Trump picks former Rep. Billy Long to head IRS
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced former Sen. Kelly Loeffler as his pick to lead the Small Business Administration. “Kelly will bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape, and unleash opportunity for our Small Businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive. She will focus on ensuring that SBA is accountable to Taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach,” Trump posted on Truth Social, also noting that she’s co-chairing his inauguration. There had been several discussions between Loeffler and the transition team regarding the role of Agriculture secretary, and CNN reported last month that Trump had been poised to offer her the position. But Trump held off from announcing his Agriculture pick as he issued a slew of others late last month, then eventually offered the role to Brooke Rollins . Loeffler, who briefly represented Georgia in the Senate, had fundraised for Trump during the 2024 race and raised several million dollars for his campaign over the summer when she hosted a debate watch party with Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley. Several of Trump’s other Cabinet picks — including Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Elise Stefanik — were at that party. Loeffler was among the wealthiest lawmakers during her short time in Congress. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange. When running for election in 2020, she announced she and her husband were divesting from individual stocks amid sharp criticism over trades she and other lawmakers made ahead of the market downturn caused by the coronavirus. Appointed to the Senate by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over the wishes of Trump, Loeffler lost her seat in a 2021 runoff to Democratic now-Sen. Raphael Warnock. Loeffler was a staunch Trump ally in Congress, saying prior to the violence on January 6, 2021, that she planned to vote against certifying her state’s electoral results in support of Trump’s broader effort to upend Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. After the US Capitol attack, Loeffler backed off her objection, saying on the Senate floor: “When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors.” In the same speech, Loeffler condemned the violence at the Capitol, calling it “abhorrent.” Loeffler was among the witnesses who appeared before the grand jury as part of Trump’s 2020 election subversion criminal case in Georgia. Before joining the Senate, Loeffler served as an executive at a financial services firm in Atlanta. She was also a co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. Loeffler would need to be confirmed by the Senate to lead the Small Business Administration. Linda McMahon, a major Republican donor and Trump’s pick to be the next education secretary , served as the administrator of the agency during Trump’s first term. She resigned in 2019 to become the chair of America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC. This story has been updated with additional details.‘World at dawn of third nuclear age’, armed forces chief warns
Mercurity Fintech Announces Unaudited Financial Results for First Half 2024Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)
HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) — D'Maurian Williams scored 18 points as High Point beat Pfeiffer 81-50 on Saturday. Williams went 8 of 13 from the field (2 for 3 from 3-point range) for the Panthers (8-1). Kezza Giffa scored 14 points, going 3 of 8 from the floor, including 1 for 3 from 3-point range, and 7 for 8 from the line. Kimani Hamilton shot 4 for 8, including 1 for 3 from beyond the arc to finish with 11 points. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
NAICOM Highlights Challenges Of African Insurance MarketCerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Robert Half Inc. ( NYSE:RHI – Free Report ) by 106.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,990 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,891 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Robert Half were worth $3,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RHI. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Robert Half by 489.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 389 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Robert Half in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Robert Half during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in Robert Half during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Robert Half in the second quarter worth $45,000. 92.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Robert Half Price Performance RHI opened at $74.61 on Friday. Robert Half Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.05 and a 1 year high of $88.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average is $70.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.02. Robert Half Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Robert Half’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.37%. Insider Buying and Selling at Robert Half In other Robert Half news, Director Dirk A. Kempthorne sold 1,032 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.35, for a total transaction of $76,729.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $915,248.50. This represents a 7.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website . 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Robert Half from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Robert Half presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.00. Check Out Our Latest Report on Robert Half Robert Half Company Profile ( Free Report ) Robert Half Inc provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti segments. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding RHI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Robert Half Inc. ( NYSE:RHI – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Robert Half Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Robert Half and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
Joe Burrow's home broken into during Monday Night Football in latest pro-athlete home invasion
Marathon Petroleum Corp. stock outperforms competitors on strong trading dayThree-time All-Star Khris Middleton is expected to make his first appearance of the season for the Milwaukee Bucks when they visit the Boston Celtics on Friday night. Middleton, 33, had surgery on both ankles in the offseason. He practiced Wednesday before a 119-104 loss to Atlanta ended Milwaukee's seven-game winning streak. Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said the veteran forward is frustrated by missing the season's first 21 games. "Anybody who wants to play, and Khris is one of those (guys), they're frustrated," Rivers said. "That's mentally challenging. You see your team playing, and although we're playing well right now, I imagine when we were really struggling and he wasn't playing, that had to be really hard for him. You want to help your team, and he knows he can." Middleton averaged 15.1 points per game in 55 games last season. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's loss to Atlanta. Damian Lillard added 25 points. "We don't like the feeling of losing," Antetokounmpo said. "We had won seven in a row, so when we came in here the locker room was quiet and that's the feeling that you want to have as a team, that yeah, we gave one away. But now we just gotta go back, watch the film, do our adjustments. We have one of the best teams in the East (the Celtics). We have a big one in two days. Get ready to compete there and hopefully we can win that one." Despite missing two starters, Boston stretched its home winning streak to six by beating Detroit 130-120 on Wednesday. The Celtics played without Jayson Tatum (right knee) and Jrue Holiday (left knee). Before Wednesday's game, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said that Tatum -- who is listed as questionable for Friday -- would likely miss only one game. Holiday has missed the last two games but is not listed on the injury report for Friday's game. Detroit made a season-high 20 3-pointers on 39 attempts, including four in a row in the fourth quarter to cut a 20-point deficit to eight. "We just have to be better guarding the 3-point line," center Luke Kornet said. "The 3-point line -- that's what allowed them to get back into the game. The last few minutes we did a better job of that. That's what allowed us to get the win." Jaylen Brown had 28 points, six rebounds and nine assists for the reigning NBA champions. "I think he does a good job of trying to read the team ... who needs to get a touch, who we need to get going," said Kristaps Porzingis, who scored a season-high 26 points. "He's good at that. If he needs to take more responsibility and attack more and create more, he does that for us. "We already know what he gives us defensively, his physicality. When he's engaged like this, he's one of the best players in the league in my opinion. What we love about him is that he's going to make the right play and he's going to give the team what the team needs in that moment." Friday's game will be the teams' third meeting this season. The Celtics won 119-108 at home on Oct. 28 and prevailed 113-107 at Milwaukee on Nov. 10. --Field Level Media
President-elect Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for diversity, equity and inclusion and has vowed to act on it, endangering federal contracting programs and, potentially, federal funding for education and social programs. Unsurprisingly, City Council members are now concerned about a Trump White House assault on Chicago’s coveted minority set-aside program, and they’re wondering what the city can do to insulate that program. At a City Council budget hearing Wednesday, newly-appointed city Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts was asked what she intends to do to Trump-proof a program that Black alderpersons say is not doing nearly enough to share the wealth with companies owned by African Americans. The city spent $273 million on construction contracts this year, but Black-owned companies got just $18 million, or a 7% share. That’s compared to $52 million, or 19%, for Hispanics and $31 million, or 12%, for Asian Americans. “I sent you an article when the judges in Kentucky and Indiana struck down the DBE [disadvantaged business enterprise] program there. I’m concerned about the impact that, not just that legal decision, but also the apparent movement by the Trump administration to reduce DEI focus in the country in general,” said Finance Committee Chair Pat Dowell (3rd). “What are you doing to protect the city of Chicago and our program?” Without offering specifics, Roberts talked about ensuring that Chicago’s set-aside program is “narrowly tailored,” in part, by establishing a “centralized compliance” unit that gathers more information about all sub-contractors — not just companies owned by minorities and women. “When they review these types of programs, they will look at all types of firms that receive contracts,” Roberts said. “So moving forward, we’re going to make the recommendation to the other departments that are currently doing compliance that they track that information as well, so when they look at the city as a whole, they’re not just going to look at [Procurement Services].” Roberts also referred to the 2021 “disparity study” mandated by a federal judge that former Mayor Lori Lightfoot used to support her decision to extend the construction set-aside program until December 2027, after tweaking eligibility requirements. “We’re going to review the ... recommendations to ensure that we follow the recommendations from that disparity study and, moving forward, we’re also going to see if we need to conduct a new disparity study because that information was done in the area of construction. And we may do a disparity study that not only includes construction but professional services,” Roberts said. The offer to update the disparity study was not enough to satisfy Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36 th ), who has championed a pilot program that expanded the set-aside program to include veterans. He noted that DBE programs are “under attack at the federal level” and “because of the folks that are suing, the state of Illinois has decided not to put any goals” on some state projects. “What are we doing to make sure we’re prepared for any type of challenge from any future lawsuits?” Villegas said. Conservative groups have filed lawsuits that target corporations with workplace initiatives such as diversity programs, emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 repeal of affirmative action in college admissions. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, recently said it is ending racial equity training programs and re-evaluating supplier diversity initiatives. Roberts said Chicago’s minority set-aside program has “a little bit more flexibility” than the federal DBE program, but it closely complies with Small Business Administration rules on federal contracts. Chicago’s construction set-aside program is one of the nation’s last, but the road to maintaining it has been rocky. In 2003, a federal judge responded to a lawsuit filed by the Builders Association of Greater Chicago by outlining a series of legal deficiencies in the set-aside law and giving the city six months to correct them. Under the revamped ordinance, Asian Americans were no longer automatically included in a “presumptively socially disadvantaged” group that includes African Americans, Hispanics and women. The redrawn ordinance also included a five-year sunset provision. In 2012, the city initiated a “Phased Graduation Program,” allowing minority contractors who exceed the program’s size standards to gradually exit over three years. Those firms get a 75% credit the first year, 50% in year two and 25% in year three. Four years later, minority and female contractors demanding a bigger piece of the pie temporarily derailed then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to extend the construction set-aside program for five years. The Council ultimately approved the extension after Emanuel agreed to raise the bar by two percentage points for both minorities and women. Roberts was appointed in September to replace ousted Aileen Velazquez, a Lightfoot holdover. Velazquez was forced out and given an undisclosed negotiated settlement to compensate her for the early end of her mandatory term.ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's home was broken into during Monday Night Football in the latest home invasion of a pro athlete in the U.S., authorities said Tuesday. No one was injured in the break-in, but the home was ransacked, according to a report provided by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. Deputies weren't immediately able to determine what items were stolen. A person who is employed by Burrow arrived at the Anderson Township home Monday night to find a shattered bedroom window and the home in disarray. The person called their mother, and then 911 was contacted, according to the report. Deputies reached out to neighbors in an attempt to piece together surveillance footage. “Our investigators are exploring every avenue,” public information officer Kyla Woods said. The homes of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were broken into in October. In the NBA , Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis had his home broken into Nov. 2 and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr.'s home was burglarized on Sept. 15 while he was at a Minnesota Vikings game. Portis had offered a $40,000 reward for information. Both the NFL and NBA issued security alerts to players after those break-ins, urging them to take additional precautions to secure their homes. In league memos previously obtained by The Associated Press, the NFL said homes of professional athletes across multiple sports have become “increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups.” And the NBA revealed that the FBI has connected some burglaries to “transnational South American Theft Groups” that are “reportedly well-organized, sophisticated rings that incorporate advanced techniques and technologies, including pre-surveillance, drones, and signal jamming devices.” Some of the burglary groups have conducted extensive surveillance on targets, including attempted home deliveries and posing as grounds maintenance or joggers in the neighborhood, according to officials. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Prue Leith says TV executives should be tougher on presenters like Gregg WallaceWriter-director Marielle Heller has a gift for making familiar emotions, characters, and situations feel fresh. Whether she’s dealing with a type as well known as the embittered failed writer (Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? ) or an icon as universal as Mr. Rogers (Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood ), her movies lend them additional dimension and nuance. That’s true of her new dark-comedy sort-of-a-werewolf-film Nightbitch as well. Here, the lead character is so subsumed into her new-parent identity that she’s never even named: Mother (Amy Adams) is a former artist now working as a stay-at-home mom in the suburbs because Husband (Scoot McNairy) has the more consistent, higher-paying job. For a while, it seems like Heller will bring her attentive eye to detail to this well-worn setup, even when Nightbitch appears to be leaning toward obvious tropes. Early on, the film establishes a running motif based around a fairly hoary comic concept: that editing trick where it appears a character has said or done something genuinely provocative, upending social order in response to another person’s dumb question or galling action... until a cut back in time reveals that she was only imagining that cathartic action, and she actually responds meekly or politely, keeping her true feelings bottled inside. In theory, that’s hacky stuff. But Heller holds the camera on Adams in these moments — in her imagined honesty and her deflated real-world lack of it. And what lingers afterward isn’t necessarily frustration that Mother hasn’t told anyone off. Instead, it’s a pervasive feeling of loneliness. A sitcom-level gag becomes, on Adams’ face, an ineffable feeling of loss. That articulation of disappointment is exactly what many full-time parents feel they must lose in order to get through the day. Nightbitch gets plenty of other things right about the messiness of motherhood and the sometimes-conflicting primal instincts that accompany it. For example, Mother’s toddler actually behaves like a real 2-year-old. This may sound like a minor concern, but most movies throw up their hands at the prospect of distinguishing between kids between the ages of 0 and 6. Heller, by contrast, takes care to capture the beautiful, maddening strangeness of a toddler. There’s a small moment when Mother carries her child into a library for storytime, and the kid semi-nonsensically murmurs “They can’t stop us” about the woman at the desk. If this isn’t a real toddler’s ad-lib, it sure sounds like one, and Heller smartly leaves it in the movie. The film, based on Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel of the same name, isn’t purely observational, however. When Mother is left even more on her own by Husband’s business trips (and his general fecklessness), she starts feeling a transformation into a more instinctive, animalistic version of herself. Eating in public, she wolfs down her food with utensils-free abandon, and encourages her young son to do the same, regardless of the gawking they receive. She notices hairs growing in odd places, initially assuming it’s just one more post-pregnancy indignity. At the park, she discovers a newfound kinship with roving, seemingly ownerless dogs. Eventually, she’s running with them at night. Yes, Nightbitch is a werewolf story — sort of. Whether trying to keep the story grounded or Mother’s transformation ambiguous (does she literally shape-shift, or just tap into primal urges?), Heller treats the story’s body-horror elements gingerly, cautiously. She also has the misfortune to do so just months after moviegoers fell in love with the unapologetic wildness of The Substance . That movie similarly illustrates something many people already understood about the female experience: Women are valued and commodified for their bodies, then heartlessly discarded when they show normal human signs of aging. The thrills in The Substance come from the zeal writer-director Coralie Fargeat poured into her ideas, physicalizing them into memorable grotesquerie. For all Heller’s scrupulous dedication to the realities of parenthood — Mother’s worn body, the inevitable imbalances, the absolute rage with no easy target — she doesn’t seem interested in going for broke in the same way, particularly around her central conceit. Obviously, Heller’s movie has no formal connection to The Substance , was completed before The Substance was released, and aims for a completely different tone. It’s not that Nightbitch cries out to be remodeled as an arch, gory, knowingly broad satire crammed with body horror. But the movie tantalizingly promises weirdness growing from within, then wilts into domestic melodrama. The female dog, with its name claimed as a common slur and its combination of wildness and domestication, has a lot of metaphorical potential. So why does Heller insist on shoving all that to one side to focus on marital problems and possible reconciliations that both emerge too easily? Nightbitch ’s final half hour or so is especially baffling. After concluding that there are no easy solutions to the push-pull between a mother’s parenting instincts and her autonomy, the movie proceeds to make up a bunch of them anyway, with a decisiveness that I fear is supposed to read as empowering. That’s especially disappointing given Amy Adams’ fiercely committed, vanity-free performance as Mother. Alternately playing with and against her image as an essentially sunny, optimistic throwback star, she’s the perfect performer to embody the contradictions of motherhood: utterly warm and dedicated to her son, yet pointedly and productively lacking the righteousness of a true believer. She’s too hyper-aware of what she’s lost by focusing on parenthood. Unfortunately, the movie seems to think that stranding Adams in the movie will cleverly evoke Mother’s loneliness, meaning that McNairy and the rest of the supporting cast (Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, and Ella Thomas as younger fellow moms; the original 1977 Suspiria ’s Jessica Harper as a librarian) are given nothing roles. Nightbitch has an ample supply of sharp observations, but it retracts its claws too soon and too easily. It becomes a text on self-help — something The Substance clearly, and thrillingly, portrays as out of reach. Nightbitch debuts in theaters on Dec. 6. Entertainment Horror Movies Reviews