NewzIntel.com

Category: Americas

  • MIL-OSI: Woodbridge Closes Sale of Plastic Components, Inc. to Trim-Tex Inc.

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW HAVEN, Conn., March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Woodbridge, a global mergers and acquisitions firm, is pleased to announce the acquisition of its client, Plastic Components, Inc. by Trim-Tex Inc.

    Plastic Components, (PCI) is a leading manufacturer of PVC trims and plastic accessories used in the exterior insulation and finishing of commercial and residential buildings. PCI products reduce labor and maintenance costs due to their longevity and durability. The Company’s diverse inventory includes accessories and trims for stucco, exterior insulation and finish systems, direct applied finish systems, continuous insulation systems, drywall, fiber cement board trims and stone veneer. PCI’s products, with 4 patented lines, form part of the essential process of insulating and weather-proofing buildings.

    “The Plastic Components team is excited to join forces with such a reputable, family-owned company as Trim-Tex,” said Herman Guevara, Director of Sales and 19-year employee at Plastic Components. “We’ve been industry friends for years, often referring customers to one another. This partnership makes perfect sense, and together, we look forward to building the premier global provider of PVC finishing solutions — both interior and exterior.”

    Trim-Tex Inc. located in Lincolnwood, Illinois is the premier USA manufacturer of rigid vinyl drywall corner beads and accessories. With over 50 years of experience, Trim-Tex offers a complete line of commercial and residential products, including Corner Beads, J Beads, L Beads, Reveals and Expansion products.

    Woodbridge International’s ground-breaking approach to marketing a company globally has transformed the way the sell-side M&A industry does business. Woodbridge is a Mariner Company.

    For more information, contact Don Krier, dkrier@woodbridgegrp.com, or call 203-389-8400 x201.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Secretary Hoskins Announces 2025-26 Official Manual Photo Contests Celebrating Missouri’s Heritage and Natural Beauty

    Source: US State of Missouri

     

     

    For Immediate Release:   March 3, 2025

               

    Secretary Hoskins Announces 2025-26 Official Manual Photo Contests Celebrating Missouri’s Heritage and Natural Beauty

    The Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ Office is proud to announce a series of photo contests in celebration of the 2025-26 Missouri Official Manual (Blue Book). These contests invite photographers from across the state to showcase their unique perspectives on Missouri’s rich history, culinary traditions, and stunning landscapes through three captivating themes:

    • Man’s Best Friend
      Drawing inspiration from the historic Old Drum monologue, this contest celebrates the enduring bond between Missourians and their loyal companions. Participants are encouraged to capture the spirit, loyalty, and charm of our four-legged friends.
    • Rooted Recipes
      This contest highlights heritage recipes that have been passed down through generations in Missouri. Entrants are invited to pair evocative photographs with the story behind cherished culinary traditions that have shaped Missouri’s communities.
    • Missouri Sunrises
      Designed to honor the breathtaking beauty of early mornings in Missouri, this contest seeks to capture the magic and serenity of Missouri’s sunrises, reflecting the state’s natural splendor and promise of new beginnings.

    Selected winners will be prominently featured in the next Missouri Official Manual—a revered publication that documents the history, government, and cultural fabric of our state—and their work will be showcased in a special exhibit at the Missouri Secretary of State’s Offices in Jefferson City.

    “Through these contests, we aim to celebrate the diverse stories and landscapes that define Missouri,” said Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, CPA. “We look forward to receiving entries that not only capture the essence of our state but also add to the legacy of the Missouri Official Manual.”

    Contest details, including submission guidelines and deadlines, will be available on the official Missouri Secretary of State’s website. Entries must be received prior to April 30, 2025. For more information and regular updates, please visit sos.mo.gov/photocontest. The entry form and information is linked for convenience. 

    2025-2026PhotoContestInfoSheet.pdf

    2025-2026PhotoContestEntryForm.pdf

    About the Missouri Official Manual (Blue Book):
    The Missouri Official Manual, affectionately known as the Blue Book, is a longstanding resource that documents the state’s government, history, and cultural milestones. It stands as a testament to Missouri’s enduring spirit and is a cherished reference for citizens and visitors alike.

    About Secretary of State Denny Hoskins
    Denny Hoskins, CPA, was elected Missouri’s 41st Secretary of State in November 2024. With a strong background in business and public service, he is committed to improving government efficiency, transparency, and supporting Missouri families.

    For more information, please contact: Rachael Dunn, Director of Communications, via email at [email protected].

    — 30 —

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: McConnell in Washington Post: We Cannot Defeat Tomorrow’s Enemies With Yesterday’s Budgets

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell
    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) submitted the following op-ed to The Washington Post, printed in today’s edition, on the dangers of a clean, full-year Continuing Resolution (CR) at the Fiscal Year 2024 level:
    Every time Congress faces a government funding deadline, Washington reminds itself — eventually — that shutdowns are worth avoiding. This is a familiar, and all-too-frequent, conversation.
    What’s not familiar is the prospect of going an entire year without passing new appropriations — and the new programs and capabilities they comprise — for the national defense. Never in recent history has Washington forced the U.S. military to spend a full year applying yesterday’s budget to tomorrow’s challenges.
    Today, we’re closer than ever to making ignoble history on this front. And we owe it to our men and women in uniform, and to taxpayers, to be honest about the consequences.
    Consumer goods aren’t the only things that have grown more expensive in recent years. In times of high inflation, governance without updated appropriations means diminished Pentagon buying power. Forcing the U.S. military to equip itself for next year’s threats at this year’s prices with last year’s dollars is a recipe for disaster.
    Even as fresh eyes comb the Pentagon for new efficiencies and cost-savings, effective military acquisitions continue to require multiyear runways. A truly clean, full-year, continuing resolution at the level set for FY2024 would mean no new starts on critical programs the military needs to adapt to a rapidly changing battlefield, such as directed-energy drone and missile defenses. No new starts this year means fewer new capabilities in warfighters’ hands two, five and 10 years from now.
    To be clear, we’re not approaching this cliff — we’re careening over it. The fiscal year is almost half over. By March 14, the failure to pass full-year defense appropriations last fall will have cost taxpayers $17 billion in defense buying power. In other words, contending with current inflation and new requirements with old funding levels has already meant an effective shortfall of $103 million per day.
    Consigning the rest of the fiscal year to this austere reality would only compound the damage.
    Extending the 2024 budget through the end of FY2025 would mean the Defense Department would lack the funds to make payroll for 2 million service members — especially after accounting for the additional 10 percent junior enlisted pay raise authorized last year. Making up this shortfall will almost certainly involve siphoning funds the services have budgeted for other critical missions and capabilities.
    Spending the entire year under the FY2024 funding level will mean no money or authorization for 168 new programs — many of which are required to outcompete China in space and cyberspace. In the race to project power and deter aggression across the Indo-Pacific, it would put U.S. forces and our regional allies even further behind.
    Specifically, it would mean stopping the ongoing construction and refueling of up to 26 Navy warships. It would delay three new destroyers, up to 10 new Virginia-class submarines and four new Columbia-class submarines (which sustain a critical leg of the nuclear triad).
    The costs of deterring war pale in comparison to the costs of fighting one. If Congress is unwilling to make deterrent investments today, then discussion about the urgency of looming threats — particularly the “pacing threat” of China — carries little weight.
    Last year, on a bipartisan basis, Senate appropriators recommended we pass funding that would have exceeded President Joe Biden’s meager defense budget request by nearly $20 billion. That recommendation fell on deaf ears with the Senate’s Democratic majority. Now, we face the prospect of a clean continuing resolution that would spend roughly $8 billion less than Biden’s request.
    No senator or member of Congress can claim ignorance of the ways that outdated funds harm national security. Senior officials at the White House and Pentagon, for their part, are not absolved from their obligation to ensure full-year appropriations for the military. This administration took office with a mandate to restore peace through strength.
    Surely, no American who is concerned about threats abroad thinks that cutting billions from the military is the way to face them.
    Tying one hand behind our backs is no one’s idea of restoring the warrior ethos. It is alarming that we don’t hear anything from the Pentagon’s senior-most civilian leaders about the need to raise the defense budget’s topline — or the looming, self-inflicted harm to readiness and lethality that would come from failing to pass new, full-year defense appropriations for the first time in memory.
    China certainly isn’t hamstrung by these kinds of challenges. And U.S. allies, including those with far more expansive social welfare systems, continue to make tough choices to make their militaries even more capable. In fact, the rate at which European NATO allies are increasing defense spending far outpaces our own. Since 2022, they have committed more than $185 billion to buying U.S.-made weapons and defense systems.
    Meeting that demand, while modernizing U.S. forces at the same time, requires robust full-year appropriations. We cannot rebuild our military without bigger topline investments in defense.
    Mitch McConnell, a Republican, represents Kentucky in the U.S. Senate.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch Joins Colleagues in Pressing for Timely Disaster Assistance for All Farmers

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, joined Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and 13 of their Democratic colleagues in pressing the Trump Administration for assurances that assistance for economic challenges in 2024 and natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 will be honored for all farmers—including row crop and specialty crop farmers—and distributed as quickly as possible. The Senators emphasized the need for farmers to receive this aid as they make decisions for spring planting season. 
    In the letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, the Senators wrote: “Farmers are making decisions right now about fertilizer usage and their crop mix and are working with their bankers to figure out if they can secure the financing they need to continue farming this year. Without the timely delivery of economic and disaster assistance, farmers face the prospect of reducing plantings or liquidating assets to remain in business as they head into another potentially difficult growing season.” 
    In 2023, major weather disasters caused over $21 billion in crop losses, with extreme weather causing $69 million in Vermont’s food and agricultural sector. In Vermont, floods in July 2023 and July 2024 impacted nearly 31,000 acres of farmland across the state and resulted in at least $50 million in agricultural losses and damages. As a result of a growing gap in disaster aid relief funding, many Vermont farmers are increasingly operating in the red or losing their livelihoods altogether. In the absence of immediate federal assistance, damage caused by past natural disasters will continue to impact Vermont farmers’ future growing seasons.  
    In addition to Senators Welch and Klobuchar, the letter was signed by Sens. Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). 
    Read the full letter here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Presidential Message on Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, 2025

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    During National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the First Lady and I offer our heartfelt prayers to every American battling the horrific disease of colorectal cancer, as well as their families, friends, and loved ones.  In honor of those we have lost to this colorectal cancer, my Administration is strongly committed to ending our Nation’s chronic disease epidemic and making America healthy again.
    Every year, 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with—and 50,000 die from—colorectal cancer making it the leading cause of cancer death among Americans aged 18 to 49.  Citizens with inflammatory bowel disease or a personal or family history of the disease face a heightened risk and should talk to their doctor about new advancements in cancer screening.  Regular screening is recommended beginning at age 45 as it has been shown that early detection of cancer may result in more effective treatment.
    Cancer is a devastating disease, but there is reason for hope.  Since 1975, medical advancements have saved an estimated 940,000 Americans from colorectal cancer thanks to the incredible efforts of our exceptional American doctors and researchers.  By improving prevention and screening processes we have given our people more precious moments with those they hold dear. 
    The United States is at the forefront of medical technology—and recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood test for people at average risk for colon cancer.  This advancement is another tool in the toolbox, including the colonoscopy and stool DNA tests—giving citizens the ability to choose the option that works best for them in consultation with their doctor.
    My Administration commits to lowering cancer rates and conquering chronic illness, which will create a Nation and a world free of cancer.  We solemnly stand beside those who have lost their loved ones to this dreadful disease—and we pray that God provides courage and strength to those still fighting it, and to all those who are touched by its effects.  As my Administration continues to push the boundaries of medical innovation, we pledge to build a brighter, healthier future for all Americans.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Open Borders, Pro EV Mandate Politician to Respond to Joint Address

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    Elissa Slotkin will respond to President Donald J. Trump’s Joint Address to Congress tonight. Senator Slotkin stands opposed to President Trump’s agenda to lower costs, bring back manufacturing, and secure our borders.
    Slotkin voted against overturning Biden’s tailpipe emissions rule, a rule that would force automakers to sell more electric vehicles, killing auto manufacturing jobs. President Trump stood up for American consumers and autoworkers and repealed this de facto electric vehicle mandate.
    Slotkin voted against congressional disapproval of Biden’s EPA rule seeking to limit tailpipe emissions.
    The House Budget Committee called the regulation “a de facto ban on the sale of gas-powered and traditional hybrid vehicles.”
    Research shows that EV mandates would kill thousands of jobs:
    America First Policy Institute: New Report Exposes Biden-Harris’s Proposed EV Mandates to Cost 200,000 American Jobs
    “The Midwest will suffer the most, with Michigan (-37,000), Indiana (-24,000), and Ohio (-21,000) facing the highest job losses.”

    A UAW study from 2019 projected that EVs would kill 35,000 jobs at its plants.
    Slotkin has repeatedly voted for open borders. President Trump has moved swiftly to secure our borders with attempted crossings in February at the lowest number ever recorded.
    In May 2023, Slotkin voted against the H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act.
    In February 2019, Slotkin voted to terminate President Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the southern border.
    In March 2019, Slotkin again voted again to terminate the declaration in an attempt to override President Trump’s veto.

    In July 2024, Slotkin voted against a resolution “Strongly condemning the Biden Administration and its Border Czar, Kamala Harris’s, failure to secure the United States border.”
    Slotkin said, “I don’t believe that anyone really thinks a wall from sea to shining sea is needed to make us safer.”
    Slotkin is just another out-of-touch politician that wants to hollow out American manufacturing and let criminals flood into our communities.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Saskatchewan Ice Shelter Removal Deadlines Approaching

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on March 4, 2025

    Shelters Must be Removed by March 15 and 31

    As winter winds down, the Government of Saskatchewan is reminding anglers to remove their ice fishing shelters from provincial waterways before warming temperatures create unsafe ice conditions. 

    Shelters must be taken off the ice by March 15 in all areas south of Highway 16 and by March 31 in northern regions of Saskatchewan. 

    Spring weather can be unpredictable, and deteriorating ice conditions can make it dangerous to retrieve shelters later in the season. It is the responsibility of all anglers to ensure they remove their structures and any associated debris before these deadlines.

    Failure to remove shelters by the deadlines can result in hefty fines and the confiscation of the structures and their contents. Abandoned shelters pose unnecessary risks to everyone who enjoys Saskatchewan lakes in the summer and to the wildlife who call our lakes home. Anglers are encouraged to properly dispose of waste and debris when dismantling shelters to help preserve Saskatchewan lakes. 

    Ice fishing shelters must be marked on the outside in legible letters of at least 2.5 cm high, displaying the owner’s complete name, address and phone number. Shelters cannot be left on the shore.

    Be extremely cautious when travelling on ice, as thickness and strength can vary. Signs of unsafe ice include slush, pressure ridges and thermal cracks.

    This year’s ice fishing season closes on March 31 in southern and central Saskatchewan and on April 15 in northern Saskatchewan. For more information, check the Anglers Guide online at saskatchewan.ca/fishing.

    If you suspect wildlife, fisheries, forestry or environmental violations, please call Saskatchewan’s toll-free Turn In Poachers and Polluters (TIPP) line at 1-800-667-7561 or report online at saskatchewan.ca/tipp. You don’t have to give your name and you may be eligible for a cash reward from the SaskTIP Reward Program.

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Laredo, federal partner investigation results in the arrest of a Texas woman for attempting to smuggle 9-year-old twins through Laredo

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    LAREDO, Texas – A Texas woman was charged with conspiring to transport, attempting to transport and transporting two illegal alien minors illegally in the United States for financial gain following an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Laredo Office. ICE worked this case in coordination with U.S. Border Patrol Laredo Sector.

    Jovanna Netzay Diaz, 31, from Dallas, is expected to make her initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver in Dallas. She will then be expected in Laredo federal court shortly thereafter.

    A federal grand jury returned the three-count indictment Feb. 19 which was unsealed upon her arrest Feb. 27.

    According to court documents, the charges allege that on Oct. 26, 2024, Diaz arrived at the Border Patrol checkpoint in Laredo. Upon initial inspection, authorities allegedly observed a blanket moving between the second and third row of the vehicle. Law enforcement soon found one minor underneath the blanket and another concealed on the floorboard of the vehicle’s front passenger seat, according to the charges. The minors were allegedly determined to be nine-year-old twins, who were nationals and citizens of Mexico with no familial connection to Diaz.

    If convicted, Diaz faces up to 10 years in federal prison as well as a $250,000 maximum possible fine.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa A. Lopez from the Southern District of Texas is prosecuting the case.

    An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: iLobby Acquires Leading Logistics Management Provider SCLogic and Rebrands as FacilityOS

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — iLobby, a global leader in enterprise facility and visitor management solutions, today announced the acquisition of SCLogic, a leading logistics management solution provider, and its rebrand to FacilityOS.

    For over two decades, SCLogic has been at the forefront of last-yard logistics, delivering innovative solutions that enhance operational efficiency, reliability, and customer satisfaction. By integrating SCLogic’s proven technology and expertise into the FacilityOS platform, the combined company is now positioned as the most comprehensive solution for facility management.

    “Bringing SCLogic into FacilityOS is a game-changer for the industry,” said Ariel Mashiyev, Chairman and CEO of FacilityOS. “Facility management is evolving, and organizations need an integrated, intelligent platform to streamline operations and drive better outcomes. The addition of SCLogic’s expertise in logistics and asset management strengthens our ability to provide end-to-end solutions that improve efficiency, security, and compliance for our customers worldwide.”

    “This acquisition is a significant step forward in accelerating SCLogic’s growth and enhancing the value we deliver to our customers,” said Mike Saldi, CEO of SCLogic. “Integrating our Intra solution into the FacilityOS platform creates a more robust and comprehensive offering, allowing both existing and future customers to benefit from expanded capabilities.”

    A New Era: iLobby Rebrands as FacilityOS

    Alongside the acquisition, iLobby has officially rebranded as FacilityOS. Originally launched in 2022, the FacilityOS platform was designed to unify iLobby’s suite of products into a single, cohesive interface. Adopting FacilityOS as the company’s name marks a pivotal milestone, reinforcing its expanded vision of delivering end-to-end facility management solutions.

    “iLobby has experienced remarkable growth since its inception, evolving from a niche visitor management solution into a comprehensive, modular facility management platform,” said Mashiyev. “With offices in the United States, Canada, and Europe, we now serve over 25% of Fortune 500 companies. FacilityOS better reflects the breadth of our solutions and the dynamic, innovative company we’ve become.”

    Introducing LogisticsOS & ContractorOS

    Coinciding with the rebrand, FacilityOS has launched two new platform modules:

    • LogisticsOS – An evolution of SCLogic’s Intra platform, LogisticsOS streamlines operations across mailroom handling, central receiving, and asset management, enhancing transparency and eliminating inefficiencies.
    • ContractorOS – A contractor compliance management solution that centralizes documentation, automates key workflows, and ensures audit readiness, providing organizations with improved visibility and compliance confidence.

    New Website & Expanded Resources

    To support this transformation, the company has launched a new corporate website, www.facilityos.com. The new site provides a centralized resource for facility, asset, and visitor management, while also incorporating insights from the SCLogic acquisition.

    For more information, visit www.facilityos.com.

    About FacilityOS

    Deployed across more than 7,000 sites worldwide, FacilityOS powers complex work environments by optimizing and automating key facility processes to achieve regulatory compliance, enforce safety protocols, improve operational efficiencies, and drive site security requirements.

    The integrated FacilityOS platform is supported by robust reporting, turnkey onboarding, and extensive configurability that ensures a strong impact in many industries, such as manufacturing, industrial, healthcare, higher education, and other mission-critical environments. Each module within FacilityOS is designed to work standalone or together with other modules to maximize the impact of the platform.

    FacilityOS is a global company with offices in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Learn more at www.facilityos.com.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c4b5dbaf-5a93-4cc9-afd4-164b58fb1e10

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Gifts from top 50 US philanthropists rebounded to $16B in 2024 − Mike Bloomberg; Reed Hastings and Patty Quillin; and Michael and Susan Dell lead the list of biggest givers

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By David Campbell, Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    Mike Bloomberg speaks at the Global Renewables Summit in September 2024. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bloomberg Philanthropies

    The 50 American individuals and couples who gave or pledged the most to charity in 2024 committed US$16.2 billion to foundations, universities, hospitals and more. That total was 33% above an inflation-adjusted $12.2 billion in 2023, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s latest annual tally of these donations. Media mogul and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg led the list, followed by Netflix co-founder and chairman Reed Hastings, along with his wife, Patty Quillin. Businessman Michael Dell and his wife, Susan Dell, pledged the third most in 2024.

    Neither MacKenzie Scott nor Elon Musk, both of whom announced donations large enough to land them on this list, provided enough information for the Chronicle to include them. Musk didn’t name the nonprofits to which he gave stock, and Scott declined to confirm how much money she put into the donor-advised funds through which she gives. Known as DAFs, these funds are savings accounts reserved for charitable giving.

    The Conversation U.S. asked David Campbell, Lindsey McDougle and Susan Appe, three philanthropy scholars, to assess the significance of these gifts and to consider what they indicate about the state of charitable giving in the United States.

    What trends stand out overall?

    Appe: I think it’s good to see that eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, an Iranian-American entrepreneur born in France, with his wife Pam, are among the top 12 donors. Omidyar is the only foreign-born philanthropist on this list who reported giving to democracy promotion in the U.S. through his Democracy Fund. The Omidyars also funded the AI Collaborative, a group that promotes artificial intelligence governance based on democratic values, and their Omidyar Network, an organization promoting responsible technology.

    Given concerns about democratic backsliding around the world, which could arguably include President Donald Trump’s efforts to expand the executive branch’s power, I’m surprised not to see more top donors clearly funding democracy promotion.

    I study philanthropy by U.S. immigrants. They either give more or at the same rate as people born in the United States.

    Omidyar is one of seven immigrants among 2024’s top U.S. donors. The others are Herta Amir, who was born in what was then Czechoslovakia; Sergey Brin, a Russian immigrant; the Pagidipati family, which came from India; K. Lisa Yang, who was born in Singapore; Michele Kang, who immigrated from South Korea; and Joe Wen, a Taiwanese immigrant.

    In 2024, as in most years, many of these wealthy donors supported prestigious universities and large hospitals and stowed millions in their own foundations and donor-advised funds. Although it’s impossible to predict exactly what their foundations and DAFs will support in the future, history suggests that they’re unlikely to focus on addressing systemic issues such as economic inequality.

    McDougle: It doesn’t appear that any of these top 50 donors are Black or Latino. This lack of representation is undoubtedly a reflection of broader societal disparities and may influence how individuals from these groups perceive their own potential as philanthropists.

    Philanthropic capacity often correlates with wealth accumulation, and significant gaps in wealth between racial groups are likely to have a direct influence on who we see in the Philanthropy 50. Black families, for instance, possess just 15% of the wealth of white families, while Hispanic families have only about 22%. These wealth disparities likely prevent many Black and Latino Americans from having the wealth necessary to engage in large-scale philanthropy.

    This reality highlights the need for the nation’s leading philanthropists to fund initiatives that focus on addressing systemic barriers to economic equality. MacKenzie Scott has been doing this through the millions of dollars she has donated to support racial equity and economic mobility.

    Addressing these disparities also involves changing the narrative around who is considered a philanthropist. As I have argued before, underrepresented groups may not always see themselves as philanthropists, partly due to limited resources and the historical portrayal of philanthropy as the domain of the wealthy. But by redefining philanthropy to include a broader spectrum of giving, philanthropy can play a pivotal role in leveling the playing field and creating more opportunities for all.

    What surprises you about the biggest donors?

    Appe: The absence of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Google co-founder Larry Page and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also stands out due to the presence of many other tech billionaires, including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, on this list.

    Campbell: In addition to Elon Musk, a South African immigrant, not making this list for the second year in a row – even though he is the richest person in the world – Jeff Bezos isn’t listed either. Few private citizens have sought to change American society more than they have – Musk most recently through his role in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and Bezos through actions he takes as the owner of The Washington Post and the founder of Amazon, among other initiatives.

    I believe that it is worth asking why neither of these men, who rank among the wealthiest Americans, made the list this year. While Musk gave too little information to make the list, his previous giving choices raise questions about his commitment to philanthropy as a way to advance the public good. In 2022 and 2023, for example, his foundation gave away less money than required by law and supported organizations that benefit him and his interests, such as schools attended by his children.

    Bezos, by contrast, got a lot of attention in 2022 when he announced he would give away his fortune during his lifetime. Yet his giving has come in fits and starts since 2018, when he began to give away billions of dollars to support people experiencing homelessness, preschools for low-income children and efforts to fight climate change.

    Do you have concerns about the big gifts these donors provide?

    McDougle: The nonprofits receiving these large donations can end up in a precarious situation if that funding suddenly stops. When nonprofits rely too heavily on a few wealthy donors, they may be forced to make abrupt decisions like cutting crucial programs or laying off staff. Obviously, this underscores a core problem with overdependence on these types of major gifts: They can leave nonprofits in a bind and unable to sustain their operations without continued long-term support.

    This is particularly problematic if it affects a nonprofit’s ability to engage in long-term planning. As such, when focusing on the giving of the super rich, it is important to consider not just the immediate benefits of their generosity but also the potential instability it can create for the recipients if their gift is not managed strategically.

    Campbell: The total given by America’s top donors in 2024 was the sixth-highest in the past decade, after adjusting for inflation. I’d expected to see a larger amount, given that 2024 was the second straight year of stock market gains of 20% or more.

    In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, the top donors gave nearly twice as much to charity as they did this past year; and they gave close to $8 billion more than that in 2021. Why haven’t the wealthiest Americans sustained that level?

    Giant gifts to universities, museums and hospitals are surely making a meaningful difference in America and the world. But I wonder why these donors tend not to focus on the challenges facing those who have the least.

    One significant exception is the $1 billion Ruth Gottesman gave the Bronx-based Albert Einstein College of Medicine to allow the school to become tuition-free. Gottesman, a former faculty member at the school, chose to honor and support the many first-generation and low-income students trained there. Bloomberg, upping his commitment to ease the tuition burden at Johns Hopkins University, made a similar gift to the medical school at his alma mater and four medical schools at historically black colleges and universities.

    To be sure, some of these philanthropists use the foundations they or their relatives control to help meet the basic needs of Americans struggling to get by and address issues such as poverty, disease prevention and criminal justice reform. Melinda French Gates, Warren Buffett, and John and Laura Arnold all directed much of their giving in 2024 to those kinds of foundations.

    What do you expect or hope to see in 2025 and beyond?

    Appe: The Trump administration has frozen most U.S. foreign aid, endangering the lives of millions of the world’s poorest people. There are calls for the wealthiest philanthropists to help to fill this void. I hope some big donors respond with large gifts to UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, and the WHO Foundation, which supports the World Health Organization.

    Top philanthropists have been slow to react so far. However, the MacArthur Foundation just announced plans to increase its giving over the next two years. MacArthur president John Palfrey said this is a response to what he called a “major crisis” brought on by the Trump administration’s spending cuts. I will observe whether other foundations or some of the wealthiest Americans follow suit.

    Still, philanthropy cannot fill all these gaps. The $60 billion in foreign aid cuts represent a sliver of the trillions the Trump administration wants to slice from the federal budget. If it succeeds, donors will have countless other priorities.

    Campbell: Events that took place during the first Trump administration, like the murder of George Floyd, the erosion of democratic norms and the separation of immigrant families, led philanthropists to embrace giving that addressed these issues, notably diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. In the early days of the second Trump administration, prominent donors like Mark Zuckerberg have enthusiastically backtracked on their own DEI policies. I am now watching how other donors position themselves relative to the Trump administration’s objectives – as cheerleaders, combatants or something in between.

    The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Arnold Ventures have provided funding for The Conversation U.S. in the past. The Gates foundation currently provides funding for The Conversation internationally.

    David Campbell receives grants from the Learning by Giving Foundation and the Conrad and Virginia Klee Foundation to support the experiential philanthropy course he teaches at Binghamton University. He also serves as the chair of the Klee Foundation board.

    Lindsey McDougle and Susan Appe do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Gifts from top 50 US philanthropists rebounded to $16B in 2024 − Mike Bloomberg; Reed Hastings and Patty Quillin; and Michael and Susan Dell lead the list of biggest givers – https://theconversation.com/gifts-from-top-50-us-philanthropists-rebounded-to-16b-in-2024-mike-bloomberg-reed-hastings-and-patty-quillin-and-michael-and-susan-dell-lead-the-list-of-biggest-givers-250577

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: A Century of Service: Probation and Pretrial Services’ Impact on Justice

    Source: United States Courts

    How did the introduction of U.S. probation officers impact the federal criminal justice system?

    Before the Probation Act of 1925, district judges lacked the authority to sentence defendants to probation. Some judges used a practice called “laying a case on file” to hold off on imposing a sentence so long as the defendant maintained good behavior. However, there was no formal way for the court to monitor the defendant’s conduct. 

    With the passage of the Probation Act of 1925 and the creation of federal probation officers, courts gained the authority to impose a sentence of probation, and judges could rely on probation officers to supervise these people in the community. Additionally, with the help of probation officers, judges could review presentence reports to help identify good candidates to be placed on probation.

    How has the role of U.S. probation officers changed since the position was first created?

    Initially, probation officers were only authorized to supervise those sentenced to probation. However, the scope of their work expanded quickly. In 1930, probation officers became authorized to supervise federal parolees. After World War II, probation officers began to supervise military parolees. And in the 1980s, Congress created pretrial services and authorized probation and pretrial services officers to supervise defendants in the community. 

    Most significantly, in 1987, when Federal Sentencing Guidelines became effective, officers began to supervise those placed on supervised release. Officers took on a legal-interpretation and legal-application role too – assessing and recommending sentencing guideline calculations in presentence reports. 

    The work of probation and pretrial services has only become increasingly complex, with officers managing conditions, such as location monitoring and restrictions on technology access.

    What common misconceptions do people have about the role of U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services?

    Some people assume that probation and pretrial services work for the Department of Justice. But from the very start, the work of officers was closely related to the Judiciary’s role in sentencing, and in 1940, officers were formally moved into the Judiciary. The status of officers as employees of the court ensures their independence and promotes trust between the officers and judges whom they serve.

    Another misconception is that officers have a singular mindset – either law enforcement or social worker – about how to best supervise people on their caseload. In fact, we know that the best officers are multi-dimensional. They understand that the goal of protecting the public includes, and is not separate from, the goal of rehabilitating the person on supervision. 

    What obstacles has the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services system overcome over the past century?

    Officers have been asked to adjust to whatever the nation’s pressing needs are. Over the years, officers have supervised bootleggers and mob bosses, draft dodgers, Wall Street tycoons, and violent street gang members. They have had to handle both domestic and international violent extremists, as well as sexual offenders and cyber criminals. It is a testament to the skills and adaptability of officers that they have been able to adjust to all these changes.

    Another challenge has been keeping up with new legislative directives and changing trends in crime overall. For example, the Sentencing Reform Act created a seismic shift in the work of probation officers. They needed to learn and apply the sentencing guidelines and understand how the goals of supervised release differed from that of probation.

    What major challenges does the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services system face today?

    Securing adequate resources has always been a challenge. Most of our budget is spent on our staff. When we experience budget shortfalls, it means fewer officers and larger caseloads for the remaining officers. When caseloads get too high, there are delays in investigations and reports, which slows down cases. And large caseloads increase the risks that supervision issues are not promptly addressed. 

    A significant obstacle that our system – like the rest of the nation – had to overcome was the COVID-19 pandemic. As the virus swept across the country, officers had to change the way they carried out their duties to keep themselves and the people they supervised safe. I was impressed to see the ingenuity and innovations deployed by officers, including virtual home contacts, remote-monitoring technology, and the use of telehealth services. Some of the pandemic-related innovations were so successful that they have been incorporated into today’s post-pandemic policies and procedures.

    What technological advancements have most impacted the work of officers?

    In the early days of the system, probation officers worried about things like typewriters, office space, and office supplies. But as the system grew, questions arose about what those records should look like. In 1959, at the request of the Judiciary, the General Services Administration conducted a study on recording and reporting of probation office statistics. A number of recommendations were made to promote consistency. These formal reports are still used today to inform the Judiciary, the Congress, and the public about our work. 

    To track their work, officers would use logbooks and eventually Dictaphones to track case-related activities. In 1977, the Judicial Conference approved the system’s first case management system – the Probation Information Management System. A decade later, that system was replaced with the Probation and Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking System (PACTS), and we are now nearing the end of the development of PACTS360, a secure, cloud-based system, which will enhance officers’ productivity and effectiveness. 

    PACTS and PACTS360 provide vital information that impacts case-specific decisions, such as the risk level of the person being supervised, and system-wide decisions, such as the resource requirement for the system.

    Today, officers have access to most case-related information on their smartphones. They also leverage new technologies to interact with the people they supervise, use location and computer monitoring, and the latest drug testing technology as part of the supervision process to aid them in planning and performing field work safely. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Mexican National Arrested in San Antonio for Illegal Alien in Possession of a Firearm

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAN ANTONIO – A Mexican national was arrested in San Antonio on criminal charges related to his alleged possession of a firearm as an illegal alien.

    According to court documents, during a Feb. 25 traffic stop, Rene Garibay-Robledo presented FBI agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers a Mexico ID and allegedly stated he lacked legal status to be in the United States. Additionally, the criminal complaint alleges Garibay-Robledo stated that he had one firearm—a pistol—at his house. During the execution of federal search warrant at Garibay-Robledo’s home,  three handguns, a semi-automatic CZ Scorpion EVO 3, approximately 450 rounds of mixed caliber ammunition, and 6.8 grams of a substance that tested positive for cocaine were seized.

    A review of Department of Homeland Security records revealed Garibay-Robledo entered the U.S. illegally on or about Jan. 1, 1994 near Laredo. Law enforcement databases also confirm a prior theft conviction from December 2000 in California.

    Garibay-Robledo is charged with one count of illegal alien in possession of a firearm. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

    The FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO) are investigating the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Parsons is prosecuting the case.

    A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Miami U.S. Attorney Charges Suspected Tren de Aragua Gang Member with Illegal Possession of Loaded 9 Millimeter Handgun

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    MIAMI – A Venezuelan national and suspected member of the violent transnational Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang who used the now-disabled Customs and Border Protection (CBP) One Application to enter the United States in 2023, has been charged with possessing a firearm as an illegal alien – a federal crime. 

    Luis Ernesto Veliz Riera, 23, made his initial appearance yesterday before a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Florida. According to the unsealed criminal complaint affidavit, Veliz Riera was allowed to enter the United States at the Mexico-El Paso, Texas border in February 2023, after appearing for an appointment he booked online through the (now inactive) CBP One Application system. Prior to being shut down on January 20, 2025, the online system allowed undocumented aliens to submit information and schedule appointments at eight southwest United States border ports of entry.

    On the day he entered, CBP presented Veliz Riera with a Notice to Appear for a hearing before an immigration judge in Las Vegas, Nevada – where he told officials he was headed. According to the affidavit, Veliz-Ruiz skipped his immigration hearing and stayed in El Paso, waiting for his girlfriend (also a Venezuelan national) to illegally cross from Mexico into the United States in April-May 2023. The couple traveled together from El Paso to Chicago – to New York City – and finally to Homestead, Florida. On April 30, 2024, an immigration judge entered an order to remove Veliz Riera from the United States after he failed to appear in immigration court or otherwise report to immigration authorities.  

    On October 17, 2024, in connection with an investigation into potential TdA illegal activity, local law enforcement stopped a car that Veliz Riera was driving. Records and other checks showed that Veliz Riera was wanted on an open state crime warrant and that he was in the country illegally. Further investigation showed that, despite his illegal status, Veliz Ruiz kept a Taurus, PT609 Pro 9mm, semi-automatic handgun with a 30-round magazine inside the Homestead hotel room he shared with his girlfriend and that he had loaded the gun earlier that day, says the affidavit. 

    On October, 17, 2024, Veliz Ruiz was arrested on state charges.

    On November 16, 2024, based on his illegal status, Veliz Riera went into immigration detention where he was released into the community on electronic monitoring.  

    On February 3, 2025, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) administratively arrested Veliz Riera to reexamine the decision to release him from immigration detention.

    On February 14, 2025, Miami federal prosecutors charged Veliz Riera with one count of possessing a firearm as an illegal alien, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(5)(A). During his initial appearance in federal court today, Veliz Riera agreed to remain in Bureau of Prisons custody pending trial.

    United States Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jose R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

    HSI-Miami’s Fort Lauderdale office is investigating the case. HSI federal task force officers from Homestead Police Department, City of Miami Police Department, Sweetwater Police Department, and Broward Sheriff’s Office assisted, as did United States Border Patrol-Dania Beach Station, ATF Miami, ICE-ERO Miami, and FBI Miami.

    Assistant United States Attorney Kseniya Smychkouskaya is prosecuting the case.

    A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 25-mj-02303.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

    Source: Apple

    Headline: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

    March 4, 2025

    PRESS RELEASE

    Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

    CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today introduced the faster, more powerful iPad Air with the M3 chip and built for Apple Intelligence. iPad Air with M3 brings Apple’s advanced graphics architecture to iPad Air for the first time — taking its incredible combination of power-efficient performance and portability to a new level. iPad Air with M3 is nearly 2x faster compared to iPad Air with M1,1 and up to 3.5x faster than iPad Air with A14 Bionic.2 Users will feel the speed of M3 in everything they do, from creating engaging content faster than ever to playing demanding, graphics-intensive games. Available in two sizes and four gorgeous finishes that users love, the 11-inch iPad Air is super portable while on the go, and the 13-inch model provides an even larger display for more room to be creative and productive. Designed for iPad Air, the new Magic Keyboard enhances its versatility and delivers more capabilities at a lower price. With iPadOS 18, support for Apple Intelligence, advanced cameras, fast wireless 5G connectivity, and compatibility with Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C), the new iPad Air offers an unrivaled experience.

    With the same starting price of just $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model, the new iPad Air is a fantastic value. And for education, the 11-inch iPad Air starts at just $549, and the 13-inch model starts at just $749. Customers can pre-order the new iPad Air with M3 and Magic Keyboard for iPad Air starting today, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 12.

    “iPad Air is so popular because of its unmatched combination of powerful performance, portability, and support for advanced accessories, all at an affordable price,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “For everyone from college students taking notes with Apple Pencil Pro, to travelers and content creators who need powerful productivity on the go, iPad Air with M3, Apple Intelligence, and the new Magic Keyboard take versatility and value to the next level.”

    Supercharged Performance with M3

    iPad Air with M3 empowers users to be productive and creative wherever they are, from aspiring creatives using demanding apps and working with large files, to travelers editing content on the go. The powerful M3 chip offers a number of improvements over M1 and previous-generation models. Featuring a more powerful 8-core CPU, M3 is up to 35 percent faster for multithreaded CPU workflows than iPad Air with M1. M3 features a 9-core GPU with up to 40 percent faster graphics performance over M1. M3 also brings Apple’s advanced graphics architecture to iPad Air for the first time with support for dynamic caching, along with hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing. For graphics-intensive rendering workflows, iPad Air with M3 offers up to 4x faster performance than iPad Air with M1, enabling more accurate lighting, reflections, shadows, and extremely realistic gaming experiences.3

    The faster Neural Engine in M3 means iPad Air users can enjoy even more AI capabilities in iPadOS. Compared to M1, the Neural Engine in M3 is up to 60 percent faster for AI-based workloads. Other improvements over iPad models with A-series chips include support for Apple Intelligence, the choice of 11- and 13-inch sizes, and support for advanced accessories, including the new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro.

    iPad Air: Built for Apple Intelligence

    iPad Air is built for Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that delivers helpful and relevant intelligence.4 In Photos, the Clean Up tool makes it easy to remove distracting elements in images, and natural language search allows users to search for just about any photo or video by simply describing what they are looking for. With Image Wand in the Notes app, users can make notes more visually engaging by turning rough sketches into delightful images, just by drawing a circle around the sketch with their Apple Pencil. Users can even circle empty space within a note, and Image Wand will gather context from the surrounding area to create a relevant image that complements the note and makes it more visual.

    Apple Intelligence helps users explore creative new ways to express themselves visually with Image Playground, create the perfect emoji with Genmoji, and make their writing even more dynamic with Writing Tools. Users can now type to Siri, and Siri is more conversational with the ability to follow along if users stumble over their words. Siri can also maintain context from one request to the next, and with extensive product knowledge, Siri can answer thousands of questions about the features and settings of Apple products, so users can learn how to do things like take a screen recording.

    With ChatGPT seamlessly integrated into Writing Tools and Siri, users can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise without jumping between applications, so they can get things done faster and easier than ever before. In addition, users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and privacy protections are built in — their IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI won’t store requests. Users can choose whether to enable ChatGPT integration, and are in full control of when to use it and what information is shared with ChatGPT.

    Designed to protect users’ privacy at every step, Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing, meaning that many of the models that power it run entirely on device. For requests that require access to larger models, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of iPad into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill their request.

    All-New Magic Keyboard for iPad Air

    The all-new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air expands what users can do at an even lower price. The larger built-in trackpad brings greater precision for detail-oriented tasks, and a new 14-key function row allows easy access to features like screen brightness and volume controls. The new Magic Keyboard attaches magnetically, and the Smart Connector immediately connects power and data without the need for Bluetooth; a machined aluminum hinge also includes a USB-C connector for charging. Now starting at just $269 for the 11-inch model and $319 for the 13-inch model, the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air features the magical floating design customers love and comes in white.

    iPad Updated with Double the Starting Storage and the A16 Chip

    Apple today also updated iPad with double the starting storage and the A16 chip, bringing even more value to customers. The A16 chip provides a jump in performance for everyday tasks and experiences in iPadOS, while still providing all-day battery life. Compared to the previous generation, the updated iPad with A16 is nearly 30 percent faster.5 In fact, compared to iPad with A13 Bionic, users will see up to a 50 percent improvement in overall performance,5 and A16 makes the updated iPad up to 6x faster than the best-selling Android tablet.6

    Powerful and Intelligent Features with iPadOS 18

    iPadOS 18 offers powerful features that enhance the iPad experience, making it more versatile and intelligent than ever:7

    • Designed for the unique capabilities of iPad, Calculator delivers an entirely new way to use Apple Pencil to solve expressions. With Math Notes, users are now able to write out mathematical expressions or type to see them instantly solved in handwriting like their own. They can also create and use variables, and add an equation to insert a graph. Users can access their Math Notes in the Notes app and use all of the math functionality in any of their other notes.
    • In Notes, handwritten notes become more fluid and flexible. Smart Script unleashes powerful new capabilities for users editing handwritten text, allowing them to easily add space or even paste typed text in their own handwriting. And as users write with Apple Pencil, their handwriting will be automatically refined in real time to be smoother, straighter, and more legible.
    • With new Audio Recording and Transcription, iPad can capture a lecture or conversation, and transcripts are synced with the audio, so users can search for an exact moment in the recording.
    • Users now have even more options to express themselves through the Home Screen. App icons and widgets can take on a new look with a dark or tinted effect, and users can make them appear larger to create the experience that’s perfect for them. A redesigned Control Center provides easier access to many of the things users do every day, including the option to organize new controls from third-party apps.

    Better for the Environment

    The new iPad Air and updated iPad are designed with the environment in mind. As part of Apple 2030, the company’s ambitious goal to be carbon neutral across its entire carbon footprint by the end of this decade, Apple is transitioning to renewable electricity for manufacturing, and investing in wind and solar projects around the world to address the electricity used to charge all Apple products, including the new iPad Air and iPad. Today, all Apple facilities run on 100 percent renewable electricity — including the data centers that power Apple Intelligence.

    To achieve Apple 2030, the company is designing products with more recycled and renewable materials, which further drives down the carbon footprint. The new iPad Air and iPad each feature at least 30 percent recycled content overall, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets. The batteries contain 100 percent recycled cobalt and — in a first for iPad — over 95 percent recycled lithium. The new iPad Air and iPad meet Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency, and are free of mercury, brominated flame retardants, and PVC. The packaging is also entirely fiber-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal of removing plastic from its packaging by the end of this year.8

    Pricing and Availability

    • Customers can pre-order the new iPad Air with M3 starting today, March 4, on apple.com/store, and in the Apple Store app in 29 countries and regions, including the U.S. It will begin arriving to customers, and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers, starting March 12.
    • The 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air with M3 will be available in blue, purple, starlight, and space gray, with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configurations.
    • The 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599 (U.S.) for the Wi-Fi model, and $749 (U.S.) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. The 13-inch iPad Air starts at $799 (U.S.) for the Wi-Fi model, and $949 (U.S.) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
    • For education, the new 11-inch iPad Air starts at $549 (U.S.), and the 13-inch model starts at $749 (U.S.). Education pricing is available to current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and home-school teachers of all grade levels. For more information, visit apple.com/us-hed/shop.
    • The new Magic Keyboard, available in white, is compatible with the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air. The 11-inch Magic Keyboard is available for $269 (U.S.), and the 13-inch Magic Keyboard is available for $319 (U.S.). For education, the 11-inch Magic Keyboard is available for $249 (U.S.), and the 13-inch Magic Keyboard is available for $299 (U.S.).
    • Customers can pre-order the new iPad with A16 starting today, March 4, on apple.com/store, and in the Apple Store app in 29 countries and regions, including the U.S. It will begin arriving to customers, and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers, starting March 12.
    • The new iPad starts with 128GB of storage, and is also available in 256GB and a new 512GB configuration. Available in blue, pink, yellow, and silver, Wi-Fi models of the new iPad are available with a starting price of $349 (U.S.), and Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at $499 (U.S.). For education, Wi-Fi models of the new iPad are available with a starting price of $329 (U.S.), and Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at $479 (U.S.).
    • Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad is available for $249 (U.S.) and comes in white. For education, the Magic Keyboard Folio is available for $229 (U.S.).
    • Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C) are compatible with the new iPad Air. Apple Pencil (USB-C) and Apple Pencil (1st generation) are compatible with the new iPad. Apple Pencil Pro is available for $129 (U.S.), and $119 (U.S.) for education. Apple Pencil (USB-C) is available for $79 (U.S.), and $69 (U.S.) for education.
    • Apple offers great ways to save on the latest iPad. Customers can trade in their current iPad and get credit toward a new one by visiting the Apple Store online, the Apple Store app, or an Apple Store location. To see what their device is worth and for terms and conditions, customers can visit apple.com/shop/trade-in.
    • Customers in the U.S. who shop at Apple using Apple Card can pay monthly at 0 percent APR when they choose to check out with Apple Card Monthly Installments, and they’ll get 3 percent Daily Cash back — all up front. More information — including details on eligibility, exclusions, and Apple Card terms — is available at apple.com/apple-card/monthly-installments.

    About Apple Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.

    1. Testing conducted by Apple in January and February 2025. See apple.com/ipad-air for more information.
    2. Testing conducted by Apple in January and February 2025 using preproduction iPad Air 11-inch (M3) and iPad Air 13-inch (M3) units as well as production iPad Air (4th generation) units. Tested with Procreate Dreams v1.0.14 by exporting a 29-second project. Performance tests are conducted using specific iPad units and reflect the approximate performance of iPad Air.
    3. Testing conducted by Apple in January and February 2025 using preproduction iPad Air 11-inch (M3) and iPad Air 13-inch (M3) units as well as production iPad Air (5th generation) units. Octane X 2024.1.01 for iPad tested using a scene with 770,000 meshes and 8 million unique primitives, utilizing hardware-accelerated ray tracing on M3-based systems and software-based ray tracing on all other units. Performance tests are conducted using specific iPad units and reflect the approximate performance of iPad Air.
    4. Apple Intelligence is available on iPad mini (A17 Pro) and iPad models with M1 and later, in localized English for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, and the U.S. Additional languages — including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (simplified), English (Singapore), and English (India) — will be available in April, with more languages coming over the course of the year, including Vietnamese. Some features, applications, and services may not be available in all regions or all languages.
    5. Testing conducted by Apple in January and February 2025 using preproduction iPad (A16) units as well as production iPad (10th generation) units. Tested with a selection of tasks using Microsoft Excel for iPad v2.93. Performance tests are conducted using specific iPad units and reflect the approximate performance of iPad.
    6. Testing conducted by Apple in January and February 2025 using preproduction iPad (A16) units with Apple A16, as well as production Qualcomm SM6375-based Android tablet units with the latest version of Android 14 available at the time of testing. Best-selling Android tablet based on publicly available sales data over the last 12 months. Tested with common tasks in commercial applications and select industry-standard benchmarks. Performance depends on device settings, usage, environment, and many other factors. Performance tests are conducted using specific systems and reflect the approximate performance of iPad.
    7. Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas. For more information on iPadOS 18, visit apple.com/ipados/ipados-18.
    8. Based on retail packaging as shipped by Apple. Breakdown of U.S. retail packaging by weight. Adhesives, inks, and coatings are excluded from calculations of plastic content and packaging weight.

    Press Contacts

    Tara Courtney

    Apple

    tcourtney@apple.com

    Skylar Eisenhart

    Apple

    s_eisenhart@apple.com

    Apple Media Helpline

    media.help@apple.com

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warren, Lawmakers to Trump: Fire Elon Musk, Reinstate Agency Leaders and Federal Watchdogs

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren

    March 04, 2025

    Lawmakers demand Trump reinstate fired Senate-confirmed officials and address Musk’s conflicts of interest, cite officials’ investigations and prosecutions of Musk’s companies 

    “Nearly all of your decisions you made about who to fire appear to benefit Mr. Musk”

    “We urge you to immediately reinstate the illegally fired individuals and remove Mr. Musk from his government role unless he addresses his massive and glaring conflicts of interest”

    Text of Letter (PDF) 

    Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), led 38 Members of Congress in a letter to President Donald Trump, raising concerns about his unlawful firings of dozens of independent agency heads and inspectors general (IGs), and calling attention to how many of these firings appear to benefit Elon Musk. The Members also asked that President Trump remove Musk from his government role unless he addresses his conflicts of interest, and immediately reinstate the illegally fired individuals. 

    “Nearly all of your decisions you made about who to fire appear to benefit Mr. Musk, and many target individuals and agencies that are currently investigating or prosecuting Mr. Musk or his companies for unlawful behavior,” wrote the lawmakers. “Many of these individuals have legal protections dictating why and how they can be removed from office.”

    Many of the firings appear to benefit Musk. Musk and his companies have been the subject of at least 20 recent government investigations or prosecutions, including for possible violations of federal safety and labor laws. The lawmakers’ letter lists several agency heads and watchdogs who were improperly fired while involved in oversight surrounding Musk, including but not limited to: NLRB Chair Gwynne Wilcox, FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub, EEOC Commissioners Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrow, and USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong.

    “Altogether, these firings either directly benefit Mr. Musk and his companies or remove guardrails that would hold them accountable to the rule of law,” continued the lawmakers.

    Several of Trump’s orders contradict legal protections for the relevant officials. For example, federal law requires the president to notify Congress before removing an inspector general, but Trump did not do so before firing over a dozen IGs. He also failed to set forth the justification required to remove a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 

    “The impacts are vast: in total, your removals of agency heads and career civil servants have affected at least eleven federal agencies with more than thirty-two ongoing investigations, complaints, or enforcement actions on Mr. Musk’s companies,” wrote the lawmakers.

    The lawmakers warned that failing to hold Musk accountable hurts American citizens and threatens the democratic system of checks and balances.

    “These firings have removed the exact individuals in our government who would hold Mr. Musk and his companies accountable for following the law and protect everyday Americans from threats to their health, welfare, safety, and economic well-being,” wrote the lawmakers.

    “We urge you to immediately reinstate the illegally fired individuals and remove Mr. Musk from his government role unless he addresses his massive and glaring conflicts of interest as required by law,” concluded the lawmakers.

    In addition to lead Senator Warren and co-lead Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the following Senators signed on: Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Heinrich (D-N.M.), Markey (D-Mass.), Padilla (D-Calif.), Sanders (I-Vt.), Schiff (D-Calif.), Van Hollen (D-Md.)

    In addition to co-leads House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the following Representatives signed on: Balint (D-Vt.), Beyer (D-Va.), Brownley (D-Calif.), Clarke (D-N.Y.), Cleaver (D-Mo.), Cohen (D-Tenn.), Davis (D-Ill.), DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), García (D-Ill.), Garcia (D-Calif.), Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Johnson (D-Ga.), Kelly (D-Ill.), Khanna (D-Calif.), Lee (D-Pa.), Levin (D-Calif.), Matsui (D-Calif.), McIver (D-N.J.), Moulton (D-Mass.), Norton (D-D.C.), Olszewski (D-Md.), Ramirez (D-Ill.), Scanlon (D-Pa.), Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Stansbury (D-N.M.), Subramanyam (D-Va.), Titus (D-Nev.), Tlaib (D-Mich.), Tokuda (D-Hawai’i), Tonko (D-N.Y.), and Waters (D-Calif.).

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Introducing New Cloud-Based CorelDRAW Go, Creative and Workflow Enhancements in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2025, and Browser-Based Design with CorelDRAW Web

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CorelDRAW Go provides a beginner-friendly design experience, empowering creativity from anywhere.

    CorelDRAW Graphics Suite delivers Painterly Brush tool enhancements and streamlined print to PDF workflows, alongside flexible, online design with CorelDRAW Web.

    OTTAWA, Ontario, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Introducing CorelDRAW Go, a beginner-friendly online graphic design tool for creative enthusiasts and aspiring designers. This newest addition to the CorelDRAW family simplifies the creative process, equipping users with intuitive tools to design efficiently from anywhere.

    Alongside this, the latest updates to award-winning graphic design software, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, are unveiled, including CorelDRAW Web, providing subscribers with a flexible, cloud-based design experience.

    “With CorelDRAW Go and CorelDRAW Web, we’re making creativity more accessible than ever,” said Prakash Channagiri, Senior Director of Product Management for CorelDRAW. “The flexibility of these new cloud-based tools combined with the latest creative and workflow enhancements in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, reinforce our commitment to empowering design professionals and creative enthusiasts to work more efficiently and push the boundaries of what’s possible in graphic design.”

    CorelDRAW Go is a browser-based tool that makes design more intuitive and accessible, without the steep learning curve that comes with professional graphic design software. With an easy-to-use interface it delivers more advanced drawing and editing capabilities than many template-based alternatives.

    Here’s what’s available in CorelDRAW Go:

    Robust Design Tools

    • Interactive drawing tools
    • Realistic brushes
    • Straightforward node editing
    • User-friendly text tools
    • Easy-to-use masking controls
    • Essential image editing features

    Extensive Creative Assets

    • Fully customizable templates
    • Thousands of editable vector icons, illustrations, and clipart
    • More than 6 million royalty-free stock photos
    • Thousands of fonts

    In this latest release, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite customers get access to powerful tools and enhancements designed to elevate creativity and simplify workflows.

    Here’s what’s new in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2025:

    • NEW! CorelDRAW Web: CorelDRAW is more accessible than ever thanks to the introduction of CorelDRAW Web, a powerful browser-based version of the award-winning graphic design suite. Available exclusively to subscribers, CorelDRAW Web delivers a full CorelDRAW experience in the browser, allowing users to design seamlessly from any device.
    • NEW! Advanced Print to PDF capabilities: Streamline workflows and enjoy faster, more efficient output with new Print to PDF functionality, now integrated into CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT.
    • ENHANCED! Painterly Brush tool: Unleash creativity with the upgraded Painterly Brush tool, now featuring additional brush controls, and improved compatibility with other tools. Plus, subscribers get exclusive access to 50 additional free brushes, unlocking a world of new creative possibilities.
    • NEW! Simplified multi-seat license management: The redesigned Corel Customer Account Portal streamlines license administration, allowing businesses to assign licenses or deploy software without requiring individual user accounts.

    This latest release also includes performance and quality improvements, direct access to additional Google Fonts, and advanced security upgrades.

    Availability and Pricing

    CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is available on Windows, macOS, and web in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Swedish, and Japanese. Subscription is $269 USD / €369 / £319 per year. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2025 is available for one-time purchase at the suggested retail price of $549 USD / €779 / £659. EUR and GBP prices include VAT.

    To compare purchase options of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, please visit: https://www.coreldraw.com/coreldraw/#compare.

    For more information about business licenses, visit www.coreldraw.com/business, and for more information about education licenses, visit www.coreldraw.com/education.

    CorelDRAW Web is available to all CorelDRAW subscribers and active maintenance customers and is supported on the most recent versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox, on both Windows and macOS. To learn more about CorelDRAW Web, or to try a 15-day trial, visit: www.coreldraw.corel.com.

    CorelDRAW Go performs best with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, with the latest updates, on both Windows and macOS, and is available in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, and Czech. A subscription is $9.99 USD / €9.99 / £8.99 monthly or $99 USD / €115 / £95 per year. EUR and GBP prices include VAT. To learn more about CorelDRAW Go, visit: www.go.corel.com.

    About Alludo

    Alludo is a global technology company helping people work better and live better. We’re the people behind award-winning, globally recognizable brands including Parallels, Corel, MindManager, and WinZip. Our professional-caliber graphics, virtualization, and productivity solutions are finely tuned for the digital remote workforce delivering the freedom to work when, where, and how you want.

    With a 35+ year legacy of innovation, Alludo empowers all you do, helping more than 2.5 million paying customers to enable, ideate, create, and share on any device, anywhere. To learn more, visit www.alludo.com. 

    © 2025 Cascade Parent Limited trading as Alludo. All rights reserved. Alludo, and the Alludo logo are trademarks of Cascade Parent Limited in Canada, the United States and/or elsewhere. Corel, CorelDRAW, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, Go, MindManager and WinZip are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation. Parallels is a registered trademark of Parallels International GmbH. MacOS is a trademark of Apple Inc. Google and Chrome are trademarks of Google LLC. All other company, product and service names, logos, brands and any registered or unregistered trademarks mentioned are used for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners. For all notices and legal information please visit www.alludo.com/en/legal and www.corel.com/en/legal-information/.

    Contact:
    Ashley Ruess
    ashley.ruess@alludo.com

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9c05058a-e856-498a-88b3-2330c0f33de1

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c0add386-97a5-490e-ad55-360995e05f1d

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/32ad5403-f765-41bd-8d7c-117c67db1399

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/94cf185e-48cb-4409-bd79-555aa6d1c49d

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: STMicroelectronics’ new integrated STM32WBA6 wireless microcontrollers combine extra features and performance with power efficiency

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    STMicroelectronics’ new integrated STM32WBA6 wireless microcontrollers combine extra features and performance with power efficiency

    Cost-efficient and highly integrated embedded devices for emerging 2.4GHz wireless applications in smart home, health, factory, and agriculture

    Geneva, Switzerland, March 4, 2025 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has announced the next generation of its STM32 power-efficient short-range wireless microcontrollers (MCUs) that simplify connecting consumer and industrial devices to the IoT.

    The new STM32WBA6 series is used in connected, smart devices like wearable healthcare and wellness monitors, animal collars, electronic locks, remote weather sensors, and more. Packing extra memory and digital system interfaces, while preserving energy efficiency the new MCUs can handle richer functionality in emerging new product designs.

    The STM32WBA6 MCUs also embed SESIP3 and PSA Level3 certifiable security assets, such as cryptographic accelerators, TrustZone® isolation, random generator, and product lifecycle that will contribute and enable ST customers to reach compliancy towards the upcoming RED and CRA regulations.

    “Robust and standardized wireless connectivity is central to the IoT’s success. Our new STM32WBA6 MCUs bring richer features and larger memory to address high-end applications in smart home, health, factory, and agriculture,” said Patrick Aidoune, General-Purpose MCU Division General Manager, STMicroelectronics. “Our customers can now increase the pace of development to meet demands from consumer and industrial markets for new products that deliver more features and increased capabilities within reduced size and power constraints.”

    The wireless subsystem in the new STM32WBA6 microcontrollers supports Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, and other protocols operating in the 2.4GHz frequency band, and allows communication using multiple protocols concurrently. It’s how a system like a smart-home bridge can communicate with the homeowner’s mobile app over Bluetooth and simultaneously manage lights or thermostats through mesh networking such as Zigbee. The STM32WBA6 series also contains single-protocol variants for simpler and more cost-conscious applications.

    Customer testimonials:

    “The extensive hardware feature set, low power consumption, advanced cyber security, and excellent price/performance make the STM32WBA6 devices perfect for our advanced in-car driver monitoring, incident tracking, and emergency calling solution. Aided by the extensive ecosystem and ST’s strong technical support, we were able to quickly start prototype development and achieve qualification in accordance with all applicable industry requirements. We are on track to begin production in Q2 2025,” said Vittorio Ferrari, CTO, Meta System.

    Technical notes for editors:

    • By integrating the processing core, peripherals, and wireless subsystem, STM32WBA6 MCUs help product developers meet demands to simplify new designs, miniaturize assembly size, and save the electronic bill-of-materials. With up to double the Flash and RAM on-chip, compared to the previous STM32WBA5 series, the new MCUs provide generous storage for application code and data.
    • With up to 2MB of Flash and 512KB RAM on-chip, the new STM32WBA6 MCUs contain larger memory to support more sophisticated applications.
    • The richer digital peripherals add USB High Speed as well as extra digital interfaces including three SPI ports, four I2C ports, three USARTs, and one LPUART.
    • Concurrent multiprotocol wireless makes the STM32WBA6 series ideal for applications that leverage Matter, which is designed to run on top of other protocols. The X-CUBE-MATTER software package, part of the extensive STM32Cube ecosystem, integrates the Matter SDK and comes with application examples to ease development.
    • The wireless subsystem improves performance, with sensitivity increased to -100dBm for more reliable connectivity up to the maximum specified range.
    • The STM32WBA6 series is powered by the energy-efficient Arm® Cortex®-M33 core, with floating-point unit and DSP extensions, running at up to 100MHz.
    • The STM32WBA5 and STM32WBA6 support the latest EU Radio Equipment Directive (RED) cyber-security requirements. Their SESIP3 certification target will greatly ease the customer device conformance.
    • Package options cover a wide range from a 7mm x 7mm UFQFPN48 to a 6mm x 6mm UFBGA121 with 121 pins.
    • There is also a thin wafer-level chip-scale package, WLCSP88, that measures only 3.78mm x 3.46mm.

    The STM32WBA6 MCUs are in production and available now, priced from $2.50 for orders of 10,000 pieces. For more information, please go to www.st.com/stm32wba.

    STM32 is a registered and/or unregistered trademark of STMicroelectronics International NV or its affiliates in the EU and/or elsewhere. In particular, STM32 is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

    About STMicroelectronics
    At ST, we are 50,000 creators and makers of semiconductor technologies mastering the semiconductor supply chain with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. An integrated device manufacturer, we work with more than 200,000 customers and thousands of partners to design and build products, solutions, and ecosystems that address their challenges and opportunities, and the need to support a more sustainable world. Our technologies enable smarter mobility, more efficient power and energy management, and the wide-scale deployment of cloud-connected autonomous things. We are on track to be carbon neutral in all direct and indirect emissions (scopes 1 and 2), product transportation, business travel, and employee commuting emissions (our scope 3 focus), and to achieve our 100% renewable electricity sourcing goal by the end of 2027.

    Further information can be found at www.st.com.

    INVESTOR RELATIONS
    Jérôme Ramel
    EVP Corporate Development & Integrated External Communication
    Tel: +41.22.929.59.20
    jerome.ramel@st.com

    MEDIA RELATIONS
    Alexis Breton
    Corporate External Communications
    Tel: +33.6.59.16.79.08
    alexis.breton@st.com

    Attachments

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Many more Denver teens have experienced homelessness than official counts show

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Matthew Westfall, Medical Resident in Internal Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

    Denver saw an increase in youth homelessness from 10% to 25% between 2017 and 2021, according to our study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal “Pediatrics.”

    We are two physicians whose clinical work and research focuses on the social causes of health and disease. In particular, we’ve seen firsthand how housing instability influences health outcomes.

    Homelessness takes many forms, including living on the street or in a car, motel or shelter, or staying temporarily with friends or family. This last scenario is known as “doubling up.”

    Our findings suggest that 1 in 4 Denver youth age 14 to 17 experienced some form of homelessness in 2021, and that the number of youth experiencing homelessness in Denver is many times greater than what traditional methods find.

    In our study, we used three data sources in what’s known as a multiple systems estimation approach. This approach has been used to count other difficult-to-measure groups of people, including those with substance use disorders or COVID-19. Rarely has it been applied to homelessness.

    Our study relied on data from the public school system, Colorado child protective services and the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative.

    We combined these datasets to avoid overlap between individuals and counted unique youth present in the data. We then used statistical modeling techniques to estimate those who are “unknown” – meaning not identified in the data. Together, these combined known counts and “unknown” estimates can give a more complete size of the total population.

    Among our findings, we noted that 75% to 83% of youth experiencing homelessness in Denver identified as Black/African American or Hispanic.

    Why it matters

    Homelessness is associated with myriad negative health outcomes. Among youth, the rate of death is 10 times higher for those experiencing homelessness compared with housed youth.

    To count people experiencing homelessness, states and homelessness service providers most often rely on point-in-time counts. In a point-in-time count, local service providers interview and record people experiencing homelessness on one night in January of each year. Typically, only people who are living on the streets or in shelters are counted.

    In January of each year, local service providers record people experiencing homelessness.
    Boston Globe/GettyImages

    Point-in-time counts are crucial for policy decisions around homelessness because they help local, state and national organizations and governments allocate resources.

    However, point-in-time counts may miss people living in motels, doubling up, those who experience homelessness at other times of the year beyond January, and others. Consequently, many experts and researchers recognize that these counts give incomplete data.

    Young people are especially undercounted because they frequently experience homelessness as doubling up. For example, the national point-in-time count from 2019-2020 identified 106,364 school-age children experiencing homelessness in the United States. However, estimates from the public schools suggest the actual number was closer to 1.3 million.

    Service providers and governments need new methods to count those experiencing homelessness. From Denver to Washington D.C., they cannot appropriately make decisions or adequately fund evidence-based interventions using incomplete numbers. We believe our methods can be an important piece of the toolbox to improve estimates and better inform policy.

    What’s next

    Even according to traditional point-in-time counts, homelessness continues to rise significantly across Colorado and nationally. Our results suggest many more youth, and likely persons from all walks of life, are experiencing homelessness than previously known.

    Our team is working to use this methodology at the state level in Colorado. We plan to expand our counts to include adults in order to improve estimates among racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other at-risk communities.

    At the same time, our results demonstrate that multiple systems estimation can be an important tool in Colorado and nationally. Our team is optimistic that other researchers, service providers and governments will begin to use this method in their localities.

    We hope that with a better understanding of the scope of homelessness, legislators and service providers can implement more effective policies to address this hidden crisis.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Joshua Barocas receives funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He is affiliated with the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

    Matthew Westfall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Many more Denver teens have experienced homelessness than official counts show – https://theconversation.com/many-more-denver-teens-have-experienced-homelessness-than-official-counts-show-249997

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the hidden epidemic of violence against nurses affects health care

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jason Blomquist, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Boise State University

    Nurses in the United States face a high rate of burnout. Hirung via Getty Images

    “Violence is just part of the job. Every nurse and health care worker experiences it at some point.”

    Sentiments like this echo across American hospitals and health care facilities, capturing a disturbing and growing reality. Though Americans think of nursing as the most trusted profession, we often fail to see that it’s also one of the most dangerous.

    An alarming 8 in 10 nurses face violence at work. As a result, health care workers are more than four times as likely to be injured by workplace violence than workers in all other industries combined.

    Despite these staggering numbers, the full extent of this epidemic may not be fully understood because nurses and other health care workers chronically underreport violent encounters. The American Nurses Association estimates that only 20% to 60% of incidents are accounted for. Additionally, there is no agreed-upon definition for workplace violence or clear way of tracking it on a national level.

    As a practicing bedside nurse, I have experienced my fair share of workplace violence. As a professor of nursing, my research shows that violence has become a normalized but underreported part of working in health care and that it affects the care patients receive in pervasive ways.

    What really counts as workplace violence in health care?

    When people think about workplace violence, they often imagine dramatic physical assaults. Assaults do happen, but violence directed at workers can take many other forms, including verbal threats, intimidation, sexual aggression and bullying.

    What makes defining and measuring workplace violence especially difficult in health care settings is the range of people involved. Violence may stem from patients, their families, co-workers or even disgruntled members of the public.

    Nurses and health care staff work with people during incredibly stressful moments in their lives. Sometimes patients are experiencing medical conditions that may cause them to act out or be confused, such as dementia, delirium, psychosis or even postoperative reactions to anesthesia.

    Too often, nurses who are threatened or hurt at work do not report the event.

    Some health care organizations use vague definitions, such as “workplace violence is any violent act or threat of violence,” while nursing organizations advocate for tiered definitions delineating between perpetrator and intent.

    Although not all employees can recite their organization’s official definition of workplace violence, ask a nurse whether they have ever experienced a threatening situation at work and they will likely have stories at the ready. In my 14 years of nursing practice, nurses shared many different types of threatening encounters. They reported being screamed at by distraught visitors and having their hair and wrists grabbed by patients who are trying to bite or spit at them. I have personally experienced having objects thrown at me from across the room and being threatened with retribution by patients’ family members.

    Nurses also shared more extreme experiences in which they or their co-workers were injured in the course of trying to simply deliver care. Many described the emotional impact of watching a co-worker hurt badly enough to require medical attention.

    From my observations, it’s not just the major incidents but the countless small threats or insensitive behaviors that add up over a nurse’s career. These seemingly less-threatening events are much harder to document, and many nurses shrug them off, but the small infractions take a toll when they happen repeatedly.

    Breaking the culture of silence

    A culture of silence makes such incidents hard to track.

    The medical-surgical nursing unit at the hospital where I conducted my research has a healthy and supportive culture. Yet in my ongoing doctoral work, which will be published in May, of the 74% percent of staff that acknowledged experiencing workplace violence in the past year, only 30% reported the event.

    When nurses stay silent, whether from fear, futility or institutional pressure, violence becomes an accepted part of the job. Without accurate data, health care facilities don’t understand the true extent of the problem, can’t implement effective safety measures, and struggle to support their workers in meaningful ways.

    There are common themes as to why nurses underreport violence. Some nurses think reporting does not make a difference. Others find the lack of clarity in defining workplace violence or reporting policies demotivating and confusing.

    Nurses also report a lack of support from management, a fear of reprisal or a sense of shame when reporting. Commonly, many nurses simply find reporting tools to be too difficult and time-consuming to use.

    Nurses are the largest segment of the health care workforce in the U.S.
    Frazao Studio Latino via Getty Images

    The hidden costs to health care

    For health care workers, the consequences extend far beyond physical injuries.

    Workplace violence in all its forms contributes to anxiety, depression or PTSD, as well as job dissatisfaction. Dangerous workplace violence trends are a contributing factor in 55% of health care workers feeling burned out and 18% of newly licensed registered nurses leaving the profession within the first year.

    That is a huge problem, considering that the United States is projected to have 193,100 nursing job openings per year until 2032, yet will produce only roughly 177,400 new nurses in that time frame. This also has vast repercussions for patient care.

    During my nursing career, I observed my peers developing complex strategies to protect themselves while trying to provide compassionate care. Like me, they tended to carefully position themselves near doorways, maintained constant awareness of their surroundings and silently assessed each new interaction for potential risks.

    These invisible precautions reflect the far-reaching effects of health care violence. When nurses are hypervigilant about their safety, they have less emotional energy for patient care. When they’re rushing between rooms due to short staffing caused by violence-related turnover, they have less time for each patient. When they are worried about what the next patient encounter may bring, they are increasing their anxiety, fear and stress rather than focusing on delivering quality care.

    Creating safer health care together

    Each health care visit is a chance for patients and their families to improve nursing care for everyone.

    When you visit a hospital or clinic, try to understand the stress that health care workers are under and express your needs and concerns calmly. You never know what your nurse is dealing with in their interactions with other patients. They try to compartmentalize and give you their full attention, but they might also be experiencing a difficult and traumatic situation right next door.

    It also helps to share information that might be relevant to caring for your family member, such as whether their medical condition is causing them to act differently than normal. And you should speak up if you witness any forms of aggressive behavior. These actions might seem small, but they support health care staff and help prevent violence in health care settings.

    Nurses are trained to keep information private, to be problem-solvers and to bear the burden of the job, so they don’t always seek support. If you have a nurse or health care worker in your family or circle of friends, let them know you care. Supporting their safety validates their work and leads to better care for everyone.

    Jason Blomquist is affiliated with the American Nurses Association, Idaho chapter as a member of the board of directors. This affiliation has not influenced or overlapped with the work described in this article.

    – ref. How the hidden epidemic of violence against nurses affects health care – https://theconversation.com/how-the-hidden-epidemic-of-violence-against-nurses-affects-health-care-248083

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. natural gas-directed rigs decreased for second consecutive year in 2024

    Source: US Energy Information Administration

    In-brief analysis

    March 4, 2025

    Data source: Baker Hughes Company

    The number of rigs deployed to drill for natural gas in the United States decreased over the last two years. U.S. natural gas-directed rigs decreased 32% (50 rigs) between December 2022 and December 2024. This decline has been concentrated in the natural gas-rich Haynesville and Appalachia regions, where the combined natural gas rig count declined by 34% during 2023 (43 rigs) and by 24% during 2024 (21 rigs). The decline in drilling rigs coincides with record-low natural gas prices for most of 2024 and the wider adoption of advanced drilling and completion technologies.

    In the Haynesville region, which spans Texas and Louisiana, drilling costs tend to be higher than in other plays because Haynesville wells are drilled to greater depths, usually between 10,500 feet and 13,500 feet deep. As natural gas prices have generally declined over the last two years, rigs in the Haynesville have decreased 55% since December 2022 (39 rigs) as drilling has become less economical. Consequently, marketed natural gas production in the Haynesville region has declined 7% over the same period.

    Data source: Baker Hughes Company

    Similarly in the Appalachia region, which includes natural gas produced from the Marcellus and Utica plays, rigs have declined 37% since December 2022 (19 rigs) with the drop in natural gas prices. As a result, growth in marketed natural gas production has been limited to 4% over the same period.

    The extent to which producers respond to price changes depends on several factors, such as uncertainty around future prices, contracts, volatility in the market, and price hedging; current costs of materials, equipment, and labor; and availability of transportation and storage.

    Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
    Note: Prices are adjusted for inflation using the December 2024 estimate of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    After the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub natural gas price reached a 14-year high of $6.95 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2022, it fell 62% in 2023 ($4.31/MMBtu) and a further 16% in 2024 ($0.43/MMBtu). The Henry Hub price in 2024 was the lowest ever reported after adjusting for inflation, with March 2024 marking the lowest average price of $1.51/MMBtu.

    Producers in natural gas-rich regions have responded to these persistently low prices by drilling less—as reflected in the declining rig counts—and even by curtailing production, which has grown inventories of drilled but uncompleted wells. If natural gas demand and prices continue to rise, producers could be in a better economic position to complete these wells, potentially allowing them to quickly increase production.

    Principal contributors: Kenya Schott, Trinity Manning-Pickett

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE, FBI arrest high-ranking MS-13 leader who controlled gang activities in US, Mexico, Europe

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    BALTIMORE — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI apprehended an illegal Salvadoran alien charged in his home country with possession of firearm, extorsion and terrorist affiliation when officers arrested David Alejandro Orellana-Aleman, 27, in Hyattsville, Maryland, Feb. 27.

    “The apprehension of David Alejandro Orellana-Aleman strikes a significant blow to the leadership and organization of the MS-13 terrorist organization,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Field Office Director Matthew Elliston. “This arrest speaks volumes about the cooperation enjoyed between ICE and the FBI. We will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing illegal alien offenders from our communities.”

    Orellana is a high-ranking leader in the MS-13 transnational terrorist organization and controlled the operation of MS-13 cliques in the United States, Mexico, and Europe.

    “Maryland is immediately safer because of this arrest. Working together, we took custody of one of the highest-ranking gang members in the United States,” said FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno. “David Alejandro Orellana-Aleman is no longer in his alleged position of power directing violence. His arrest demonstrates the success we can have when we collectively investigate and disrupt violent criminals seeking to exploit our communities.”

    Authorities in El Salvador arrested Orellana Dec. 1, 2016, and charged him for possession of a firearm, extorsion and terrorist affiliation as a documented member of MS-13.

    Orellana illegally entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location, and without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.

    The Prince George’s County Police Department arrested Orellana Dec. 9, 2024, and charged him for driving without a license.

    Orellana remains in ICE custody following his arrest.

    Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

    Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in our Maryland communities on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROBaltimore.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Fintech Cadence and Visa join forces to support payment innovation in Canada

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MONTREAL, Quebec, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Fintech Cadence, Canada’s leading fintech incubator and Visa, a global leader in digital payments, have announced an exciting collaboration to fuel fintech innovation across Canada. Through curated programming, events and education, Visa will support the development of Canadian fintech companies building products and services for the payment and remittance sector.

    In Canada, fintechs are transforming the payments ecosystem and are a vital driver of our economy. Globally, Visa works with more than 2,000 fintechs to solve the greatest challenges within payments and provide them with the expertise needed to navigate the complexities of digital commerce.

    “We are excited about this new collaboration and the trust Visa have put in us,” said Layial El-Hadi, Executive Director at Fintech Cadence. “We have always been strong proponents of fostering collaboration and helping bridge the gap with founders who break the norm daily and provide innovative solutions for Canadian consumers and businesses. Thanks to this collaboration, we are continuing our mission of helping advance the financial system to serve Canadians for the better.”

    Fintech Cadence has been a driving force of innovation within the Canadian fintech landscape for the past eight years. As the largest fintech incubator in the country, the organization has fostered a vibrant community. It focuses on raising awareness about the sector, supporting founders in their early stages and connecting fintechs with the financial industry to promote the sector’s growth.

    “At Visa, we understand the journey of innovation all too well. Like many of these companies, we started with a vision to solve a consumer pain point and now, we are deeply committed to supporting the next generation of innovators,” said Chris Ferron, Vice President of Enablers, Merchants and Fintechs at Visa. “Our work with Fintech Cadence is a testament to this commitment and we are thrilled to collaborate to empower bold ideas and drive meaningful change in the payment space.”

    As part of the overall collaboration, Visa is one of the Champion Sponsors of the 2025 Fintech Drinks Series with the first of 5 events kicking off in Montreal on March 26th, 2025 at Espace CDPQ. Subsequent events will be held in Halifax (May ’25), Calgary (June ’25), Toronto (Sept ’25) and again in Montreal (Nov ’25). Additional information and registration for the events can be found on Fintech Cadence’s website (www.fintechcadence.com/fintech-drinks/) and via their LinkedIn page.

    About Fintech Cadence

    Fintech Cadence is a non-profit organization established in 2017 dedicated to the Canadian fintech community by providing multiple initiatives from coast to coast. Their mission is to advance the financial system for the better through a three-tier mandate of educating fintech talent, supporting early-stage startups, and fostering collaboration amongst Canada’s fintech ecosystem of financial institutions, VCs, incubators, accelerators and universities.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e9f7a86a-8830-46ee-98dc-cd660b7359b2

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: First Lady Melania Trump Invites Everyday Americans as Special Guests to Joint Session of Congress

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    Meet the special people who will join the First Lady and President Trump at the U.S. Capitol when President Trump delivers his address to a joint session of Congress.
    These men, women, and families come from all different walks of life with incredible stories about the disaster wrought by the previous administration, and the historic achievements President Trump has already enacted to usher in the Golden Age of America.
    Elliston Berry from Aledo, TX: Elliston is a 15-year-old who was the victim of computer-generated deepfakes created by a bully at her school intended to humiliate and degrade Elliston and her friends.
    The Comperatore Family from Sarver, PA: Helen, Allyson, and Kaylee are the widow and daughters of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was killed by the gunman who also shot President Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024.
    Jeff Denard from Decatur, AL: Jeff has spent nearly three decades working at a steel plant owned by Nucor Steel. His good paying, middle class job at the steel plant has allowed Jeff to serve as volunteer firefighter, provide a loving home to dozens of foster children, and organize his fellow steelworkers to respond to natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene.
    Stephanie Diller from Long Island, NY: Stephanie is the widow of Jonathan Diller, an NYPD officer who was murdered at a traffic stop in Queens in March 2024 by a repeat criminal who was allowed to roam the streets.
    Haley Ferguson from Spring Hill, TN: Haley is a former foster child, a senior at Middle Tennessee State University majoring in Elementary Education, and a Fostering the Future scholarship recipient, which was launched by the First Lady’s organization, Be Best.
    Marc and Malphine Fogel from Butler, PA: Marc is an American history teacher who was held hostage by the Russian government and wrongfully sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison. On February 12th, President Trump fulfilled his promise to Malphine, Marc’s 95-year-old mother, that he would bring Marc home.
    January Littlejohn from Tallahassee, FL: January is a mother and parents’ rights advocate who sued the School Board of Leon County after school officials at her daughter’s middle school socially transitioned her daughter to a different sexual identity without January and her husband’s knowledge or permission. The school drove a wedge between January’s daughter and her parents, and deceived January about their covert plan to transition her daughter.
    Payton McNabb from Murphy, NC: Payton is a former high school athlete who had her dreams of competing in college sports crushed in a September 2022 volleyball match when a biological man playing on the opposing women’s team spiked the volleyball at Payton’s face, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury. Payton joined with the Independent Women’s Forum and has made it her mission to put an end to this brutal unfairness.
    Allyson and Lauren Phillips from Woodstock, GA: Allyson and Lauren are the mother and sister of Laken Riley, a young female nursing student who was murdered by an illegal alien during a morning jog. The Biden administration apprehended and released Laken’s murderer into the country under its reckless open border policies. The very first bill President Trump signed into law this year was named in Laken’s honor.
    Alexis Nungaray from Houston, TX: Alexis is an angel mom and the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was murdered by two illegal aliens during a walk to a corner store. The Biden administration apprehended and released these vicious illegal aliens into the country just weeks before Jocelyn’s murder.
    Roberto Ortiz from Weslaco, TX: Roberto has served with U.S. Border Patrol for nearly a decade, and is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and California State Guard. He has been shot at repeatedly by cartel members while performing his duties near the Rio Grande River in Texas.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Statement on U.S. Tariffs

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    NOTE: The following is a statement from Premier Tim Houston.

    Donald Trump is a short-sighted man who wields his power just for the sake of it, not having any consideration for the destructive impact of his decisions on both Canadians and Americans.

    It is impossible to properly describe the uncertainty and chaos that President Trump’s threat of tariffs and now actually imposing tariffs has caused for Canadians.

    And now, as President Trump proceeds with his illegal 25 per cent tariffs, Nova Scotia will respond.

    We will immediately limit access to provincial procurement for American businesses. They can no longer bid on provincial business. We are also actively seeking options to cancel existing contracts and reject bids outright until President Trump removes his unlawful tariffs.

    We will double the cost of tolls at the Cobequid Pass for commercial vehicles from the United States, effective immediately.

    And we will direct the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. to once again remove all alcohol from the United States from their shelves, effective today. We know this was an effective response the first time and hurt American producers who rely on Canadian markets.

    We will also take any step we can to support Nova Scotians through this incredibly difficult time. As part of Budget 2025-26, we added a contingency fund to respond to U.S. tariffs. It is too early to determine exactly what specific funding is necessary, but we will communicate to Nova Scotians as we better understand the economic impacts and the federal government’s plans to support Nova Scotians.

    We introduced legislation designed to break down barriers to interprovincial trade. We must be open for business in Canada. We hope all provinces and territories immediately endorse and pass corresponding legislation.

    We are also working on a trade action plan to help businesses engage in global trade, increase their global competitiveness and drive investment growth and have issued a call to action to develop our valuable natural resources.

    I can tell you that we worked hard to avoid a repeat of Trump’s tax. We know tariffs are bad for people and businesses on both sides of the border.

    Unfortunately, some people need to touch the hot stove to learn, and while we cannot control or predict their behaviour, we can control how we respond.

    I want to thank Nova Scotians who have already responded with your wallet. You’re choosing to be Nova Scotia loyal and support local and Canadian businesses. You’re choosing to travel in our beautiful province and country rather than south of the border. You’re cheering loudly and proudly for our Canadian teams and athletes.

    These choices and actions are significant. It is important that we stand together, united and strong.

    That’s why we will continue to work with the federal government as it designs and implements counter-tariffs.

    We are a government of action, and I continue to stand with you. My focus is entirely on protecting the interest of hard-working Nova Scotians and their families – in these times of uncertainty, that is one constant you can continue to count on.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: Evolution Petroleum Announces Acquisition of Non-Operated Oil and Natural Gas Assets in New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Strategic Benefits of the Acquisition:

    • Adds approximately 440 net BOEPD of stable, low-decline production.
    • Enhances cash flow visibility with a balanced commodity mix.
    • Strengthens Evolution’s long-term dividend sustainability.
    • Offers low-risk development opportunities with potential for incremental production growth.
    • ~2.8x estimated Adjusted EBITDA1 for the next 12 months (NTM)2, providing immediate accretion.
    • $9.0 million purchase price vs. ~$15 million of Proved Developed PV-103.

    HOUSTON, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Evolution Petroleum Corporation (NYSE American: EPM) (“Evolution” or the “Company”) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire non-operated oil and natural gas assets in New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana (the “Acquisition”). The total purchase price for the Acquisition is $9.0 million, subject to customary closing adjustments. The Acquisition is expected to close by the end of Evolution’s third quarter of fiscal 2025 with an effective date of February 1, 2025. The Company intends to finance the Acquisition through a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under its existing credit facility.

    Kelly Loyd, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “This Acquisition marks our 7th such transaction in the last 6 years and is another step forward in strengthening our production base – aligns with our disciplined growth strategy by adding high-quality, low-decline production at an attractive valuation, estimated at ~2.8x NTM2 Adjusted EBITDA1 which doesn’t include any incremental cash flows for upside opportunities. These assets complement our existing portfolio and enhance our ability to generate stable free cash flow, which supports our long-standing commitment to returning capital to shareholders. We see additional upside through reactivations of existing waterfloods and through operational efficiencies, which will further enhance long-term value.”

    The Acquisition expands Evolution’s diverse asset portfolio with approximately 440 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) of net production, consisting of a balanced commodity mix of 60% oil and 40% natural gas. The acquired assets are primarily low-decline, Proved Developed Producing (PDP) properties, characterized by a sub-7% annual base decline, ensuring stable cash flows and long-term value creation. The transaction is immediately accretive to all key metrics, reinforcing Evolution’s ability to sustain and grow its shareholder returns. The portfolio consists of approximately 254 gross producing wells across all regions. The assets will be managed by a top-tier private operator, ensuring operational efficiency and the ability to maximize value.

    “We remain committed to executing our strategy of acquiring high-quality, long-life assets that enhance our production base while maintaining financial discipline,” added Mr. Loyd. “This transaction further reinforces our strong balance sheet and ability to deliver consistent shareholder value through sustainable production and cash flow generation.”

    Non-GAAP Disclosure

    Certain financial information utilized by the Company are not measures of financial performance recognized by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).

    Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure used as a supplemental financial measure by management and external users of the Company’s financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, and others, to assess our operating performance as compared to that of other companies in our industry. We use these measures to assess our ability to incur and service debt and fund capital expenditures. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for net income, as an indication of operating performance or cash flows from operating activities or as a measure of liquidity. Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. The Company defines “Adjusted EBITDA” as net income (loss) plus interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation, depletion, and accretion (DD&A), stock-based compensation, ceiling test impairment, and other impairments, unrealized loss (gain) on change in fair value of derivatives, and other non-recurring or non-cash expense (income) items. The Company cannot provide a reconciliation of NTM Adjusted EBITDA without unreasonable efforts because it is unable to predict with reasonable certainty the ultimate outcome of certain significant items required for reconciliation. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors and could have a material impact on GAAP reported results.

    PV-10 is a non-GAAP financial measure that differs from a financial measure under GAAP known as “standardized measure of discounted future net cash flows” in that PV-10 is calculated without including future income taxes. The Company believes the presentation of PV-10 provides useful information because it is widely used by investors in evaluating oil and natural gas companies without regard to specific income tax characteristics of such entities. The Company also uses PV-10 when assessing the potential return on investment related to oil and natural gas properties and in evaluating acquisition opportunities. PV-10 is not intended to represent the current market value of the Company’s estimated proved reserves. PV-10 should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the standardized measure as defined under GAAP. The Company also presents PV-10 at strip pricing, which is PV-10 adjusted for price sensitivities. Since GAAP does not prescribe a comparable GAAP measure for PV-10 of reserves adjusted for pricing sensitivities, it is not practicable for the Company to reconcile PV-10 at strip pricing to a standardized measure or any other GAAP measure.

    About Evolution Petroleum

    Evolution Petroleum Corporation is an independent energy company focused on maximizing total shareholder returns through the ownership of and investment in onshore oil and natural gas properties in the U.S. The Company aims to build and maintain a diversified portfolio of long-life oil and natural gas properties through acquisitions, selective development opportunities, production enhancements, and other exploitation efforts. Properties include non-operated interests in the following areas: the SCOOP/STACK plays of the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma; the Chaveroo Oilfield located in Chaves and Roosevelt Counties, New Mexico; the Jonah Field in Sublette County, Wyoming; the Williston Basin in North Dakota; the Barnett Shale located in North Texas; the Hamilton Dome Field located in Hot Springs County, Wyoming; the Delhi Holt-Bryant Unit in the Delhi Field in Northeast Louisiana; as well as small overriding royalty interests in four onshore Texas wells. Visit www.evolutionpetroleum.com for more information.

    Cautionary Statement

    All forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding the Company’s current and future expectations, potential results, and plans and objectives involve a wide range of risks and uncertainties. Statements herein using words such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “plans,” “outlook,” “should,” “will,” and words of similar meaning are forward-looking statements. Although the Company’s expectations are based on business, engineering, geological, financial, and operating assumptions that it believes to be reasonable, many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from its expectations. The Company gives no assurance that its goals will be achieved. These factors and others are detailed under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

    Contact
    Investor Relations
    (713) 935-0122
    ir@evolutionpetroleum.com

    1)     Adjusted EBITDA is Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization and is a non-GAAP financial measure; see disclosures at the end of this release for more information.
    2)     Based on current NYMEX strip prices as of 3/3/25; NTM represents 12-month period of 4/1/25-4/1/26.
    3)     PV-10 is based on proved reserves determined by internal management estimates using current NYMEX strip prices as of 3/3/25 and is a non-GAAP financial measure; see disclosures at the end of this release for more information.

    This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified individual.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Bitcoin Depot Schedules Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Conference Call for Tuesday, March 18th at 10:00 am ET

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ATLANTA, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitcoin Depot (“Bitcoin Depot” or the “Company”), a U.S.-based Bitcoin ATM operator and leading fintech company, will hold a conference call and live audio webcast on Tuesday, March 18th at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time (7:00 a.m. Pacific time) to discuss its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024. Bitcoin Depot plans to release results before the market open on the same day.

    Call Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2025  
    Time: 10:00 a.m. Eastern time (7:00 a.m. Pacific time)

    Phone Instructions
    U.S. and Canada (toll-free): 888-596-4144
    U.S. (toll): 646-968-2525
    Conference ID: 8224936

    Webcast Instructions
    Webcast link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/8kgtbeme

    A replay of the call will be available beginning after 2:00 p.m. Eastern time through March 25, 2025.

    U.S. & Canada (toll-free) replay number: 800-770-2030
    U.S. toll number: 609-800-9909
    Conference ID: 8224936

    If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact Bitcoin Depot’s investor relations team at 1-949-574-3860.

    About Bitcoin Depot
    Bitcoin Depot Inc. (Nasdaq: BTM) was founded in 2016 with the mission to connect those who prefer to use cash to the broader, digital financial system. Bitcoin Depot provides its users with simple, efficient and intuitive means of converting cash into Bitcoin, which users can deploy in the payments, spending and investing space. Users can convert cash to bitcoin at Bitcoin Depot kiosks in 48 states and at thousands of name-brand retail locations in 29 states through its BDCheckout product. The Company has the largest market share in North America with over 8,400 kiosk locations as of February 25, 2025. Learn more at www.bitcoindepot.com.

    Contacts:

    Investors
    Cody Slach
    Gateway Group, Inc.
    949-574-3860
    BTM@gateway-grp.com

    Media
    Brenlyn Motlagh, Ryan Deloney
    Gateway Group, Inc.
    949-574-3860
    BTM@gateway-grp.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, Inc. Announces Board Approval of Change in Investment Policy

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MIAMI BEACH, Fla., March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, Inc. (NASDAQ: CUBA) (the “Fund”) today announced that the Fund’s Board of Directors (“Board”) has approved a change in the Fund’s investment strategy. Subject to necessary regulatory filings and the requisite approval of the Fund’s shareholders, the Fund will modify its current investment strategy and redirect the Fund to focus on a “CLO Equity Strategy”. With this change, the Fund’s primary investment objective will change to a total return strategy with a secondary objective of generating high current income for shareholders. In accordance with that change in investment objective, the Fund will focus on investing in equity and junior debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations, or “CLOs”. CLOs are portfolios of collateralized loans consisting primarily of below investment grade U.S. senior secured loans with a large number of distinct underlying borrowers across various industry sectors.

    In recommending this change to the Board, Thomas J. Herzfeld, Chairman of Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. (the “Investment Manager”) stated, “The Fund’s shareholders should know that we have not taken this decision lightly. We launched the Fund thirty years ago with the expectation that investment opportunities would be available upon opening of U.S. trade relations with Cuba. Over that time, we have seen the geo-political situation ebb and flow and have worked extremely hard to seek opportunities in the Caribbean Basin while we waited for the long-standing stalemate in relations to break. But with the new administration in Washington and the prospects for the opening of Cuba seemingly at a low point, we feel it is time for a dramatic change that is designed to enhance value for shareholders.”

    Cecilia Gondor, Chairperson of the Board of the Fund commented, “With the Fund continuing to trade at a persistent discount, we challenged the investment manager to recommend solutions for our shareholders. After a lengthy period of analysis, the advisor recommended that the Fund refocus its strategy to invest in CLOs. This allows the Fund to take advantage of its closed-end fund structure in a segment of the credit industry that has demonstrated an ability for funds to trade at premiums to net asset value. While this is a dramatic change in investment focus, we believe the change is in the best interest of shareholders.”

    The Directors unanimously approved the proposed changes to the Fund’s investment strategy and will recommend that the Fund’s shareholders approve the changes. The Board approved changes to the Fund’s name to Herzfeld Credit Income Fund, Inc. and ticker symbol, and that, subject to requisite shareholder approval, certain fundamental policies be modified or eliminated. The Board also authorized changes to the Fund’s investment management agreement with the Investment Manager. Those changes implement a new fee structure.

    Standard fee structures within existing funds engaged in CLO strategies are comprised of a management fee based upon assets under management and an incentive fee based upon the income earned by the funds. Under the modifications approved by the Board, the fees for the Fund will be set at a 1.25% management fee and a 10% incentive fee, subject to a hurdle rate of 9%. The prior investment management agreement between the Fund and the Investment Advisor set fees at 1.45% of assets under management. The new fee structure may be more or less than the previous fee structure depending upon the performance of the Fund and the application of the incentive fee structure.

    The Fund intends to hold a special meeting of shareholders as soon as practicable to obtain requisite shareholder approvals as required by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), which requires any change to a fundamental policy and the entering into of the new investment management agreement be approved by “a majority of the outstanding voting securities” of the Fund (as defined under the 1940 Act).

    Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. has been investing in the credit markets since its founding more than 40 years ago and currently manages approximately $950 million of assets across a number of investment strategies including CLOs, private and public credit and equity, municipal bonds, and other strategies. The Firm has been a consistent top Morningstar manager, having earned recognition as a 5 star performer in multiple categories for 40 consecutive quarters.1

    Mr. Herzfeld commented further, “It is imperative to me that our long-term shareholders understand that we have not given up on the opportunities that we believe ultimately will exist in Cuba. While we think the strategy change for the Fund is absolutely necessary at this time, we continue to look forward to the day when the U.S. and Cuban governments move beyond the current stalemate. We have reserved our rights to use the CUBA ticker symbol on NASDAQ and, should circumstances warrant, we will seek to explore opportunities for investment in Cuba when that day comes. Until then, however, we believe that best use of our closed-end fund structure is in the new CLO strategy.”

    Additional information about the changes to the strategy have been provided in the Fund’s Semi-Annual Report filed on Monday, March 3, 2025 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission available on the Fund’s website at www.herzfeld.com/cuba and will be further included in a proxy statement (the “Proxy Statement”) that the Fund will provide in connection with its special shareholder meeting.

    Additional Information about the Strategy Changes

    This press release is not intended to, and does not, solicit a proxy from any shareholder of the Fund. The solicitation of proxies to effect the proposed changes will only be made by a definitive Proxy Statement.

    This press release references a Proxy Statement, to be filed by the Fund. The Proxy Statement has yet to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). After the Proxy Statement is filed with the SEC, it may be amended or withdrawn. The Fund and its directors, officers and employees, and Herzfeld Advisors, and its shareholders, officers and employees and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies with respect to the proposed fundamental policy changes and the proposed approval of the investment advisory agreement. Investors and shareholders may obtain more detailed information regarding the direct and indirect interests of the Fund’s directors, officers and employees, and Herzfeld Advisors and its shareholders, officers and employees and other persons by reading the Proxy Statement when it is filed with the SEC. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF THE FUND ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THESE DOCUMENTS WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED CHANGES. INVESTORS SHOULD CONSIDER THE INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE, RISKS, CHARGES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND CAREFULLY. THE PROXY STATEMENT WILL CONTAIN INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO THE INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE, RISKS, CHARGES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND. The Proxy Statement will not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities, in any state where such offer or sale is not permitted. Security holders may obtain free copies (when it becomes available) of the Proxy Statement and other documents filed with the SEC at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, free copies (when it becomes available) of the Proxy Statement and other documents filed with the SEC may also be obtained by directing a request to the Fund at (800) 854-3863

    About Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc.

    Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc., founded in 1984, is an SEC registered investment advisor, specializing in investment analysis and account management in closed-end funds.

    More information about the advisor can be found at www.herzfeld.com.

    Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. An investment in the Fund is subject to certain risks, including market risk. In general, shares of closed-end funds often trade at a discount from their net asset value and at the time of sale may be trading on the exchange at a price which is more or less than the original purchase price or the net asset value. An investor should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges and expenses. Please read the Fund’s disclosure documents before investing.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release, and other statements that TJHA or the Fund may make, may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to the Fund’s or TJHA’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or similar expressions. TJHA and the Fund caution that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and TJHA and the Fund assume no duty to and do not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance. With respect to the Fund, the following factors, among others, could cause actual events to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) changes and volatility in political, economic or industry conditions, particularly with respect to Cuba and other Caribbean Basin countries, the interest rate environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for the Fund or in the Fund’s net asset value; (2) the relative and absolute investment performance of the Fund and its investments; (3) the impact of increased competition; (4) the unfavorable resolution of any legal proceedings; (5) the extent and timing of any distributions or share repurchases; (6) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes; (7) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to the Fund or TJHA, as applicable; (8) terrorist activities, international hostilities and natural disasters, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets, specific industries or TJHA or the Fund; (9) TJHA’s and the Fund’s ability to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (10) the impact of TJHA electing to provide support to its products from time to time; (11) the impact of problems at other financial institutions or the failure or negative performance of products at other financial institutions; and (12) the effects of an epidemic, pandemic or public health emergency, including without limitation, COVID-19. Annual and Semi-Annual Reports and other regulatory filings of the Fund with the SEC are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and on TJHA’s website at www.herzfeld.com/cuba, and may discuss these or other factors that affect the Fund. The information contained on TJHA’s website is not a part of this press release.

    TJHA has received certain nominations or awards by third-parties as reflected herein. Investors should review the criteria for each nomination or award as reflected on the third-party’s webpage. In addition, the nominations and awards reflect past performance of the nominee or award designee and may not reflect the current performance or status of any such firm or individual and may no longer be applicable. Morningstar award content presented with permission and licensing fee. Contact us for more information on how the ratings are apportioned and for full disclosures regarding third party news and awards.

    Contact:
    Thomas Morgan
    Chief Compliance Officer
    Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc.
    1-305-777-1660

    ______________________

    1 See disclaimer regarding Morningstar awards.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Melissa Launches Integrated Datasets and Native Apps in Snowflake

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif., March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Melissa, a global leader in data quality and address management solutions, is now available on Snowflake Marketplace. Offering Melissa APIs as Snowflake native apps, and a selection of its comprehensive datasets, Melissa is supporting enterprise users worldwide with enriched customer data for better business intelligence and global customer engagement. This integration simplifies access to Melissa’s high-quality data and verification services, enabling businesses to enrich, validate, and leverage critical customer and location intelligence directly within the Snowflake AI Data Cloud.

    Melissa now offers 19 data products on Snowflake, including 17 datasets featuring phone, email, demographic, property, and geolocation information, and two Snowflake native apps designed to enhance data verification processes within the Snowflake environment. The newly integrated Personator Consumer and Global Address Verification native apps allow Snowflake users to validate customer addresses globally without exporting data, streamlining workflows and reducing errors.

    “With Melissa’s integration into Snowflake Marketplace, businesses can now access our trusted data and verification services natively within the Snowflake platform. Data workflows are optimized and eliminate the traditional complexities of data extraction, transfer, and integration,” said Daniel Kha Le, Chief Data Officer, Melissa. “This partnership ensures that organizations using Snowflake can seamlessly enhance their data quality—a critical value in improving operational efficiency and driving better decision-making.”

    Snowflake is a single, fully managed and integrated platform that businesses securely connect to globally across any type or scale of data to productize AI, applications, and more in the enterprise. This approach eliminates the data silos that lead to complexity and the need to move data to get business value. Snowflake users access all their data from a single platform, including data that is unstructured, in open formats, and from third parties.

    Through the Snowflake Marketplace, businesses can now easily tap into Melissa’s datasets to find information on:

    • 200 million U.S. consumers, including demographic, lifestyle, and contact data
    • 17+ U.S. million companies and organizations, including firmographic and contacts
    • New mover data updated with over 100,000 new records every week
    • New homeowner data updated with over 75,000 new records every week
    • ZIP+4, Carrier Route, Place Name, Congressional District, Lat&Long Coordinates, Parcel and Building Footprints data
    • Geo-referenced and phone data for the U.S. and Canada

    For more information, access Melissa’s Snowflake Marketplace Page, visit www.Melissa.com, or contact sales@Melissa.com.

    About Melissa
    Powering clean customer data for 40 years, Melissa is the Address Expert. Providing address validation, address autocomplete, and geo-verified address data for 240+ countries, Melissa supports global businesses with its offices in the U.S., U.K., Germany, India, Singapore, and Australia. Melissa’s suite of data quality, ID verification, and location data tools and services drives better decision-making, reduced costs, increased efficiency, and improved compliance. Our APIs, CRM and ecommerce integrations, and online tools help Melissa’s 10,000 customers worldwide process billions of addresses daily, fully capitalizing on the business value of customer data. For more information, visit www.Melissa.com or call 1-800-MELISSA (635-4772). 

    Media contacts
    Greg Brown
    Vice President, Global Marketing, Melissa
    greg.brown@Melissa.com
    +1-800-635-4772 x1130

    MPoweredPR for Melissa
    pr@mpoweredpr.com
    +1-877-794-6777

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/691aaa16-564c-4ea6-b103-0a489043b12b.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Oxbridge / SurancePlus Announces Two RWA Tokenized Reinsurance Offerings for its 2025 – 2026 Season: Targeting Returns of 20% and 42%

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: OXBR) (“Oxbridge Re”), together with its subsidiary SurancePlus, is engaged in the tokenization of Real-World Assets (“RWAs”), initially with tokenized reinsurance securities, and in providing reinsurance solutions to property and casualty insurers in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, today announced the launch of its 2025 tokenized reinsurance offerings.

    For the first time, investors can choose their preferred risk-return profile with two distinct options:

    • EtaCat Re – 20% (Balanced Yield)
    • ZetaCat Re – 42% (High Yield)

    Invest now at SurancePlus.com/invest

    These blockchain-powered offerings open access to an asset class that was previously exclusive to institutional investors and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Now, a wider range of investors can access SurancePlus’ tokenized reinsurance securities, targeting high-yield returns backed by Real-World Assets (RWAs) through real-world reinsurance contracts.

    How It Works

    Investors in EtaCat Re have a targeted annual return of 20%, while investors in ZetaCat Re have an annual targeted return of 42%.

    Each security-backed token is priced at $10 per share, with funds used to invest in reinsurance contracts. Investors will receive 3.5% APY on their invested funds until contracts go live on June 1, 2025. Returns are then distributed annually based on underwriting performance.

    These tokens provide exposure to RWA-collateralized reinsurance contracts through its licensed Cayman Islands reinsurance entity, Oxbridge Re NS.

    Investment opportunities are available to U.S. investors under SEC Rule 506(c) and to non-U.S. investors under Regulation S of the Securities Act of 1933.

    Jay Madhu, CEO of Oxbridge, commented, “We are excited to launch this year’s offering, especially with the introduction of our balanced-yield, security-backed token, which targets a broader investor base with a projected 20% return. SurancePlus is democratizing an asset class that was once exclusive to high-net-worth individuals, now allowing investors to participate with as little as $5,000.”

    About Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited 

    Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: OXBR, OXBRW) (“Oxbridge”) is headquartered in the Cayman Islands. The company offers tokenized Real-World Assets (“RWAs”) as tokenized reinsurance securities and reinsurance business solutions to property and casualty insurers, through its wholly owned subsidiaries SurancePlus Inc., Oxbridge Re NS, and Oxbridge Reinsurance Limited.

    Insurance businesses in the Gulf Coast region of the United States purchase property and casualty reinsurance through our licensed reinsurers Oxbridge Reinsurance Limited and Oxbridge Re NS.

    Our Web3-focused subsidiary, SurancePlus Inc. (“SurancePlus”), has developed the first “on-chain” reinsurance RWA of its kind to be sponsored by a subsidiary of a publicly traded company. By digitizing interests in reinsurance contracts as on-chain RWAs, SurancePlus has democratized the availability of reinsurance as an alternative investment to both U.S. and non-U.S. investors. 

    Company Contact:
    Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited
    Jay Madhu, CEO
    +1 345-749-7570
    jmadhu@oxbridgere.com

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “project” and other similar words and expressions are intended to signify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and conditions but rather are subject to various risks and uncertainties. A detailed discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements is included in the section entitled “Risk Factors” contained in our Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on 26th March 2024. The occurrence of any of these risks and uncertainties could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations. Any forward-looking statements made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release and, except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this press release, even if the Company’s expectations or any related events, conditions or circumstances change.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Statement from Premier Pillai on Ramadan

    Premier Ranj Pillai has issued the following statement:

    “This weekend marks the start of Ramadan, a holy month of prayer, fasting, community and reflection for Muslims around the world.

    “Ramadan is a time of generosity and community, as Muslim families and friends come together to break their fasts, study the Quran and support those in need. For those of us who practice other religions, Ramadan is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about other faiths and connect over the values and beliefs that we share.

    “The values of compassion, resilience and gratitude that Ramadan inspires resonate across all cultures and faiths, here in the Yukon and around the world.

    “We are fortunate to live in a society that embraces diversity and inclusion. I would like to thank the Yukon Muslim Society for their work on behalf of the territory’s thriving Muslim population, whose dedication to their faith and to our community enriches us all.

    “To all those observing this sacred month, I hope that Ramadan brings you peace, health and fulfilment.

    “Ramadan Mubarak! رمضان مبارك”
     

    MIL OSI Canada News –