aztec’s treasure DELAND, Fla. (AP) — Jayden Brewer had 20 points in Florida International's 81-72 victory against Stetson on Saturday night. Brewer had five rebounds for the Panthers (4-6). Asim Jones scored 12 points while shooting 2 of 5 from the field and 8 for 10 from the line. Vianney Salatchoum shot 5 of 8 from the field and 1 for 3 from the line to finish with 11 points, while adding six rebounds. Jordan Wood led the Hatters (1-9) in scoring, finishing with 25 points and three blocks. Josh Massey added 13 points and six rebounds for Stetson. Mehki had 13 points and two steals. The loss is the ninth straight for the Hatters. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Jaland Lowe, Pitt charge past LSU in second half to move to 6-0

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — All Wright had 26 points in Valparaiso's 93-77 victory against Central Michigan on Saturday night. Wright shot 7 for 16 (4 for 8 from 3-point range) and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line for the Beacons (5-4). Tyler Schmidt scored 21 points and added six rebounds. Jefferson Monegro had 16 points and shot 3 for 5 (2 for 3 from 3-point range) and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line. The Chippewas (5-4) were led in scoring by Anthony Pritchard, who finished with 20 points and six rebounds. Ugnius Jarusevicius added 18 points and six rebounds for Central Michigan. Jakobi Heady had 13 points, six rebounds and three steals. Valparaiso led Central Michigan 36-31 at the half, with Wright (13 points) its high scorer before the break. Valparaiso took the lead for what would be the final time on Schmidt's 3-pointer with 10:13 remaining in the second half. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing

Sean Dyche reacts after his Everton side bounced back in style to win 4-0 at home to Wolves in the Premier League Sean Dyche re-iterated his pride in his players after Everton delivered a resounding win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Blues clinched just their third win of the Premier League campaign with a 4-0 victory, opening up a five point gap to the visitors - and the bottom three - in the process. It was a result that relieved the mounting pressure on Dyche and his team after a disappointing start to the campaign and following their collapse against Manchester United on Sunday. Asked how the win felt against that backdrop, Dyche said after the match: “I don’t think we have been under any more pressure than I have ever been under here. This is a pressurised situation. We have spoken about that openly and I have spoken about the challenges here. “The players have delivered a very good performance. I said in the week how proud I am of them. I told them first before I told [the media], and I am, they've been through all kinds of challenges here, constantly, as well as I have. "But sometimes it's tough on the players and I think to come out of it and deliver again is pleasing for them. It's only another step, we know that, there's many more to go, but it's a good step and it's a very positive step I thought with the way we went about our business. “ The Blues will now host Liverpool in the final Goodison Park Merseyside league derby on Saturday, with this home win providing a much-needed confidence boost ahead of that game. The squad will be back in work at Finch Farm on Thursday in preparation for that - something Dyche immediately reminded them of after the final whistle. On what this display said of his players as they came back from tough recent results, he added: “It says the same as what I know about them. The challenges come thick and fast here, on the pitch, off the pitch, all the noise that they have to deal with and they just keep going. And they've kept going again tonight. “But that's only a temporary moment in time because the next one is a big one, we know that, and every game here is a big one. So I remember that. “But I said: ‘Look, enjoy tonight’. We're in tomorrow, as they know, and we'll prep for the next one. So the business carries on, the work never stops here. And that's what I spoke about in the week, it is constant hard work from all involved.”Mason Maggio seems on the brink of securing a contract for the 2025 NASCAR season, as he's been hinting at future moves. When asked about his plans on the social media platform, now named X, Maggio simply replied, "soon". This has sparked excitement and discussions about his next steps in the racing world. The NASCAR community is abuzz with speculation about which team Maggio, a talented young driver, might end up with. Soon. ✍️ Mason Maggio is not your average 19-year-old. Born in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, he has been racing since he was 11. His journey began with go-kart racing and quickly expanded to winning multiple championships in various racing series. Over the years, Maggio has competed in everything from Legend cars to the NASCAR Truck Series. In 2022, he made his debut as a rookie in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, followed by a race debut in the Xfinity Series in 2024, gaining invaluable experience with Reaume Brothers Racing and Joey Gase Motorsports. The rumor mill is buzzing with talks of Maggio possibly driving full-time in the Ryan Shane Sieg Racing no. 29 Ford or joining Joey Gase's racing team. Some are also considering his past ties with Floridian Motorsports as a potential factor in his decision-making process. Maggio's past racing involvement certainly plays a part in these speculations, as he's been associated with notable teams, including Floridian Motorsports, where he drove the No. 21 car during the 2024 season. His outstanding record is hard to ignore, and his potential full-time role in 2025 could hugely impact his career and the strategies of the team he chooses. Each team is likely to be eager to harness Maggio's skills and experience. As a driver with a track record of competence and success, Maggio could be the key to a team's successful season. For the 2024 racing season, Maggio's schedule included several vital tracks, such as World Wide Technology Raceway, Gateway, and Nashville Superspeedway. The public is deeply invested in Maggio's career moves, with his next choice being a real turning point for the driver. 2024 Xfinity Series Results

A few days after losing re-election in 1980, President Jimmy Carter attended a tribute to Aaron Copeland that included his Fanfare for the Common Man . If any president embodied that work, it was Carter. Citizen, veteran, farmer, governor, president, Sunday school teacher, peace promoter, home builder for those without shelter. Carter was the antidote to the disgraced president Richard Nixon and all the damage he inflicted on America’s democracy. Carter projected honesty, compassion, religious rectitude, morality, racial justice and public service. Rosalynn, his life partner in marriage and governance, his wife of 77 years and First Lady, was as devoted to public service as her husband. President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd while walking with wife Rosalynn and their daughter Amy to the White House following his inauguration on January 20, 1977. Credit: AP//Suzanne Vlamis Carter’s virtues embroidered his presidency. He worked so hard. His ambitions were noble. Carter’s approval rating was 75 per cent in his first months in office in 1977. But a series of events overtook him. Carter’s highest priority, a national energy plan, took 18 months to enact and was only a marginal success. In 1979, the US was hit with an oil shock spurred by Iran and OPEC that cut supplies and drove up prices. There were petrol lines everywhere. That summer, the country was gripped by a sense of profound drift. For 10 days, Carter retreated to Camp David for meetings and consultations with experts and citizens to help him find answers to the country’s deepening malaise. Carter came down from the mountain and delivered a sermon to the country on what was wrong: “It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.” A few days later, Carter fired five members of his cabinet. His approval rating sank to 30 per cent. The American people’s loss of confidence was in the president and his ability to govern. In November 1979, following the return of Ayatollah Khomeini and the overthrow of the Shah, who was aligned with the West, the US Embassy in Tehran was seized and 52 American diplomats were taken hostage. A rescue mission failed spectacularly in April 1980, with American service members lost when their helicopters crashed in the desert. The Iranians, intent on further humiliating America and its leader, did not release the hostages until moments after Carter ceased being president. Those were the depths of Carter’s presidency. The fights over his policy agenda were agonising. It got to a point where many Democrats in Congress took more relish in attacking and criticising the White House than in attacking and beating the Republicans. Inflation would hit an all-time high of 14.6 per cent in the election year of 1980, accompanied by even higher interest rates. Those wars inside the party led many Democrats to support Ted Kennedy, the last surviving brother after JFK and Bobby, to aim for the White House and reclaim the Kennedy mantle. The party was torn down the middle. Carter prevailed and won renomination, yet his presidency was fatally weakened. He was crushed by Ronald Reagan. The Carter presidency continues to shape America’s destiny today. The reason Democrats were able to pass so much legislation under President Joe Biden is because they remembered that disunity was death to Carter’s domestic policy agenda. During his presidency, Carter never visited Australia but met prime minister Malcolm Fraser three times. The leaders faced momentous events. In 1978, the US recognised China and severed ties with Taiwan. Australia formally joined the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics following the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Jimmy Carter with Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser in 1979. Credit: Fairfax Media Most Americans at that time judged Jimmy Carter’s presidency as a failure. Yet his profound virtues and decency, his compassion for humanity, the noble principles he stood for and sought to fulfil, his exemplary conduct as a former president, and his all-encompassing marriage to Rosalynn are being remembered and celebrated today, more than four decades later. On taking office as governor of Georgia in 1971, Jimmy Carter declared: “The time for racial discrimination is over.” As with his southern predecessor in the presidency, Lyndon Johnson, Carter fought segregation and was irrevocably committed to civil rights, racial justice and racial equity. Carter’s last public act was to live long enough, at age 100, to redeem his fundamental values with his vote to make Kamala Harris the first Black woman to take the oath of office. Jimmy Carter met a moment in American politics when the country was yearning for honesty, fidelity to basic American values, a restoration of faith in good government, and a belief that the country could go forward together. He could not fulfil his goals as president, but what Carter stood for endures. Bruce Wolpe is a senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. He has served on the Democratic staff in the US Congress and as chief of staff to former prime minister Julia Gillard.ARLINGTON, Va. , Dec. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) approved an increase of 2% in the Company's quarterly common stock dividend, from $0.1725 per share to $0.17595 per share, beginning in the first quarter of 2025. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Eagles receivers Smith and Brown complain about vanishing pass offense during winning streak

The one easy thing you could do to save $317 a year on your bills

Four members of Congress unveiled a bipartisan bill Friday that would spark changes at the U.S. Center for SafeSport, placing a time limit on resolving cases that can sometimes take years and improving communication between the center and abuse survivors. The Safer Sports for Athletes Act looks to address some of the bigger concerns that have opened the center to criticism since it was established in 2017 to handle sex-abuse cases in Olympic sports and their grassroots cousins. The bill has potential for a fivefold increase of an existing grant to the center, bringing it to $10 million a year. But even if the full amount were approved, it wouldn't solve all of the problems. As before, that grant can only be used for training and education , not investigations and enforcement, which are the focus of complaints about the center , and also of the reforms the lawmakers are seeking. “We’re hoping the combination of appropriations for other activities will free up money for investigations, as well as the streamlining,” said one of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Deborah Ross, D-North Carolina. The center estimates the reforms in the bill could cost more than $4.5 million. It currently operates on a budget of around $21 million a year, most of which comes from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its sports affiliates, known as national governing bodies, or NGBs. “It's really unclear, and I don't think that some parts of the bill jibe with other parts of the bill," SafeSport CEO Ju'Riese Colon said. "We're going to need some more conversation to suss out some of this stuff. Right now, it just doesn't really add up for us.” The center's critics, meanwhile, have long been skeptical about giving more resources to an agency they feel is missing the mark. The bill would also mandate that investigations be concluded within 180 days after a report is made, with possibilities to extend them. Some of the most egregious complaints about the center have come from people who say it has taken years for their cases to be resolved. The center currently receives about 155 reports a week, which comes to more than 8,000 a year. When fully staffed, it has 77 people on its response and resolution team. “Too many other survivors have also been left waiting for years for SafeSport to investigate or have their cases closed without action,” said soccer player Mana Shim, who helped lawmakers draft the bill. Shim's own case, involving sexual harassment and coercion by her coach, took more than two years for the center to resolve and led to investigations and reforms across American soccer. Other reforms include a requirement for the center to provide victim advocates at no cost for those needing them — a move already underway as part of a menu of changes the center announced earlier this year — and to assign case managers who can give timely updates to victims and the accused. “I have questions around, if the center were to hire and staff the advocates, there might be some conflict of interest with us doing this internally," Colon said. The center was also concerned with one provision that would redefine how arbitration works and another that would change the dynamics of information sharing between the center and the USOPC and NGBs. The other bill sponsors were Reps. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio; Don Bacon, R-Nebraska; and Kathy Castor, D-Florida. The lawmakers positioned the bill as one that will help the Denver-based center, while making clear they are not satisfied with the results so far. “We're going to make sure the center has the resources it needs to effectively respond to thousands of reports it handles annually,” Castor said. “It has unfortunately fallen short." Ross conceded this bill will probably get pushed to the next Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, “but we needed to set the stage as soon as possible.” AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-gamesAmritsar: A group of Panthic leaders , in a meeting on Wednesday, said the punishment handed down to Sukhbir Singh Badal was mild. The meeting was attended by the team which organised the 2015 Sarbat Khalsa and included Mohkam Singh, Jarnail Singh Sakhira, Amrik Singh Ajnala, Satnam Singh Manava, Vassan Singh Jaffarwal, and Gurdeep Singh Bathinda. They said during the Sarbat Khalsa, they had unanimously appointed Jagtar Singh Hawara, imprisoned in Tihar jail, as the jathedar of Akal Takht and reiterated their respect for him and affirmed their continued support for his leadership. Sakhira said it was unacceptable for them to remain silent in the face of incomplete or incorrect decisions by Akal Takht. “Had we not raised voices against the pardon granted to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim by the Sikh high priests, the pardon would never have been revoked,” he said. We also published the following articles recently Cleaning utensils, shoes over SAD rule 'mistakes': Akal Takht issues religious punishment for Sukhbir Singh Badal The Sikh clergy imposed religious penalties on Sukhbir Singh Badal and other Shiromani Akali Dal leaders for actions during their 2007-2017 rule. Badal received 'sewadar' duties at the Golden Temple, including cleaning utensils and shoes. The Akal Takht also revoked Parkash Singh Badal's 'Fakhre-e-Qaum' title and mandated other leaders to perform similar services. 'Wash utensils, clean bathrooms': Why Sikh high priests have punished SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal Sukhbir Singh Badal, former Punjab deputy CM, performed public penance at the Golden Temple after being declared 'tankhaiya' for religious misconduct during SAD's rule. He carried a spear and wore a placard displaying Gurbani verses. The Akal Takht Jathedar cited Badal's failure to address the 2015 sacrilege incidents and the pardoning of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a blasphemy case. Sikh community the real force behind Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badals submission, Takhts assertion Sukhbir Singh Badal, former SAD president, admitted his and his late father's wrongdoings during their rule in Punjab before the Akal Takht. Driven by public pressure and electoral losses, this submission reflects a shift in Sikh politics. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .If you’re sitting on a pile of travel or credit card rewards with no immediate travel plans, donating them to a charity is an easy way to have a positive impact. And it's a popular way to give: In 2021, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members donated around 94 million miles to charities at an approximate cash value of $2.6 million, according to the airline. Beyond the social benefits, miles donations also qualify as activity on your loyalty account and can prevent the rest of your rewards from expiring . But if you’re in the habit of maximizing points and miles, you might also want to stretch the value of your charitable donations as far as possible. And by that measure, some methods of donating points and miles fall short. Here’s what to consider before donating your miles and points . Many loyalty programs make it easy to redeem your points and miles for a donation directly through their rewards portals. But some portals — especially those from airline and hotel programs — don’t publish the cash value a charity will receive for your miles or points. That means the charity may receive less value for your donation than you’d think, while also making it hard to compare the value of a donation with the value of other options for redeeming your points. Best Western Rewards is one of the few loyalty programs that publishes a cash value for charitable points donations. The charity will receive $2 for every 500 points you donate, for a point a value of 0.4 cent each. NerdWallet values Best Western points at 0.6 cent apiece, so you would receive 33% less value for your donation relative to using them for a hotel stay. Generally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t count points and miles as a source of income, so if you donate them, you can't deduct the cash value of your gift. This lack of favorable tax treatment for the consumer combined with the uncertain value you’ll often receive for miles and points donations should have you at least consider other avenues for your philanthropic endeavors. Keep in mind that this drawback only matters for taxpayers who itemize deductions on their income tax returns. If you're like most people and take the standard deduction instead of itemizing, you wouldn't be able to get a charitable tax deduction from any donation. Some rewards programs have a minimum donation amount for select charities. For example, you’d have to donate at least 2,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points for a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That minimum amount makes it tougher to donate points that may be collecting dust in your loyalty account. To maximize the value of your donation, consider a charity that books travel directly with your miles or points rather than donating directly through your loyalty program's portal. For example, Miles4Migrants uses donated airline miles and credit card points to directly book award travel for refugees and asylum seekers. “Instead of maximizing points and miles to book a dream trip, we do it to help refugees reach safe new beginnings,” said Patrick Stouffer, partnerships manager at Miles4Migrants, in an email. Miles4Migrants has redeemed over 775 million donated miles in pursuit of their mission, with a cash value of over $17 million. That expertise allows them to get more value out of every donation. “Our team has the specialized knowledge necessary to stretch the value of every point or mile, ensuring donations go as far as possible,” Stouffer said. “Even if you aren’t able to reap any tax advantages of donating your points, at least you’ll know they made the largest possible impact.” Direct cash donations help avoid the downsides of donating miles and points. If you have a credit card that earns cash back , or if you earn cash rewards through a shopping portal like TopCashBack or Rakuten , consider cashing out and donating those rewards instead of your miles and points. With a cash donation, you’ll know the exact value a charity will receive from your donation and likely qualify for a potential itemized deduction on your taxes. Some rewards programs make this process simple and transparent. Travel rewards programs sometimes incentivize charitable giving by offering bonus points for your cash donations. For example, American Airlines offers 10 AAdvantage miles for every dollar members contribute to the charity Stand Up To Cancer. That extra incentive can be an individual boon for your charitable donation. Just be aware that any points or miles you receive from such promotions will reduce the tax deductibility of your contribution. American Airlines values those bonus miles you receive through donations at 3 cents each. So if you donate $100 and receive 1,000 AAdvantage miles, American values those miles at $30. You’ll receive a tax form declaring those rewards as $30 in income, giving you a qualifying tax deduction of $70. When you donate cash and receive bonus points, the charity still receives your full donation and you get a slug of points. While you'll have to pay taxes on those points, it can still be a big win for your future travel plans. The article Should You Donate Your Points and Miles to Charity? originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Should You Donate Your Points and Miles to Charity?

Jetliner skids off runway and bursts into flames while landing in South Korea, killing 179

Fulks puts up 26, Milwaukee defeats IU Indianapolis 88-81

PINE RIVER — Happy Dancing Turtle and Pine River-Backus Community Education will host the 19th Annual Back to Basics sustainable living event Feb. 15 at Pine River-Backus School. Workshops, vendors, exhibitors, lunch, door prizes and a keynote speaker are planned for the event which runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attend the morning keynote address and the all-day vendor/exhibitor fair for free. Register to participate in a full day of workshops, choosing from over 50 offerings on topics such as food, DIY, gardening, health & wellness, and environmental sustainability. ADVERTISEMENT Benjamin Winchester, a rural sociologist with the University of Minnesota Extension’s Department of Community Development, will present the keynote, “Rewriting the Rural Narrative.” “Benjamin Winchester brings a fresh framing of opportunities and challenges of rural living, with a big emphasis on the opportunities. His enthusiasm is just contagious,” said Happy Dancing Turtle Executive Director Quinn Swanson in a news release. Running concurrently throughout the day will be the free Back to Basics vendor/exhibitor fair which requires no registration and is open from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Visit more than 50 booths of sustainably themed vendors and chat with knowledgeable people while stocking up on handmade and locally sourced foods, house goods, handmade herbal products and jewelry, clothing and more. “With new workshop presenters and topics like cheese making, small batch fiber processing, cooking Ayurvedically, biometeorology, carbon credit cash plus the variety of new and returning vendors/exhibitors, this will be an outstanding event,” Michelle Hoefs, one of the primary event coordinators, said. “The synergy of so many people sharing ideas, products, and information on sustainable living make for an inspiring day.” Happy Dancing Turtle is looking for helpers to contribute their time and energy for the event. In exchange for four hours of help, volunteers receive lunch, an event T-shirt, and will have the opportunity to attend workshops. Email b2b@happydancingturtle. org if you would like to volunteer or call 218-587-2303. Full-day registration for workshops is $40, with discounts for senior citizens and students. Á la carte options are also available. Participant registration opens Jan. 3; register online at www.happydancingturtle.org/back-to-basics-workshops . Walk-in registration is available the day of the event, although some workshops may have filled. It is recommended to register early to reserve the workshops you wish to attend. ADVERTISEMENTFormer President Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100. The 39th president of the United States was a Georgia peanut farmer who sought to restore trust in government when he assumed the presidency in 1977 and then built a reputation for tireless work as a humanitarian. He earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He died Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in Plains, Georgia. At age 52, Carter was sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 1977, after defeating President Gerald R. Ford in the 1976 general election. Carter left office on Jan. 20, 1981, following his 1980 general election loss to Ronald Reagan. Here's the latest: The longest-lived American president died Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” The Carter Center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. In his 1975 book “Why Not The Best,” Carter said of himself: “I am a Southerner and an American, I am a farmer, an engineer, a father and husband, a Christian, a politician and former governor, a planner, a businessman, a nuclear physicist, a naval officer, a canoeist, and among other things a lover of Bob Dylan’s songs and Dylan Thomas’s poetry.” A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. After he left office and returned home to his tiny hometown of Plains in southwest Georgia, Carter regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world. Former Vice President Al Gore praised Jimmy Carter for living “a life full of purpose, commitment and kindness” and for being a “lifelong role model for the entire environmental movement.” Carter, who left the White House in 1981 after a landslide defeat to Ronald Reagan. concentrated on conflict resolution, defending democracy and fighting disease in the developing world. Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, remains a leading advocate for action to fight climate change. Both won Nobel Peace Prizes. Gore said that “it is a testament to his unyielding determination to help build a more just and peaceful world” that Carter is often “remembered equally for the work he did as President as he is for his leadership over the 42 years after he left office.” During Gore’s time in the White House, President Bill Clinton had an uneasy relationship with Carter. But Gore said he is “grateful” for “many years of friendship and collaboration” with Carter. Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, remember Carter as a man who lived to serve others. “Hillary and I mourn the passing of President Jimmy Carter and give thanks for his long, good life. Guided by his faith, President Carter lived to serve others — until the very end." The statement recalled Carter's many achievements and priorities, including efforts “to protect our natural resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, make energy conservation a national priority, return the Panama Canal to Panama, and secure peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David." After he left office, the Clinton statement said, Carter continued efforts in "supporting honest elections, advancing peace, combating disease, and promoting democracy; to his and Rosalynn’s devotion and hard work at Habitat for Humanity — he worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world,” the statement said.

Exxon Mobil and Chevron are jumping into the race to power artificial intelligence data centers, as the two oil majors bet tech companies will ultimately turn to natural gas to meet their tremendous energy needs. Exxon unveiled plans this week to build a natural gas plant to power a data center. The oil major says it would then use carbon capture and storage technology to reduce the emissions of the plant by 90%. "We're working with other large cap industrials to rapidly deploy a solution that would provide both high reliability and low carbon intensity power to meet the growing demand for computing... Spencer KimballKing and PM honour former US president Jimmy Carter after his death aged 100JIMMY Carter set a powerful model for ex-presidents despite the political crises he faced in the White House. The beloved leader's legacy extended far beyond his one term in the Oval Office with his sad passing at the age of 100 marking the death of one of America's kindest souls. James Earl Carter Jr. came from humble beginnings, born and raised on a peanut farm in Plains, Georgia, He was also the only US Naval Academy graduate to be elected to the White House before he took public office. But it was Carter's background that was part of his appeal, according to political scientist and professor at the University of Oregon, Daniel Tichenor. Tichenor exclusively told The U.S. Sun, “[Carter] was kind of relatively inexperienced, but that was also his enormous appeal because most Americans had lost trust in government and the presidency in particular and feeling that it had been corrupted." Carter ran for president in 1976, just two years after Former President Richard Nixon resigned from office following the Watergate scandal. Tichenor added that Americans also felt as if there were "a lot of deceptions surrounding the Vietnam War," which ended in 1975 after two decades of fighting. “The national spirit was low and here was somebody who was coming in with fresh ideas who wanted to make human rights and American morality front center in our foreign policy," the expert said. "And [Carter] also was promising unprecedented transparency and honesty as an elected official.” Most read in The US Sun Carter was "very popular at the outset," according to Tichenor. One of the highlights of Carter's presidency was the Camp David Accords, a pair of political agreements signed in 1978 by Egypt and Israel that aimed to bring peace to the Middle East. But, the Carter administration also took several political blows that the 39th president couldn't recover from. “He faced in his first term, a number of crises and challenges that really tested him and ultimately led to his defeat in the 1980 election," Tichenor said. This included the Iran hostage crisis, where 52 US diplomats and citizens from the national Embassy in Tehran were held hostage for 444 days, the 1979 oil crisis which was caused by a decrease in oil production during the Iranian Revolution, and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. “All these things really shook confidence in his administration," Tichenor said. And in 1980, Carter lost the presidency to Republican nominee Ronald Reagan. POST-PRESIDENCY SERVICE While Carter might have been dealt a hard defeat, he didn't give up in his commitment to service, in fact, he stayed active in public engagements until 2021 at the age of 97. “The vast majority of former presidents usually spent their time in leisure," Tichenor said. "Instead President Carter really set a powerful model for how to really be an agenda setter and someone who is a change agent after one’s presidency.” Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the Carter Center in 1982, which "seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health ," on the global stage, according to their mission statement. One of the center's health programs, which has been around since 1986, includes the eradication of Guinea worm disease. Kai Bird, Carter's biographer, wrote in The New York Times , "He once told me that he hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm. "Last year there were only 13 cases of Guinea worm disease in humans," he said. "He may have succeeded." Carter and his wife have also contributed to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit which builds houses for people in need across the world. The former president was “somebody who was ready to roll up his sleeves and give back in a powerful way," Tichenor said. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize , which the Chairman of the Nobel Committee believed the former president deserved as early as 1978 after the Camp David Accords. This award has only been given to three other presidents and Carter was the only one to be handed the award after his presidency. Tichenor believes Carter was given the award for “a long tenure as a states person who tried to resolve conflicts around the world and to be a constructive force to encourage lasting peace." From peanut farmer to noble prize winner, Jimmy Carter committed his life to the well-being of not only the American people, but those in need around the globe. “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something," Jimmy Carter once said. "My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.” The 39th president of the United States , died after nearly two years in hospice care. His son Chip Carter confirmed the former leader died at his Georgia home on Sunday around 3:45 pm ET. Carter peacefully passed away surrounded by his family who paid an emotional tribute to the former leader. READ MORE SUN STORIES Carter is survived by his children, Jack, James, Donnel, and Amy , as well as 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A state funeral is expected to be announced in the coming days.