Day: December 21, 2024

3 Altcoins Ready to Dominate This Altcoin Season—Winter 24/25 Must-Haves!  CryptoDaily
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Total of 96 Grants Given Out This Year for Things Like Project Supplies, Instructional Tools, and Field Trips
Casey Cleland’s classroom just got a brand-new 3D printer. 
The Santa Barbara Community Academy teacher was able to buy this expensive gadget thanks to the Santa Barbara Education Foundation (SBEF), which distributed $203,000 for innovative teacher projects across the Santa Barbara Unified School District this year. 
“Our annual grants ease the burden on teachers who often spend personal funds on classroom essential supplies and implement creative teaching that would otherwise be financially out of reach,” the foundation said in a statement.
Cleland’s was one of 96 grants given out this year for things like project supplies, instructional tools, and field trips, out of a total of 121 applications from 21 schools. Her classroom’s new 3D printer will allow 208 students in transitional kindergarten through 6th grade to bring their ideas to life.
“During our recent stop-motion animation unit, students requested different props than what I had on hand. One of the suggestions was to print some alligators,” Cleland said. “The students were ecstatic when they saw the alligators the following week. Our 3D printer didn’t just create props for student-created animations — it unleashed a wave of creativity, turning our classroom into an academy of animators with our school mascot as the star!”
Other grants are supporting teachers like Carlos Estrada at Alta Vista Alternative High School, who is creating a garden with his students to support their mental health while centering native ecosystems. Or like Ann Galbraith at Monroe Elementary, who is creating and caring for a school butterfly sanctuary with Monroe’s students. Or like Mika Burkett at Harding University Partnership School, who is buying a giant chess set for the school’s chess club.
The foundation was also able to establish the new, $2,500 Margie Yahyavi Grant for Excellence in Music Education, named after SBEF’s former executive director who passed away in January. Carissa Corrigan, a teacher at Harding, is using the grant to buy hand chimes for her students to make “music as a team.”
The Teacher Grants program is supported by private donors, including local foundations, businesses, and individual donors. This year, it even received a $50,000 donation from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. 
“We are truly grateful for the tremendous community support for our teachers,” said Pedro Paz, SBEF executive director. “Their support is critical to the success of this high-impact program. These grants will go a long way in providing educators with the tools they need to inspire a love of learning and directly impact Santa Barbara Unified students.”
Overall, since creating the program in 2018, SBEF has awarded 483 grants, distributing more than $888,000 to local educators. For more information, visit santabarbaraeducation.org.
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State Sen. Joe Gruters wants to be Florida’s next Chief Financial Officer, a Cabinet position that will soon be open. He’s backed by President-elect Donald Trump, incumbent CFO Jimmy Patronis and a host of influential Trump backers.
The only problem? Gruters, a Sarasota Republican, has long had a contentious relationship with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has the power to name Patronis’ replacement.
Still, Gruters says he’s spoken with DeSantis’ staff about the position, wants to be appointed soon and is hopeful of getting it.
“I don’t know where the Governor’s going to go with the CFO seat, although I’m pushing hard and I’d like to have it now because I think it’d be better for Florida,” Gruters told reporters Tuesday after casting an Electoral College vote for Trump as one of Florida’s 30 electors.
Gruters is a former Republican Party of Florida chair who has also served in the state House and Senate. In June he announced a run for the CFO position in 2026 and has already raised $188,000 in his main campaign account and has $155,000 in another political committee.
He’s also a longtime ally of Trump’s, having given him the “Statesman of the Year” award when Gruters was Sarasota County Republican Party Chair in 2012. Gruters was also chair of Trump’s campaign in Florida during his 2016 run for President, well before he surged in the polls. Trump also backed Gruters’ unsuccessful run for treasurer for the Republican National Committee.
The CFO seat is soon to be open now that Patronis has resigned effective March 31 to run for an open U.S. House seat. The position oversees payments to vendors, heads the Department of Financial Services, and is the State Fire Marshal. The duties include oversight of the Office of Insurance Regulation, giving the position a prominent role in managing the property insurance market, which has seen large rate increases in recent years.
It’s unclear when DeSantis might name someone to the CFO seat. A spokesman for DeSantis didn’t return an email seeking comment Thursday.
Patronis suggested it won’t come until after DeSantis appoints someone to the U.S. Senate, a seat that will also soon be open because Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, was tapped by Trump to be the next Secretary of State.
“There’s definitely going to be a little more urgency (with the Senate seat) simply because there’s going to be a vacancy, there’s going to be tight margins in the United States Senate,” Patronis said. “If I’m Governor DeSantis, I’m focusing first on how I’m filling that seat moreso than Jimmy Patronis’ CFO seat.”
Republicans will hold a 53-47 advantage over Democrats in the U.S. Senate when the next Congress organizes in January.
Whenever he decides, DeSantis might not be inclined to do any favors for Gruters.
The two have had a frosty relationship that sometimes resulted in public antagonism between the Republican colleagues.
When DeSantis first took office in January 2019, he was lukewarm on Gruters, who was elected RPOF Chair one week after DeSantis was sworn in. In October of that year, an annual RPOF fundraiser set for November was canceled by Gruters, who was struggling to get President Trump to attend. The next day DeSantis – without alerting Gruters – announced Trump was coming and the event was still on, effectively shunting Gruters’ sway in the party aside.
DeSantis also tried to cut Gruters’ pay as Chair, according to Politico. Yet he never found a challenger when Gruters came up for reelection as party leader in 2021, leaving Gruters in place during DeSantis’ reelection campaign in 2022.
The bad blood simmered below the surface but then reemerged as DeSantis ran for President against Trump. Gruters was one of a handful of GOP state lawmakers who endorsed Trump, while the vast majority of Republicans backed DeSantis.
“The more he is met by people, the more they are not going to like him,” Gruters said about DeSantis, as quoted by the Washington Post in August 2023 as DeSantis struggled to gain ground on Trump in the polls.
Gruters and DeSantis also clashed this year on Amendment 3, which would have legalized marijuana for recreational use. DeSantis was opposed but also pushed state agencies to run public service announcements and ads slamming the ballot measure, a tactic Gruters called a misuse of taxpayer dollars.
In August, James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ chief of staff, suggested on X that Gruters was backing the amendment as a favor to political donors.
Gruters argued appointing another Republican that would run as an incumbent against him in 2026 would be expensive and bad for the party.
“The one thing about a competitive race and in Florida – we have 23 million people,” Gruters said. “I may have to spend $10 million if we have a competitive primary and the other candidate may spend $10 million. And the result of that is Florida loses because $10 million is a lot of money to raise. And that’s a lot of relationships, a lot of baggage you carry on and I would greatly appreciate the support now, but no matter what we’re going to win.”
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.

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Lotto results LIVE: Winning National Lottery and Thunderball numbers for Saturday, December 21  Chronicle Live
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Public concern over bird flu ratcheted up this week as the H5N1 virus continued its sweep through the nation’s dairy and poultry farms and the first American was hospitalized with a severe infection.
Federal officials reported Wednesday that an older person in Louisiana was “severely” ill after being infected by poultry from a backyard flock. The person, who was not identified by name, is one of 61 people identified infected in the U.S. so far this year.
In other countries, bird flu has killed about half of those known to be infected, but here in the United States there have been no deaths and only mild illnesses until this week.
The Louisiana patient was the first American confirmed to be sickened by a backyard flock. The strain of H5N1 bird flu that infected that patient is different from the one that has infected cattle, poultry and farmworkers for most of this year, CDC said, though it is similar to one found in wild birds and in a person infected in Washington State and a teen in British Columbia.
Here’s what you need to know as the CDC and other federal and state agencies work to contain the virus:
People in close contact with infected animals, such as dairy or poultry workers, are at increased risk of infection with bird flu.
People with backyard flocks or who hunt fowl should take precautions handling birds, CDC said.
Pasteurized milk and milk products are safe, repeated testing has shown. Public health officials warn against drinking raw milk, which in some cases has been found to contain enough virus to cause disease, though no one has yet been known to be infected via milk.
Most people infected with bird flu in the U.S. have had mild symptoms.
Symptoms of H5N1 birth flu infection in humans may include pink eye, fever, fatigue, cough, muscle aches, sore throat, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, stuffy or runny nose and shortness of breath, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
While data is limited, experts from the College of American Pathologists said the farmworkers might have had different symptoms than others infected either because of different strains of the virus, or because they were infected in different ways.
The farmworkers, for instance, may have rubbed their eyes after touching a cow that was contaminated with the virus, and then developed red eyes ‒ the most common of their symptoms. By contrast, someone who came into contact with a backyard chicken or wild bird, might have inhaled the virus and therefore become sicker.
The patient in Louisiana, who was exposed by a backyard flock, is experiencing severe respiratory symptoms and is in critical condition, according to Emma Herrock, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Health.
The patient is also reported to have underlying medical conditions and is over the age of 65, putting them at extra risk for complications from the flu, Herrock said via email.
Health officials have yet to call for the use of vaccines against bird flu given that there is no evidence of spread between people, relatively few people have been infected and most infections have been mild.
During winter respiratory virus season, officials have worked to get the country’s 200,000 livestock workers vaccinated against the seasonal flu. While regular flu vaccines don’t provide protection against H5N1, officials are concerned that if someone caught both versions of the flu at once, the virus strains could combine, leading to a more severe or infectious form of bird flu.
At the same time, federal officials have prepared about 10 million doses of H5N8 vaccine that they think will be effective against H5N1 bird flu, in case the virus becomes more dangerous.
Worried about an outbreak in its mink industry that might spread to workers, Finland distributed similar vaccines to its livestock workers this summer.
The U.S. has also poured funding to research vaccine candidates against bird flu. A study of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine published Wednesday showed promise, producing immune responses against the virus in ferrets, an animal commonly used to test flu vaccines. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a different experimental mRNA vaccine, which prevented severe illness and death among infected ferrets.
Scientists have also been trying to develop vaccines to protect animals, especially valuable dairy cows. As of Thursday, the virus had infected 875 herds across 16 states, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
USDA has approved seven vaccine field safety trials in cattle, Dr. Eric Deeble, a high-ranking agency official, told reporters on Wednesday, though it’s still early in the vaccine development process.
When SARS-CoV-2 was first identified, there were no tests for it. By contrast, there is already a test that can readily identify H5N1, said Dr. Ben Bradley, assistant professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine’s pathology department.
“What we’re facing with H5N1 is a very different landscape than COVID-19,” Bradley said in a College of American Pathologists (CAP) briefing on Friday.
However, Bradley said he’s paying attention to any red flags that could indicate the potential for a bigger outbreak.
The first would be any cases likely transmitted from person to person.
Bradley is also concerned that some people may have been infected without knowing it. Tests have shown some dairy workers had antibodies for H5N1, which could suggest the virus may be spreading faster − and more discreetly − than previously thought.
Although the CDC reported 61 confirmed cases of bird flu in the U.S., multiple experts told USA TODAY the real figure is likely higher.
“Not quite knowing the full picture of things right now is concerning,” said Bradley, also medical director of virology at ARUP, a national testing laboratory.
If the virus continues to infect more people and animals, it will have more opportunities to mutate, potentially becoming more contagious or dangerous.
“We’re in a situation where we need to be alert to the possible threat of this,” Bradley said.
It’s impossible to guess whether bird flu will eventually become a more significant threat, said Dr. Donald Karcher, CAP president and professor at George Washington University Medical Center.
“This is a random process that viruses undergo and it’s really hard to predict when that event is going to happen,” he said.
Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@usatoday.com.

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance Writer Comes Under Fire For “Unprofessional” Post About Dragon Age: The Veilguard  TheGamer
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The 10 Worst Movies of 2024, Ranked  Collider
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Developers Share 8 Tips for Survival – IGN First  IGN
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As many Americans begin their holiday festivities, service members are facing uncertainties as a potential government shutdown looms.  
Congress had reached a bipartisan agreement Tuesday to keep the government funded through March, but it was toppled by conservative fallout. Current funding runs out at end of the day on Friday. 
Now, all eyes are on Capitol Hill as lawmakers race to see if they can find an agreement to keep the government open. 
The federal government has closed 21 times since 1977, for a total of 162 days and an average of nearly eight days per shutdown. 
Here is what you need to know about how a government shutdown could affect service members.
Live updates on the latest from CongressWill there be a government shutdown?
Each fiscal year, Congress appropriates funds for federal agencies to operate. When a signed appropriations or a continuing resolution is not present, the affected federal agencies must shut down or stop normal spending, explains the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM). 
Active service members are generally not paid in a government shutdown, despite continuing to report for duty. 
In the run up to a potential shutdown in September 2023, the Defense Department said in a memo to Pentagon leaders that “military personnel will not be paid until such time as Congress appropriates funds available to compensate them for this period of service.”
The government has about 1.3 million active-duty service members and 800,000 National Guard and reservists. 
The Pentagon is also likely to pause military recruitment and operational planning. The pause in pay and furloughs will have impacts that go beyond U.S. borders. 
USAA is preparing to step in for impacted members with a zero-interest loan equal to the amount of one net paycheck (from $500 to $6,000) and various payment relief options, the financial services company said on its website.
People who are eligible to apply are employees of an impacted federal agency and receive their government paycheck in their USAA Bank deposit account, the financial services company said.
In the event of a government shut down not all government operations will cease, the OPM explains.  
Employees in national defense, law enforcement, and other departments that protect life and property are expected to continue working, the government agency said.  
In addition, employees not paid from appropriated funds and those that will administer shutdown operations, will continue to work, OPM said.  
OPM explains that employees “who are not required to work under one of the exceptions above may not even volunteer their services.”  
Until the shutdown ends, employees that are not required to work are furloughed, OPM said. Being furloughed means that employees are placed in a non-pay or a nonduty status, the government agency said.  
Contributing: Sarah Al-Arshani, Riley Beggin, Savannah Kuchar, Eric Lagatta, Medora Lee, Ramon Padilla, George Petras; USA TODAY.  

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