text stringlengths 102 99.6k | url stringlengths 31 426 | crawl_date timestamp[us, tz=UTC]date 2022-04-01 00:29:49 2022-09-19 04:34:15 |
|---|---|---|
Mets reliever Reid-Foley sidelined with torn elbow ligament
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mets reliever Sean Reid-Foley has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a partially torn elbow ligament that will sideline him indefinitely. Reid-Foley exited his outing Saturday night against the Philadelphia Phillies while facing J.T. Realmuto in the eighth inning. The right-hander fired high on a 2-0 count and immediately motioned for a trainer. The team said an MRI on Sunday morning showed a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and Reid-Foley would meet with team doctors and medical staff to discuss treatment options. Tommy John surgery could be a possibility. Reid-Foley has a 5.40 ERA with no record in seven appearances this season. Right-hander Yoan López was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to fill the bullpen spot. | https://localnews8.com/sports/ap-national-sports/2022/05/01/mets-reliever-reid-foley-sidelined-with-torn-elbow-ligament/ | 2022-05-02T02:23:29Z |
LUXEMBOURG, June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. ("AMP") (NYSE:AMBP) has today priced an offering of $600 million 6% Senior Secured Green Notes due 2027 (the "Notes") issued at par.
Proceeds from the issuance of the Notes, net of expenses, will be used for general corporate purposes, including funding the Group's multi-year Business Growth Investments. AMP is to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds for Eligible Green Projects in accordance with Ardagh's Green Financing Framework.
To view this release online and for more information about Ardagh Metal Packaging please visit: https://www.ardaghmetalpackaging.com/corporate/investors
This release is for information purposes only.
About Ardagh Metal Packaging
Ardagh Metal Packaging ("AMP") is a leading global supplier of infinitely recyclable, sustainable, metal beverage cans and ends to brand owners. A subsidiary of sustainable packaging business Ardagh Group, AMP is a leading industry player across Europe and the Americas, with innovative production capabilities. AMP operates 24 production facilities in nine countries, employing close to 5,800 employees and had sales of $4.1 billion in 2021.
The offering of the Notes will be made pursuant to an exemption under the Prospectus Regulation, as implemented in Member States of the European Economic Area, from the requirement to produce a prospectus for offers of securities. This announcement does not constitute an advertisement for the purposes of the Prospectus Regulation.
The offering of the Notes will be made pursuant to an exemption under the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the UK Prospectus Regulation from the requirement to produce a prospectus for offers of securities. This announcement does not constitute an advertisement for the purposes of the UK Prospectus Regulation.
The Notes have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any U.S. State security laws. Accordingly, the Notes are being offered and sold in the United States only to qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and outside the United States in accordance with Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor will there be any sale of securities referred to in this announcement, in any jurisdiction, including the United States, in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, or an exemption from registration.
MiFID II professionals/ECPs-only/No PRIIPs KID – Manufacturer target market (MIFID II product governance) is eligible counterparties and professional clients only (all distribution channels). No PRIIPs key information document (KID) has been prepared as not available to retail in EEA.
UK MiFIR professionals/COBS ECPs-only/No UK PRIIPs KID – Manufacturer target market (UK MiFIR product governance) is eligible counterparties and professional clients only (all distribution channels). No UK PRIIPs key information document (KID) has been prepared as not available to retail in UK.
This press release contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014. The person responsible for the release of this information on behalf of Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A., Ardagh Metal Packaging Finance plc and Ardagh Metal Packaging Finance USA LLC is David Bourne.
The documentation detailing the investment or investment activity to which this press release relates has not been approved by an authorized person in the United Kingdom and is for distribution only to persons who (i) have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Financial Promotion Order"), (ii) are persons falling within Articles 49(2)(a) to (d) (high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.) of the Financial Promotion Order, (iii) are outside the United Kingdom or (iv) are persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity within the meaning of Section 21 of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 in connection with the issue or sale of any securities may otherwise lawfully be communicated or caused to be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The documentation detailing the investment or investment activity is directed only at relevant persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this press release relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/01/ardagh-metal-packaging-announces-pricing-senior-secured-green-bond-offering/ | 2022-06-01T22:59:28Z |
Injured 12-year-old girl walks nearly a mile for help after sister stabbed to death, police say
LONGWOOD, Fla. (WESH) – Florida police discovered a child stabbed to death Thursday after the girl’s critically injured 12-year-old sister walked about a mile away from the home to find help.
Officers were first called to the Longwood home just after 5:30 a.m.
Longwood Police Sgt. Derek Chenoweth said they found a 4-year-old girl who had died. Her 12-year-old sister had walked to a nearby McDonald’s restaurant looking for help.
Investigators said the 4-year-old had suffered multiple stab wounds and that the 12-year-old had also been stabbed.
Police found a man at the home who also had stab wounds. He was identified as the girls’ father, 39-year-old Juan Bravo-Torres, and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Police named Bravo-Torres as a person of interest in the case and said they believe his stab wounds were self-inflicted.
Chenoweth said there was no threat to the community.
The girls’ mother was not home then, but authorities said has been informed of what happened
Police said they have not been called to the home in the past but want to remind people that resources are available for anyone who needs help.
“There is a lot of help people can get if they’re in a domestic situation, and we encourage people to speak up,” Chenoweth said. “If you know someone you think is in a domestic situation and they’re not speaking up, speak up for them, so things don’t escalate into a critical incident.”
Copyright 2022 WESH via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/07/21/injured-12-year-old-girl-walks-nearly-mile-help-after-sister-stabbed-death-police-say/ | 2022-07-21T22:48:16Z |
(AP) – Colin Kaepernick is getting his first chance to work out for an NFL team since last playing in the league in 2016 when he started kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
Two people familiar with the situation said Kaepernick will work out for the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t announced the workout plans. ESPN first reported that the Raiders were bringing in Kaepernick.
Kaepernick hasn’t played since the end of the 2016 season when he was cut by San Francisco when the new regime led by coach Kyle Shanahan wanted to go a different direction at quarterback.
Kaepernick never got another opportunity even to work out for NFL teams as he alleged he had been blackballed over his protests during the anthem the previous season. He met with Seattle and had informal talks with Baltimore but never got a closer look.
He filed a grievance with the NFL in 2017 over his lack of opportunity and settled it in 2019 — but still never got another look.
The Raiders have been at the forefront on diversity over their history, hiring Tom Flores as the second coach of Hispanic descent, Art Shell as the first Black coach in modern history, and Amy Trask as the first female CEO.
Owner Mark Davis has publicly said he would back his coaches if they wanted to take a look at Kaepernick, and first-year coach Josh McDaniels is doing just that.
The Raiders don’t have a glaring need at quarterback after signing starter Derek Carr to an extension last month. Las Vegas also signed Nick Mullens as a backup this offseason, traded for Jarrett Stidham and signed Chase Garbers as an undrafted free agent.
But none of those backups has the pedigree of Kaepernick, who emerged as one of the league’s young stars when he took over as starter in San Francisco in 2012, and helped the Niners reach the Super Bowl that season.
Kaepernick’s play started to regress in 2014 and he got hurt halfway through the next season and lost his starting job. Things changed the next preseason when Kaepernick began protesting during the national anthem, drawing the ire of critics that included then presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Kaepernick regained his starting job in 2016 and threw 16 TD passes and four interceptions in 12 games, while posting a 90.7 passer rating. | https://cw33.com/sports/colin-kaepernick-to-work-out-for-nfl-team-first-time-since-2016-ap-sources/ | 2022-05-26T15:24:43Z |
Corporate Presentation to Highlight Company's Gene Therapies for Cancer and Diabetes
AUSTIN, Texas, May 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Genprex, Inc. ("Genprex" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: GNPX), a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes, today announced that its President and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney Varner, will be providing a virtual overview of the Company's gene therapies for cancer and diabetes to investors at the following conference in May 2022.
Event: H.C. Wainwright Global Investment Conference (Virtual and In-Person)
Conference Dates: May 23-26, 2022
Virtual Presentation Date: Available on-demand within the virtual platform for all delegates beginning May 24 at 7 a.m. ET
Presenter: Rodney Varner, Genprex's President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Varner will deliver an overview of the Company's pioneering gene therapies for cancer and diabetes and will be available for virtual one-on-one meetings with investors through the H.C. Wainwright conference platform
About Genprex, Inc.
Genprex, Inc. is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes. Genprex's technologies are designed to administer disease-fighting genes to provide new therapies for large patient populations with cancer and diabetes who currently have limited treatment options. Genprex works with world-class institutions and collaborators to develop drug candidates to further its pipeline of gene therapies in order to provide novel treatment approaches. Genprex's oncology program utilizes its unique, proprietary, non-viral ONCOPREX® Nanoparticle Delivery System, which the Company believes is the first systemic gene therapy delivery platform used for cancer in humans. ONCOPREX encapsulates the gene-expressing plasmids using lipid nanoparticles. The resultant product is administered intravenously, where it is then taken up by tumor cells that express proteins that are deficient. The Company's lead product candidate, REQORSA™ (quaratusugene ozeplasmid), is being evaluated as a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). REQORSA has a multimodal mechanism of action that has been shown to interrupt cell signaling pathways that cause replication and proliferation of cancer cells; re-establish pathways for apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in cancer cells; and modulate the immune response against cancer cells. REQORSA has also been shown to block mechanisms that create drug resistance. In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track Designation for REQORSA for NSCLC in combination therapy with AstraZeneca's Tagrisso® (osimertinib) for patients with EFGR mutations whose tumors progressed after treatment with Tagrisso. In 2021, the FDA granted Fast Track Designation for REQORSA for NSCLC in combination therapy with Merck & Co's Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) for patients whose disease progressed after treatment with Keytruda.
For more information, please visit the Company's web site at www.genprex.com or follow Genprex on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of management, are not guarantees of performance and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. These forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various important factors, including those set forth in Genprex's reports that it files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and which you should review, including those statements under "Item 1A – Risk Factors" in Genprex's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Because forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the timing and success of Genprex's clinical trials and regulatory approvals, including the extent and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the effect of Genprex's product candidates, alone and in combination with other therapies, on cancer and diabetes; Genprex's future growth and financial status; Genprex's commercial and strategic partnerships, including those with its third party manufacturers and their ability to successfully perform and scale up the manufacture of its product candidates; and Genprex's intellectual property and licenses.
These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as predictions of future events and Genprex cannot assure you that the events or circumstances discussed or reflected in these statements will be achieved or will occur. If such forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. You should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by Genprex or any other person that Genprex will achieve its objectives and plans in any specified timeframe, or at all. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Genprex disclaims any obligation to publicly update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
Genprex, Inc.
(877) 774-GNPX (4679)
GNPX Investor Relations
investors@genprex.com
GNPX Media Contact
Kalyn Dabbs
media@genprex.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Genprex, Inc. | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/05/19/genprex-present-upcoming-investor-conference-may-2022/ | 2022-05-19T12:37:03Z |
A rare kitten considered the ‘unicorn’ of cats has just been adopted
(Gray News) – A rare kitten experts call the “unicorn” of cats has been adopted from a Nevada animal shelter.
The Animal Foundation, located in Las Vegas, announced the adoption of Comet in a Facebook post.
Comet is a male tortoiseshell kitten, according to the shelter.
They said many in veterinary medicine can work years, even decades, without ever coming across a male tortie in person.
Tortoiseshell cats are usually female and rarely male. This is because two X chromosomes are required to produce the coloring of black, orange and yellow or gold, according to cattownoakland.org. Male cats usually only have one X and one Y chromosome. Male torties have an extra X chromosome, making them a rare XXY.
Only about 1 out of 3,000 tortoiseshells are male, and these males are usually sterile, according to the website.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/06/07/rare-kitten-considered-unicorn-cats-has-just-been-adopted/ | 2022-06-07T19:56:21Z |
PITTSBURGH, May 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a highly reliable means of capturing wireless video and audio for security/safety monitoring," said an inventor, from Austin, T.X., "so I created the FAM CAM. My design can be used to help individuals feel more safe and secure in their daily lives by serving as a personal security camera, providing video/audio legal evidence, recording interactions with law enforcement, remotely monitoring a child for safety, and/or recording memorable events that would otherwise be forgotten."
The patent-pending invention provides an effective way to record and share real-time audio and video information with a smartphone. In doing so, it could enhance personal safety and security. As a result, it provides added peace of mind and it would not distract from the wearer's daily activities. The invention features a small, durable and automatic design that is easy to wear and use so it is ideal for individuals concerned with personal safety and security for themselves and others, individuals who wish to record memorable events, parents and guardians, athletes, etc. Additionally, a prototype model is available upon request.
The original design was submitted to the Atlanta sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 20-ALL-2804, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE InventHelp | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/05/31/inventhelp-inventor-develops-safety-monitoring-device-all-2804/ | 2022-05-31T15:13:40Z |
JUNO BEACH, Fla., July 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP) has posted its second-quarter 2022 financial results in a news release available on the partnership's website by accessing the following link: www.NextEraEnergyPartners.com/FinancialResults.
John Ketchum, chairman and chief executive officer of NextEra Energy Partners, Kirk Crews, chief financial officer of NextEra Energy Partners, and other members of the senior management team will discuss the second-quarter 2022 financial results during an investor presentation to be webcast live, beginning at 9 a.m. ET today. The listen-only webcast will be available on NextEra Energy Partners' website by accessing the following link: www.NextEraEnergyPartners.com/FinancialResults. Results for NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) also will be discussed during the same investor presentation. A replay will be available for 90 days by accessing the same link as listed above.
NextEra Energy Partners, LP
NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP) is a growth-oriented limited partnership formed by NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE). NextEra Energy Partners acquires, manages and owns contracted clean energy projects with stable, long-term cash flows. Headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, NextEra Energy Partners owns interests in geographically diverse wind, solar and energy storage projects in the U.S. as well as natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas and Pennsylvania. For more information about NextEra Energy Partners, please visit: www.NextEraEnergyPartners.com.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE NextEra Energy Partners, LP | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/07/22/nextera-energy-partners-lp-second-quarter-2022-financial-results-available-partnerships-website/ | 2022-07-22T11:44:42Z |
With Bulls to face Bucks, LaVine finally gets playoff taste
By ANDREW SELIGMAN
AP Sports Writer
CHICAGO (AP) — Bulls All-Star Zach LaVine finally gets a chance to play in the playoffs with Chicago set to face the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. LaVine never played on a team that won more than 31 games in his first seven seasons with Minnesota and Chicago. But that changed this season. The Bulls finished sixth in the Eastern Conference at 46-36 for their first winning record since the 2015-16 team went 42-40. They made the playoffs for the first time since a first-round knockout by Boston in 2017. And they ended a string of four consecutive losing seasons. | https://localnews8.com/sports/ap-national-sports/2022/04/15/with-bulls-to-face-bucks-lavine-finally-gets-playoff-taste/ | 2022-04-15T08:27:35Z |
CHICAGO, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UScellular customers can preorder the completely adaptable Google Pixel 6a (Charcoal, Chalk, and Sage 128GB) online or in stores starting July 21. For a limited time, eligible new and current customers can get the Google Pixel 6a for free*. Along with the Google Pixel Buds A-Series and an assortment of Google Nest smart home products, the smartphone is the latest Google tech that the wireless carrier offers.
The 5G ready Pixel 6a is powered by Google Tensor, which keeps your phone super-fast while the Titan M2™ security helps protect your device from attacks. In addition, the Pixel 6a offers a number of innovative features:
- High-Definition Display: Connect, work, play and watch your favorite shows and movies with the 6.1-inch 1080p AMOLED display1.
- Stunning Photos: With the dual 12MP wide and ultra-wide cameras, you can capture detailed photos in low light and realistic skin tones with the Night Sight and Real Tone™ features.
- Adaptive Learning: The Google Pixel 6a's Adaptive Battery can last more than 24 hours by learning which apps you use the most and conserving power on the ones that you don't2.
- Safe and Sound: Water can be a smartphone owners' worst nightmare but with the IP67 protection, the Google Pixel 6a is built to withstand both watery and dusty conditions3.
"The adaptability and power that the Google Pixel 6a offers makes it an exciting addition to our 5G smartphone selection," said Eric Jagher, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for UScellular. "Additionally, our expanding 5G network, our customer-friendly deals and the commitment to price protect our customers' plans are just a few offerings UScellular customers can continue to look forward to this year and beyond."
For more information about UScellular's customizable Unlimited plans, please go to uscellular.com/plans.
*Requires smartphone purchase via 36-month installment contract, postpaid service plan, and paperless billing. Paid via 36 monthly bill credits. Credit varies. Trade-in may be required. Offer not valid in WA, OR, and CA or online in KS, OK, and TX. Taxes, fees and additional terms apply.
1Measured diagonally; dimension may vary by configuration and manufacturing process.
2Estimated battery life based on testing using a mix of talk, data, standby, and use of limited other features that are default in Extreme Battery Saver mode (which disables various features including 5G connectivity). Battery testing conducted on a major carrier network. Battery testing conducted in California in early 2022 on pre-production hardware and software using default settings, except that Extreme Battery Saver mode was enabled. Battery life depends upon many factors and usage of certain features will decrease battery life. Actual battery life may be lower.
3Designed to comply with dust and water protection rating IP67 under IEC standard 60529 when each device leaves the factory but the device is not water or dust proof. The accessories are not water or dust resistant. Water resistance and dust resistance are not permanent conditions and will diminish or be lost over time due to normal wear and tear, device repair, disassembly or damage. Dropping your device may result in loss of water/dust resistance. Liquid damage voids the warranty. See g.co/pixel/water for details.
UScellular is the fourth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the United States, providing national network coverage and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier provides a strong, reliable network supported by the latest technology and offers a wide range of communication services that enhance consumers' lives, increase the competitiveness of local businesses and improve the efficiency of government operations. To learn more about UScellular, visit one of its retail stores or www.uscellular.com. To get the latest news, visit newsroom.uscellular.com. Connect with UScellular on social media at facebook.com/uscellular, twitter.com/uscellular, instagram.com/uscellular, YouTube.com/uscellularcorp and linkedin.com/company/uscellular.
For more information, contact:
Anthony Garcia,
Senior Media and Public Relations Specialist
773-387-5217
anthony.garcia@uscellular.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE UScellular | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/07/21/uscellular-accepting-preorders-google-pixel-6a-starting-july-21/ | 2022-07-21T18:48:19Z |
DALLAS, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing optogenetic therapies for treatment of retinal degenerative diseases, today announced two presentations featuring the Company's clinical development of optogenetic gene therapy for vision restoration in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients at the upcoming 45th Annual Meeting of The Macula Society, to be held June 8-11, 2022, in Berlin, Germany.
"The two abstract presentations will highlight our Multi-Characteristic Opsin gene therapy, MCO-010, for RP, which is part of our optogenetics platform for vision restoration of people blinded by retinal diseases regardless of gene mutations," said Sulagna Bhattacharya, CEO of Nanoscope. "Our multi-site, double blind, sham-controlled Phase 2b trial in RP patients is fully enrolled with results expected in Q1 2023. We are also initiating a multi-site Phase 2 trial of MCO-010 for Stargardt macular degeneration"
Details for the presentations are as follows:
Title: 52 Week Safety and Efficacy of Optogenetic Therapy for Vision Restoration in Inherited Retinal Degeneration Patients
Session: Inherited Retinal Diseases
Presenter: Sai Chavala, MD, Professor of Surgery, TCU School of Medicine, Fort Worth, TX. Dr. Chavala is a Nanoscope Scientific and Clinical Advisor.
Date and Time: Wednesday, June 8, 2022, from 6:06 p.m. – 6:52 p.m. CEST
Title: Design and Development of novel endpoints for Double-masked, Randomized, sham-controlled, Multicenter Phase 2b study of Multi-Characteristic Opsin enabled vision restoration in patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa
Session: Inherited Retinal Diseases
Presenter: Victor Hugo Gonzalez, MD, Valley Retina Institute, McAllen, TX. Dr. Gonzalez is a Nanoscope Scientific and Clinical Advisor.
Date and Time: Saturday, June 11, 2022, from 7:37 – 8:42 a.m. CEST
About Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc.
Nanoscope Therapeutics is developing site restoring optogenetic therapies for millions of patients suffering from retinal degenerative diseases. A Phase 1/2a open label trial (NCT04919473) of Nanoscope's lead product, MCO-010 in advanced RP patients (n=11), demonstrated a favorable safety profile and several patients experienced restoration of vision to a level sufficient to resume activities of daily living. A multicenter, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled Phase 2b clinical trial of MCO-010 in RP patients (NCT04945772) is fully enrolled (N=27) and in follow-up. Primary data are expected in H1-2023. The company is initiating Phase-2 clinical trials for Stargardt macular degeneration in Q2-2022. MCO therapy received orphan drug designations from the FDA for RP and Stargardt.
Investor Contact:
Argot Partners
212-600-1902
Nanoscope@argotpartners.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Nanoscope Therapeutics | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/06/06/nanoscopes-clinical-development-optogenetics-retinal-diseases-be-featured-macula-society-meeting/ | 2022-06-06T11:22:10Z |
OKLAHOMA CITY, July 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Today, Oscium is announcing WiPry Clarity, a tri-band Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer that visualizes wireless activity on Wi-Fi 6/6E as well as legacy bands (2.4 & 5 GHz).
The WiPry Clarity is the 6th generation of the award-winning WiPry product line, and it improves on an already impressive history of innovation and recognition. Since the first WiPry was released in Sept 2011, the product line has won the following major awards: ACE Awards winner, R&D Finalist, ECN Impact Award, Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award.
With WiPry Clarity, Oscium has focused on hardware performance as the target. Matt Lee, Co-Founder & CTO of Oscium, said, "as we evolve into a tri-band world, the marketplace needs 6E visibility. And we've worked hard to deliver to our customers exactly what they've asked of us: a tri-band Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer."
Bryan Lee, President at Oscium, added, "I'm very proud of what our team has accomplished. Not only have we built a professional grade spectrum analyzer for Wi-Fi 6/6E, but we have a number of software partners that are already integrating their solution into our hardware, extending and increasing the value this tool to the marketplace. And that just means more options for the community!"
Here are some examples of how the WiPry Clarity delivers exceptional value:
On the hardware side, the WiPry Clarity has a frequency range of 2.2 – 7.25 GHz (although the initial software release only supports Wi-Fi bands). The unit is ~50% smaller than the previous version; no batteries are needed as the USB draws power from the host device (PC / Mac). And the performance is clean and crisp with 25 KHz frequency resolution & 0.5 dBm amplitude resolution.
On the software side, Oscium offers a fully featured Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer with the following application ranges:
- 2.4-2.5 GHz (390 KHz resolution)
- 5.145-5.860 GHz (1.396 MHz resolution)
- 5.925-7.125 GHz (1.786 MHz resolution)
As always, no software subscriptions are required to access the Oscium software.
WiPry Clarity hardware can be ordered today for $1,000. Visit us at oscium.com to purchase or for more information. WiPry software is free on the PC and Mac. Compatible devices as of this press release are listed by operating system:
- Windows 8 and higher – all PC's with USB 2.0 port.
- Mac OS 10.10 (Yosemite and higher) – all Mac's. (Support coming soon.)
Through the evolution of our company, we released the first tri-band Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer to ship in 2022. This USB tool, called WiPry Clarity, is built for PC / Mac and offers professional grade performance for the wireless pro. WiPry Clarity visualizes all RF spectral activity for Wi-Fi 6/6E as well as legacy bands (2.4 & 5 GHz).
- WiPry Clarity (Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer 2.2 - 7.25 GHz)
Oscium also delivers innovative test equipment accessories that connect to a smartphone or tablet transforming the host device into a portable troubleshooting tool for field technicians. Hardware can be purchased from Oscium and free software apps are downloaded on either Google Play or in the Apple App Store. Oscium has been delighting customers since 2010 and currently offers the following products for purchase:
- WiPry 2500x (Wi-Fi Spectrum Analyzer 2.4 & 5 GHz)
- WiPry 790x (handheld spectrum analyzer 755-928 MHz)
- WiPry 340x (handheld spectrum analyzer 300-464 MHz)
- iMSO-204x (handheld oscilloscope)
The Future of Test Equipment is Here.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Oscium | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/07/21/oscium-releases-new-wi-fi-66e-spectrum-analyzer/ | 2022-07-21T00:26:21Z |
The lifestyle retailer leverages in-house design team to launch 14th private label brand
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HSN®, a leader in livestream shopping and video storytelling, today announced the launch of Emryn House, a home collection designed for customers who appreciate the vintage look and feel of classic farmhouse décor with a modern twist. Later this year, HSN is set to expand its private label portfolio with two more home brands as the company continues to offer the consumer a variety of relevant and trending goods within the home category.
The Emryn House brand was developed by an in-house team of HSN designers and created for the HSN customer, 40% of whom have identified farmhouse as their preferred décor style. Through unique textiles and meant-to-be-noticed details, Emryn House takes advantage of this sought-after design trend by blending the traditional farmhouse feel with modern touches. Additionally, each piece has a story on how it was inspired, and the products are coordinated to complement each other for a more complete design.
HSN currently houses a portfolio of 14 private label brands across categories from home and culinary to tech. HSN develops private label and exclusive brands through its in-house Design, Development and Global Sourcing team, which includes designers and sourcing experts who bring differentiated new brands and products to life. This team leverages insights gleaned from HSN's proprietary consumer research and the brand's unique, tight connection with its customers, with multiple live interactions happening with customers moment-by-moment across HSN's platforms.
"From décor to kitchen tools, our customers rely on HSN's growing roster of private label brands to deliver superior quality and performance as well as unique items that they can't find elsewhere," says Rob Robillard, Chief Merchandising Officer, HSN. "The Emryn House brand will provide a fresh and colorful take on this popular home aesthetic, bringing our customers unique and on-trend décor, bedding, and lighting to update their homes."
On-air, at HSN.com, and on digital streaming platforms, customers can explore the Emryn House collection, which includes sheets, comforters, quilts, throw blankets, decorative pillows, bed skirts, faux plants, lanterns, wall hangings, flameless candles, furniture, wreaths, and mirror lamps. Pricing ranges from $39.95 to $229.95.
Emryn House will continue to expand its assortment throughout the year, introducing new Americana and Harvest-themed lines to the collection.
Shop Emryn House on www.hsn.com (key words: Emryn House).
About HSN®
HSN takes shoppers on a journey – embracing the new, exploring untrodden paths, and bringing shoppers a unique perspective that enriches their lives. HSN offers a curated assortment of exclusive products and top brand names in health and beauty, jewelry, home/lifestyle, fashion/accessories, and electronics and incorporates entertainment, personalities and industry experts to provide a unique shopping experience. HSN engages millions of customers across the U.S. via two broadcast networks, a website, and multiple streaming services, mobile apps and social pages. HSN was founded over 40 years ago as the first shopping network and is based in St. Petersburg, Fla. To learn more, visit corporate.hsn.com, follow @HSN on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or follow HSN on Pinterest, YouTube or LinkedIn.
Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ: QRTEA, QRTEB, QRTEP) includes QVC®, HSN, Zulily® and the Cornerstone brands (collectively, "Qurate Retail GroupSM"), as well as other minority interests and green energy investments. Qurate Retail Group is dedicated to providing a more human way to shop. Qurate Retail Group is the largest player in video commerce ("vCommerce"), which includes video-driven shopping across linear TV, ecommerce sites, digital streaming and social platforms. For more information, visit www.qurateretailgroup.com, follow @QurateRetailGrp on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or follow Qurate Retail Group on YouTube or LinkedIn.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE HSN | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/06/03/hsn-launches-private-label-farm-house-dcor-brand-emryn-house/ | 2022-06-03T13:52:33Z |
Woman arrested after stealing $50K watch, cash from hotel guest, police say
LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) - A woman in Las Vegas is accused of stealing a $50,000 watch and thousands of dollars from a hotel guest staying on the Strip.
According to an arrest report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Anniajah Pratt stole a $50,000 Patek Phillipe watch, $50,000 in cash that the guest had in a backpack and $500 from his wallet.
KVVU reports the incident happened on May 6 at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas.
Vegas police said the man told them he recalled drinking at a bar in the casino and then going back to his room. However, he noticed everything was missing when he woke up, including a $500 Apple Pay deduction.
Police reported surveillance video showed an unidentified woman in an elevator with the man around 3:20 a.m. The video then showed the woman leaving in a vehicle registered to Pratt around 6:25 a.m.
The man was able to identify Pratt in a photo lineup, according to police.
On May 11, authorities said they served a search warrant on Pratt’s apartment. While they did not recover the items, they did find clothes resembling the outfit that she was seen wearing in the surveillance video.
Police concluded in the arrest report that no one else had access to the man’s property other than Pratt based on their investigation.
Copyright 2022 KVVU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/05/18/woman-arrested-after-stealing-50k-watch-50k-cash-hotel-guest-police-say/ | 2022-05-18T00:49:46Z |
Daryle Lamonica, the deep-throwing quarterback who won an AFL Player of the Year award and led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl appearance, has died. He was 80.
The Fresno County Sherriff’s said Lamonica passed away at his Fresno home on Thursday morning. The death is considered to be from natural causes.
The Raiders acquired Lamonica in a trade from Buffalo in 1967 and he was immediately the perfect fit for the vertical offense owner Al Davis coveted for his franchise.
Nicknamed the “Mad Bomber,” Lamonica made an immediate impact in Oakland after starting only four games in four seasons with the Bills.
Lamonica’s deep arm teamed up with receivers such as Warren Wells and Fred Biletnikoff and turned the Raiders into a powerhouse. They went 13-1 his first season as Lamonica was a first-team All-Pro and AP AFL Player of the Year when he led the league with 30 touchdown passes.
Lamonica then threw two TD passes in a win over Houston in the AFL title game to send the Raiders to their first Super Bowl where they lost 33-14 to Green Bay.
In his six seasons as a starter for the Raiders, Lamonica was one of the most prolific passers in the game, leading led pro football with 145 TD passes — 24 more than second-place Fran Tarkenton. His 16,006 yards passing ranked third from 1967-72.
Lamonica was an All-Pro again in 1969 when he led the AFL with 3,302 yards passing and 34 touchdowns. The 34 TDs still stand as the franchise’s single-season record more than a half-century later.
Lamonica was at his best during the playoffs, throwing five TD passes in a 41-6 win over Kansas City in 1968 and a record six the following season against Houston. Only Steve Young and Tom Brady have matched Lamonica’s six TD passes in a playoff game and only Patrick Mahomes and Kurt Warner have multiple games with at least five.
Lamonica also played a starring role in one of the most memorable games ever, throwing four TD passes, including the go-ahead score to Charlie Smith in a 43-32 win over the Jets in a game now known as the “Heidi Game” because NBC cut away from the finish on the East Coast before the Raiders comeback to show the children’s movie.
Lamonica was replaced as the starter in 1973 by Ken Stabler and went to the World Football League the following season where he finished his career.
Lamonica finished his career with 19,154 yards passing and 164 TDs. The Raiders went 62-16-6 in Lamonica’s starts for the best winning percentage for any starting QB in the Super Bowl era with at least 75 starts.
Lamonica was born and raised in Fresno before going to college at Notre Dame. He was drafted in the 12th round by Green Bay and the 23rd round by the Bills in 1963 and opted to go to the AFL. He was a backup to Jack Kemp in Buffalo before becoming a star in Oakland.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://cw33.com/sports/ap-sports/former-raiders-qb-daryle-lamonica-dies-at-age-80/ | 2022-04-21T21:57:19Z |
NEW YORK, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NHS) (the "Fund") has announced an early declaration of the Fund's regular monthly distribution payable in May. The $0.0905 per share of common stock distribution announced today is payable on May 31, 2022, has a record date of May 4, 2022 and has an ex-date of May 3, 2022.
Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.0905 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. The Fund's ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, the cost of leverage and the level of other Fund fees and expenses. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount or that a distribution will consist only of net investment income.
Due to an effort to maintain a stable distribution amount, the distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2022 will be made after the end of the year.
Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategies—including equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge funds—on behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 25 countries, Neuberger Berman's diverse team has over 2,400 professionals. For eight consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). In 2020, the PRI named Neuberger Berman a Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms for excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The PRI also awarded Neuberger Berman an A+ in every eligible category for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $460 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2021. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.
Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.
Contact:
Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC
Investor Information
(877) 461-1899
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Neuberger Berman | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/04/07/neuberger-berman-high-yield-strategies-fund-announces-early-declaration-regular-monthly-distribution/ | 2022-04-08T02:49:15Z |
Turn the Tide Committee, established to save Thomas Nelson Community College, will hold Press Conferences Wednesday, June 1, at Thomas Nelson Community College, Williamsburg, Virginia at 9:00 a.m, at John Tyler Community College, in Chester, Virginia, at 11:00 a.m., and at the State Capitol in Richmond at 1:00 p.m.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va., May 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Turn the Tide Committee has garnered over 1,000 signatures on a Petition calling on Governor Glenn Youngkin to "Let the People Decide" the name change at Thomas Nelson Community College.
Matt Waters, the executive director of Turn the Tide Committee, a 501 c4 non-profit organization, and a 1989 graduate of Thomas Nelson Community College, called on the Governor to heed the call of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Brad Pollack, an attorney representing William B. Holtzman and three other citizens of Shenandoah County, has filed suit in Shenandoah County Circuit Court against the State Board of Community College to stop all the name changes.
"Our petition drive calls on Governor Youngkin to listen to the people who elected him: no more critical race theory; no more cancel culture; no more 'wokeness,' no more reverse racism; no more fake history like the 1619 Project. It is time all Virginia schools, K-12 and beyond, teach American history. It is time to protect alumni, students, and faculty from the radical agenda to push the Founding Fathers—the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Patriots of '76, out of our history books.
"Thomas Nelson was one of the undisputed heroes of our country. To take him, President John Tyler, freedom hero Patrick Henry, Thomas, Lord Fairfax, and Dabney Lancaster off of our community colleges sets a very dangerous precedent. Next up will be George Mason, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. If we succumb to erasing history—especially here in Virginia, the birthplace of seven Presidents, what do we have left? We are on the verge of losing America. The people of Virginia have spoken:
On behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, who elected you to "Roll-Back" the dangerous and wrong ideas commonly called "Critical Race Theory," we offer our sincere petition: We ask you to allow the people of Virginia to decide on renaming these Community Colleges. We call on you to ask the Citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia and current and former students, faculty, alumni their opinion regarding renaming these colleges.
"Our Petition is simple: Let the People Decide. Not an unelected, partisan state board of community colleges all of whom were appointed by Democratic Governors. Fifteen people made the decision for 8.6 million Virginians. This is a terrible overreach and must be met head-on. The Governor has in his power the ability to turn the issue over to the people of Virginia. We're not calling on him to expend any political capital, he simply must to turn the issue over to the people to decide."
Turn the Tide Committee, INC is a 501 c4 organization based in Hampton and Williamsburg, VA. For more info please see: TurntheTideCommittee.org or Facebook.com/TurnTheTideCommittee.
On behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, who elected you to "Roll-Back" the dangerous and wrong ideas commonly called "Critical Race Theory," we offer our sincere petition: We ask you to allow the people of Virginia to decide renaming Thomas Nelson, John Tyler, Patrick Henry, Lord Fairfax and Dabney's Community Colleges. We call on you, and your newly appointed Community College State Board, to ask the Citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and in particular the Citizens of each respective region, including current and former students, faculty, and alumni their opinion regarding renaming the Community Colleges.
View original content:
SOURCE Turn the Tide Committee, INC | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/05/31/save-thomas-nelson-community-college-john-tyler-community-college-patrick-henry-community-college-lord-fairfax-community-college-dabneys-lancaster-community-college/ | 2022-05-31T21:15:32Z |
QINGDAO, China, Aug. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Devoted to technological innovation and consumer focus, developing better and high-tech products that benefit society and create a better lifestyle for all, has always been Hisense's constant adherence.
To create better living experiences and bring Perfect Match FIFA viewing experience to global consumers, Hisense will showcase its latest innovative products at the Hisense's Customized Products for the FIFA World Cup 2022™ Global Launch Event live-stream, on Hisense YouTube channel, Hisense Twitter, on Aug 17th at 8 PM (GMT+1).
Live-stream Interactive Launch, Showcasing Highlights of Hisense New Technologies
Hisense has always been committed to developing new technologies; meanwhile, by joining hands with FIFA, it jointly created an immersive and unforgettable football viewing experience for fans worldwide via technological innovation.
Upholding its dedication to technology and commitments to creating a memorable FIFA match experience for global football fans, Hisense has constantly been refining its technology to establish a more reliable, qualified, and high-tech product, deliver a superior lifestyle and flawless product experiences for all. Therefore, at the upcoming launch event, Customized Products for the FIFA World Cup 2022™, from ULED TV to Laser TV will be unveiled, Hisense's home appliances will be displayed, and all the highlights and innovative breakthroughs of these products will be showcased via live-stream.
To enhance audiences' viewing experience of the product launch, Hisense designed various interactive and engaging Polls activities about Hisense technology to better demonstrate product features in the live-stream, in which lucky consumers who participated in the interactive quizzes might get a TV gift from Hisense.
As the Launch Event approaches, Candy Pang, the Deputy General Manager of Brand Management Department of Hisense Group, expressed: "Hisense's Customized Products for the FIFA World Cup 2022™ Global Launch Event will show Hisense's dedications and commitments to football fans and consumers worldwide, by strengthening our technologies, we aspire to let all football lovers and consumers could better enjoy life and bring them an ultimate Perfect Match experience."
Hisense is a global company that has consistently leveraged premium technology to shape a better society and future for the world. As an Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, Hisense hopes to bring global consumers a thrilling and impressive match to the maximum extent through premium products and Hisense technology.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Hisense | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/08/11/hisenses-customized-products-fifa-world-cup-2022-global-launch-event-advancing-technology-premium-experience/ | 2022-08-11T10:45:47Z |
LOS ANGELES, May 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- We are excited to share the news about a modern twist on traditional fruit-forward wines crafted by two female Italian winemakers working under the well-known Riboli Family Wines umbrella.
San Antonio Fruit Farm is the first dual fruit flavor wine in the U.S. The selections are the most unique and drinkable, semi-sparkling sweet wine on the market, offered in three delicious flavors: Peach Passion Fruit, Strawberry Guava, and Blackberry Orange.
Crafted with whole fruits and no artificial additives, the wines are low in ABV, vegan-friendly, and gluten-free. Prepare to have fun enjoying the natural sweetness, ideal for celebrating everyday occasions that bring people together to create lasting memories.
The makers put unique fruit fusions at the forefront of their process. The wines are fresh and light, uncovering delightful flavor combinations.
Winemakers Paola and Ivana have perfected their winemaking techniques with these offerings while staying true to Italian traditions. Both studied oenology, the science of winemaking, and learned everything possible about production and quality, and it shows. The focus is on the grapes and using the best vinification methods to bring out the unique characteristics of the indigenous grape varieties, such as White Moscato, Brachetto, and Malvasia.
The duo says the San Antonio Fruit Farm wines reflect their profiles - sweet with balanced acidity, slightly sparkling, fruity and fun, and intense yet elegant. They want wine drinkers to relax and imagine themselves sipping a glass on a sunny day on a farm in Piedmont, Italy, where the selections are made.
So now that you know what you can be serving at your next book club, barbeque, or friend's night in, we would love to send you a sample! We'd love for you to enjoy a glass and share the news with your wine-loving audience to transport them to a blissful place with these impressive wines.
Cheers!
Audrey
About Riboli Family Wines:
Riboli Family Wines, a Los Angeles establishment since 1917, prides itself in maintaining its core family values while also employing innovative techniques that will keep its legacy alive for generations to come. The family produces well-known Italian wines, including Stella Rosa® Wines, a 9x Impact Magazine Hot Brand award winner. Their latest releases are Juicy Sparkle and San Antonio Fruit Farm.
Media Contact:
Audrey Lewis
alewis@riboliwines.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Riboli Family Wines | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/05/04/fresh-fruit-fusions-riboli-family-wines-launches-latest-selections/ | 2022-05-04T16:45:33Z |
BEIJING, Sept. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2022 Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum kicked off on Thursday in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, where participants shared constructive opinions and suggestions on enhancing the brand influence of Silk Road Maritime.
Focusing on effective measures to support the new development dynamic and boost the "dual circulation" of domestic and international markets, discussions at the forum covered multiple topics such as serving the unified domestic market, integrated development of international logistics and cross-border e-commerce, construction and application of port shipping big data, as well as financial innovation services of port shipping.
Aiming to build an inclusive and cooperative ecosystem for shipping and logistics among Belt and Road countries, the brand Silk Road Maritime was launched in December 2018 by Fujian Province, a core area of the Maritime Silk Road. By the end of August this year, a total of 9,014 trips have been made through shipping routes named after Silk Road Maritime, with the total container throughput reaching 10.182 million twenty-foot equivalent units.
Speaking highly of the achievements of Silk Road Maritime, participants at the forum pointed out the importance of integrating the essence of the Silk Road spirit with the practical efforts in deepening and expanding economic partnership with relevant countries. Through increasingly engaging themselves in Silk Road Maritime, the guests were committed to jointly maintain the safety and stability of global industrial and supply chain, in a bid to inject new impetus into the development of Belt and Road Initiative.
In the future, Silk Road Maritime will continue to make innovative efforts to achieve high-standard, sustainable and people-centered development, according to Chen Zhiping, chairman of Fujian Provincial Port Group Co., Ltd. and Fujian Silk Road Maritime Management Company.
A blue paper on the development of Silk Road Maritime from 2021 to 2022 was released at the forum, along with the tenth batch of shipping routes named after the brand. An awarding ceremony for new members of the Silk Road Maritime Alliance was also held during the forum.
Original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/329926.html
View original content:
SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/09/09/xinhua-silk-road-2022-silk-road-maritime-international-cooperation-forum-kicks-off-echinas-xiamen/ | 2022-09-09T11:34:13Z |
VTrips Acquires 4 Vacation Rental Management Companies In North Carolina, Georgia and Texas
PONTE VEDRA, Fla., June 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VTrips announced the recent acquisition of four vacation rental companies, expanding its portfolio throughout the United States to 7,000 properties and 1,000 team members.
VTrips acquired Carolina Retreats in Topsail, N.C., with 435 properties; Tybee Vacation Rentals near Savannah, Ga., with 300 properties; Silver Sands Vacation Rentals in Port Aransas, Texas, with 320 properties; and Miss Kitty's Fishing Getaways in Rockport, Texas, with 150 properties.
These companies joined the VTrips family following the addition of several other companies in the past 60 days, including Southern Vacation Rentals in Destin, Fla, with more than 1,100 properties.
According to VTrips Founder and CEO Steve Milo, the recent acquisitions were made from the company's operating profits and commercial bank debt. "Profitability matters, and VTrips continues to be the #1 leader of national vacation rental companies for EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization), compounded EBITDA growth year over year, and EBITDA margin to revenue."
Ben Edwards of Weatherby Consulting LLC advised Carolina Retreats, Tybee Vacation Rentals and Silver Sands on the sale of the companies. "Having Ben and the team at Weatherby Consulting involved ensures a professional process and that a deal can be moved at lightning speed," Milo said. "We also know Ben and his team have personally vetted the companies, making them more attractive."
Jacobie Olin, RSPS, president of C2G Advisors LLC represented Miss Kitty's Fishing Getaways during the acquisition. "It was a pleasure representing Dawn Huff at Miss Kitty's Fishing Getaways through the acquisition. She has built a strong brand in Rockport, and we're happy to see VTrips lead the company into the future. It was a seamless and professional process working with the VTrips team throughout the transaction," Olin said.
Amy Gaster, co-owner of Tybee Vacation Rentals, shared the news with her team by saying, "After much deliberation, we made the decision to join forces with VTrips, a growing national vacation rental company based in Florida founded by our long-time vacation rental industry friend and colleague, Steve Milo. We would not make this move with just anyone or any company. We know that our local approach, brand, processes, people, and relationships with property owners, employees and guests are the keys to our success. Steve and his board are aligned with our core values and goals and will work alongside our team and us to continue the great local company we have built. In addition, by partnering with VTrips, TVR gains access to a remarkable range of additional resources and opportunities to serve our homeowners, employees and guests."
Mike Harrington, founder of Carolina Retreats, offered the following statement to the company's property owners: "As of June 1, Carolina Retreats has partnered with VTrips Holdings, a Florida-based vacation rental management company led by my good friend, Steve Milo. Steve, Stuart (Pack, vice president and COO for Carolina Retreats) and I go back over a decade when Steve was an early mentor of mine as I was getting started in the vacation rental management industry. We served on the board of the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) together, where Steve was instrumental in helping me bring back innovative ideas to help improve our homeowners' revenue and property care and delight our guests."
According to Milo, VTrips offered positions at the same or better pay and benefits to all employees of Carolina Retreats, Tybee Vacation Rentals, Silver Sands and Miss Kitty's Fishing Getaways.
"VTrips believes that employees are the lifeblood of these companies, and we are doing everything possible to create a positive environment for them. As certain large national buyers operate more like 'strip miners' in our industry, we are encountering more and more sellers who want a buyer that will hire all their staff, take care of their brand and legacy, and allow them to live proudly in their community," Milo said.
"We tell sellers that certain large national buyers are an option if they intend to move to another state or country and change their cell phone. Some sellers think this is funny. I always have a lot of good stories to share when I meet sellers in person," Milo added. "Most sellers dedicated their lives to building a legacy and making great memories for their guests and employees, and they want a buyer who shares their same values."
Milo said that VTrips is well positioned to compete for the industry lead in the resort vacation rental market in North America.
"As a company headquartered in business-friendly Florida, with a founder and owner still in charge and who supports the industry in advocacy and volunteer work, VTrips is positioned to rapidly expand while other large companies deal with leadership and stock turmoil," he said.
Milo is dedicated to protecting the vacation rental industry and serves as chairperson of the Florida Professional Vacation Rental Coalition, which raised more than $250,000 over the past two years. He is also a member of the VRMA Advocacy Committee, which has so far raised more than $470,000 in 2022.
"Some companies and CEOs care passionately about the future of the industry, and some are just industry outsiders concerned about getting a quick exit from this industry before their operational issues implode on them," Milo said, adding that the once sleepy vacation rental industry is rapidly transforming. "With these changes, some vacation rental owners are deciding to take chips off the table, and the company they choose to sell to may be the #1 factor."
Founded in 2002 by industry visionary Steve Milo, VTrips is a growing and innovative property management company headquartered in Ponte Vedra, Fla. The VTrips family of brands consists of more than a dozen locally managed companies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas that collectively manage more than 7,000 vacation rentals in 35 different markets. Milo is a recognized thought leader on the evolution of the vacation rental industry, marketing and government affairs and is a regular keynote speaker at leading travel conferences in North America and Europe. More info: VTrips.com
CONTACT
Tanya Rauch, VP Marketing
tanya.rauch@vtrips.com
(904) 479-4373
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE VTrips | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/09/vtrips-expands-portfolio-7000-vacation-rentals-1000-employees/ | 2022-06-10T00:46:42Z |
Canton man, 55, killed in Paris Township car crash
Cassandra Nist
The Repository
PARIS TWP. – A 55-year-old Canton man was killed in a fatal crash Tuesday night.
Christopher Bowling was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Malibu on state Route 172 at 9:17 p.m. when he traveled left of center and struck a ditch and embankment, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.
The vehicle flipped upside down, the patrol said.
Bowling was transported by Sandy Creek Joint Fire EMS to Aultman Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The patrol said Bowling was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash, which remains under investigation.
Reach Cassandra cnist@gannett.com; Follow on Twitter @Cassienist | https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/2022/08/03/christopher-bowling-killed-paris-township-car-crash/10222778002/ | 2022-08-03T12:10:33Z |
Most people have not yet fully returned to their pre-pandemic life, poll finds
By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN
Most Americans say the way they conduct their lives is still affected to some extent by the pandemic, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Wednesday, though fewer say their activities remain dramatically curtailed. A majority also favor continued masking in some public places, and say they’ve continued to wear masks in some, though not necessarily all, situations when they’re indoors and in public.
The results — and the marked partisan and demographic splits that characterize them — highlight the nuances and fault lines that mark Americans’ response to Covid-19 more than two years after the start of the pandemic.
A plurality of US adults (42%) say that they’re now doing some but not all of the activities they did pre-pandemic, with 27% saying that they have “basically returned to normal,” and 14% saying that the pandemic never affected their activity level in the first place. Another 17% are still doing very few of the activities they did prior to the pandemic.
Significant shares of the country also continue to favor some level of masking as a Covid mitigation measure: A 59% majority say that “people should continue to wear masks in some public places to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and avoid another surge in cases.” Fewer, 48%, say the federal government should extend the requirement for people to wear masks on airplanes, trains and other public transportation. And 51% say that they, personally, wore a mask most or all of the time they were indoors in public places during the past month, with about 8 in 10 saying they wore a mask at least sometimes.
Democrats are 55 percentage points likelier than Republicans to say people should continue to wear masks in some public places; that divide is 39 points between Black and White Americans, 38 points between those vaccinated for Covid-19 and those who are not, and 14 points between Americans in households making less than $40,000 annually and those in households making $90,000 or more. People with a chronic condition that puts them at higher risk for Covid-19 are a comparably modest 9 points likelier than those without to favor continued masking in some situations. Similar divides show up in Americans’ own self-reported behavior.
“Larger shares of Democrats and vaccinated adults report they’ve been wearing masks and want others to continue doing so, while most Republicans and unvaccinated adults are eager to return to normal and lift mask mandates.Compared to their counterparts, Black adults, Hispanic adults, and those with lower incomes are less likely to say they’ve returned to normal, more likely to say they’re wearing masks frequently, and much more likely to say people should continue to wear masks to minimize the spread of the virus and prevent another surge,” the KFF report notes. “With Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower-incomes more likely to work in jobs that are highly impacted by COVID-19, the survey finds that they’re more likely to show concerns over reopening and unmasking measures.”
Those divides were also present in how Americans were affected by the pandemic. Americans in lower-income households were more likely than those in higher-earning ones to report negative impacts from the pandemic on everything from their finances and employment to their mental and physical health. Younger adults also reported feeling disproportionate negative effects, particularly on their mental health: 67% of those ages 18-29 say the pandemic took a toll on their mental health, compared with 54% of those ages 30-49, and less than 4 in 10 of those ages 50 and older.
When Americans were asked to share, in their own words, which pandemic-era changes they’d found most difficult, 27% mentioned isolation or not seeing people, compared with 13% who had the hardest time with being unable to do things or travel, and another 13% who said their challenges had been mainly financial. Smaller shares mentioned avoiding Covid-19 itself (6%), dealing with employment changes or job loss (5%), having to wear a mask (4%), struggling with mental health (4%), coping with the impact to kids and their schooling (3%), or losing family members or loved ones (3%).
That also applied when they were asked for any positive repercussions of what they’d faced in the past two years. Nearly one-quarter mentioned increased time with their family — far outpacing the shares who mentioned work, finances, or other changes.
“It helped cherish the moments you have with each other and to be less wasteful,” responded one woman, a 39-year-old from Tennessee. “Realize that habits/behaviors can change all the time; make the best changes.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor surveyed 1,243 US adults on March 15-22, using a combination of live telephone interviews and online interviews to reach a nationally representative sample. The results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 4 percentage points for the full sample.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://localnews8.com/health/cnn-health/2022/04/06/most-people-have-not-yet-fully-returned-to-their-pre-pandemic-life-poll-finds/ | 2022-04-06T22:39:51Z |
Texoma begins a week of normal temperatures!
Sunday’s cold front will bring week long temperatures of low to mid-90s
Published: Jan. 24, 2021 at 10:06 AM CST|Updated: 15 minutes ago
The three day heat advisory streak has ended! Triple digit temperatures will stay out of Texoma until July.
Sunday’s cold front will shift the winds out of the north to bring in cooler temperatures that will last through the week. Sunday has a 20% chance of storms in the evening and into the overnight. Temperatures will slowly rise throughout the week. Considering average temperatures for Texoma is around 90, it feels like a relief to have June ending with some normal weather.
Brady Blackstock
Weekend Meteorologist
News 12 / KXII-TV
Copyright 2021 KXII. All rights reserved. | https://www.kxii.com/2022/06/26/texoma-begins-week-normal-temperatures/ | 2022-06-26T02:01:23Z |
Man City’s defensive issues improve as Walker, Stones train
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City’s defensive problems appear to have improved ahead of the final round of the English Premier League on Sunday when the team requires a victory over Aston Villa to ensure retaining the title. Right back Kyle Walker and center back John Stones have returned to training despite having previously been ruled out for the remainder of the season by City manager Pep Guardiola. Guardiola might say at his weekly news conference on Friday whether Walker and Stones are available for the game against Villa. Guardiola fielded a makeshift defense that struggled in a 2-2 draw at West Ham on Sunday. City is a point clear of second-placed Liverpool. | https://localnews8.com/sports/ap-national-sports/2022/05/19/man-citys-defensive-issues-improve-as-walker-stones-train/ | 2022-05-19T12:53:02Z |
When we first meet Helly R., the indefatigable heroine of "Severance," she's splayed on a conference table in a windowless room carpeted in putrid shades of green. She awakens, for the first time, as an "innie" -- someone who's elected to sever their brain so that they can perform their work duties as a person separate from who they are out of the office -- an extreme means of achieving work-life balance.
The boardroom where she's "birthed" into life as an innie at Lumon, the mysterious corporation at the center of "Severance," is also a womb of sorts. And when she leaves it, she'll be confined only to the contained, labyrinthine world of the Lumon building, which doubles as a mid-century prison.
Jeremy Hindle, "Severance's" Emmy-nominated production designer, took the "birthing" metaphor and ran with it, creating a world within a world at Lumon. It's a spare, meticulously designed environment that, at first blush, is impressive and aesthetically pleasing. But the longer you spend within Lumon, the more menacing it becomes.
"It should be this beautiful environment, but also, they're experimenting on them underground," Hindle told CNN.
That guiding principle -- that the world of "Severance" should be beautiful and chilling at once -- helped mold the Apple TV+ drama into one of the most exciting, perplexing and visually striking series of 2022, earning it 14 Emmy nominations. CNN spoke to Hindle and set decorator Andrew Baseman, also nominated for an Emmy for his work on the series, about how they created the deeply unsettling world of "Severance," where everything is stunning and ever so slightly off.
The details, big and small, that make 'Severance'
Part of the allure of "Severance" is its inability to be placed in time, an effect that was created with painstaking detail, Baseman and Hindle said. There are clear nods to the mid-century offices of "Mad Men" or "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," structures that are stylish, precise and somehow still practical. (The exterior of the Lumon building was shot at an existing mid-century building, the Bell Labs Holmdel Complex in New Jersey.) But the very concept of "Severance" makes it feel like a futuristic dystopia.
"Part of the mystique of 'Severance' is, you're just not really sure where you are or when you are," Baseman said. "We just wanted to create a new world we hadn't seen before."
To do that, Baseman said, the team behind the series -- including executive producer and director Ben Stiller and showrunner Dan Erickson -- focused as much on the background minutiae as they did the broader design. There's not a pen out of place within Lumon -- even the fake foods in the office vending machines were selected with a purpose.
The cars its characters drive are slightly outdated station wagons and similar models; the desktop computers the core four innies work at are bulky, rounded and retro. Patricia Arquette's opaque, eccentric character with a dual life required double the details -- at work, where she's Ms. Cobell, her office is scantly decorated; at home, where she's Mrs. Selvig, her home is a mess of burnt cookies, framed needlepoints devoted to Lumon's tenets and that disturbing shrine to a Lumon luminary. Many of those details may never make it into frame, Baseman said, but they contribute to the haunting atmosphere -- and provide fun Easter eggs for eager viewers to catch during a rewatch.
The office that feels more like a 'playground'
The main office set for the "Macrodata Refinement team," where Helly (Britt Lower), Mark (Adam Scott), Irving (John Turturro) and Dylan (Zach Cherry) spend their entire innie lives, sets the tone of the show, Hindle said. The wide, white-walled room is drenched in fluorescent light, with an island of four connected desks in the center against an astroturf-green carpet.
"It's the weirdest room ever," Hindle said, comparing the jungle gym of desks to "an umbilical cord underground." (Another birthing allegory!)
The ceiling is purposely too low -- around 7 feet, 9 inches, Hindle said -- to create a feeling of comfort and snugness and, conversely, claustrophobia and menace. And the details within the office -- the oddness of the desktop computers, the meticulously neat kitchen and supply closet, the perfectly manicured "lawn" of carpet -- are meant to seem more like props on a set than practical components of an office, Hindle said.
"These are children in an office environment," he said. "The green is like a playground, the desk is a little apparatus you get to play on."
And if the office reminds viewers a bit of the Discovery One of "2001: A Space Odyssey," that's a good thing, Hindle said. The office is downright Kubrickian -- beautiful in its spareness and symmetry, but disconcerting in its emptiness. That cognitive dissonance isn't too far off from what the innies and outies feel once they're severed.
"I treated it like a spaceship," he said of the main MDR office set. "The best sci-fi is really claustrophobic, but you really want to be there."
The hallways from hell are real
Perhaps the creepiest part of the Lumon offices, though, are its seemingly endless, blindingly bright hallways. They become narrower and wider as characters move through them, and that's not just a trick of the camera, Hindle said: The crew built the labyrinth of hallways on set, so when the actors are zipping through them for what feels like minutes, they're really doing it. It's a practical effect that, onscreen, makes audiences feel like they're marching with the innies -- and, on set, made the actors quite uncomfortable, Hindle said.
"We were torturing them in a weird way," he said slyly.
Lumon green serves a purpose
Though Lumon's color palette is largely drab grays and stark whites, the monotony is broken up throughout with pops of green. There's the stark green carpet of the MDR office; the artificial greens of the fake plants that populate the office; green upholstery in the boardroom where Helly is "born" and the seating area near the one, hellishly narrow elevator.
"I see it as off-putting," Baseman said. "Green is often 'green with envy,' illness; it's also life. It's a mix of all of that."
The green of the MDR office carpet resembles a pasture, Baseman said, on which the innies are meant to "play" while the Lumon higher-ups observe them.
Even when Irving and Burt (played by Turturro and Christopher Walken, respectively) share a moment of vulnerability in the supply room, surrounded by lush greenery, those plants are fake, too. They suggest the notion of life -- an artificial one, like that of an innie.
The spare innie world vs. the cluttered outie world
The "Severance" crew decided early on that the innie world should look just bizarre enough that, if anyone from the inside made it out, no one would ever believe them about what they saw, Hindle said. But the world of outies has its own unique visual language that often feels bleaker than the Lumon sets do.
When Devon and Ricken, Mark's sister and brother-in-law, appear onscreen, warm oranges and golds enter the color palette of the series. They're wholly unconnected to Lumon (as far as viewers know) and share a loving, healthy relationship. But Mark's outie self is alone in a blue, permanently darkened townhome -- Lumon corporate housing -- with hardly a personal touch in his place. (There is a lone framed poster for vintage bicycles leaning against a wall, Baseman said, a detail Stiller suggested that teases Mark's former life.) We know, clearly, from spending time with outie Mark that the process of severance hardly solved his problems.
But Hindle wondered if Lumon got it right: An average desk at an office today is likely adorned with family photos, mementos and other personal flourishes that make one's workspace feel "homier." But when work and home life bleed into each other, severance seems more and more appealing.
"They were really pristine, immaculately designed and there was nothing personal at your deks," Hindle said of the mid-century offices of yore. "People are treated like cattle now. They let you bring your family to work, and that's why you're willing to be a slave to this thing. I kind of wonder if severance is better, in a funny way -- you go to work, do your work and go home."
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.albanyherald.com/entertainment/how-severance-perfected-its-creepy-beautiful-visual-language/article_3c640958-1b92-54b8-bc9b-1c06bf90448c.html | 2022-08-20T14:17:47Z |
"Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition. She is not expected to survive," the statement read. "It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable."
Anoxic brain injury occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen.
Last Friday, Heche was in a car that was traveling at a high speed when it ran off the road and collided with a residence that became engulfed in flames, Los Angeles Police Public Information Officer Jeff Lee told CNN.
A woman inside the home at the time of the crash suffered minor injuries, but did seek medical attention, according to Lee.
Heche has remained in critical condition. This week, a spokesperson for Heche told CNN the actress suffered "significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation" and "burns that require surgical intervention."
"We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers for Anne's recovery and thank the dedicated staff and wonderful nurses that cared for Anne at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills hospital," the statement continued.
In their message, her family and friends also paid tribute to Heche's "huge heart" and "generous spirit."
"More than her extraordinary talent, she saw spreading kindness and joy as her life's work -- especially moving the needle for acceptance of who you love," the statement read. "She will be remembered for her courageous honesty and dearly missed for her light."
Heche rose to fame on the soap opera "Another World," where she played the dual role of twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love from 1987 to 1991. She earned a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance on the show.
Heche followed that success with numerous films, including "Donnie Brasco," "Wag the Dog" and "Six Days Seven Nights" opposite Harrison Ford.
In more recent years, Heche has appeared in television shows like "The Brave," "Quantico," and "Chicago P.D."
Following the crash, there was an outpouring of support for the actress from the Hollywood community. Her ex and former "Men in Trees" co-star James Tupper, with whom she shares one of her two sons, wrote on Instagram: "Thoughts and prayers for this lovely woman, actress and mother tonight Anne Heche. We love you."
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article. | https://www.albanyherald.com/entertainment/anne-heche-is-not-expected-to-survive-family-says-in-statement/article_0f2d1067-4a79-5d50-b2a1-12640ab1d626.html | 2022-08-12T04:47:48Z |
A convicted murderer who was being transported in a Texas prison bus last Thursday allegedly cut through metal, attacked an officer and ran into woods nearby.
He has not been seen since -- prompting what officials say is one of the largest search efforts for an escaped inmate in the state's history.
Gonzalo Lopez, 46, has been convicted of capital murder, attempted capital murder and aggravated kidnapping, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
He was added to the state's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List, with authorities offering up to $50,000 for information that leads to his capture.
Here's what we know about Lopez and his escape.
He was serving two life sentences
Convicted in Texas of two counts of aggravated assault in 1996, Lopez received two eight-year sentences, according to the state's public safety department. In 2006, he was convicted of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison, the department said.
The following year, he was handed a second life sentence for an attempted capital murder conviction, according to the department.
"He's got a life sentence for a capital murder, where he killed a man with a pickaxe and he's also gotten an attempted capital murder conviction for shooting a gun at a police officer," Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Robert Hurst said at a Friday news conference. "He's somebody who is very dangerous."
Lopez also had several other offenses on his record dating back to at least 1994, according to TDCJ records.
He is affiliated with the Mexican Mafia and has ties to the Rio Grande Valley area -- including Weslaco and Mercedes -- and San Antonio, the state's public safety department said.
How he escaped
The inmate escaped last Thursday afternoon, as he was being transported from a facility in Gatesville to another unit in Huntsville for a medical appointment, authorities said in a Wednesday statement.
Huntsville is around 70 miles north of Houston.
"Due to his criminal history and restrictive housing status, inmate Lopez was being transported in a separate, caged area of the bus, designated for high-risk inmates," the statement said.
But as he was being transported, Lopez broke out of his restraints, cut through the metal and crawled out of the bottom of the cage, the state's criminal justice department said. He then attacked the driver, forcing the bus to a stop, according to the department.
In a previous briefing, Hurt said Lopez "stabbed" the officer who was driving with "some sort of object," and the officer struggled with -- but ultimately prevented -- Lopez from grabbing his service weapon. The other inmates were still in their restraints, Hurst said.
The driver and the inmate got out of the bus, and a second officer, who was at the back of the vehicle, got out and began approaching Lopez, the statement said. The inmate went back into the bus and attempted to drive away but the officers shot at the tires and stopped the vehicle, authorities said.
Lopez left the bus and ran into the woods off of Highway 7 in Leon County, according to authorities.
One of the officers fired at the fleeing inmate but authorities are not aware if Lopez was hit, Hurst previously said.
"Last we saw him he was fleeing across the cow pasture west of Centerville," Hurst said. Centerville is about 50 miles from Huntsville.
One of the largest inmate search efforts in state history
On Tuesday, Hurst told reporters that authorities were getting closer to catching Lopez and were hoping to have him in custody soon.
"We've gotten some information, may bring us a little bit closer to closing in on him and hopefully getting him back in our custody," he said.
Hurst said the search was "very concentrated" and called it "one of the largest search efforts for an escaped inmate in Texas Department of Criminal Justice history."
The FBI and US Marshals are involved in the search, which includes almost 300 local, state and federal law enforcement personnel, Hurst previously said.
Authorities are conducting the manhunt on foot with canine patrols, horseback and with the help of helicopters, officials said, and urged travelers not to pick up hitchhikers.
No prison clothes have been found, so authorities believe Lopez could still be in them, Hurst said, though it was still possible he could have changed his clothes.
There is an ongoing investigation into the escape and whether the inmate may have had assistance, he added.
Lopez is about 6 feet tall, 185 pounds and has tattoos on his back, chest and abdomen, authorities said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/one-of-texas-most-wanted-criminals-has-been-missing-for-more-than-a-week-heres/article_c159305c-77d8-59e0-ace7-c5d0d4fa6f0a.html | 2022-05-20T01:03:59Z |
FREMONT, Calif., May 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jackery, the leader of innovative portable power and green outdoor energy solutions, has announced it will release its most powerful solar generator product to date, empowering more campers, van-lifers, and outdoor enthusiasts to embrace the great outdoors this summer. The solar generator will launch on Jackery Day 2022, which will be held as a global live stream on http://www.jackery.com at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on May 12. Jackery has invited all interested to pre-register their interest now for the highly anticipated product.
Jackery has long been a provider of solar energy products that offer self-sufficient power supplies on the go and as a home generator backup. For over a decade, Jackery has expertly manufactured solar panels and portable power stations before bundling them into a single portable energy solution: the Solar Generator.
The first of its kind, Jackery's Solar Generator is a solar solution bundle that tightly integrates portability with solar power. It converts sun energy captured by the solar panels into electrical power, then stores it in a portable power station for later use. This access to on-demand, clean energy equips people with the tools they need enhance their outdoor experience and "Live Life to the Outdoorsiest".
Jackery's Solar Generator concept is the result of years of R&D into solar energy and portable power generation. In 2015, the world's first lithium portable power series—the Explorer—catapulted Jackery's avant-garde portable power line onto the world stage and featured an innovative battery management system. Since then, Jackery has designed a range of Explorer models including the Explorer 240, a classic model that has become a popular staple in the family of portable power stations since launching in 2018.
In the same year, Jackery unveiled the original SolarPeak technology alongside the Solarsaga solar panel series. Designed to provide long-lasting power supplies for off-the-grid outdoor living, Jackery's SolarSaga series boosted solar charging efficiency to set an industry standard. Following this, the company combined both technologies into the Solar Generator, which combines the Explorer and SolarSaga into one clean energy solution to make electricity even more green, efficient and convenient, contributing to the emergence of several chart-topping products, including the Jackery Solar Generator 1000.
Jackery has continued to develop its excellent sustainable outdoor life brand and product line, setting the industry standard and benchmark for solar and renewable charging. To date, with a global footprint spanning from the US to Europe, Japan and China, Jackery has achieved over 1.5 million global sales.
About Jackery
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Jackery Inc. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/05/08/solar-generator-pioneer-jackery-set-unveil-its-most-robust-product-date-may-12/ | 2022-05-09T02:54:37Z |
LOS ANGELES, July 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announces that investors with substantial losses have opportunity to lead the securities fraud class action lawsuit against Inotiv, Inc. ("Inotiv" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: NOTV).
Class Period: September 21, 2021 – June 13, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 22, 2022
If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.
The complaint filed alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) Envigo and Inotiv's Cumberland, Virginia facility (the "Cumberland Facility") engaged in widespread and flagrant violations of the AWA; (2) Envigo and Inotiv's Cumberland Facility continuously violated the AWA; (3) Envigo and Inotiv did not properly remedy issues with regards to animal welfare at the Cumberland Facility; (4) as a result, Inotiv was likely to face increased scrutiny and governmental action; (5) Inotiv would imminently shut down two facilities, including the Cumberland Facility; (6) Inotiv did not engage in proper due diligence; and (7) as a result, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
Follow us for updates on Twitter: twitter.com/FRC_LAW.
To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action. If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to the pending class action lawsuit, please contact Frank R. Cruz, of The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-914-5007, by email to info@frankcruzlaw.com, or visit our website at www.frankcruzlaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
View original content:
SOURCE The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, Los Angeles | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/07/26/notv-investors-have-opportunity-lead-inotiv-inc-securities-fraud-lawsuit/ | 2022-07-26T17:54:35Z |
NEW YORK, June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Energy Transfer LP ("Energy Transfer" or the "Company") (NYSE: ET) of a class action securities lawsuit.
CLASS DEFINITION: The lawsuit seeks to recover losses on behalf of Energy Transfer investors who were adversely affected by alleged securities fraud. This lawsuit is on behalf of persons who purchased or otherwise acquired common shares of Energy Transfer stock between April 13, 2017 and December 20, 2021, both dates inclusive. Follow the link below to get more information and be contacted by a member of our team:
ET investors may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.
CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that defendants made false statements and/or concealed that: (a) Energy Transfer had inadequate internal controls and procedures to prevent contractors from engaging in illegal conduct with regards to drilling activities, and/or failed to properly mitigate known issues related to such controls and procedures; (b) Energy Transfer, through its subsidiary Rover Pipeline, LLC, hired a third-party contractor to conduct Horizontal Directional Drilling Activities for the Rover Pipeline Project, whose conduct of adding illegal additives in the drilling mud caused severe pollution near the Tuscarawas River when a large inadvertent release took place on April 13, 2017; (c) Energy Transfer continually downplayed its potential civil liabilities when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") was actively investigating the Energy Transfer's wrongdoing related to the April 13 release and consistently provided it with updated information about FERC's findings on this matter.
WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Energy Transfer during the relevant time frame, you have until August 2, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you are a class member, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket costs or fees. There is no cost or obligation to participate.
WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Ed Korsinsky, Esq.
55 Broadway, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10006
jlevi@levikorsinsky.com
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/16/et-lawsuit-alert-levi-amp-korsinsky-notifies-energy-transfer-lp-investors-class-action-lawsuit-upcoming-deadline/ | 2022-06-16T11:05:52Z |
(KTLA) — Did you work remotely during the pandemic? Are you still?
If so, your employer may have a very good idea how productive you are.
It’s called “bossware,” and it’s a sneaky type of surveillance technology that allows employers to keep tabs on workers — often without them knowing.
“The average employee will accept the job and say, ‘OK, I like the benefits, I like the salary, I’m going to sign on the dotted line.’ And of course, they’re also signing away all of their privacy rights,” says Alex Alben, a professor of internet law at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He and other experts note that the use of bossware increased during the pandemic as employers handed out laptops to workers and told them to set up shop at home.
What they may not have disclosed is the presence of bossware, which allows the company to track keystrokes, mouse movements, browsing habits and websites visited.
“Some of the less scrupulous ones might even allow the employer to turn on the camera or the microphone of the device that it’s installed on, potentially without the employees’ awareness,” says John Davisson, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
KTLA checked out one popular bossware offering called Clever Control. Along with more routine surveillance, such as how often you’re at the keyboard, it allows your employer to quietly turn on your camera and microphone, and even to record your activities.
Here’s the thing: It’s their laptop, not yours. They can do with it as they please.
And apparently, there’s no law requiring businesses to inform workers when bossware is being used.
“It’s very much like having somebody sitting on your shoulder watching everything you do,” says Hayley Tsukayama, senior legislative activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “And that’s just not a good way to set up a work environment, I would say.”
The California Consumer Privacy Protection Act requires businesses to disclose what information they’re collecting on customers. But employers are exempt from making similar disclosures to workers.
That exemption is scheduled to expire next year – unless corporate lobbyists succeed in maintaining it.
In the meantime, the smart money is on assuming you’re being watched unless you’re told otherwise.
KTLA asked its parent company, Nexstar, if it uses bossware. It said no. | https://cw33.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/bossware-your-employer-may-be-tracking-you-during-remote-work/ | 2022-07-17T17:27:57Z |
WASHINGTON, April 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KCIC, a consultancy based in Washington, D.C., today announced the release of its annual Asbestos Litigation Year in Review report, which provides an in-depth analysis of asbestos-related personal injury through year-end 2021.
The analysis gives a detailed look at asbestos litigation in 2021 and trends in recent years, providing insights into how these trends are changing over time. The report analyzes statistics based on disease, jurisdiction, and plaintiff firm while also diving into alternative exposure types and other plaintiff attributes such as gender, resident state, and age. This year's report includes new analyses on allegations of talc exposure within traditional asbestos lawsuits, as well as at what industries and time frames plaintiffs are alleging exposure occurred. It also looks at trends for living versus deceased plaintiffs and how that has changed over time.
Megan Burns, née Shockley, Managing Director at KCIC, said, "The analyses in this report really get to the heart of the trends driving asbestos litigation. KCIC is a company that thrives on data-driven solutions, and it is through reports like this that we can really analyze the data points captured from asbestos complaints to provide useful insights into the litigation."
To download the 2021 Asbestos Litigation: Year in Review report, and for more information about KCIC, please visit www.kcic.com/asbestos. This year, KCIC will also be presenting the information via webinar that will provide a more in-depth dive into the data. The webinar will be held on April 28th, 2022, at 3PM (EST). To register for this free webinar, please visit here. For inquiries about the report or related webinar, please contact Megan Burns at burnsm@kcic.com.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE KCIC | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/04/05/kcic-releases-annual-asbestos-litigation-trends-report/ | 2022-04-05T15:35:55Z |
Which TCL sound bar is best?
You’d be hard-pressed to find a TV that has adequate speakers and audio quality for movies and music. The default speakers usually favor one over the other, and that can lead to disappointment and frustration.
If you don’t want to splurge on a new home theater audio system, an affordable, quick solution is to get a sound bar. These audio gadgets are specifically tuned to give you big sound in a small package, perfect for when space is a luxury.
TCL has been in the consumer technology industry for over 40 years and knows a thing or two about sound — it manufactures TVs, mobile phones and home audio setups. If you want to upgrade your film streaming experience, the TCL Alto 8 Plus 3.1.2 Channel Dolby Atmos Smart Sound Bar is an excellent choice.
What to know before you buy a TCL sound bar
Power output
You naturally want to hear all the sounds when watching a movie and don’t want to strain during dialogue. The best way to prevent incomprehensible audio is to consider the sound bar’s power output relevant to your viewing environment. The power output determines how loud the sound bar will be before distorting.
Bigger isn’t always better
It’s natural to assume that a larger speaker will produce a loud sound. While that is true sometimes, it’s not always the case for sound bars. These elongated audio players are made to be as small as possible while still producing excellent sound quality. Together with the power output, you might find a smaller sound bar that is just as clear and loud as a full home theater system. It will cost a fraction of the price too.
Active sound bars are better than passive ones
While passive sound bars have better speakers than active ones, they do require a receiver or an amplifier to work. This takes up more space in your living room and requires additional cables. On the other hand, active sound bars have an amplifier built into them that also separates the right, left and center channels. They are easier to set up and get going but aren’t as loud or clear as passive sound bars.
What to look for in a quality TCL sound bar
Multiple connections
Most sound bars provide additional audio for your TV, but you don’t want to be limited to just that. A good-quality TCL sound bar has multiple connections that include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and USB. This lets you easily pair a mobile device to stream audio from your favorite music sources.
Remote control
Getting up off the couch to change the volume is so last century. You want the comfort of being able to change the input source and volume without having to walk over to the sound bar. That is why a good-quality TCL model comes with a remote controller. In fact, several of them are compatible with TCL’s Roku TV remote.
Mounting the sound bar
You’ll usually find a sound bar in front of the TV, but placing it just above can improve the audio clarity. You can only do that, though, if the sound bar is mountable on a wall. Consider a TCL sound bar that lets you do this. Several include a wall mounting kit.
How much you can expect to spend on a TCL sound bar
The average cost of a TCL sound bar largely depends on the model, the number of speaker channels and additional functions. An affordable sound bar costs $60-$80, while a surround-sound model costs $150-$200.
TCL sound bar FAQ
What do the channel numbers mean?
A. Sound bars and home theater systems use several speakers to produce the audio, and the channels indicate the corresponding amount. For example, a 2.1-channel sound bar has a left and right audio channel and a subwoofer. A setup with more speakers is a 7.1-channel system.
Can you add more speakers?
A. That isn’t possible with TCL sound bars.
What’s the best TCL sound bar to buy?
Top TCL sound bar
TCL Alto 8 Plus 3.1.2 Channel Dolby Atmos Smart Sound Bar
What you need to know: This 3.1.2-channel sound bar comes with a wireless subwoofer for added bass.
What you’ll love: In addition to the wireless subwoofer, it has eight small speakers to create surround sound through Dolby Atmos. The center channel is specifically for dialogue, letting you hear every word clearly. It’s compatible with Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant.
What you should consider: There was a rare complaint that lips didn’t sync with sound.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top TCL sound bar for the money
TCL Alto 6 2.0 Channel Home Theater Sound Bar
What you need to know: An affordable option to upgrade your TV’s audio, it has a two-channel system with an active speaker amplifier.
What you’ll love: Through Dolby technology, this sound bar creates virtual surround sound. The Bluetooth connection lets you pair it with mobile devices and connects to others through HDMI and USB.
What you should consider: You can’t pair this sound bar with other speakers.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
TCL Alto 8i 2.1 Channel Dolby Atmos Sound Bar with Built-in Subwoofers
What you need to know: This TCL sound bar has a built-in subwoofer with rich bass, letting you feel the onscreen action.
What you’ll love: Measuring almost 40 inches long, it’s easily mounted on a wall. It is compatible with the TCL Roku TV remote and supports Dolby Atmos technology for great surround sound.
What you should consider: As it has a built-in subwoofer, you can’t add an additional woofer if you want more thumping bass.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Want to shop the best products at the best prices? Check out Daily Deals from BestReviews.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://cw33.com/reviews/best-tcl-sound-bar/ | 2022-08-03T14:43:17Z |
MADRID (AP) — Less could be more for Antoine Griezmann going into the World Cup.
The France forward has been getting few minutes with Atlético Madrid because of a unique contractual dispute with Barcelona, but with his World Cup spot not really in danger, he may end up being one of the few players arriving fresh for the tournament in November.
Griezmann has been on the bench at Atlético while the Spanish club reportedly tries to avoid having to pay Barcelona 40 million euros ($40.5 million) if he plays more than 45 minutes on average in a number of matches during his loan. Atlético coach Diego Simeone has used the forward only after the 60-minute mark in all six of the team’s matches this season.
The 31-year-old Griezmann, a World Cup champion with France four years ago, is in the second of his two-year loan from Barcelona. He was a star at Atlético from 2014-19 before moving to the Catalan club for two disappointing seasons.
“It is what it is, it’s not up to me,” Griezmann said. “Of course, I want to play more, but I will give everything I have in the minutes that I get. I am a team player, I am happy here and I just want to play and give it all for the club, for Simeone and for the fans.”
And Griezmann has certainly made the most of his time on the field so far, performing well whenever he comes off the bench. He has scored three goals already, including a stoppage-time winner in Atlético’s victory over Porto in the team’s Champions League opener last week.
“At this point in the season, he is helping us this particular way, and it shows in the quality of the minutes he plays, and in his hierarchy,” Simeone said. “What we know is that in 30 minutes he has been playing very well. We don’t know how it would be in 60. I can only go by what we know.”
If Griezmann keeps playing well while not getting too overworked, he could arrive at the World Cup in great physical condition while the majority of players will be coming off a schedule of non-stop games prompted by the tight calendar of a World Cup year.
Griezmann would be in good position to be the third starter in a France attack that is expected to be spearheaded by Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema. France coach Didier Deschamps’ other choices up front include Wissam Ben Yedder, Kingsley Coman, Moussa Diaby, Ousmane Dembélé, Olivier Giroud and Christopher Nkunku.
And the good thing for France if Griezmann does arrive in top form, there will be no limit on his playing time.
LA DEFENSE
Just 10 weeks before France begins its title defense against Australia, Paris Saint-Germain said central defender Presnel Kimpembe will miss the next six of them with a left hamstring injury.
Competition for places has heated up with William Saliba emerging at Arsenal and both Samuel Umtiti and Clément Lenglet leaving Barcelona on loan — for Lecce and Tottenham, respectively — to seek more playing time and also cut the Spanish club’s salary bill.
SANÉ’S TIMING
Just in time, Leroy Sané is finally starting to live up to expectations at Bayern Munich.
The Germany forward has endured a frustrating spell in Munich since his big-money return to Germany from Manchester City in 2020. He was even booed by Bayern’s fans last year.
But the 26-year-old Sané seems like a new player this season. He has been producing impressive performances in the Bundesliga and was “man of the match” in Bayern’s 2-0 win at Inter Milan in the Champions League last week, scoring one goal and setting up the other.
That’s good news for Germany coach Hansi Flick, who has also played Bayern midfielder Jamal Musiala on the left wing. Sané has 11 goals in 45 appearances for Germany but is not yet an undisputed starter.
“When he’s in the mood and brings his qualities to the field,” Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić said, “he can be one of the best players in Europe.”
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
___
Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni | https://cw33.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-world-cup-watch-contractual-tug-of-war-may-help-griezmann/ | 2022-09-13T15:31:32Z |
Appoints Sigurdur Olafsson as President and Chief Executive Officer
DUBLIN, Ireland, June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc ("Mallinckrodt" or the "Company") today announced that it has successfully completed its reorganization process, emerged from Chapter 11 and completed the Irish Examinership proceedings.
The Company is moving forward as a diversified global specialty pharmaceutical company with a strengthened balance sheet and increased financial flexibility to invest in its business, execute its strategic initiatives, advance its pipeline and better meet the needs of patients. Supported by existing drug development programs and approximately 2,800 talented employees globally, the Company is poised to build on its 155-year history of providing medicines that address patient needs through its two business segments:
- Specialty Brands, a global, innovative biopharmaceutical business that develops and commercializes specialty branded pharmaceutical medicines for patients; and
- Specialty Generics, a U.S.-based, vertically integrated business that produces high-quality generic medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients in complex markets.
Paul Bisaro, Chairman of the Mallinckrodt Board of Directors, said, "Today marks a new beginning for Mallinckrodt as we emerge well-positioned for long-term success, with a substantially stronger capital structure and major litigation matters permanently resolved. As we move forward, the top priority for our new Board is working alongside management to review the business and develop a go-forward strategy to drive sustainable value for our patients, customers, partners, team members, shareholders and other stakeholders. We are focused on thoughtfully establishing a plan that builds on our innovation-driven therapies pipeline, capitalizes on Mallinckrodt's core strengths and positions the Company for long-term sustainable growth."
"I extend my deepest gratitude to Mallinckrodt's teams, whose determination, resilience and commitment to serving our customers and patients have been extraordinary throughout this process," Mr. Bisaro continued. "We also thank engaged patient groups and our customers and partners for their significant support and continued confidence in our company and our future, which has been instrumental in making this milestone possible."
Sigurdur Olafsson Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer
The Company also announced today that Sigurdur (Siggi) Olafsson has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of Mallinckrodt's Board, effective June 25, 2022. Mr. Olafsson brings almost 30 years of diverse pharmaceutical experience across branded and generic drugs, most recently serving as CEO of Hikma Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to Hikma, Mr. Olafsson served as President and CEO of the Global Generic Medicines Group of Teva Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was President of Actavis plc (Watson) and CEO of the Actavis Group, which develop, manufacture and distribute branded, generic and biosimilar products. Mr. Olafsson also held a number of leadership positions in Pfizer's Global R&D organization in the UK and U.S., focused on branded drug development, and served as Head of Drug Development for Omega Farma in Iceland.
Mark Trudeau has stepped down from his role as President and CEO, effective today. Mallinckrodt has established an Office of the CEO on an interim basis until Mr. Olafsson starts at Mallinckrodt. The Office of the CEO comprises Mark Casey, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer; Hugh O'Neill, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial and Operations Officer; and Bryan Reasons, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Bisaro added, "On behalf of the Board and leadership team, I thank Mark for his significant contributions to Mallinckrodt over the past decade. We wish Mark all the best in his future endeavors. Importantly, we have strong leadership in place to guide us as we turn the page, with Siggi bringing decades of experience and deep expertise in both branded and generic pharmaceuticals. We appreciate Mark, Hugh and Bryan stepping into the Office of the CEO to lead us until Siggi officially joins Mallinckrodt later this month."
Mr. Olafsson said, "It's an honor to be appointed Mallinckrodt's CEO. I look forward to helping guide the Company as it continues to support patients around the world. Mallinckrodt is emerging from its recent restructuring process with an attractive pipeline, enhanced financial flexibility and significant opportunities to drive stakeholder value. I look forward to working closely with the Board and my new colleagues in developing and executing Mallinckrodt's revised strategic plan."
New Board of Directors
The Company's Board now comprises six independent directors, each of whom brings years of experience, relevant expertise and fresh perspectives to Mallinckrodt. These directors are:
- Paul Bisaro, Chairman, an industry veteran with 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry;
- Daniel Celentano, a seasoned financial advisor to major companies across numerous industries globally;
- Riad El-Dada, a pharmaceutical executive with extensive U.S. and international leadership experience, including as a senior executive at Merck for more than 25 years;
- Neal Goldman, Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, an investment professional with more than 25 years of experience in investing and working with companies in a variety of industries to maximize shareholder value, and with expertise in strategic planning and company transformations;
- Woodrow (Woody) Myers, Chair of the Governance and Compliance Committee, a nationally recognized leader in the development of advanced healthcare management programs and initiatives to improve medical quality; and
- James Sulat, Chair of the Audit Committee, a leader with more than 20 years of experience serving as an executive and board member in the life sciences industry.
When Mr. Olafsson joins the Company later this month, the total number of directors on Mallinckrodt's Board will be seven.
For full biographies of each director, please visit https://www.mallinckrodt.com/about/board-of-directors/.
Permanent Resolution of Litigation
As a result of the reorganization process, Mallinckrodt has significantly improved its financial position and resolved numerous lawsuits the Company was facing prior to the Chapter 11 proceedings. The Company's Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan") and Irish law Scheme of Arrangement (the "Scheme"), which became effective today, include key legal settlements that resolve opioid claims brought against the Company and litigation matters involving Acthar® Gel, among other claims, and provides for significant equitization of the Company's guaranteed unsecured notes.
Mallinckrodt is now the first company that has permanently resolved opioid litigation on a global scale, including any future claims that might be brought for periods prior to emergence. The Company will continue operating its opioid business in a responsible manner, in compliance with an operating injunction agreed to with state Attorneys General that has been in place since the commencement of the Chapter 11 process, and under the oversight of an independent monitor.
Implementing the Plan and the Scheme strengthens the Company's balance sheet, reduces its total debt by approximately $1.3 billion and enables it to move forward with more than $250 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand.
Issuance, Listing and Trading of New Common Stock
In connection with emergence, all of Mallinckrodt's existing ordinary shares were cancelled pursuant to the Plan and the Scheme. Mallinckrodt issued 13,170,932 new ordinary shares to its guaranteed unsecured noteholders in accordance with the provisions of the Plan and the Scheme.
In accordance with the Plan, Mallinckrodt also issued 3,290,675 warrants with a strike price of $103.40 to the opioid claimants and adopted a management incentive plan providing for the issuance to management, key employees and directors of the Company of equity awards with respect to up to an aggregate of 1,829,068 shares.
Mallinckrodt's new shares are anticipated to trade over-the-counter under the ticker symbol "MNKPF" until such time as the Company relists on a national securities exchange.
New Financing
In connection with emergence, Mallinckrodt issued $650 million in aggregate principal amount of new first lien senior secured notes. The proceeds of the notes will be used to, among other things, pay certain fees and expenses, satisfy other payment obligations under the Plan, and for other general corporate purposes. Mallinckrodt also entered into a $200 million accounts receivable financing facility.
Pursuant to the Plan, Mallinckrodt also reinstated $495 million in aggregate principal amount of its existing first lien senior secured notes and issued $1.76 billion in aggregate principal amount of new first lien senior secured term loans to the holders of its existing term loans in satisfaction thereof, issued $323 million in aggregate principal amount of new second lien senior secured notes to the holders of its existing second lien senior secured notes in satisfaction thereof and issued $375 million in aggregate principal amount of new second lien senior secured notes to the holders of certain of its existing unsecured senior notes in partial satisfaction thereof.
Advisors
Latham & Watkins LLP; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Arnold & Porter; Ropes & Gray LLP; and Hogan Lovells served as Mallinckrodt's counsel. Guggenheim Securities, LLC served as investment banker and AlixPartners LLP served as restructuring advisor to Mallinckrodt.
About Mallinckrodt
Mallinckrodt is a global business consisting of multiple wholly owned subsidiaries that develop, manufacture, market and distribute specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. The company's Specialty Brands reportable segment's areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology, ophthalmology, and oncology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics; cultured skin substitutes and gastrointestinal products. Its Specialty Generics reportable segment includes specialty generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELATED TO FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements in this document that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding future financial condition and operating results, legal, economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Mallinckrodt's businesses, and any other statements regarding events or developments the company believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. These factors include risks and uncertainties related to, among other things: the effects of the Chapter 11 cases, on the liquidity, results of operations and businesses of Mallinckrodt and its subsidiaries; governmental investigations and inquiries, regulatory actions and lawsuits brought against Mallinckrodt by government agencies and private parties with respect to its historical commercialization of opioids, including the agreement set forth in the Plan regarding a global settlement to resolve all opioid-related claims; the settlement set forth in the Plan with governmental parties to resolve certain disputes relating to Acthar Gel; the ability to maintain relationships with Mallinckrodt's suppliers, customers, employees and other third parties as a result of the Chapter 11 cases; the possibility that Mallinckrodt may be unable to achieve its business and strategic goals even now that the Plan is successfully consummated; the nondischargeability of certain claims against Mallinckrodt as part of the bankruptcy process; developing, funding and executing Mallinckrodt's business plan and continuing as a going concern; Mallinckrodt's post-bankruptcy capital structure; scrutiny from governments, legislative bodies and enforcement agencies related to sales, marketing and pricing practices; pricing pressure on certain of Mallinckrodt's products due to legal changes or changes in insurers' reimbursement practices resulting from recent increased public scrutiny of healthcare and pharmaceutical costs; the impact of the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus; the reimbursement practices of governmental health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payers; complex reporting and payment obligations under the Medicare and Medicaid rebate programs and other governmental purchasing and rebate programs; cost containment efforts of customers, purchasing groups, third-party payers and governmental organizations; changes in or failure to comply with relevant laws and regulations; Mallinckrodt's and its partners' ability to successfully develop or commercialize new products or expand commercial opportunities; Mallinckrodt's ability to navigate price fluctuations; competition; Mallinckrodt's and its partners' ability to protect intellectual property rights; limited clinical trial data for Acthar Gel; clinical studies and related regulatory processes; product liability losses and other litigation liability; material health, safety and environmental liabilities; potential indemnification liabilities to Covidien pursuant to the separation and distribution agreement; business development activities; retention of key personnel; the effectiveness of information technology infrastructure including cybersecurity and data leakage risks; customer concentration; Mallinckrodt's reliance on certain individual products that are material to its financial performance; Mallinckrodt's ability to receive procurement and production quotas granted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; complex manufacturing processes; conducting business internationally; Mallinckrodt's ability to achieve expected benefits from restructuring activities; Mallinckrodt's significant levels of intangible assets and related impairment testing; labor and employment laws and regulations; natural disasters or other catastrophic events; Mallinckrodt's substantial indebtedness, its ability to generate sufficient cash to reduce its indebtedness and its potential need and ability to incur further indebtedness; Mallinckrodt's ability to generate sufficient cash to service indebtedness even now that the prepetition indebtedness has been restructured; restrictions on Mallinckrodt's operations contained in the agreements governing Mallinckrodt's indebtedness; Mallinckrodt's variable rate indebtedness; and future changes to U.S. and foreign tax laws or the impact of disputes with governmental tax authorities; and the impact of Irish laws.
The "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC identify and describe in more detail the risks and uncertainties to which Mallinckrodt's businesses are subject. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
CONTACTS
Investor Relations
Daniel Speciale
Global Corporate Controller & Chief Investor Relations Officer
314-654-3638
daniel.speciale@mnk.com
Derek Belz
Vice President, Investor Relations
314-654-3950
derek.belz@mnk.com
Government Affairs
Mark Tyndall
Senior Vice President, U.S. General Counsel
202-459-4141
mark.tyndall@mnk.com
Media
Michael Freitag / Aaron Palash / Aura Reinhard
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449
View original content:
SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/16/mallinckrodt-emerges-chapter-11-with-strengthened-balance-sheet-enhanced-financial-flexibility/ | 2022-06-16T23:15:04Z |
Stocks swayed in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday as the market cools off following a rare winning week.
The S&P 500 edged down 0.2% as of 2:19 p.m. Eastern. The benchmark index has been shifting between small gains and losses throughout the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 23 points, or 0.1%, to 31,473 and the Nasdaq fell 0.5%.
A pullback in technology and communication stocks, and in several big retailers and travel-related companies weighed on the market. Microsoft fell 1%, while Electronic Arts slid 4.6%. Amazon slipped 2.4% and Carnival fell 1.6%.
Those losses checked gains elsewhere in the market, including energy stocks, which rose as the price of U.S. crude oil climbed 1.9%. Exxon Mobil rose 2.5%.
European markets were mixed and Asian markets closed higher overnight. Treasury yields were mostly higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which helps set mortgage rates, rose to 3.20% from 3.12% late Friday.
Stocks closed out last week with solid gains and the S&P 500 had its best day in two years on Friday. It was a welcome rally in the midst of a deep slump for Wall Street as investors worry about the path of inflation and whether rising interest rates will temper the impact to businesses and consumers or push the economy into a recession.
The Federal Reserve and other central banks have been aggressively raising interest rates in a sharp turnaround from maintaining ultra-low rates during the virus pandemic that helped support the economy. It’s a delicate balance for the Fed, which hopes to cool off the economy, but not so much that it actually contracts. Higher interest rates, though, also hurt prices for investors and have prompted much of the year’s sell-off.
Investors have favorably viewed recent reports showing weak consumer sentiment and economic growth because that raises the possibility that the Fed will ease off its plan for aggressive rate hikes as economic growth slows.
Wall Street will have a few more reports this week that could provide more insight into inflation, economic growth and the Fed’s path ahead.
On Tuesday, business group The Conference Board will release its consumer confidence report for June. Spending and confidence held up well through most of the post-pandemic recovery, even as inflation rose. But record high gas prices and an overall tighter squeeze from inflation have been eating away at wallets and prompting many to shift or cut back spending.
Part of push behind inflation’s tighter squeeze was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. That sent energy prices soaring. U.S. crude oil prices are up more than 40% for the year. Prices for wheat and corn have also surged.
Conferring by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Group of Seven leaders were finalizing a deal to seek a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions.
Russia may have also defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, further alienating the country from the global financial system amid its war in Ukraine.
Investors will get another update on U.S. economic growth on Wednesday when the Commerce Department releases a report on first-quarter gross domestic product. | https://cw33.com/business/ap-business/asian-shares-rally-after-wall-street-logs-rare-winning-week/ | 2022-06-27T18:59:47Z |
9 best SD card readers
Digital memory cards fit into readers on our electronic gadgets. We use these memory devices to store photos, movies, games, documents and more. Secure Digital is a proprietary flash memory card format for use in portable devices. Some SD memory card readers can read only a single, specific type of memory device, but the most useful are those that read multiple formats, such as SD cards, micro SD cards, compact flash cards and more.
What is an SD card reader?
Memory card readers are a popular way of copying and transferring digital files from one computer to another because they are so easy to use. You slip the memory chip into the open slot and plug the card reader into a USB port on your computer.
Why an SD card and not a flash drive?
-
Flash drives are external memory devices used for transferring files from one computer to another. Flash drives do not have slots to hold memory cards because the memory is built right into the stick itself.
-
SD cards are postage-stamp size computer memory centers. SD cards are found in tablets, cameras, digital music players, surveillance cameras, video game consoles and other small electronic devices where space is at a premium.
Before you buy a card reader
Memory cards
Start with the kinds of memory cards your electronic gear uses. Most need card-specific readers to work properly, so look for a reader that accepts all the varieties of memory cards you’re using. These little chips look a lot alike, but there are four types, and it’s important to know the differences.
- SD cards: Secure digital memory cards are the original version of SD memory. They hold the least data and are the slowest of all SD card types, but are compatible with all card readers.
- SDHC cards: Secure digital high-capacity memory cards hold more data and transfer it more quickly. SDHC cards work well with most card readers, but not SD-only.
- SDXC cards: Secure digital extended capacity memory cards are the fastest — up to 80 megabits per second — and hold as much as 512 gigabytes of data.
- MicroSD cards: First designed to fit in the very small spaces of smartphones, microSD cards are now used in tablets, digital cameras and even drones.
Computer operating system
Most people save files, photos, videos and more to internal SD cards, then transfer them to their computer via an SD card reader. Make sure your reader is compatible with your computer’s operating system.
USB connector types
Most SD card readers connect via a USB cable that plugs into the ports on your computer. No matter the read and write speed of your memory card, transfer speeds are limited by the type of USB connector you choose.
What you need to buy
USB 2.0 card readers
USB 2.0 is the original rectangular port and has a transfer speed of only 480 megabits per second, slowest of all the USB types. If your need for data reading, writing and transfer speeds is modest, an inexpensive USB 2.0 card reader is a good choice.
Micro USB 2.0 SD Card Reader for Android
You can connect your Android phone directly to your laptop with this cleverly designed device that has a USB 2.0 connector on one end and a USB-C connector on the other. That way, you can bridge the gap between the old and the new.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Atolla USB 2.0 SD Card Reader and Splitter
You can expand one USB 2.0 port to three USB 3.0 ports with this reader-splitter. Each port has an individual power switch with an LED indicator. Use any of them to read and transfer files from SD and MicroSD cards.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Cotchear Mini Super Speed Micro SD/SDXC USB 2.0 Card Reader
This light, compact card reader comes on a key chain so you won’t lose it. It’s anti-magnetic, moisture-proof, resistant to high temperatures and compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
USB 3 card readers
USB 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 are all backward compatible, so you also can use them with USB 2.0 readers. They have transfer speeds of 5, 10 and 20 gigabytes per second, respectively.
SmartQ C368 USB 3.0 SD Card Reader
This plug-and-play reader has four slots to support SD, SDXC, SDHC, MicroSD, CompactFlash and MultiMedia Cards and needs no software. It supports full-speed, high-speed and super-speed transfers of up to 5Gbps.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Lexar Multi-Card 2-in-1 USB 3.1 Reader
This card reader lets you simultaneously transfer files from SD and MicroSD slots to your computer. It is also backward compatible.
Where to buy: Sold at Amazon
ProGrade Digital SD UHS-11 Dual Slot Memory Card Reader
You get ultra-high-speed data transfer from this card reader that is built with professional photographers and videographers in mind. It’s a great choice for people looking for better performance because it uses USB 3.2.
Where to buy: Sold at Amazon
USB-C card readers
USB-C has the same 10Gbps speed as the USB 3.1 connector but is oval, not rectangular, a design that means you can plug it in without it ever being upside down.
This sleek device is made for newer electronics with USB-C ports. The plug-and-play system works with Windows and Mac operating systems.
Where to buy: Sold at Amazon
This card reader is cleverly designed so it doesn’t block any of your other tablet or computer ports. It works with ultra-high-speed SD cards.
Where to buy: Sold at Amazon
Syntech USB-C Memory Card Reader Hub
Read and write three cards at once from slots made to hold SD, MicroSD and Compact Flash cards. The premium aluminum alloy casing and the tangle-free coated cable stand up to heavy use.
Where to buy: Sold at Amazon
Which one should I buy?
The best SD card reader for you is compatible with your computer operating system, reads all the different kinds of memory cards your electronic devices use, and has all the speed you need.
Want to shop the best products at the best prices? Check out Daily Deals from BestReviews.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
David Allan Van writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://cw33.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/computer-accessories-peripherals-br/which-sd-card-reader-should-i-buy/ | 2022-07-20T23:26:48Z |
NEW YORK, July 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Volato, the most efficient way to own a private jet, today revealed its branding is the work of Red Antler, the Brooklyn, New York-based agency known for its work with innovative startups. Red Antler approached the project by putting Volato's values of transparency, efficiency and innovation at the forefront, weaving the luxury of private aviation throughout.
Inspired by the Latin word volare, which means to "fly" or "soar," Volato distinguishes itself from traditional, aviation-named competitors and creates a feeling of timeless luxury. The name itself also rolls off the tongue, which is Red Antler's implicit nod to Volato's frictionless, high-touch experience. Volato's wordmark portrays the brand's mission, to always choose to fly forward, starting with a finely crafted sweeping cursive 'V' that's both effortless and elegant. The choice to use "Midnight" dark gray-blue signifies a quiet confidence, with pops of neon aptly named "Velocity Green" that add both freshness and dimension. Crafted from blades of an aircraft engine, a small but mighty dragonfly is Volato's brand icon. Dragonflies are powerful and agile fliers, and in this case, symbolize Volato's innovative approach to the aviation industry. Volato adopted this concept for its call sign, Tombo, which is Japanese for dragonfly; a clever nod to Volato's HondaJet fleet.
"Volato strives not just to be a private jet company, but a global aviation company that provides luxury customer service, products and experiences, so it's essential we craft a brand that conveys this message to an international audience," said James Cuff, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Volato. "Working with Red Antler was an obvious choice after seeing how they've successfully created iconic, well-loved brands, and we're grateful for their creativity in helping us establish Volato."
"At Red Antler, we're constantly looking to work with disruptive brands that are reimagining categories through innovation rooted in real consumer needs," said Emily Heyward, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer at Red Antler. "When we met the Volato team, we instantly recognized the opportunity in their unique, innovative business model that was reengineering private flying for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, while delivering the luxury people expect from private aviation."
For more information about Volato and its offerings, please visit https://www.flyvolato.com/.
About Red Antler
Red Antler is a branding company based in Brooklyn that offers research, branding, naming, digital design, engineering and advertising services. Fiercely committed to differentiation and success, the team partners with founders and startups to build brands that are changing how the world works. Red Antler creates captivating brand experiences that connect with people deliberately, through all points of interaction.
About Volato:
Volato is the modern way to buy and own a private jet, creating a more accessible, sustainable category of private aviation ownership through an innovative business model that reduces costs while increasing the convenience of ownership. Volato focuses on missions of up to four passengers and operates a fleet of bespoke HondaJet Elite aircraft.
Volato PR Contact:
Tori Mattei
tmattei@virgo-pr.com
631.942.5069
View original content:
SOURCE Volato | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/07/19/private-jet-company-volato-taps-red-antler-brand-services/ | 2022-07-19T15:08:34Z |
Wall Street capped a choppy week of trading Friday with a broad slide for stocks that left the major indexes in the red for the week.
The S&P 500 closed 1.3% lower, breaking a four-week winning streak. Shares in more than 80% of the companies in the benchmark index fell, with technology stocks driving much of the pullback.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 2% and also ended four weeks of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9%, ending slightly in the red for the week. Small company stocks also lost ground, pulling the Russell 2000 index 2.2% lower.
Friday marked the heaviest selling for the market, including the S&P 500’s biggest decline in more than seven weeks, after a solid run of weekly gains. The strong market rally in July and early August followed better-than-expected company earnings and signs that the economy is slowing, possibly setting the stage for less aggressive rate hikes, the Federal Reserve’s main tool for taming surging inflation.
Minutes from the central bank’s interest rate policy meeting last month and recent statements by Fed officials appeared to signal that the Fed may not be prepared to relent just yet from its pace of rate increases, said Quincy Krosby, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial.
“That put the market on notice that perhaps the market may have to contend with a Fed that continues to raise rates at a steady pace and perhaps does not pause and take its foot off the pedal,” she said.
That gave traders “the perfect excuse to finally begin to burn off” some of the market’s recent gains.
The S&P 500 fell 55.26 points to 4,227.48. It ended with a 1.2% loss for the week and is now down 11.3% so far this year.
The Dow dropped 292.30 points to 33,706.74, while the Nasdaq slid 260.13 points to 12,705.22. The Russell 2000 gave up 43.38 points to 1,957.35.
Technology stocks had some of the biggest losses and the sector’s dip weighed heavily on the broader market. Microsoft fell 1.4%.
Retailers, banks and communications companies also fell sharply amid the broad slide.
Meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond sank 40.5% after the high-profile activist investor Ryan Cohen confirmed that he’s sold his stake in the company.
Cryptocurrencies fell broadly as Bitcoin slumped 8.5% to $21,370, according to CoinDesk.
Bright spots included General Motors, which rose 2.5% after reinstating its dividend. Foot Locker soared 20% after replacing its CEO and reporting earnings that beat Wall Street’s estimates.
Bond yields gained ground, reflecting expectations of further interest rate hikes. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.97% from 2.89% late Thursday.
Traders had no shortage of company and economic data to review this week, including the latest batch of earnings from retailers and updates on spending, home sales and the employment market.
Big retailers including Walmart and Target have warned investors that inflation is crimping consumer spending. Department store owner Macy’s will report its results next week.
A report on retail sales this week showed that spending remains resilient as gasoline prices fall and help ease some pressure from inflation.
Wall Street is trying to determine how stubbornly hot inflation is affecting businesses and consumers and whether the economy can remain resilient and avoid a recession.
The data from government and corporate reports is also being closely watched as investors try to determine how the Federal Reserve will continue with its plan to fight inflation by raising interest rates. The goal is to raise rates and slow down economic growth to cool inflation. But, the central bank is threading a fine line between taming inflation in an already slowing economy and hitting the brakes too hard and veering the economy into a recession.
Minutes of the Fed’s July meeting released this week said inflation is still is too high and made clear the central bank will keep raising interest rates. The central bank has raised interest rates twice this year by 0.75 percentage points, triple its usual margin. Forecasters currently expect a hike of a half-percentage point at the board’s next meeting.
Wall Street will be keenly watching next week’s speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at an annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“The question is does he engage the market with his assessment of the direction of inflation, the progress the Fed is making and offer any suggestion of the direction of rate hikes?” Krosby said. | https://cw33.com/business/ap-business/asian-markets-mixed-after-wall-st-gains-on-jobs-data/ | 2022-08-19T22:20:23Z |
(NEXSTAR) – For anyone wondering, yes, Bob Odenkirk knows how to make an authentic Cinnabon cinnamon roll.
During the penultimate episode of “Breaking Bad,” Odenkirk’s character of Saul Goodman laments having to flee Albuquerque — and give up his lucrative-yet-unscrupulous law practice — as the Feds start closing in.
“If I’m lucky, a month from now, best-case scenario, I’m managing a Cinnabon in Omaha,” he tells Walter White, the two of them standing in the basement of a vacuum-repair shop, waiting to be given new identities and placed in hiding.
At the time, it was a silly, seemingly throwaway line. But after Cinnabon expressed their excitement at being name-dropped on one of the most critically lauded series on TV, the production team at AMC went ahead and built upon the idea for “Better Call Saul,” its then-upcoming prequel series.
“Following that line, our social media team quickly tweeted at Bob Odenkirk and shared a link to our careers page,” Michael Alberici, the VP of marketing at Cinnabon, told Nexstar. Alberici added that Cinnabon and AMC’s relationship eventually “evolved” to the point that the company was actually working with the production on “Better Call Saul.”
“We never imagined that line and our social media response would have led to being involved at the level we have been,” he said.
But Cinnabon didn’t just give permission for “Better Call Saul” to use its name and logo. In helping to add a more authentic touch to the series, actual Cinnabon operations employees have been present during every Cinnabon-set scene on “Better Call Saul” since the show’s inception.
“Our operations team members are on-site for every season and prepare the bakery set, real product, and help coach Bob and the other actors,” Alberici said.
The scenes are also filmed in a former Cinnabon bakery in an Albuquerque mall, though the space has been closed to the public for years.
“Each season, Cinnabon stocked it to look like a functioning bakery by shipping in equipment, packaging, product, etc. and bringing it back to life,” according to Alberici.
In earlier seasons, real-life Cinnabon employees played extras in the bakery scenes, but that’s no longer the case. These days, Saul Goodman’s co-workers — sorry, Gene Takavic’s co-workers — are merely actors portraying Cinnabon employees.
Despite having representatives on set during filming, Alberici said Cinnabon’s team members know only “what will be shot” during the bakery scenes, and are never given access to the full scripts or story arcs, in order to keep the plot of each episode a secret. A representative for AMC confirmed that while Cinnabon’s reps are indeed on the set, they do not know how those scenes will figure into the season.
“We are surprised just as every viewer is when the season airs,” Alberici said.
In fact, it’s very likely that Odenkirk knows more about Cinnabon than Cinnabon knows about “Better Call Saul” and its plotlines.
In a 2016 interview, Odenkirk told Conan O’Brien that very early in production, he had been instructed by Cinnabon’s VP of operations in “exactly how you make a Cinnabon.”
“Debbie Rowley taught me, she’s the lady from the head office … That’s part of [“Better Call Saul” creator] Vince Gilligan’s attention to detail,” Odenkirk said.
“I not only learned the first season, but the second season, they gave me a refresher course,” he added.
Then again, none of this should come as much of a surprise. Bryan Cranston, who played meth kingpin Walter White on “Breaking Bad,” has repeatedly claimed that a chemist from the DEA coached him and fellow actor Aaron Paul in the production of crystal meth while they were appearing on the show. | https://cw33.com/lifestyle/food-and-drink/better-call-saul-and-cinnabon-what-the-bakery-chain-knew-and-didnt-know-about-the-show/ | 2022-08-15T21:15:40Z |
Real-Time Dark Web Intelligence Empowers Financial Institutions, Card Issuers, and E-commerce Providers to Prevent Payment Fraud
BOSTON, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Recorded Future, the world's largest intelligence company, today announced the expansion of its Intelligence Cloud with Payment Fraud Intelligence, a single source of truth for identifying, mitigating, and preventing payment fraud. Payment Fraud Intelligence enables those focused on payment fraud, including financial institutions, card issuers, and e-commerce providers to disrupt the entire payment fraud lifecycle by helping to detect e-skimmer infrastructure, compromised cards, and crypto wallets associated with malicious activity.
Payment fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry impacting merchants, cardholders, and financial institutions, and will result in over $400 billion in losses globally over the next decade. Historically, the industry has taken a reactive approach, waiting until fraudulent purchases take place, then attempting to limit losses, resulting in further reputational damages and financial losses. Recorded Future has unparalleled visibility into the complete payment fraud infrastructure, enabling clients to disrupt criminal activity by proactively detecting payment data being sold on the dark web, finding e-commerce sites infected with e-skimmers, and mapping thousands of the tester merchants used to validate cards before they're used fraudulently.
Recorded Future's Payment Fraud Intelligence enables payment fraud teams to proactively:
- Pinpoint compromised common points of purchase (CPPs)
- Enhance risk-exposure models and lower fraud potential
- Improve average fraud rate metrics across an entire card portfolio
- Detect attacker infrastructure being used to skim payment card data
With Recorded Future Payment Fraud Intelligence, the Card Fraud Prevention team at Swedbank is automatically alerted when its cards have been compromised and posted for sale on the dark web, enabling them to preemptively block and replace cards before fraud can occur.
"Recorded Future integrates with fraud detection systems to improve efficacy of detection algorithms and proactively scans the dark web to find compromised cards and reveal attacker infrastructure to identify active infections and full exposure periods. Now, financial institutions can develop and implement effective mitigation strategies to counter the effect of payment card compromises and subsequent fraud attacks before attacks can occur." - Andrei Barysevich, Vice President, Fraud Solutions, Recorded Future
Learn more about Recorded Future Payment Fraud Intelligence: https://www.recordedfuture.com/platform/payment-fraud-intelligence
Request a demo of Recorded Future Payment Fraud Intelligence: https://go.recordedfuture.com/demo
Recorded Future is the world's largest intelligence company. Recorded Future's Intelligence Cloud provides complete coverage across adversaries, infrastructure, and targets. By combining persistent and pervasive automated data collection and analytics with human analysis, Recorded Future provides real-time visibility into the digital landscape and empowers clients to take proactive action to disrupt adversaries and keep their people, systems, and infrastructure safe. Headquartered in Boston with offices and employees around the world, Recorded Future works with over 1,500 businesses and government organizations across more than 64 countries. Learn more at recordedfuture.com.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Recorded Future | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/09/07/payment-fraud-intelligence-expands-recorded-future-intelligence-cloud/ | 2022-09-07T15:18:32Z |
BOCA RATON, Fla., April 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SKYBOX, founded by Media Entertainment & Sports (MES) entrepreneur/investor and Alliance Sports Management Principal, Mike Roberts, is launching SKYBOX for aspiring Prospects and Professional Athletes to be able to create and sell NFTs against their name image likeness (NIL) contracts, sponsorship endorsement and marketing contracts, player contracts, and other future income streams. PKXchange, powered by PointsKash, will provide the infrastructure for minting, issuing coins, tracking royalties, and purchasing and selling NFTs for SKYBOX and its Players.
PointsKash announces today a collaboration to create exclusive digital NFT (non-fungible tokens) experiences for professional athlete fans unlike anything the market has seen before. The deal aims to drive fan engagement by letting fans collect digital moments of the best prospects and players during the season using PointsKash and Algorand blockchain technology.
"We are thrilled to partner with Skybox in its launch of the most exciting opportunity offered to professional athletes in sports history" said Steve Janjic, CEO of PointsKash. "We believe Algorand blockchain technology has great potential to enhance the Sports fans and Player experience in the future and we are excited to have Skybox as one of our first collaborators in exploring this emerging space."
This all new-digital experience will give professional athlete fans the unique opportunity to collect and own NFT's featuring some of the greatest and most talked about in-game moments from leading players week-to-week throughout the season, including current-day superstars and legends of the game. Additionally, fans will get the chance to collect and own NFTs of some of the greatest players in sports history.
"We can't wait to give the more than 300 million fans the opportunity to own the game that matters to them and engage with the sport in a whole new way" said Steve Janjic, CEO of PointsKash.
Top Players and Picks
When the experience launches, fans will find themselves immersed in a world that celebrates their love for the game while experiencing the world of Digital Assets. Fans will be empowered to purchase and open NFT galleries featuring their favorite prospects and players, show off their newfound digital NFT collections, and trade with other fans. They will also have the ability to buy, showcase, sell, or trade any of their moments in a dedicated marketplace on PKXchange.
"The irreplaceable nature of the NFT captures what is special about athletes and their success. They are immensely excited for SKYBOX to launch -- to make this significant push into the digital asset marketplace," said Mike Roberts, President/Founder of SKYBOX. "The unique greatness of professional players will continue to fuel memorable moments both in history and in real-time during the season, which will only deepen the connections they have with their passionate fans."
PointsKash is a disruptor in fin-tech and offers a unique payment and spending experience by providing consumers 'freedom to pay your way' when converting rewards points into Cash and digital assets. PointsKash is a simple to use mobile application; built on the high-performance, low cost, and fully decentralized Algorand blockchain.
Alexandra Velandia
Chief Marketing Officer
avelandia@pointskash.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE PointsKash | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/04/22/professional-sports-agency-owner-mike-roberts-forms-skybox-with-pointskash-announcing-an-exclusive-nft-gallery-professional-players-prospects-pkxchange-powered-by-pointskash/ | 2022-04-22T23:54:07Z |
Biden to join governor to survey flood damage in Kentucky
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and the first lady are expected to join Gov. Andy Beshear and his wife, Britainy, as they meet with families and view damage from storms that have created the worst flooding in Kentucky’s history.
At least 37 people have died since last month’s deluge, which dropped 8 to 10 1/2 inches of rain in only 48 hours. The National Weather Service said Sunday that flooding remains a threat, warning of more thunderstorms through Thursday.
Monday’s visit will be Biden’s second to the state. He previously visited in December after tornadoes whipped through Kentucky, killing 77 people and leaving a trail of destruction.
“I wish I could tell you why we keep getting hit here in Kentucky,” Beshear said recently. “I wish I could tell you why areas where people may not have much continue to get hit and lose everything. I can’t give you the why, but I know what we do in response to it. And the answer is everything we can. These are our people. Let’s make sure we help them out.”
Biden has expanded federal disaster assistance to Kentucky, ensuring the federal government will cover the full cost of debris removal and other emergency measures.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided more than $3.1 million in relief funds, and hundreds of rescue personnel have been deployed to help.
The flooding came just one month after Beshear visited Mayfield to celebrate the completion of the first houses to be fully constructed since a tornado nearly wiped out the town. Three families were handed keys to their new homes that day, and the governor in his remarks hearkened back to a visit he had made in the immediate aftermath.
“I pledged on that day that while we had been knocked down, we were not knocked out,” Beshear said. “That we would get back up again and we would move forward. And six months to the day, we’re not just up, we’re not just standing on our feet, we are moving forward.”
Now more disasters are testing the state. Beshear has been to eastern Kentucky as many times as weather permitted since the flooding began. He’s had daily news conferences stretching an hour to provide details including a full range of assistance for victims. Much like after the tornadoes, Beshear opened relief funds going directly to people in the beleaguered regions.
A Democrat, Beshear narrowly defeated a Republican incumbent in 2019, and he’s seeking a second term in 2023.
Polling has consistently shown him with strong approval ratings from Kentuckians. But several prominent Republicans have entered the governor’s race, taking turns pounding the governor for his aggressive pandemic response and trying to tie him to Biden and rising inflation.
Beshear comments frequently about the toll surging inflation is taking in eating at Kentuckians’ budgets. He avoids blaming Biden, instead pointing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and supply chain bottlenecks as contributors to rising consumer costs.
___
Schreiner reported from Frankfort, Kentucky.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wibw.com/2022/08/08/biden-join-governor-survey-flood-damage-kentucky/ | 2022-08-08T12:09:29Z |
Partners with The Coca-Cola Racing Family for exclusive collectible cup
ATLANTA, July 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Krystal, the original home of the slider in the South, is feeling the need for speed and winning with their newest Coca-Cola promotion. Krystal, in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, is launching a collectible 32 oz. cup featuring the four members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family, including NASCAR drivers Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Austin Dillon. The restaurant is putting fans in the winning slot with a sweepstakes that includes a grand prize of $5,000, plus other prizes.
"We are excited to bring the thrill of NASCAR racing to our customers and offer different opportunities for winning through our sweepstakes," said Alice Crowder, Chief Marketing Officer for Krystal Restaurants LLC. "Plus, what better way to stay cool this summer than with our collectible cup featuring the Coca-Cola Racing Family? Each cup holds the chance for winning with a special QR code that could unlock various prizes or the grand cash prize."
The Krystal Coca-Cola Racing collectible cups are available for purchase at all participating restaurants. The cups may be filled with your favorite Coca-Cola beverage, then you can sip, scan, and win. Each cup features a QR code that may be scanned to enter the sweepstakes. The code also gives access to an instant win game, where participants may be eligible for food and drink prizes. The instant win prizes may be redeemed via the Krystal app, which is available for download on the App Store or Google Play.
Sip. Scan. Win. The grand prize for the sweepstakes is $5,000. Other prizes include signed Coca-Cola Racing merchandise and the instant win prizes of free Krystal, including the Original Krystal, Cheese Krystal, Krystal Combos, Sackfuls, Steamer Packs and more.
Sweepstakes participants must be at least 13 years old and residents of AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, and VA. The winners of the grand prize and signed Coca-Cola Racing prizes will be notified by August 21. NASCAR, LLC., is not a sponsor of this promotion. NASCAR® is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC. All trademarks are used with permission by their respective owners. All rights reserved. For official rules, visit https://us.coca-cola.com/legal/krystal.
Krystal restaurants offer dine-in, drive-thru, or online ordering via the official Krystal website or app. For more information, visit www.Krystal.com or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
About Krystal Restaurants LLC
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Krystal Restaurants LLC is the original quick-service restaurant chain in the South. Krystal hamburgers have been served fresh and hot off the grill on the iconic square bun since 1932.
Krystal has grown to be in 10 states with nearly 300 restaurants and continues to deliver a one-of-a-kind taste experience through their unique menu items that are offered at a great price. The company's Atlanta-based Restaurant Support Center serves a team of more than 3,500 employees.
Contact:
Brianne Barbakoff
954-294-4454
brianne@inklinkmarketing.com
View original content:
SOURCE Krystal Restaurants, LLC | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/26/krystal-revs-up-with-coca-cola-motorsports-sweepstakes/ | 2022-07-27T17:08:48Z |
Buford North Distribution Center Will Span 80 Acres and Include Three Class A Industrial Buildings
BUFORD, Ga., June 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seefried Properties, a national real estate firm specializing in the development, leasing and management of industrial properties, along with capital partner and leading real estate investment manager Clarion Partners, LLC., have recently acquired an 80-acre site for the development of a 969,620-square-foot Class A logistics center known as Buford North Distribution Center. Located in the dynamic northeast Atlanta submarket along Interstate 985 in Hall County, GA., construction on the first phase of development is expected to begin in August 2022 with completion during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Buford North Distribution Center will include 969,620-square-feet of logistics space across three buildings featuring flexible designs to accommodate multiple tenants with varying size requirements. Phase two of the project is scheduled to begin construction in the third quarter of 2023 and will include 434,320-square-feet of space across two buildings. Features of all three buildings will include 185' deep concrete exterior truck courts, 36' clear heights, ample parking, and ESFR sprinklers.
"Seefried and Clarion Partners are very excited about this new project in Northeast Atlanta," said Doug Smith, Senior Vice President of Seefried. "The location of Buford North at Interstate 985 and Friendship Road is square in the middle of one of the most desired locations for businesses and distributors in metro Atlanta and the Southeast."
The Civil Engineer on the project is Eberly & Associates; the Architect is Atlas Architecture. Leasing efforts for the project will be led by the Seefried leasing team comprised of Joseph Kriss, Tripp Ausband and Doug Smith.
Buford North Distribution Center is located approximately 40 miles northeast of Atlanta. The location will afford tenants easy access to I-85 as well as Metro Atlanta and other nearby states.
Founded in 1984 by Ferdinand Seefried, Seefried Industrial Properties specializes in the development, leasing and management of industrial real estate in key markets across the U.S. Seefried leases and manages approximately 40 million square feet for its institutional and European clients and has developed, or is in the process of developing, approximately 190 million square feet of space valued in excess of $17 billion across 120+ markets. Based in Atlanta, the firm has regional offices in Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. For more information, please visit www.seefriedproperties.com
Clarion Partners, LLC, has been a leading real estate investment manager for 40 years. Headquartered in New York, the firm maintains strategically located offices across the United States and Europe. With $75.9 billion in total real estate and debt assets under management, Clarion Partners offers a broad range of real estate strategies across the risk/return spectrum to 500 institutional investors across the globe. Clarion is scaled in all major property types and was an early entrant into the Industrial sector. The Firm's global industrial team manages a 900+ property portfolio in the U.S. and Europe consisting of more than 206 million square feet. More information about the firm is available at clarionpartners.com.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Seefried Industrial Properties | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/06/09/seefried-properties-clarion-partners-acquire-land-announce-plans-969620-square-foot-distribution-center-buford/ | 2022-06-09T21:25:50Z |
NEW YORK, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Attention AbbVie Inc. ("AbbVie") (NYSE: ABBV) shareholders:
The Law Offices of Vincent Wong announce that a class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of investors who purchased between April 30, 2021 and August 31, 2021.
If you suffered a loss on your investment in AbbVie, contact us about potential recovery by using the link below. There is no cost or obligation to you.
ABOUT THE ACTION: The class action against AbbVie includes allegations that the Company made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) safety concerns about Pfizer Inc.'s drug Xeljanz extended to Abbvie's drug Rinvoq and to other Janus kinase enzyme inhibitor drugs; (2) as a result, it was likely that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would require additional safety warnings for Rinvoq and would delay the approval of additional treatment indications for Rinvoq; and (3) therefore, defendants' statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects lacked a reasonable basis.
DEADLINE: June 6, 2022
Aggrieved AbbVie investors only have until June 6, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. You are not required to act as a lead plaintiff in order to share in any recovery.
Vincent Wong, Esq. is an experienced attorney who has represented investors in securities litigations involving financial fraud and violations of shareholder rights. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
Vincent Wong, Esq.
39 East Broadway
Suite 304
New York, NY 10002
Tel. 212.425.1140
E-Mail: vw@wongesq.com
View original content:
SOURCE The Law Offices of Vincent Wong | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/04/25/class-action-alert-law-offices-vincent-wong-remind-abbvie-investors-lead-plaintiff-deadline-june-6-2022/ | 2022-04-25T10:25:54Z |
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pure Storage® (NYSE: PSTG), the IT pioneer that delivers the world's most advanced data storage technology and services, today announced it will host a conference call on Wednesday, August 31 at 1:30 p.m. PT to discuss its financial results for the fiscal second quarter ended August 7, 2022. This conference call will be held following the release of Pure Storage's financial results.
Q2 FY23 Conference Call Details
A live audio broadcast of the conference call will be available at the Pure Storage Investor Relations website at investor.purestorage.com. A replay will be available following the call on the Pure Storage Investor Relations website or for two weeks at 1-866-813-9403 (or +44 204 525 0658 for international callers) with passcode 367923.
Additionally, Pure is scheduled to participate at the following investor conferences:
Deutsche Bank's 2022 Technology Conference
Date: Thursday, September 1, 2022
Fireside Chat Time: 1:15 pm PDT
Pure Presenters: Ajay Singh, Chief Product Officer and Sanjot Khurana, VP, Investor Relations & Treasurer
Evercore ISI 2nd Annual TMT Conference
Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Pure Participants: Sanjot Khurana, VP, Investor Relations & Treasurer
Citi's 2022 Global Technology Conference
Date: Thursday, September 8, 2022
Pure Participants: Sanjot Khurana, VP, Investor Relations & Treasurer
Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference
Date: Monday, September 12, 2022
Fireside Chat Time: 4:30 pm - 5:10 pm PDT
Pure Presenters: Charles Giancarlo, Chairman and CEO, Kevan Krysler, CFO
Pure Participants: Sanjot Khurana, VP, Investor Relations & Treasurer
The presentation(s) will be webcast live and archived on Pure's Investor Relations website at investor.purestorage.com.
About Pure Storage
Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG) uncomplicates data storage, forever. Pure Storage delivers a cloud experience that empowers every organization to get the most from their data while reducing the complexity and expense of managing the infrastructure behind it. Pure Storage's commitment to providing true storage as-a-service gives customers the agility to meet changing data needs at speed and scale, whether they are deploying traditional workloads, modern applications, containers, or more. Pure Storage believes it can make a significant impact in reducing data center emissions worldwide through its environmental sustainability efforts, including designing products and solutions that enable customers to reduce their carbon and energy footprint. And with a certified customer satisfaction score in the top one percent of B2B companies, Pure Storage's ever-expanding list of customers are among the happiest in the world. For more information, visit www.purestorage.com.
Analyst Recognition
Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Primary Storage Arrays
Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Distributed File Systems & Object Storage
Connect with Pure
Blog
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Pure Storage, the "P" Logo and all Pure Storage product and service names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pure Storage. All other trademarks or names referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Pure Storage | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/08/10/pure-storage-announces-date-conference-call-information-second-quarter-fiscal-2023-financial-results/ | 2022-08-10T21:41:54Z |
SHANGHAI, July 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 17, S'Young Group Co., Ltd. (S'Young, the Company) (300740.SZ) officially announced an equity acquisition agreement with EviDenS de Beauté, a French luxury skin care brand. EviDenS de Beauté retains independent operation of the brand and the team after the acquisition.
As a trusted and preferred China Partner for global beauty brands, S'Young is committed to building win-win partnerships with overseas brands and sharing a long-term value in connecting and growing in the Chinese market. With EviDenS de Beauté, S'Young leveraged the original "CP" (China Partner + Couple) cooperation model and empowered the French brand through an all-encompassing approach, providing all-dimensions and omni-channel support, thus helping the brand to go from 0 to 1 in the Chinese market and build up the unique luxury brand image. The acquisition marks a deepening of the CP cooperation model, and a higher level of cooperation in equity acquisition, investment, and strategic collaboration according to the wishes and needs of the overseas brand.
New Impetus of Long-term Success After the Acquisition
While the acquisition gives S'Young a controlling stake of the French company, Charles-Edouard Barthes, founder and chief executive officer of EviDenS de Beauté, will remain a shareholder and the company will retain its independence and current team.
Charles-Edouard Barthes, born in an ancient aristocratic family in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, founded the brand in 2007 and used the family crest with a history of more than 800 years as the brand logo. EviDenS de Beauté is a luxury skin care brand combining Japan's cutting-edge cosmetic expertise with world-renowned French elegance, loved by consumers worldwide for its anti-aging benefits developed specifically for sensitive skin. With a high-end positioning, the brand's main products range between RMB 1,000 and 3,000, offering various categories such as masks, lotions, creams, essences, sunscreens and anti-aging products. After being acquired by S'Young, EviDenS de Beauté is ready to enter a new strategic development stage in China while maintaining the independent operation, and inject a strong impetus for further success in the global beauty market.
Original CP Model for Overseas Brands to Grow Rapidly from 0 to 1 in China
Before collaborating with S'Young, EviDenS de Beauté had faced challenging situations in the Chinese market, including price disorder: a large number of individual merchants on e-commerce platforms bought samples of EviDenS de Beauté and sold them sporadically at low prices. To better develop in the Chinese market, EviDenS de Beauté chose S'Young as its partner, which has 16-year experience in beauty brand management. The "CP" model of S'Young not only acts as a sales agent for EviDenS de Beauté, but also reorganizes the brand positioning, image, and strategic development planning, empowering EviDenS de Beauté in all business elements and all sales channels.
With an accurate understanding of the Chinese beauty market, S'Young precisely positioned EviDenS de Beauté as a French anti-aging luxury brand for sensitive skin, engaged the famous well-preserved actress Li Ruotong for endorsement, and held a brand launch in the Rosewood Hotel, a SPA collaboration partner, to establish the brand image. After that, S'Young helped the brand cooperate with a series of Chinese hit TV shows and popular entertainment programs, covering the high-income female group in China through precise target group matching, which greatly enhanced the brand's reputation and influence. On social media, S'Young reached out to top KOLs committed to skin care to co-produce high-quality content around topics such as brand origins, user experience and product efficacy, creating a complete brand story and a distinctive brand image for EviDenS de Beauté, and establishing it as a popular luxury brand on Chinese social media. In addition to online promotion, EviDenS de Beauté has also been expanding its offline channels, including SKP, Galeries Lafayette, Joyce beauty, Sephora, and other high-end channels, which further enhances Chinese consumers' perception of EviDenS de Beauté's premium positioning.
With the help of S'Young, EviDenS de Beauté has been growing rapidly in the Chinese market, which now occupies a large proportion of its sales, and its hero product is ranked Top 2 in high-end facial masks by Tmall of Alibaba, the largest e-commerce platform in China. This is owing to S'Young breaking the traditional single-channel sales model of agents. The new model integrates all business elements, covers all sales channels, connects the whole business chain, and makes concerted efforts in all respects such as brand, product, market, channel, and supply chain, finally realizing the leapfrog development of EviDenS de Beauté in China.
A New Phase of Development for Overseas Beauty Brands in China
As a preferred Chinese partner for global beauty brands, S'Young has cooperated with more than 30 overseas brands, covering skin care, make-up, personal care, fragrance, health care, and men's grooming. The cooperative brands cover many countries and regions from North America, Europe, and the Middle East, including the French cutting-edge laboratory brand LIERAC, the Italian make-up brand KIKO MILANO, the Finnish national skin care brand LUMENE, and the prestige perfume brand AMOUAGE, etc., a testament to S'Young 's strength in diversification and international operation. In 2019, S'Young reached a strategic partnership with Johnson & Johnson to fully undertake the e-commerce business of 14 brands under Johnson & Johnson in the Chinese market, which turned out to be a great success for Dr. Ci:Labo, Listerine and many others.
The unique "CP" cooperation model created by S'Young has two layers of meaning. The first layer is China Partner. What S'Young provides for the brands is not a traditional online sales channel or operations service, but an empowerment with all-dimensions and omni-channel capabilities. Second, CP means couple, representing a marriage-like partnership. S'Young believes that only a long-term and win-win partnership will enable both parties share the value of market growth. This is how S'Young has helped overseas brands start and grow bigger and stronger in China. With respect for the partners and their value, S'Young empowers international niche beauty brands to develop and maximize their value in China. Now, S'Young is also ready to support equity acquisition, investment and strategic collaboration at the request of partner brands, offering diversified and flexible assistance to fully meet the needs of brands throughout their life cycle in China.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE S'Young | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/22/chinese-beauty-giant-syoung-acquires-evidens-de-beaut-marking-new-height-cp-cooperation/ | 2022-07-22T14:43:32Z |
New SuiteApp for retail planning and merchandising meets Oracle NetSuite SuiteCloud Platform development standards and best practices
NEW YORK, June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Toolio, a cloud-based planning and merchandising platform provider for the next generation of retailers, today announced that its SuiteApp achieved 'Built for NetSuite' status. The new Toolio SuiteApp, built using the Oracle NetSuite SuiteCloud Platform, helps organizations seamlessly leverage critical business information in NetSuite to manage end-to-end planning and merchandising processes.
"Our partnership with NetSuite provides our customers with an integrated solution and streamlined workflow to manage and execute on inventory planning and management processes. Working with NetSuite is a natural fit given our mutual customers, which include leading retailers like Chubbies, Outdoor Voices and MeUndies," said Eytan Daniyalzade, co-founder and CEO of Toolio. "The Toolio SuiteApp enables companies to stop relying on manual, error-prone spreadsheets to make million-dollar inventory decisions, automate planning workflows, and make faster, data-driven decisions."
Toolio integrates directly with NetSuite, leveraging real-time data to build merchandise financial plans and determine new product assortment and SKU-level demand in a single platform. These plans are synced with NetSuite to help automate purchase order and replenishment processes. By automating processes, providing real-time visibility, and improving collaboration within the inventory planning process, Toolio enables retailers to save time, increase forecasting accuracy, and make inventory decisions that drive real change for the business.
"Historically, the retail industry has struggled with managing merchandise planning," said Guido Haarmans, GVP, SuiteCloud Developer Network and Partner Programs, Oracle NetSuite. "This new SuiteApp extends our robust solution for retail ERP and can help NetSuite customers make faster, data-driven decisions about inventory, their most important and expensive asset."
Built for NetSuite is a program for NetSuite SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) partners that provides partners with the information, resources, and methodology required to help them verify that their applications and integrations meet NetSuite standards and best practices. The Built for NetSuite program is designed to give NetSuite customers additional confidence that SuiteApps, like Toolio, have been built to meet these standards.
For information about Built for NetSuite SuiteApps, please visit www.netsuite.com/BuiltforNetSuite. For more information about Toolio, please visit https://www.suiteapp.com/Toolio.
Oracle NetSuite's SuiteCloud platform is a comprehensive offering of cloud-based products, development tools, and services designed to help customers and commercial software developers take advantage of the significant economic benefits of cloud computing. Based on NetSuite, the industry's leading cloud-based financials / ERP software suite, SuiteCloud enables customers to run their core business operations in the cloud, and software developers to target new markets quickly with newly created mission-critical applications built to extend the power of NetSuite.
The SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) is a comprehensive developer program for independent software vendors (ISVs) that build apps for SuiteCloud. All available and approved SuiteApps are listed on SuiteApp.com, a single-source online marketplace where NetSuite customers can find applications to meet specific business process or industry-specific needs. For more information on SuiteCloud and the SDN program, please visit https://www.netsuite.com/portal/developers/overview.shtml
Toolio is a cloud-based merchandising platform that automates critical workflows, provides real-time insights, and enables remote collaboration, empowering retailers to make faster, data-driven decisions about their most important (and expensive) asset—inventory. Toolio is a global operation with headquarters in New York City and offices in Istanbul, built by an ex-Walmart team of second-time entrepreneurs and backed by top VCs and apparel industry executives. To learn more, please visit https://www.toolio.com/.
Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Toolio | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/29/toolio-achieves-built-netsuite-status/ | 2022-06-29T21:50:08Z |
Court puts on hold Graham’s testimony in Ga. election probe
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court on Sunday agreed to temporarily put on hold a lower court’s order requiring that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating plots to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia.
A subpoena had instructed the South Carolina Republican to appear before the special grand jury on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May had denied Graham’s request last Monday to quash his subpoena and on Friday rejected his effort to put her decision on hold while he appealed. Graham’s lawyers then appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Sunday, a three-judge panel of the appeals court issued the order temporarily pausing May’s order declining to quash the subpoena. The panel sent the case back to May to decide whether the subpoena should be partially quashed or modified because of protections granted to members of Congress by the U.S. Constitution.
Once May decides that issue, the case will return to the 11th Circuit for further consideration, according to the appeals court order.
Graham’s representatives did not immediately respond Sunday to messages seeking comment on the appellate ruling. A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis declined to comment.
Willis opened the investigation early last year, prompted by a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that conversation, Trump suggested Raffensperger could “find” the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss in the state.
Willis and her team have said they want to ask Graham about two phone calls they say he made to Raffensperger and his staff shortly after the 2020 general election. During those calls, Graham asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump,” Willis wrote in a petition seeking to compel his testimony.
Graham also “made reference to allegations of widespread voter fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, consistent with public statements made by known affiliates of the Trump Campaign,” she wrote.
During a hearing earlier this month on Graham’s motion to quash his subpoena, Willis’ team argued that Graham may be able to provide insight into the extent of any coordinated efforts to influence the results of the 2020 general election in Georgia.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kxii.com/2022/08/21/court-puts-hold-grahams-testimony-ga-election-probe/ | 2022-08-21T15:58:40Z |
LINCOLN, Neb., Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The newest Sandhills Global aviation industry market reports identify value shifts in specific used aircraft categories amidst rising inventory levels overall in Sandhills marketplaces. Asking values held steady in July for turboprop aircraft and increased for piston singles, for example, while asking values for jets continued to decline. July marked the fifth consecutive month of inventory expansion across all aircraft categories.
Sandhills' aviation products include Controller, Controller EMEA, Executive Controller, Charter Hub, Aviation Trader, Aircraft Cost Calculator, and AircraftEvaluator. AircraftEvaluator is Sandhills' proprietary asset valuation tool for all types of aircraft, built using the same technology behind FleetEvaluator. Widely used and trusted across equipment, truck, and trailer industries, FleetEvaluator identifies asset values with unparalleled accuracy.
The key metric used in all of Sandhills' market reports is the Sandhills Equipment Value Index (EVI). Buyers and sellers can use the information in Sandhills EVI to monitor equipment markets and maximize returns on acquisition, liquidation, and related business decisions.
Chart Takeaways
This report includes detailed analysis of asking values and inventory trends in the worldwide used aircraft market along with charts that help readers visualize the data. It describes and quantifies important trends in the buying and selling of used piston single, turboprop, and jet aircraft.
U.S. and Canada Used Piston Single Aircraft
- As of July, Sandhills reports posted the sixth consecutive month of increases in used piston single aircraft inventory levels. Inventory increased 16% month-to-month and 28% year-over-year in July.
- Despite the ongoing rise in inventory levels, asking values continued to increase in this category. Asking EVI for piston single aircraft was up 2.4% M/M and 26% YOY in July.
U.S. and Canada Used Turboprop Aircraft
- The used turboprop aircraft category has been exhibiting trends similar to piston single aircraft. Inventory levels rose for the fifth consecutive month, with Sandhills reports showing approximately 8% M/M increases in both June and July. Inventory levels were down 44% YOY in July.
- Asking values remain steady in this category. Asking EVI rose 0.9% M/M and 32% YOY in July.
Global Used Jet Aircraft
- Inventory increases are also the trend for used jet aircraft, which posted its sixth straight month of increases in July. Inventory levels were up 9% M/M and down 14% YOY.
- Unlike piston single and turboprop aircraft, used jets have posted back-to-back months of asking value decreases. Asking EVI fell 1.9% M/M and rose 22% YOY in July.
Obtain the Full Report
For more information, or to receive detailed analysis from Sandhills Global, contact us at marketreports@sandhills.com.
About Sandhills Global
Sandhills Global is an information processing company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our products and services gather, process, and distribute information in the form of trade publications, websites, and online services that connect buyers and sellers across the aviation, construction, agriculture, and commercial trucking industries. Our integrated, industry-specific approach to hosted technologies and services offers solutions that help businesses large and small operate efficiently and grow securely, cost-effectively, and successfully. Sandhills Global—we are the cloud.
About the Sandhills Equipment Value Index
The Sandhills Equipment Value Index (EVI) is a principal gauge of the estimated market values of used assets—both currently and over time—across the construction, agricultural, commercial trucking, and aviation industries represented by Sandhills Global marketplaces, including Controller.com, AuctionTime.com, TractorHouse.com, MachineryTrader.com, TruckPaper.com, and other industry-specific equipment platforms. Powered by FleetEvaluator and AircraftEvaluator, Sandhills' proprietary asset valuation tools, Sandhills EVI provides useful insights into the ever-changing supply-and-demand conditions for each industry.
Contact Sandhills
www.sandhills.com/contact-us
402-479-2181
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Sandhills Global | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/08/04/used-aircraft-inventory-levels-continue-ascent-with-piston-single-turboprop-values-remaining-strong-while-jet-values-dip-lower/ | 2022-08-04T18:46:20Z |
'An exclamation point for us': Tanner Ware, Deacon Heather lead Hoover baseball to district championship
CANTON — Already stretched and ready to warm up, Hoover starting pitcher Tanner Ware suddenly had time to kill when the beginning of Thursday’s district final was delayed due to the threat of storms.
“It was raining,” Ware said, “so I just sat in here, juggling baseballs by myself.”
Ware juggled in the dugout.
He later dominated on the mound.
Ware tossed a two-hit shutout after a short delay to highlight a sharp all-around performance by the Vikings in a 5-0 win against Boardman at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium.
Fellow senior Deacon Heather delivered a two-run triple in the fourth inning that knocked the wind out of Boardman as Hoover rolled to its first district championship since 2013. The Vikings (18-7), who were seeded No. 11 in their super district, advance to face No. 1 seed Walsh Jesuit in a Thursday, June 2 regional semifinal at 2 p.m. at Louisville High School.
“It’s a great feeling,” Heather said. “We started off the year pretty rough. To get here is a great accomplishment for everybody on the team. We’ve been working hard.”
It shows. Thursday’s win was Hoover’s 10th in the last 11 games and 13th in the last 15 games.
More tournament baseball:Forget about the curveball? Louisville slugger thinks only about the curve in district win
Playing in their first district final since a heart-breaking 2019 loss in extra innings to Jackson, the Vikings executed in all phases. Hoover simply is a team playing its best baseball at the right time.
“I’m proud of these guys from where we were at the beginning of the year to where we are now,” Hoover head coach Bryan Ashby said. “Tvhe dedication and the confidence they’ve played with over the last month has been fantastic.”
Ashby, a Hoover alum and former Kent State pitcher, took special pleasure in what his hurlers did in the two district games.
Ware’s complete-game shutout followed Nick Vardavas blanking Dover in Tuesday’s semifinal.
“If you would’ve told me we’d go through the district semifinal and the district final and not give up a run, I would’ve said, ‘Come on. You’re absolutely crazy,’” Ashby said. “But the game begins and ends with pitching, and when you have performances like what Nick and Tanner did the past two games, you just can’t ask for anything more as a head coach.”
More:North Canton Hoover High School set to hire Jim Gotshall as its girls basketball head coach
Ware, a 6-foot-4 lefty signed with Oakland University (Mich.), struck out six while working around three walks and a hit batsman.
He pounded the outer half of the plate with his fastball and worked in a curveball and a swing-and-miss slider as he improved to 3-4.
“He mixed it up well,” Boardman head coach Joe Gabriel said. “He had a good fastball tonight. He located well. He’s everything we thought he’d be from the scouting report.”
No. 16 seed Boardman (17-13-1) got only one runner past first base all afternoon.
That runner, Colin Thomas, ran through a stop sign at third and tried to score on Jack Dascenzo’s base hit in the second inning. But Hoover senior center fielder Zach Zehner threw a strike to home plate and junior catcher Drew Stangelo applied the tag as he collided with Thomas to keep the game scoreless.
“Zach Zehner threw that ball right on the money,” Ashby said.
Zehner’s throw was the crown jewel in a fantastic defensive performance by the Vikings.
Hoover didn’t commit an error. Boardman committed four, including two costly ones in the third inning.
With runners on the corners and two outs, Hoover ran a rundown play to try to steal a run.
A throw home from Boardman third baseman Anthony Butto deflected off the helmet of sophomore Mason Ashby, who had reached earlier on an error, and allowed him to score for a 1-0 Hoover lead.
The next inning, the Boardman mistake was leaving a fastball up to the big-shouldered, soft-spoken Heather, who clubbed it into right-center to score senior pinch runner Logan Gallentine and sophomore Carson Dyrlund.
“That ball had flames off the end of it,” Bryan Ashby said. “He hit that so hard. It just lit up our dugout and changed the game for us and that pitcher.”
The hit chased Boardman starter Griffin Widrig (3-2). Hoover senior Andrew Roach and Mason Ashby followed with RBI singles off reliever Guy Young to turn it into a four-run inning and a 5-0 lead.
“It felt like a big turning point,” Heather said. “Tanner was throwing up zeroes and it was great to be able to get some runs to support him. He threw a great game.”
Roach finished 2-for-3 on the day with a double.
As parents took pictures in the postgame celebration and players admired the gold district championship medals around their necks, Bryan Ashby thought back to the district final loss to Jackson in 2019 — his first season as Hoover’s head coach after being the pitching coach under Jeff Hite.
“It means a lot. It’s a lot of hard work,” Ashby said. “I go back to 2019 when we lost that game at home, and how hard those guys worked. I think of all the Vikings that came between that and now, and this feels like an exclamation point for us.”
Reach Josh at josh.weir@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @jweirREP | https://www.cantonrep.com/story/sports/high-school/baseball/2022/05/26/hoover-vikings-boardman-score-district-championship-high-school-baseball-ashby-ware-heather-ohsaa/9938320002/ | 2022-05-27T01:03:17Z |
Swiss tennis star Roger Federer announced Thursday that he is retiring from professional tennis at age 41 after winning 20 Grand Slam titles.
This decision comes just days after the end of the U.S. Open, which is expected to be the last tournament of 23-time major champion Serena Williams’ career and signals the real end of an era in tennis.
Federer has not competed since Wimbledon in July 2021 — he has had a series of knee operations — and so in that sense, the news is not surprising.
But he had appeared at an event marking the 100-year anniversary of Centre Court at the All England Club this July and said he hoped to come back to play there “one more time.”
He also had said he would return to tournament action at the Swiss Indoors in October.
Federer posted his news on Twitter, saying his farewell event will be the Laver Cup in London next week. That is a team event run by his management company.
Federer’s last match anywhere came on July 7, 2021, when he lost at Centre Court in the Wimbledon quarterfinals to Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-0.
Soon after, Federer had surgery to repair damage to his meniscus and cartilage in his right knee — his third operation on that knee in a span of 1 1/2 years. | https://cw33.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/roger-federer-announces-retirement-from-pro-tennis/ | 2022-09-15T15:05:14Z |
FREDERICK, Md. , June 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Regent Education, the leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions that automate and simplify the financial aid process for higher education institutions offering traditional and nontraditional enrollment models, today announced a significant growth equity investment led by Attain Capital Partners, with participation from Regent's current lead investors Chrysalis Ventures, CNF Investments LLC, and New Markets Venture Partners. The company also announced that Greg Baroni, Founder and Managing Partner of Attain Capital Partners, will serve as Chair of the Regent Education Board of Directors.
Attain Capital Partners is a private equity firm which invests in expansion and growth-stage companies with innovative, technology-enabled solutions. A tech entrepreneur himself, Baroni helped launch a distributed learning group known as Blackboard—now part of Anthology—that became a first-mover and an industry leader. He has led a diverse portfolio of successful businesses throughout his career, including KPMG Consulting, Unisys, and more recently, Attain, LLC, selling the company's federal business division in 2021. He also is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Attain Partners and Attain Sports and Entertainment.
"When it comes to financial aid software, there is none better than Regent. Their comprehensive, cloud-based solution enables institutions to improve business operations and mitigate compliance risks—all while improving the student experience, which is so essential to expanding access to an affordable post-secondary education," said Baroni. "We look forward to collaborating with the Regent team as we grow the company and continue to simplify the most complex financial aid scenarios for our clients and the students they serve," he continued.
"Attain Capital brings a rich understanding of higher education, and their guidance and investment provides considerable support to assisting Regent's continued growth, scale, and financial aid product innovation," said Jim Hermens, CEO of Regent Education. "Together, we look forward to accelerating Regent's forward-leaning solutions for the education industry," he said.
Regent Education is the leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions that automate and simplify the financial aid process for higher education institutions offering traditional and nontraditional enrollment models. Regent's solutions encompass the automation of financial aid management, verification processes, student financial planning, and state financial aid applications. These solutions offer institutions an unprecedented ability to automate the financial aid process to increase efficiency, mitigate compliance risks, expand enrollment, improve the student experience, and enhance financial management and financial aid lifecycle visibility. Since its inception, Regent has packaged and delivered $5 billion in financial aid to more than 250,000 students. For more information, visit https://regenteducation.com/.
Attain Capital Partners invests in growth-stage companies in the knowledge economy. We seek to partner with firms delivering high-value, technology-enabled solutions and services to businesses predominantly focused on serving the public sector markets, including education, government, healthcare, and nonprofits. Our mission is simple: Truly empower teams while building lasting partnerships that make an enduring, positive impact to improve humankind. For more information, please visit www.attain.capital
New Markets Venture Partners is a leading impact investor that accelerates growth-stage education and workforce technology companies. The New Markets team has decades of experience supporting evidence-based, high growth companies that improve economic and social mobility by leveraging deep relationships with centers of education and workforce innovation. New Markets prides itself on adding value to its portfolio companies before, during, and after the investment process, with the ultimate goal of improving both individual outcomes and the productivity of America's education workforce system. For more information, visit https://newmarketsvp.com/.
Chrysalis Ventures partners with management teams across mid-America to build businesses with enduring value through technology and active collaboration. Chrysalis Ventures manages more than $400 million and has invested in more than 70 companies during its 25-year history. Chrysalis Ventures partners with talented management teams by providing the business intelligence, market knowledge, deep resources, technological expertise, and financial discipline that are critical to success. Chrysalis takes a direct, straightforward approach in its work and relationships, challenging itself and its management teams to exceed expectations and deliver superior results.
Contact
Regent Education
Diane Eves, Marketing Director
(301) 662-5592 or marketing@regenteducation.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Regent Education | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/08/regent-education-announces-investment-attain-capital-partners-accelerate-growth-innovation/ | 2022-06-08T13:50:50Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner of the class action firm Monteverde & Associates PC (the "M&A Class Action Firm"), a national securities firm rated Top 50 in the 2018-2021 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report and headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating Romeo Power, Inc. (RMO), relating to its proposed acquisition by Nikola Corp. Under the terms of the merger, RMO shareholders are expected to receive 0.1186 shares of Nikola per share they own. Click here for more information: https://www.monteverdelaw.com/case/romeo-power-inc. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.
We are a national class action securities litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders from corporate wrongdoing. We were listed in the Top 50 in the 2018-2021 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. Our lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions. Mr. Monteverde is recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013, 2017-2019, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017-2021 Top Rated Lawyer. Our firm's recent successes include changing the law in a significant victory that lowered the standard of liability under Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act in the Ninth Circuit. Thereafter, our firm successfully preserved this victory by obtaining dismissal of a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted at the United States Supreme Court. Emulex Corp. v. Varjabedian, 139 S. Ct. 1407 (2019). Also, in 2019 we recovered or secured six cash common funds for shareholders in mergers & acquisitions class action cases.
If you own common stock in RMO and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.
Contact:
Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.
MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC
The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405
New York, NY 10118
United States of America
jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com
Tel: (212) 971-1341
Attorney Advertising. (C) 2022 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/08/09/shareholder-alert-mampa-class-action-firm-announces-investigation-romeo-power-inc-rmo/ | 2022-08-09T19:46:33Z |
BROOMFIELD, Colo., June 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) today reported results for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 ended April 30, 2022, which were negatively impacted by COVID-19 and related limitations and restrictions, and reported results of its early season pass sales for the 2022/2023 North American ski season.
Highlights
- Net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. was $372.6 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022 compared to net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. of $274.6 million in the same period in the prior year. The increase is primarily due to the greater impact of COVID-19 and related limitations and restrictions on results in the prior year.
- Resort Reported EBITDA was $610.5 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022, compared to Resort Reported EBITDA of $462.2 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2021. The increase is primarily due to the greater impact of COVID-19 and related limitations and restrictions on results in the prior year.
- The Company updated its fiscal 2022 guidance range and is now expecting Resort Reported EBITDA to be between $828 million and $842 million. The guidance range includes an estimated $16 million of Resort Reported EBITDA from the recently acquired operations of Seven Springs, Hidden Valley and Laurel Mountain resorts (together, the "Seven Springs Resorts") for the period from the transaction closing on December 31, 2021 through the end of the fiscal year, partially offset by $7 million of acquisition and integration related expenses associated with the Seven Springs Resorts transaction and the expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun Sport AG ("Andermatt-Sedrun").
- Pass product sales through May 31, 2022 for the upcoming 2022/2023 North American ski season increased approximately 9% in units and approximately 11% in sales dollars as compared to the period in the prior year through June 1, 2021. Pass product sales are adjusted to include pass sales for the Seven Springs Resorts in both periods and to eliminate the impact of foreign currency by applying an exchange rate of $0.79 between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar in both periods for Whistler Blackcomb pass sales.
- The Company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.91 per share of Vail Resorts' common stock that will be payable on July 12, 2022 to shareholders of record as of June 27, 2022 and repurchased 303,143 shares at an average price of $246.33 for a total of approximately $74.7 million from the beginning of the Company's third quarter of fiscal 2022 through June 8, 2022.
Commenting on the Company's fiscal 2022 third quarter results, Kirsten Lynch, Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are pleased with our overall results for the quarter and for the 2021/2022 North American ski season. As expected, results for the quarter significantly outperformed results from the prior year primarily due to the greater impact of COVID-19 and related limitations and restrictions on results in the prior year period.
"This year, challenging early season conditions persisted through the holiday period, but our results were strong from January through the remainder of the season. Our strong season pass sales heading into the 2021/2022 season are the foundation of our advance commitment strategy, creating stability for the Company through variable weather and other challenges. This past season, approximately 72% of all Vail Resorts 2021/2022 North American skier visitation was on a pass product, excluding employee and complimentary visitation, which compares to approximately 60% and approximately 51% for the 2018/2019 and 2014/2015 North American ski seasons, respectively. We had particularly strong destination visitation this year, which was further supported by lift ticket sales at our Colorado and Utah resorts that exceeded our expectations through the spring. Our recent results at Whistler Blackcomb were also stronger than expected due to the easing of travel restrictions in Canada in late February. Recent performance at our eastern U.S. ski areas was in-line with our expectations while our Tahoe resorts were impacted by challenging spring conditions, resulting in performance below our expectations. Throughout the season, our ancillary businesses continued to be capacity constrained by staffing, and in the case of dining, by operational restrictions associated with COVID-19. Overall, our results throughout the 2021/2022 North American ski season highlight the stability resulting from our advance commitment pass products in a season with challenging early season conditions, staffing challenges and COVID-19 impacts, and demonstrate our strong operational execution following the holiday period through the end of the season. We are very pleased to see the growth in visitation this season, and in particular that it primarily occurred during off peak periods. The trend towards off-peak visitation growth continued throughout the ski season this year. For the season-to-date period ended April 30, 2022, compared to the season-to-date period ended May 5, 2019, visitation on weekday and non-holiday periods increased approximately 8% while visitation on weekend and holiday periods decreased approximately 3%, excluding Peak Resorts visitation in both periods. We believe this trend is driven by the growth in pass sales as pass holders tend to spread their visitation more across the season, and, with the increase in flexible and remote work, we expect this trend to continue. Further, the growth in non-peak periods was broad based across our resorts. Despite the growth in overall visits this past season, very few of our resorts even approached their historical maximum daily visitation, as our resorts averaged only 1 day this season exceeding 95% of their historical peak daily visitation and only 6 resorts had more than 1 day above that level, excluding the recently acquired Seven Springs Resorts. All of this highlights that there is considerable opportunity to continue to grow the overall industry and skier visits outside of peak periods, and that it is critical that we continue to invest in people and infrastructure to continue to improve the employee and guest experience throughout the season.
Commenting on fiscal 2022 guidance, Lynch said, "Based on the strong finish to the season, particularly driven by destination guest visitation and lift ticket sales in Colorado, Utah and Whistler Blackcomb that exceeded our expectations, we now expect net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. for fiscal 2022 to be between $314 million and $348 million, and Resort Reported EBITDA for fiscal 2022 to be between $828 million and $842 million. The guidance range includes an estimated $16 million of Resort Reported EBITDA for the Seven Springs Resorts for the period from the transaction closing on December 31, 2021 through the end of the fiscal year, partially offset by $7 million of acquisition and integration related expenses associated with the Seven Springs Resorts transaction and the expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun."
Andermatt-Sedrun Sport AG
As previously announced on March 28, 2022, the Company entered into an agreement to purchase a majority stake in Andermatt-Sedrun from Andermatt Swiss Alps AG ("ASA"), marking the Company's first strategic investment in, and opportunity to operate, a ski resort in Europe. Andermatt-Sedrun is a renowned destination ski resort in Central Switzerland, located less than 90 minutes from three of Switzerland's major metropolitan areas (Zurich, Lucerne and Lugano) and approximately two hours from Milan, Italy. Upon the closing of the acquisition, the Company will acquire a 55% ownership stake in Andermatt-Sedrun, which controls and operates all of the resort's mountain and ski-related assets, including lifts, most of the restaurants and a ski school operation. ASA will retain a 40% ownership stake in Andermatt-Sedrun, with a group of existing shareholders comprising the remaining 5% ownership. Vail Resorts' CHF 149 million investment is comprised of a CHF 110 million investment into Andermatt-Sedrun for use in capital investments to enhance the guest experience on the mountain and CHF 39 million, which will be paid to ASA and fully reinvested into the real estate developments in the base area. Vail Resorts will assume operating and marketing responsibility for Andermatt-Sedrun, with ASA and local stakeholders continuing as key members of the board of directors.
The transaction is expected to close prior to the 2022/2023 ski season, subject to certain third-party consents. Vail Resorts plans to include unlimited and unrestricted access to Andermatt-Sedrun on the 2022/2023 Epic Pass. Epic Day Pass holders with All Resorts Access will be able to use any of their days at Andermatt-Sedrun, and Epic Local Pass holders will receive five days of unrestricted access to the resort. All pass access is subject to the timing of the transaction closing.
Operating Results
A more complete discussion of our operating results can be found within the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section of the Company's Form 10-Q for the third fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2022, which was filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The following are segment highlights:
Mountain Segment
- Total lift revenue increased $137.0 million, or 23.7%, compared to the same period in the prior year, to $714.7 million for the three months ended April 30, 2022, primarily due to increased pass product sales for the 2021/2022 North American ski season, as well as an increase in non-pass lift ticket purchases.
- Ski school revenue increased $40.5 million, or 50.4%, dining revenue increased $33.8 million, or 73.6% and retail/rental revenue increased $35.2 million, or 38.6%, each primarily due to fewer COVID-19 related limitations and restrictions on our North American winter operations as compared to the prior year, as well as an increase in demand over the prior year.
- Operating expense increased $115.0 million, or 30.7%, which was primarily attributable to increased variable expenses associated with increases in revenue, and the impact of cost discipline efforts in the prior year associated with lower levels of operations, including limitations, restrictions and closures resulting from COVID-19.
- Mountain Reported EBITDA increased $139.1 million, or 30.4%, for the third quarter compared to the same period in the prior year, which includes $5.1 million of stock-based compensation expense for both the three months ended April 30, 2022 and 2021.
Lodging Segment
- Lodging segment net revenue (excluding payroll cost reimbursements) for the three months ended April 30, 2022 increased $30.8 million, or 54.6%, as compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily as a result of fewer COVID-19 related limitations and restrictions as compared to the prior year, as well as an increase in demand and average daily rates compared to the prior year.
- Lodging Reported EBITDA for the three months ended April 30, 2022 increased $9.2 million, or 173.1%, for the third quarter compared to the same period in the prior year, which includes $0.9 million and $1.0 million of stock-based compensation expense for the three months ended April 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Resort - Combination of Mountain and Lodging Segments
- Resort net revenue increased $288.3 million, or 32.5%, compared to the same period in the prior year, to $1,176.5 million for the three months ended April 30, 2022.
- Resort Reported EBITDA was $610.5 million for the three months ended April 30, 2022, an increase of $148.3 million, or 32.1%, compared to the same period in the prior year, which includes acquisition and integration related expenses, as well as expenses associated with the expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun, of $1.0 million, which are both recorded within Mountain other operating expense.
Total Performance
- Total net revenue increased $287.6 million, or 32.3%, compared to the same period in the prior year, to $1,176.7 million for the three months ended April 30, 2022.
- Net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. was $372.6 million, or $9.16 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 compared to net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. of $274.6 million, or $6.72 per diluted share, in the third fiscal quarter of the prior year. Additionally, fiscal 2022 third quarter net income included the after-tax effect of acquisition and integration related expenses, as well as costs associated with the expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun, which combined were approximately $0.8 million.
Return of Capital
Commenting on capital allocation, Lynch said, "Our balance sheet and liquidity position remain strong. Our total cash and revolver availability as of April 30, 2022 was approximately $2.0 billion, with $1.4 billion of cash on hand, $417 million of U.S. revolver availability under the Vail Holdings Credit Agreement and $212 million of revolver availability under the Whistler Credit Agreement. As of April 30, 2022, our Net Debt was 1.7 times trailing twelve months Total Reported EBITDA. The Company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.91 per share of Vail Resorts' common stock that will be payable on July 12, 2022 to shareholders of record as of June 27, 2022. A Canadian dollar equivalent dividend on the exchangeable shares of Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. will be payable on July 12, 2022 to shareholders of record as of June 27, 2022. The exchangeable shares were issued to certain Canadian persons in connection with our acquisition of Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. Additionally, from the beginning of the Company's third quarter of fiscal 2022 through June 8, 2022, the Company repurchased 303,143 shares at an average price of $246.33 for a total of approximately $74.7 million. We intend to maintain an opportunistic approach to share repurchases. We will continue to be disciplined stewards of our capital and remain committed to continuous investment in our people, strategic, high-return capital projects, strategic acquisition opportunities and returning capital to our shareholders through our quarterly dividend and share repurchase programs."
Commitment to our Employees and Guests
Commenting on the Company's investments for the 2022/2023 ski season, Lynch said, "As we turn our attention to the 2022/2023 ski season and beyond, the Company is making its largest ever investment in both its employees and its resorts, to ensure we continue to deliver our Company mission of an Experience of a Lifetime. The experience of our employees and guests is the core of our business model, and the Company intends to use its financial resources and the stability it has created through its pass program to continue to aggressively reinvest to deliver that experience. We believe our business model allows us to make these investments and achieve our short and long-term financial growth objectives.
"For our employees, we are investing approximately $175 million in incremental expected labor expense, including inflationary adjustments, in fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022 to support our employees and return our resorts to normal staffing levels. The investment includes increasing the minimum hourly wage offered across all 37 of our North American resorts to $20 per hour for all U.S. employees and C$20 per hour for all Canadian employees, and increases for hourly employees with adjustments for leadership and career stage differentials. Roles that have specific experiences or certification as prerequisites, such as entry-level patrol, commercial drivers, and maintenance technicians will start at $21 per hour. Tipped employees will be guaranteed a minimum of $20 per hour. The wage investment represents an average wage increase of nearly 30% across hourly employees in North America. Additionally, the Company will be launching a new seasonal frontline leadership development program with the goal of supporting our seasonal frontline team members' leadership development and ability to build a career at Vail Resorts. The Company will be assessing targeted increases, beyond inflation, for our salaried employees and will be making a significant investment in our human resource department to ensure the right level of employee support, development and recruiting. We believe talent is our most important asset and our employees are our strategic priority at all levels of the Company, and our employee investments are intended to help us achieve normal staffing levels that, in turn, deliver an outstanding guest experience. Additional information on the employee investments and anticipated financial impacts are available in our March 2022 investor presentation available on our Investor Relations website.
"In addition, Vail Resorts has made a commitment to affordable housing in our mountain communities. Affordable housing is a national and a mountain community crisis. As previously announced, we are investing in four projects to provide accessible and affordable housing for our employees at Park City Mountain in Utah, Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Vail Mountain in Colorado, and Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont. Collectively, the four investments would provide new affordable housing to more than 875 Vail Resorts employees, marking a more than 10% increase in affordable employee housing offered by the Company across its resorts. We believe it is time for us, and our communities, to make affordable housing a top priority and accelerate the processes to ensure we bring these affordable housing opportunities to fruition."
Regarding calendar year 2022 capital expenditures, Lynch said, "We remain dedicated to delivering an exceptional guest experience and will continue to prioritize reinvesting in the experience at our resorts. We are committed to consistently increasing capacity through lift, terrain and food and beverage expansion projects and are making a significant one-time incremental investment this year to accelerate that strategy with our ambitious capital investment plan for calendar year 2022 of approximately $315 million to $325 million across our resorts, excluding one-time investments related to integration activities, employee housing development projects and real estate related projects. The plan includes approximately $180 million for the installation of 21 new or replacement lifts across 14 of our resorts and a transformational lift-served terrain expansion at Keystone. In addition to the two brand new lift configurations at Vail and Keystone, the replacement lifts will collectively increase lift capacity at those lift locations by more than 45%. Projects in the plan are subject to regulatory approvals and, assuming timely approvals, are currently expected to be completed in time for the 2022/2023 North American winter season.
"The core capital plan is approximately $150 million above our typical annual capital plan, based on inflation and previous additions for acquisitions. We plan to spend approximately $9 million on integration activities related to the recently acquired Seven Springs Resorts. Including one-time investments related to integration activities and $3 million associated with real estate related projects, our total capital plan is expected to be approximately $327 million to $337 million. Including our calendar year 2022 capital plan, Vail Resorts will have invested over $2 billion in capital since launching the Epic Pass, increasing capacity, improving the guest experience and creating an integrated resort network."
Regarding calendar year 2023 capital expenditures, Lynch said, "In addition to this year's significant capacity expanding investments, planning is already underway for our calendar year 2023 capital plan, and we are pleased to announce the first projects from that plan, with additional calendar year 2023 investments and upgrades to be announced in the coming quarters. At Breckenridge, we plan to upgrade the Peak 8 base area to enhance the beginner and children's experience and increase uphill capacity from this popular base area. The investment plan will include a new four-person high speed 5-Chair to replace the existing two-person fixed-grip lift and will include significant improvements, including new teaching terrain and a transport carpet from the base, to make the beginner experience more accessible. At Stevens Pass, we are planning to replace the two-person fixed-grip Kehr's Chair lift with a new four-person lift, which will improve out-of-base capacity and guest experience. At Attitash, we plan to replace the three-person fixed-grip Summit Triple lift with a new four-person high speed lift, increasing uphill capacity and reducing guests' time on the longest lift at the resort. These lift projects are subject to regulatory approvals and are currently expected to be completed in time for the 2023/2024 North American winter season."
Season Pass Sales
Commenting on the Company's season pass sales for the upcoming 2022/2023 North American ski season, Lynch said, "Following a rapid acceleration of growth in our advance commitment strategy over the last two years that nearly doubled the number of our guests in advance commitment products, we are very pleased with the results for our spring season pass sales to date with strong unit growth over the record pass sales results we saw last spring, validating the compelling network of resorts, guest experience and value provided for our guests. Pass product sales through May 31, 2022 for the upcoming 2022/2023 North American ski season increased approximately 9% in units and approximately 11% in sales dollars as compared to the period in the prior year through June 1, 2021. Pass product sales are adjusted to include pass sales for the Seven Springs Resorts in both periods and to eliminate the impact of foreign currency by applying an exchange rate of $0.79 between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar in both periods for Whistler Blackcomb pass sales."
Lynch continued, "Relative to season to date pass product sales for the 2021/2022 season through June 1, 2021, we saw strong unit growth with our renewing pass holders. Our strongest unit growth was in our destination markets as travel continues to rebound following the impacts from COVID-19, and we saw more moderated unit sales across our local markets where pass penetration is already higher. Our Epic Day Pass products continue to drive our strongest product growth as we attract lower frequency guests into advance commitment products as first time pass holders and with the 2022/23 launch of a new tier of products with access to select regional and local resorts. Pass sales dollars are benefiting from the 7.5% price increase relative to the 2021/2022 season, largely offset by the impact of the growth of Epic Day Pass products, including our new lower priced Epic Day Pass offerings. Following the strong trade-up results last year, we are pleased that we achieved neutral net migration among renewing pass holders in our spring pass sales. We have the majority of our pass selling season ahead of us, and, as more guests purchase passes in the spring, we believe the full year unit and sales growth rate will be lower than our spring growth rate. We will provide more information about our pass sales results in our September 2022 earnings release."
Regarding Epic Australia Pass sales, Lynch commented, "We are very pleased with ongoing sales of the Epic Australia Pass, which end on June 15, 2022. Unit sales are up approximately 28% through May 31, 2022, as compared to the comparable period through June 1, 2021, as we continue to benefit from the acquisition of Falls Creek and Hotham in 2019."
Updated Outlook
- Net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. is expected to be between $314 million and $348 million for fiscal 2022.
- Resort Reported EBITDA is expected to be between $828 million and $842 million for fiscal 2022, which includes an estimated $16 million of Resort Reported EBITDA for the Seven Springs Resorts for the period from the transaction closing on December 31, 2021 through the end of the fiscal year, partially offset by $7 million of acquisition and integration related expenses associated with the Seven Springs Resorts transaction and the expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun. Our guidance includes estimated acquisition related expenses specific to the expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun, but does not include any estimate for the closing costs, operating results or integration expense associated with the Andermatt-Sedrun acquisition, which is expected to close later in calendar year 2022.
- Resort EBITDA Margin is expected to be approximately 33.0% in fiscal 2022 at the midpoint of our guidance range.
- In addition to the above, the updated outlook for fiscal year 2022 assumes normal conditions and operations throughout the Australian ski season and North American summer season, both of which begin in our fourth quarter, and no incremental travel or operating restrictions associated with COVID-19 that could negatively impact our results. The guidance also assumes an exchange rate of $0.79 between the Canadian Dollar and U.S. Dollar related to the operations of Whistler Blackcomb in Canada and an exchange rate of $0.74 between the Australian Dollar and U.S. Dollar related to the operations of Perisher, Falls Creek and Hotham in Australia.
The following table reflects the forecasted guidance range for the Company's fiscal year ending July 31, 2022, for Reported EBITDA (after stock-based compensation expense) and reconciles such Reported EBITDA guidance to net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc.
Earnings Conference Call
The Company will conduct a conference call today at 5:00 p.m. eastern time to discuss the financial results. The call will be webcast and can be accessed at www.vailresorts.com in the Investor Relations section, or dial (800) 289-0720 (U.S. and Canada) or (323) 701-0160 (international). A replay of the conference call will be available two hours following the conclusion of the conference call through June 23, 2022, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. To access the replay, dial (888) 203-1112 (U.S. and Canada) or (719) 457-0820 (international), pass code 8537966. The conference call will also be archived at www.vailresorts.com.
About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN)
Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading global mountain resort operator. Vail Resorts' subsidiaries operate 40 destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada; Perisher, Falls Creek and Hotham in Australia; Stowe, Mount Snow, Okemo in Vermont; Hunter Mountain in New York; Mount Sunapee, Attitash, Wildcat and Crotched in New Hampshire; Stevens Pass in Washington; Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Laurel Mountain, Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail, Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania; Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, Brandywine and Mad River in Ohio; Hidden Valley and Snow Creek in Missouri; Wilmot in Wisconsin; Afton Alps in Minnesota; Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and Paoli Peaks in Indiana. Vail Resorts owns and/or manages a collection of casually elegant hotels under the Rock Resorts brand, as well as the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning and development subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for any historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release and on the conference call contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements relate to analyses and other information available as of the date hereof, which are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. These statements also relate to our contemplated future prospects, developments and business strategies.
These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "will" and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Such statements include statements regarding fiscal 2022 performance (including the assumptions related thereto), including our expected net income, Resort Reported EBITDA and margin; our expectations regarding our liquidity; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on, among other things, our operations; expectations related to our season pass sales and products; our expectations related to customer demand and lift ticket sales for the remainder of the 2021/2022 North American ski season; our expectations regarding our ancillary lines of business; expectations regarding the payment of dividends and share repurchases; our planned wage increases; our pursuit of affordable employee housing; our calendar year 2022 and 2023 capital plans and expectations related thereto, including timing and our ability to obtain any required regulatory approvals; and the expected estimated incremental annual EBITDA and capital expenditures related to our recent acquisitions of the Seven Springs Resorts and expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun. Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that such plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the ultimate duration of COVID-19 and its short-term and long-term impacts on consumer behaviors, the economy generally, and our business and results of operations, including the ultimate amount of refunds that we would be required to refund to our pass product holders for qualifying circumstances under our Epic Coverage program; the willingness of our guests to travel due to terrorism, the uncertainty of military conflicts or outbreaks of contagious diseases (such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic), and the cost and availability of travel options and changing consumer preferences or willingness to travel; prolonged weakness in general economic conditions, including adverse effects on the overall travel and leisure related industries; unfavorable weather conditions or the impact of natural disasters; risks related to interruptions or disruptions of our information technology systems, data security or cyberattacks; risks related to our reliance on information technology, including our failure to maintain the integrity of our customer or employee data and our ability to adapt to technological developments or industry trends; the seasonality of our business combined with adverse events that may occur during our peak operating periods; competition in our mountain and lodging businesses or with other recreational and leisure activities; the high fixed cost structure of our business; our ability to fund resort capital expenditures; risks related to a disruption in our water supply that would impact our snowmaking capabilities and operations; our reliance on government permits or approvals for our use of public land or to make operational and capital improvements; risks related to federal, state, local and foreign government laws, rules and regulations; risks related to changes in security and privacy laws and regulations which could increase our operating costs and adversely affect our ability to market our products, properties and services effectively; risks related to our workforce, including increased labor costs, loss of key personnel and our ability to hire and retain a sufficient seasonal workforce; a deterioration in the quality or reputation of our brands, including our ability to protect our intellectual property and the risk of accidents at our mountain resorts; our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, or that acquired businesses may fail to perform in accordance with expectations, including the Seven Springs Resorts and the expected acquisition of Andermatt-Sedrun; our ability to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 with respect to acquired businesses; risks associated with international operations; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates where the Company has foreign currency exposure, primarily the Canadian and Australian dollars, as compared to the U.S. dollar; changes in tax laws, regulations or interpretations, or adverse determinations by taxing authorities; risks related to our indebtedness and our ability to satisfy our debt service requirements under our outstanding debt including our unsecured senior notes, which could reduce our ability to use our cash flow to fund our operations, capital expenditures, future business opportunities and other purposes; a materially adverse change in our financial condition; adverse consequences of current or future legal claims; and changes in accounting judgments and estimates, accounting principles, policies or guidelines.
All forward-looking statements attributable to us or any persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those expected, estimated or projected. Given these uncertainties, users of the information in this press release and from the conference call, including investors and prospective investors, are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements that we make for a number of reasons including those described above and in Part I, Item 1A. "Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2021 and Part II, Item 1A "Risk Factors" of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2022. All forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof. Except as may be required by law, we do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information, future events or other circumstances have made them incorrect or misleading.
Statement Concerning Non-GAAP Financial Measures
When reporting financial results, we use the terms Resort Reported EBITDA, Total Reported EBITDA, Resort EBITDA Margin, Net Debt and Net Real Estate Cash Flow, which are not financial measures under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). We believe that the inclusion of these non-GAAP measures is appropriate to provide additional information to investors to assess our operating performance across periods on a consistent basis and to evaluate the relative risk of an investment in our securities. Resort Reported EBITDA, Total Reported EBITDA, Resort EBITDA Margin, Net Debt and Net Real Estate Cash Flow should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to, or substitute for, measures of financial performance or liquidity prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, we report segment Reported EBITDA (i.e. Mountain, Lodging and Real Estate), the measure of segment profit or loss required to be disclosed in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, these measures may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures of other companies. Additionally, with respect to discussion of impacts from currency, the Company calculates the impact by applying current period foreign exchange rates to the prior period results, as the Company believes that comparing financial information using comparable foreign exchange rates is a more objective and useful measure of changes in operating performance.
Reported EBITDA (and its counterpart for each of our segments) has been presented herein as a measure of the Company's performance. The Company believes that Reported EBITDA is an indicative measurement of the Company's operating performance, and is similar to performance metrics generally used by investors to evaluate other companies in the resort and lodging industries. The Company defines Resort EBITDA Margin as Resort Reported EBITDA divided by Resort net revenue. The Company believes Resort EBITDA Margin is an important measurement of operating performance. The Company believes that Net Debt is an important measurement of liquidity as it is an indicator of the Company's ability to obtain additional capital resources for its future cash needs. Additionally, the Company believes Net Real Estate Cash Flow is important as a cash flow indicator for its Real Estate segment. See the tables provided in this release for reconciliations of our measures of segment profitability and non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.
Reconciliation of Measures of Segment Profitability and Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Presented below is a reconciliation of net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. to Total Reported EBITDA for the three and nine months ended April 30, 2022 and 2021.
Presented below is a reconciliation of net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. to Total Reported EBITDA calculated in accordance with GAAP for the twelve months ended April 30, 2022.
The following table reconciles long-term debt, net to Net Debt and the calculation of Net Debt to Total Reported EBITDA for the twelve months ended April 30, 2022.
The following table reconciles Real Estate Reported EBITDA to Net Real Estate Cash Flow for the three and nine months ended April 30, 2022 and 2021.
The following table reconciles Resort net revenue to Resort EBITDA Margin for fiscal 2022 guidance.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Vail Resorts, Inc. | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/06/09/vail-resorts-reports-fiscal-2022-third-quarter-results-early-season-pass-sales-results-provides-updated-fiscal-2022-outlook/ | 2022-06-09T21:26:46Z |
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vale S.A. ("Vale"), Vale Canada Limited ("Vale Canada") and Vale Overseas Limited ("Vale Overseas," and together with Vale and Vale Canada, the "Offerors") announce the expiration of the previously announced offers to purchase (the "Offers") with respect to any and all of the Notes issued by the Offerors of the series set forth in the table below (the "Notes" and each a "series" of Notes).
The Offerors also announce the expiration date results of the Offers as of the Expiration Date (as defined below) as set forth in the table below, including the aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted in such Offers, and the aggregate principal amount of Notes reflected in notices of guaranteed delivery delivered at or prior to the Expiration Date:
The Offers were made upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the offer to purchase dated June 3, 2022 (the "Offer to Purchase") relating to the Notes and the accompanying notice of guaranteed delivery. The Offers expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, today (the "Expiration Date"). The settlement date with respect to the Offers is expected to occur on June 14, 2022 (the "Settlement Date").
In order to be eligible to participate in the Offers, holders of Notes who delivered notices of guaranteed delivery prior to the Expiration Date must deliver such Notes no later than 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 13, 2022 (the "Guaranteed Delivery Date"), pursuant to the Guaranteed Delivery Procedures (as defined in the Offer to Purchase).
The Offerors' obligation to accept Notes tendered in the Offers is subject to the terms and conditions of the Offer to Purchase, which is hereby amended to increase the maximum aggregate principal amount of Notes that the Offerors will purchase pursuant to the Offers from US$1,000,000,000 to US$1,313,987,000 (as amended, the "Maximum Purchase Amount"). As a result, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, as amended, the Offerors have accepted for purchase all of the Notes validly tendered, and expect to accept all of the Notes validly delivered on or prior to the Guaranteed Delivery Date pursuant to the Guaranteed Delivery Procedures.
The aggregate principal amount of Notes that will be purchased by the Offerors on the Settlement Date is subject to change based on deliveries of Notes pursuant to the Guaranteed Delivery Procedures. The aggregate principal amount of Notes accepted and expected to be accepted in the Offers, excluding any premium and accrued and unpaid interest, will be approximately US$1,313,987,000.
All conditions described in the Offer to Purchase that were to be satisfied or waived on or prior to the Expiration Date have been satisfied.
Vale has retained BMO Capital Markets Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Agricole Securities (USA) Inc., MUFG Securities Americas Inc., Scotia Capital (USA) Inc. and SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc. to serve as dealer managers and D.F. King & Co., Inc. to serve as tender and information agent for the Offers.
This news release is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities. The Offers were made only by, and pursuant to the terms of, the Offer to Purchase. The Offers were not made in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction where the laws required the Offers to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Offers were made by the dealer managers on behalf of the Offerors. None of the Offerors, the tender and information agent, the dealer managers or the trustee with respect to the Notes, nor any of their affiliates, made any recommendation as to whether holders should have tendered or refrained from tendering all or any portion of their Notes in response to the Offers. None of the Offerors, the tender and information agent, the dealer managers or the trustee with respect to the Notes, nor any of their affiliates, have authorized any person to give any information or to make any representation in connection with the Offers other than the information and representations contained in the Offer to Purchase.
For further information, please contact:
Vale.RI@vale.com
Ivan Fadel: ivan.fadel@vale.com
Andre Werner: andre.werner@vale.com
Mariana Rocha: mariana.rocha@vale.com
Samir Bassil: samir.bassil@vale.com
This press release may include statements that present Vale's expectations about future events or results. All statements, when based upon expectations about the future, involve various risks and uncertainties. Vale cannot guarantee that such statements will prove correct. These risks and uncertainties include factors related to the following: (a) the countries where we operate, especially Brazil and Canada; (b) the global economy; (c) the capital markets; (d) the mining and metals prices and their dependence on global industrial production, which is cyclical by nature; and (e) global competition in the markets in which Vale operates. To obtain further information on factors that may lead to results different from those forecast by Vale, please consult the reports Vale files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Brazilian Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) and in particular the factors discussed under "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in Vale's annual report on Form 20-F.
View original content:
SOURCE Vale S.A. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/10/vale-announces-expiration-results-cash-tender-offers-notes-due-2026-2034-2032-2039-2036-2042/ | 2022-06-10T03:50:06Z |
In response to Mr. Schwartz, when votes are cast illegally they are should not be counted.
If a person is legally registered to vote they are entitled to one vote for whomever. So, in order for a vote to be illegal you must have proof that such a vote is illegal. Such as voting twice or using an incorrect address as examples.
So where is your evidence of all these illegal votes? Please provide the source and number of these illegal votes you propose happened.
Such evidence has not been provided in Texas or anywhere else.
Of interest is Mark Meadows, the ex-chief of staff reportedly voted using an address where he did not reside. That is evidence of voter fraud. Once again, no such evidence has been provided for massive fraud. Just saying so does not fly. In this country you need proof.
Sandra Wiley
Temple | https://www.tdtnews.com/news/letters_to_the_editor/article_2087a7c8-c1c4-11ec-ba9b-8f2c8d271f7b.html | 2022-04-23T10:01:37Z |
Online passport renewals in works
(Gray News) - The days of filling out tons of paperwork to renew your passport could soon be over.
The State Department said it plans to start taking passport renewal applications online.
For a limited time starting Friday, and for a limited period in October, people seeking to renew their passports can do it online as part of a pilot program.
The move to online passports renewals comes after the State Department launched a successful test program to help with the pandemic backlog, which had resulted in renewal wait times of up to 18 weeks.
However, not everyone will be able to take advantage of the new online service.
That includes people younger than the age of 16 and those applying for a passport for the first time.
The new online renewal system is expected to launch for everyone early next year.
For more information, go to travel.state.gov.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. CNN Newsource contributed to this report. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/09/16/online-passport-renewals-works/ | 2022-09-16T18:58:18Z |
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Dunkin’ has kicked off a new lineup of food and drink flavors as well as returning menu items.
One new food item that appeared on the menu Wednesday is cornbread donuts and donut holes. They feature a sweet and savory corn cake-based glaze.
Another new item is the tomato pesto grilled cheese. It is served hot and features roasted tomatoes, a nut-free pesto spread and melted white cheddar cheese between slices of Dunkin’s toasted authentic sourdough bread.
Inspired by Dunkin’ devotees “hacking” the menu to create their own version of cake batter flavor, Dunkin has added the new cake batter signature latte to the menu. The iced latte combines espresso and cake batter flavor and is topped with whipped cream, a mocha drizzle and rainbow sprinkles.
Another new drink item is the mango pineapple Dunkin’ refresher, which features mango and pineapple fruit flavors, combined with green tea, coconut milk or lemonade.
“We want our guests to get more out of every day with Dunkin’ in each hand,” said Jill Nelson, Vice President, Marketing and Culinary at Dunkin’. “We absolutely love the pairing of our new Mango Pineapple Dunkin’ Refresher with the delicious Tomato Pesto Grilled Cheese sandwich, and the ability to enjoy a pick-me-up from Dunkin’ at any time of day. The flavors are as bold and bright as the days ahead!”
Dunkin has returning items as well, including the butter pecan iced coffee and sunrise batch iced coffee. | https://cw33.com/news/dunkin-adds-cornbread-donuts-and-more-to-menu/ | 2022-04-28T18:33:03Z |
Feds: R. Kelly remains on suicide watch ‘for his own safety’
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities are pushing back on R. Kelly’s claims that he was placed on suicide watch as a form of punishment last week after a judge sentenced him to 30 years behind bars for using his fame to sexually abuse young girls.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn filed court papers late Saturday saying the disgraced R&B superstar remains on suicide watch “for his own safety” following a psychological assessment.
Kelly’s “current life circumstances undoubtedly bring emotional distress,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie Speight wrote in a court filing.
“He is a convicted sex offender who has been sentenced to spend the next three decades in prison,” she added. “In the immediate future, he faces another federal criminal trial in Chicago for charges related to child pornography.”
Kelly’s attorney filed a lawsuit Friday alleging prison officials placed him on suicide watch at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center “solely for punitive purposes and because of his status as a high-profile inmate,” adding that Kelly has had no thoughts of harming himself.
“Nothing occurred during sentencing that came as a surprise to Mr. Kelly,” attorney Jennifer Bonjean wrote in the lawsuit. “While the conditions of suicide watch may be appropriate for individuals who are truly at risk of hurting themselves, they are cruel and unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment for individuals who are not suicidal.”
Kelly, 55, didn’t give a statement and showed no reaction upon hearing his sentence, which also included a $100,000 fine.
The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling songwriter was found guilty last year of racketeering and sex trafficking. He has denied wrongdoing, and he plans to appeal his conviction.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has been under heightened scrutiny since financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kxii.com/2022/07/03/feds-r-kelly-remains-suicide-watch-his-own-safety/ | 2022-07-03T19:54:36Z |
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., July 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) invites the public to escape the summer heat and visit one of three community resource centers for free fitness and wellness classes, health resources and more!
Air-conditioned and open to the public, IEHP's community resource centers in Riverside, San Bernardino and Victorville are open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday. They follow all Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines and have implemented rigorous cleaning and sanitation routines to safely welcome visitors.
The health plan will also schedule supportive community events, like COVID-19 vaccine clinics and a "Family Day," to help families prepare for their children's back-to-school needs.
"We understand how tough supporting a family can be and the importance of making sure your children have what they need to go out in the world and be successful. We have your back," said Delia Orosco, manager of the IEHP Victorville Community Resource Center.
Family Day will take place at all three community resource centers on the following dates and times:
"We're looking forward to providing families with children's backpacks, school supplies and household items at our upcoming Family Day events in July," said Maria Gallegos, manager of the centers in Riverside and San Bernardino. "It's truly an honor to meet our Members and neighbors in this way, and we hope you'll visit us this summer and join in on all the fun."
Throughout the summer, the centers' course offerings will include food demonstrations, Zumba, yoga for seniors and people with disabilities, aerobic boxing, meditation and more.
"Our community resource centers provide a safe space for healthy self-expression through recreational activities, mental stimulation and sense of community," said IEHP Chief Executive Officer Jarrod McNaughton. "Our teams work incredibly hard to provide our visitors with a variety of classes, including benefit or resource navigation, to ensure they receive the services they need, when they need them."
To learn more about IEHP's community resource centers, course offerings and events visit iehp.org or follow IEHP on Facebook!
IEHP, Inland Empire Health Plan, is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country. With a network of more than 7,300 Providers and nearly 2,500 employees, IEHP serves more than 1.5 million residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are enrolled in Medicaid or Cal MediConnect Plan (Medicare-Medicaid Plan). Through a dynamic partnership with Providers and Community, award-winning service and innovative products, IEHP is fully committed to advocating for our Members and providing them with quality, accessible and wellness-based health care services. For more information, visit iehp.org.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/07/07/escape-ie-heat-free-visit-an-iehp-community-resource-center/ | 2022-07-07T17:09:33Z |
NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Immunic, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMUX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of selective oral immunology therapies focused on treating chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, today announced that the company has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for patent application 16/646130, entitled, "Compound Having Cyclic Structure." The patent covers composition-of-matter of IMU-856 and related pharmaceutical compositions and is expected to provide protection into at least 2038, without accounting for potential Patent Term Extension (PTE).
The patent application was originally filed by Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (Daiichi Sankyo), which discovered IMU-856. In 2018, Immunic and Daiichi Sankyo entered into a global option and license agreement, granting Immunic the exclusive right to license IMU-856, which was subsequently exercised by Immunic in 2020. The license included exclusivity on the composition-of-matter patent.
"Allowance of this composition-of-matter patent significantly strengthens our intellectual property estate and is key to the clinical development of IMU-856, which we believe to be a highly potent small molecule oral epigenetic regulator. In particular, IMU-856 appears to influence the tightly regulated network of genes and proteins associated with intestinal epithelial cell interaction and adhesion which could present an entirely new and innovative approach to the treatment of a significant number of gastrointestinal diseases," stated Daniel Vitt, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Immunic. "In May 2022, we reached an important milestone with the initiation of part C of our phase 1 clinical trial of IMU-856 in patients with celiac disease, to confirm the drug's ability to restore intestinal barrier function without affecting the immune system. We also look forward to reporting unblinded safety data from the single and multiple ascending dose parts of the phase 1 clinical trial in healthy human subjects in the third quarter of this year."
IMU-856, which Immunic believes to be novel, is an orally available small molecule modulator that targets a protein which serves as a transcriptional regulator of intestinal barrier function and regeneration of bowel epithelium. Based on preclinical data, the compound may represent a new treatment approach, as the mechanism of action targets the restoration of the intestinal barrier function and bowel wall architecture in patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases such as celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea and other intestinal barrier function associated diseases. Immunic believes that, because IMU-856 has been shown in preclinical investigations to avoid suppression of immune cells, it may therefore maintain immune surveillance for patients during therapy, an important advantage versus chronic treatment with potentially immunosuppressive medications. IMU-856 is an investigational drug product that has not been approved in any jurisdiction.
IMU-856 was discovered by Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (Daiichi Sankyo). In November 2018, Immunic and Daiichi Sankyo entered into a global option and license agreement, granting Immunic the exclusive right to license IMU-856. The license also includes exclusivity on a patent application filed by Daiichi Sankyo, covering IMU-856's composition of matter. Immunic exercised the option in January 2020.
Immunic, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMUX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of selective oral immunology therapies focused on treating chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The company is developing three small molecule products: its lead development program, vidofludimus calcium (IMU-838), a selective immune modulator that inhibits the intracellular metabolism of activated immune cells by blocking the enzyme DHODH and exhibits a host-based antiviral effect, is currently being developed as a treatment option for multiple sclerosis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis. IMU-935, a selective inverse agonist of the transcription factor RORγ/RORγt, is targeted for development in psoriasis, and castration-resistant prostate cancer. IMU-856, which targets the restoration of the intestinal barrier function, is targeted for development in diseases involving bowel barrier dysfunction. For further information, please visit: www.imux.com.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that involve substantial risks and uncertainties for purposes of the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected expenses, sufficiency of cash, expected timing and results of clinical trials, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Immunic's three development programs and the targeted diseases; the potential for IMU-856 to safely and effectively target diseases; preclinical and clinical data for IMU-856; the timing of current and future clinical trials and anticipated clinical milestones; the nature, strategy and focus of the company and further updates with respect thereto; and the development and commercial potential of any product candidates of the company. Immunic may not actually achieve the plans, carry out the intentions or meet the expectations or projections disclosed in the forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Actual results and performance could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including, without limitation, the COVID-19 pandemic, impacts of the Ukraine – Russia conflict on planned and ongoing clinical trials, risks and uncertainties associated with the ability to project future cash utilization and reserves needed for contingent future liabilities and business operations, the availability of sufficient financial and other resources to meet business objectives and operational requirements, the fact that the results of earlier preclinical studies and clinical trials may not be predictive of future clinical trial results, the protection and market exclusivity provided by Immunic's intellectual property, risks related to the drug development and the regulatory approval process and the impact of competitive products and technological changes. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in the section captioned "Risk Factors," in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on February 24, 2022, and in the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov or ir.imux.com/sec-filings. Any forward-looking statement made in this release speaks only as of the date of this release. Immunic disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. Immunic expressly disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken or not taken based on any or all the contents of this press release.
Contact Information
Immunic, Inc.
Jessica Breu
Head of Investor Relations and Communications
+49 89 2080 477 09
jessica.breu@imux.com
US IR Contact
Rx Communications Group
Paula Schwartz
+1 917 633 7790
immunic@rxir.com
US Media Contact
KOGS Communication
Edna Kaplan
+1 617 974 8659
kaplan@kogspr.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Immunic, Inc. | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/08/16/immunic-receives-notice-allowance-composition-of-matter-patent-united-states-imu-856-small-molecule-modulator-targeting-restoration-intestinal-barrier-function-regeneration-bowel-epithelium/ | 2022-08-16T11:03:53Z |
NEW YORK, June 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner of the class action firm Monteverde & Associates PC (the "M&A Class Action Firm"), a national securities firm rated Top 50 in the 2018-2021 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report and headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating Ocean Bio-Chem, Inc. (OBCI), relating to its proposed acquisition by OneWater Marine Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, OBCI shareholders will receive $13.08 in cash per share they own. Click here for more information: https://www.monteverdelaw.com/case/ocean-bio-chem-inc. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.
We are a national class action securities litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders from corporate wrongdoing. We were listed in the Top 50 in the 2018-2021 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. Our lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions. Mr. Monteverde is recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013, 2017-2019, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017-2021 Top Rated Lawyer. Our firm's recent successes include changing the law in a significant victory that lowered the standard of liability under Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act in the Ninth Circuit. Thereafter, our firm successfully preserved this victory by obtaining dismissal of a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted at the United States Supreme Court. Emulex Corp. v. Varjabedian, 139 S. Ct. 1407 (2019). Also, in 2019 we recovered or secured six cash common funds for shareholders in mergers & acquisitions class action cases.
If you own common stock in OBCI and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.
Contact:
Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.
MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC
The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405
New York, NY 10118
United States of America
jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com
Tel: (212) 971-1341
Attorney Advertising. (C) 2022 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/06/28/equity-alert-mampa-class-action-firm-announces-an-investigation-ocean-bio-chem-inc-obci/ | 2022-06-28T04:18:07Z |
Over the past week, thousands of high school students in Western New York have gathered for unique celebrations during the pandemic to reflect on the past 4 years.
But for one man on Grand Island, walking across the stage was 75 years in the making and created a touching moment with his grandson that brought on my many cheers and a few tears.
“I’m so lucky to have a great father and an outstanding son,” said Jeff Richard, the son of Warren and father of Ben.
93-year-old Warren Richard’s journey to this day started many years ago.
Warren never finished high school.
He left Western New York in 1945 to fight in World War II.
“I was only 18 so you know, an 18-year-old kid going off on your own. It’s pretty scary and was lonely and you miss people, you know. Especially, when you came home on furlough and then you had to go back. It was pretty emotional,” explained Warren.
Memories of the war are painted permanently in his mind, all these years later.
As a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne, Warren was one of the first American soldiers to occupy Japan after the country surrendered.
“Being away from home, walking in the middle of the night in below zero temperatures on Christmas Eve, things like that. It was good times too with companionship and buddies and stuff,” said Warren.
News 4 sat down with Warren a few days before his high school graduation.
He told us he returned after the war to finish his GED, but he never received his prized high school diploma.
Back in that day, Grand Island High School didn’t even exist.
He took classes at McKinley High School before he was drafted.
Warren’s able to receive his diploma from Grand Island thanks to New York’s ‘Operation Recognition’ program, which allows vets, who left high school early, to graduate.
Even in his 90’s, he’s still looking to the future.
“I got to get that on my resumes in case I want a job,” joked Warren.
We asked Warren what kind of job he might look for.
“One where I can sit down,” laughed Warren.
In all seriousness, he’s grateful for the opportunity… as they say, age is just a number.
“I’m the oldest person I guess to graduate from Grand Island High School… it’s an honor!” explained Warren.
For Warren, it’s an honor all the sweeter.
His youngest grandson, Ben, shares the spotlight with him.
But it almost didn’t happen.
Ben is lucky to be alive today.
He was a passenger in a car crash that happened in May.
His injuries are life altering.
“I’m hoping to hug him… but with the pandemic I guess I can’t do that,” as Warren explained through his tears, “it’s though knowing that he’s in the condition he’s in and he still doesn’t have any feeling in his legs so what does the future hold? We don’t know. It’s disturbing not knowing what it’s going to be like.”
Ben doesn’t show any fear of the unknown, just like his grandfather when he fought for our freedom, 75 years ago.
“I still have some things on my bucket list that I want to get done,” said Ben Richard.
Sunday was Ben’s first time out of the hospital since May 9th.
He was only allowed out for four hours.
He said it’s nerve racking and painful.
It hurts to sit up in his wheelchair, but he’s pushing through.
He’s thankful to share this day with his hero.
“He’s been a big role model my whole life. He’s always been there for me, baseball games and all sorts of stuff. So it’s kind of great that we can do this,” said Ben.
Their journeys may be separated by decades and vast life experiences, but they both share something similar; determination.
They’ve overcome adversity — during war, injury and a pandemic — to get here.
For the two, it’s a moment frozen in time, signifying accomplishment.
Warren, the wise warrior, shares an important message.
“If you haven’t finished school go back and do it because it’s your future and you need a good education to survive in this world,” said Warren.
Warren says with that, perseverance and a little love, you can survive anything.
News 4 caught a touching moment on camera that shows the love between the two.
“Love you, Ben,” said Warren.
Ben: “Love you, too.”
Warren: “You take good care, do what you’re told and I’m sure you’ll recover, ok?”
Ben: “Yes, sir.”
Warren: “we’re rooting for ya”!
Ben still has a long road to recovery.
You can help contribute to his medical expenses here. | https://cw33.com/news/world-war-ii-vet-and-grandson-share-graduation-stage-in-a-touching-moment/ | 2022-05-27T16:46:08Z |
Volkswagen on Thursday announced a special edition Golf R commemorating 20 years of the all-wheel-drive hot hatchback. The aptly named 2023 VW Golf R 20th Anniversary Edition goes on sale in the U.S. this fall, with a planned production run of about 1,800 units.
Marking the anniversary of the 2002 European launch of the Golf R’s predecessor, the R32, the 20th Anniversary Edition deletes the sunroof that’s standard on other Golf R models. This removes some weight from the car’s highest point, to lower the center of gravity.
Other exterior changes include a gloss black finish for the 19-inch wheels, which are wrapped in the same 235/35 summer tires as the standard Golf R, “20 R” puddle lights, and a smattering of blue-finished “R” logos.
The 20th Anniversary Edition is available in Lapiz Blue Metallic, Deep Black Pearl, and Pure White. For a bit of contrast, the mirror caps are finished in Lapiz Blue on Deep Black Pearl and Pure White cars, and gloss black on Lapiz Blue cars.
The interior adds carbon-fiber trim pieces for the dashboard and front door panels—the first time this has been done in a production VW. The steering wheel and key fob get “R” logos as well.
The special edition is mechanically unchanged, keeping the EA888 2.0-liter turbo-4 from the standard Mk8 Golf R, with output unchanged at 315 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque. Europe is getting a special Golf R with slightly more power, but only the U.S.-market 20th Anniversary Edition will be available with a 6-speed manual transmission (a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic is also available).
Prices start at $46,035 with the manual gearbox and $46,835 with the dual-clutch transmission (all prices include destination), an increase of $650 over the standard Golf R with either transmission.
Related Articles
- 2023 Honda Civic Type R checks in with 315 hp, better cooling, revised gearbox
- 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL: 100 Cars That Matter
- 2025 Cadillac Celestiq spy shots and video: Flagship EV takes to the road
- Porsche 911 turned into real-life Sally from “Cars” sold for $3.6M
- Gunther Werks Project Tornado turns the 993 Porsche 911 into a 700-hp RWD monster | https://cw33.com/automotive/internet-brands/2023-volkswagen-golf-r-20th-anniversary-edition-revealed-with-sunroof-delete/ | 2022-09-01T19:09:38Z |
BOSTON, June 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: BHLB) ("Berkshire" or the "Company") announced today the pricing of its offering of $100.0 million of its 5.50% fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes due 2032 (the "Notes"). The Notes will initially bear interest at 5.50% per annum, with interest payable semiannually in arrears, commencing on the issue date, to, but excluding, July 1, 2027. Commencing July 1, 2027, the interest rate on the Notes will reset quarterly to a floating rate per annum equal to a benchmark rate that is expected to be the Three-Month Term SOFR (which is defined in the Notes) plus 249 basis points, with interest payable quarterly in arrears. The Company may redeem the Notes, in whole or in part, on and after July 1, 2027, at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes being redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest. The Notes will mature on July 1, 2032 if they are not earlier redeemed.
The Company expects to close the transaction, subject to customary conditions, on or about June 30, 2022. The Company intends to use an amount equal to the net proceeds of this offering to finance or refinance new or existing assets consistent with its Sustainable Financing Framework, as may be modified from time to time. Pending allocation to such assets, the net proceeds may be used for general corporate purposes, including supporting strategic and organic growth and the repayment of other outstanding indebtedness that has no association with carbon-intensive activities.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, and PNC FIG Advisory, part of PNC Capital Markets LLC, are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.
This press release is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities of the Company. There will be no sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Any offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to purchase securities of the Company will be made only pursuant to a prospectus supplement and prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). The Company has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) (File No. 333-237301) and a preliminary prospectus supplement with the SEC for the offering to which this press release relates. Before making an investment decision, you should read the prospectus and preliminary prospectus supplement and other documents that the Company has filed with the SEC for additional information about the Company and the offering.
You may obtain these documents for free by visiting the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, you may request copies of the prospectus and preliminary prospectus supplement by contacting Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, at 1-800-966-1559 or USCapitalMarkets@kbw.com or PNC Capital Markets LLC at 1-855-881-0697 or PNCFIGAdvisoryCapitalMarkets@pnc.com.
Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the parent of Berkshire Bank. Berkshire Bank's goal is to be a high-performing, leading socially responsible community bank in New England, Upstate New York and beyond. Berkshire Bank provides business and consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management, and investment services.
Headquartered in Boston, Berkshire has approximately $12.1 billion in assets and operates 105 branch offices in New England and New York, and is a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index.
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "would," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "estimate," "project," "believe," "intend," "anticipate," "expect," "target" and variations of such similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, possible or assumed estimates with respect to the financial condition of the Company, our expected or anticipated revenue, and our results of operations and our business, including earnings growth; revenue growth in retail banking, lending and other areas; loan origination volumes; current and future capital management programs; non-interest income levels; tangible capital generation; market share; expense levels; stock repurchases; and other business operations and strategies, as well as statements regarding the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and any current or future variants thereof; inflation and interest rates; economic activity; geopolitical conflicts; and market conditions.
All forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: there may be increases in competitive pressure among financial institutions or from non-financial institutions; the net interest margin is subject to material short-term fluctuation based upon market rates; changes in deposit flows, loan demand or real estate values may affect the business of Berkshire Bank; changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines may cause the Company's financial condition to be perceived differently; changes in corporate and/or individual income tax laws may adversely affect the Company's business or financial condition or results of operations; general economic conditions, either nationally or locally in some or all areas in which the Company conducts business, or conditions in the securities markets or the banking industry, may be different than the Company currently anticipates; legislative, regulatory or policy changes may adversely affect the Company's business or results of operations; technological changes may be more difficult or expensive than the Company anticipates; success or consummation of new business initiatives or the integration of any acquired entities may be more difficult or expensive than the Company anticipates; and litigation or other matters before regulatory agencies, whether currently existing or commencing in the future, may delay the occurrence or non-occurrence of events longer than the Company anticipates.
Further, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (including any current or future variants of the COVID-19 virus) and the related local and national economic disruption may continue to result in a decline in demand for our products and services; increased levels of loan delinquencies, problem assets and foreclosures; an increase in our allowance for loan losses; a decline in the value of loan collateral, including real estate; a greater decline in the yield on our interest-earning assets than the decline in the cost of our interest-bearing liabilities; and increased cybersecurity risks, as employees continue to work remotely. Additionally, financial markets or Company operations may be adversely affected by the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism or other geopolitical events.
These and other factors that may affect forward-looking statements are more fully described under "Forward-Looking Statements" in Item 1 and "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2022, and other factors discussed in our subsequent filings with the SEC.
All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are made. There is no assurance that future results, levels of activity, performance or goals will be achieved. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
CONTACTS
Investor Relations Contacts:
Kevin Conn, SVP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
Email: KAConn@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (617) 641-9206
David Gonci, Capital Markets Director
Email: dgonci@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (413) 281-1973
Media Contact:
Gary Levante, SVP, Corporate Responsibility & Communications
Email: glevante@berkshirebank.com
Tel: (413) 447-1737
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/06/28/berkshire-hills-bancorp-inc-announces-pricing-subordinated-notes-offering/ | 2022-06-28T21:04:06Z |
NEW YORK, April 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestorsObserver issues critical PriceWatch Alerts for NEXT, SOFI, ET, NIO, and CHPT.
To see how InvestorsObserver's proprietary scoring system rates these stocks, view the InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alert by selecting the corresponding link.
- NEXT: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=NEXT&prnumber=040520222
- SOFI: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=SOFI&prnumber=040520222
- ET: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=ET&prnumber=040520222
- NIO: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=NIO&prnumber=040520222
- CHPT: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=CHPT&prnumber=040520222
(Note: You may have to copy this link into your browser then press the [ENTER] key.)
InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alerts are based on our proprietary scoring methodology. Each stock is evaluated based on short-term technical, long-term technical and fundamental factors. Each of those scores is then combined into an overall score that determines a stock's overall suitability for investment.
InvestorsObserver provides patented technology to some of the biggest names on Wall Street and creates world-class investing tools for the self-directed investor on Main Street. We have a wide range of tools to help investors make smarter decisions when investing in stocks or options.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE InvestorsObserver | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/04/05/thinking-about-buying-stock-nextdecade-sofi-technologies-energy-transfer-nio-or-chargepoint/ | 2022-04-05T14:30:16Z |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now that WNBA star Brittney Griner has been convicted of drug possession and sentenced to nine years in prison, attention turns to the prospect of a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia that could get her home.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken went public with that possibility last week, revealing in an unusual announcement that the U.S. had made a “substantial proposal” aimed at securing the release of Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan.
With her court case concluded and her sentence pronounced, such a deal — assuming one can be reached with the Russians — is Griner’s best chance of being freed early.
Though the guilty verdict was seen as a foregone conclusion, the imposition of a sentence her lawyers decried as far longer than average could give the U.S. extra impetus to strike a deal palatable to Russia as soon as possible. And the formal end of the court case could be the opening both sides need to forge a diplomatic resolution, too.
A look at what’s at stake:
WHAT DID THE U.S. OFFER?
Blinken did not specify the terms other than to describe the offer as substantial and something that he intended to discuss with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
A person familiar with the situation said that the U.S. offered to release Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons to Colombia’s former FARC guerrilla army. At the time of his conviction, the group was classified by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization, though that designation was lifted last year.
The officials did wind up speaking by phone last Friday, the highest-level known contact between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine. They are also in Cambodia for meetings involving foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE RUSSIAN RESPONSE?
Minimal, at least in public. Blinken did not provide details after his call with Lavrov about his response. The Russians gave no hint about their interest in the offer, other than a statement chiding the U.S. to pursue the Americans’ freedom through “quiet diplomacy, without releases of speculative information.”
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Russian government had responded in a “bad faith” manner with an offer that U.S. officials did not regard as serious. She did not elaborate, though CNN reported last week that Moscow also wanted the release of a former colonel from one of its spy agencies who was convicted of murder in Germany last year.
WOULD THERE BE A PRECEDENT FOR A PRISONER SWAP?
In many ways, yes — and a recent one too. In April, Russia traded Marine veteran Trevor Reed, convicted of a physical altercation with police in Moscow, for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot imprisoned for a cocaine trafficking conspiracy.
Yet that involved a Russian with far less notoriety than Bout, a former Soviet air force officer who once inspired a Hollywood movie and who earned the nickname the “Merchant of Death” over allegations that he supplied weapons used for civil wars in countries around the globe. He has adamantly maintained his innocence.
But there’s not much recent precedent for public discussions of prisoner swaps, at least by the U.S. government, before the deal is done and planes are in the air. That’s what made Blinken’s announcement from the State Department briefing room all the more striking.
On one hand, it seemed intended to communicate to the public that the administration will do whatever it needs to do to bring home wrongfully detained Americans.
But such a public overture also risks weakening the administration’s negotiating hand to the extent it makes the U.S. look overly desperate for a deal, or signals to other countries that it is willing to meet potentially unreasonable demands.
SO WILL THE DEAL TAKE PLACE?
It’s hard to say, but the contact between Blinken and Lavrov does suggest more progress than has been made before. It also reinforces the idea that the two countries are willing to maintain communication despite extraordinary tensions related to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Griner is the most prominent American detained by a foreign country. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist detained since February when police said they found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage at an airport in Moscow. And though some Republicans including former President Donald Trump have expressed opposition to a deal, the conviction and sentence will only ramp up pressure on the administration to reach an agreement that can get her out soon.
“Today’s sentencing of Brittney Griner was severe by Russian legal standards and goes to prove what we have known all along, that Brittney is being used as a political pawn,” Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s agent, tweeted Thursday.
She said getting a deal done for Griner and Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive imprisoned on an espionage conviction he and his family says is baseless, may be difficult but it is “urgent” and the “right thing to do.” The U.S. government also regards Whelan as wrongfully convicted.
For their part, Russian authorities have suggested that they regard a conviction as basically a prerequisite for a prisoner swap.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden again urged Russia to release Griner immediately.
“My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible,” he said in a statement.
___
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP | https://cw33.com/sports/ap-sports/explainer-what-will-it-take-to-get-brittney-griner-home/ | 2022-08-05T13:19:47Z |
DEERFIELD, Ill., June 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced it will move its global headquarters to the company's existing office in Irving, Texas, from its current location in Deerfield, Illinois.
"We believe it's in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar's strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world," said Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby.
Caterpillar has had a presence in Texas since the 1960s across several areas of the company. Illinois remains the largest concentration of Caterpillar employees anywhere in the world.
The company will begin transitioning its headquarters to Irving in 2022.
About Caterpillar
With 2021 sales and revenues of $51.0 billion, Caterpillar Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. For nearly 100 years, we've been helping customers build a better, more sustainable world and are committed and contributing to a reduced-carbon future. Our innovative products and services, backed by our global dealer network, provide exceptional value that helps customers succeed. Caterpillar does business on every continent, principally operating through three primary segments – Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation – and providing financing and related services through our Financial Products segment. Visit us at caterpillar.com or join the conversation on our social media channels.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release relate to future events and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "forecast," "target," "guide," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance and speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.
Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) commodity price changes, material price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of material; (iii) government monetary or fiscal policies; (iv) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (v) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position, including the imposition of new tariffs or changes in existing tariff rates; (vi) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (vii) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (viii) information technology security threats and computer crime; (ix) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (x) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xi) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xii) adverse effects of unexpected events; (xiii) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (xiv) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (xv) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (xvi) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (xvii) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (xviii) currency fluctuations; (xix) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial and other restrictive covenants in debt agreements; (xx) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxi) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xxii) additional tax expense or exposure, including the impact of U.S. tax reform; (xxiii) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxiv) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xxv) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xxvi) the duration and geographic spread of, business disruptions caused by, and the overall global economic impact of, the COVID-19 pandemic; and (xxvii) other factors described in more detail in Caterpillar's Forms 10-Q, 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
View original content:
SOURCE Caterpillar Inc. | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/06/14/caterpillar-relocate-global-headquarters-dallas-fort-worth-area/ | 2022-06-14T16:18:18Z |
PETALUMA, Calif., Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tangram Insurance Services, Inc. ("Tangram"), one of the largest independent managing general underwriters and program managers in the United States, acquired Los Angeles-based New Empire Entertainment Insurance effective August 1, 2022.
New Empire is a leading insurance agency specializing in the entertainment industry. Since 2008, the New Empire team has helped thousands of production companies and independent producers identify their insurance needs and protect their productions. The company works with the top entertainment insurers to obtain the best coverage possible, at the most competitive rates, without sacrificing coverage and protection.
"We are very excited for the New Empire team to be partnering with Tangram," said James Bekhor, CEO of New Empire. "Tangram's relationships, innovation, and experience will provide acceleration to New Empire's overall program offering and commitment to the entertainment industry."
"I am thrilled to have the New Empire team join our family of specialty programs. As Tangram leaps forward, we seek programs and teams that deepen our capabilities in a specific market segment. The entertainment industry has emerged from the challenges of the past two years, and continues to show resilience and opportunity," said Rekha Skantharaja, President and CEO of Tangram Insurance Services. "We are excited to provide insurance solutions for businesses and people creating films, music, and special events. I am especially proud that our independent and entrepreneurial culture continues to resonate with our peers in the industry."
Tangram is interested in collaborating with privately held MGUs, MGAs, and program managers across the United States in order to continue its growth trajectory. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Matt McKenna, Director of Corporate Development, at 925-746-7962 or matthewmc@heffgroup.com.
Tangram Insurance Services, Inc. is a managing general underwriter and national program manager bringing in-depth expertise and specialized program capabilities to a variety of industries. With 20 years of experience in the program space, Tangram partners with top insurance companies to deliver niche insurance solutions. For more information, please visit tangramins.com.
View original content:
SOURCE Tangram Insurance Services, Inc. | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/08/09/tangram-insurance-services-acquires-new-empire-entertainment-insurance/ | 2022-08-09T15:58:02Z |
Root quits as England test cricket captain after 5 years
By STEVE DOUGLAS
AP Sports Writer
Joe Root is stepping down as England’s test cricket captain. Root’s decision comes after the 1-0 test series defeat to West Indies last month, and the 4-0 Ashes loss to Australia in the winter. Root says “it has been the most challenging decision I have had to make in my career.” The 31-year-old Root holds the record for the highest number of wins as England’s test captain. His 27 wins put him one ahead of Michael Vaughan and three ahead of Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss. | https://localnews8.com/sports/ap-national-sports/2022/04/15/joe-root-resigns-as-england-test-cricket-captain/ | 2022-04-15T09:56:49Z |
Fears grow for Ukraine nuke plant ahead of inspector report
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Fears grew Tuesday for Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as shelling around it continued, a day after the facility was again knocked off Ukraine’s electricity grid and put in the precarious position of relying on its own power to run safety systems.
Repeated warnings from world leaders that fighting around the Zaporizhzhia plant has put it in an untenable situation that could lead to a nuclear catastrophe have done little to stem the hostilities. Russian-installed officials accused the Ukrainian forces of shelling the city where the plant is located on Tuesday, hours after the Ukrainians said Kremlin forces attacked a city across the river.
Both sides have traded such accusations since Russian troops seized the plant early in the war. With the danger rising, an International Atomic Energy Agency team finally traveled to the plant last week, and inspectors are expected to report what they found to the U.N. Security Council later in the day.
Two inspectors remain at the plant, which is run by Ukrainians workers, and Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak applauded that decision.
“There are Russian troops now who don’t understand what’s happening, don’t assess the risks correctly,” Podolyak said. “There is a number of our workers there, who need some kind of protection, people from the international community standing by their side and telling (Russian troops): ‘Don’t touch these people, let them work.’”
But that appears to have done little to lessen the risks. On Monday, the IAEA said Ukrainian authorities reported that the plant’s last transmission line was disconnected to allow workers to put out a fire caused by shelling.
“The line itself is not damaged, and it will be reconnected once the fire is extinguished,” the IAEA said.
In the meantime, the plant’s only remaining operational reactor would “generate the power the plant needs for its safety and other functions,” the agency said.
Mycle Schneider, an independent analyst in Canada on nuclear energy, said that means the plant was likely functioning in “island mode,” producing electricity just for its own operations.
“Island mode is a very shaky, unstable, and unreliable way to provide continuous power supply to a nuclear plant,” Schneider said.
It was just the latest incident that fueled fears of a potential nuclear disaster in a country still haunted by the world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl. Experts say the reactors at Zaporizhzhia are designed to withstand natural disasters and even aircraft crashes, but the unpredictable fighting around the plant had repeatedly threatened to disrupt critical cooling systems, raising the risk of a meltdown.
Russian-installed officials in the Zaporizhzhia region on Tuesday accused the Ukrainian forces of shelling Enerhodar, the city where the plant is located, and damaging a power line close to the plant.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing its correspondent on the ground, that the power was off in Enerhodar on Tuesday and sounds of explosions could be heard.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s presidential office said that Russian forces shelled residential buildings in Nikopol, a city across the Dnieper river from the Zaporizhzhia plant. Two people were wounded and a school, a kindergarten and some 30 buildings were damaged, the office said.
Russian shelling elsewhere killed at least three civilians, the statement said.
In the southern Kherson region, occupied by the Russians since early on in the war, the Ukrainian army continued its counteroffensive, destroying Russia’s logistical centers. A pontoon bridge was blown up overnight and a command center was hit, as well as two checkpoints.
In the eastern city of Sloviansk, workers with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society swept up debris Monday from a second rocket attack on its premises in a week. Nobody was hurt in either attack, said Taras Logginov, head of the agency’s rapid response unit. He blamed Russian forces and called the attacks war crimes.
In a row of apartment buildings across the road, the few residents who haven’t evacuated sawed sheets of plywood to board up their shattered windows.
Henadii Sydorenko sat on the porch of his apartment building for a break. He said he’s not sure whether to stay or leave, torn between his responsibility of taking care of three apartments whose owners have already evacuated and the increasing fear of the now frequent shelling.
“It’s frightening,” the 57-year-old said of the shelling. “I’m losing my mind, little by little.”
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wibw.com/2022/09/06/fears-grow-ukraine-nuke-plant-ahead-inspector-report/ | 2022-09-06T11:28:02Z |
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. , June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- JPAR® – South Florida Living is pleased to announce the expansion of its Florida operations with the recent acquisition of Signature Invest Realty LLC. Owners, Chris, Lisa, and Michael Schlitz and Jeremy Constantino acquired Signature Invest Realty of Orlando on June 3, 2022.
"We're thrilled to welcome Jose Vega and Signature Invest Realty to our growing organization," said Chris Schlitz, CEO, JPAR® – South Florida Living. Jose and his team of sales professionals complement our vision for expansion in the Florida market," added Schlitz.
JPAR® – Real Estate is one of the fastest growing 100% commission brokerages in the United States and continues its impressive growth by offering a best-in-class technology and marketing platform and its commitment to positioning the agent at the center of each transaction.
"Chris, Lisa and Michael Schlitz are a shining example of what we mean when we talk about JPAR® being built by, and for, influential industry leaders," said Laura O'Connor, President and COO, JPAR® Franchising. "We are proud that they chose us as their franchise partner. They invest the time and effort to understand, train and articulate the brand value to agents, teams and other owners that are looking to further their professional growth. Their growth in both the Greater Atlanta, Georgia and Florida markets can be attributed to their commitment to the agents and communities they serve. Our heartfelt thanks and congratulations on their continued growth and success."
JPAR® – Real Estate is both a Top 50 Real Estate Broker and Top 10 U.S. Hottest Business Franchise.
"With today's competitive marketplace and ever-evolving technology, JPAR® provides the cutting edge tools necessary for our agents to successfully compete and advance their real estate careers while continuing to deliver exceptional customer service," said Jose Vega, Broker/Owner, Signature Invest Realty.
JPAR® – Real Estate brokerage and franchise operations continue to expand throughout the United States, now serving home buyers and sellers from 65 offices throughout 26 states with more than 3,600 real estate professionals.
According to Lisa Schlitz, COO, JPAR® – South Florida Living, "JPAR® – South Florida Living is expanding its footprint not only in Palm Beach, but throughout the state by acquiring high quality brokerages like Signature Invest Realty."
About JPAR® - Real Estate: JPAR® - Real Estate and JPAR® Franchising is a full-service real estate brokerage and franchise platform offering a highly competitive transaction fee-based model and agent-centric culture. The JPAR® platform provides agents 7 day-per-week broker support, physical office locations, a comprehensive open architecture tech stack, marketing, lead generation, training, coaching, mentoring and agent health care. The company serves more than 3,600 agents operating in 65 offices across 26 states.
Contact: Matthew Gentile, 4124773349, matt@mybffsocial.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE JPAR® Real Estate | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/06/07/jpar-south-florida-living-expands-with-acquisition-signature-invest-realty-llc/ | 2022-06-07T21:46:29Z |
After the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School, a state commission investigating the attack in Colorado offered a recommendation that would go on to be widely adopted by police agencies across the United States:
"Law enforcement policy and training should emphasize that the highest priority of law enforcement officers, after arriving at the scene of a crisis, is to stop any ongoing assault."
Twenty-three years and hundreds of active shooter incidents later, society and policing leaders have set expectations that police end shooting attacks quickly and decisively -- by killing or arresting the gunman -- and prioritize the lives of victims over those of responding officers.
That did not happen three months ago when a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers and left 17 other people injured. After law enforcement approached the classrooms where the shooter had holed up with wounded students, the gunman fired at police, who retreated, then waited more than 70 minutes to confront and kill him.
The attack on Robb Elementary, the tactical failures of the police response, the inaccurate framing later by police of their own efforts as heroic and the subsequent refusal over months by government officials to answer key questions that could clarify the public's understanding of that day, together, will have ramifications for years to come, even if only as a reminder of how not to respond to an active shooter and how not to communicate with the public afterward.
Beyond the immediate and deep devastation of dead students and educators, the deficiencies already have begun to undermine the credibility of law enforcement in Texas, testing residents' faith in their own police and raising questions about the officers' ability to confront future crimes. The mistrust has rippled, too: A sheriff in Illinois soon after the attack declared publicly that his deputies never would respond to a similar assault as police did in Uvalde, and school officials in Atlanta just this week briefed parents also concerned over the Uvalde police response about their own safety plans.
"This is very, very early in a long-, long-term affair," said Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association. "We're in the first minute of an overtime game. There will be a lot of unintended, unforeseen, unanticipated consequences. That's a shame."
During the police response to the Columbine attack -- a shocking siege that felt like a first-of-its kind event and marked a seminal moment in American policing -- officers surrounded the school, trained to expect a SWAT team with specialized weapons and tactics to enter and resolve the situation. Professional practice in law enforcement back then also held that time itself benefited police responders.
But Columbine upended that widely held belief, with the state commission finding the trained response was "demonstrably inadequate for incidents like that at Columbine High School." "Time is not on the side of police if one or more active perpetrators are in control of a large public building where there are many potential victims," its report reads.
Twelve students and one teacher died at Columbine at the hands of two students who killed themselves at the school before officers found them. The police response was hampered not just by the ill-suited tactics but also by problems with communication among responding police agencies. Though an officer traded gunfire with one of the shooters a few minutes into the attack outside the school, the first law enforcement entry into the school came about 50 minutes after the shooting began, the report states.
Amid debate after Columbine over whether police waiting for backup was the right approach, there was broad agreement the surround-and-negotiate approach taken during that massacre wasn't appropriate to the type of violent school attack that's only become more common over the past two decades, recalled Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which aims to improve professionalism in policing.
"Back then, there was still some (debate as to) whether a single officer should go in or wait for additional officers. There was variation in policies ... I think that's the case even at Parkland," he said, referring to the 2018 school shooting in Florida. "But Uvalde was a line in the sand in the sense that ... lessons will be felt for decades to come. It's not a debate anymore."
The Columbine commission's recommendation to prioritize a speedy confrontation was just that -- a recommendation. Not even every police agency involved in the Columbine response cooperated with the commission's work, and the wide adoption of its approach to active shooting events as a professional policing standard didn't happen immediately.
Still, the expectation of a fast and aggressive police response has only sharpened over the years, as groups like the National Tactical Officers Association in Colorado and the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training center in Texas have developed training programs that prioritize the rapid and violent, if necessary, confrontation of spree shooters.
Indeed, few things in law enforcement can now be so simply explained as the officer's obligation during an attack, especially at a school:
Move toward gunfire.
End the threat.
"In Uvalde, we're 20 years past Columbine and (four) years past Parkland ... but that's the challenge of American policing: the expectation that everybody is going to perform and knows best practices. But what happens when that message doesn't get through and you have the response like you have in Uvalde? A question of who's in charge, question of command, question of equipment, question of willingness to put yourself, your life on the line to protect someone else," Wexler said. "All those came about."
'A massive failure of leadership on every level'
A complete accounting of the police response to Uvalde has not yet been made public by officials, who've largely avoided answering questions about internal reviews complicated by the overlapping response by 23 agencies and the fact that key agencies are investigating themselves.
Still, police experts, public officials, grieving parents and others all have said the choice by Uvalde responders to wait so long to confront the shooter was wrong.
What's known of the Uvalde response so far largely comes from video from inside school hallways, a report released by a Texas legislative committee investigating the shooting, police body-worn camera videos from the city of Uvalde and a report from the ALERRT training center at Texas State University. Together, the materials show a failure of command early in the response that experts have said compounded failures further on in the incident and in the days that followed, as police gave the public wrong information about what happened.
For instance, a CNN review of body-worn camera footage revealed officers with the state agency investigating the shooting -- the Texas Department of Public Safety -- were at Robb Elementary earlier than publicly acknowledged by its leaders, who instead have focused on its members' actions later in the attack. Meantime, the city of Uvalde waited nearly two months -- until after the release of the legislative report -- to release the bodycam videos and has shared little about a third-party probe of its police force. And while the school board fired its police chief -- a move his lawyer called "an illegal and unconstitutional public lynching" -- school officials haven't commented on the status of any other officers there that day.
All the while, parents of slain children and their neighbors have been showing up to city and school government meetings, demanding far more answers and accountability from public officials, who've shown little interest in the three months since the carnage in releasing more information.
"It's a massive failure of leadership on every level," said Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former Baltimore city police officer. "No one there has said they f**ked up. There's still a need for police, there's just no accountability. Someone needs to resign and say, 'We messed up.' It would give some accountability to it. This idea you make a big mistake, kids die, then you just go on ... that's what's happening. If it happened again, there's no reason to think they'd do it any differently."
Among the unanswered questions about Uvalde are how officials are reviewing the actions of lower-ranking officers and whether they're considering how officers can go back into the small community and expect respect and compliance from residents who know they waited outside a classroom while kids bled from gunshot wounds.
"We are still being placated with tidbits or being outright stonewalled or being given excuses" about the city police department's response, said resident Michele Prouty, who passed out complaint forms against Uvalde police at an August 9 Uvalde City Council meeting. "What we have instead -- what we are traumatized again and again by -- is an inept, unstructured national embarrassment of a circus tent full of smug clowns. These clowns continue to cruise our streets sporting their tarnished badges."
"I cannot, for the life of me, imagine how you'd continue a career knowing you left children in there," said Eells, of the National Tactical Officers Association. "Cannot imagine it."
Texas' DPS Director Steven McCraw has called the law enforcement response "an abject failure" and said each of his officers will be scrutinized internally and by the county district attorney spearheading a criminal investigation in the case. McCraw will not publicly release any information, per a district attorney's request, he said, acknowledging the case could take years.
"It is important to do a thorough investigation, especially when law enforcement officers are involved," McCraw said earlier this month. His agency would not comment for this story.
The head of the union that represents law enforcement officers across the state, including some in Uvalde, has called for an independent probe of Texas DPS. "I don't know that we can trust them to do an internal investigation," said Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas.
Texas DPS "was fast to wash its hands, to point fingers and to make sure that the general public, particularly the elected officials, knew that they were spotless, blameless and that this was a local problem. ... No one created this environment, (in) which everyone's to blame except DPS. No one did that except them," he said.
"If we're to never, ever let this happen in Texas, we have to know what happened, exactly what happened."
Candid Illinois sheriff soon faces a spree shooting
It's common for police, formally and informally, to look at how another agency handled a case that garnered significant news attention. Cases less consequential than Uvalde can result in a reminder from a supervisor during roll call of officers' responsibilities during an active shooting event, or something more formal, like an agency prioritizing refresher training.
Nationally, there was concern within law enforcement within a few days of the Robb Elementary attack over the quality of the police response and how it was being communicated, based on the shifting narrative from law enforcement officials in Texas. The public shared those same concerns as they saw the police yarn unravel through news reports and official reviews.
In Lake County, Illinois, the sheriff released a statement three days after the Uvalde shooting vowing his force would do all the things law enforcement in the Texas city did not: "immediately respond" and "move immediately into the scene and utilize their training to do what is necessary" and "take whatever actions are necessary to protect life."
The agency thought it important to reassure county residents that deputies knew their responsibilities in an active shooter situation, said Chris Covelli, a deputy chief and the sheriff's office public information officer. People in Lake County -- where a mass shooting would unfold only weeks later at a July 4 parade, killing seven and injuring dozens more in Highland Park -- were looking at what was happening in Uvalde and wondering, Covelli said.
"Had the community not been concerned, it wouldn't have needed to be addressed. But they were, and the onus is on us to know where we stand and what we're prepared to do," he said. "Our sheriff reassured the community that in an active shooter situation, we are going to respond to move and stop that threat -- not going to wait, not going to wait to get orders through the grapevine how to proceed.
"Our deputies are trained to make immediate decisions. Whether it's an active shooter at a school bus, church, whatever the case is, (they're) trained to enter and stop the threat immediately, don't need to wait for approval to do that," he said.
In Atlanta in late August, school and police officials addressed parents who'd raised concerns related to the Uvalde attack by detailing their own plans to respond to active shooters, CNN affiliate WGCL reported. The very next day, the high school was the subject of a threat quickly investigated by city police and the FBI, according to a principal's statement.
Fear of a cover-up in the Uvalde police responses is real. The city's mayor has openly wondered about it, and the legislative committee investigating the shooting noted in the report it issued July 17, "The fear of a coverup is palpable here ... Most fundamentally, there has been a loss of trust in government."
"Problems with the flow of information have plagued government, media, and public discussion about what happened at Robb Elementary from the outset -- damaging public trust, inflicting a very real toll on the people of Uvalde, and creating an imperative to provide a reliable set of facts," the report stated.
After the 2014 deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police, then-President Barack Obama formed a task force that issued a report declaring "legitimacy" as essential to any police agency's ability to do its job. "Building Trust & Legitimacy" ended up as the first pillar of the panel's report -- "really the fundamental, underlying all the pillars," said Laurie Robinson, one of the report's authors.
While the circumstances of Brown's killing -- which like Garner's prompted widespread protests and calls for reform in how officers use legal force against suspects -- differ markedly from what happened in Uvalde, the hesitance of officials in that Ferguson, Missouri, case to release key details of what happened mirrors the pattern that has emerged after the Robb Elementary massacre, said Wexler, of the Police Executive Research Forum.
And as the Obama task force concluded, "transparency and accountability" cut directly to the ability of police agencies to retain the public's trust. Its report suggested police communicate "swiftly, openly, and neutrally," especially when there are allegations of police misconduct.
It's counsel officials so many years later in Uvalde did not appear to heed.
"That really compounded things in Uvalde, the fact you couldn't get answers to basic questions. Whenever (a) department decides (it was) not going to communicate basic information, they undercut their legitimacy immediately," Wexler said. "And that's one of (the) lessons police chiefs know: that the days of saying 'no comment' ended decades ago."
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Recommended for you
Scenes from Deerfield-Windsor vs. McClay (Fla.) Football on Aug. 26, 2022. (Photos: Joe Whitfield) Click for more. | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/failures-of-the-uvalde-massacre-response-including-not-heeding-lessons-of-columbine-could-shadow-law/article_b9b43a16-78b0-5893-a30c-831e354c05ab.html | 2022-08-27T10:16:23Z |
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Jones Jr.’s historical novel “The Prophets” and Anthony Veasna So’s posthumous debut story collection “Afterparties” are among the winners of the 34th annual Triangle Awards, given for outstanding LGBTQ literature.
So, who died suddenly in 2020 at age 28, became the first posthumous winner of the Triangle honor for best LGBTQ fiction. Jones’ novel, which imagines a love affair between two enslaved Black men, was named the outstanding debut fiction book.
Other winners announced Wednesday include Ari Banias’ “A Symmetry” for best trans and gender-variant literature, Cheryl Boyce Taylor’s “Mama Phife Represents” for best lesbian poetry and John Keene’s “Punks” for best gay poetry. Brian Broome’s “Punch Me Up to the Gods” was cited for best gay nonfiction, and “Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought,” edited by Briona Simone Jones, won for best lesbian nonfiction. | https://cw33.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/anthony-veasna-so-wins-posthumous-award-for-lgbtq-fiction/ | 2022-05-11T21:19:02Z |
Woman ticketed when old license plate turns up 1,200 miles away
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - An 85-year-old woman is among several Iowans who have received undeserved traffic violation notices when their old license plate numbers were caught on traffic cameras in New York City.
The Manhattan skyline is not a sight 85-year-old Barbara Brown has driven to see, but New York City claims she’s driven there by issuing her four traffic fines.
“I was just flabbergasted when I got the first ones because, like I say, I’ve never been there with a car,” Brown told WOWT.
But she has driven to the Pottawattamie County Treasurer’s Office, where in 2014 she turned in old license plates. The same Iowa plate number was caught on traffic cameras speeding in New York City three months ago.
“I think they need to look into these. If the vehicle is not the same as what’s on record, how can they give this person a ticket? They’re not the same vehicle,” said Lea Voss, Pottawattamie County Treasurer.
The treasurer says about 10 other Pottawattamie County residents complain they’ve received New York City traffic violation notices for license plates turned in about a decade ago and destined for Iowa Prison Industries.
“I’ve talked to our investigator. I’ve talked to DOT. They say it went to prisons, and that’s where it got shredded,” Voss said.
A spokesman for the New York City Finance Department said they see fraudulent plates from states throughout the country, and the tickets in Brown’s name have been dismissed - or so she thought.
Thinking all the notices were taken care of, then receiving a letter that says default judgment is worrisome for Brown.
“Well, I sure don’t want them to screw up my credit and come and get my car,” she said.
New York Finance said not to worry about it. The documentation clearly shows Brown is not at fault, so the notices are irrelevant.
Meanwhile, Brown says the old Iowa license plate mystery should be solved by New York’s finest.
“I’d like to have him get caught doing something. What if he wrecks that car or kills somebody? Then where am I at? Yeah, they’ll blame me,” she said.
The Iowa Department of Transportation fraud unit is looking into how old plate numbers could be on vehicles 1,200 miles away.
An investigator said that recent law requires all old plates to be turned into Iowa Prison Industries and destroyed, but it’s unclear how those were handled a decade ago. So, he’ll request New York authorities to look for anyone using the old Iowa plate numbers.
Copyright 2022 WOWT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wibw.com/2022/07/07/woman-ticketed-when-old-license-plate-turns-up-1200-miles-away/ | 2022-07-07T07:52:07Z |
Threat of a changing market isn't getting these buyers and sellers in the market down.
BOISE, Idaho, June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As news headlines boast of rising interest rates and volatile housing markets, the buyers and sellers in the market are giving their view on the industry and shedding some light on a normalizing market.
"We wanted to take advantage of the market, so we listed our home and had 13-14 offers. It was insane," said Annellie Tate, who just went under contract on a new construction home built by CBH Homes. "There were so many what if's with the other resale houses - it wasn't what we wanted. We did a self-guided tour in Locale, and the whole time I kept saying, 'is this where we are going to live? I love this place.' It was a surreal experience. I couldn't be happier. It was so fast, easy and seamless."
COVID-19 pushed the real estate market into a frenzy of growth and rising home prices from 2020-2021. 2020 and 2021 were an anomaly. As the market begins to correct, home prices normalize. "Even now, we're still barely over a month's supply," said Brett Hughes, broker and owner of Boise Premier Real Estate in a recent Idaho Press article. "People keep hearing stats like inventory is up double… It's up from two weeks to a month. That is not very much." Boise Regional Realtors' May Market Report showed the median sales price increased from May 2021 to May 2022 by 16.1% but CBH expects to see these prices level off, creating more opportunities for new buyers.
"We don't have a crystal ball, but we can focus on the facts: rates are historically low, the demand for housing is still there, and Boise is an amazing place to live. With all that in mind, yes, it's still a good time to buy a home," said Corey Barton, President/Owner of CBH Homes.
Dave Ramsey, financial guru, in a recent show said, "the best time to buy a house in the next 5 years is right now… 5 years from today, houses are going to be more expensive. They're as cheap as they're going to be. This is the best price you're going to get to buy that home. If interest rates rise, buy the home then refinance."
Annellie told CBH, "It was so relieving to work with CBH. I said we should go buy a lottery ticket because we feel so lucky." A home is always a good investment and now is better to buy than later. CBH Homes currently has over 200 homes available and a promotion of up to $20,000 in extras towards a rate buydown, landscaping, and more. CBH encourages buyers to take advantage of these prices before they're gone. Click here to learn more.
About CBH Homes: CBH Homes has been building dreams for Idahoans for over 30 years, and for 19 of those, CBH Homes is Idaho's #1 Builder, an Idaho Best Place to Work, now ranked #36 in the nation and proudly working with over 23,000 happy homeowners. Cbhhomes.com RCE-923
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE CBH Homes | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/16/is-now-time-buy-this-buyer-says-yes/ | 2022-06-16T23:14:51Z |
Introducing the First Customizable ML-Driven Classification for Accurate Data Insight At Scale
NEW YORK, April 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BigID, the leading data intelligence platform that enables organizations to know their enterprise data and take action for privacy, security, and governance, today announced new advanced ML-driven capabilities, bringing customizable NLP classifiers to customers for faster time to insight, more accurate understanding of data, and data insight that makes sense for today's modern data challenges.
Customizable NER capabilities reduce costs, time, and resources across data classification and management - improving accuracy, reducing noise, and saving customers' time and money while accelerating time to insight.
With these models, organizations can get accurate results at scale, customized for their data challenges with capabilities that include:
- Fine-tune existing NER classifiers for specific data environments
- Create additional classifiers for new entity types
- Extend NER classifier coverage for additional languages.
"This is a huge step forward to make it easier than ever to apply advanced ML to solve data challenges for all organizations," said Yehoshua Enuka, Head of Data Science at BigID. "Data meaning (and sensitivity) isn't a one size fits all solution - so customizing models based on the specific data environment gives our customers much faster, more meaningful, and more accurate results than they could achieve with pre-set classifiers."
Learn more:
- Read more detail on customizable NLP models at bigid.com/blog/how-to-train-ml-models/
- Get a demo & see NER models in action at bigid.com/demo
About BigID
BigID's data intelligence platform enables organizations to know their enterprise data and take action for privacy, protection, and perspective. Customers deploy BigID to proactively discover, manage, protect, and get more value from their regulated, sensitive, and personal data across their data landscape. BigID has been recognized for its data intelligence innovation as a 2019 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, named to the 2021 Forbes Cloud 100, the 2021 Inc 5000 as the #19th fastest growing company and #1 in Security, a Business Insider 2020 AI Startup to Watch, and an RSA Innovation Sandbox winner. Find out more at https://bigid.com.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE BigID | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/04/20/bigid-launches-industry-first-customizable-named-entity-recognition-models/ | 2022-04-20T12:58:16Z |
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AFFIRM Originals and Pure Flix proudly present "Live+Local," a new comedy series from creator Dan Merchant. The new show, starring Dave Coulier and Emily Pendergast, will be exclusively available to stream on Pure Flix on July 7. "Live+Local" tells the tale of what happens when a veteran radio talk show host and his co-host have to navigate the ups and downs of the radio world when a new program director takes over.
"The show has a theme that underdogs can win and all of us on the planet are underdogs and we look to a higher power to guide our way through all of it," said star and Executive Producer Dave Coulier. "I fell in love with the script right away. It was a great opportunity for me to bring a lot of different things I've never done before to this role. I get to be a little bit cantankerous, a little bit of a curmudgeon, but I also have a big heart. It was also fun to be able to wear a real beard."
"Live+Local" is a 6-episode series starring Dave Coulier, Emily Pendergast, Pat Cashman and Kendra Ann Sherill. The show follows the hosts of an early morning radio show on Christian station K-HUGG. Tommy (played by Dave) and Tina (played by Emily) make the dynamite combination for "TnT in the Morning."
"'Live+Local' is a love letter to all the local morning radio shows I've started my day with. There is just something so encouraging about waking up to these eccentric voices so full of personality and life so early in the day," said Showrunner Dan Merchant. "It takes a special person to bring radio to life each day and make each listener feel like a friend. I think Dave and Emily did an incredible job of bringing these hosts to life and celebrating the world of radio."
The first two episodes will be available exclusively on Pure Flix on July 7th, 2022 and a new episode will air every Thursday.
"We need this show because we need to laugh. The world is really serious right now and we need to laugh and have fun," Coulier said. "Family is very important to me - I love being a husband, I love being a dad and my whole career has been in family entertainment. I'm so honored and happy to make families laugh."
Be sure to check out the trailer for this new series today.
ABOUT PURE FLIX
Pure Flix is your home for faith and family-friendly movies and shows where you can confidently stream clean with any member of the family. With new premium and exclusive original entertainment choices every month, you can strengthen your faith and family with Pure Flix – a streaming service that inspires, uplifts and entertains.
You'll get access to the largest variety of high-quality inspiring and wholesome movies, series and kids content. Experience the difference that positive, encouraging entertainment can have in your home. Have Faith in Your Entertainment, with Pure Flix.
ABOUT AFFIRM FILMS
AFFIRM Films, launched in 2007, is an industry leader in faith-based/inspirational films with worldwide box office of over $660 million including such hits as SOUL SURFER, WAR ROOM, RISEN, HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN, OVERCOMER, A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD in partnership with TriStar Pictures, and most recently The Kendrick Brothers' SHOW ME THE FATHER. AFFIRM produces, acquires and markets content that inspires, uplifts and entertains audiences around the world focusing on family and faith through its three divisions, AFFIRM Films, AFFIRM Television and AFFIRM Originals. Sony Pictures Entertainment is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation.
Register to get all the latest news from AFFIRM Films at www.affirmfilmsupdates.com and follow AFFIRM Films on social media at @AFFIRMFilms.
CONTACT:
Angela Sullivan
angela.sullivan@pureflix.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Pure Flix | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/15/affirm-originals-amp-pure-flix-announce-livelocal-new-comedy-series-streaming-this-july-exclusively-pure-flix-starring-dave-coulier-amp-emily-pendergast/ | 2022-06-15T15:23:46Z |
New updates to Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM help managers better engage and support their teams
LAS VEGAS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HR Technology Conference -- Extending its commitment to helping organizations improve the employee experience, Oracle has introduced a series of new updates within Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM). The new portal for team skills, performance evaluation capabilities, and an employee listening solution will help managers engage and empower teams to achieve their fullest potential.
Over the past few years, employees around the world have reevaluated their needs, and as a result, expectations for what they want from employers have changed. A steady paycheck is no longer enough; today, individuals want to work for organizations that promote work-life balance, provide career growth opportunities, and make them feel engaged and heard. A critical part of addressing these concerns is supporting the manager-to-employee relationship. According to Gallup, as much as 70% of an employee's engagement is determined by their manager. But with managers facing evolving workplace challenges for themselves and their employees, they need better visibility and tools to understand the needs of their teams and support their success.
"Organizations and employees are demanding more of their managers than ever before. To meet these demands, these leaders need to know their teams better than anyone else in order to prevent burnout, identify skill gaps and opportunities, and provide growth and career guidance," said Yvette Cameron, senior vice president of global product strategy, Oracle Cloud HCM. "With the latest updates to Oracle Cloud HCM, we're giving employees a stronger voice and empowering managers with advanced visibility into their teams so they can take the actions needed to better guide their teams to success."
The latest updates to Oracle Cloud HCM provide managers with the ability to quickly identify and close skills gaps, equitably evaluate team performance, and support their teams' needs. Together these updates give managers the tools they need to empower their teams to deliver their best work. The updates include:
- Team Skills Center: A new capability in Oracle Dynamic Skills that provides managers with a centralized location to review, assign, and manage skills development across their team. By providing insights—for both individuals and the team as a whole— into the core skills required to meet business objectives and role-based skills for team members, the Team Skills Center helps managers quickly identify risks and close skills gaps.
- All-in-One Evaluations: A new capability in Oracle Performance Management that allows managers to see their entire team in a single view and evaluate them against expected criteria or standards. By having a single view into all team members and relevant performance measures, such as competencies and performance ratings, managers can save time and make more thoughtful and equitable evaluations.
- Oracle Touchpoints: An employee listening solution in the recently announced Oracle ME employee experience platform, that helps managers continuously capture, track, and act on employee sentiment. By providing a channel for managers and employees to regularly communicate in quick and natural ways, Touchpoints helps build commitment and trust between managers and their teams and promote an inclusive, collaborative work environment.
Natively built for the cloud, Oracle Cloud HCM is a complete solution connecting every human resource process from hire to retire. By connecting all employee data on a single platform, HR teams have access to a single source of truth to help inform their people strategy. To help HR teams further improve business operations, built-in AI acts as an advisor to help analyze workforce data and surface recommendations.
"The best models for implementing a positive employee experience start at the top with full buy-in from C-level executives, but to be successful these programs need active participation from managers at all levels. Where many of these programs fall short is when managers don't have the insights they need to fully support each of their employees individually," said Holger Mueller, vice president and principal analyst, Constellation Research, Inc. "These updates in Oracle Cloud HCM demonstrate a commitment to helping organizations overcome the challenges they are facing as employee expectations shift around the world."
To learn more about how Oracle Cloud HCM is empowering managers to elevate the employee experience, please visit: https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/applications/hcm/emet-thought-leader-solution-brochure.pdf
About Oracle
Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com.
Trademarks
Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Oracle | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/09/13/oracle-empowers-managers-elevate-employee-experience/ | 2022-09-13T12:42:48Z |
DALLAS (STACKER) — NBA teams may put five players on the court, but oftentimes the magic really happens when two of them combine their superpowers to drive home victory upon victory. Game in and game out, they’re like Batman and Robin or Han Solo and Chewbacca, a pair that scores big, defends hard, and makes fans cheer.
Throughout NBA history, we’ve had a basic understanding of how good players are by looking at their basic actions to see how much they contribute to the final score. From scoring baskets, throwing the perfect alley-oop, or blocking out the opponent to grab a rebound, we can make some determinations about excellence. However, the rise of analytics in sports has introduced a whole new level of stat-gathering, which gives a better understanding for just how phenomenally some basketball players work together.
Stacker compiled a list of the best duos in Dallas Mavericks history using data from Stathead on all players who appeared in at least 58 games in a season. Along with basic statistics like points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game (that’s PPG, RPG, APG, SPG, and BPG), statisticians now also track more advanced measures that allow for more accurate data-based ranking.
Box Plus/Minus (BPM) — which is used for the rankings below — measures a player’s effectiveness when he’s on the court. A positive score indicates the number of points by which his team outperformed the opponent. A negative number shows how much better the opposing team did while he was playing.
Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) looks at how much value a player adds to the team versus someone coming off the bench.
Player Efficiency Rating (PER) looks at a number of mostly offensive actions, both positive and negative, that a player does when he’s on the court to measure how good they are on a minute-by-minute basis. The average score across the NBA is 15.00, which allows for year-over-year comparisons.
Win Shares (WS) looks at a player’s actions during an entire game to determine how much he contributed to a team’s win.
Read on to see how well the data-driven duos meet your expectations.
#5. 2019-20 Dallas Mavericks
– Luka Dončić: 8.4 BPM (#4 player in 2019-20)
– Delon Wright: 1.9 BPM (#41 player in 2019-20)
– Total: 10.3 BPM (#4 duo in 2019-20)
#4. 2004-05 Dallas Mavericks
– Dirk Nowitzki: 7.3 BPM (#4 player in 2004-05)
– Jason Terry: 3.3 BPM (#25 player in 2004-05)
– Total: 10.6 BPM (#3 duo in 2004-05)
#3. 2005-06 Dallas Mavericks
– Dirk Nowitzki: 8.1 BPM (#2 player in 2005-06)
– Jason Terry: 3.3 BPM (#25 player in 2005-06)
– Total: 11.4 BPM (#2 duo in 2005-06)
#2. 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks
– Dirk Nowitzki: 7.2 BPM (#4 player in 2002-03)
– Steve Nash: 4.6 BPM (#15 player in 2002-03)
– Total: 11.8 BPM (#2 duo in 2002-03)
#1. 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks
– Dirk Nowitzki: 8.3 BPM (#1 player in 2006-07)
– Jason Terry: 4 BPM (#19 player in 2006-07)
– Total: 12.3 BPM (#2 duo in 2006-07) | https://cw33.com/sports/best-duos-in-dallas-mavericks-history/ | 2022-05-07T18:12:03Z |
Taking up residence inside the iconic King Power Mahanakhon, this urban retreat offers world-class design, retail and cultural programming anchored by dynamic food, drink, and after-dark offerings
BANGKOK, July 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Standard is delighted to announce the opening of The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon, its flagship in Asia and the latest addition to the King Power Group portfolio. The hotel will leverage the iconic building's architecture and energy and will bring the brand's signature mix of culture, design, entertainment and hospitality to the Thai capital. With 155 rooms and suites and a central location in downtown Bangkok, the property offers the perfect getaway to Old Town, where a wealth of cultural attractions and a dynamic art scene await. To reflect the unmistakable energy of the Thai capital, The Standard's "anything but standard" ethos is translated into exciting amenities, one-of-a-kind culinary programming at six food and beverage spaces, and meeting venues that break the mold.
Srettha Thavisin, Chairman of Standard International, revealed: "We are incredibly thrilled about the launch of The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon in Thailand. This iconic flagship hotel of The Standard represents an extraordinary phenomenon in the hospitality industry not only in Asia, but globally as well. We are confident that The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon will have huge success in delivering the ultimate hotel experience – unlike any other in Thailand."
At one with the city
To conceptualize the uber-social property, Spanish artist and designer Jaime Hayon and The Standard's award-winning in-house design team delved into the synergy between Bangkok's melting pot of cultures and free-form artistic exploration. The resulting spaces are fresh and intertwined with reinterpretations of cultural cues, such as Marco Brambilla's video monument to Hollywood dreams and excesses, in the lobby. Titled "Heaven's Gate", this provocative artwork is the first installment in the "Box" series, a concept inspired by the brand's first property in Hollywood that showcased an ever-changing roster of art installations.
A feast for the senses
With six distinctive dining, drinking and nightlife venues, The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon promises to shake things up in Bangkok's neighborhood on the up. The Standard Grill, a spirited American brasserie informed by the brand's celebrated original at The Standard, High Line in New York's Meatpacking District, seamlessly transitions from power breakfast to social hotspot at night. On the menu are all-day classics such as The Standard BKK Wagyu Burger with foie gras as well as beef tartare and whole carved ribs served table-side from custom-made wood and marble trolleys.
High up on the 76th floor, guests can experience one of Bangkok's most anticipated restaurant unveilings of the year – a collaboration with award-winning chef Francisco "Paco" Ruano. His Mexican-inspired restaurant Ojo draws on Bangkok's progressive outlook and the venue's whimsical design, referencing Mexico's ancient civilizations to deliver flavors never experienced in Thailand or the region, such as aguachile seasonal prawns and bone marrow tortillas, complemented by inventive cocktails and a thoughtful wine list. Bringing together Chef Paco's culinary prowess, panoramic views, creative beverage program and genre-bending décor, Ojo will sit proudly beside The Standard's legendary Boom Boom Room in New York City and London's star attraction Decimo as one of the world's best rooftop venues.
For 360-degree views from the 78th floor perch there is Sky Beach, Bangkok's highest rooftop bar mixing blissed-out ambiance, downtempo beats, a hard-hitting cocktail selection from one of Thailand's most celebrated mixologists and all-day froze. Guests can also enjoy award-winning Chinese cuisine at Mott 32 Bangkok's open-air terrace dotted with lush greenery. The famous apple wood roasted Peking duck is not to be missed, as are expertly curated cocktails and authentic Cantonese, Beijing and Szechuan cuisine. At Tease, a strikingly graphic, black and white bijoux tea room, the room overflows with whimsy and wonder. Guests can discover alcohol-infused brews, tasty savory and sweet treats such as Quail & Whiskey Party Pie, and Chocolate Praline, Mixed Berry Milkshakes found nowhere else in Bangkok, and a setting inspired by Vienna's grand cafes. The elegant Fuerstenberg-porzellan Chinaware completes this special experience.
For comfort food with a side of The Standard's cultural programming, guests can visit The Parlor. The menu offers authentic Thai cuisine, all day breakfast and cocktails like Honey Trap and Be Wild, created by "Milk" Thanaworachayakit, the hotel's beverage manager,. In addition to an eclectic playlist spotlighting local and global talent, curated by The Standard's music division, the hotel's relaxed social hub hosts talks and workshops, including astrology sessions, live performances, and themed bingo nights inspired by the fabled bingo sessions at The Standard, High Line.
Artful touches
Public spaces at the hotel immerse guests into the local community and introduce them to Bangkok's vibrant creative scene through the elements of fine art hidden in plain sight. A stunning and vibrant Marc Quinn, "Flood Plain of the Tributaries of the Orinocco", 2018, from King Power's private collection, enhances the color and personality at reception. Hidden in plain sight in the corridors leading to the elevator and The Parlor is a breathtaking, original, Joan Miro sculpture, entitled, "Personnage" (bronze sculpture at L4), 1976, also from the King Power collection. In the lobby they are greeted by a portrait of a couple, caught in an embrace, embedded in the floor. Overhead, locally handmade rattan lamps create an intricate canopy, while fine objects in the shop are the labor of love of local artists as well as The Standard and its collaborators. Chief Design Officer, Verena Haller and design team, hand-picked art, antiques and curiosities, creating their version of a shoppable flee market, enhancing both the custom designed and locally sourced furniture, creating meticulously designed and incredibly inviting spaces guests never want to leave.
The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon now introduces its opening offer "Bite into Bangkok". Offering guests staying between 29th July and 30th September 2022 the opportunity to experience Bangkok's most exciting restaurant concepts, the package comes with up to THB 5,000 hotel and dining credits per day, depending on the room category.
For more information on the hotel, guests can visit www.standardhotels.com/bangkok/properties/bangkok, call 02 085 8888, email stbkk@standardhotels.com or add us via LINE OA @TheStandardBangkok.
The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon: Instagram / Facebook
About The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon:
Created in partnership with King Power Group and Standard International, The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon is The Standard's Asia flagship and a world-class global destination. Bangkok's spirit of innovation and unconventionality made Bangkok the perfect locale for The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon. Located in one of the most iconic buildings in Bangkok, the King Power Mahanakhon, the 155-room hotel is already a landmark. With rooms ranging from 40 sq. m. to 144 sq. m. penthouse, a terrace pool, gym and spa, meeting rooms and a variety of food, drink and nightlife venues, the hotel is a fit for any traveler, at any time of day or night. There's Parlor, the hub of the hotel for check-in and out, cocktails, work or lounging, the eclectic and unexpected Tea Room, American steakhouse classics at The Standard Grill, and award-winning Chinese cuisine by Mott 32, and two sky-high dining experience from Ojo a Mexican-inspired restaurant directed by one of the finest chefs in Mexico to Sky Beach the highest alfresco rooftop bar in Bangkok.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/08/01/standard-bangkok-mahanakhon-officially-opens-global-groups-asia-flagship/ | 2022-08-01T01:43:51Z |
- H002 is a precision therapeutic candidate for the treatment of NSCLC, with broad spectrum and high selectivity against multiple EGFR mutations including those with EGFR C797S mutation.
- RedCloud Bio has initiated H002 Phase I/IIa clinical studies in both China and US.
SHANGHAI, Aug. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RedCloud Bio (the "Company"), an innovative biotech company integrating structural pharmacology and computational approaches to advance small molecule drug discovery and development, announced completion of the first patient dosing for its next-generation EGFR TKI H002 in its H002-101CN study. The study is a multicenter phase I/IIa clinical trial in China for advanced NSCLC. H002 is a next-generation EGFR TKI discovered and developed by RedCloud Bio for treatment of prior EGFR TKI-resistant NSCLC, including those with C797S mutation.
"Dosing of this first patient is an important clinical and scientific milestone in RedCloud Bio's new drug development journey," said Dr. Mai-Jing Liao, CEO of RedCloud Bio. "Increasing use of third-generation EGFR TKI in both first-line and second-line EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC patients has been associated with a rise in resistance to third-generation EGFR TKI drugs – and is now a major unmet medical need for patients around the globe. Dr. Liao noted: "H002 has demonstrated in preclinical studies both strong and broad-spectrum activities against multiple EGFR mutation combinations, and high selectivity and safety profile. The drug candidate has great potential to treat prior EGFR-TKI resistant lung cancer patients, including those with brain metastases. RedCloud Bio is looking forward to bringing a much-needed precision medicine to advanced NSCLC patients worldwide."
Study Design
The H002-101CN Phase I/IIa clinical study consists of two parts: a dose-escalation component to assess the safety, tolerability, maximum tolerated dose, optimal biological effect dose or recommended phase II dose, pharmacokinetic parameters and preliminary antitumor activity of H002 monotherapy. A second segment includes dose expansion to assess antitumor activity, safety and pharmacokinetic parameters of H002 monotherapy at selected doses for NSCLC patients with defined mutations. This study will also monitor and evaluate multiple biomarkers to provide guidance for subsequent clinical trial design.
About H002
H002 is a fourth generation EGRF inhibitor discovered and developed by RedCloud Bio. In preclinical studies, the candidate has exhibited broad-spectrum potency and high selectivity against multiple EGFR mutations, including single point mutations (Del19 and L858R), double mutations (Del19/C797S, L858R/C797S, Del19/T790M and L858R/T790M); and triple mutations (Del19/T790M/C797S and L858R/T790M/ C797S). These studies also demonstrated that H0002 has durable antitumor activity and a desirable safety profile. H002 has shown potent anti-tumor activities in an EGFR-positive brain metastases model.
Phase I/IIa clinical studies for H002 in advanced NSCLC have been initiated in both US and China. RedCloud Bio plans to globally develop H002 as a next-generation EGFR kinase inhibitor to address the high unmet clinical needs for EGFR TKI resistant NSCLC.
About RedCloud Bio
RedCloud Bio is an innovative biotech company integrating structural pharmacology and computing technologies to advance small molecule drug discovery and development, with global clinical development capabilities. The Company has laboratories in Shanghai and Beijing.
RedCloud Bio has accumulated structural data and algorithm models covering clinically important targets, and has built an innovative pipeline targeting tumor resistance and critical diseases with high unmet medical needs. The Company's lead therapeutic candidate, H002, is a small molecule compound targeting multiple EGFR TKI resistance mutations. The compound, now in global clinical trials, is a promising candidate as a next-generation TKI with unique clinical differentiation for NSCLC.
For information, contact PR@redcloudbio.com, or visit www.redcloudbio.com.
View original content:
SOURCE RedCloud Bio | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/08/29/next-generation-egfr-tki-h002-redcloud-bio-completes-first-dose-non-small-cell-lung-cancer/ | 2022-08-29T12:22:57Z |
Fort Collins-based technology company continues its commitment to kids and education with donation of tablets and protective cases
FORT COLLINS, Colo., June 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- OtterBox continues its support of innovative education with the 2022 Learn Connected Give Back Project, kicking off at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference. Through this program, OtterBox will donate a grand prize of 75 Apple iPads and OtterBox Defender Series cases to an underserved classroom or school district.
Educators across the U.S. are welcomed and encouraged to enter or nominate teachers of under resourced classrooms and school districts to receive the OtterBox prize pack worth more than $30,000. The winning entry will illustrate a captivating story about the nominee, the challenge and need for resources they're currently experiencing and how the nominee will strive to help their students learn in a connected world.
This is the second year for the Learn Connected Give Back Project. Last year's winner sought to grow her school's iPad arsenal of three for the entire student body of 1,100 in order to tackle a variety of technology-enabled community service projects. Heather McCarthy, media specialist at Oak Lawn Hometown Middle School in Chicago, shared that after a year of teaching through the COVID-19 pandemic, her goal for the Oak Lawn students was to "bring joy to ourselves by bringing joy to others."
"We use technology to make our school, community and the world a better place, and the iPads and OtterBox cases open up new possibilities and allow the students to act on their creativity. We encourage our students to dream big, and having these devices helps them dream big knowing we now have the resources to help them put their dreams into action," McCarthy said. "The best part of having this technology in the classroom is watching these young adults come up with an idea and then begin the implementation all on their own."
"We've always had a heart for education and supporting kids, as their learning and development is one of the core missions of our organization and the OtterCares Foundation," said Brian Jacoby, Senior Vice President of OtterBox Business Solutions. "The Learn Connected Give Back project started in recognition that so many educators don't have access to the technology they need for their students. Through the donation of these Defender cases, we hope to prolong the life of the classroom's devices while still giving the kids a chance to be kids. Accidents happen, and these cases will provide a deserving educator some peace of mind when devices are handled by their students, allowing them to focus on their main goal: educating and fostering personal and academic growth."
To learn more, see OtterBox at this year's ISTE show at booth 824 or visit the Learn Connected Give Back Project page on OtterBoxBusiness.com to submit your nomination.
Notes:
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 7/15/22 at 11:59:59 pm MT. Open to legal U.S. residents residing in the 50 U.S. and D.C., 18+ years of age and the age of majority. Void where prohibited. Other restrictions apply. See Official Rules at [https://bit.ly/3xJBQOE] for complete details. Sponsor: Otter Products, LLC.
OtterBox innovates bold products that deliver confidence and trust in any pursuit. From its humble beginnings with a drybox in a Fort Collins, Colo., garage, OtterBox has honed and leveraged its expertise in manufacturing and design to become the No. 1-selling smartphone case brand in the U.S. and a leader in rugged outdoor lifestyle products.
At the center of every OtterBox innovation is a deeper goal to affect positive, lasting change. In partnership with the OtterCares Foundation, OtterBox grows to give back by inspiring kids to change the world through entrepreneurship and philanthropy. To learn more about this mission, visit OtterBox.com/GivingBack.
For more information, visit www.OtterBox.com.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE OtterBox Business Solutions | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/21/otterbox-announces-2nd-annual-learn-connected-give-back-project-iste/ | 2022-06-21T14:57:02Z |
FORT MYERS, Fla., Aug. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
- Delivered diluted EPS of $0.34, 62% over last year's second quarter
- Grew total year-over-year net sales 18.4% and comparable sales 19.5%
- Expanded gross margin 300 basis points over last year's second quarter to 41.4%
- Generated $58 million of operating income, a 63% increase above last year's second quarter
Chico's FAS, Inc. (NYSE: CHS) (the "Company" or "Chico's FAS") today announced its financial results for the thirteen weeks ended July 30, 2022 (the "second quarter"). The Company also provided fiscal 2022 third quarter outlook and updated its full year outlook.
Molly Langenstein, Chico's FAS Chief Executive Officer and President, commented, "Our strong momentum continues. We posted another quarter of outstanding operating income and our highest-ever second quarter EPS, driven by continued robust digital and store sales growth as well as significant year-over-year gross margin rate expansion. Our consistent performance is evidence of the power of our portfolio and the successful implementation of our strategic pillars.
"Apparel was again the standout performer for the quarter, with a 32% comparable sales increase at White House Black Market®, closely followed by a 30% comparable sales gain at Chico's®. Customers continued to respond in nearly every category to our elevated fashion and product. Soma® posted a second quarter comparable sales decline of 9%, largely impacted by the continued slowdown of the lounge and cozy categories, but Soma comparable sales have grown nearly 24% compared to 2019, demonstrating the overall strength and long-term power of the brand. Year-over-year, we significantly reduced promotional activity and achieved more full-priced sales, higher average unit retail and better productivity for all three brands."
"Our strong performance and continued momentum show that our strategy is working," concluded Langenstein. "We are a customer-led, product-obsessed, digital-first, operationally-excellent company with a compelling portfolio of three unique brands, each with their own market share opportunities. Six months into our three-year strategic growth plan, we are pleased with the considerable progress to date and are confident in our ability to achieve our long-term goals."
Business Highlights
The Company's second quarter highlights include:
- Consistent strong results: Chico's FAS posted $0.34 net income per diluted share for the second quarter, driven by strong comparable sales growth and meaningful gross margin expansion. This performance was 62% over the thirteen weeks ended July 31, 2021 ("last year's second quarter") and the Company's highest-ever second quarter net income per diluted share.
- Powerful portfolio outperforming: For the second quarter, total Chico's FAS net sales grew 18.4% and comparable sales increased 19.5% versus last year's second quarter, led by the Company's apparel brands. Chico's and White House Black Market ("WHBM") comparable sales grew 29.7% and 31.9%, respectively, in the second quarter versus last year's second quarter. Compared to the thirteen weeks ended August 3, 2019, all three brands delivered double-digit comparable sales growth.
- Marketing drove traffic and new customers: Chico's FAS continued to elevate its marketing, focusing more resources on digital. Strategic marketing efforts continue to drive more customers to the Company's brands, with total year-over-year customer count up mid-single digits, spend per customer up over last year's second quarter and the average age of new customers continuing to trend younger.
- Newly launched loyalty programs exceeding expectations: During the second quarter, Chico's FAS launched its new loyalty programs at Chico's and WHBM. Customer sentiment and redemption rates are exceeding expectations, and the newly-launched programs are increasing shopper frequency.
- Gross margin expansion: The second quarter gross margin rate rose to 41.4%, outperforming last year's second quarter by 300 basis points. Higher average unit retail and full-price sales combined with inbound freight and occupancy leverage was partially offset by elevated raw material costs.
- Double-digit operating margin: Income from operations for the second quarter was $58.2 million, or 10.4% of net sales, driven by strong sales growth and gross margin expansion, partially offset by planned increased selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A"), including labor and marketing.
Overview of Financial Results
For the second quarter, the Company reported net income of $42.0 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, compared to net income of $26.2 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, for last year's second quarter.
Sales
For the second quarter, net sales were $558.7 million compared to $472.1 million in last year's second quarter. This 18.4% improvement primarily reflects a comparable sales increase of 19.5%, partially offset by 26 permanent net store closures since last year's second quarter. The 19.5% comparable sales improvement was driven by an increase in transaction count and higher average dollar sale.
Gross Margin
For the second quarter, gross margin was $231.5 million, or 41.4% of net sales, compared to $181.5 million, or 38.4% of net sales, in last year's second quarter. The 300 basis point improvement in gross margin rate primarily reflects higher average unit retail and full price sales combined with inbound freight and occupancy leverage, partially offset by higher raw material costs.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
For the second quarter, SG&A was $173.3 million, or 31.0% of net sales, compared to $145.8 million, or 30.9% of net sales, for last year's second quarter, primarily reflecting planned marketing investments and elevated labor costs, partially offset by ongoing expense management.
Income Taxes
For the second quarter, the effective tax rate was 26.6% compared to 22.7% for last year's second quarter. The second quarter effective tax rate of 26.6% primarily reflects the impact of losses in foreign jurisdictions on which a full valuation allowance is recorded. Last year's second quarter effective tax rate of 22.7% primarily reflects a change in the estimate from the first quarter of fiscal 2021 due to an increase in the Company's projected annual pre-tax income and an increase in annual projected deferred tax assets on which a full valuation allowance exists, partially offset by the impact of the annual loss projected during the first quarter of fiscal 2021.
Cash, Marketable Securities and Debt
At the end of the second quarter, cash and marketable securities totaled $172.5 million compared to $137.2 million at the end of last year's second quarter. Debt at the end of the second quarter totaled $99.0 million compared to $149.0 million at the end of last year's second quarter.
Inventories
At the end of the second quarter, inventories totaled $338.8 million compared to $202.1 million at the end of last year's second quarter. The $136.6 million increase over last year's second quarter primarily reflects elevated in-transit inventories and early receipts to mitigate supply chain disruptions. On-hand inventories, adjusted for early fall receipts, increased 25.0% year-over-year to more align with higher consumer demand.
Fiscal 2022 Third Quarter and Full Year Outlook
For the fiscal 2022 third quarter, the Company currently expects:
- Consolidated net sales of $495 million to $510 million;
- Gross margin rate as a percent of net sales of 38.9% to 39.4%;
- SG&A as a percent of net sales of 34.4% to 34.8%;
- Effective income tax rate of 25.0%; and
- Earnings per diluted share of $0.11 to $0.14.
For the fiscal 2022 full year, the Company currently expects:
- Consolidated net sales of $2,140 million to $2,170 million;
- Gross margin rate as a percent of net sales of 38.8% to 39.1%;
- SG&A as a percent of net sales of 32.2% to 32.5%;
- Effective income tax rate of 25.0%;
- Earnings per diluted share of $0.79 to $0.87; and
- Capital and cloud-based expenditures of approximately $65 million to $70 million.
Conference Call Information
The Company is hosting a live conference call on Wednesday, August 31, 2022 beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET to review the operating results for the second quarter. The conference call is being webcast live over the Internet, which you may access in the Investors section of the Company's corporate website, www.chicosfas.com. A replay of the webcast will remain available online for one year at http://chicosfas.com/investors/events-and-presentations.
The phone number for the call is 1-877-883-0383. International callers should use 1-412-902-6506. The Elite Entry number, 0443821, is required to join the conference call. Interested participants should call 10-15 minutes prior to the 8:00 a.m. start to be placed in queue.
ABOUT CHICO'S FAS, INC.
Chico's FAS is a Florida-based fashion company founded in 1983 on Sanibel Island, Fla. The Company reinvented the fashion retail experience by creating fashion communities anchored by service, which put the customer at the center of everything we do. As one of the leading fashion retailers in North America, Chico's FAS is a company of three unique brands - Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma - each thriving in their own white space, founded by women, led by women, providing solutions that millions of women say give them confidence and joy.
Our Company has a passion for fashion, and each day, we provide clothing, shoes and accessories, intimate apparel and expert styling in our brick-and-mortar boutiques, digital online boutiques and through StyleConnect®, the Company's customized, branded, digital styling tool that enables customers to conveniently shop wherever, whenever and however they prefer.
As of July 30, 2022, the Company operated 1,258 stores in the U.S. and sold merchandise through 58 international franchise locations in Mexico and 2 domestic franchise airport locations. The Company's merchandise is also available at www.chicos.com, www.chicosofftherack.com, www.whbm.com and www.soma.com.
To learn more about Chico's FAS, please visit our corporate website at www.chicosfas.com. The information on our corporate website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this press release or incorporated into our federal securities law filings.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
This press release contains statements concerning our current expectations, assumptions, plans, estimates, judgments and projections about our business and our industry and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements, including without limitation the quote from Ms. Langenstein and the sections captioned "Business Highlights" and "Fiscal 2022 Third Quarter and Full Year Outlook," are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In most cases, words or phrases such as "aim," "anticipates," "believes," "could," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "target," "may," "will," "plans," "path," "outlook," "project," "should," "strategy," "potential," "confident" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based largely on information currently available to our management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although we believe our expectations are based on reasonable estimates and assumptions, they are not guarantees of performance. There is no assurance that our expectations will occur or that our estimates or assumptions will be correct, and we caution investors and all others not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, those described in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and, from time to time, in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and the following:
The effects of the pandemic, including uncertainties about its depth and duration, new variants of COVID-19 that have emerged, the speed, efficacy and availability of vaccines and treatments, its impact on general economic conditions, human capital management, consumer behavior and discretionary spending, the effectiveness of any actions taken in response to the pandemic, and the impact of the pandemic on our manufacturing operations, shipping costs and timelines and the global supply chain; the ability of our suppliers, logistics providers, vendors and landlords, to meet their obligations to us in light of financial stress, labor shortages, liquidity challenges, bankruptcy filings by other industry participants, and supply chain and other disruptions; increases in unemployment rates and labor shortages; our ability to sufficiently staff our retail stores; changes in general economic conditions, including but not limited to, consumer confidence and consumer spending patterns; the impact of inflation on consumer spending; market disruptions including pandemics or significant health hazards, severe weather conditions, natural disasters, terrorist activities, financial crises, political crises, war and other military conflicts (such as the war in Ukraine) or other major events, or the prospect of these events, including their impact on consumer spending, inflation and the global supply chain; shifts in consumer behavior, and our ability to adapt, identify and respond to new and changing fashion trends and customer preferences, and to coordinate product development with buying and planning; changes in the general or specialty retail or apparel industries, including significant decreases in market demand and the overall level of spending for women's private branded clothing and related accessories; our ability to secure and maintain customer acceptance of in-store and online concepts and styles; increased competition in the markets in which we operate, including our ability to remain competitive with customer shipping terms and costs; decreases in customer traffic at our stores; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and commodity prices; significant increases in the costs of manufacturing, raw materials, transportation, importing, distribution, labor and advertising; decreases in the quality of merchandise received from suppliers and increases in delivery times for receiving such merchandise; our ability to appropriately manage our store fleet, including the closing of underperforming stores and opening of new stores, and our ability to achieve the expected results of any such store openings or store closings; our ability to appropriately manage inventory and allocation processes and leverage targeted promotions; our ability to maintain cost saving discipline; our ability to operate our retail websites in a profitable manner; our ability to successfully identify and implement additional sales and distribution channels; our ability to successfully execute and achieve the expected results of our business, brand strategies, brand awareness programs, and merchandising and marketing programs including, but not limited to, the Company's turnaround strategy, retail fleet optimization plan, sales initiatives, multi-channel strategies and five operating priorities which are: 1) continuing our ongoing digital transformation; 2) further refining product through fit, quality, fabric and innovation in each of our brands; 3) driving increased customer engagement through marketing; 4) maintaining our operating and cost discipline; and 5) further enhancing the productivity of our real estate portfolio; our ability to utilize our distribution center and other support facilities in an efficient and effective manner; our reliance on sourcing from foreign suppliers and significant adverse economic, labor, political or other shifts (including adverse changes in tariffs, taxes or other import regulations, particularly with respect to China, or legislation prohibiting certain imports from China); U.S. and foreign governmental actions and policies and changes thereto; the continuing performance, implementation and integration of our management information systems; our ability to successfully update our information systems; the impact of any system failure, cyber security or other data security breaches, including any security breaches resulting in the theft, transfer, or unauthorized disclosure of customer, employee, or company information; our ability to comply with applicable domestic and foreign information security and privacy laws, regulations and technology platform rules or other obligations related to data privacy and security; our ability to attract, hire, train, motivate and retain qualified employees in an inclusive environment; our ability to successfully recruit leadership or transition members of our senior management team; increased public focus and opinion on environmental, social and governance ("ESG") initiatives and our ability to meet any announced ESG goals and initiatives; future unsolicited offers to buy the Company and actions of activist shareholders and others and our ability to respond effectively; our ability to secure and protect our intellectual property rights and to protect our reputation and brand images; unanticipated obligations or changes in estimates arising from new or existing litigation, income taxes and other regulatory proceedings; unanticipated adverse changes in legal, regulatory or tax laws; and our ability to comply with the terms of our credit agreement, including the restrictive provisions limiting our flexibility in operating our business and obtaining additional credit on commercially reasonable terms.
These factors should be considered in evaluating forward-looking statements contained herein. All forward-looking statements that are made or attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice. The forward-looking statements included herein are only made as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
(Financial Tables Follow)
Investor Relations Contact:
Tom Filandro
ICR, Inc.
(646) 277-1235
tom.filandro@icrinc.com
Chico's FAS, Inc. • 11215 Metro Parkway • Fort Myers, Florida 33966 • (239) 277-6200
Supplemental Detail on Net Income Per Common Share Calculation
In accordance with accounting guidance, unvested share-based payment awards that include non-forfeitable rights to dividends, whether paid or unpaid, are considered participating securities. As a result, such awards are required to be included in the calculation of income per common share pursuant to the "two-class" method. For the Company, participating securities are comprised entirely of unvested restricted stock awards granted prior to fiscal 2020.
Net income per share is determined using the two-class method when it is more dilutive than the treasury stock method. Basic net income per share is computed by dividing net income available to common shareholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, including participating securities. Diluted net income per share reflects the dilutive effect of potential common shares from non-participating securities such as restricted stock awards granted after fiscal 2019, stock options, PSUs and restricted stock units. For the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended July 30, 2022 and July 31, 2021, potential common shares were excluded from the computation of diluted income per common share to the extent they were antidilutive.
The following unaudited table sets forth the computation of net income per basic and diluted common share shown on the face of the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of income (in thousands, except per share amounts):
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Chico's FAS, Inc. | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/08/31/chicos-fas-inc-reports-record-second-quarter-eps/ | 2022-08-31T11:52:18Z |
- DayDayCook and Brinc join forces to invest US$10 million over the next three years through the Good Food Accelerator Program. Applications for the next cohort open on July 21, 2022.
- DayDayCook and Brinc share a dedicated mission to tackle global food sustainability goals by developing sustainable food systems and addressing food security issues in China and Asia.
- Prominent advisors and professional mentors from the food technology industry joining this program include: Patrick Kwok (Nishimoto Wismettac Group), Alex Pestalozzi (Mueller Asia), Sonalie Figueiras (Green Queen), Chris Pipe (Nestle China), Christina Gaw (Gaw Capital) and Liu Xing (Sequoia Capital).
- DayDayCook, founded by banker-turned-entrepreneur Norma Chu, is a burgeoning, content-to-commerce innovative food brand, with 80 million active users and more than 18 million paid customers globally.
- Brinc, the global venture accelerator founded by Manav Gupta, has also invested US$500,000 in DayDayCook's pre-IPO funding round to bolster its long-term commitment to their new partnership.
HONG KONG, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brinc, a leading venture accelerator with a global sustainability mandate, and DayDayCook, a leading content-to-commerce Asian culinary platform, announce a commitment of US$10 million to invest in food technology companies that are developing the sustainable, animal-free, global food ecosystem and scaling commercialization in Greater China and Asia. DayDayCook and Brinc will invest in and support 45 companies over the next three years through the Good Food Accelerator Program, operated by Brinc. This alliance is further bolstered by Brinc's US$500,000 investment in DayDayCook, solidifying a long-term collaborative effort to support game-changing startups.
Applications for the Good Food Accelerator Program open on July 21, 2022. Startups accepted into the program will receive an initial investment of a minimum of US$200,000 and will have access to Brinc and DayDayCook's network of later-stage investors during and post-program for potential follow-on funding.
The key investment themes of the program include Alternative Protein, Functional and Novel Ingredients, Sustainable Packaging, Food Supply Chain Innovation, and consumer Agritech solutions. Companies with commercial-ready products and services that are actively contributing toward global food sustainability goals will be prioritised.
The program will be delivered completely virtually and will accept applications from commercially-ready startups located in or looking to enter the Greater China or Asian market. Interested startups can apply online here: http://www.brinc.io/good-food-accelerator/.
The core directive of the Good Food Accelerator Program is to help food tech companies meaningfully commercialise in Greater China and Asia, leveraging the online and offline distribution channels of DayDayCook's core business as well as Brinc and DayDayCook's combined network of food corporations, hospitality groups and investors in the region. With Brinc bringing eight years of accelerator program design and operational experience to strengthen the Good Food Accelerator, selected startups will also have access to DayDayCook's commercial team during the program to explore opportunities for business collaboration.
According to GFI APAC, Asia's leading alternative-protein think tank, strong year-on-year investor growth for the APAC alt-protein market is marked by a 92% surge: from US$162 million in 2020 to US$312 million in 2021. This has concurrently paved the way for the region's startups to grow in global prominence — making them a strong force alongside North America's alt-protein companies, which have fully dominated the market this past decade. In particular, the adoption of alternative proteins will be crucial for China, where, due to the rapid increase in demand for meat, the country is expected to experience a meat deficit of more than 53 million tonnes between 2021 and 2030.
Manav Gupta, founder and CEO of Brinc, said: "China's five-year agricultural development plan sets out an agenda to establish a sustainable food supply system nationwide. Brinc's Food Tech accelerator expertise, investor and mentor network along with DayDayCook's wide reach, commercial network and distribution reach in Mainland China will take us a bold step closer towards attaining this goal. We are excited to support more founders who are looking to scale alternate protein products and deep technologies from around the globe to the world's most populous market while further developing a growing food tech ecosystem across Mainland China and the Greater Bay Area. Addressing deep-rooted inefficiencies in our regional and global food systems, creating a sustainable food supply chain, plus tackling food security issues all in all help mitigate against the growing effects of climate change — which is the need of the hour and our lifetimes."
Norma Chu, founder and CEO of DayDayCook, said: "The Good Food Accelerator Program's mission is to build a leading food tech ecosystem in Hong Kong. We are thrilled to partner with Brinc to welcome our second cohort of startups, to accelerate their growth, and to kickstart a stream of commercially-viable products and innovative solutions. By sourcing innovative startups from the Greater Bay Area, Southeast Asia and areas beyond, the program will make a global splash as it carries out Hong Kong's ambition of transforming into a key innovation hub for food tech talents worldwide."
DayDayCook launched the Good Food Accelerator Program in partnership with the incubation division of Hong Kong Cyberport in December 2021. The seven startups selected in the launch cohort included five Hong Kong companies — AllKlear Health, Breer, Farmacy, Geb Import Technology, Good Food Tech — plus 70/30 Food Science & Tech (Shanghai) and Alchemy (Singapore).
Brinc has been a key global food innovation player since launching its first food technology program in 2018 — Asia's first at the time. Today, having launched AgriFood, AgriTech and Food Tech Programs in Brazil, Hong Kong and Mainland China, Brinc has more than 50 AgriFood Tech portfolio companies all building a more sustainable food future. Highly notable examples of Brinc-accelerated startups that have impacted the global stage include Avant Meats (Hong Kong), CellX (Mainland China), Exponential Foods (Mexico), Galy (USA), Haofood (Mainland China), Orbillion Bio (USA) and Phuture Foods (Singapore).
About DayDayCook
Founded in 2012, DayDayCook is a direct-to-consumer company that focuses on innovative and healthy meal solutions with a fast-growing retail footprint in China and a strong online presence globally.
DDC has launched ready-to-heat (RTH), ready-to-cook (RTC) and plant-based food products, which bring convenience and quality food products to young food lovers. The group builds brand recognition through culinary and lifestyle content across major social media and e-commerce platforms, resulting in an aggregate of over 3 billion video views and over 10 million orders worldwide. www.daydaycook.com
About Brinc
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Brinc is a leader in global venture acceleration, operating 18 multidisciplinary accelerator programs in seven countries. Brinc accelerates startups focused on Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, connected hardware, drones, robotics, clean energy and food technology, all within a sustainability mandate. Brinc's goal is to empower founders to accelerate humanity's transition to a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable future.
Brinc has a portfolio of 200+ companies with founders from more than 38 countries. Brinc also supports corporations with investment services, distributed innovation strategies, sourcing of new startups and technologies, as well as venture-building Web 3.0-enabled businesses. Global corporations (Manulife, Huawei, Schneider Electric, Puma, Batelco, Merck, Omantel, Linrun Group, Zhihui Park), government organisations (Hong Kong Science Park, MBRIF, Guangdong Soft-tech Park), tertiary institutions (HK City University, National University of Singapore) and leading venture funds (Artesian, LeverVC, Tamkeen, EDB) have all run programs with Brinc. In 2021, Brinc announced a series of venture funds to invest in high-potential early-stage companies through accelerators and provide LPs with a dedicated innovation platform and access to Series A+ co-investment opportunities.
Learn more about Brinc: www.brinc.io and Brinc's commitment to developing sustainable systems.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Brinc | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/07/21/daydaycook-brinc-commit-investing-45-food-tech-companies-that-impact-global-food-sustainability-goals-through-good-food-accelerator-program/ | 2022-07-21T06:45:38Z |
New program seeks to make a measurable impact on women and underrepresented genders in cybersecurity leadership roles
BETHESDA, Md., April 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SANS Institute (SANS), the global leader in cybersecurity training and certifications, has partnered with Secure Diversity (SD) to create a leadership academy in cybersecurity for women and underrepresented genders.
This partnership addresses the scarcity of women and non-binary people holding and advancing to cybersecurity leadership roles. This new cybersecurity SANS SD leadership academy enables participants to obtain leadership skills, management knowledge, and certifications necessary to pursue cybersecurity leadership positions.
"SANS Institute is excited to partner with Secure Diversity in this initiative to create more pathways to education, community, and career advancement for women and underrepresented genders," said Lodrina Cherne, SANS Institute Certified Instructor and SANS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion taskforce leader. "SANS champions the opportunity to provide professional training and mentorship, towards a goal of achieving better gender diversity in management and executive positions in cybersecurity."
"I spend a lot of time thinking about my career and why it's so different from other women; the freedom, the happiness, and the financial well-being my career has given me, is rare for a woman to have. Why aren't there more women at the top? The answer: training and investments in women for advancement to executive seats aren't happening. This is a national security issue," said Deirdre Diamond, Founder of Secure Diversity, and Founder and CEO of CyberSN. "We must invest in women and underrepresented genders who want to advance to executive roles. Together with SANS, Secure Diversity will support and empower women and underrepresented genders to get to the top of the career chain! Lots of them!"
This new gender-focused cybersecurity leadership academy includes career coaching, three program options, and mentoring sessions from cybersecurity leaders. The three tracks cover skill areas related to Cloud Security Leadership, Transformational Cyber Leadership, and Operational Cyber Executive Management.
The program is also timed along with COVID-19 related economic and workforce recovery to create opportunities for leadership development in cybersecurity. With a disproportionate impact from COVID-19 on women, marginalized genders, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), there is a need for initiatives to help make a measurable impact on the lack of gender diversity in executive cybersecurity roles across the United States.
To be considered for this leadership academy, the candidate must have a minimum of three-to-five years of professional experience, including, but not limited to, cybersecurity. The application also asks the candidate to share what experiences they have had to prepare for the SANS leadership training and GIAC certification.
Applications open on May 11, 2022. The application deadline for the academy is Wednesday, August 17, 2022.
For more information about the SANS SD Leadership Academy, please see this link here.
The new SANS SD Leadership Academy adds to the already robust portfolio of US
cyber immersion academies offered by SANS Institute, including, but not limited to, the SANS Women's academy, the SANS Diversity Academy, the SANS VetSuccess Academy for veterans, the SANS Cyber Workforce Academy, and the SANS HBCU Academy. There are also a variety of cyber immersion academies being offered by SANS Institute globally.
About SANS Institute
The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. Today, SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cybersecurity training and certification to professionals in government and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach more than 60 courses at in-person and virtual cybersecurity events and on demand. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates practitioner skills through more than 35 hands-on, technical certifications in cybersecurity and provides the highest and most rigorous assurance of cybersecurity knowledge and skill globally. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's and bachelor's degrees, graduate certificates, and an undergraduate certificate in cybersecurity. SANS Security Awareness, a division of SANS, provides organizations with a complete and comprehensive security awareness solution, enabling them to manage their "human" cybersecurity risk easily and effectively. SANS also delivers a wide variety of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, webcasts, podcasts, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system–the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to support and educate the global information security community. www.sans.org
About Secure Diversity
Secure Diversity (SD) was founded in 2015 as an innovative non-profit organization with leaders that think out of the box to create strategies and solutions to place qualified individuals who are in marginalized groups women and underrepresented humans into cybersecurity roles. The mission of Secure Diversity is the equal representation of all genders women and men in the cybersecurity workforce by engaging and collaborating with organizations and businesses to improve the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented genders, to utilize marketing and social media platforms to raise awareness of women in cybersecurity careers, to remove cybersecurity institutional barriers, and innovate new strategies to leverage existing resources. www.securediversity.org
View original content:
SOURCE SANS Institute | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/04/20/sans-institute-partners-with-secure-diversity-launch-leadership-academy-impact-gender-diversity-cybersecurity/ | 2022-04-20T15:50:47Z |
FRANKLIN, Tenn., July 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (NYSE: CHCT) today announced that on Tuesday evening, August 2, 2022, after the market closes, it will report results for the second quarter of 2022.
On August 3, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time, Community Healthcare Trust will hold a conference call to discuss earnings results, quarterly activities, general operations of the Company and industry trends. Simultaneously, a webcast of the conference call will be available to interested parties via an Internet link at www.chct.reit under the Investor Relations section. A webcast replay will be available following the call at the same Internet site address.
Conference Call Details
Domestic Dial-In Number: 1-888-347-1332
International Dial-In Number: 1-412-902-4278
Canada Toll Free: 1-855-669-9657
Replay Conference Call Details
Domestic Dial-In Number: 1-877-344-7529
International Dial-In Number: 1-412-317-0088
Canada Toll Free: 1-855-669-9658
Conference ID: 1203917
Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated is a real estate investment trust that focuses on owning income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services in our target sub-markets throughout the United States. The Company had investments of approximately $843.8 million in 158 real estate properties (including a portion of one property accounted for as a financing lease) as of March 31, 2022, located in 34 states, totaling approximately 3.4 million square feet.
This press release contains statements that are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "expects", "may", "should", "seeks", "approximately", "intends", "plans", "estimates", "anticipates" or other similar words or expressions, including the negative thereof. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and can include future expectations, future plans and strategies, financial and operating projections or other forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Because forward-looking statements relate to future events, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of the Company's control. Thus, the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements. Some factors that might cause such a difference include the following: general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of the Company's common stock, changes in the Company's business strategy, availability, terms and deployment of capital, the Company's ability to refinance existing indebtedness at or prior to maturity on favorable terms, or at all, changes in the real estate industry in general, interest rates or the general economy, adverse developments related to the healthcare industry, the degree and nature of the Company's competition, the ability to consummate acquisitions under contract, effects on global and national markets as well as businesses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the other factors described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained herein which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company intends these forward-looking statements to speak only as of the time of this release and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
CONTACT: David H. Dupuy, 615-771-3052
View original content:
SOURCE Community Healthcare Trust, Inc. | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/07/12/community-healthcare-trust-announces-second-quarter-earnings-release-date-conference-call/ | 2022-07-12T01:15:56Z |
Includes Exclusive New Flavor, GFUEL Watermelon Limeade!
NEW YORK, April 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- G FUEL, The Official Energy Drink of Esports®, has announced that their 16 oz ready-to-drink cans are now available for sale in nearly 400 Target stores throughout the United States. G FUEL is also unveiling a brand-new flavor exclusive to Target: Watermelon Limeade!
Give your taste buds a refreshing sweet and citrus blast with G FUEL's new Target-exclusive flavor, Watermelon Limeade, now available in 16 oz cans! Get energized and enjoy summertime favorites all year long as tangy lime flavor collides with candy-sweet watermelon. Zero Sugar. Zero Calories. Zero Seeds!
Fans will also be able to find three fan-favorite G FUEL flavors at Target stores: Sonic's Peach Rings, a candied peach flavor inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog; Tetris™ Blast, the ultimate rainbow candy taste inspired by the iconic puzzle game Tetris®; and Hype Sauce, a truly mind-bending raspberry lemonade blend.
Each 16 oz G FUEL can has zero calories and 300 mg of caffeine along with proprietary energy and focus-enhancing complexes.
"We at G FUEL are beyond excited to bring our ready-to-drink products to Target stores across the U.S.," said G FUEL Founder and CEO Cliff Morgan. "Partnering with Target and their incredible network of retail stores has us all truly excited! Not only will our fans be able to pick up four of our amazing flavors in-store, but they are going to absolutely love Watermelon Limeade."
Try all of Target's G FUEL offerings – including the all-new Watermelon Limeade – by using G FUEL's Store Locator to find a participating Target near you.
About G FUEL
As The Official Energy Drink of Esports®, G FUEL provides gamers with a performance-driven alternative to standard energy drink products. With an ever-expanding, sugar-free product lineup that includes a powdered energy formula, ready-to-drink cans, a Hydration Formula, and edible Energy Crystals, G FUEL has firmly established itself as the market leader in the gamer energy drink industry.
With over 324,000 5-star Shopper Approved Ratings, a shipping network that spans over 125 countries, a nationwide retail campaign, and a global social media footprint of over 1 billion followers, G FUEL maintains the industry's largest and most passionate community of fans, customers, content creators, and partners. Content creators and partners who include the likes of Ninja, Sentinels Esports, Logic, NoisyButters, Luminosity Gaming, PewDiePie, David Dobrik, Summit1G, xQc, KSI, Roman Atwood, Activision, SEGA of America, CAPCOM®, Bethesda Game Studios, Warner Bros., HYPEMAKER, DXRacer, Scuf Gaming, SteelSeries, and Digital Storm.
Join the movement today at GFUEL.com and follow us on social media @GFuelEnergy.
Press Contact:
media@gfuel.com
Distribution and Wholesale Contact:
dluks@gfuel.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE G FUEL | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/04/22/g-fuel-debuts-target-stores-nationwide-with-variety-ready-to-drink-cans/ | 2022-04-23T00:32:37Z |
Lima, Perú, May 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Petróleos del Perú – Petroperú S.A. (the "Company") today announced the satisfaction of the CESCE Amendment Condition related to its previously announced consent solicitation (the "Consent Solicitation"), being conducted upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement dated as of May 23, 2022 (the "Consent Solicitation Statement").
Pursuant to the Consent Solicitation Statement, the Company is soliciting consents ("Consents") from the Holders of its outstanding (i) 4.750% Notes Due 2032 (the "2032 Notes") and (ii) 5.625% Notes Due 2047 (the "2047 Notes" and, collectively with the 2032 Notes, the "Notes" and each a "Series") to certain proposed amendments (the "Proposed Amendments") to the indentures governing the Notes.
The Company had sent an amendment request to lenders under that certain facility agreement among the Company, as borrower, certain lenders, and Deutsche Bank, S.A.E., as administrative agent, guaranteed by Compañía Española de Seguros de Crédito a la Exportación, S.A., Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros, S.M.E., the Spanish Export Credit Agency CESCE (such guaranteed facility agreement, the "CESCE Facility Agreement"), to extend the timeframe within which the Company must deliver the audited consolidated financial statements for the 2021 fiscal year under the CESCE Facility Agreement to September 30, 2022.
As of May 30, 2022, a majority of the lenders under CESCE Facility Agreement, representing the required lenders thereunder, has accepted the Company's request and, as a result, the CESCE Facility Agreement has been effectively amended as requested by the Company. The effective amendment of the CESCE Facility Agreement was one of the conditions of the Consent Solicitation as set forth in the Consent Solicitation Statement (the "CESCE Amendment Condition").
The Company has the right, in its sole discretion, to amend or terminate the Consent Solicitation at any time.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., and Santander Investment Securities Inc. are acting as Solicitation Agents for the Consent Solicitation. The Tabulation and Information Agent is Global Bondholder Services Corporation.
Requests for documentation should be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at (855) 654-2014. Questions regarding the Consent Solicitation should be directed to the Solicitation Agents at 212 723 6106 (for Citigroup), +1 (888) HSBC-4LM (for HSBC), or +1 (212) 940-1442 (for Santander).
This press release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities.
None of the Company, the Solicitation Agents, the Tabulation and Information Agent makes any recommendation as to whether holders should Consent or refrain from Consenting to the Proposed Amendment. Holders must make their own decision as to whether to deliver their Consents.
About Petroperu:
Petróleos del Perú – Petroperú S.A. established in 1981 as a Public Limited Company pursuant with Legislative Decree No 43 (founded in 1969), Petroperú is the largest hydrocarbon corporate entity in Peru in terms of total sales and the largest enterprise of the Peruvian sovereign (100% owned by Peru). It is also Peru's second largest refiner in terms of refining volume capacity and forms a critical part of the country's energy infrastructure and economy. It has the largest distribution network for crude oil and refined products in the country, and it is the sole provider of refined products to certain areas of Peru. It is also the owner and operator of Peru's main oil pipeline, the "Norperuano Pipeline," which connects the crude oil production fields in the northern rainforest of Peru with its facilities in the Port of Bayovar near its Talara Refinery. Its business is comprised primarily of midstream and downstream petroleum activities, including the refining and blending of crude and intermediate hydrocarbon products, the distribution and sale of refined products through its wholesale distributors and associated retail service stations and direct sales, the transportation of crude through the Norperuano Pipeline, and the leasing of certain of its facilities to third parties. Petroperú also has a presence in the upstream sector.
Advisories:
Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and the Consent Solicitation Statement contain statements that are or may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements included in this Consent Solicitation Statement. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. The Company disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this press release or the Consent Solicitation Statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Future events or circumstances could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those anticipated.
View original content:
SOURCE Petróleos del Perú - Petroperú S.A. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/05/30/petrleos-del-per-petroper-sa-announces-satisfaction-cesce-amendment-condition-its-consent-solicitation/ | 2022-05-30T23:50:57Z |
Man impersonating officer pulls over deputy
BRIGHTON, Colo. (KCNC) - Police in Colorado said a man impersonating an officer chose the wrong car to pull over on Saturday on I-76.
“We did have officers dispatched to the report of a police impersonator on I-76 heading westbound between Bridge Street and Bromley Lane,” Kylynn Delohery with Brighton Police Department said.
Police say Jose Flores Ortiz was driving a 2019 Dodge Durango and activated red and blue lights from a bar in his windshield to attempt to pull someone over.
The person he as trying to pull over was a real off-duty deputy with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.
“It seemed a little strange to this off-duty deputy,” Delohery said. “Moments later, the Durango started to brake-check the off-duty deputy and forced him to the shoulder of the interstate.”
Police said Ortiz was wearing a security shirt and had a silver badge.
The off-duty deputy says the man “charged” his vehicle.
Fearing for his safety, the off-duty deputy pulled his firearm on the man and detained him.
“He was arrested on scene and booked into Adams County jail,” Delohery said.
He is charged with impersonating a peace officer, driving under the influence of alcohol and prohibited use of a weapon, among other charges.
While the alleged impersonator chose the wrong car to pull over Saturday, the risk of officer impersonations is still out there.
“There are people who impersonate police officers, and it could have been definitely a dangerous situation,” Delohery said.
Police said if you ever find yourself in this situation, don’t pull over and put down your window for a vehicle you suspect is not law enforcement.
Instead, drive at a safe speed and turn your hazard lights on.
Call 911 to confirm if the person pulling you over is a member of law enforcement.
They also recommend familiarizing yourself with the vehicles of your local law enforcement agencies.
Copyright 2022 KCNC via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/09/07/man-impersonating-officer-pulls-over-deputy/ | 2022-09-07T13:22:32Z |
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., July 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Air Products (NYSE: APD) today declared a quarterly dividend of $1.62 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on November 14, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 3, 2022.
Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 80 years. Focused on serving energy, environment and emerging markets, the Company provides essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemical, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the global leader in the supply of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment. The Company develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world's largest industrial gas projects, including: gasification projects that sustainably convert abundant natural resources into syngas for the production of high-value power, fuels and chemicals; carbon capture projects; and world-scale low- and zero-carbon hydrogen projects supporting global transportation and the energy transition.
The Company had fiscal 2021 sales of $10.3 billion from operations in over 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $55 billion. More than 20,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from diverse backgrounds are driven by Air Products' higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
View original content:
SOURCE Air Products | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/07/15/air-products-declares-quarterly-dividend/ | 2022-07-15T14:54:01Z |
GUANGZHOU, China, June 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Midea Digital Midea 2025 conference displays Midea actively building a technology group that provides digital solutions combining software and hardware for both B-end and C-end users.
Midea has specified the goals of its 2025 digital strategy: 100% digitalization of the entire operation across the whole value chain, driving business through a user perspective and reaching high-tech industry standards, maintaining industry leadership by building core technology barriers, becoming the first choice in the global smart home industry, and integrating digital technology into business development to innovate business models.
In recent years, Midea has successively established the AI Innovation Center, Midea Software Engineering Institute, Midea Cloud Data Center, and the Privacy Computing Joint Laboratory. This all represents Midea's determination to implement its digital strategy and ambitions in technology transformation.
Zhang Xiaoyi, vice president and CIO of Midea Group, explains: "Digital Midea 2025 reflects the process of Midea gradually approaching our users." In the fields of Smart Home, Smart Building, Smart Travel, Smart Energy, Smart Healthcare, Smart logistics, and Smart manufacturing, Midea has a unified digital base, providing exclusive data cockpits and exclusive smart decision-making assistants for everyone.
At the press conference, Midea officially launched the home service robot XIAOWEI, a robot with intelligent technology that is an AI butler, family assistant, safety guard, and playmate all in one. In terms of industrial digitalization, Midea further expands from smart home to industrial technology, building technology, and in to other fields, empowering corporate customers and building a new digital ecosystem.
Midea Industrial Technology is committed to supporting industry development through the power of technological innovation, especially in intelligent transportation, industrial automation, energy solutions, and consumer appliances. Midea Building Technologies provides a one-stop solution for air, water, and elevator products worldwide. Midea Cloud focuses on intelligent manufacturing and industrial software. By 2025, it will cover 2,000 industry-leading customers and introduce 1,000 ecological partners. Through perceivable data collection to executable business processes, Midea Annto Logistics realizes a reliable decision-making basis.
For Midea, when all hardware is supported by digital technology, there will be an organic open ecosystem, from every metadata to platforms, systems, home hardware, and even buildings and cities, all connected in a smart digital way, to provide a better digital world. With Midea, the digital world is at the fingertips.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Midea Group | https://www.wibw.com/prnewswire/2022/06/09/business-innovation-through-digitalization-midea-2025-digital-strategy-targets-100-business-digitalization/ | 2022-06-09T12:08:00Z |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones testified Wednesday that he now understands he was irresponsible to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax, and he now believes it was “100% real.”
Speaking a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 attack testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment they’ve endured because of what Jones has trumpeted on his media platforms, the Infowars host told a Texas courtroom that he definitely thinks the attack happened.
“Especially since I’ve met the parents. It’s 100% real,” Jones said before the jury began determining how much he and his media company, Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Their son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 students and six educators who were killed in the attack in Newtown, Connecticut.
Heslin and Lewis said Tuesday that an apology wouldn’t suffice and that Jones needed to be held accountable for repeatedly spreading falsehoods about the attack, which was the deadliest school shooting in American history. They are seeking at least $150 million from the trial, which is in its second week.
Jones — who has portrayed the lawsuit against him as an attack on his First Amendment rights — told the jury that any compensation above $2 million “will sink us,” but added: “I think it’s appropriate for whatever you decide what you want to do.”
The jury began deliberating after Jones finished testifying and lawyers wrapped up their cases.
During closing arguments, Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal said the plaintiffs didn’t prove that Jones’ actions and words caused actual harm, and that the trial lacked evidence of the harassment, anguish and character defamation that the parents claimed. He asked the jurors to award the parents $8 — one dollar for each of the compensation charges they are considering.
“Alex Jones may not be to our particular taste, but millions of Americans tune in to be informed, to be entertained, to have their voices heard,” Reynal said. “Speak the truth in your verdict. For them. And for all Americans.”
Jones was the only person who testified in his own defense. His attorney asked him if he now understands it was “absolutely irresponsible” to push the false claims that the massacre didn’t happen and no one died.
Jones said he does, but added, “They (the media) won’t let me take it back.”
He also complained that he’s been “typecast as someone that runs around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money off Sandy Hook, is obsessed by Sandy Hook.”
Under a withering cross-examination from attorney Mark Bankston, Jones acknowledged his history of raising conspiracy claims regarding other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City and Boston Marathon bombings to the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida.
Bankston then went after Jones’ credibility, showing an Infowars video clip from last week when a host — not Jones — claimed the trial was rigged and featured a photo of the judge in flames. Then came another clip of Jones asking if the jury was selected from a group of people “who don’t know what planet” they live on. Jones said he didn’t mean that part literally.
Bankston said Jones hadn’t complied with court orders to provide text messages and emails for pretrial evidence gathering. Jones said, “I don’t use email,” then was showed one gathered from another source that came from his email address. He replied: “I must have dictated that.”
At one point, Bankston informed Jones that his attorneys had mistakenly sent Bankston the last two years’ worth of texts from Jones’ cellphone.
The attorney also showed the court an email from an Infowars business officer informing Jones that the company had earned $800,000 gross in selling its products in a single day, which would amount to nearly $300 million in a year. Jones said that was the company’s best day in sales.
Jones’ testimony came a day after Heslin and Lewis told the courtroom in Austin, where Jones and his companies are based, that Jones and the false hoax claims he and Infowars pushed made their lives a “living hell” of death threats, online abuse and harassment.
They led a day of charged testimony Tuesday that included the judge scolding the bombastic Jones for not being truthful with some of what he said under oath.
In a gripping exchange, Lewis spoke directly to Jones, who was sitting about 10 feet away. Earlier that day, Jones was on his broadcast program telling his audience that Heslin is “slow” and being manipulated by bad people.
At one point, Lewis asked Jones: “Do you think I’m an actor?”
“No, I don’t think you’re an actor,” Jones responded before the judge admonished him to be quiet until called to testify.
Heslin told the jury about holding his son with a bullet hole through his head, even describing the extent of the damage to his son’s body. A key segment of the case is a 2017 Infowars broadcast that said Heslin didn’t hold his son.
The jury was shown a school picture of a smiling Jesse taken two weeks before he was killed. The parents didn’t receive the photo until after the shooting. They described how Jesse was known for telling classmates to “run!” which likely saved lives.
Jones initially took the stand later Tuesday. At one point the judge sent the jury out of the courtroom and strongly scolded Jones for telling the jury he had complied with pretrial evidence gathering even though he didn’t and that he is bankrupt, which has not been determined. The plaintiffs’ attorneys were furious about Jones mentioning he is bankrupt, which they worry will taint the jury’s decisions about damages.
“This is not your show,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Jones. “Your beliefs do not make something true. You are under oath.”
Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control.
At stake in the Texas trial is how much Jones will pay. The jurors will consider damages in two phases. Once they determine whether Jones should pay the parents compensation for defamation and emotional distress, they must then decide if he must also pay punitive damages. That portion will involve a separate mini-trial involving Jones and financial experts testifying about his and his company’s net worth.
Jones has already tried to protect Free Speech Systems financially. The company, which is Infowars’ parent company, filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. Sandy Hook families have separately sued Jones over his financial claims, arguing that the company is trying to protect millions owned by Jones and his family through shell entities.
___
Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber contributed to this report.
___
For more of the AP’s coverage of school shootings: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings | https://cw33.com/news/u-s-news/ap-us-headlines/sandy-hook-parents-alex-jones-claims-created-living-hell/ | 2022-08-03T21:59:32Z |
OKLAHOMA CITY, July 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascent Resources, LLC (together with its subsidiaries, "Ascent" or the "Company") announced today that it has entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with an undisclosed seller to acquire all of its assets in the Utica Shale in Ohio for a total purchase price of $270 million, subject to customary closing purchase price adjustments. Ascent intends to fund the transaction with a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under its revolving credit facility ("Credit Facility"). The Company has also entered into an amended and restated credit agreement with a syndicate of banks to extend the maturity of the Credit Facility to June 2027 while increasing the borrowing base and elected commitment amount to $3.0 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively. The Credit Facility will be governed by the lessor of the borrowing base and the elected commitment amount.
The acquisition expands Ascent's asset base in the Ohio Utica Shale play by ~26,800 net acres and increases net production by approximately 60 mmcfe/d. The Company already holds working interests in a material portion of the acquired production and, as such, is very familiar with the acquired acreage. In addition, the acquisition comes with a substantial inventory of identified drilling locations in both the Utica and Marcellus which we expect to add high margin cash flow in the future. The acquisition requires no incremental overhead or external financing and is immediately accretive to Adjusted Free Cash Flow and corporate returns. Consistent with past practice, the Company has hedged a significant portion of the expected production from the asset to capture the strong economics and returns offered in the current market.
Jeff Fisher, Ascent's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are excited to announce these strategic transactions as they highlight both our operational and financial execution. Through the acquisition we have added high quality acreage and production in the core of the Utica Shale at an attractive valuation, while also picking up prospective locations in the Marcellus. This transaction is immediately accretive to our financial metrics and returns while adding high-quality undeveloped inventory to our portfolio. The extension and increase of our credit facility provides the business with additional access to capital to execute on our long-term returns based strategy."
About Ascent Resources:
Ascent is one of the largest private producers of natural gas in the United States and is focused on acquiring, developing, producing, and operating natural gas and oil properties located in the Utica Shale in southern Ohio. With a continued focus on good corporate citizenship, Ascent is committed to delivering low-cost clean-burning energy to our country and the world, while reducing environmental impacts. For more information, visit www.ascentresources.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the transaction. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in this press release. These statements are made as of the date of this press release and Ascent undertakes no duty or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Contact:
Chris Benton
Director – Finance and Investor Relations
405-252-7850
chris.benton@ascentresources.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Ascent Resources Utica Holdings, LLC | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/01/ascent-resources-llc-announces-utica-shale-bolt-on-acquisition-extension-revolving-credit-facility-maturity-borrowing-base-increase/ | 2022-07-01T16:06:01Z |
VIDEO: Woman celebrates 102nd birthday after getting COVID twice
COLQUITT, Ga. (WALB/Gray News) - A Georgia woman recently celebrated her 102nd birthday.
Emma Smith celebrated her milestone birthday on May 14 and credited her long life to her faith, and for a good reason.
WALB reports she was sent home to die a few years ago after taking a fall. Also, since the pandemic began, she caught COVID twice.
On her 100th birthday, Smith’s family asked for community support amid the pandemic. They asked for 100 cards to be delivered but instead, they ended up being gifted 250!
Smith was born in Alabama and has spent most of her life in the South. She also has a long list of relatives who have crossed or gotten near the century mark.
The 102-year-old said she has not had alcohol or smoked in her life, and nowadays, she’s not up to a lot, but two things that keep her interested are quilting and flowers.
Smith has made over 200 quilts in her life.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wibw.com/2022/05/18/video-woman-celebrates-102nd-birthday-after-getting-covid-twice/ | 2022-05-18T02:25:23Z |
DALLAS, April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Winston & Strawn LLP announced today the addition of LeElle B. Slifer as a partner in the Dallas office and as a member of the Litigation practice.
LeElle has litigated a wide array of complex commercial matters, including disputes involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, oil and gas, securities fraud, antitrust, intellectual property (including patent and copyright infringement and theft of trade secrets), class actions, and mass torts.
She has appeared in federal and state courts across the United States and has participated in numerous arbitrations, including before the International Chamber of Commerce in London. LeElle has also handled appeals before a variety of federal and state appellate courts as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prior to entering private practice, LeElle clerked for the Hon. Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
"Winston is well known as a litigation powerhouse, especially in Dallas," said LeElle. "I look forward to joining their talented team and zealously advocating for my clients with the collaboration and support that come from such a diverse and experienced bench."
"The range and depth of LeElle's litigation experience are a perfect fit for our growing presence in the Dallas market," said Tom Melsheimer, Dallas managing partner. "The strong Texas economy continues to expand across multiple industry sectors, which means a corresponding growth in complex legal matters. LeElle's success in arguing cases ranging from securities fraud to oil and gas disputes will bring significant value to our clients."
LeElle has also led many initiatives to hire and retain talented women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ professionals, which extends to establishing a variety of mentoring and professional development programs.
"LeElle is a talented litigator and a passionate advocate for diversity and for women lawyers' visibility and advancement," said Tom Fitzgerald, Winston chairman. "She will be an important addition to our growing team in Dallas."
Winston & Strawn LLP is an international law firm with 15 offices in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com.
Contact:
Michael Goodwin
mgoodwin@stantonprm.com
646-502-3595
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Winston & Strawn LLP | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/04/13/winston-amp-strawn-adds-leelle-b-slifer-dallas-litigation-practice/ | 2022-04-13T17:07:01Z |
Paris Police releases unseen body camera footage from officer-involved shooting
SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) - The City of Paris released their version, including 20 minutes of unseen footage, from the fateful night an officer-involved shooting left one person paralyzed and another tased and charged.
According to the footage from Paris Police Officer Derek Bristow’s body camera, on the night of June 1st, 2021, he first arrived at a truck rolled over and empty.
“He went up that way like he was headed towards 36,” said a witness to officers on the scene.
Bristow eventually makes it to a Lamar County home, soon to be the scene of a different incident.
“Officer Bristow: You wouldn’t happen to pick anyone up from 34th and Clement over here, would you?
Colton Carico’s girlfriend: No, I haven’t.
Officer Bristow: No? Not anyone...
Carico’s girlfriend: I came home, and I went to bed so...
Officer Bristow: Not a white male wearing all black? Possible bleeding from the head, anything like that?
Carico’s girlfriend: No. No one.”
The footage shows Officer Bristow go back to his car, and Carico’s girlfriend, as she identifies herself in the footage, follows.
“He called me and was like, ‘come pick me up,’ and that’s all I know, and he is my boyfriend, and at the same time, I don’t want to lie. I’m sorry,” said Carico’s girlfriend.
The video shows Bristow returning to the house and eventually making contact with Colton Carico.
“Officer: Have you been drinking any tonight? At all?
Colton Carico: Well, somebody drove me, but they disappeared.”
In the video, Carico said someone else was driving, but police said they traced the car back to him.
Then Bristow asked Carico to put shoes on and step outside.
“Officer: You can quit being a jack*** to me cause I’m trying to come talk to you.
Carico’s girlfriend: No, no one likes being called a **** or a jack***.”
Next, the video shows Carico stepping back inside the house while the police explain to his girlfriend they would like to perform a sobriety test on him.
After a few minutes of conversation, the footage catches up to where Carico’s family starts the video, just before he comes out with a rifle and points it at himself.
“I’m gonna blow my ******* brains out right here.”
The family sent the following statement to KXII:
“The reason we started the video where we did is because my son posted it on YouTube and could only upload 15 minutes of it. It is an entire 15 minutes with no editing. Prior to that is the video of his wrecked truck and people trying to figure out how to tow it out, the drive to my son’s house, the conversation of Derek Bristow trying to get my son to come outside of his house and do a field sobriety test 45 minutes or more after he had already been home. Then the latter part of the videos are just them processing the scene. We have 3 different body cam videos of that night. We didn’t alter, edit, or add context like the police are stating.”
KXII reached out to the Texas Rangers, who found the shooting to be justified in their investigation and the District Attorney’s office.
Both forwarded KXII to the Attorney General’s office, but KXII has not heard back.
And the City of Paris and the police department aren’t making further comments.
They sent the statement below to KXII on Monday:
“It has come to the City’s attention that an edited version of a police officer’s body camera footage in regard to a shooting incident has been released on social media, along with misleading and inflammatory comments. Our Paris police officers, who place themselves at risk every day, and our citizens, deserve a more complete picture.
On June 1, 2021, Paris Police Department officers investigated a motor vehicle rollover accident involving damage to the property of a third party. The driver had fled the scene, but officers traced the abandoned vehicle to Colton Carico. Officers arrived at Mr. Carico’s home, where Mr. Carico eventually appeared at the door. Officers repeatedly and politely requested Mr. Carico come speak with them about the accident which he initially refused to do. When he did eventually exit the home, Mr. Carico did so with a rifle in his hands. Officers ordered him to drop the rifle multiple times, but he would not comply with those commands. As a result of Mr. Carico brandishing a rifle, the officers feared for their safety as well as for the safety of Mr. Carico’s girlfriend, who was also present and in Mr. Carico’s line of fire.
Mr. Carico’s actions created a very clear and present danger that the officers were forced to address in order to prevent Mr. Carico from firing the rifle in his hands. The events that ensued, which resulted in Mr. Carico’s sustaining a gunshot wound, happened in a matter of seconds and occurred only because Mr. Carico created a dangerous situation by introducing a high-powered rifle into an otherwise
nonviolent scene. Moreover, to address misleading comments on social media, this call was not in reference to any mental health issues, and Mr. Carico’s mental health was not in question nor at issue in the call.
In the ensuing weeks, the matter was thoroughly investigated by the Texas Rangers, who found the shooting to be justified. Furthermore, after a presentation by the state attorney general’s office, a Lamar County grand jury also cleared the involved officer by issuing a no bill on the case in December of 2021.
In connection with this statement, and so that a more complete picture is presented, the Police Department will be releasing the officer’s entire body-cam recording with limited editing to protect confidential personal information of 3rd parties, as opposed to the abbreviated version that has been posted elsewhere on social media. The City supports the Police Department and its officers and is confident that both the facts and the law support its officers in this case.
The City will have no additional comment at this time.”
The following video below is the full footage released by the Paris Police Department. Warning: This video is unedited and contains graphic images and language.
Copyright 2022 KXII. All rights reserved. | https://www.kxii.com/2022/06/14/paris-police-releases-unseen-body-camera-footage-officer-involved-shooting/ | 2022-06-15T00:00:40Z |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.