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On paper, Luigi Mangione had it all: wealth, intellect, athleticism, good looks. But the child of a prominent Maryland family may have spurned it all in a spasm of violence, in a killing that has mesmerized Americans. The 26-year-old was arrested Monday and charged with the murder of Brian Thompson, a health insurance chief executive and father of two who was gunned down in Manhattan last week by someone who, evidence suggests, has endured his own debilitating health crises and grew angry with the privatized US medical system. The cold-blooded killing has laid bare the deep frustration many Americans feel toward the country's labyrinthine health care system: while many have condemned the shooting, others have praised Mangione as a hero. It has also prompted considerable interest in how a young engineer with an Ivy League education could have gone off the rails to commit murder. News of his capture at a Pennsylvania McDonald's triggered an explosion of online activity, with Mangione quickly amassing new followers on social media as citizen sleuths and US media tried to understand who he is. As Americans have looked for clues about a political ideology or potential motive, a photo on his X account (formerly Twitter) includes an X-ray of an apparently injured spine. Mangione lived in Hawaii in 2022 and, according to his former roommate R.J. Martin, suffered from back pain, and was hoping to strengthen his back. After a surfing lesson, Mangione was "in bed for about a week" because of the pain, Martin told CNN. Earlier this year, Martin said, Mangione confirmed he'd had back surgery and sent him photos of the X-rays. Police said the suspect carried a hand-written manifesto of grievances in which he slammed America's "most expensive health care system in the world." "He was writing a lot about his disdain for corporate America and in particular the health care industry," New York police chief detective Joseph Kenny told ABC. According to CNN, a document recovered when Mangione was arrested included the phrase "these parasites had it coming." Meanwhile, memes and jokes proliferated, many riffing on his first name and comparing him to the "Mario Bros." video game character Luigi. Many expressed at least partial sympathy, having had their own harrowing experiences with the US health care system. "Godspeed. Please know that we all hear you," wrote one user on Facebook. Mangione hails from the Baltimore area. His wealthy Italian-American family owns local businesses, including the Hayfields Country Club, according to local outlet the Baltimore Banner, and cousin Nino Mangione is a Maryland state delegate. A standout student, Luigi graduated at the top of his high school class in 2016. A former student who knew Mangione at the elite Gilman School told AFP the suspect struck him as "a normal guy, nice kid." "There was nothing about him that was off, at least from my perception," the person said. Mangione attended the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, where he completed both a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science by 2020, according to a university spokesperson. While at Penn, Mangione co-led a group of 60 undergraduates who collaborated on video game projects, as noted in a now-deleted university webpage. On Instagram Mangione shared snapshots of his travels, and shirtless images of himself flaunting a six-pack. X users have scoured Mangione's posts for potential motives. His header photo includes an X-ray of a spine with bolts attached. Finding a political ideology that fits neatly onto the right-left divide has proved elusive, though he had written a review of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto on online site Goodreads, calling it "prescient." Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, carried out multiple bombings in the United States from 1978 to 1995, in a campaign he said was aimed at halting the advance of modern society and technology. Mangione has also linked approvingly to posts criticizing secularism as a harmful consequence of Christianity's decline, and retweeted posts on the impact mobile phones and social media have on mental health. ia/abo-mlm/nroyb slot demo 。

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is due to release on 31st January 2025. The sequel to the sci-fi dice-driven RPG will release across PC, Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on this date, and will be available day one on Game Pass. For a taste of what's to come, developer Jump Over The Age is bringing back the Hexport demo for the game, which was previously released for a limited time during Steam Next Fest. It will be playable once again from today until 8th December. The first Citizen Sleeper , released in 2022, won multiple awards and was nominated for four BAFTAs including British Game and Game for Impact. It's a phenomenal tabletop-inspired game, exploring political themes with evocative writing and a beautiful electronic score. The sequel, announced in June 2023 , will stick to a similar template to the first as it follows a new Sleeper android protagonist out in the stars and uses the same dice-throwing mechanics. Creator Gareth Damian Martin stated the central theme was "crisis", with the pandemic and invasion of Ukraine being influential. Eurogamer's Katharine Castle went hands-on with Citizen Sleeper 2 earlier this year. "There may be a different set of machines powering this ambitious RPG, but deep down, it still has the same gooey, human heart we know and love," she wrote.Women's surfing pioneer Phyllis O'Donell honoured in Gold Coast paddle outJensen SPRINGFIELD — The terrifying story of Central Illinois dentist and drug addict Phillip M. Jensen is the stuff of a Hollywood horror story. Jensen, 64, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who formerly had offices in Mattoon, Neoga and Effingham as well as Rochester, stole fentanyl anesthetic for his own recreational use. He would then replace the stolen drug by topping off the drained vials with saline, according to the U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris. The watered-down drugs were administered to patients, some of whom woke up in screaming agony while Jensen performed surgery on them. The disgraced dentist was punished with 15 years in prison for his crimes and testimony from the victims he harmed was heard during his sentencing hearing Dec. 18. “The government presented the statement of a patient that awoke during her surgery,” said a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of Illinois. “When Jensen realized she was awake, he struck the patient in the head with an instrument and completed the surgery, which involved the extraction of multiple teeth as well as the shaping and smoothing of the bones in her jaw, while she was conscious and lacking pain management.” Statements had been received from many victims, estimated to total some 99 in all, including a mother who said her sobbing child told her after surgery that she had “felt everything.” Jensen’s last practice center had been in Rochester before his medical license was suspended in 2022. U.S. Attorney Harris said Jensen’s conduct had first raised suspicions when office staff “began noticing patients who were moving, moaning and otherwise showing signs of pain and distress during surgery." Jensen started practicing dentistry in Illinois in 1987 and had branched into offices in Mattoon, Neoga and later in Effingham. News reports said the Effingham office had closed in 2011 and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said Jensen’s license had been suspended for six months that year for what it described as failure to “comply with the terms of a Care, Counseling and Treatment Agreement.” Before his Dec. 18 sentencing, Jensen had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of drug diversion and two counts of acquiring a controlled substance by fraud. He also admitted one count of tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. Jensen said his drug thefts from patients started as early as December 2019. He also admitted he had stolen at least half of the fentanyl in every vial in his practice. In addition to prison, he was fined $200,000 and permanently deprived of his medical license. Passing sentence, U.S. District Judge Colleen R. Lawless said he had been guilty of a massive breach of trust that had inflicted agony on his patients. “If you cannot trust your doctor, who can you trust?” she asked the defendant. A federal grand jury had returned an indictment against Jensen in February of 2022 and he had been released on bond. But a warrant had been issued in July of 2024 and he had been placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service after he was accused of stalking and harassing a potential witness in the case against him. Fentanyl was the most promising medical advancement of its time. It's now one of the leading causes of death in the United States. The highly addictive synthetic opioid has infiltrated illicit drug supplies and left holes in families across the nation. According to a New York Times analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, fentanyl and drugs like it caused nearly 74,000 overdose deaths in 2022, surpassing other public health crises like car crash deaths and gun deaths. It's spurred public policy initiatives in an attempt to stem the flow of fentanyl from China and Mexico. It's led to more regulation of prescription opioids and increased efforts to make opioid abuse treatments more widely available. It's also reigniting debates about how to prosecute drug crimes and how to compassionately treat those who have already become victims of its addictive grip. Fentanyl is so frequently associated today with pain and suffering that it begs the question: Why was something so dangerous created in the first place? To get to the bottom of that question, Ophelia analyzed resources from academic journals, the Journal of Pain , and archived news articles to illustrate the origin of fentanyl, a drug that has become almost synonymous with America's opioid crisis. Paul Janssen was a revolutionary figure in Western medicine during the 20th century, developing dozens of medications and patenting more than 100 medical advances over his lifetime. The son of a doctor, Janssen lost his sister when she was only 4 years old after she contracted tuberculous meningitis. During World War II, Janssen studied physics, biology, and chemistry in Belgium. His familial background and education in chemistry, in particular, inspired him to think about the potential for chemical sciences to be applied to advancements in medicine. The time in which a young Janssen found inspiration was when war was driving innovation in health care at a rapid clip, and many procedures and medicines we take for granted today were just entering the fray. Surgeons were developing techniques to safely remove flesh so that fewer soldiers had to undergo amputation. Penicillin was seeing broader use for treating bacterial infections, having been discovered over a decade prior. And Janssen, who would become known simply as Dr. Paul to colleagues, was plotting the creation of his independent research laboratory. The first open-heart surgery was performed in 1952, kicking off a period of surgical ambition that would inspire Janssen to formulate the chemical compound known today as fentanyl. Around this time, doctors began experimenting with new techniques for heart surgery, the promise of treating heart disease propelling patients to take part in risky experimental procedures. Anesthetics available at the time often caused severe hypotension (low blood pressure) and arrhythmias (an irregular heartbeat) if they didn't kill the patient. Janssen set out to formulate the "most potent" narcotic pain reliever ever made, synthesizing fentanyl for the first time in 1960. The drug was shown to have 100-300 times the potency of morphine, the primary drug used in surgical procedures at the time. Fentanyl also had fewer side effects for patients. With morphine, the amnesia effect that helps patients forget the surgery while anesthetized was sometimes incomplete. Occasionally, morphine would also cause an allergic reaction; it also had the effect of depressing the respiratory system after surgery was complete, making it difficult for the patient to get oxygen. Fentanyl carries a similar impact on the respiratory system, and deaths from overdoses typically are the result of the respiratory system effectively shutting down. Fentanyl's potency worried some physicians, and that concern led to problems getting approval for its broader use. The Janssen Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1961, struggled to get the Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug. It was resolved when Janssen suggested a 50:1 combination of droperidol and fentanyl be used in procedures, thereby diluting the chance for it to be misused because droperidol was known to induce a high that was not enjoyable. The FDA ultimately approved the cocktail for use in the U.S. in 1968; four years later, fentanyl became available for use on its own in small quantities. Fentanyl's FDA approval paved the way for the drug's use in surgical settings in the 1970s, and its success in heart and vascular surgeries propelled it to widespread acceptance. The drug experienced a rare "blockbuster" moment in the 1980s, with medical sales growing 10 times in just its first year off patent in 1981. New drugs can be so expensive to research and develop that it's rarely profitable for a company to bring them to market unless they know sales will be immense. Fentanyl had the added effect of activating pain-relieving and anesthetic responses in the body quicker than other methods of anesthesia. It was effective not only for surgical procedures but also for patients living with chronic pain and terminal illness. But all else aside, it was also easy and cheap to produce—and clinicians were leaning in. Its popularity in the medical community drove Janssen to develop other opioid anesthetics, which spurred companies to develop new ways of getting the drug into the patient's body throughout the 1980s and into the 2000s. Companies introduced lozenges, lollipops, under-the-tongue sprays, and skin patches with varying use cases for patients depending on their pain relief needs. Some of these new technologies were commercial failures, but they broadened the use cases for the newly synthesized and extremely potent opioids. Since Janssen first conceived it in his lab, fentanyl has become the most widely used intravenous anesthetic for surgical procedures. At the same time, its excessive use began just years after the FDA first approved it in the 1970s. In the 1990s, overprescription of other opioid painkillers like OxyContin seeded the ground for the epidemic of opioid use disorder plaguing the U.S. today. From the late 1990s through the 2000s, opioid-related overdose deaths skyrocketed, and regulators began cracking down on overprescribing physicians. Those efforts gave way to a rise in heroin overdose deaths in the early 2010s. And though fentanyl's potential for misuse concerned the FDA in the 1960s, it was perhaps impossible for regulators and the medical community to foresee the bevy of market forces that would lead to the modern-day opioid crisis in which fentanyl is featured heavily. The drug's potency, synthetic origin, and ease of production—coupled with the advent of e-commerce in the 2010s—have made it so that black market actors could flood the market with illegally synthesized pills and powders. Today, any illicitly manufactured drug could be cut with fentanyl, and the prevalence poses a risk for those in recovery from opioid use disorder for whom one relapse could result in death. Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Paris Close. This story originally appeared on Ophelia and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Cambodian Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra has reaffirmed Cambodia’s commitment to foster media cooperation with countries in South and Southeast Asia, stressing that it will contribute positively to regional and even global development. “In light of the opportunities and challenges posed by significant shifts in international relations and the rapid emergence of the intelligent era, Cambodia is committed to deepening media cooperation with countries in South and Southeast Asia. We are confident that, in the future, the South and Southeast Asia Media Network will play even more significant roles,” he said in his remarks at the South and Southeast Asian Media Network (SSAMN) Annual Meeting 2024, held on Dec. 9 in Xishuangbanna, an autonomous prefecture in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, under the theme “Joining Hands for New Mechanism of Media Cooperation.” He continued that through collective efforts, all participants in the SSAMN can better promote the development of national and international relations, deepen mutual understanding and trust, and enhance cooperation across various fields. “Cambodia encourages our friends in the media sector to harness their strengths, actively promote positive energy, and foster cultural exchange and mutual appreciation, thereby contributing to the building of a shared future for humanity,” the Cambodian information minister said. Neth Pheaktra took the opportunity to highlight Cambodia’s remarkable achievements in its media exchange and cooperation with countries in South and Southeast Asia. “For instance, we have maintained collaborations with media departments and outlets in ASEAN nations and engaged positively with Chinese media. Additionally, Cambodia has actively participated in media exchange initiatives within the frameworks of China-ASEAN cooperation and Lancang-Mekong cooperation, enabling more Cambodian citizens to gain insights into the region’s countries and injecting new momentum into mutual exchanges among the peoples of different nations,” he pointed out. Over the past year, he said, the Ministry of Information of the Kingdom of Cambodia has actively supported media outlets such as National Television of Kampuchea and Koh Santepheap Daily in their participation in the Network. The “Yunnan-Angkor Tours” series of activities the ministry has jointly organised with Yunnan province, has created a distinctive cultural tourism brand, capitalising on the Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year. Additionally, the “China Yunnan” news page, which we launched together, keeps readers informed of the latest developments in Cambodia-China cooperation. In-depth interviews with Siem Reap Angkor International Airport and the Cambodia-China “Save the Heart”, a congenital heart disease assistance project, vividly highlight the ironclad friendship between Cambodia and China. On the occasion, Neth Pheaktra gave four recommendations to strengthen the SSAMN – deepen the cooperation mechanism, foster technological innovation, enhance talent cultivation, and enhance the Network’s global influence. Initiated by Yunnan International Communication Centre for South and Southeast Asia and China Daily Asia Pacific, the South and Southeast Asia Media Network was established in Beijing on Jan. 31, 2024, which marks a new chapter in regional media cooperation. This platform not only offers an opportunity for media from various countries to engage and collaborate but also fosters a close-knit community where the members can explore together, share experiences, and progress hand in hand.AKPChatGPT Pro: how much will it cost and what are its advantages?We are alert on LoC, will thwart infiltration attempts: BSF Says Militants Minimise Internal Communication, Pose Challenges Srinagar: Militants have cut down on communications amongst themselves which is posing a huge challenge to the security forces in tracking them down, a senior BSF officer said here on Saturday. Inspector General of BSF, Kashmir Frontier, Ashok Yadav, said this while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of BSF’s Raising Day celebrations at STC Humhama in the outskirts of the city. “Terrorists always try to strengthen their security protocol. They minimise communication which creates gaps in intelligence gathering. “But, all the agencies analyse whatever inputs they get to identify their hideouts and their supporters so as to neutralise them,” Yadav said. Asked whether the minimum communication amongst terrorists was posing as a challenge to track them, the IG BSF said, “It is a huge challenge,” but, he added, the security agencies will also implement new strategies to counter that. “The security and intelligence agencies are brainstorming to find ways to counter these new challenges,” he added. Yadav said there are continuous attempts of infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC) before the onset of the winter, but the security forces make their operational plans ahead to dominate the “vulnerable gaps”. This year too, Indian forces are dominating and their endeavour is to thwart any such attempts before the heavy snowfall, he said. Asked if there was information about the presence of terrorists at the launchpads across the LoC, the IG BSF said according to the intelligence inputs, there are people at the launchpads waiting to try to infiltrate “to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere here”. “But the way we are alert on the LoC and conduct area domination, we are very confident that we will thwart such attempts,” he asserted. To a question whether the political situation in Pakistan would have any impact here, the senior BSF official said whenever there are any changes like this in Pakistan, there “definitely is an impact here”. “But, I will not be able to comment broadly on it. It is the job of the intelligence agencies,” he remarked. (Agencies)

NoneI'm obsessed with my air fryer, and I've used it to cook dishes from to . To put the appliance to the test, I decided to try making a week's worth of dinners in my . Here's what I will and won't be making again. The I found from food blogger Melanie Cooks couldn't be more straightforward. First, I chopped the eggplant into 1-inch cubes. Then, I tossed them in olive oil, garlic powder, red pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. I placed my seasoned cubes into the preheated air fryer at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, shaking halfway through. I'd make this again as a side dish This was my first time cooking eggplant, and I thought the dish turned out surprisingly well. The bites were flavorful and a bit crispy — not overly mushy, which can happen often with eggplant dishes. Overall, this was super easy to make and delicious, just not super filling. I'd make it again as a side for a heartier main course. Food blogger said these were the "best hot dogs" I would ever make. I was skeptical about , but I loved not having to boil them and deal with the gross-smelling water that results from that. After preheating the air fryer to 390 degrees Fahrenheit, I made a few shallow cuts on the hot dogs to prevent them from inflating or exploding. Next, I put them in the air fryer for six minutes. I also toasted my buns in the air fryer. These hot dogs were great The buns were the true game changer. Before this, I'd eat my hot dogs with untoasted buns because I found them difficult to crisp properly in a regular toaster. But, after just a few minutes in the air fryer, they were perfect for the well-cooked hot dogs. I will definitely make this recipe again. I loosely followed a recipe from the blogger l, who wrote you could make this pizza in the oven for 10 minutes and get the same results as doing so in the air fryer. This recipe calls for premade crust, but I used a frozen pizza as my base. Fortunately, this wasn't an issue. My air-fryer baskets are small, so I had to cut my pizza before cooking it. I put the pizza in the air fryer for about six to seven minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The crust cooked quickly. Then, I followed the directions like it was a plain crust and topped it with slices of mozzarella and tomato. The recipe said to use Campari tomatoes, but I used cherry ones. They were so small that they slid off my pizza while it heated up in the air fryer. Still, I popped my pizza slices back into the air-fryer baskets and cooked them for five or so minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The cheese quickly melted, and I topped my slices with fresh basil and olive oil. The finished product came out tasty, with good texture and flavor I liked how crispy the crust turned out, and the pizza had a nice flavor. Although this was delicious, it was more complicated than just placing a whole pizza in the oven. My air-fryer baskets are small, so I had to cook four slices at a time instead of an entire pie at once. I'm sure it'd be just as tasty with a plain crust, too. Even so, it seemed unnecessary to use an air fryer instead of my oven. Food blog requires only bone-in, skin-on chicken (trimmed) and some spices. I shook my chicken thighs in a large bag with kosher salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano, and onion powder to coat it in seasonings. Once the air fryer was preheated to 380 degrees Fahrenheit, it was time to cook them. First, I sprayed the baskets with oil and placed the thighs skin-side down for 12 minutes. I then flipped them and cooked them for another 10 minutes. I was impressed by how quickly and easily this recipe came together. The resulting chicken thighs had crispy, well-seasoned skin and juicy, tender meat. I had fun making mozzarella sticks The food blogger quick mozarella-stick recipe calls for light string cheese, Italian breadcrumbs, an egg, and flour, plus marinara sauce for dipping. First, I put my egg, breadcrumbs, and flour in three separate containers. After unwrapping the cheese, I coated it in flour, dipped it in egg, and then breadcrumbs. My favorite part was making sure each stick was perfectly coated in crumbles, which felt therapeutic and oddly satisfying. Then, the cheese sticks needed to be frozen for about an hour so they could firm up before being fried. Once they were done chilling, I popped the sticks into my 400-degree-Fahrenheit air fryer for four minutes, flipped them, and cooked them for another four minutes. These came out cheesy and delicious Some of the cheese ended up oozing out of the breading, especially after I flipped them. Still, they stayed together pretty well and tasted delicious. I also liked dipping the sticks in marinara. The vegan I used is from Allrecipes, and its main ingredients include potato, onion, and corn tortillas. The potato had to be cooked so I could make my filling, so I microwaved it for a bit to try to speed up the process. While the potato cooked, I made the sauce by simmering minced garlic and chopped onion in vegan butter. Next, I mashed my potato and combined it with salt, pepper, almond milk, and the buttery mixture. Then, I put the filling aside and heated my tortillas so I could roll the taquitos up. I heated the tortillas on the grate of a gas stove to make them easily rollable. This was tedious, and I found they could burn quickly if I looked away for even a minute. Once I had my tortilla perfectly heated, I put a spoonful of my inside it and rolled it up. Finally, I put the rolled taquitos in the preheated air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. After seven minutes, I flipped them, sprayed them with oil, then cooked them for three more minutes. These came out OK but were more work than I'd prefer These taquitos took a little more time to prepare than I'd anticipated. The filling was good and tasted like garlic mashed potatoes, but I would've preferred to eat it without the semi-crunchy tortilla wrapper that almost overpowered its flavor. It's nice that these were vegan, but I almost wish I'd chosen a recipe with meat to add some texture. Even so, the taquitos weren't too hard to make and tasted good enough for a snack. Food blogger makes her with three simple, classic ingredients: bread, cheese, and butter. I buttered one side of each piece of bread, placed cheese inside, then cooked my sandwich in a preheated air fryer at 370 degrees Fahrenheit for four minutes on each side. My sandwich turned out wonderfully cheesy The recipe recommends using toothpicks to hold the bread down, but I didn't have any, so I had to rearrange the bread midway through cooking, as it had blown off. Still, these sandwiches came out cheesy and fabulous — though I could've almost as easily made them in a pan. Each recipe was good enough to try, and I'd probably make all but 2 again I wouldn't cook the pizza or taquitos in the air fryer next time, but everything else felt surprisingly easier to make in the small-but-mighty appliance. The , grilled cheese, eggplant, and mozzarella sticks were all winners — and the chicken thighs took the crown for most filling and worthwhile. Read the original article onNetflix continues to express confidence that its streaming platform is prepared to handle the massive audiences expected for a pair of Christmas Day NFL games along with the start of its live coverage of the World Wrestling Entertainment's "Raw" next month. Concerns were raised after users experienced issues with buffering and low quality feeds during the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing match last month. Netflix has exclusive rights to stream NFL games on Christmas Day between the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans. Beyonce is scheduled to perform during halftime of the Ravens-Texans game, which could create more server traffic Netflix must take into account. It's a major test after the company reported an average global live audience of 108 million viewers for Paul's victory over Tyson in Arlington, Texas. Downdetector.com , which tracks service outages, announced that there were 90,000 issues reported at one point. "It was a big number, but you don't know, and you can't learn these things until you do them, so you take a big swing," Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria told Front Office Sports. "Our teams and our engineers are amazing, moved super quickly, and stabilized it, and many of the members had it back up and running pretty quickly. But we learn from these things. "We've all obviously done a lot of stuff to learn and get ready for the NFL and Beyonce, and so we're totally ready and excited for WWE." WWE president Nick Khan told FOS that Raw's tone and content will not change as it moves to the streaming service, with its first event of 2025 scheduled for Jan. 6. "There's some online chatter about, ‘oh, it's going to be R-rated, or for us old folks, X-rated.' That's definitely not happening," Khan said. "It's family-friendly, multi-generational, advertiser-friendly programming. It's going to stay that way. I would look for more global flair, especially as the relationship continues to develop." --Field Level Media

Microsoft EVP Takeshi Numoto sells $1.12 million in company stock

The wife of Delta state governor, Tobore Oborewvori ultra-modern event centre in the Oko community in the Oshimili south council area on Monday amidst jubilation by the riverine people for having a befitting place for social events. The 500-capacity centre was built by the Oshimili South Local Government Council chaired by Dr Kelvin Ezenyili son of the community. The governor’s wife also flagged off a N50 million empowerment programme for 500 persons, with each beneficiary receiving the sum of N100,000. She equally flagged off the distribution of 220 bags of rice to all the wards in the local government, with each ward receiving 20 bags. Speaking at the ceremony, the Delta first lady charged the people to protect and preserve the event centre which has come to ease their stress in looking for a comfortable space for social gatherings. She commended the executive chairman of the council, Dr Kelvin Obi Ezenyili for his outstanding achievements which she said have earned him more respect. While praying that God would continue to use her husband as governor to do more for the state, Deaconess Oborevwori charged the beneficiaries of the empowerment package to show love to their neighbours. In his welcome address, chairman of the council, Dr Ezenyili, said the building of the facility has become necessary to give the people of the community a befitting place for social events. He said the initiative to construct the event centre was born out of the desire for community, infrastructural development and developmental governance. The chairman said the provision of the amenity fully fitted with state-of-the-art equipment, has brought succour to the entire people of the Oko community who travel outside places to hold their meetings and other social gatherings due to its unavailability in the area. He said the community had not had it so good in the past, but because of their nature as peace-loving people, “they have been steadfast in supporting us as a government. “And more so, this community is a food basket, as farming is mostly the mainstay of the indigenes of this community. So it will be out of place if they are also not remembered with the provisions of dividends of democracy, at least to create a warm and embracing feeling in their hearts.” On the cash empowerment, the chairman stated that the council decided to carry out the programme to give the great people of Oshimili South a sense of belonging by creating a window of opportunity through democratic dividends by inclusiveness. “This programme we believe, will address the problem of youth restiveness and ensure they are properly engaged. “The youths of today, they say are the leaders of tomorrow. It is time to equip these would-be leaders of tomorrow so that the older ones will live in an environment devoid of any threat or fear of attack or disturbance from them. ” As the saying goes, ‘A hungry man is an angry man’. We should not blame the youths if we refuse to address their yearnings.” The chairman highlighted some remarkable achievements made in the first tenure in office including amongst others the inauguration of an advisory council committee, the purchase of a 500KVA standby generator to provide uninterrupted power supply to the secretariat and partnering with the private sector to improve the infrastructural development of councils’ land by revamping/reconstructing the local government staff quarters (Oshimili homes). Others include providing palliatives for flood victims, redesigning reconstructing, and refurbishing of the executive complex of Oshimili South local government council, constructing and furnishing of Oshimil South legislative complex, restoration of power through the repairs of the transformer and off setting 50% of the outstanding electricity bill at the Ogbeogonogo modern market. ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE Tinubu, govs, others attend Oborevwori’s son’s wedding in Delta

Microsoft EVP Takeshi Numoto sells $1.12 million in company stockOn paper, Luigi Mangione had it all: wealth, intellect, athleticism, good looks. But the child of a prominent Maryland family may have spurned it all in a spasm of violence, in a killing that has mesmerized Americans. The 26-year-old was arrested Monday and charged with the murder of Brian Thompson, a health insurance chief executive and father of two who was gunned down in Manhattan last week by someone who, evidence suggests, has endured his own debilitating health crises and grew angry with the privatized US medical system. The cold-blooded killing has laid bare the deep frustration many Americans feel toward the country's labyrinthine health care system: while many have condemned the shooting, others have praised Mangione as a hero. It has also prompted considerable interest in how a young engineer with an Ivy League education could have gone off the rails to commit murder. News of his capture at a Pennsylvania McDonald's triggered an explosion of online activity, with Mangione quickly amassing new followers on social media as citizen sleuths and US media tried to understand who he is. As Americans have looked for clues about a political ideology or potential motive, a photo on his X account (formerly Twitter) includes an X-ray of an apparently injured spine. Mangione lived in Hawaii in 2022 and, according to his former roommate R.J. Martin, suffered from back pain, and was hoping to strengthen his back. After a surfing lesson, Mangione was "in bed for about a week" because of the pain, Martin told CNN. Earlier this year, Martin said, Mangione confirmed he'd had back surgery and sent him photos of the X-rays. Police said the suspect carried a hand-written manifesto of grievances in which he slammed America's "most expensive health care system in the world." "He was writing a lot about his disdain for corporate America and in particular the health care industry," New York police chief detective Joseph Kenny told ABC. According to CNN, a document recovered when Mangione was arrested included the phrase "these parasites had it coming." Meanwhile, memes and jokes proliferated, many riffing on his first name and comparing him to the "Mario Bros." video game character Luigi. Many expressed at least partial sympathy, having had their own harrowing experiences with the US health care system. "Godspeed. Please know that we all hear you," wrote one user on Facebook. Mangione hails from the Baltimore area. His wealthy Italian-American family owns local businesses, including the Hayfields Country Club, according to local outlet the Baltimore Banner, and cousin Nino Mangione is a Maryland state delegate. A standout student, Luigi graduated at the top of his high school class in 2016. A former student who knew Mangione at the elite Gilman School told AFP the suspect struck him as "a normal guy, nice kid." "There was nothing about him that was off, at least from my perception," the person said. Mangione attended the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, where he completed both a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science by 2020, according to a university spokesperson. While at Penn, Mangione co-led a group of 60 undergraduates who collaborated on video game projects, as noted in a now-deleted university webpage. On Instagram Mangione shared snapshots of his travels, and shirtless images of himself flaunting a six-pack. X users have scoured Mangione's posts for potential motives. His header photo includes an X-ray of a spine with bolts attached. Finding a political ideology that fits neatly onto the right-left divide has proved elusive, though he had written a review of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto on online site Goodreads, calling it "prescient." Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, carried out multiple bombings in the United States from 1978 to 1995, in a campaign he said was aimed at halting the advance of modern society and technology. Mangione has also linked approvingly to posts criticizing secularism as a harmful consequence of Christianity's decline, and retweeted posts on the impact mobile phones and social media have on mental health. ia/abo-mlm/nro Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, sports, arts & entertainment, state legislature, CFD news, and more.

Penn State preparing for hard-charging Jeanty and Boise State in CFP quarterfinals

Part of the reason we started a Cannabis Industry team at a Southeastern-based law firm before any Southeastern state had adopted a marijuana program was because we had a hunch that the expansion of cannabis would eventually make its way to our neck of the woods. And we guess it was just kind of a slow day around the office. It turns out that our hunch – which even we are modest enough to admit was pretty much obvious and inevitable – turned out to be true. In the last seven years, there has been an explosion of cannabis activity and controversy in the Southeast. From marijuana in various forms to hemp and all of its iterations, the Southeast has been playing catchup with the rest of the country and in doing so is experiencing the progression of cannabis reform at an accelerated pace with the benefit of seeing the experiences of earlier cannabis adopters. We aren’t alone in observing this phenomenon. Jessica Billingsley, for Rolling Stone , has written on the topic several times . Don’t get me wrong, we’re not so naïve as to think that states around the country aren’t also experiencing dramatic and dynamic debates and reforms about the cannabis industry. In fact, we’ve dedicated a great deal of time and effort to writing about those issues and how they reflect – or in some cases depart from – cannabis programs in other states. But the speed of reform efforts and their concentration in a specific portion of the country have made the Southeastern U.S. the – ok, at least a – current hotbed of cannabis activity. C’mon. What’s Happening in the Southeast That Makes It So Special? Aren’t You Just Writing This Because You Live There? Could You Be More Egocentric? Wow, that got a little weird and revealing there for a second but we’re back. For those who may not enjoy the privilege of calling the Southeastern U.S. home, here is a sampling of the cannabis activity currently taking place in the region: Florida’s Medical Marijuana Market Matures, but Voters Narrowly Rejected the Ballot Initiative for an Adult-Use Program; Hemp Program Survives by Governor’s Veto (for Now) Florida broke the seal on medical marijuana in the Southeast when it adopted a medical program in 2016. While the program has certainly had its hiccups, it has generally proven to be a popular program as it has matured over the years. On April 1, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that voters would decide whether Florida will become the 24 th state to legalize adult-use marijuana at the ballot boxes in November. The significant opposition that succeeded in keeping a similar initiative off the 2022 ballots evidently prevailed this year. The initiative came short of receiving the required 60% approval to pass with only about 56% of Florida voters voting in favor. On the hemp front, earlier this year we wrote that the Florida Legislature passed a bill that would limit the amount of THC in hemp-derived products and upend the novel cannabinoid industry in the state by banning delta-8 and delta-10 products. But in a surprising move described by Marijuana Moment as “somewhat contradictory,” conservative Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the legislation, even as he campaigns against adult-use marijuana. This being the South and a controversial issue involving potentially extraordinary amounts of money, there are strange bedfellows and innuendo : The governor of Florida is reportedly planning to veto a bill that would ban consumable hemp-derived cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC, apparently because he’s hoping the hemp industry will help finance a campaign opposing a marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s November ballot. As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) prepares to step up his push against the legalization measure, officials close to the governor... say he’s plotting to leverage the hemp industry’s economic interest in participating in the intoxicating cannabinoid market to convince people to vote against marijuana reform. Safe to same there’s more to come in the next couple of months for what has become the 5,000 lbs. gorilla in the Southeastern cannabis landscape. Arkansas’ Medical Program Booms While Adult Use and Hemp in Limbo During Court Battles Like Florida, Arkansas was one of the pioneers of bringing medical marijuana to the Southeast. Arkansans voted to approve a medical marijuana program in 2016 via Amendment 98, although the first legal sales did not occur until May 2019. The program eclipsed $1 billion in sales by late 2023, and as of August 2024, sales in 2024 exceeded $158.5 million. From all metrics, the program appears to be doing very well. And, while an effort to place on the November ballot an initiative that would have further expanded the program was stymied by the Arkansas Supreme Court just before the election, a ballot initiative in 2022 to create an adult-use program didn’t fail by an insurmountable margin, with 43.8% voting in favor. On the hemp front, all eyes are on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. That court conducted oral arguments in the Sanders v. Bio Gen appeal on September 24, so a decision should be forthcoming. The trial court action was filed by hemp companies challenging an Arkansas law (known as Act 629) that the plaintiffs contended impermissibly outlawed hemp-derived consumable products in Arkansas. The appeal followed issuance of an injunction by U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson blocking enforcement of Act 629. Mississippi Struggling to Reconcile Supply and Demand on the Marijuana Front; Unsettled Hemp Rules Mississippi surprised many observers when a statewide ballot initiative in 2020 went overwhelmingly in support of medical marijuana. After a couple of years of frustrating and largely obstructionist legal wrangling, Mississippi’s medical program is fully up and running now, going on almost two years. One of the most notable and unique aspects of Mississippi’s program is the absence of any limitations on the number of licenses available to operators. While there are components of the Mississippi laws and regulations governing the program that necessarily limit how many licenses can be issued (e.g., local government opt-outs and distance setback limitations) the program is struggling due in large part to an oversupply of product and not enough patients (as of November 21, 2024, the state reports 48,129 patients). Last legislative session, the Mississippi Legislature modified the state’s medical cannabis law in certain ways that were aimed to improve patient access hurdles, and more amendments are expected in the upcoming session. On the hemp front, Mississippi lacks any real legislative or regulatory guidance on the subject. Consequently, many in the state view the hemp-derived intoxicating products sold in gas stations and other retail stores as a real problem . Last legislative session, a bill (HB 1676) aimed to regulate intoxicating hemp products failed. Since then, state law enforcement has conducted raids and arrests of retail stores that sell products they believe are illegal under Mississippi law. Also, the Mississippi attorney general recently issued an opinion concluding that hemp-derived THC beverages could be illegal under Mississippi law. We wrote about that opinion here . The Mississippi legislature will almost assuredly revisit legislation governing these products next session while it also explores ways to amend the Medical Cannabis Act. Texas Low-THC Marijuana Program Continues as Fierce Debates Rage Over Hemp Texas passed the Texas Compassionate Use legislation in 2015, allowing certain qualified physicians to prescribe low THC products (max of 1% THC by weight) to patients having certain medical conditions. Currently, the state has only licensed three entities, all located in the central region of the state, as “dispensing organizations” to cultivate, process, and dispense low-THC cannabis. While the state has implied it may issue more licenses and a third-party consultant it hired recently recommended that it should, that has not yet occurred. The last application window closed on April 28, 2023. We, along with most everyone in the industry, is watching what Texas ends up doing with this program; everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas, and a real-deal medical cannabis program shouldn’t be any exception. The hemp world in Texas slightly resembles the one in Arkansas; it’s mired in litigation. Texas has a robust legal and regulatory program that governs hemp and consumable hemp products. That program operated for years without much interruption until the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) took action in 2020 and 2021 to restrict the sale of certain consumable hemp products. This culminated in the publication of an official statement online in October 2021 stating that Texas law only “allows Consumable Hemp Products in Texas that do not exceed 0.3% Delta-9 . . . THC [, and] [a]ll other forms of THC, including Delta-8 in any concentration and Delta-9 exceeding 0.3% are considered Schedule 1 controlled substances.” In response, a group of plaintiffs sued the TDSHS and its commissioner seeking to enjoin the “‘effectiveness going forward’ of the amendments to the terms ‘tetrahydrocannabinols; and ‘Marihuana extract’ in the Department’s 2021 Schedule of Controlled Substances.” The trial court granted the requested injunction, ordered the TSDHS to “remove from its currently published Schedule of Controlled Substances the most recent modifications” the subject definitions and any subsequent publications, and “enjoin[ed] the effectiveness going forward of the rule stated on [the Department’s] website that Delta-8 THC in any concentration is considered a Schedule 1 controlled substance.” The state appealed, the Austin Court of Appeals affirmed, and the matter now sits with the Texas Supreme Court. THC-infused beverages have also been a focus in Texas recently. As we wrote last month, the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs held a hearing on October 17, 2024, to discuss how the state might soon regulate THC-infused beverages. That issue will most assuredly be addressed by the Texas legislature this next session. Louisiana Medical Program Expands Amidst Fight Over Scope of Hemp Program While Louisiana technically legalized medical marijuana in 1978 and passed several laws in the years that followed in that pursuit, the first products weren’t sold until 2019. The very limited license (only two authorized cultivators and processors) regime is now headed towards a bustling program. The number of dispensaries that can exist in Louisiana is currently capped at 30, but that number will only grow as the patient numbers increase in the regions identified throughout the state. Louisiana’s hemp program, which is governed by a well-developed regulatory regime, is also in a current state of uncertainty. During the 2024 legislative session, the Legislature amended the hemp laws to restrict where certain hemp-derived products can be sold and their potency. As in Arkansas and Texas, the hemp industry quickly responded with litigation. In that matter, Hemp Assoc. of La. v. Landry , No. 3:24-cv-00871, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, was filed on October 18, 2024. The plaintiffs alleged that the 2018 Farm Bill preempts the legislation and is unconstitutional on other grounds. The state disagreed and moved to dismiss, but on November 19, 2024, the state informed the court that it would stay the effective date of the new legislation so that the parties could fully brief the pending motions and the court could reach a decision. The motions are due to be fully briefed in the coming days. Georgia Trying to Get Its Act Together The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission describes the Georgia law as “much more limited than some other states.” The statute does little more than allow registered people to buy and possess low-THC oil from licensed dispensaries. This oil may contain CBD and up to 5% THC by weight. Only a select number of licensed producers can grow the cannabis that will eventually be turned into the allowed low-THC oil. As in many other states, the application and licensing process is quite strict . To obtain a registration card, prospective patients must have a qualifying condition or disease and be registered through their physician. Once a patient has their card, they can buy low-THC oil and possess 20 fluid ounces or less so long as they keep it in the manufacturer-labeled pharmaceutical packaging. On the hemp side, the Georgia Legislature recently passed SB 494, which Gov. Brian Kemp subsequently signed into law. This law introduces substantial changes to the hemp industry. The Georgia Department of Agriculture is in the process of drafting the corresponding and required agency rules. It appears that most hemp extracts like delta-8-THC, delta-10-THC, HHC, and other cannabinoids remain legal under Georgia law as “consumable hemp products.” Alabama Medical Marijuana Program on the Ropes While Hemp Flourishes Sigh... where do we even begin when it comes to medical marijuana in Alabama? There have been more twists and turns than a classic Iron Bowl. The Legislature approved a medical program in 2021, and recent court hearings suggest that we are potentially no further along after three years, with a possibility of the Legislature being forced to take action to modify (or end) the program. We have written extensively about the years of litigation and dysfunction that have plagued the Alabama medical marijuana program. In a nutshell, the cap on the number of licenses for various categories (cultivators, processors, dispensaries, etc.) has led to a scenario where applicants dissatisfied with the regulators’ decision to award licenses have sued on multiple occasions, and the regulators have either acceded to the demands or ended up in a court that has not acted quickly to impose order on the process. In the midst of this chaos, the Legislature had an opportunity to tweak the law but overwhelmingly chose not to do so . We’re choosing to take the optimistic view that the court system will be able to find a resolution to the years of litigation without putting the matter into the Legislature’s hands. We stress that view is very optimistic, but we should know more by the beginning of 2025. On a brighter note for cannabis advocates, hemp is growing strong in the state, benefiting largely from a relatively liberal regulatory regime. Although the Legislature considered a significant rollback of hemp sales during the last session, the only law passed was a statewide age-limit on products containing hemp. There have been recent reports of law enforcement activity related to hemp businesses being raided for selling unlawful products, but on the whole Alabama should be considered hemp-friendly for the moment. Tennessee Marijuana Reform Frustrated While Hemp Market Experiences Growth But Tighter Regulation For years we were astonished that Tennessee was not a huge marijuana (at least medical) spot, but years of hearing over and over from friends and colleagues in the state have finally convinced us of the political complexities at play. We, likely as most people, tend to view Tennessee as being dominated by Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and other hemp-friendly areas of east Tennessee. If the decision was up to the citizens of those areas, Tennessee would likely have a well-established marijuana program. But, as it turns out, Tennessee is a big state with widely varying views on all ranges of social issues, including marijuana. For that reason, marijuana proposals have had little success in the largely conservative state Legislature. We still think Tennessee could be a monster player with the right program in place, but we’d be lying if we predicted that was imminent. On the hemp side, Tennessee was an early adopter, and its hemp industry blossomed for years under a hands-off regulatory regime. In May 2023, Tennessee enacted T.C.A. § 43-27-201 , which is an industry-friendly statutory framework for products containing hemp-derived cannabinoids like delta-8 and delta-10 THC. The statute delegated rulemaking authority to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) to flesh out its requirements. That is where the trouble began. In December 2023, TDA published emergency rules that largely aligned with T.C.A. § 43-27-201 with respect to its licensing and labeling requirements, leaving those operators that focus on edible hemp-derived cannabinoid products pleased. But the rules contained a bombshell: specifically, the requirement that hemp contain 0.3% or less total THC , which includes both delta-9 THC and THCA. The TDA maintained this total THC standard in the permanent rules it promulgated in September 2024. The TDA’s total THC requirement is at odds with Tennessee’s hemp statute , which defines hemp as cannabis containing 0.3% or less delta-9 THC (with no mention of THCA). In reliance on this statutory scheme, many Tennessee hemp companies that focus on psychoactive products have made high-THCA smokable products a large part of their offerings. The TDA’s new rules, which go into effect on December 26, 2024, pose a grave danger to those operators. Industry groups, including the Tennessee Growers Coalition , are preparing for war to prevent these new rules from going into effect. Stay tuned to Budding Trends for updates on the lawsuits against the TDA that are coming down the pike. Kentucky Begins Medical Marijuana Program and Remains Hemp Stalwart The OG of hemp, with the help of its powerful Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky has an outsized responsibility for passage of the two most recent farm bills that have led to the explosion of the hemp industry. Kentucky’s hemp program remains strong, and many of its Congressional delegation represent a bulwark against efforts to severely limit the availability of hemp products. Kentucky’s medical cannabis program is just now off to the races. Licenses are currently being awarded and industry observers are carefully watching the Bluegrass State’s progress as the program gets off the ground. Nothing to Show Yet, But South Carolina Begins to Show Signs of Life in Cannabis Reform Efforts Ah, South Carolina. Its siren song has tempted cannabis advocates for years with its diversity – political, geographical, geological, and otherwise. But to date, nada. We’ve written about the fits and starts with the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act in the past few years. The Legislature has not enacted the law as of yet, but we are keeping our eyes on it during the next legislative session. On the hemp side, coming from a state that has famously been near the back of the line on cannabis liberalization, we’ll admit that we were surprised to read a recent letter from the solicitor general of South Carolina stating that, as a general rule, hemp beverages containing less than .3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis are legal. We suspect that will be a topic of discussion at the next legislative session. North Carolina Not Quite there on Marijuana , Stalled on Hemp North Carolina is going to be a monster marijuana jurisdiction, but like Tennessee, the geopolitical makeup of the state has restrained cannabis liberalization to date. Maybe we should have known better than to predict that the Tar Heel State was going to take action on marijuana legislation in an election year in which the speaker of the N.C. House, Tim Moore (R), is running for an open U.S. Congress seat. Passing a marijuana legalization bill was not going to be a political priority and could have given political adversaries an opportunity to paint supporters as soft on crime, even if a majority of the state’s electorate does support some kind of legalization. For its part, the state Senate passed yet another medical marijuana and hemp regulation bill, House Bill 563, though one of the most restrictive in the country, only to see it stall in the hose. As in years past, Moore has not allowed the House to take a vote on a bill and has cited his “majority of the majority” policy and lack of Republican support in the House as a basis for refusing to bring the Senate bill to the House floor for a vote. It’s likely not going to move anytime soon, but what’s in HB 563? Half the bill is dedicated to the regulation of hemp, while the second half – the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act – opens the door to legalizing medicinal marijuana. On the medicinal marijuana side, the bill creates a state commission to oversee the distribution of medical marijuana and regulate which medical conditions are eligible for treatment. It also outlines the process for patients to obtain medical cannabis cards, creating restrictions on where cannabis can be smoked, and requires physicians to write prescriptions for patients to use medical cannabis. Some Senate Republicans expressed concern that legalization of medicinal marijuana was a fast and slippery slope towards legalizing recreational marijuana. To alleviate that concern, an amendment was adopted that clarified that recreational use would remain illegal in North Carolina even if the federal government reclassified or legalized marijuana nationwide. On the hemp regulation side, HB 563 would require all hemp product manufacturers and distributors to be licensed. In addition, there are new safety and testing standards, marketing and label restrictions, and more strict product regulations on the amount of cannabinoids that can be included in ingestible or inhalable products. Politically, it makes sense for supporters of medical marijuana to tie its fate to hemp regulation. Hemp regulation has broad bipartisan support and would likely pass both chambers if presented as a standalone bill. By linking hemp regulation to the Compassionate Care Act, medical marijuana supporters are daring their House and Senate colleagues to vote against hemp regulation. For the time being, that leaves the hemp industry with the uncertainty, and opportunity, of North Carolina continuing to have very limited regulations for the industry. Why Is the Southeast Experiencing Such Explosive, Concentrated Cannabis Activity? Part of the reason for the accelerated pace of developments of cannabis reform in the Southeast is precisely because the Southeast started cannabis programs later than other parts of the country. As a result, Southeastern cannabis efforts are, on the whole, not as mature as markets in other states. There are examples from other states that legislatures and regulators can look to for how other states in recent years have addressed the issues just now facing Southeastern states. There is a great scene in the movie Major League where Willie Mays Hayes, played by the wonderful Wesley Snipes, is removed from the Cleveland (then) Indians’ baseball spring training while he sleeps in bed because there is no record of anyone by that name being invited to spring training (because he wasn’t invited). When Willie wakes up in the morning to the sound of potential Indians running sprints, Willie jumps out of bed in his pajamas and starts running, eventually finding himself running between two uniformed players. Because of his remarkable speed (“I hit like Mays, and I run like Hayes”), Willie explodes past the other two even though they had a head start. The manager Lou Brown, played sublimely by the delightful James Gammon, immediately says “[g]et him a uniform.” What the hell are we talking about? We think the Southeastern cannabis market is a little like Willie Mays Hayes. The market was late to the cannabis industry, but once it arrived it has the benefit of seeing the experiences of other states and, like Willie, has the benefit of hitting the ground running. Separately, the issue of cannabis reform is ripe for political battles in the Southeast. The region is certain not as socially progressive on most issues like cannabis. After all, in this part of the country there are still knock-down, drag-out fights about whether to allow the sale of beer before noon on Sundays. But the region is proving to be more progressive than many would have thought, in part perhaps because people around these parts have heard anecdotal reports about friends and family who have used cannabis products safely and perhaps in part because we have seen that cannabis liberalization in other parts of the country has not led to the type of Reefer Madness scenarios long feared. So, What’s Next? As with most trends, the rapid expansion of cannabis activity mirrors – and is in many ways a microcosm – of the policies, setbacks, and successes experienced across America. If we were certain what the future holds for cannabis in the Southeastern United States, we would be sitting on an island somewhere instead of writing blog posts. That said, we expect (1) clear, if not sometimes frustratingly paced expansion of medical cannabis across the region; (2) an expansion of qualifying medical conditions and form factors; (3) an eventual tipping point in the direction of adult-use programs; and (4) hemp continuing to see strong sales unless the federal or state governments enact laws to thwart that growth. At the conclusion of the wonderful Ken Burns’ epic documentary on country music, the great Marty Stuart says the following about the genre: Country music has something for everybody, and it’s inside the song, it’s inside the characters. It’s really colorful in here. I invite you in. Cannabis in the Southeastern United States has something for everybody, and maybe not enough for some people. And we certainly have colorful characters making some of the important decisions about the future of cannabis policy in our little corner of the world. We see this area as one of massive potential growth, particularly with the help of the right people. We invite you in. Listen to this PostRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — CNN wants a court to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson that attacks its report that he made explicit posts on a pornography website’s message board. The network says Robinson presented no evidence that the network believed its story was false or aired it recklessly. The September report says Robinson, who ran unsuccessfully for governor this month, left statements over a decade ago on the message board in which, in part, he referred to himself as a “black NAZI” and said he enjoyed transgender pornography. The report also says he preferred Adolf Hitler to then-President Barack Obama and slammed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.” Robinson, who was seeking to become the state’s first Black governor, said he didn’t write those posts and sued in October, just before early in-person voting was to begin. While filing a dismissal motion Thursday in Raleigh federal court, attorneys for CNN said Robinson’s arguments suggesting he was the likely victim of a computer hacking operation that created fake messages would require a series of events that is not just “implausible, it is ridiculous.” RELATED COVERAGE Philo delivers go-ahead TD run with 22 seconds remaining to lift Georgia Tech past N.C. State 30-29 North Carolina elections chief wants senator to take back comment about vote manipulation North Carolina Republicans push through bill weakening incoming governor and attorney general Generally speaking, a public official claiming defamation must show a defendant knew a statement it made was false or did so with reckless disregard for the truth. “Robinson did not and cannot plausibly allege facts that show that CNN published the Article with actual malice,” attorney Mark Nebrig wrote in a memo backing the dismissal motion, adding that the lawsuit “does not include a single allegation demonstrating that CNN doubted the veracity of its reporting.” For Robinson, who already had a history of inflammatory comments about topics like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights , the CNN story nearly led to the collapse of his campaign. After the report’s airing, most of his top campaign staff quit, advertising from the Republican Governors Association stopped and fellow Republicans distanced themselves from him, including President-elect Donald Trump. Robinson lost to Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein by nearly 15 points and will leave office at year-end. Robinson’s lawsuit was initially filed in state court. It says, in part, that CNN chose to run its report based on data from the website NudeAfrica, which had been hacked several years ago and ran on vulnerable, outdated software. His suit claims the network did nothing to verify the posts. He’s seeking monetary damages. Thursday’s memo highlights the network’s story, including a section where the CNN journalists showed how they connected Robinson to a username on the NudeAfrica site. As the CNN story said previously, the memo says the network matched details of the account on the message board to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, an email address and his full name. The details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s length of marriage, where he lived at the time, and that both Robinson and the account holder had mothers who worked at a historically Black university, the memo says. CNN also said it found matches of figures of speech used by both the NudeAfrica account holder and in Robinson’s social media posts. “This is hardly a case where, as Robinson alleges, CNN ‘disregarded or deliberately avoided the truth’ rather than investigate,” Nebrig said, adding later that the network “had no reason to seriously doubt that Robinson was the author” of the posts. Robinson’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment. The lawsuit says anyone could have used Robinson’s breached data to create accounts on the internet. His state lawsuit also sued Louis Love Money, a former porn shop worker who alleged in a music video and a media interview that for several years starting in the 1990s, Robinson frequented a porn shop where Money was working and that Robinson purchased porn videos from him. Robinson said that was untrue. Money filed his own dismissal motion in the state lawsuit. But since then, CNN moved the lawsuit to federal court, saying that it’s the proper venue for a North Carolina resident like Robinson and a Georgia-based company like CNN and that the claims against Money are unrelated.Road traffic crashes in Africa are claiming lives at an alarming rate, yet experts and advocates say the issue is not giving enough attention from policymakers. They are now calling for effective implementation of road safety interventions, set out in Africa Road Safety Charter in the AU member states to make roads safer for motorists and pedestrians alike. The call comes after the continent saw a significant rise in the road traffic death rate in the past decade, according to a 2023 World Health Organisation (WHO). The report says traffic injuries have become a serious public health concern in the continent, causing estimated 225 482 deaths in 2021 – up by 17 percent from 2010. In response to this grim reality, the African Union assembly adopted an Africa Road Safety Charter to provide a common framework for road safety policy implementation and accountability across the continent. The Africa Road Safety Charter outlines critical provisions aimed at developing and implementing road safety policies and strategies tailored to the unique challenges of the continent. The 31-Article charter calls for the creation and strengthening of road safety lead agencies, development of road safety strategies, and improved road safety data management system. It also recommends creating safer roads and promoting mobility, including the classification of roads based on their intended use, enforcing minimum vehicle safety standards, as well as the implementation of stringent road safety legislation addressing issues such as speed limits, driving under the influence, and the use of safety gear. However, only 12 countries have so far ratified the Charter which needs to be ratified by at least 15 AU Member States to become fully effective. Experts lamented the slow ratification progress, stating that it is hampering efforts to address the challenge in the continent. Binta Sako, violence and injury prevention technical officer at the WHO Africa, says the continent bears a disproportionate share of the global road traffic fatalities, citing the data in the regional Status Report on Road Safety 2023 . Africa accounts for one-fifth of the global burden of road traffic deaths, despite having only 15% of the global population and owning merely 3% of the global vehicle fleet. Pedestrians, along with two- and three-wheelers, are the most vulnerable road users, accounting for half of all fatalities. Four-wheelers represent 32% Per Sako, limited healthcare services often make road crash injuries fatal, causing devastating economic and emotional repercussions on victims’ families and communities. This crisis represents “a pressing human tragedy” that could be mitigated through targeted interventions, she said. Multiple factors, including inadequate road safety laws and standards, are stated as the cause of road crash injuries in the continent with the most perilous roads globally. Yet, no country has a comprehensive law that meets the WHO’s best practice standards for the five key road safety behavioral risk factors – speeding, drink-driving, non-use of motorcycle helmets, seatbelts and child restraints. Experts say that the African Road Safety Charter could serve as an essential framework for policy making and leads to the implementation of strategies that will reduce road crashes on the continent. Amani Abou-Zeid, AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, says the adoption of the African Road Safety Charter in 2016 was a reflection of a political will to save lives on Africa’s roads. However, it was only a few years ago that member states started to ratify the charter and deposit the instrument of ratification to the AU Commission. Namibia became the first country to do so back in February 2019, followed by. Benin, Central African Republic (CAR), Ethiopia, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Eswatini, Togo, and Uganda. Still, it has not achieved the necessary threshold of ratifications and needs three more countries to make the Charter enforceable. Experts attributed the slow ratification progress to an apparent lack of understanding of the magnitude of road safety-related challenges in Africa and limited political commitment. Placide Badji, Economic Affairs Officer connectivity and infrastructure development division at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said with road safety challenges becoming a persistent public health concern across Africa, concerted efforts and enough resources are needed to be allocated for road safety agenda at the national, regional and continental levels. “What we realized is that the bulk of the countries over the continent don’t even have the fundamentals of road safety,” Badji said in a recent interview, emphasizing the charter’s crucial importance in providing a unified framework for road safety protocols. “Political commitment is the first challenge. It seems that there is a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the problem — how this is hampering countries’ GDP, as well as their social and economic development,” he added. This sentiment was echoed by Patrick Kinyanjui, a regional coordinator for Africa Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety. “As a continent, if we have to improve road safety, a common binding document or framework is very important. We believe the charter is quite important, and it has good provisions as to what countries should do when it’s enforceable,” Kinyanjui said. “Unfortunately, the charter is not a very popular document among AU member states.” Ethiopia, an early adopter, views the charter as a crucial framework for improving road safety management. Road traffic accidents remain a public health concern in the country where deadly road crashes are often attributed to reckless driving, lax road safety management systems and enforcement of safety regulations. Yohannes Lemma, CEO of Road Safety Education and Capacity Building at Ethiopia’s Road Safety and Insurance Fund Service, said: “In order to address road traffic challenges in Africa in a practical and meaningful way, countries need to develop a common platform that can be used as a policy guideline. Hence, the adoption and implementation of the Africa Road Safety Charter is an important step to assess the progress and gaps related to road safety on a wider continental level”. Road safety advocate and crash survivor Bright Oywaya urged for a shift in perspective, calling for road safety to be prioritized as a vital investment rather than an expense. “Enhancing road safety is not just about regulations, it is about saving lives and fostering healthier communities,” said Oywaya who is wheelchair-bound due to a car crash nearly three decades ago. “Every life lost and resources damaged to road crashes represent untapped potential and a tragedy that can be prevented,” she added. Her country has not yet signed the charter. But Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) deputy director said that active efforts are ongoing to facilitate the charter’s ratification process. Kinyanjui has encouraged road safety advocates like Oywaya continue raising awareness about the charter and the severity of road safety challenges as such efforts are major contributors for the success of the overall work to make Africa’s roads safer for motorists and pedestrians alike.

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Sean Dyche insists he doesn't need a set-piece coach and his old-school methods are the way forward - claiming he's 'got the wrong staff' at Everton if they can't work things out for themselves Everton have no set-piece coach, with likes of Arsenal reaping rewards with one The Toffees have the second best record from dead balls, behind the Gunners LISTEN NOW to It's All Kicking Off! : Why can't Chelsea win the league? They made seven changes and still scored five. Do you think Liverpool could do that? By LEWIS STEELE Published: 22:30 GMT, 5 December 2024 | Updated: 22:30 GMT, 5 December 2024 e-mail View comments For all the talk and eulogising of set-piece coaches in 2024, and Arsenal ’s Nicolas Jover in particular, Everton boss Sean Dyche believes his old-school plan of going without is still paying dividends. Since the boss took over at Goodison Park, Everton have scored more goals than all but the Gunners from dead-ball situations in the Premier League – and the Toffees do not have a set-piece specialist on the coaching staff. But Dyche – who joked he was a ‘dinosaur’ – is adamant his team are using set-pieces as a big asset even without one, with those duties delegated to his trusted lieutenants Steve Stone and Ian Woan, plus lead performance analyst Matthew Hawkes. Asked why his old-school approach has served him so well, Dyche said: ‘Because I’m a dinosaur! No, on a serious note... the way I look at it, my staff have got goodness knows how many games playing. I’m going to say around 1,000. ‘I’ve got 1,000 myself in playing, development coaching, youth team coaching, manager. So if we cannot design a set-piece with a group of analysts – who can see everything that happens on a set-piece of the opposition or us – then I’ve got the wrong staff. ‘So therefore, with that depth of knowledge, I’d use them. I am happy to pass it over to them. That’s not to say there is not a reason for set-piece coaches – that’s up to managers and staff and football directors. Sean Dyche has insisted he doesn't need a set-piece coach amid the rise of the idea Mikel Arteta's Arsenal have enjoyed heavy success from set-pieces in the last two season They scored two more from set-pieces on Wednesday, taking total to 22 since start of last season ‘Seven or eight years ago everyone was like, “Why are you worried about set-pieces? Get it down and play”. Now everyone has re-realised that set-pieces matter! For a long, long time a rough figure is that 25 per cent of goals are from set-pieces. So why wouldn’t you use them?’ Everton’s free-kicks and corners caused havoc on Wednesday in a thumping 4-0 win over Wolves – to end a run of five winless and four without even scoring – and Dyche believes this can be a big weapon in Saturday’s Merseyside Derby. Asked if they were back on point with set-pieces, he added: ‘Not just with delivery but the body language and intent to go and score is different when teams are on it. We looked back there. Read More Torrents of water seen leaking into stands at new Everton stadium AGAIN months before they move in Freedom is the wrong word but intent is better – attack the ball and only see the ball. ‘I told the players that. Just the intent. Jack Harrison smashed one over the bar but he was in the right place. Spot on. I commended him for that and said “fantastic, another day it flies in”. Be in the right place and go with the intent to score.’ Dyche is not fussed about the lack of credit he gets for this and said: ‘Oh, I’m not bothered. I’ve been doing it too long. Now I just get on with my business. I know how the game works, I know how to piece a team together. I get things wrong, I am a human being. ‘Everyone gets it right after the game, the hardest thing is getting it right before the game or during. Worrying about what everyone else thinks is a complete waste of your energy, honestly. What I will say is: Cadbury’s chocolate is still Cadbury’s chocolate. People still buy it!’ Everton Sean Dyche Arsenal Share or comment on this article: Sean Dyche insists he doesn't need a set-piece coach and his old-school methods are the way forward - claiming he's 'got the wrong staff' at Everton if they can't work things out for themselves e-mail Add commentNone

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