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918 slot vip IRVING, Texas (AP) — The NFL will consider expanding replay assist to include facemask penalties and other plays. Officials have missed several obvious facemask penalties this season, including two in a three-week span during Thursday night games.Caprock Group LLC Sells 634 Shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

George Kresge Jr., who wowed talk show audiences as the The Amazing Kreskin, diesPHILADELPHIA (AP) — Corey McKeithan scored 28 points as La Salle beat Temple 83-75 on Saturday night. McKeithan shot 10 of 19 from the field, including 3 for 6 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 5 from the line for the Explorers (6-2). Demetrius Lilley added 13 points while shooting 5 for 12, including 2 for 4 from beyond the arc while he also had six rebounds. Jahlil White shot 3 of 13 from the field and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line to finish with 11 points, while adding 12 rebounds. Quante Berry led the Owls (4-3) in scoring, finishing with 18 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks. Temple also got 15 points from Jamal Mashburn Jr.. William Settle had 13 points and seven rebounds. La Salle took the lead with 14:45 to go in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 42-33 at halftime, with McKeithan racking up 16 points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

Newby scores 16, UNC Wilmington knocks off Appalachian State 76-61On most weekday nights, the ticking of a metronome rings out across the University of Massachusetts Amherst athletic fields, followed by the music of the “Power and Class of New England,” the UMass Amherst Minutemen Marching Band. The students in the band put in a huge commitment to their music and routines, and this year their hard work has brought them to the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where they will showcase their talents on a national stage. “This is a chance to represent our university and our state to this huge audience,” said Timothy Anderson, director of the Minutemen Marching Band. “The students really understand what the mission is. That, to me as their teacher, has been real inspiring.” The marching band was selected from bands around the country to perform in the Thanksgiving Day classic, which will be televised on NBC starting at 8:30 a.m., and they will be the fourth band to play. “I really am excited for people to see the UMass band and what ‘Power and Class’ is all about and what we do here,” said Qeanu Smith, a fifth-year drum major. “We’re trying to bring as much of ourselves with us there and really show people, ‘This is what we do. UMass. This is what the band is all about.’ What we do here is special and getting the opportunity to go to the parade is really exciting.” The band will play “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” during their televised performance, a tribute to late UMass alum Natalie Cole. The routine includes musicians, baton twirlers, dancers and the color guard, who will march the 31⁄2-hour, 2.5-mile parade route, ending with their performance in front of the Macy’s flagship store at Broadway and 34th Street. The band began practicing its music in early October, and overall had about a month and a half to prepare the routine, also practicing for the UMass football halftime shows during that time. The band members learned they would be performing in the parade during the Oct. 7, 2023 football game. “I got to go to New York in the middle of the summer, and walking the parade route, it was super neat standing there. It’s kind of hard to envision. We were in the street looking at the Macy’s sign, and I’m like, ‘There’s going to be a star here!’ It’s going to be so cool, I’m super excited,” said Lilly Barnett, a junior baton twirler and travel coordinator for the band. Article continues after... Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess At a rehearsal on Nov. 19, just over a week before their performance at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the band members were still making adjustments to their routine, ensuring that everything was precisely in place. One of the trickiest parts of performing in the parade is getting the 400-plus members of the band into the small televised space during their time slow of 1 minute and 15 seconds. The performers have 56 counts, or approximately 25 seconds, to move everyone into the Macy’s Star and begin their routine, while playing. The dimensions of the star and performance space in Herald Square are spray-painted onto their practice field, and the band members meticulously practice getting into that space and landing exactly on their “dots.” “The hardest thing about getting ready for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is that the stuff you see on TV, that is like, at most, a fourth of a football field,” said Anderson. “The first couple days we started learning the drill I just had to tell them, ‘You guys need to trust me on this, this is how it’s going to work.’ And now they’ve got the hang of it, but really that’s the biggest challenge is that it’s such a small, restricted space.” Even the smallest changes can make a huge difference in the band’s 75-second routine, so precision is key. At practice, Chris Sirard, assistant director and visual coordinator, instructed students to move closer together in certain configurations, so that different formations would be distinct from each other, telling them to find space “even if it’s 6 inches.” Along the parade route, the band will play songs including “God Bless America” and “Fight Mass,” the UMass fight song, which are part of the band’s typical repertoire. While they have yet to perform in a parade this year, the band members typically march in a few each season and will perform at the Merry Maple celebration in Amherst on Friday, Dec. 6. The UMass band left Amherst on Monday and spent the days leading up to the parade practicing in a bubble dome, hotel ballrooms and on the streets of New York. On Wednesday, the day before the parade, the University of South Carolina Band joined UMass for a performance at New York’s Pier 16 near the South Street Seaport at 10 a.m. Anderson and the USC band director went to graduate school together, and when they found out they would both be in the parade, they decided to put together this performance. The students in the band put a lot of time into it throughout the year and their season, practicing every afternoon Monday through Thursday, often performing on the weekends. “After four years, you really become a strong part of this band, and the band becomes a part of you,” said Aiden Beckman, a senior who is the Macy’s coordinator for the band and section leader of the front ensemble. “It’s amazing. You know that there is one large place on campus where you can go every day, feel welcome and commit to a common task.” This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will feature 22 balloons, 34 floats, 11 marching bands, 28 performers and more from 8:30 a.m. to noon. It will be available to watch on NBC. The UMass Minuteman Marching Band will also be performing its Macy’s set at the football game against the University of Connecticut on Saturday, Nov. 30.NFL will consider replay assist for facemask penalties and other plays

London scientists have created a “game-changing” new treatment for asthma attacks that can reduce the need for further treatment by 30 per cent. Benralizumab is the first treatment for asthma attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 50 years. The drug, which is delivered by an injection, helps to treat flare-ups of the respiratory condition called “eosinophilic exacerbations”, which cause symptoms such as wheezing, coughing and chest tightness. These are responsible for half of all asthma attacks and become more frequent as the disease progresses. Benralizumab is a monoclonal antibody , a man-made clone of a normal antibody produced by the immune system . It targets specific white blood cells, called eosinophils, to reduce lung inflammation. The drug is already used as a repeat treatment for severe asthma at a low dose, but a trial led by King’s College London has found that a higher single dose can be effective if injected at the time of a flare-up. Lead investigator of the trial, Professor Mona Bafadhel from King’s, said: “This could be a game-changer for people with asthma and COPD. Treatment for asthma and COPD exacerbations have not changed in fifty years despite causing 3.8 million deaths worldwide a year combined. “Benralizumab is a safe and effective drug already used to manage severe asthma. We’ve used the drug in a different way – at the point of an exacerbation - to show that it’s more effective than steroid tablets which is the only treatment currently available.” The ABRA trial, carried out at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, randomised people at high risk of an asthma or COPD attack into three groups. One group received a benralizumab injection and dummy tablets, one received standard of care (prednisolone 30mg daily for five days) and a dummy injection and the third received both a benralizumab injection and standard of care. After 28 days, respiratory symptoms of cough, wheeze, breathlessness and sputum were found to be better in the group that received benralizumab. And after ninety days, there were four times fewer people in the benralizumab group that failed treatment compared to standard of care with prednisolone. Treatment with the benralizumab injection took longer to fail, meaning fewer episodes to see a doctor or go to hospital, researchers said. There was also an improvement in the quality of life for people with asthma and COPD. Prof Bafadhel added: “The big advance in the ABRA study is the finding that targeted therapy works in asthma and COPD attacks. Instead of giving everyone the same treatment, we found targeting the highest risk patients with very targeted treatment, with the right level of inflammation was much better than guessing what treatment they needed.” The benralizumab injection was administered by healthcare professionals in the study but can be potentially administered safely at home, in the GP practice, or in the Emergency Department, researchers said. Geoffrey Pointing, 77 from Banbury, who took part in the study, said: “Honestly, when you're having a flare up, it's very difficult to tell anybody how you feel - you can hardly breathe. Anything that takes that away and gives you back a normal life is what you want. But on the injections, it's fantastic. I didn't get any side effects like I used to with the steroid tablets. “I used to never sleep well the first night of taking steroids, but the first day on the study, I could sleep that first night, and I was able to carry on with my life without problems. I want to add that I'm just grateful I took part and that the everyone involved in the ABRA study are trying to give me a better life.” The findings have been published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

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BellRing Brands ( NYSE:BRBR – Free Report ) had its target price raised by Evercore ISI from $70.00 to $78.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock. A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BRBR. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of BellRing Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on BellRing Brands from $61.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of BellRing Brands from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of BellRing Brands from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of BellRing Brands from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BellRing Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.27. View Our Latest Stock Analysis on BRBR BellRing Brands Stock Performance BellRing Brands ( NYSE:BRBR – Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 18th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.01. BellRing Brands had a net margin of 12.35% and a negative return on equity of 103.89%. The firm had revenue of $555.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that BellRing Brands will post 2.17 EPS for the current year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On BellRing Brands Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BellRing Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $18,680,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in BellRing Brands by 3.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,423,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,482,000 after acquiring an additional 86,992 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its holdings in BellRing Brands by 186.5% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 44,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,551,000 after purchasing an additional 29,060 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of BellRing Brands by 28.0% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 474,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,094,000 after purchasing an additional 103,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BellRing Brands by 72.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 532,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,419,000 after purchasing an additional 223,430 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.97% of the company’s stock. About BellRing Brands ( Get Free Report ) BellRing Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides various nutrition products in the United States. The company offers ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shakes, other RTD beverages, powders, nutrition bars, and other products primarily under the Premier Protein and Dymatize brands. It distributes its products through club, food, drug, mass, eCommerce, specialty, and convenience channels. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for BellRing Brands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BellRing Brands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .On Wednesday, a report emerged saying Caitlin Clark would not be playing in the new Unrivaled 3-on-3 women's basketball league. ESPN's Michael Voepel reported that Clark , who was named WNBA Rookie of the Year in her pro debut this past season, had turned down an offer from Unrivaled, which will begin play in Miami in January. The league will feature 36 players spread across six teams, with 34 of the participants already announced. Skip Bayless has fired off a myriad of Clark takes over the last year or so, and unsurprisingly, he has an opinion on the Indiana Fever star turning down the fledgling league. “Good for Caitlin Clark not playing in this new 3-on-3 league,” Bayless wrote on X/Twitter. “After all the jealousy and resentment she felt last season – all the cheap shots and bullying attempts – she made a late-season run at MVP. SHE’S the reason WNBA popularity exploded last season. She doesn’t need 3-on-3.” Ron Hoskins/Getty Images This would be one of Bayless' supportive Clark takes, like when he admitted he was looking forward to watching her more than he was the Dallas Cowboys. Of course, Bayless has also been critical of Clark at times, and as of July, had supported Angel Reese over her for WNBA Rookie of the Year. He also confessed in September to feeling guilty for rooting for Clark because she is white. “So here came this white girl from Iowa. And I started watching the WNBA much more closely than I ever have,” Bayless said on his podcast at the time. “And I started to think, deep down in my psyche, ‘Wait a second, she’s really good.’ But I’ll be the first to admit, I felt guilty saying so on TV or on social media. Assuming Clark does not have a change of heart, the next time fans will be able to watch her play will be the 2025 WNBA preseason. That will give Bayless time to sharpen any new takes he might have about her. Related: Skip Bayless Admits That He 'Felt Guilty' Praising Caitlin ClarkStock market today: Wall Street gets back to climbing, and the Nasdaq tops 20,000

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WASHINGTON — The House passed a $895 billion measure Wednesday that authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending this fiscal year and would give a double-digit pay raise to about half of the enlisted service members in the military. The bill is traditionally strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers opposed the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization. The bill passed by a vote of 281-140 and next moves to the Senate, where lawmakers sought a bigger boost in defense spending than the current measure allows. The Pentagon and the surrounding area is seen Jan. 26, 2020, from the air in Washington. Lawmakers are touting the bill's 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military. Those serving as junior enlisted personnel are in pay grades that generally track with their first enlistment term. Lawmakers said service member pay failed to remain competitive with the private sector, forcing many military families to rely on food banks and government assistance programs to put food on the table. The bill also provides significant new resources for child care and housing. "No service member should have to live in squalid conditions and no military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children, but that's exactly what many of our service members are experiencing, especially the junior enlisted," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "This bill goes a long way to fixing that." The bill sets key Pentagon policy that lawmakers will attempt to fund through a follow-up appropriations bill. The overall spending tracks the numbers established in a 2023 agreement that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached with President Joe Biden to increase the nation's borrowing authority and avoid a federal default in exchange for spending restraints. Many senators wanted to increase defense spending about $25 billion above what was called for in that agreement, but those efforts failed. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is expected to serve as the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the overall spending level was a "tremendous loss for our national defense," though he agreed with many provisions in the bill. "We need to make a generational investment to deter the Axis of Aggressors. I will not cease work with my congressional colleagues, the Trump administration, and others until we achieve it," Wicker said. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., speaks with reporters Nov. 21 on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Republicans don't want to go above the McCarthy-Biden agreement for defense spending and are looking to go way below it for many nondefense programs. They are also focused on cultural issues. The bill prohibits funding for teaching critical race theory in the military and prohibits TRICARE health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under 18 if that treatment could result in sterilization. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said minors dealing with gender dysphoria is a "very real problem." He said the treatments available, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, proved effective at helping young people dealing with suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression. "These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives," Smith said. "And in this bill, we decided we're going to bar service members' children from having access to that." Smith said the number of minors in service member families receiving transgender medical care extends into the thousands. He could have supported a study asking medical experts to determine whether such treatments are too often used, but a ban on health insurance coverage went too far. He said Speaker Mike Johnson's office insisted on the ban and said the provision "taints an otherwise excellent piece of legislation." Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ban a step in the right direction, saying, "I think these questions need to be pulled out of the debate of defense, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States of America without having to deal with social engineering debates." Smith said he agrees with Roy that lawmakers should be focused on the military and not on cultural conflicts, "and yet, here it is in this bill." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., responds to reporters Dec. 6 during his weekly news conference at the Capitol in Washington. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said his team did not tell Democrats how to vote on the bill. "There's a lot of positive things in the National Defense Authorization Act that were negotiated in a bipartisan way, and there are some troubling provisions in a few areas as well," Jeffries said. The defense policy bill also looks to strengthen deterrence against China. It calls for investing $15.6 billion to build military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration requested about $10 billion. On Israel, the bill, among other things, includes an expansion of U.S. joint military exercises with Israel and a prohibition on the Pentagon citing casualty data from Hamas. The defense policy bill is one of the final measures that lawmakers view as a must-pass before making way for a new Congress in January. Rising threats from debt collectors against members of the U.S. armed forces are undermining national security, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal watchdog that protects consumer rights. To manage the impact of financial stress on individual performance, the Defense Department dedicates precious resources to improving financial literacy, so service members know the dangers of notorious no-credit-check loans. “The financial well-being of service members and their families is one of the Department’s top priorities,” said Andrew Cohen, the director of financial readiness in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. But debt collectors are gaining ground. Last quarter, debt collection complaints by U.S. military service members increased 24% , and attempts to collect on “debts not owed” surged 40%. Complaints by service members against debt collectors for deceptive practices ballooned from 1,360 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 1,833 in the first quarter of 2024. “There’s a connection between the financial readiness and the readiness of a service member to perform their duty,” said Jim Rice, Assistant Director, Office of Servicemember Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Laws exist to protect the mission readiness of U.S. troops from being compromised by threats and intimidation, but debt collectors appear to be violating them at an alarming pace. “If they’re threatening to call your commander or get your security clearance revoked, that’s illegal,” says Deborah Olvera, financial readiness manager at Wounded Warriors Project, and a military spouse who’s been harassed herself by a collection agency that tried to extort money from her for a debt she didn’t owe. But after she requested the name of the original creditor, she never heard from them again. “The financial well-being of service members and their families is one of the Department’s top priorities.” —Andrew Cohen, Director of Financial Readiness at the Pentagon Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, it’s illegal for debt collectors to threaten to contact your boss or have you arrested because it violates your financial privacy. The FDCPA also prohibits debt collectors from making false, deceptive, or misleading representations in connection with the collection of a debt, even for borrowers with bad credit scores. But according to the data, debt collectors are increasingly ignoring those rules. “Debt collection continues to be one of the top consumer complaint categories,” said a spokesperson at the Federal Trade Commission. The commission released a report earlier this year revealing that consumers were scammed $10 billion in 2023, a new benchmark for fraud losses. In his book Debt: The First 5,000 Years, David Graeber argues that debt often creates a relationship that can feel more oppressive than systems of hierarchy, like slavery or caste systems because it starts by presuming equality between the debtor and the creditor. When the debtor falls into arrears, that equality is then destroyed. This sense of betrayal and the subsequent imbalance of power leads to widespread resentment toward lenders. Photo Credit: Olena Yakobchuk / Shutterstock The debt collector reportedly harassing military service members most was Resurgent Capital Services, a subsidiary of collection giant Sherman Financial Group. The company tacks on accrued interest and junk fees and tries to collect on debts purchased for pennies on the dollar from cable companies, hospitals, and credit card companies, among others. Sherman Financial Group is run by billionaire Benjamin Navarro, who has a reported net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. Sherman Financial also owns subprime lender Credit One Bank and LVNV Funding, which outsource collections to Resurgent Capital. According to CFPB data, the second worst offender is CL Holdings, the parent company of debt-buyer Jefferson Capital Systems. The company has also been named in numerous complaints to the Better Business Bureau for alleged violations of the FDCPA, such as failing to properly validate debts or update credit reports with accurate information. Under the leadership of CEO David Burton, Jefferson Capital Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CompuCredit Corporation, which markets subprime credit cards under the names Aspire, Majestic, and others. The third most referenced debt collector is publicly traded Portfolio Recovery Associates [NASDAQ: PRAA], which was forced to pay $27 million in penalties for making false representations about debts, initiating lawsuits without proper documentation, and other violations. Portfolio Recovery Associates is run by CEO Vikram Atal. Fourth place for alleged worst offender goes to Encore Capital Group [NASDAQ ECPG], which was required to pay $42 million in consumer refunds and a $10 million penalty for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Encore collects under its subsidiary Midland Credit Management Group. These debt collectors all operate under a veritable shell game of company and brand names, almost none of which are disclosed on their websites, sending consumers on a wild goose chase to try and figure out how they’re related to each other. But despite their attempts to hide their tracks behind a smoke screen of subsidiaries, a leopard can’t change its spots, and the CFPB complaint database makes it harder for them to try. Photo Credit: Bumble Dee / Shutterstock Although widely considered a consumer-friendly state, complaints spiked most in California, which saw a 188% increase in complaints filed from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. California is home to 157,367 military personnel, making it the most populous state for active-duty service members. The second-largest increase in debt collection complaints was in Texas, which saw a 66% jump from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. The U.S. Department of Defense reports 111,005 service members stationed in the Lone Star State, which is the third-most populous state for active-duty military. The rising trends do not correlate to the number of military personnel by state. Complaints against debt collectors in Virginia, the second most populous state with 126,145 active duty personnel, decreased by 29% in the same quarter-over-quarter period. And complaints filed quarter-over-quarter in North Carolina, the fifth most populous state with 91,077 military personnel, decreased by 3% in the same period. The third largest percentage increase in debt collection complaints was from service members stationed in Maryland, where alleged harassment reports jumped 112% from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. Maryland ranks number 12 with just 28,059 active duty service members. Fourth place goes to Ohio – the 28th most populous active-duty state – where complaints doubled, followed by Arizona – the 15th most populous military state – where complaints were up 70% in the same quarter-over-quarter period. Photo Credit: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A / Shutterstock In 2007, Congress passed the Military Lending Act to cap the cost of credit to a 36% annual percentage rate, inclusive of junk fees and late charges, for active duty military service members. That rate is still considerably higher than average credit card rates, which range from 8% for borrowers with excellent credit scores to as high as 36% for borrowers with bad credit. But lenders still get hauled into court for violating the MLA. Don Hankey, the billionaire subprime auto lender who funded Donald Trump’s $175 million appeal bond , is among those violators. His company, Westlake Financial, which markets high-interest car loans for bad credit, has been sued twice by the Department of Justice for harassing military service members. In 2017, the DoJ alleged Hankey’s Westlake Financial illegally repossessed at least 70 vehicles owned by military service members. Westlake Financial paid $700,000 to settle the charges. In 2022, Westlake Financial paid $250,000 for allegedly cheating U.S. troops out of interest rates they were legally entitled to. Westlake Financial continues to receive complaints from military service members alleging abusive debt collection practices on its no-credit-check loans. A steady year-over-year increase in the number of complaints filed against Westlake Financial continued from 2020 to 2023. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data shows a 13% increase in the number of complaints against the company from 2020 to 2021, a 28% increase from 2021 to 2022, and a torrential 119% surge from 2022 to 2023. The numbers suggest systemic complaint-handling processes and inadequate customer service resources. Photo Credit: Cynthia Shirk / Shutterstock On May 16, 2024, a deceptively named predatory lending industry front group dubbed the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) lost a legal attempt to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In an effort to deprive Americans of essential consumer protections, the lobby group argued that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure was unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court denied its claim. In a 7-2 ruling, the Court held that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure is indeed constitutional. That means the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot be defunded, but it does not mean the agency cannot be defanged. The New York Times suggested that Hankey’s incentive to finance Trump’s $175 million bond could have been a reciprocity pledge to neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if Trump wins the upcoming U.S. presidential election. If Trump wins a second term, he could replace Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra, an American consumer advocate, with a predatory lending advocate. In 2020, the Trump Administration secured a Supreme Court ruling that made it easier for the president to fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The ruling struck down previous restrictions on when a president can fire the bureau’s director. Like other federal agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has also been confronted for overstepping its bounds, pushing too far, and acting unfairly against entities it regulates. Photo Credit: Lux Blue / Shutterstock Seasonality and rising interest rates do not explain the increase in debt collection complaints from service members. The surge in complaints is not tied to predictable seasonal fluctuations or changes in interest rates. The increase in debt collection complaints by service members may point to underlying systemic issues, such as aggressive and predatory debt collection practices that exploit the unique financial vulnerabilities of service members, who face frequent relocations and deployments. Debt Complaints by Service Members The 24% spike in debt collection complaints exhibits no correlation to fluctuations in interest rates. 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Pandemic stimulus checks were also not a factor. COVID-19 relief benefit checks went through three major rounds during the pandemic. The final round of Economic Impact Payments went out in March 2021 . To better understand the rising trend of debt collection complaints, we calculated the increase in the total number of complaints and the percentage increase quarter-over-quarter. For example, New Jersey has the second largest percentage increase in complaints quarter-over-quarter, but the total number of complaints increased by just 16. The data for this study was sourced from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaint database. The dataset specifically targeted complaints filed by U.S. military service members, identified using the tag “Servicemember” within Q4 2023 and Q1 2024. Readers can find the detailed research methodology underlying this news story in the accompanying section here . For complete results, see U.S. Troops Face Mounting Threats from Predatory Debt Collectors on BadCredit.org . Homelessness reached record levels in 2023, as rents and home prices continued to rise in most of the U.S. One group was particularly impacted: people who have served in the U.S. military. "This time last year, we knew the nation was facing a deadly public health crisis," Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said in a statement about the 2023 numbers. He said the latest homelessness estimates from the Department of Housing and Urban Development "confirms the depth of the crisis." At least 35,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness in 2023, according to HUD. While that's about half of what it was in 2009—when the organization began collecting data—things have plateaued in recent years despite active efforts to get that number to zero. Although they make up just 6.6% of the total homeless population, veterans are more likely to be at risk of homelessness than Americans overall. Of every 10,000 Americans, 20 were experiencing homelessness. Of veterans living in the United States, that number jumps to 22, HUD data shows. Complicated by bureaucracy, family dynamics, and prejudice, the path from serving in the military to homelessness is a long one. According to a 2022 study by Yale School of Medicine researchers, homelessness typically occurs within four years of leaving the military, as veterans must contend with the harsh reality of finding a job in a world where employers struggle to see how skills on the battlefield transfer to a corporate environment. These days, veterans also deal with historically high rent and home prices, which causes many to rely on family generosity while figuring out a game plan. Stacker examined academic studies, analyzed government data, and spoke with members of the Biden administration, experts, and former members of the armed forces to see the struggles members of the military face when leaving the armed forces. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers transition assistance to the roughly 250,000 service members who leave each year. However, those programs can be burdensome and complex to navigate, especially for those who don't have a plan for post-military life. Only a small portion of veterans have jobs lined up when they leave, according to 2019 Pew Research. Many also choose to live with relatives until they get on their feet, which can be longer than anticipated. Some former service members are unsure what kind of career they'd like to pursue and may have to get further education or training, Carl Castro, director of the Military and Veteran Programs at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California, told Stacker. "It takes years for that kind of transition," Castro said. Many have trouble finding a job after leaving the service, even if they are qualified. Some employers carry misconceptions about those who have served. A 2020 analysis from the journal Human Resource Management Review found that some veterans face hiring discrimination due to negative stereotypes that lead hiring managers to write them off as a poor culture fit. Underemployment, or working low-wage jobs below their skill level, is also an issue. While the unemployment rate for veterans was 3% in March 2024, a study released by Penn State at the end of 2023 found three years after leaving the service, 61% of veterans said they were underemployed because of perceived skill mismatches . This phenomenon can have long-term economic effects, and eventually, that frustration can boil over, strain relationships, and potentially lead to housing instability. Working, especially a low-wage job, is not protection against homelessness. A 2021 study from the University of Chicago found half of people living in homeless shelters and 2 in 5 unsheltered people were employed, full or part-time. For veterans, housing costs certainly play a role, but those who leave the military also face systemic barriers. "It's worrying there are people that continue to fall through the cracks," said Jeanette Yih Harvie, a research associate at Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. Just under a quarter of adults experiencing homelessness have a severe mental illness , according to 2022 HUD survey data. They are also likely to have chronic illnesses but are unable to maintain preventative care, which only exacerbates these problems. Veterans facing homelessness are more likely to have experienced trauma , either before or after joining the military, according to Yale researchers who analyzed the 2019-2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Childhood trauma was among the most significant commonalities among vets who become homeless. Substance use disorder is also widespread and can indicate an undiagnosed mental illness . Racial and ethnic disparities are at play, too. A 2023 study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research showed that Hispanic and Black veterans were more likely to screen positive for PTSD, and Hispanic veterans were more likely to report having suicidal ideation. Overall, access to mental health care has improved in the last decade or so. In December 2023, the VA announced it would open nine additional counseling centers. However, the stigma of getting help remains, especially after years of being conditioned to be self-reliant and pull oneself up by their bootstraps. That help, in the form of public policy, is slowly working to catch up to the need. In 2023, the Biden administration invested millions into research programs and studies on suicide prevention by the VA office in addition to a proposed $16 billion to improve quality and lower-cost mental health care services for veterans. And, in February of this year, HUD and the VA announced they would give up to $14 million in vouchers to public housing agencies for veterans experiencing homelessness. The program would also offer case management and other services. Still, with a culture that pushes people to keep going, it can be challenging for servicemembers to take advantage of these opportunities, Harvie said. "When you've been doing that for the last 15 or 20 years, it's difficult to stop and say, 'I'm the person that needs help.'" Story editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Nov. 27, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FrankSpeech Broadcast Network is making waves in the world of independent media, delivering its strongest quarter ever in Q3 2024. The company has not only seen impressive viewer growth across its channels but also made major strides in enhancing the user experience with powerful new platform features and expanding its content offerings—driving engagement to new heights. With over 7 million monthly viewers tuning in across its 24/7 channels, FrankSpeech is proving that a platform dedicated to free speech and independent content is resonating with audiences looking for alternatives to mainstream media. The momentum continues to build as the network expands its reach, engages more content creators, and strengthens partnerships with advertisers. Breaking Records in Viewer Engagement FrankSpeech is seeing a surge in both viewer engagement and content creator participation, thanks to the newly branded VOCL app. The app, which has been a game-changer in connecting independent content creators with their audiences, has been expanding rapidly—bringing in new users and boosting interaction on the platform. The VOCL app's growth reflects a growing demand for platforms that put the user experience front and center. With its seamless integration across FrankSpeech's ecosystem, the app is revolutionizing how viewers discover and interact with content. The recent user interface updates—including live chat, dynamic homepage streaming, and an improved login experience—have made it easier than ever for users to connect, stream, and engage with the content that matters most to them. "We're thrilled with the progress we've made in Q3 and the growth we've seen in both our viewer base and the VOCL app," said Mike Lindell, CEO of FrankSpeech. "We're on a mission to create a more interactive, engaging experience for our audience, and it's clear that our efforts are paying off. The future looks incredibly bright as we continue to build on this momentum." Platform Enhancements Driving Viewer Growth FrankSpeech has not only focused on growing its audience but also enhancing the platform to keep viewers engaged for longer periods of time. With a reimagined design and new, user-friendly interfaces, the FrankSpeech website, OTT platform, and mobile app are all now optimized for a better, smoother viewing experience. These enhancements include: - A refreshed visual identity across all platforms, giving the user experience a sleek, modern feel. - Advanced user analytics that provide deeper insights into viewer behavior, allowing the platform to deliver more relevant content and improve engagement. - A new live-streaming experience with interactive features, including live chat and an intuitive UI designed for real-time engagement. What's Next for FrankSpeech and VOCL? As we move into Q4 2024, FrankSpeech is positioned for continued success with an aggressive roadmap to expand content offerings, attract more content creators, and deepen partnerships with advertisers. The company is also exploring new ways to engage its growing community, tapping into emerging technologies and content formats that will shape the future of independent media. "We're only just getting started," Lindell added. "With the incredible response we've received from both viewers and content creators, we're excited to continue scaling our platform, expanding our reach, and delivering the kind of unfiltered, authentic content that people are craving." About: FrankSpeech is a major broadcast platform founded by Mike Lindell in April 2021 to provide a superior First-Amendment-friendly alternative to highly censored Big Tech options. In just a few short years, FrankSpeech has grown to serve over 7 million monthly viewers on three continuous 24/7 channels. Visit https://frankspeech.com to learn more. For more information, visit http://www.frankspeech.com . Contact Information: Josh Shave Chief Marketing Officer investor@fsbn.com Safe Harbor: The aforementioned statements and any future correspondence made by FrankSpeech Network, Inc. (the Company) may be forward looking in nature, particularly related to the business plans of the Company within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by these sections. Actual results may differ materially from projected statements. The Company believes that its primary risk factors include, but are not limited to the need for substantial financial requirements; the need to develop effective internal process and system; changes in the overall economy; changes in technology, the number and size of competitors and the mix of products and services offered in its markets; and changes in the law and regulatory policy. 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All rights reserved.WASHINGTON — The House passed a $895 billion measure Wednesday that authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending this fiscal year and would give a double-digit pay raise to about half of the enlisted service members in the military. The bill is traditionally strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers opposed the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization. The bill passed by a vote of 281-140 and next moves to the Senate, where lawmakers sought a bigger boost in defense spending than the current measure allows. The Pentagon and the surrounding area is seen Jan. 26, 2020, from the air in Washington. Lawmakers are touting the bill's 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military. Those serving as junior enlisted personnel are in pay grades that generally track with their first enlistment term. Lawmakers said service member pay failed to remain competitive with the private sector, forcing many military families to rely on food banks and government assistance programs to put food on the table. The bill also provides significant new resources for child care and housing. "No service member should have to live in squalid conditions and no military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children, but that's exactly what many of our service members are experiencing, especially the junior enlisted," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "This bill goes a long way to fixing that." The bill sets key Pentagon policy that lawmakers will attempt to fund through a follow-up appropriations bill. The overall spending tracks the numbers established in a 2023 agreement that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached with President Joe Biden to increase the nation's borrowing authority and avoid a federal default in exchange for spending restraints. Many senators wanted to increase defense spending about $25 billion above what was called for in that agreement, but those efforts failed. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is expected to serve as the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the overall spending level was a "tremendous loss for our national defense," though he agreed with many provisions in the bill. "We need to make a generational investment to deter the Axis of Aggressors. I will not cease work with my congressional colleagues, the Trump administration, and others until we achieve it," Wicker said. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., speaks with reporters Nov. 21 on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Republicans don't want to go above the McCarthy-Biden agreement for defense spending and are looking to go way below it for many nondefense programs. They are also focused on cultural issues. The bill prohibits funding for teaching critical race theory in the military and prohibits TRICARE health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under 18 if that treatment could result in sterilization. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said minors dealing with gender dysphoria is a "very real problem." He said the treatments available, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, proved effective at helping young people dealing with suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression. "These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives," Smith said. "And in this bill, we decided we're going to bar service members' children from having access to that." Smith said the number of minors in service member families receiving transgender medical care extends into the thousands. He could have supported a study asking medical experts to determine whether such treatments are too often used, but a ban on health insurance coverage went too far. He said Speaker Mike Johnson's office insisted on the ban and said the provision "taints an otherwise excellent piece of legislation." Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ban a step in the right direction, saying, "I think these questions need to be pulled out of the debate of defense, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States of America without having to deal with social engineering debates." Smith said he agrees with Roy that lawmakers should be focused on the military and not on cultural conflicts, "and yet, here it is in this bill." Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said his team did not tell Democrats how to vote on the bill. "There's a lot of positive things in the National Defense Authorization Act that were negotiated in a bipartisan way, and there are some troubling provisions in a few areas as well," Jeffries said. The defense policy bill also looks to strengthen deterrence against China. It calls for investing $15.6 billion to build military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration requested about $10 billion. On Israel, the bill, among other things, includes an expansion of U.S. joint military exercises with Israel and a prohibition on the Pentagon citing casualty data from Hamas. The defense policy bill is one of the final measures that lawmakers view as a must-pass before making way for a new Congress in January. Rising threats from debt collectors against members of the U.S. armed forces are undermining national security, according to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal watchdog that protects consumer rights. To manage the impact of financial stress on individual performance, the Defense Department dedicates precious resources to improving financial literacy, so service members know the dangers of notorious no-credit-check loans. “The financial well-being of service members and their families is one of the Department’s top priorities,” said Andrew Cohen, the director of financial readiness in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. But debt collectors are gaining ground. Last quarter, debt collection complaints by U.S. military service members increased 24% , and attempts to collect on “debts not owed” surged 40%. Complaints by service members against debt collectors for deceptive practices ballooned from 1,360 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 1,833 in the first quarter of 2024. “There’s a connection between the financial readiness and the readiness of a service member to perform their duty,” said Jim Rice, Assistant Director, Office of Servicemember Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Laws exist to protect the mission readiness of U.S. troops from being compromised by threats and intimidation, but debt collectors appear to be violating them at an alarming pace. “If they’re threatening to call your commander or get your security clearance revoked, that’s illegal,” says Deborah Olvera, financial readiness manager at Wounded Warriors Project, and a military spouse who’s been harassed herself by a collection agency that tried to extort money from her for a debt she didn’t owe. But after she requested the name of the original creditor, she never heard from them again. “The financial well-being of service members and their families is one of the Department’s top priorities.” —Andrew Cohen, Director of Financial Readiness at the Pentagon Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, it’s illegal for debt collectors to threaten to contact your boss or have you arrested because it violates your financial privacy. The FDCPA also prohibits debt collectors from making false, deceptive, or misleading representations in connection with the collection of a debt, even for borrowers with bad credit scores. But according to the data, debt collectors are increasingly ignoring those rules. “Debt collection continues to be one of the top consumer complaint categories,” said a spokesperson at the Federal Trade Commission. The commission released a report earlier this year revealing that consumers were scammed $10 billion in 2023, a new benchmark for fraud losses. In his book Debt: The First 5,000 Years, David Graeber argues that debt often creates a relationship that can feel more oppressive than systems of hierarchy, like slavery or caste systems because it starts by presuming equality between the debtor and the creditor. When the debtor falls into arrears, that equality is then destroyed. This sense of betrayal and the subsequent imbalance of power leads to widespread resentment toward lenders. Photo Credit: Olena Yakobchuk / Shutterstock The debt collector reportedly harassing military service members most was Resurgent Capital Services, a subsidiary of collection giant Sherman Financial Group. The company tacks on accrued interest and junk fees and tries to collect on debts purchased for pennies on the dollar from cable companies, hospitals, and credit card companies, among others. Sherman Financial Group is run by billionaire Benjamin Navarro, who has a reported net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. Sherman Financial also owns subprime lender Credit One Bank and LVNV Funding, which outsource collections to Resurgent Capital. According to CFPB data, the second worst offender is CL Holdings, the parent company of debt-buyer Jefferson Capital Systems. The company has also been named in numerous complaints to the Better Business Bureau for alleged violations of the FDCPA, such as failing to properly validate debts or update credit reports with accurate information. Under the leadership of CEO David Burton, Jefferson Capital Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CompuCredit Corporation, which markets subprime credit cards under the names Aspire, Majestic, and others. The third most referenced debt collector is publicly traded Portfolio Recovery Associates [NASDAQ: PRAA], which was forced to pay $27 million in penalties for making false representations about debts, initiating lawsuits without proper documentation, and other violations. Portfolio Recovery Associates is run by CEO Vikram Atal. Fourth place for alleged worst offender goes to Encore Capital Group [NASDAQ ECPG], which was required to pay $42 million in consumer refunds and a $10 million penalty for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Encore collects under its subsidiary Midland Credit Management Group. These debt collectors all operate under a veritable shell game of company and brand names, almost none of which are disclosed on their websites, sending consumers on a wild goose chase to try and figure out how they’re related to each other. But despite their attempts to hide their tracks behind a smoke screen of subsidiaries, a leopard can’t change its spots, and the CFPB complaint database makes it harder for them to try. Photo Credit: Bumble Dee / Shutterstock Although widely considered a consumer-friendly state, complaints spiked most in California, which saw a 188% increase in complaints filed from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. California is home to 157,367 military personnel, making it the most populous state for active-duty service members. The second-largest increase in debt collection complaints was in Texas, which saw a 66% jump from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. The U.S. Department of Defense reports 111,005 service members stationed in the Lone Star State, which is the third-most populous state for active-duty military. The rising trends do not correlate to the number of military personnel by state. Complaints against debt collectors in Virginia, the second most populous state with 126,145 active duty personnel, decreased by 29% in the same quarter-over-quarter period. And complaints filed quarter-over-quarter in North Carolina, the fifth most populous state with 91,077 military personnel, decreased by 3% in the same period. The third largest percentage increase in debt collection complaints was from service members stationed in Maryland, where alleged harassment reports jumped 112% from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. Maryland ranks number 12 with just 28,059 active duty service members. Fourth place goes to Ohio – the 28th most populous active-duty state – where complaints doubled, followed by Arizona – the 15th most populous military state – where complaints were up 70% in the same quarter-over-quarter period. Photo Credit: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A / Shutterstock In 2007, Congress passed the Military Lending Act to cap the cost of credit to a 36% annual percentage rate, inclusive of junk fees and late charges, for active duty military service members. That rate is still considerably higher than average credit card rates, which range from 8% for borrowers with excellent credit scores to as high as 36% for borrowers with bad credit. But lenders still get hauled into court for violating the MLA. Don Hankey, the billionaire subprime auto lender who funded Donald Trump’s $175 million appeal bond , is among those violators. His company, Westlake Financial, which markets high-interest car loans for bad credit, has been sued twice by the Department of Justice for harassing military service members. In 2017, the DoJ alleged Hankey’s Westlake Financial illegally repossessed at least 70 vehicles owned by military service members. Westlake Financial paid $700,000 to settle the charges. In 2022, Westlake Financial paid $250,000 for allegedly cheating U.S. troops out of interest rates they were legally entitled to. Westlake Financial continues to receive complaints from military service members alleging abusive debt collection practices on its no-credit-check loans. A steady year-over-year increase in the number of complaints filed against Westlake Financial continued from 2020 to 2023. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data shows a 13% increase in the number of complaints against the company from 2020 to 2021, a 28% increase from 2021 to 2022, and a torrential 119% surge from 2022 to 2023. The numbers suggest systemic complaint-handling processes and inadequate customer service resources. Photo Credit: Cynthia Shirk / Shutterstock On May 16, 2024, a deceptively named predatory lending industry front group dubbed the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) lost a legal attempt to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In an effort to deprive Americans of essential consumer protections, the lobby group argued that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure was unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court denied its claim. In a 7-2 ruling, the Court held that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure is indeed constitutional. That means the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot be defunded, but it does not mean the agency cannot be defanged. The New York Times suggested that Hankey’s incentive to finance Trump’s $175 million bond could have been a reciprocity pledge to neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if Trump wins the upcoming U.S. presidential election. If Trump wins a second term, he could replace Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra, an American consumer advocate, with a predatory lending advocate. In 2020, the Trump Administration secured a Supreme Court ruling that made it easier for the president to fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The ruling struck down previous restrictions on when a president can fire the bureau’s director. Like other federal agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has also been confronted for overstepping its bounds, pushing too far, and acting unfairly against entities it regulates. Photo Credit: Lux Blue / Shutterstock Seasonality and rising interest rates do not explain the increase in debt collection complaints from service members. The surge in complaints is not tied to predictable seasonal fluctuations or changes in interest rates. The increase in debt collection complaints by service members may point to underlying systemic issues, such as aggressive and predatory debt collection practices that exploit the unique financial vulnerabilities of service members, who face frequent relocations and deployments. Debt Complaints by Service Members The 24% spike in debt collection complaints exhibits no correlation to fluctuations in interest rates. 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Pandemic stimulus checks were also not a factor. COVID-19 relief benefit checks went through three major rounds during the pandemic. The final round of Economic Impact Payments went out in March 2021 . To better understand the rising trend of debt collection complaints, we calculated the increase in the total number of complaints and the percentage increase quarter-over-quarter. For example, New Jersey has the second largest percentage increase in complaints quarter-over-quarter, but the total number of complaints increased by just 16. The data for this study was sourced from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaint database. The dataset specifically targeted complaints filed by U.S. military service members, identified using the tag “Servicemember” within Q4 2023 and Q1 2024. Readers can find the detailed research methodology underlying this news story in the accompanying section here . For complete results, see U.S. Troops Face Mounting Threats from Predatory Debt Collectors on BadCredit.org . Homelessness reached record levels in 2023, as rents and home prices continued to rise in most of the U.S. One group was particularly impacted: people who have served in the U.S. military. "This time last year, we knew the nation was facing a deadly public health crisis," Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said in a statement about the 2023 numbers. He said the latest homelessness estimates from the Department of Housing and Urban Development "confirms the depth of the crisis." At least 35,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness in 2023, according to HUD. While that's about half of what it was in 2009—when the organization began collecting data—things have plateaued in recent years despite active efforts to get that number to zero. Although they make up just 6.6% of the total homeless population, veterans are more likely to be at risk of homelessness than Americans overall. Of every 10,000 Americans, 20 were experiencing homelessness. Of veterans living in the United States, that number jumps to 22, HUD data shows. Complicated by bureaucracy, family dynamics, and prejudice, the path from serving in the military to homelessness is a long one. According to a 2022 study by Yale School of Medicine researchers, homelessness typically occurs within four years of leaving the military, as veterans must contend with the harsh reality of finding a job in a world where employers struggle to see how skills on the battlefield transfer to a corporate environment. These days, veterans also deal with historically high rent and home prices, which causes many to rely on family generosity while figuring out a game plan. Stacker examined academic studies, analyzed government data, and spoke with members of the Biden administration, experts, and former members of the armed forces to see the struggles members of the military face when leaving the armed forces. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers transition assistance to the roughly 250,000 service members who leave each year. However, those programs can be burdensome and complex to navigate, especially for those who don't have a plan for post-military life. Only a small portion of veterans have jobs lined up when they leave, according to 2019 Pew Research. Many also choose to live with relatives until they get on their feet, which can be longer than anticipated. Some former service members are unsure what kind of career they'd like to pursue and may have to get further education or training, Carl Castro, director of the Military and Veteran Programs at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California, told Stacker. "It takes years for that kind of transition," Castro said. Many have trouble finding a job after leaving the service, even if they are qualified. Some employers carry misconceptions about those who have served. A 2020 analysis from the journal Human Resource Management Review found that some veterans face hiring discrimination due to negative stereotypes that lead hiring managers to write them off as a poor culture fit. Underemployment, or working low-wage jobs below their skill level, is also an issue. While the unemployment rate for veterans was 3% in March 2024, a study released by Penn State at the end of 2023 found three years after leaving the service, 61% of veterans said they were underemployed because of perceived skill mismatches . This phenomenon can have long-term economic effects, and eventually, that frustration can boil over, strain relationships, and potentially lead to housing instability. Working, especially a low-wage job, is not protection against homelessness. A 2021 study from the University of Chicago found half of people living in homeless shelters and 2 in 5 unsheltered people were employed, full or part-time. High rents make it difficult to save up, even when applying for a VA loan—a mortgage backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs that typically has more favorable terms. While the VA does not require a downpayment, some lenders, who ultimately provide the loan, do. They're not entirely risk-free either, and veterans can still lose their homes if they are unable to keep up with their mortgages. In November 2023, the VA put a six-month pause on foreclosures when an NPR investigation found thousands of veterans were in danger of losing their homes after a COVID forbearance program ended. Biden officials pointed to high rents and the end of COVID-era housing restrictions like eviction moratoriums to explain the spike in Americans experiencing homelessness. In the last year, homelessness rose 12%—to more than 650,000 people—the highest level since data began being collected in 2007. Overall, more than half of people experiencing homelessness in 2023 live in states with high living costs. Most were in California, followed by New York and Florida. Western states, including Montana and Utah, experienced massive population growth during the pandemic, becoming hubs for remote workers who drove home prices and rents even further. For veterans, housing costs certainly play a role, but those who leave the military also face systemic barriers. "It's worrying there are people that continue to fall through the cracks," said Jeanette Yih Harvie, a research associate at Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. Just under a quarter of adults experiencing homelessness have a severe mental illness , according to 2022 HUD survey data. They are also likely to have chronic illnesses but are unable to maintain preventative care, which only exacerbates these problems. Veterans facing homelessness are more likely to have experienced trauma , either before or after joining the military, according to Yale researchers who analyzed the 2019-2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Childhood trauma was among the most significant commonalities among vets who become homeless. Substance use disorder is also widespread and can indicate an undiagnosed mental illness . Racial and ethnic disparities are at play, too. A 2023 study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research showed that Hispanic and Black veterans were more likely to screen positive for PTSD, and Hispanic veterans were more likely to report having suicidal ideation. Overall, access to mental health care has improved in the last decade or so. In December 2023, the VA announced it would open nine additional counseling centers. However, the stigma of getting help remains, especially after years of being conditioned to be self-reliant and pull oneself up by their bootstraps. That help, in the form of public policy, is slowly working to catch up to the need. In 2023, the Biden administration invested millions into research programs and studies on suicide prevention by the VA office in addition to a proposed $16 billion to improve quality and lower-cost mental health care services for veterans. And, in February of this year, HUD and the VA announced they would give up to $14 million in vouchers to public housing agencies for veterans experiencing homelessness. The program would also offer case management and other services. Still, with a culture that pushes people to keep going, it can be challenging for servicemembers to take advantage of these opportunities, Harvie said. "When you've been doing that for the last 15 or 20 years, it's difficult to stop and say, 'I'm the person that needs help.'" Story editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

Visitors can hear Björk's immersive, otherworldly soundscape, Nature Manifesto , over the next few weeks as they climb the long, glass escalator that hugs the side of Centre Pompidou in Paris, France. Björk is not only an Icelandic pop star, but also an avant-garde artist and climate activist. Her new sound installation blends the noises of endangered and extinct animals with her own voice, reading text she co-wrote alongside editor and photographer Aleph Molinari. "It is an emergency. The apocalypse has already happened. And how we will act now is essential," Björk recites over an array of ear-tingling wildlife noises that are sometimes natural, sometimes otherworldly. "In a pioneering sound strata of mutant peacocks, bees, and lemurs, biology will reassemble in new ways." A journey through different sonic worlds Created with IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), a preeminent music and sound research institute based in Paris, the installation employs field recordings of animal sounds. Some of these were manipulated using artificial intelligence. "As you go up the escalator, you go through all these different sonic worlds," said IRCAM sound artist Robin Meier Wiratunga , who collaborated with Björk on the installation. "We have orangutans, mosquitoes, beluga whales, and then when you reach the top floor, the climactic musical event, which we lovingly call the 'Dolphin Disco.'" Some creatures whose vocalizations appear in Nature Manifesto , such as the Hawaiian crow, cannot be heard in the wild anymore. The creative team grabbed this bird's call from an archive of extinct animals. "This immersive sound piece gives endangered and extinct animals a voice by merging their sounds with our words, handing them the microphone," Björk said in a statement shared with NPR. "We wanted to share their presence in an architecture representing the industrial age, far away from nature. We wanted to remind citizens of the raw vitality of endangered creatures." Capturing the sounds of lost species We don't know for sure what sounds many extinct animals made. University of Texas paleontologist Julia Clarke , who studies the sounds of extinct animals, said we can glean clues by studying sound-making in living species and the preserved soft tissues, skeletons and fossils of extinct ones. "We might look at the sound-producing structures, like vibratory vocal cords," Clarke said. "We might look at the structures that are rubbed together or banged together." Up to one million plant and animal species are facing extinction due to human activity including climate change, pollution and habitat loss, according to a 2019 global report on biodiversity. "What we've noticed in mass extinction is really the absence of sound," Clarke said. But she added that Nature Manifesto isn't only highlighting this catastrophic loss. It also suggests if we stop destroying the planet, that species might continue to evolve. "It's challenging us to think about in visceral ways what a very different and very acoustically diverse future might sound like," she said. "I hope it is that acoustically diverse." Björk the climate activist Björk's passion for environmental stewardship runs deep. Some of her albums touch upon the natural world and its complex relationship to technology, such as Biophilia (2011) and Fossora (2022). She also advocates strongly for ecological causes, including her ongoing fight against intensive fish farming in her native Iceland. A recently discovered butterfly species — Pterourus bjorkae — was recently named in her honor. The singer, visual artist and activist Anohni, who is exhibiting a companion video piece alongside Nature Manifesto at Centre Pompidou, said she and Björk often talk about climate issues. "We've spoken a lot about environment over the years, just as artists between each other, trying to understand our right-size relationship to this unfolding crisis and the different ways that we might utilize our agency as artists," she said. "She's always been such a profound and moving optimist." Jennifer Vanasco edited the broadcast and digital versions of this story. Chloee Weiner mixed the audio.Maverick McNealy sank a birdie putt from just inside six feet on the 18th hole to win the RSM Classic on Sunday, capturing his first US PGA Tour title. The 29-year-old American fired a two-under par 68 to finish 72 holes on 16-under 266 at Sea Island Golf Club to capture a top prize of $1.36 million. That was enough for a one-stroke victory over compatriots Daniel Berger, who shot 67, and Luke Clanton, who closed with a 66, and Colombian Nico Echavarria, who had a final-round 65. McNealy, who had five prior top-five finishes this season, captured his first victory in his 142nd PGA start. He qualified for next year's Masters as well as the PGA's season-opening tournament of champions event in Hawaii in January. Birdies at the fifth and eighth holes kept McNealy in the lead but he stumbled with a bogey at the 14th, setting up the dramatic finish. Echavarria had six birdies in his round but missed a nine-foot par putt for a bogey at 18 that left him one adrift. Clanton had six birdies and a bogey but missed a par putt at 18 from just outside six feet to fall just off the pace. Berger had a bogey-free round and birdied the par-3 third and sixth holes as well as the 11th but missed a 20-foot birdie putt at 18 to settle for a share of second, good enough to keep his tour playing rights for next year. Canada's Mackenzie Hughes and Americans Lee Hodges and J.T. Poston shared fifth on 268. js/ Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, sports, arts & entertainment, state legislature, CFD news, and more.Kroger Reiterates Its Commitment to Lower Prices and Initiates New $7.5B Share Buyback Program

First treatment in 50 years for serious asthma attacks is ‘game-changer’

With nothing to showcase to the world and nothing to brag about in the island, Sri Lankan Olympic officials running what is known as the NOC are displaying a kind of intransigence that separates the country from the rest of the world and earning it near pariah status that can snowball into an outcast. With only one medal in 75 years, Sri Lanka has been a spoilt brat both international and domestically securing both millions in overseas funding and political succor at home until the International Olympic Committee (IOC) put its feet down that enough is enough as it called for the ouster of NOC secretary Maxwell de Silva while six others have been accused of scrounging. De Silva was ordered by the NOC’s Ethics Committee to step down more than two months ago but his stubbornness has made the country’s Olympic head Suresh Subramanium a mere puppet. But it took the IOC ten months to step in after the Sri Lankan Parliament branded the NOC the country’s “most corrupt” organization a year after the Legislature drew the same reference to cricket. In his branding of the NOC, Member of Parliament Chaminda Mayadunne accused its officials of involvement in human smuggling as well as taking custody of international funding meant for the welfare of athletes. Mayadunne, among other accusations, claimed in Parliament that one of the athletes deprived of funding welfare was Olympic sprinter Yupun Abeykoon while the country’s only Olympic medallist in 75 years, Susanthika Jayasinghe was non-existent to the NOC. Mayadunne backed his charges with an Audit Report of December 2022 that he said clearly documents the NOC as “the most corrupt”. He claimed the Audit Report was swept under the carpet and charged that NOC officials were responsible for the decamping of a wrestling official and judo official during the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England in 2022. In what was a scathing revelation, Mayadunne alleged the NOC also took custody of payments doled out by the Sports Ministry for the Rio Olympics in 2016. Former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe last year fired a letter to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) highlighting several misdeeds taking place in the NOC that made all authorities in the country look mere onlookers. An NOC official told the Sunday Observer that De Silva’s intransigence has made him “the most powerful sports official in the country”.

NFL will consider replay assist for facemask penalties and other playsCALGARY, Alberta (AP) — A Ukrainian girls’ hockey team is in Canada for a few days of peace and hockey in an arena that doesn’t have a missile-sized hole in its roof. After 56 hours of travel to Calgary, including a 24-hour bus ride from Dnipro to Warsaw, Poland, that required army escort for a portion of it, the Ukrainian Wings will join Wickfest, Hayley Wickenheiser’s annual girls’ hockey festival, on Thursday. The squad of players aged 11 to 13 was drawn from eight different cities in Ukraine, where sport facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Russia started its invasion in February 2022. “They all have a personal story of something awful happening,” said Wickenheiser. “We give them a week of peace and joy here, and I hope they can carry that with them. “We know full well they’re going back to difficult circumstances. It’s tough that way.” Nine players are from Kharkiv, where pictures show a large hole in the roof of the Saltovskiy Led arena where the girls’ team WHC Panthers once skated. “It was our home ice arena, and we played all our national team championships in this ice arena,” said Kateryna Seredenko, who oversees the Panthers program and is the Wings general manager. Ukraine’s Olympic Committee posted photos and wrote in a Facebook post Sept. 1 that Kharkiv’s Sport Palace, which was home to multiple hockey teams, was also destroyed in an attack on the city. Seredenko says the Wings’ arduous journey to Calgary was worth it because it gives the girls hope. “It’s not a good situation in Ukraine, but when they come here, they can believe that everything will be good, everything will be fine, of course we will win soon and we must play hockey. We can’t stop because we love these girls and we will do everything for them,” she said. “So many girls on this Ukrainian team are future players of the national team.” Wickenheiser, a Hockey Hall of Famer , is the assistant general manager of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs and a doctor who works emergency room shifts in the Toronto area. The six-time Olympian and four-time gold medalist organized her first Wickfest after the 2010 Winter Games. She’s had teams from India, Mexico and the Czech Republic attend over the last decade and a half, but never a team that ran the Ukrainians’ gauntlet of logistics. The Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health took on the task of arranging visas and paying for the team’s travel. “We care about women and children’s health. Sport is such a symbol. When you see a group of girls coming off the ice all sweaty and having worked hard on the ice, it’s a symbol of a healthy girl,” said chief executive officer Julia Anderson. “That’s a healthy kid that’s able to participate in sport. We really believe if we can get girls there, whether they’re in an active war zone, or here in Canada, those girls will change the world.” The Wings aren’t the first Ukrainians to seek a hockey haven in Canada since the war began. An under-25 men’s team played four games against university squads in early 2023 to prepare for that year’s world university games. Ukrainian teams have also twice played in the Quebec City International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. “It’s the first time in Ukrainian history where a girls’ team is coming to Canada to a very good tournament,” Seredenko said. “They can see how they can play in their future. And they can see how it is to play hockey in Canada.” AP sports: https://apnews.com/sportsInnovative AstroRad Vest Poised to Safeguard Astronauts from Space Radiation

VERMILLION — As South Dakota head football coach Bob Nielson addressed his team and the fans in attendance after the group gathered to watch Sunday’s FCS Selection Show, the message was clear: We’re not done. “This is a team that’s been committed to one goal throughout the course of the season,” he said after the Coyotes were announced as the fourth seed in the upcoming playoffs, “and that was to win a championship. We won one. Now we’re going to try for two.” The “one” he referred to was the share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title earned with the Coyotes’ thrilling 29-28 victory over North Dakota State Saturday at the DakotaDome. USD will be back in the Dome at 2 p.m. on Dec. 7, awaiting the winner of next weekend’s 13th-seed Tarleton State and Drake game. Drake (8-2), the Pioneer League champion, is an opponent USD beat 42-3 on Sept. 21. Tarleton State, making its first-ever FCS playoff appearance, finished 9-3 on the season. Undefeated Montana State (12-0) claimed the top seed in the bracket, with the other MVFC co-champions, North Dakota State (10-2) and South Dakota State (10-2) ranking second and third, respectively. UC-Davis (10-2), Incarnate Word (10-2), Mercer (10-2) and Idaho (9-3) were seeded fifth through eighth, also receiving first-round byes. “I think our record speaks for itself. We have one FCS loss, and it’s to a seed that, according to the committee, is seeded higher than us. We have a win against a seed that the committee says is higher than us,” Nielson said. “If you weigh those things, I think we ended up probably where we deserve to be.” The key to a second straight playoff berth — and playoff seed, both program firsts for the Coyotes at the FCS level — has been balance, according to quarterback Aidan Bouman. “You take away one facet of our game, the others are gonna shine,” he said. “Our running back room is the best in the country, in my opinion. Obviously, you have Carter Bell, the leading receiver in school history. Then you’ve got guys like JP (Javion Phelps) and Jack (Martens) making huge plays (Saturday). “We have too many weapons. I feel like you can’t stop them all.” Charles Pierre Jr. has rushed for 1,073 yards and 15 touchdowns, becoming the first Coyote to rush for over 1,000 yards in the FCS era. Travis Theis is threatening the 1,000-yard mark, with 846 yards and 13 scores. Keyondray Jones-Logan (231 yards, 2 TD) and L.J. Phillips, Jr. (176 yards, 2 TD) each average over six yards per carry in limited action for the Coyotes, who average 224.3 yards rushing per game. The passing game for USD averages 217.4 yards per game, with Bouman completing 67.8% of his attempts this season. The Coyotes’ 16 passing touchdowns, including 14 by Bouman, have gone to eight different receivers, with five having two or more scoring catches. Phelps entered Saturday’s victory with 11 catches for 96 yards, but had three catches for 79 yards, including the game-winning touchdown. “It’s been kind of surreal,” Phelps said of the experience, both in the game and after. “That kind of explains it. It’s kind of a crazy situation.” With USD earning a bye this week, the emphasis for the Coyotes over the next few days will be both preparation and recovery. “We just played a really physical football team, a physical football game,” Nielson said. “So we’re going to give the guys a chance to recover a little bit. We will practice a couple times this week, but we’ll also give our guys a couple days off for the Thanksgiving holiday.” USD’s opponent won’t be known until Tarleton State and Drake step off the field, but some preparation for USD can be done over the coming days. “We can get some advance work done in preparation for that game,” Nielson said, “and then be ready for full-scale game plan mode starting on Sunday.” Follow @JCimburek on Threads and BlueSky.Electric vehicle industry at crossroads, not a dead end

Patriots DL Christian Barmore tallies first sack since blood clots diagnosisGen Z seems to have got the workplace right, artifically. With 31 per cent of them reporting a healthy relationship with work, it places them ahead of Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials. A significant factor behind this shift is Gen Z’s willingness to embrace artificial intelligence (AI). Data from HP shows that 83 per cent of Gen Z workers use AI tools at work, outpacing the 75 per cent Millennials who use it. “Gen Z, being digital natives, is super comfortable with tech and loves experimenting with new tools,” Divya Dixit, Chief Growth Officer at One Health Assist explains. Since they value productivity, AI frees them from mundane tasks, giving them more time for meaningful work, which directly boosts job satisfaction. This tech-savvy generation expects workplaces to stay ahead of the technology curve, and AI-driven roles feel “future-focused,” complementing Gen Z’s attraction to innovation and flexibility. Devroop Dhar, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Primus Partners, says, “For India’s 377 million Gen Z individuals, AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a co-pilot unlocking their potential and reshaping the way they learn, work, and innovate.” This sense of alignment between their roles and personal values fosters a strong sense of fulfillment and growth. Gen Z is highly motivated by work-life balance, purpose-driven tasks, and flexibility. “By using AI to automate repetitive tasks, they can save time and focus on creative, strategic work—factors they deeply value,” says Kamaljeet Singh, CHRO at The Sleep Company. Gururaja Yellapur, Vice President and Head of Product Engineering at Omega Healthcare, echoes this sentiment: “AI minimises time spent on mundane tasks, enabling Gen Z to concentrate on creative and impactful projects, fostering both balance and engagement.” Mili Panicker, Director of HR & People Operations at WebEngage, emphasises that Gen Z’s focus on purpose and growth is supported by AI’s role in enhancing efficiency and enabling greater career focus. Automation allows them to shift their energy toward innovative projects and collaborative efforts, increasing engagement. She notes, “AI-driven personalisation in feedback and development pathways also aligns with their desire for continuous growth, fostering a culture of engagement and retention.” As 59 per cent of workers report increased job satisfaction from AI, it’s clear that for Gen Z, AI isn’t just a tool but a catalyst for deeper engagement and job fulfilment,” she adds. Recent data shows 26 per cent of Gen Z frequently uses generative AI, compared to 22 per cent of Millennials. Smita Shetty Kapoor, CEO and Co-founder of Kelp, explains: “80 per cent of Gen Z AI users believe these tools help achieve a better work-life balance by automating repetitive tasks. This allows them to reclaim mental well-being and personal time while aligning with their need for flexibility.” At Mitgo, Managing Director Neha Kulwal shares that Gen Z employees benefit significantly from AI in areas like anti-fraud and fintech, where AI reduces repetitive tasks by hundreds of hours each month. This allows Gen Z employees to focus more on creative, high-impact tasks. Kulwal explains, “AI integration in the workplace lets Gen Z concentrate on creative and significant areas of their profession, as digital natives prefer customised tools tailored to their unique working style, which boosts productivity.” Despite enthusiasm, AI brings workplace pressures. Dixit points out that while it enhances satisfaction, fears of job replacement create anxiety. The potential for automation to replace certain jobs can impact their happiness if not managed effectively. Yellapur stresses: “Clear communication and upskilling opportunities are critical to strengthening Gen Z’s confidence in AI as a career enabler rather than a threat.” Gen Z values mentorship, seeing it as a chance to innovate while honing their skills with AI. Maya Nair, Executive Director at Elixir Consulting, mentions “Gen Z employees are motivated to incorporate AI tools in tasks like documentation or reporting, ensuring efficient task completion.” By embracing AI, they can better manage their workload, remain engaged, and benefit from meaningful mentorship.