, driven by factors such as increasing disposable incomes, a growing global middle class, and a greater emphasis on leisure and experiential travel. However, the industry must also address the challenges associated with this growth, such as environmental sustainability and the impact of tourism on local communities. By embracing innovation, investing in infrastructure, and prioritizing the human element, the travel industry can continue to thrive while ensuring a positive and sustainable future for both travelers and the destinations they visit. Additional Insights Conclusion The travel industry is experiencing a period of significant growth, with regions like America, Europe, Australia, and Asia leading the way. While this surge in demand presents challenges, it also offers exciting opportunities for the industry to innovate and evolve. By embracing technology, prioritizing sustainability, and focusing on the human element, the travel industry can continue to thrive while ensuring a positive and enriching experience for travelers around the world. Discover everything and anything about travel , tourism , trade shows at the Travel And Tour World , including breaking travel news and weekly travel updates for travel trade , airlines , cruise , railways , technology , travel association , DMCs, and video interviews and promotional videos .The Arizona Cardinals announced they have placed LT Paris Johnson and RT Jonah Williams on injured reserve, ending their seasons. We have made the following roster moves: – Placed OL Paris Johnson Jr. and OL Jonah Williams on IR – Signed OL Jackson Barton to active roster from practice squad – Signed CB Darren Hall to practice squad – Signed LB Benton Whitley to the active roster — Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) December 24, 2024 Arizona promoted OL Jackson Barton from the practice squad to the active roster and signed OLB Benton Whitley to fill the open roster spots. The Cardinals also signed CB Darren Hall to the practice squad. Williams, 27, was selected by the Bengals in the first round out of Alabama in 2019. He played out the final year of a four-year, $17,630,162 rookie contract that included a $10,841,936 signing bonus. The Bengals exercised Williams’ fifth-year option which will cost them $13.2 million fully guaranteed for the 2023 season. Williams was testing the open market as an unrestricted this offseason when he signed with the Cardinals in March on a two-year, $30 million deal. In 2024, Williams appeared in six games for the Cardinals and made six starts at right tackle. Johnson, 23, moved from right guard to left tackle in 2022 and was a consensus All-American in his final season at Ohio State. The Cardinals drafted him with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He is in the second year a four-year, $30,359,563 contract that includes a $19,079,682 signing bonus and includes a fifth-year option for the 2027 season. In 2024, Johnson appeared in 14 games and made 14 starts for the Cardinals at left tackle. Pro Football Focus had him graded as the No. 14 tackle out of 79 qualifying players. This article first appeared on NFLTradeRumors.co and was syndicated with permission.Embiid scores 31 in triumphant NBA return for 76ers
PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.
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