5 ocean in the world After Soto's megadeal, could MLB see a $1 billion contract? Probably not soonPHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts is still in the NFL's concussion protocol, forcing the Philadelphia Eagles to play against Dallas without their star quarterback. The Eagles will turn to backup Kenny Pickett on Sunday because Hurts is still dealing with the lingering effects of a concussion suffered against Washington. Hurts was injured early at Washington after his head slammed against the ground on one run and he was hit in the helmet by Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu at the end of another. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said the Eagles would lean on the medical staff on a daily basis to know where Hurts — who threw two touchdown passes and ran for a pair of scores in the first meeting against Dallas in November — was in his recovery from the head injury. The 26-year-old Hurts did not practice this week, leaving Pickett — who suffered a rib injury in relief action against the Commanders — in line for his first start as an Eagle. Pickett was 14 of 24 for 143 yards against the Commanders, throwing a touchdown pass to A.J. Brown and an interception. Pickett is from New Jersey and said when he was acquired from Pittsburgh that he had “great memories” of going to games at Lincoln Financial Field with his dad and grandfather since he was 5. The chance to run out of the home team tunnel — which he could get Sunday if he’s the starting QB — left him absolutely delighted. “It's a big opportunity,” Pickett said this week. “I've been working hard to stay ready. I felt like I was in a good position last game with my preparation. Now, having a week to practice, I'll feel even better going into the stadium.” Pickett, a first-round pick out of Pitt in 2022, went 14-10 as a starter for the Steelers. The Eagles will bump third-stringer Tanner McKee to the backup spot. The Eagles also signed QB Ian Book this week to the practice squad. There has been recent precedent for quarterbacks to play a week after entering the league’s concussion protocol. Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence sustained a head injury while scrambling up the middle on the team’s final drive in Week 15 loss to Baltimore last season. Lawrence misfired on seven of his final eight passes after the hit, a stretch that raised concerns on the sideline about his health. Lawrence reported symptoms after the game. He entered the protocol but was cleared in time to start the next game at Tampa Bay. The Eagles (12-3) could decide to play it safe and rest Hurts with the team needing a win against Dallas or the New York Giants to clinch the NFC East and the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Hurts shook off a sluggish start over the first four games and has thrown 18 touchdowns against just five interceptions to turn the Eagles into Super Bowl contenders. Thanks in large part to the tush push, Hurts has 14 rushing touchdowns this season. The Eagles won the Super Bowl for the 2017 season behind backup QB Nick Foles when starter Carson Wentz went down with a late-season injury. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Macy's is selling a 'soft' and 'absorbent' $54 4-piece bath towel set for only $12 thanks to Black Friday

FREIBURG, Germany (AP) — Freiburg survived a late comeback to beat Wolfsburg 3-2 and move into fifth place in the Bundesliga on Friday. The sides started the day equal on points and Wolfsburg had won its last five games in the league and cup. But Lukas Kübler scored an opportunist opener three minutes before the break and added a second with his head six minutes into the second half to put Freiburg in the driving seat. Michael Gregoritsch added the third in the 62nd. Jonas Wind came off the bench to score his third goal in two games and Mattias Svanberg cut the deficit seven minutes from time as Wolfsburg desperately looked for a way into the game. But it was too late, and Freiburg moved above Wolfsburg to fifth place on the table and equal on points with Leipzig, which has a game in hand. The match was an important one for two teams vying for a Champions League place next year. Although Bayern Munich have a six-point advantage over second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, only eight points separate the next nine clubs. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Tokayev holds meeting on air crash in AktauISLAMABAD: Senator Faisal Vawda hinted at the removal of one of the provincial governors very soon. Speaking during the ARY News program, Senator Faisla Vawda said on Friday, “A provincial governor will be in troubled waters soon and his time is up. Without mentioning the name, Faisla Vawda said the governor in question has been selling his name, making money, and telling lies, now his turn has come, and he has to go home soon”. Vawda predicted that the governor’s removal would occur within the next week or two months but he will surely be removed from his post. He also took the opportunity to criticize the PPP-led Sindh government, stating that none of its cabinet members, aside from Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, are capable of writing a paragraph in English. Vawda added that only god can save the country when Pakistan’s future is in the hands of such persons. Additionally, Vawda touched on the murder of anchor person Arshad Sharif, claiming that the facts of the case will soon surface. He also commented on PTI founder Imran Khan’s growing awareness of his friends and foes, stating that this realization should have occurred much sooner. Faisal Vawda says that Imran Khan’s eyes are now opening. Read more: Faiz Hameed indicted on charges of political activities, violations of Official Secret Act Earlier, Senator Faisal Vawda claimed that former Director General (DG) Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Hameed has provided evidence, including devices, against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan. Speaking during ARY News programme ‘Khabar’, Senator Faisla Vawda said, “The troubles for the PTI founder and his associates are going to be increased as Faiz Hameed has handed over crucial evidence, including devices, against them.” Faisal Vawda said that Faiz Hameed’s trial has deflated the Imran Khan-led party’s call for civil disobedience. “If Faiz Hameed’s trial had not taken place, the PTI founder, his wife, and associates would not have faced these challenges,” he added.President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case and was written by D. John Sauer, Trump’s choice for solicitor general. The argument submitted to the court is the latest example of Trump inserting himself in national issues before he takes office. The Republican president-elect has already begun negotiating with other countries over his plans to impose tariffs, and he intervened earlier this month in a plan to fund the federal government, calling for a bipartisan plan to be rejected and sending Republicans back to the negotiating table. He has been holding meetings with foreign leaders and business officials at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida while he assembles his administration, including a meeting last week with TikTok CEO Shou Chew. Trump has reversed his position on the popular app, having tried to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined the TikTok during his 2024 presidential campaign and his team used it to connect with younger voters, especially male voters, by pushing content that was often macho and aimed at going viral. He said earlier this year that he still believed there were national security risks with TikTok, but that he opposed banning it. The filings Friday come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The law was was signed by President Joe Biden in April after it passed Congress with broad bipartisan support. TikTok and ByteDance filed a legal challenge afterwards. Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute , leading TikTok to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.” In their brief to the Supreme Court on Friday, attorneys for TikTok and its parent company ByteDance argued the federal appeals court erred in its ruling and based its decision on “alleged ‘risks’ that China could exercise control” over TikTok’s U.S. platform by pressuring its foreign affiliates. The Biden administration has argued in court that TikTok poses a national security risk due to its connections to China. Officials say Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok’s U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread or suppress information. But the government “concedes that it has no evidence China has ever attempted to do so,” TikTok’s legal filing said, adding that the U.S. fears are predicated on future risks. In its filing Friday, the Biden administration said because TikTok “is integrated with ByteDance and relies on its propriety engine developed and maintained in China,” its corporate structure carries with it risk.

You have a parade of options to watch “America’s New Year Celebration” which of course is the 136th Rose Parade and 111th Rose Bowl game. The parade kicks off at 8 a.m. PST Wednesday, Jan. 1, and will be broadcast on ABC, NBC, KTLA Channel 5, Hallmark Channel, RFD-TV and Univision. You can stream the parade on Fubo, PTT Studio, Pluto TV, DirectTV, Hulu+, Live TV, Peacock, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Following the Rose Parade, the 111th Rose Bowl game between the Oregon Ducks and either Ohio State or Tennessee will start at 1 p.m. PST, only on ESPN. Rose Parade 2025: Your guide to every float, band and equestrian unit, in order The Rose Parade airs in many countries worldwide, showing live in Armenia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Armed Forces Network. Other broadcasts air in more than 170 other countries. According to the Tournament of Roses, which produces the duo of New Year events, more than 45 million viewers catch the spectacle on TV nationally while a live audience of more than 700,000 line the 5.5-mile route along Colorado Boulevard in person. If you have a hankering for a deeper dive, the Tournament of Roses YouTube channel includes videos on the history of the parade, highlights from this year’s events, replays of livestreams and more.

Jenkins Sets Grizzlies Coaching Record At Just 40 Years Old

Apple’s UK engineering teams have ‘doubled in size in five years’There's growing concern for legendary NFL quarterback turned broadcaster Terry Bradshaw. Bradshaw, 76, has had quite the 2024 season. But is it time for the legendary NFL quarterback, who won four Super Bowls, to retire? NFL fans have been calling for Bradshaw to retire from the broadcasting world for a while now. Bradshaw's had some tough moments this year, sparking controversy with a North Carolina accent and a comment on Deshaun Watson . Bradshaw is known for speaking off the cuff, so it's no surprise when he makes headlines for a bold comment or two, but this year, viewers have been concerned about his performance in other areas. The four-time Super Bowl champion does a lot of the highlight montages for Fox Sports, at halftime and postgame. Viewers have noticed that Bradshaw seems a bit off this year. One former NFL quarterback is even getting worried. FOX. Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason admitted this season that he's "worried" about his fellow quarterback turned broadcaster. “I worked up against them for the last 22 years, I haven’t seen a lot of their show,” Esiason said earlier this year. “Obviously, I see it during the Super Bowl or when there’s one game for a playoff game, but I felt like it was a little disconcerting yesterday. I was worried about him. Is that the way it’s been?” Unfortunately, it's been that way for most of this year. Bradshaw is still having fun, but he's made some missteps throughout the season, especially on the highlight packages. These postgame highlights were a struggle for Terry Bradshaw to get through: pic.twitter.com/vAEQ8oWK7d Bradshaw has made it clear that he doesn't want to retire anytime soon, but NFL fans are continuing to call for him to step aside - at least for highlight packages. "@NFLonFOX please get rid of Terry Bradshaw," one fan said. "He is the worst I have switched to watching CBS because of him," one fan added. Bradshaw, though, has said repeatedly that he doesn't want to stop. At least not yet. He appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show earlier this fall and spoke about his love for the job. "I'm one of those people that are lucky to go to work and can't wait to get there. It's so much fun to get up early as you, we work all day, we're 12 hours in the studio working all the games throughout." He added: "The people here in New York may see us do one show but we do 12." Icon Sportswire/Getty Images Still, that's not stopping fans from expressing their worry for Bradshaw. Hopefully, he'll have a fun rest of the season and look good while doing it. But at some point, NFL on FOX might be forced to make a tough decision on the legendary NFL quarterback.

Winx welcomes new foalOne of the hottest stocks this year has been Palantir ( PLTR 4.87% ) . The company's strong results and inclusion into the S&P 500 have helped its stock soar more than 250% this year, as of this writing. While the stock has been a great performer this year, the question on many investors' minds is whether the stock is still a buy after its big gains this year. Let's take a closer look at both the buy and sell cases regarding Palantir stock to help you decide. Accelerating growth is the anchor to the buy case for Palantir Palantir has established itself as one of the leading data gathering and analytics companies in the world through its work with the U.S. government, with such mission-critical tasks as fighting terrorism and tracking COVID-19 cases. However, the company's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) and its move into the commercial sector are the biggest reasons to be bullish on the stock. The company has seen its growth in the U.S. commercial sector explode in recent quarters, as it continues to add more and more commercial customers who are attracted to its AI platform and the various use cases it can be used for across industries. Last quarter, Palantir's U.S. commercial revenue surged 54% to $179 million, with it saying that AIP was seeing "unrelenting AI demand" among these customers. Its U.S. commercial customer count, meanwhile, grew 77% year over year, while its total contract value (TCV) jumped 37% to nearly $300 million. The company has also been seeing accelerating growth with its largest customer, the U.S. government, which has begun embracing its AI offerings. U.S. government revenue climbed 40% last quarter to $320 million. The company said it is starting to see every aspect of government, including the White House, Congress, Defense, and Intel agencies, begin to embrace the application of large language models (LLMs). The biggest opportunity for Palantir going forward, however, is moving customers from AI prototype work into production. Right now, the company is landing a lot of new customers, but the bigger opportunity will come when it starts expanding within these customers. The company already has a strong net dollar retention rate, which came in a 118% last quarter. This measures how much revenue came from existing customers that have been with the company for more than a year, minus any customer churn. However, Palantir's net dollar retention does not include growth from customers added within the past 12 months, and this is where the big growth opportunity lies. Palantir has added a lot of new AIP customers over the past year for early AI prototype work, and expanding within these newer customers will really give it an opportunity to continue to accelerate its revenue growth moving forward. And accelerating revenue growth can lead to a higher stock price. Valuation and executive selling anchors the sell case for Palantir While Palantir has proven itself to be a great company, whether its stock is a buy is a totally different question. While great companies typically don't trade at bargain-basement prices, valuation does still matter. And valuation is the biggest knock on Palantir's stock. The stock now trades at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of about 40 times next year's analyst estimates. Taking out its net cash and using an enterprise value to sales multiple (EV/S), it still trades at 39 times. At the peak of software-as-a-service (SaaS) valuations, SaaS stocks traded at a 19.4 EV/S multiple while growing revenue in the low 30% range, which is just below the 30% growth that Palantir recorded last quarter. PLTR PS Ratio (Forward 1y) data by YCharts Meanwhile, Palantir executives and other insiders also appear to recognize the valuation heights to which the stock has climbed, with a number of them unloading shares in recent months, including CEO Alex Karp. Karp has been a regular seller of Palantir stock in recent years, but he has greatly picked up his selling since September. Over the past few months, he's exercised options and sold stock on four separate occasions, selling more than 33 million shares for gross proceeds of more than $1.6 billion. Meanwhile, chairman Peter Thiel sold over $1 billion in stock in September and early October, while numerous other insiders have been selling shares as well. The verdict In the case of Palantir, I'd follow what the company executives are doing. It's a great company, but its valuation is now twice what peak SaaS valuations were just a few years ago, with a similar growth rate. As such, I would not be a new buyer of the stock, and I think investors should at the very least consider taking some profits in the stock after a very strong run.Stock market today: Wall Street slips to a rare back-to-back loss

Gaetz’ Bad Boy image finally catches up with him

By Vanessa G. Sánchez, KFF Health News (TNS) LOS ANGELES — President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations and tougher immigration restrictions is deepening mistrust of the health care system among California’s immigrants and clouding the future for providers serving the state’s most impoverished residents. At the same time, immigrants living illegally in Southern California told KFF Health News they thought the economy would improve and their incomes might increase under Trump, and for some that outweighed concerns about health care. Community health workers say fear of deportation is already affecting participation in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income residents, which was expanded in phases to all immigrants regardless of residency status over the past several years. That could undercut the state’s progress in reducing the uninsured rate, which reached a record low of 6.4% last year. Immigrants lacking legal residency have long worried that participation in government programs could make them targets, and Trump’s election has compounded those concerns, community advocates say. The incoming Trump administration is also expected to target Medicaid with funding cuts and enrollment restrictions , which activists worry could threaten the Medi-Cal expansion and kneecap efforts to extend health insurance subsidies under Covered California to all immigrants. “The fear alone has so many consequences to the health of our communities,” said Mar Velez , director of policy with the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. “This is, as they say, not their first rodeo. They understand how the system works. I think this machine is going to be, unfortunately, a lot more harmful to our communities.” Alongside such worries, though, is a strain of optimism that Trump might be a boon to the economy, according to interviews with immigrants in Los Angeles whom health care workers were soliciting to sign up for Medi-Cal. Since Election Day, community health worker Yanet Martinez said, people are more reluctant to hear her pitch for subsidized health insurance or cancer prevention screenings. “They think I’m going to share their information to deport them,” Martinez said. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Clinics and community health workers encourage immigrants to enroll for health coverage through Medi-Cal and Covered California. But workers have noticed that fear of deportation has chilled participation. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Community health workers like Yanet Martinez encourage people to enroll for health benefits. But many California immigrants fear that using subsidized services could hurt their chances of obtaining legal residency. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Since Election Day, community health worker Yanet Martinez said, people are more reluctant to hear her pitch for subsidized health insurance or cancer prevention screenings. “They think I’m going to share their information to deport them,” Martinez said. (Vanessa G. Sánchez/KFF Health News/TNS) Selvin, 39, who, like others interviewed for this article, asked to be identified by only his first name because he’s living here without legal permission, said that even though he believes Trump dislikes people like him, he thinks the new administration could help boost his hours at the food processing facility where he works packing noodles. “I do see how he could improve the economy. From that perspective, I think it’s good that he won.” He became eligible for Medi-Cal this year but decided not to enroll, worrying it could jeopardize his chances of changing his immigration status. “I’ve thought about it,” Selvin said, but “I feel like it could end up hurting me. I won’t deny that, obviously, I’d like to benefit — get my teeth fixed, a physical checkup.” But fear holds him back, he said, and he hasn’t seen a doctor in nine years. It’s not Trump’s mass deportation plan in particular that’s scaring him off, though. “If I’m not committing any crimes or getting a DUI, I think I won’t get deported,” Selvin said. Petrona, 55, came from El Salvador seeking asylum and enrolled in Medi-Cal last year. She said that if her health insurance benefits were cut, she wouldn’t be able to afford her visits to the dentist. A street food vendor, she hears often about Trump’s deportation plan, but she said it will be the criminals the new president pushes out. “I’ve heard people say he’s going to get rid of everyone who’s stealing.” Although she’s afraid she could be deported, she’s also hopeful about Trump. “He says he’s going to give a lot of work to Hispanics because Latinos are the ones who work the hardest,” she said. “That’s good, more work for us, the ones who came here to work.” Newly elected Republican Assembly member Jeff Gonzalez, who flipped a seat long held by Democrats in the Latino-heavy desert region in the southeastern part of the state, said his constituents were anxious to see a new economic direction. “They’re just really kind of fed up with the status quo in California,” Gonzalez said. “People on the ground are saying, ‘I’m hopeful,’ because now we have a different perspective. We have a businessperson who is looking at the very things that we are looking at, which is the price of eggs, the price of gas, the safety.” Gonzalez said he’s not going to comment about potential Medicaid cuts, because Trump has not made any official announcement. Unlike most in his party, Gonzalez said he supports the extension of health care services to all residents regardless of immigration status . Health care providers said they are facing a twin challenge of hesitancy among those they are supposed to serve and the threat of major cuts to Medicaid, the federal program that provides over 60% of the funding for Medi-Cal. Health providers and policy researchers say a loss in federal contributions could lead the state to roll back or downsize some programs, including the expansion to cover those without legal authorization. California and Oregon are the only states that offer comprehensive health insurance to all income-eligible immigrants regardless of status. About 1.5 million people without authorization have enrolled in California, at a cost of over $6 billion a year to state taxpayers. “Everyone wants to put these types of services on the chopping block, which is really unfair,” said state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat and chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus. “We will do everything we can to ensure that we prioritize this.” Sen. Gonzalez said it will be challenging to expand programs such as Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace, for which immigrants lacking permanent legal status are not eligible. A big concern for immigrants and their advocates is that Trump could reinstate changes to the public charge policy, which can deny green cards or visas based on the use of government benefits. “President Trump’s mass deportation plan will end the financial drain posed by illegal immigrants on our healthcare system, and ensure that our country can care for American citizens who rely on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to KFF Health News. During his first term, in 2019, Trump broadened the policy to include the use of Medicaid, as well as housing and nutrition subsidies. The Biden administration rescinded the change in 2021. KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News, found immigrants use less health care than people born in the United States. And about 1 in 4 likely undocumented immigrant adults said they have avoided applying for assistance with health care, food, and housing because of immigration-related fears, according to a 2023 survey . Another uncertainty is the fate of the Affordable Care Act, which was opened in November to immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and are protected by the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals program. If DACA eligibility for the act’s plans, or even the act itself, were to be reversed under Trump, that would leave roughly 40,000 California DACA recipients, and about 100,000 nationwide , without access to subsidized health insurance. On Dec. 9, a federal court in North Dakota issued an order blocking DACA recipients from accessing Affordable Care Act health plans in 19 states that had challenged the Biden administration’s rule. Clinics and community health workers are encouraging people to continue enrolling in health benefits. But amid the push to spread the message, the chilling effects are already apparent up and down the state. “¿Ya tiene Medi-Cal?” community health worker Yanet Martinez said, asking residents whether they had Medi-Cal as she walked down Pico Boulevard recently in a Los Angeles neighborhood with many Salvadorans. “¡Nosotros podemos ayudarle a solicitar Medi-Cal! ¡Todo gratuito!” she shouted, offering help to sign up, free of charge. “Gracias, pero no,” said one young woman, responding with a no thanks. She shrugged her shoulders and averted her eyes under a cap that covered her from the late-morning sun. Since Election Day, Martinez said, people have been more reluctant to hear her pitch for subsidized health insurance or cancer prevention screenings. “They think I’m going to share their information to deport them,” she said. “They don’t want anything to do with it.” This article was produced by KFF Health News , which publishes California Healthline , an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation . ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Central Connecticut State defeats Binghamton 64-56