rich9 register login
The 49ers shored up their suddenly thin running back corps on Tuesday by claiming Israel Abanikanda off waivers from the New York Jets. In a corresponding move, the Niners placed Christian McCaffrey on injured reserve after he suffered a right knee injury in Sunday night’s 35-10 loss to the Bills . Coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday said backup running back Jordan Mason would “most likely” join McCaffrey on IR, but the 49ers did not place him on that list just yet after he sprained his ankle Sunday. Abanikanda, 22, is in his second year as a pro after the Jets picked him in the fifth round of the 2023 draft out of Pittsburgh. He was waived Monday to make room for Kene Nwangwu, who had a 99-yard kick return touchdown and forced a fumble as a practice-squad elevation in New York’s loss Sunday to the Seahawks. Abanikanda has been inactive for all 12 of the Jets’ games this season. Last year, he had 22 carries for 70 yards in six games, adding seven catches for 43 yards. The 49ers also signed maligned wide receiver Ronnie Bell to the practice squad. Bell, whom the 49ers waived last week, was drafted by San Francisco last year in the seventh round out of Michigan and has eight catches for 90 yards in 26 career games.House blocks release of Matt Gaetz ethics reportThe House shut down Democrats' efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, pushing the fate of any resolution to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty. Related video above: Matt Gaetz withdraws attorney general nomination The nearly party-line votes came after Democrats had been pressing for the findings to be published even though the Florida Republican left Congress and withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Republicans have argued that any congressional probe into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent to set. While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare. Shortly before the votes took place, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., who introduced one of the bills to force the release, said that if Republicans reject the release, they will have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims. Earlier Thursday, the Ethics panel met to discuss the Gaetz report but made no decision, saying in a short statement that the matter is still being discussed. It's unclear now whether the document will ever see the light of day as lawmakers only have a few weeks left before a new session of Congress begins. It's the culmination of weeks of pressure on the Ethics committee's five Republicans and five Democrats who mostly work in secret as they investigate allegations of misconduct against lawmakers. The status of the Gaetz investigation became an open question last month when he abruptly resigned from Congress after Trump's announcement that he wanted his ally in the Cabinet. It is standard practice for the committee to end investigations when members of Congress depart, but the circumstances surrounding Gaetz were unusual, given his potential role in the new administration. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., the committee chairman, said Wednesday that there is no longer the same urgency to release the report given that Gaetz has left Congress and stepped aside as Trump's choice to head the Justice Department. “I’ve been steadfast about that. He’s no longer a member. He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general,” Guest said. The Gaetz report has also caused tensions between lawmakers on the bipartisan committee. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, publicly admonished Guest last month for mischaracterizing a previous meeting to the press. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s separate investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended without federal charges. His onetime political ally Joel Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in prison.
It's harder now than ever to win on the PGA Tour. The depth of professional golf has only grown in recent years, and a new wave of young stars enters the sport every year and makes their mark on the PGA Tour. In 2024, there were 15-first-time winners, meaning almost 33 percent of all Tour events were won by first timers. Then there was Scottie Scheffler, who won seven PGA Tour events in addition to his win at the Olympics and Hero World Challenge. Xander Schauffele won a pair of majors. Rory McIlroy won the Wells Fargo for the fourth time. However, not every star has lifted a trophy recently. Some are adding the years since they won. Here's a look at some PGA Tour stars who are looking to end lengthy win droughts in 2025. It's coming up on two years since Burns took down good friend Scottie Scheffler in the semis at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in 2023 before a thrilling final against Cam Young, but the 19th ranked golfer in the world has yet to win since. Perhaps 2025 can be the year he gets PGA Tour win No. 6. The eight-time PGA Tour winner captured the 2022 BMW Championship, defending his title at the event. But heading into 2025, Cantlay is creeping up on three years without a victory and recently fell outside of the top 10 in the OWGR for the first time since June of 2021. Finau went through a stretch in 2022-23 where he won four times in 19 starts, including three wins in a seven-start stretch the latter half of 2022. But he hasn't won since the 2023 Mexico Open and is recovering from recent knee surgery. Hovland won the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship in 2023, and since then, it has been a spiral. He missed the cut in three of the four majors in 2024, though he seemed to find his groove toward the end of the year. He recently broke his pinky toe, however, and will try to play through the pain at The Sentry. Homa won on the DP World Tour late last year and had a strong week defending earlier this month, but his last PGA Tour win came nearly two years ago at the 2023 Farmers. Perhaps the West Coast Swing can result in another win for the California kid. It's hard to believe, but Adam Scott is coming up on five years since his last PGA Tour win at the 2020 Genesis Invitational. He's ranked 18th in the world thanks to a strong stretch of golf in 2024, but does the Aussie have a few more Ws in him? Who knows what to expect from Spieth in 2025 after wrist surgery in late August. He hasn't won since the 2022 RBC Heritage, including a playoff loss to Matt Fitzpatrick in the same event a year later. Last but not least, Thomas hasn't won since capturing his second major at the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills. However, of all golfers on this list, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him win early in 2025. His last two starts of 2024? T-2 at the Zozo and solo third at the Hero.WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge grants request from prosecutors to dismiss election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump.
By TOM KRISHER, Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — For a second time, a Delaware judge has nullified a pay package that Tesla had awarded its CEO, Elon Musk, that once was valued at $56 billion. On Monday, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick turned aside a request from Musk’s lawyers to reverse a ruling she announced in January that had thrown out the compensation plan. The judge ruled then that Musk effectively controlled Tesla’s board and had engineered the outsize pay package during sham negotiations . Lawyers for a Tesla shareholder who sued to block the pay package contended that shareholders who had voted for the 10-year plan in 2018 had been given misleading and incomplete information. In their defense, Tesla’s board members asserted that the shareholders who ratified the pay plan a second time in June had done so after receiving full disclosures, thereby curing all the problems the judge had cited in her January ruling. As a result, they argued, Musk deserved the pay package for having raised Tesla’s market value by billions of dollars. McCormick rejected that argument. In her 103-page opinion, she ruled that under Delaware law, Tesla’s lawyers had no grounds to reverse her January ruling “based on evidence they created after trial.” On Monday night, Tesla posted on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, that the company will appeal. The appeal would be filed with the Delaware Supreme Court, the only state appellate court Tesla can pursue. Experts say a ruling would likely come in less than a year. “The ruling, if not overturned, means that judges and plaintiffs’ lawyers run Delaware companies rather than their rightful owners — the shareholders,” Tesla argued. Later, on X, Musk unleashed a blistering attack on the judge, asserting that McCormick is “a radical far left activist cosplaying as a judge.” Legal authorities generally suggest that McCormick’s ruling was sound and followed the law. Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, said that in his view, McCormick was right to rule that after Tesla lost its case in the original trial, it created improper new evidence by asking shareholders to ratify the pay package a second time. Had she allowed such a claim, he said, it would cause a major shift in Delaware’s laws against conflicts of interest given the unusually close relationship between Musk and Tesla’s board. “Delaware protects investors — that’s what she did,” said Elson, who has followed the court for more than three decades. “Just because you’re a ‘superstar CEO’ doesn’t put you in a separate category.” Elson said he thinks investors would be reluctant to put money into Delaware companies if there were exceptions to the law for “special people.” Elson said that in his opinion, the court is likely to uphold McCormick’s ruling. Experts say no. Rulings on state laws are normally left to state courts. Brian Dunn, program director for the Institute of Compensation Studies at Cornell University, said it’s been his experience that Tesla has no choice but to stay in the Delaware courts for this compensation package. The company could try to reconstitute the pay package and seek approval in Texas, where it may expect more friendlier judges. But Dunn, who has spent 40 years as an executive compensation consultant, said it’s likely that some other shareholder would challenge the award in Texas because it’s excessive compared with other CEOs’ pay plans. “If they just want to turn around and deliver him $56 billion, I can’t believe somebody wouldn’t want to litigate it,” Dunn said. “It’s an unconscionable amount of money.” Almost certainly. Tesla stock is trading at 15 times the exercise price of stock options in the current package in Delaware, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to investors. Tesla’s share price has doubled in the past six months, Jonas wrote. At Monday’s closing stock price, the Musk package is now worth $101.4 billion, according to Equilar, an executive data firm. And Musk has asked for a subsequent pay package that would give him 25% of Tesla’s voting shares. Musk has said he is uncomfortable moving further into artificial intelligence with the company if he doesn’t have 25% control. He currently holds about 13% of Tesla’s outstanding shares.Bitcoin BTC/USD started the year with an impressive All-Time High (ATH) of greater than $77,000 in March after the approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, BTC has a penchant for exceeding expectations. It shattered the high from earlier in the year on December 3 when it finally crossed the $100,000 mark and reached over $103,5000. Two weeks later, Bitcoin exceeded $107,000 and now sits at just over $92,000. There are many reasons for Bitcoin's growth and the burgeoning mainstream acceptance of the coin. Consistent global inflation and low interest rates have encouraged institutional and retail investors to look to BTC as a hedge against inflation. The re-election of Donald J. Trump and the announced resignation of Gary Gensler as chairman of the SEC have also helped foster optimistic sentiments among investors. Trump nominated Paul Atkins as Gensler's successor and Atkins has a reputation of supporting cryptocurrencies and creating a more open regulatory environment for digital assets stemming from his tenure as SEC Commissioner between 2002 and 2008. Read Also: Bitcoin Price Decisively Back Below $100,000: What Is Going On? In November, we spoke with investor and Bitcoin supporter, Tim Draper, who called for $120,000 BTC in 2024. Judging by MicroStrategy's $5.4 billion BTC buy , Draper later said the estimate may be too low. What do other experts in digital assets have to say about the trajectory of the world's most famous cryptocurrency in the waning days of 2024? And where do they see BTC going in 2025? We spoke with Grant Cardone of Cardone Capital, Caitlin Long of Custodia Bank, Anthony Scaramucci of Skybridge Capital, Sandeep Nailwa l of Polygon and Dean Skurka of WonderFi to get their unique perspectives on the future of BTC. Grant Cardone, Fund Manager / CEO Cardone Capital, CEO of Cardone Training Technologies, Inc. Cardone, entrepreneur, real estate mogul and motivational speaker, has taken an avid interest in crypto and recently announced the launch of Cardone Capital Space Coast Bitcoin Fund (Fund 26). In a tweet on X, Cardone said: "Commitments for ~100% of $87.5M fund. Targeting 30% annual returns & 100% return of all capital at 48 months." When asked in interview about the future of Bitcoin, Cardone said "It is still early in fact because of the amount of adoption by governments, corporations, state treasuries & private business owners; we are still very early." Cardone added the number of ways it's possible to gain exposure to Bitcoin as another cause for confidence. "You can gain exposure to Bitcoin by buying it directly, through ETF investments, stocks of companies like MicroStrategy and now in real estate vehicles like we've created at CardoneCapital that uses cash flow to dollar cost average purchase the Bitcoin and spike traditional stable real estate returns." Caitlin Long, Founder & CEO, Custodia Bank Long is a vocal advocate of Bitcoin and has been an open critic of Gensler's tenure at the head of the SEC. Custodia Bank faced resistance from federal regulators, and in 2023, the Federal Reserve Board rejected it, citing concerns over the risks in digital assets. Custodia offers segregated custody accounts for Bitcoin and Long is a true believer in the fundamentals behind BTC. In an interview, she expressed her optimism for BTC. "I don’t make price predictions, but for fundamental reasons tied to halvings, Bitcoin has pronounced 4-year cycles – 210,000 blocks at 10-minute average block intervals, to be precise. If the past is prologue, 2025 will be a bull market year. Generally, more ‘up and to the right' movements should be on tap!" Anthony Scaramucci, Founder & CEO of SkyBridge Capital Scaramucci is a strong supporter of cryptocurrencies and uses his platform to educate traditional investors on BTC's potential. SkyBridge offers crypto funds including the SkyBridge Bitcoin Fund . He recently published his latest book, "The Little Book of Bitcoin: What You Need to Know that Wall Street Has Already Figured Out." Asked where he expects BTC to land by the end of 2024, Scaramucci said, "I see us finishing the year around the $100,000 level. We need to digest this big post-election move and see more concrete plans from the Trump regime on new regulatory frameworks." Scaramucci's prognostications for 2025 were even more bullish, similar to Tim Draper's predictions. "I see Bitcoin doubling in 2025 to $200,000. Don’t underestimate Sen. Cynthia Lummis’ determination to build a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which would likely cause a cascading effect with other nation-states and corporations." Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder Of Polygon Nailwal is a visionary in the blockchain industry, not only for helping to found the Layer 2 blockchain network, Polygon MATIC/USD to add speed and reduce costs while using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) , but also for his work shaping the Ethereum ETH/USD ecosystem, creating tools to make blockchain development easier as well as for his work developing ZK-rollups, sidechain technology and modular frameworks for greater scalability. Nailwal stands with most leaders in the blockchain space – a stronger BTC is a net win for all parts of Web3. “Bitcoin's success is a win for everyone in crypto. It builds trust, brings in more people, and shows the world what decentralized tech can do. As more users and institutions embrace Bitcoin, it creates a gateway for them to explore the broader blockchain space. That isn't just about Bitcoin thriving – it's about unlocking new ideas, driving innovation, and helping the entire ecosystem grow stronger together.” Dean Skurka, President And CEO WonderFi Skura's work has focused on compliance and accessibility in cryptocurrency, ultimately seeking to bring traditional finance and digital finance closer together. Skura is optimistic that the changing regulatory landscape in the US will be good news for BTC. "With the incoming administration in the US, discussions of a National Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, and continued institutional inflows into US Spot Bitcoin ETFs, we expect Bitcoin to continue to gain mainstream adoption, which will only further improve the long-term prospects for Bitcoin. The industry's prospects have never looked brighter, and we look forward to many more milestones in 2025." Now Read: $84,000 Is Bitcoin’s Worst Case, Options Trading Firm CEO Says © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.