Over 18,000 in Mexico register to run for Supreme Court seats and federal judges in new systemNEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches -- the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President -- are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI," Glasgow said. "The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America's top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart's announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart's need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer's ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart." Walmart's announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” He said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have “record participation” of more than 1,400 companies in 2025."

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Over 18,000 in Mexico register to run for Supreme Court seats and federal judges in new systemGeneral Motors Co GM shares are rising in Tuesday’s after-hours session after the company announced plans to refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles . What Happened: After the market close on Tuesday, GM put out a press release announcing a realignment of its autonomous driving strategy to prioritize development of advanced driver assistance systems. GM now plans to focus on building on the progress of Super Cruise, the company's assisted driving feature currently offered on more than 20 GM vehicle models. GM intends to combine its majority-owned Cruise LLC and GM technical teams into a single team working on advancing autonomous and assisted driving. Furthermore, GM said it will cease funding Cruise’s robotaxi development work, citing “considerable time and resources” needed to scale the business and an “increasingly competitive” robotaxi market . "GM is committed to delivering the best driving experiences to our customers in a disciplined and capital efficient manner. Cruise has been an early innovator in autonomy, and the deeper integration of our teams, paired with GM's strong brands, scale, and manufacturing strength, will help advance our vision for the future of transportation,” said Mary Barra , chair and CEO of GM. GM currently owns about 90% of Cruise, but the company announced agreements with other shareholders that are expected to increase the company’s ownership to 97%. GM plans to pursue the acquisition of the remaining shares. Contingent upon the purchase of the shares and board approval, GM plans to restructure and refocus Cruise’s operations. The company expects the restructuring to cut spending by more than $1 billion annually. GM executives are set to hold a conference call to discuss the details of the newly announced plans at 4:30 p.m. ET. GM Price Action: GM shares were up 2.39% after-hours, trading at $54 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro . Read Next: Uber And WeRide Partner For Robotaxi Service In Abu Dhabi Photo: Shutterstock. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New York Mortgage Trust, Inc. (Nasdaq: NYMT) (the "Company”) announced today that its Board of Directors (the "Board”) declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share on shares of its common stock for the quarter ending December 31, 2024. The dividend will be payable on January 23, 2025 to common stockholders of record as of the close of business on December 20, 2024. In addition, the Board declared cash dividends on the Company's 8.000% Series D Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock ("Series D Preferred Stock”), 7.875% Series E Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock ("Series E Preferred Stock”), 6.875% Series F Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock ("Series F Preferred Stock”) and 7.000% Series G Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock ("Series G Preferred Stock”) as stated below. Quarterly Preferred Stock Dividends The Board declared cash dividends for the dividend period that began on October 15, 2024 and ends on January 14, 2025 as follows: New York Mortgage Trust, Inc. is a Maryland corporation that has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust ("REIT”) for federal income tax purposes. NYMT is an internally managed REIT in the business of acquiring, investing in, financing and managing primarily mortgage-related single-family and multi-family residential assets. Forward-Looking Statements When used in this press release, in future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC”) or in other written or oral communications, statements which are not historical in nature, including those containing words such as "will,” "believe,” "expect,” "anticipate,” "estimate,” "plan,” "continue,” "intend,” "could,” "would,” "should,” "may” or similar expressions, are intended to identify "forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act”), and, as such, may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Statements regarding the following subject, among others, may be forward-looking: the payment of dividends. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions of management of the Company at the time of such statements and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Actual results and outcomes could differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation: changes in the Company's business and investment strategy; inflation and changes in interest rates and the fair market value of the Company's assets, including negative changes resulting in margin calls relating to the financing of the Company's assets; changes in credit spreads; changes in the long-term credit ratings of the U.S., Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae; general volatility of the markets in which the Company invests; changes in prepayment rates on the loans the Company owns or that underlie the Company's investment securities; increased rates of default, delinquency or vacancy and/or decreased recovery rates on or at the Company's assets; the Company's ability to identify and acquire targeted assets, including assets in its investment pipeline; the Company's ability to dispose of assets from time to time on terms favorable to it, including the disposition over time of its joint venture equity investments; changes in relationships with the Company's financing counterparties and the Company's ability to borrow to finance its assets and the terms thereof; changes in the Company's relationships with and/or the performance of its operating partners; the Company's ability to predict and control costs; changes in laws, regulations or policies affecting the Company's business; the Company's ability to make distributions to its stockholders in the future; the Company's ability to maintain its qualification as a REIT for federal tax purposes; the Company's ability to maintain its exemption from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended; impairments in the value of the collateral underlying the Company's investments; the Company's ability to manage or hedge credit risk, interest rate risk, and other financial and operational risks; the Company's exposure to liquidity risk, risks associated with the use of leverage, and market risks; and risks associated with investing in real estate assets, including changes in business conditions and the general economy, the availability of investment opportunities and the conditions in markets for residential loans, structured multi-family investments, mortgage-backed securities and other assets in which we invest. These and other risks, uncertainties and factors, including the risk factors and other information described in the Company's reports filed with the SEC pursuant to the Exchange Act, could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements the Company makes. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. New risks and uncertainties arise over time and it is not possible to predict those events or how they may affect the Company. Except as required by law, the Company is not obligated to, and does not intend to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For Further Information AT THE COMPANY Investor Relations Phone: 212-792-0107 Email: [email protected]

A NANNY state plot to slap cigarette-style warnings on chocolate bars and crisp packets was last night branded “crackpot” by critics. Downing Street also distanced itself from the joyless plans cooked up by former government food tsar Henry Dimbleby. The healthy eating campaigner is calling for sweeping restrictions on junk food including forcing supermarkets to display them less prominently . He told the BBC: “If you walk into a supermarket, the first thing you’ll see is a huge amount of fruit and veg. “And then you have aisles and aisles of food-like substances - you have Kit Kat cereal next to Crave cereal being marketed at children with discounts, because that is the food that it’s easier to make money selling that food. “The food would still be there but be displayed less prominently, you’d have black marks on it to say this is not a good thing to eat... a mandatory label saying this is bad for you in a big visible way.” READ MORE ON POLITICS Although Labour is pressing ahead with a ban on junk food advertising, Sir Keir Starmer’s processing said “we have no plans” for the smoking-like disclaimers. Chris Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the IEA said: "Mr Dimbleby seems to think that the normal rules of policy-making shouldn't apply to his crackpot ideas about food. "He wants politicians to ignore public opinion, forget about the economic costs and not worry about whether the policies will work or not.” It came as a study found that listing calorie counts next to items on pub and restaurant menus does not result in punters eating less. Most read in Politics Liverpool University researchers studied 3,300 people at 330 eateries in 2021 and again in 2022 after mandatory labelling was introduced by the Government. Writing in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, they found people said they read the information but did not significantly reduce their calorie intake. Mr Snowdon added: “Yet another nanny state policy crashes and burns.”

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