HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — With the holiday season in full swing, Houston's New Faces of Pride is hoping to channel some of that cheer to help some of our city's most vulnerable students. Organizers for the city's newest LGBTQ+ Pride celebration will host a school supply drive Wednesday at George Country Sports Bar in Montrose. From 6-9 p.m., the community is invited to drop off school supply donations to help LGBTQ+ students start their semester off on the right foot. An Amazon wishlist has also been created for those who would like to give online. The drive benefits students served by Houston nonprofit Out for Education, which has expanded inclusion by providing scholarships to LGBTQ+ students since 1999. President Brandi Lira said these students often begin their college careers without a safety net that can mean the difference between graduation and dropping out. "A lot of them either are not out or they gain the confidence to come out, and then their parents are either not supportive financially, not supportive in other ways, and so when it comes time to go into college, they may or may not have the financial backing they need," Lira said. The school supply drive is only the first event of several planned to help support Out for Education's mission through the 2025 Pride season, president Bryan Cotton said. "We simply want to help kids get an education," Cotton said. "We're not just a celebration organization. When we put this together, we looked at what we needed in the community, and it was support for our smaller organizations, (and) this year we went with one we felt so strongly about: Out for Education." In its inaugural year, Houston's New Faces of Pride provided $20,000 in aid to Tony's Place and Grace Place, two nonprofits focused on serving the needs of homeless LGBTQ+ youth. The organization said it hopes to help Out for Education scholarship recipients with the tools they need to make it across the graduation stage, and into positions of influence in their communities. George Country Sports Bar is located at 617 Fairview St., in Montrose. ABC13 is proud to be official media partner of Houston's New Faces of Pride.
December 16, 2024 – Palo Alto, California Stanford University’s FDCI (Future of Digital Currency Initiative) and Eliza Labs, creators of the open-source Eliza agent framework, today announced a groundbreaking research partnership to explore how autonomous AI agents will transform digital currency systems. The collaboration, set to begin in Q1 2025, brings together Stanford’s expertise in digital currency research with Eliza Labs’ cutting-edge capabilities in autonomous agent development. Leveraging Eliza Labs’ open-source Eliza framework for autonomous agent development, the partnership will tackle fundamental questions about how AI agents can establish trust, coordinate actions and make decisions within decentralized financial systems. This research comes at a critical moment as autonomous agents increasingly influence economic systems and financial services – with the Eliza framework providing a proven foundation for developing reliable and scalable agent-based systems. Professors Dan Boneh and David Mazières, who will oversee the research fellowship program, said, “This collaboration represents a unique opportunity to shape how AI agents will interact within digital economies. “By combining FDCI’s established infrastructure with Eliza Labs’ expertise in multi-agent systems, we’re positioning ourselves at the forefront of this transformative technology.” Shaw Walters, founder of Eliza Labs, said, “We are incredibly excited to partner with Stanford’s [FDCI] – one of the most prestigious programs for digital currency research – to explore how AI agents can reshape the future of financial systems. “Together, we’re combining Stanford’s academic rigor with our widely used Eliza AI agent framework to drive trust and governance in decentralized economies.” The research program will unfold across three phases throughout 2025, focusing on three core areas. The initiative will produce open-source frameworks, simulation platforms and practical applications in automated market-making systems and decentralized financial services. Early-stage findings and developments will be shared through peer-reviewed publications and industry presentations. The partnership is actively seeking select industry collaborators, offering early access to emerging technologies and direct involvement in shaping research directions. For venture firms and blockchain infrastructure partners, this represents an opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of agent technology development while accessing emerging technical talent in the field. Research outcomes will include novel trust frameworks for autonomous agents, scalable multi-agent coordination protocols and formal models for agent governance in decentralized systems. These developments aim to establish foundational standards for agent interaction in digital economies. Eliza Labs is at the forefront of developing next-generation autonomous agent systems. Founded in 2024, Eliza Labs is the creator of the Eliza agent framework, an open-source platform designed to revolutionize the way autonomous AI agents are created, deployed and managed. The Eliza framework enables powerful multi-agent simulations, empowering developers, researchers and businesses to build advanced AI systems. Eliza Labs is committed to pushing the boundaries of AI technology to shape the future of intelligent, autonomous systems. For more information, users can visit the website. Sarah Cohen, founder of SJC PR Follow Us on TwitterFacebookTelegram
A bearish sentiment dominated the futures oil market to start the week Monday after last week's gains due to mixed data from China confirming…
Barney Bahrenfuse and Suzanne Castello, who farm near Grinnell, Iowa, are recipients of Practical Farmers of Iowa's 2025 Sustainable Achievement… Editor’s Note: This story, originally published Dec. 13, was updated with comments from U.S. Chief Veterinary Officer Rosemary Sifford at 2:38 p.m. Dec. 14. ** REDFIELD, Iowa (DTN) — Keeping New World screwworm (NWS) out of the United States is a priority for USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS announced $165 million in emergency funding has been secured from the Commodity Credit Corporation to protect the country’s livestock and other animals. On Nov. 22, the Chief Veterinary Officer of Mexico notified APHIS of a positive NWS detection in a cow in extreme southern Mexico. During the past two years, NWS has spread throughout Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. Given the severity of the threat from NWS, APHIS restricted the importation of animal commodities, including live cattle, from or transiting through Mexico following the notification. In a statement to DTN on Dec. 13, U.S. Chief Veterinary Officer Rosemary Sifford said that upon detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in Mexico on Nov. 22, USDA suspended trade in cattle from Mexico pending implementation of an enhanced protocol to ensure they are free from NWS prior to entering the U.S. “Several media outlets are reporting that imports of live cattle and bison will resume before the holidays,” she said. “While the U.S. continues to work very closely with Mexico and has agreed to protocols, it will take some time to implement these due to multiple steps needed to resume trade, including facility inspections and approval. “APHIS does not expect this to happen before the holidays, and shipments will likely resume incrementally after the New Year, with full resumption of live animal movements sometime after that,” she said. Protecting American livestock from foreign pests is a top priority, and APHIS will only approve these measures when confident the threat of NWS crossing the border has been mitigated, she noted. APHIS will then announce when trade resumes. FUNDS WILL HELP PREVENT THE SPREAD Friday’s funding announced will help USDA work with Mexico and Central America to stop the spread of NWS farther north through Mexico and protect the U.S. through surveillance, animal health checkpoints and domestic preparedness. This will also help reestablish a biological barrier in Panama and eradicate NWS from the affected areas in Mexico and Central America. “The current outbreaks in Central America demonstrate the need for USDA to increase its investment in NWS eradication and prevention,” USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt said in a news release. “If NWS were to spread to the United States, it would result in significant economic losses and threats to animal health and welfare. This funding will allow for a coordinated emergency response to control the outbreak and prevent NWS from spreading to the United States,” she said. LOOK FOR SYMPTOMS IN ANIMALS NWS are fly larvae that infest living tissue of warm-blooded animals, causing infection. According to APHIS, the maggots will burrow into a wound, feeding as they go and causing extensive damage by tearing the host’s tissue with sharp mouth hooks. The wound becomes larger and deeper. NWS can cause serious, even deadly damage to the animal. The adult screwworm flies are about the size of a common housefly with orange eyes, a metallic blue or green body, and three dark stripes along their backs. Affected mammals and birds show signs of irritated behavior, head shaking, smell of decay, evidence of fly strike and presence of fly larvae in wounds. APHIS says the best prevention of NWS in the U.S. is by avoiding infestation. Be alert for symptoms in pets and livestock, ensure that pets traveling internationally are inspected for screwworm, and check your vehicle for screwworm flies if in an NWS-infested area. Producers should notify herd veterinarians immediately if symptoms are seen. Eradicating NWS is only possible through sterile insect technique. Iowa’s state entomologist Robin Pruisner told DTN the logistics and efficacy of releasing sterile male NWS works well, and the process has been used previously in the U.S. to eradicate the problem. “The sterile insect technique (SIT) involves sterilizing millions of male insects using ionizing radiation before releasing them into the wild to mate with wild females,” she said. “As no offspring can be produced, the SIT leads to drastic reduction in the wild populations of the disease carrier while minimizing the use of pesticides.” Since females only mate once, this helps eliminate the population. The SIT process has been used in Latin America this year. Jennifer Carrico can be reached at jennifer.carrico@dtn.com Follow her on social platform X @JennCattleGal (c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved. Please correct the following errors and try again: Please correct the following errors and try again:
New Articles Find Your Next Job ! Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island lawmakers were busy throughout 2024 enacting labor and employment-related legislation already impacting the workplace. Understanding these critical legal updates is essential for employers seeking to comply and ensure fair labor and employment practices in an evolving regulatory landscape. Below is a selection of these important laws, highlighting key elements of each new legislation. CONNECTICUT Public Act No. 24-8: An Act Expanding Paid Sick Days in the State In May 2024, Governor Ned Lamont signed new legislation expanding Connecticut’s Paid Sick Leave Law in phases beginning in 2025. Currently, the law covers employers with 50 or more employees and applies only to non-exempt “service workers.” The new law expands coverage to virtually all private employers, removing the “service workers” limitation to essentially include all employees. Employers should note the following: Under the new law, employees will accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours in a year. Employees will be entitled to carry over 40 hours annually unless their employer frontloads the time. Employers will no longer be able to require notice or require an employee to find coverage. Additionally, the law enables employees to take time for certain reasons involving family members as defined by the law and is no longer limited to a spouse or child. The law also expands the reasons for leave and now includes the closure of the employer’s place of business or a family member’s school or place of care if a public official orders its closure due to a public health emergency. Further, Connecticut has added the following reason for leave, among other changes: the determination by a health authority, the employer, the employer of a family member, or a health care provider, that the employee, or their family member, poses a risk to the health of others due to exposure to a communicable illness. Employers that already provide paid leave under the same or better terms and conditions will be considered compliant with this law. Public Act No. 24-5: An Act Concerning Changes to the Paid Family and Medical Leave Statutes Effective October 1, 2024, this law changed the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (PFML) program. Now, covered employers making payments of any wages to employees are required to register with and submit reports to the PFML Authority (Authority). Further, the Family Violence Leave Law now allows leave for sexual assault victims for qualified reasons, such as relocation, participation in a civil or criminal proceeding related to or resulting from such sexual assault, etc. The law also requires health care providers to display an informational poster about the PFML program. In addition to the foregoing changes, the law amends provisions related to employer requirements, federally recognized tribes, concurrent payments, overpayments, penalties, and makes other minor and technical changes to the statutes. MASSACHUSETTS House Bill 4999: An Act Promoting Access to Midwifery Care and Out-of-Hospital Birth Options Notably, this legislation, primarily focused on improving health services for pregnant women, contains a provision expanding the reasons employees can use Massachusetts Earned Sick Time. Effective November 21, 2024, employees may use accrued and available sick time to “address the employee’s own physical and mental health needs, and those of their spouse, if the employee or the employee’s spouse experiences pregnancy loss or a failed assisted reproduction, adoption or surrogacy.” House Bill 4976: An Act Honoring, Empowering, and Recognizing our Servicemembers and Veterans This law took effect on November 7, 2024, and requires covered employers to post a veterans’ benefits and services notice created by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development. The notice must be posted in a “conspicuous location in the workplace accessible to employees” and distributed to each employee at the start of employment and annually. Employers with more than 50 full-time employees are covered under this law. House Bill 4890: The Frances Perkins Workplace Equity Act Massachusetts has become the latest state to pass a pay transparency law. This law imposes two new obligations on covered employers: Effective July 31, 2025, employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts must include a “pay range” in all job postings, including those by a third party, such as a recruiter. Employers will also be required to: Notably, the Act defines a “pay range” as “the annual salary range or hourly wage range that the covered employer reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for such position at that time.” Further, the Act defines an offense under the law as “[one] or more job postings for positions made by the same employer during a 48-hour period.” Accordingly, employers who re-post job openings on several websites without the requisite pay range will not be fined for each posting so long as the postings appear within the same 48-hour window. This Act also imposes a new pay data reporting obligation on employers with 100 or more Massachusetts employees subject to federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) report requirements. The Act requires covered employers to submit annual pay data reports categorized by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category to the Secretary of the Commonwealth; however, employers may submit the federal EEO-1 report to satisfy this requirement. The first report must be submitted no later than February 1, 2025. RHODE ISLAND Senate Bill 2671: An Act Relating to Courts and Civil Procedure—Procedure in Particular Actions—Arbitration Effective June 29, 2024, this law revised the Rhode Island Arbitration Act in three significant ways. First, the law amended the Act to specifically state that parties have “the right to be represented by an attorney” and that this right cannot be waived. The revised portion of the law also provides that an arbitration agreement is null and void if it penalizes or discriminates against a party for retaining representation during the arbitration. Second, the law revised the Act to provide new consequences for parties receiving arbitration demands and failing to apply for a stay of arbitration within 20 days. As such, the receiving party will be deemed to have waived any objection “that a valid agreement was not made or has not been complied with and from asserting in court the bar of a limitation of time.” Lastly, the revised Act now provides that if an employer is required to pay the fees and costs for arbitration (whether that be because of the arbitration agreement, applicable law, or an arbitration provider’s rules) and the employer fails to pay those fees and costs within 30 days of the due date, the employer will waive their right to compel arbitration. Consequently, the employee can compel arbitration or withdraw the claim and file an action in court. If the employee compels arbitration, the revised Act provides that the employer will be responsible for paying associated attorneys’ fees and costs. Furthermore, the revised Act permits the arbitrator to impose sanctions on the employer regardless of whether the employee compels arbitration. The sanctions can include monetary sanctions (such as attorneys’ fees and costs), evidence sanctions (an order prohibiting the employer from conducting discovery), and/or terminating sanctions (such as holding the employer in contempt). House Bill 7171: An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations—Temporary Disability Insurance—Benefits This law amended the Rhode Island Temporary Caregiver Insurance law to expand benefits for covered employees. Specifically, covered employees who were previously permitted to take six weeks of job-protected leave for a qualified reason (e.g., bonding with a newborn or recently placed adopted or foster child and caring for a family member with a serious health condition) during which they would receive partial wage replacement benefits can now take up to seven weeks each year, effective January 1, 2025. Additionally, the law provides for further expansion of the leave benefit as of January 1, 2026, when covered employees will be entitled to eight weeks of job-protected leave. Senate Bill 2472: An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations—Workers’ Compensation—General Provisions As of June 17, 2024, independent contractors in Rhode Island must file a written or electronic notice of designation every year “for each hiring entity that retains their services,” certifying that they are exempt from workers’ compensation coverage. This law also amended the state workers’ compensation law to clarify that if the Department of Labor and Training notifies an independent contractor that they failed to file a designation notice and provide such notice within 20 days, their designation as an independent contractor will lapse. House Bill 7696: An Act Relating to Businesses and Professions—Nurses As of June 17, 2024, Rhode Island prohibits employers from entering into any contract or agreement that creates or establishes a partnership, employment, or any other form of professional relationship with an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) licensed to practice that restricts the APRN’s right to practice. Any agreement that includes such restrictions will be deemed void and unenforceable concerning that provision but will not void or render the remaining provisions of a contract or agreement unenforceable. Restrictions rendered void include, but are not limited to: The law provides an exception for covenants or agreements related to the purchase and sale of a practice, provided that the restriction is not more than five years. House Bill 7532: An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations—Minimum Wages Up until June 24, 2024, the effective date of this Act, domestic workers in Rhode Island were exempt from the Rhode Island Minimum Wage Act and the minimum wage and overtime provisions. This Act has eliminated that exemption. Employers will now be required to pay “any individual employed in domestic service or in or about a private home” the state minimum wage for all hours worked and time and a half for all overtime. Senate Bill 2045: The Rhode Island Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program Act This law has established the Rhode Island Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program, a payroll deposit program aimed at helping private sector employees who do not have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. Private employers with five or more employees will be required to enroll, and enrollment will be free. Employees will be automatically enrolled and will determine their contribution amounts. The Office of the General Treasurer will administer the program. Senate Bill 2128: An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations—Posting of Veterans Benefits and Services Effective January 1, 2025, employers with 50 or more full-time employees are required to display a veterans’ benefits and services poster in the workplace. The poster must be displayed in “a conspicuous place accessible to employees.” The Department of Labor and Training will work with the Office of Veterans’ Services to create and distribute the poster. More Upcoming Events
Thanks to the support of 380,000+ grassroots patriots, Turning Point USA reaches and impacts millions of students on campus and online. Please consider joining our cause with a tax deductible gift today! 15 minutes ago Anti-Israel Convention in Chicago Offers College Students Tips on Making Campuses More “Palestinian” 2 days ago Washington State Proposes Third Gender Category for High School Sports to Address Transgender Athlete Concerns 3 days ago Mystery Drones Spotted Over New Jersey 3 days ago
December 16th, 2024 by Justin Melillo The sixth race of the 2024-25 World of Outlaws Pro Series season, powered by iRacing, takes to Knoxville Raceway on Monday night in the 410 Sprint Cars. This top-level eSports dirt racing series combines a schedule of 10 tracks with two dirt oval disciplines—the series utilizes both the 410 Sprint Car and the Super Late Model—and with an open qualifying series format to allow for anyone to take part in the championship, the new Pro Series has different look than what we’ve seen in past World of Outlaws eSports championships. The last race on the 2024 side of the calendar, Knoxville Raceway will host Sprint Cars around the Sprint Car Capital of the World as the second half of the season begins. The driver roster is set each week through the Qualifying Series races that are open to all iRacing members with a Class A Dirt Oval license. These qualifying races will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and the top-35 point scorers will be invited to the iRacing World of Outlaws Pro Series league each week for the Monday night main event. After the Monday show, the league is cleared out, and the process begins again. Points will be tracked as normal across those 10 main events to crown the series champion. The main event will include a 35-lap feature for 21 cars that qualify in through qualifying, heat races, and last chance qualifiers. The action starts at 8:00 p.m. ET and it will be live on DIRTVision and across all of iRacing’s social media channels. The following 35 drivers have qualified into Monday night’s event at Knoxville Raceway, utilizing the Sprint Car, by scoring the most points last week during the qualifying races: We had a “New” winner in the series last week at Federated Auto Parts at I-55 Raceway on Monday night. Conner New, in his second career World of Outlaws Pro Series start, won in a photo finish against former champion Blake Matjoulis after a late race restart bunched the field back together for the final six laps. Matjoulis was hugging the wall on the bottom as New ripped the top lane. Off of the final corner on the final lap, they came together, and across the line, New had it won by just a corner of his front bumper. Knoxville Raceway hosted the final race on the 2023 side of the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car calendar, and when the dust cleared at the Sprint Car Capital of the World, multi-time iRacing World of Outlaws champion Alex Bergeron stood tall as he returned to victory lane in dominant fashion. The Late Models also ran at Knoxville last season, in August, and it was Logan Rumsey who scored the win. Based on the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa, Knoxville Raceway is known as the “Sprint Car Capital of the World.” Besides its premier event, the Knoxville Nationals, the track has also been home to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum since 1992. The Knoxville Nationals pay out more than $1 million to competitors, with $175,000 of that reserved for the A-Main winner. These races feature qualifying and heat racing to determine the 21 drivers that will compete in the main race. The top-eight qualifiers will immediately transfer to the feature. Pole winners score 25 points, second place scores 23 points, and points are paid out through the transfer spots to eighth, who will receive 17 points. When the feature begins, the top-eight will invert, with the pole sitter starting eighth and the eighth place qualifier starting on the pole. For everyone else who does not qualify in, there will be three heat races of eight laps each, where the top-three finishers will advance forward through to the main event. Heat races also pay out points to all drivers, with the winner scoring 15 points and ninth place taking home seven points. There will also be two 12-lap consolation races where the top two finishers in each will move on, but no additional points are scored. Feature races will be 35 laps in the 410 Sprint Car, or 50 laps in the Super Late Model. The Feature winner will score 100 points, making the maximum amount of points on any given night 125 for a pole and Feature win.
6. Knoxville Raceway | Dec 16, 2024 | 410S –HOLIDAY BREAK– 7. TO BE ANNOUNCED | Jan 06, 2025 | 410S 8. Fairbury Speedway | Jan 13, 2025 | SLM 9. Eldora Speedway | Jan 20, 2025 | 410S 10. The Dirt Track at Charlotte | Jan 27, 2025 | SLM For more information on the series, visit www.iracing.com/woo-pro-series. For more information on the World of Outlaws, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
English 
Français