WASHINGTON (AP) — on his word and issue a categorical pardon for his son, , just weeks before his scheduled sentencing on gun and tax convictions was a surprise that wasn't all that surprising. Not to those who had witnessed the president’s shared anguish over his two sons after the boys survived a car crash that killed Biden's first wife and a daughter more than a half-century ago. Or to those who heard the president regularly lament the death , from cancer or voice concerns — largely in private — about But by choosing to put his family first, the 82-year-old president — who had pledged to restore a fractured public’s trust in the nation’s institutions and respect for the rule of law — has raised new questions about “This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” Colorado's Democratic Gov. wrote in a post on X. He added that while he could sympathize with Hunter Biden’s struggles, “no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.” Biden aides and allies had been resigned to the prospect of the president using his extraordinary power in the waning days of his presidency to ensure his son wouldn't see time behind bars, especially after ’s win. The president's supporters have long viewed Biden's commitment to his family as an asset overall, even if Hunter's personal conduct were seen as a persistent liability. But the pardon comes as Biden has become increasingly isolated since , who jumped in to the race after the president’s forced his exit from the election. He is still struggling to resolve thorny foreign policy issues in the Middle East and Europe. And he must reckon with his decision to seek reelection despite his advanced age, which helped return the Oval Office to Trump, a man he had warned time and again was a threat to democratic norms. Trump has gleefully planned to undo Biden’s signature achievements on climate change and reverse the Democrat's efforts to reinvigorate the country’s alliances, all while standing poised to take credit for a strengthening economy and billions in infrastructure investments that are in the pipeline for the coming years. And now, Biden has handed the Republican a pretext to carry through with sweeping plans to upend the Department of Justice as the Republican vows to “This pardon is just deflating for those of us who’ve been out there for a few years yelling about what a threat Trump is,” Republican Joe Walsh, a vocal Trump critic, said on MSNBC. “‘Nobody’s above the law,’ we’ve been screaming. Well, Joe Biden just made clear his son Hunter is above the law.” Jean-Pierre said Monday from Air Force One that the president wrestled with the decision but ultimately felt his son’s case had been tainted by politics, though she tried to thread the needle — insisting he had faith in the Justice Department. “He believes in the justice system, but he also believes that politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice,” she said. But Trump has already made very clear his intent to disrupt federal law enforcement with his initial nomination of outspoken critics like to be attorney general , who nominally still has more than two years left in his term. (Gaetz ended up quickly withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations.) Reacting to the pardon, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement: “That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people." In a social media post, the president-elect himself called the pardon “such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice.” “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump asked. He was referring to those convicted in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters aiming to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. Biden and his spokespeople had repeatedly and flatly ruled out the president granting his son a pardon. Biden told reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.” In July, press secretary told reporters: “It's still a no. It will be a no. It is a no. And I don’t have anything else to add. Will he pardon his son? No." In November, days after Trump's victory, Jean-Pierre reiterated that message: “Our answer stands, which is no." Neither Biden nor the White House explained the shift in the president's thinking, and it was his broken promise as much as his act of clemency that was a lightning rod. He is hardly the first president to pardon a family member or friend entangled in political dealings. pardoned his brother Roger for drug charges after he had served his sentence roughly a decade earlier. In his final weeks in office, , the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Yet Biden held himself up as placing his respect for the American judicial system and rule of law over his own personal concerns — trying to draw a deliberate contrast with Trump, who tested the bounds of his authority like few predecessors. Inside the White House, the timing of the pardon was surprising to some who believed Biden would put it off as long as possible, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. It came just after Biden spent extended time over the past week with Hunter and other family members on Nantucket in Massachusetts, a family tradition for Thanksgiving. “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon. Some in the administration have privately expressed anguish that the substance of Biden’s statement, including his claim of an unfair politically-tinged prosecution of his son resembled complaints Trump — who faced now-abandoned indictments over his role in trying to subvert the 2020 election — has been making for years about the Justice Department. Biden said the charges in his son's cases "came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.” Many legal experts agreed that the charges against the younger Biden were somewhat unusual, but the facts of the offenses were hardly in dispute, as Hunter wrote about his gun purchase while addicted to illegal drugs in his memoir and ultimately pleaded guilty to the tax charges. The pardon too was unusual, coming before Hunter Biden was even sentenced and covering not just the but also anything else he might have done going back to the start of 2014. It's a move that could limit the ability of the Trump Justice Department to investigate the younger Biden's unsavory foreign business dealings, or to find new ground on which to bring criminal charges related to that time period. Biden, in his statement, asked for consideration: “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision." Associated Press Writer Aamer Madhani in Washington and Will Weissert aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
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Wheel of Fortune’s most prized tradition is the bonus round, where each episode’s winner is faced with one last puzzle and a mere 10 seconds to come away with an even bigger bundle of cash (or not). But fans want a word with host Ryan Seacrest about how he’s presenting the prizes after giving a puzzling amount of build-up to a player’s $40,000 win. On Friday, November 22’s episode, Brittany Brock, a kindergarten teacher from Chicago, Illinois, was the player to proceed to the coveted bonus round. By then she had won $17,300 in cash, a trip to Kauai, and selected “Living Thing” as her category. With the savvy additional letters of “DPBI” the two-word puzzle read as, “‘_ _ DDL_’ ‘P_PP_'”. Near-instantly, she correctly solved it as “Cuddly Puppy.” The broadcast cut to Seacrest and an excited Brock, and it was time to reveal how much she won from the prize wedge she picked. Seacrest opened the gold prize card and glanced at the figure. “And...” he told her with a surprised grin (below). After a few seconds he added, “Ready?” Broke clasped her hands over her mouth in anticipation as Seacrest then revealed she won an extra $40,000, the least one can win in the bonus round. “$40,000!” he exclaimed. This brought her to a grand total of $57,381 and she was overjoyed nonetheless, embraced her husband. On Social media, many fans celebrated the big win while left wondering why Seacrest presented the prize with such a prolonged rollout that it seemed like a bigger value and as if the confetti was about to overflow onto the Sony Pictures Studios parking lot. “Ryan acting like it’s $75,000 or $100,000 with the slow way he shows the amount,” one fan wrote when the game show shared the clip to YouTube. Over on the WoF Reddit, a fan dedicated a discussion thread to the moment titling it, “Bonus Reveal... lolz.” They continued, “I like Seacrest, but gotta admit, I’m not a fan of the dramatic 40K reveals lol.” “Agreed...” a second user wrote, arguing that a contestant in the future could be “disappointed” it’s not more. “The Mrs. and I commented on that last night. He presents it like it’s something more than the minimum prize amount! One of these days, the contestant is going to react disappointedly.” A third wrote, “He also contorts his body awkwardly and bounces around to just flip the card open. Then says ‘it was this much’ as if he can’t say the amount. Kind of weird. But the lack of higher amounts lately is noticed. I’m glad it’s been all cash so far. A lot of the cars prior were 30k, which is nice, but they were lowest prize.” Chuck Woolery Dies: Former ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Love Connection’ Host Was 83 “I agree, feels like he’s forcing it,” wrote a fourth. A fifth was even more critical, “I’m sorry I know a lot of people are going to get mad at me but I just don’t like him. There’s something about him, that I just don’t enjoy watching him in anything at all.” Meanwhile , Seacrest, of course, had huge shoes to fill replacing the legendary Pat Sajak alongside the iconic Vanna White after four decades for Season 42. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years, and viewers were already treated to a viral moment (via a round of sausage) . That said, there have been some other questionable moments according to fans. In September, Seacrest suffered what fans dubbed his “first blooper” , involving a prolonged reaction to rewarding a bonus round. Fans also called out the host for ruling against another player before the timer was up. There have also been a few on-screen “glitches,” and a minor spelling error in a Thanksgiving puzzle . Many fans also blamed a lack of experience on Seacrest’s mishandling of a contestant’s $1million wedge, which she instantly forfeited. Wheel of Fortune , Weeknights, Check your local listings More Headlines: ‘Outlander’: Richard Rankin Teases ‘Shock After Shock’ for Roger & Buck’s Season 7 Adventure ‘Countdown’: Jensen Ackles Shares Look at Filming New Prime Video Show (PHOTOS) Courtney B. Vance Is ‘Percy Jackson’s New Zeus: See His Tribute to Lance Reddick ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Fans Beg Ryan Seacrest to Change His ‘Forced’ Bonus Round Move ‘The Boys’ Season 5 Begins Filming & Everything Else We Know About the Final Chapter
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Stirista Climbs to #4 on San Antonio Business Journal's 2024 Fast Track AwardsGlobal stocks mostly cheer Nvidia results as bitcoin gainsAhead of Ohio State's appearance in the College Football Playoff, head coach Ryan Day received a vote of confidence from his athletic director despite the Buckeyes' latest loss to Michigan. Ohio State AD Ross Bjork appeared on 97.1 The Fan in Columbus on Thursday, where a radio host asked him whether Day would be the Buckeyes' coach at the start of next season regardless of how the playoffs shake out. "Absolutely," said Bjork, who came to Ohio State from the same role at Texas A&M in July. "Coach Day and I have just hit it off so well. I've been really, really impressed. Every single time I've talked to him, I've learned something. He's innovative. He recruits at the highest level. He's got a great staff. There's always tweaks. There was tweaks after last year, right? You're always going to tweak things. You're always going to make adjustments. You're always going to make improvements." Bjork continued by addressing the "championship or bust" attitude held by some of the fanbase. "This whole mentality about -- and look, we live it, and we sign up for it -- but if you get fixated on the end result and not have the process fully baked every time, you're going to lose," Bjork said. "The mindset's going to lose because you're only fixated on one thing. And so what we have to do is this whole ‘championship or bust' mentality, you want that as the goal, but it has to be about the process. "To me, we've got to maybe change some conversations a little bit. I think we need to maybe just approach things a little bit differently." Day is 66-10 as Ohio State's coach and led the Buckeyes to one national championship game appearance, a 52-24 loss to Alabama to cap the 2020 season. Ohio State went 10-2 in the regular season but missed out on a place in the Big Ten championship game when rival Michigan defeated the Buckeyes 13-10 on Nov. 30. It was Michigan's fourth straight win in The Game, and Day is now 1-4 as a head coach against the Wolverines. At the time, Bjork released a statement of support for Day, and he doubled down during Thursday's radio hit. "He's great to work with. He totally gets it. He loves being a Buckeye, and so we're going to support him at the highest level throughout," Bjork said. "But here's the thing too, and the reason why we needed to say something after that game is we're still breathing. They're still alive. The season's not over. The book is not closed, right? And so we've got to have confidence. I mean, Ohio State should be confident every single day. We're Ohio State. "But we also have to make sure we stay to our values and we stick to what we believe in. And so to me, it's the process as much as it is about the end result." --Field Level MediaGERMANTOWN, Tenn. , Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc., or MAA (NYSE: MAA ), today announced a full quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per outstanding share of its 8.50% Series I Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock. The dividend is payable on December 31, 2024 , to shareholders of record on December 13, 2024 . About MAA MAA is a self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) and member of the S&P 500. MAA owns or has ownership interest in apartment communities primarily throughout the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. focused on delivering strong, full-cycle investment performance. For further details, please refer to the "For Investors" page at www.maac.com or contact Investor Relations at [email protected] . Forward-Looking Statements Certain matters in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended with respect to our expectations for future periods. Such statements include statements made about the payment of preferred dividends. The ability to meet the payment of preferred dividends in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements could differ materially from the projection due to a number of factors, including a downturn in general economic conditions or the capital markets, changes in interest rates and other items that are difficult to control such as increases in real estate taxes in many of our markets, as well as the other general risks inherent in the apartment and real estate businesses. Reference is hereby made to the filings of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, reports on Form 8-K, and its annual report on Form 10-K, particularly including the risk factors contained in the latter filing. SOURCE MAA