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New Mexico native will oversee the state’s $49B savings portfolio amid windfall from petroleum
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A state cabinet secretary and former economist to the Legislature was selected Wednesday to oversee New Mexico‘s $49 billion nest egg of savings and trust accounts at the State Investment Council. As state investment officer, Albuquerque native Jon Clark will oversee financial assets including the New Mexico land grant permanent fund — built largely from petroleum production on state trust lands since the 1970s to benefit schools, hospitals and other public institutions. NEW MEXICO WWII SOLDIER’S REMAINS IDENTIFIED NEARLY 80 YEARS LATER The 11-member investment council — a board of elected and appointed officials with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham serving as chair — conducted a nationwide search that generated more than 80 applications. Clark in 2019 joined the Economic Development Department and rose this year to acting cabinet secretary at an agency that administers annual incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars aimed at creating private employment opportunities, from job-training grants to film production “rebates” that can offset nearly one-third of local spending. Prior to that, he worked as an analyst and chief economist to the budget and accountability office of the Legislature. Steve Moises retired on Oct. 1 after a 13-year stint as state investment officer. Clark starts work at an annual salary of $285,000. Management of New Mexico‘s state investments has taken on increasing significance amid an unprecedented surge in state government income from oil and natural gas production in the Permian Basin that overlaps southeastern New Mexico and portions of western Texas. Voters last year approved an increase in annual distributions from the land grant fund to public schools and early childhood education programs. At the same time, state lawmakers have been setting aside billions of dollars in surplus state income each year in a variety of trust accounts for the future, in case the world’s thirst for oil falters. The State Investment Council oversees New Mexico’s early childhood education trust, created in 2020 to generate investment earnings and underwrite an ambitious expansion of public preschool, no-cost child care and home nurse visits for infants. The fund already holds roughly $6 billion.
Former Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby faces possible disbarment amid ongoing legal battles
The Maryland Bar Counsel has filed a petition to suspend former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s law license, following alleged misuse of her finances during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new petition, filed Tuesday, asked the Maryland Supreme Court to immediately suspend Mosby because she was found guilty of a “serious crime” as defined under state ethics rules for lawyers. The petition requests Mosby to “be suspended immediately from the practice of law pending the imposition of sentence and entry of a judgment of conviction.” Mosby, who gained a national profile for prosecuting Baltimore police officers after Freddie Gray, a Black man, died in police custody, faced perjury charges after she lied about her finances during the COVID-19 pandemic. FORMER BALTIMORE PROSECUTOR MARILYN MOSBY FACES PERJURY TRIAL FOR ALLEGED MISUSE OF RETIREMENT Mosby was found guilty in 2022 and charged with two counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements on a loan application. The former top prosecutor allegedly withdrew $90,000 from Baltimore city’s deferred compensation plan in 2020. FORMER TOP BALTIMORE PROSECUTOR MARILYN MOSBY’S REQUEST FOR VENUE CHANGE IN PERJURY TRIAL DENIED Modby then used the $90,000 as down payments to buy a home in Kissimmee, Florida, and a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida. Mosby also falsely claimed that she had suffered financial hardships from the pandemic, despite receiving her full salary of $250,000. Prosecutors said that the money in the retirement account was held in a trust and belongs to the city until a planned participant is eligible to make a withdrawal. BALTIMORE’S FORMER TOP PROSECUTOR MARILYN MOSBY HAS TRIAL DELAYED AFTER ENTIRE DEFENSE TEAM QUITS They argued that Mosby wasn’t entitled under federal law to access the funds in 2020 because her business, Mahogany Elite Enterprises, did not suffer any “adverse financial consequences” from the pandemic. Delaney said Mosby’s business had no clients or revenue. Jury selection for that trial will begin on January 18, 2024. A judge ruled that Mosby would not be sentenced until the completion of her second federal trial. Mosby’s lawyer in her criminal case, Federal Public Defender James Wyda, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Politics: Gender-neutral Christmas grift
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox. What’s Happening? – Blinken, Mayorkas meet with Mexican president over migrant crisis – Senator Fetterman snaps at questions over Biden’s popularity – Melania Trump celebrates Christmas with ailing mother California stores with more than 500 employees will soon be fined for not having a “gender-neutral” toy section once a new state law kicks in Jan. 1. The bill, signed in 2021 by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, will force stores that sell childcare items or toys to pay a $500 fine should the store fail to create a gender-neutral toy section for kids 12 years old and under. A childcare item, according to the legislation text, “means any product designed or intended by the manufacturer to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the feeding of children, or to help children with sucking or teething.” Traditional boys and girls sections won’t be outlawed, but a gender-neutral section must also be created. Failure to comply after Jan. 1, 2024, may result in civil penalties, enforced through legal action by the state attorney general, district attorney, or city attorney, with penalties ranging from $250 to $500 for subsequent violations. RULES FOR THEE: VP Harris again ridiculed for gas stove pic …Read more ‘NOTHING’ JUSTIFIES A DELAY: Prosecutors reject Menendez’s plea to delay federal bribery trial …Read more FUNDING DEADLINE APPROACHES: Senate will have to pass key spending bills after holiday recess …Read more ‘SHUT THE F— UP’: John Fetterman has choice words for Democratic strategist who warned of Biden’s waning popularity …Read more UNLIKELY ALLIES: Democratic, Jewish member of Congress says his friendship with ‘Squad’ member Rashida Tlaib is ‘not easy’ …Read more ESTABLISHMENT ‘PUPPET’: Trump Jr. says he’ll ‘make sure’ this GOP candidate doesn’t join dad’s campaign …Read more REJECTED: State Supreme Court shoots down attempt to keep Trump off ballot …Read more NORTH DAKOTA BLUES: North Dakota Republican lawmaker under scrutiny after slurs to police during DUI stop …Read more CARING FOR MOM: Melania Trump celebrates Christmas with her ailing mother …Read more RED LADY: New York Times faced intense scrutiny in 2023 over Israel-Hamas coverage …Read more Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Florida Democrat mayor slammed over Confederate monument removal: ‘Blatant overreach’
A century-old monument honoring the women of the Confederacy was removed from a Florida park Wednesday, sparking accusations that the city’s mayor was overstepping her authority. Nick Howland, a Republican who sits on Jacksonville’s City Council, called Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s actions to remove the “Women of the Southland” statue from Springfield Park, formally Confederate Park, a “blatant overreach” and an abuse of power. “Deegan is our Mayor, not our Monarch,” he wrote Wednesday on X. “Waiting until nightfall before taking a backhoe to the Women of the South monument is blatant overreach. This was Council’s decision to make. Regardless of your opinion of the monument, this is abuse of power & disregard for transparency.” GOP LAWMAKERS DEMAND PENTAGON STOP REMOVAL OF CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL IN ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY In a statement, Deegan, a Democrat, said the monument honoring women of the Confederacy was being removed with funding made through a grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and anonymous donations made to 904WARD, a local racial justice group. The memorial was erected in the early 20th century as part of a widespread campaign to promote and justify Jim Crow laws in the South and intimidate African Americans, she said. In 2020, the city renamed the park from Confederate Park to Springfield Park “amid protests ignited by the City and the nation’s call for change on racism,” according to the city’s website. The 41-foot-tall memorial features a mother embracing her two children at the top with a plaque that reads: “Let this mute but eloquent structure speak to generations to come of a generation of the past. Let it repeat perpetually the imperishable story of our women of the ’60s, those noble women who sacrificed their all upon their country’s altar.” “Symbols matter. They tell the world what we stand for and what we aspire to be,” Deegan said in a statement. “By removing the confederate monument from Springfield Park, we signal a belief in our shared humanity. That we are all created equal. The same flesh and bones. The same blood running through our veins. The same heart and soul.” In addition to the monument, the plaques and engravings are being removed and will be covered with temporary plaques. The cost of the work is $187,000 as part of an agreement between 904WARD and ACON Construction, the mayor’s office said. MILITARY INSTALLATIONS, SHIPS NAMED AFTER CONFEDERATES BEGIN RENAMING PROCESS Jacksonville’s General Counsel, Michael Fackler, said Deegan has the executive authority to order the removal because City Council approval was unnecessary since it was being done with private funds. “Our legal analysis finds that Mayor Deegan has the authority as executive of the City – and because city funds are not being utilized – to control the property, the park, and the monument,” Fackler said. After her election, Deegan promised to remove the statue but was unsuccessful in getting the City Council to go along with the plan. Last month, a Republican state representative introduced a measure to fine local officials who vote to remove historical monuments, The Washington Post reported. In endorsing Wednesday’s move, 904WARD said such monuments “often serve as painful reminders of a divisive past and contribute to a climate that perpetuates inequality.” Florida state Rep. Dean Black, a Republican, said the statue’s removal was an example of cancel culture gone too far. “This action, undertaken in the middle of the night, during the holidays, without consultation of city leaders or a vote by the council, is another in a long line of woke Democrats’ obsession with Cancel Culture and tearing down history,” he said in a statement. “Choosing to erase our history is not ‘brave’ — it is a cowardly act done by a lawless Mayor who hides under the cover of night!” Deegan argued the removal isn’t an attempt to erase history but to “show that we’ve learned from it.” “That when we know better, we do better by and for each other,” she said. “My prayer today is for our beautiful city to continue embracing unity and bending the arc of history towards justice. Let’s keep lifting as we climb.”
Displaced Palestinian mother in Gaza gives birth to quadruplets
Iman al-Masry is simply exhausted after giving birth to quadruplets in a hospital in southern Gaza, miles away from her home in the north of the war-torn Palestinian territory. In mid-October, days into the Israel-Hamas war, the young woman fled her family home in Beit Hanoon on foot with her three other children seeking safety. They walked five kilometres (three miles) to the Jabalia refugee camp, looking for a means of transport that would take them to Deir el-Balah further south. Iman was six months pregnant and “the distance was too long”, she said. “It affected my pregnancy,” added the 28-year-old mother, who gave birth by c-section on December 18 to daughters Tia and Lynn and sons Yasser and Mohammed. But Iman was quickly asked to leave the hospital with the newborns – minus Mohammed who was too fragile to go with them – to make room for other patients of the war. Now, with Tia, Lynn and Yasser, they live in a cramped schoolroom turned shelter in Deir el-Balah along with around 50 other members of their extended family. “Mohammed weighs only one kilogramme [2.2 pounds]. He cannot survive,” she said of the child she left behind at a hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Lying on a foam mattress in a schoolroom turned shelter for her and her extended family, Iman recounts her journey from hell. “When I left home, I had only some summer clothes for the children. I thought the war would last a week or two and that afterwards we would go back home,” she said. More than 11 weeks later, her hope of ever going back is shattered. The Gaza Strip, home to 2.4 million people, lies in ruins from the north to the south. According to UN estimates, the fighting has displaced 1.9 million Palestinians internally. The conflict erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of about 1,139 people. Three of the al-Masry quadruplets – the fourth still being treated in hospital – belonging to Ammar and Iman al-Masry sleep as they shelter at a school in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on December 27 [Mahmud Hams/AFP] Palestinian fighters also took around 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in captivity, Israel says. Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and a siege of Gaza followed by a ground invasion from October 27. The campaign has killed at least 21,110 people, according to the latest toll issued by Gaza’s Ministry of Health, with about two-thirds of them women and children. ‘Helpless’ Like other mothers, Iman had hoped to follow tradition and celebrate the birth of her babies by “dousing them with rose water”, she said. But 10 days on, “we have not even been able to bathe them”, she said, because of the difficulty of finding clean water in the devastated territory, where there is a dire shortage of basic foodstuff, including milk, medicine and hygienic supplies such as diapers. “Normally, I would change babies’ diapers every two hours. But the situation is difficult and I must be thrifty,” she said, adding that the newborns get only a fresh diaper in the morning and another in the evening. Her husband Ammar al-Masry, 33, said he is devastated because he cannot provide for his family. “I feel helpless,” he said, surrounded by his six children in the foul-smelling schoolroom. “I fear for my children. I don’t know how to protect them,” he said, adding that he spends most of his days outdoors searching for food. “Tia [who has jaundice] must be breastfed and my wife needs nutritious food that contains protein. The children need milk and diapers. But I cannot get any of that.” Adblock test (Why?)
Adams slaps restrictions on migrant buses coming to NYC from Texas as numbers rise
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday announced new restrictions on charter buses from Texas bringing migrants to the “sanctuary” city, in an effort to curb the numbers of migrants that have hit the city since last year. Adams announced an executive order requiring charter buses transporting migrants to provide 32 hours’ notice in advance of their arrival in New York City. The order also requires buses to arrive between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. between Monday and Friday. Such buses are also required to drop off at one particular spot. If buses do not comply, it would result in a class B misdemeanor, with penalties including three months imprisonment and up to a $500 fine for individuals and $2,000 for corporations. Buses could also be impounded by the NYPD. TEXAS MIGRANT FLIGHT HEADING TO NEW YORK CITY DIVERTED TO PHILADELPHIA “To be clear, this is not stopping people from coming, but about ensuring the safety of migrants and making sure they can arrive in a coordinated and orderly way,” he said. New York City has seen more than 160,000 migrants arrive in the last year which, while just a fraction of the millions that have hit the border in that period, has left the city overwhelmed and out of resources. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to New York City and other sanctuary jurisdictions last year. Abbott’s office has said it has sent around 27,000 migrants to New York City since then and has done so to relieve pressure on besieged border communities. In a separate statement, Adams made it clear that his order was targeting buses sent by Abbott. TEXAS BEGINS FLYING MIGRANTS TO SANCTUARY CITIES WITH FIRST FLIGHT TO CHICAGO “New York City has begun to see another surge of migrants arriving, and we expect this to intensify over the coming days as a result of Texas Governor Abbott’s cruel and inhumane politics,” he said. “Just last week, 14 chartered buses with migrants arrived overnight from Texas, the highest recorded number in a single night, in addition to the hundreds of migrants who arrived that very same day via other modes of transportation.” TEXAS IMMIGRATION LAW PUSHBACK MARKS LATEST TENSION BETWEEN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND BORDER STATES OVER CRISIS Gov. Abbott’s office, which recently began flying migrants to Chicago and New York City in addition to the buses, accused the Democratic mayor of hypocrisy – and pledged to continue the transportation of migrants. “The hypocrisy of Mayor Adams is astounding. Mayor Adams had touted New York City’s self-declared sanctuary city status, then sent his own buses of migrants out to small towns in New York. Texas has only transported about 32,000 migrants to New York City while President Biden has been flying planeloads of migrants all around the country and oftentimes in the cover of night,” spokesperson Renae Eze said. “With millions of residents, New York is only dealing with a fraction of what our small border communities deal with on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis.” Meanwhile, the border itself continues to see record numbers. Fox News reported this week that during the four-day Christmas weekend, there were more than 35,000 migrant encounters, and since Dec. 1, there have been over 250,000 migrant encounters at the southern border – meaning December could break the monthly record for encounters set in September (269,735). Fox News’ Tamara Gitt and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.
House Democrat hit with ethics probe over alleged campaign finance violations
The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., for alleged campaign finance violations tied to her 2022 elections. Cherfilus-McCormick, a former health care CEO, won a special election in January 2022 to fill the seat of the late Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., in Florida’s heavily Democrat 20th Congressional District. She went on to win the regular election that November. The committee said Wednesday that it had voted unanimously to establish an investigative subcommittee to determine whether Cherfilus-McCormick violated campaign finance laws during either of her 2022 elections. The subcommittee will also probe allegations that the congresswoman “failed to properly disclose required information on statements required to be filed with the House; and/or accepted voluntary services for official work from an individual not employed in her congressional office.” Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., will chair the subcommittee, and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., will serve as the ranking member. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., and Troy Carter, D-La., will also serve on the subcommittee. “The Committee has determined to take this action following receipt of a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics regarding this matter,” the committee said. “The Committee notes that the mere fact of establishing an Investigative Subcommittee does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.” Cherfilus-McCormick’s office told Fox News Digital that the congresswoman is taking the investigation seriously. “As the Ethics Committee said in its statement, the mere fact of establishing an investigative subcommittee does not itself indicate that any violation occurred,” her office said in a statement. “Regardless, the Congresswoman takes these matters seriously and is working to resolve them.”
Jacques Delors, founding father of EU’s single currency project, dies at 98
Delors had a high-profile political career in France, where he also served as finance minister under Francois Mitterrand. Jacques Delors, former European Commission chief and a founding father of the European Union’s (EU) historic single currency project, has died. He was 98. The French socialist and ardent advocate of post-war European integration died in his sleep at his Paris home on Wednesday, his family said. Delors served as president of the European Commission for three terms – longer than any other holder of the office – from January 1985 until the end of 1994. During Delors’s decade as the European Commission chief, the EU completed its integrated single market and agreed to introduce a single currency, the euro, and built a common foreign and security policy. The then-12-nation bloc also set the conditions on his watch for eventually admitting the former communist states of Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Delors during a news conference in this 1994 photo [File: Nathalie Koulischer/Reuters] Delors also served as finance minister under French President Francois Mitterrand from 1981 to 1984. But he declined to run for the presidency in 1995 despite being overwhelmingly ahead in the polls, a decision he put down to “a desire for independence that was too great”. “I have no regrets,” he said about that decision later. “But I am not saying I was right.” The current French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the former EU leader as an “inexhaustible architect of our Europe” and a fighter for human justice. Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Macron said “his commitment, his ideal and his rectitude will always inspire us”. He called Delors “a statesman with a French destiny”. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator during the United Kingdom’s departure from the bloc, called Delors an inspiration and a reason to “believe in a ‘certain idea’ of politics, of France, and of Europe”. Delors’s time as the European Commission president was marked by clashes between federalists such as himself who believed in an “ever closer union”, and the UK’s then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who firmly resisted any shift of power to Brussels. “Up Yours Delors”, read a famous 1990 front-page headline in The Sun newspaper which voiced its concerns about a single currency and increased powers for the European Parliament. Despite these challenges, he helped establish major tenets of the bloc’s integration, including the Schengen accords for travel and the Erasmus programme for student exchanges. He is survived by his daughter Martine Aubry, a French politician and mayor of Lille, who campaigned to be the socialist candidate for the French presidency in 2011, losing to Francois Hollande. Adblock test (Why?)
Indonesian students demand deportation of Rohingya refugees
NewsFeed Indonesian students are demanding Rohingya refugees from Myanmar be deported. A large crowd of students descended on a building being used as a refugee shelter. When police managed to restore order, the refugees, many in tears, were relocated by truck to an alternate location. A surge in arrivals of refugees to Indonesia from Myanmar has been met with hostility. Published On 27 Dec 202327 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)