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In 2017, with Mr. Connors’ help, Mr. Maichle started his own company, Precision Compliance Consulting. ‘Boss Man’Mr. Connors, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Maichle were all active in college conservative politics in Wisconsin about 15 years ago, when Mr. Connors was the leader of campus Republicans at Marquette University. Of that, about $102,000 went to Campaign Now, the firm started by Mr. Connors, and another $112,000 to companies where Mr. Connors, Mr. Maichle or Mr. Lewis was either the owner or a partner, tax records show. Most of the money — more than $4.4 million — went to fund-raising companies via tens of thousands of small payments. Most of the money — more than $4.4 million — went to fund-raising companies via tens of thousands of small payments.

☆ Opinion: Mitch McConnell’s confidence is being put to the test
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Not to worry, said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a veteran of debt limit battles. McConnell’s reassurance that all will work out in the end is validated by history, but that doesn’t mean this time couldn’t be different. “If female voters are key to a Donald Trump victory in 2024, the former president should be in big trouble – but he doesn’t seem to care,” Jill Filipovic observed. “The town hall audience – selected on the basis of their intention to vote in the Republican primary in New Hampshire – appeared to be made up mostly of Trump fans.

The son of a sea captain, Erdogan has faced stiff political headwinds ahead of Sunday's election: he was already facing blame over an economic crisis when a devastating earthquake hit in February. Critics accused his government of a slow response and lax enforcement of building rules, failures they said could have cost lives. Two days before the vote, Erdogan said he came to office through the ballot boxes and if he had to, would leave the same way. A veteran of more than a dozen election victories, the 69-year-old Erdogan has taken aim at his critics in typically combative fashion. "I swear, Erdogan can solve it with a flick of his wrist," she said at a market in central Istanbul.

His main opponent is CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who represents an election coalition of six opposition parties. For the first time, Turkey’s factious opposition has coalesced around a single candidate. When a vicious earthquake on February 6 laid waste to large parts of southeast Turkey, Erdogan’s battled political aftershocks. More than 1.8 million voters living abroad already cast their votes on April 17, Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported Wednesday, citing the country’s deputy foreign minister. The Supreme Election Council (YSK) chief Ahmet Yener said last month that at least 1 million voters in quake-stricken zones are expected not to vote this year amid displacement.

Biden administration rules released on Friday that will determine which companies and manufacturers can benefit from new solar industry tax credits are being criticized by U.S.-based makers of solar products, who say the guidelines do not go far enough to try to lure manufacturing back from China. The Treasury Department, in guidance issued on Friday, said it would offer a 10 percent additional tax credit for facilities assembling solar panels in the United States, even if they import the silicon wafers used to make those panels from foreign countries. Under the Biden administration’s new climate legislation, solar and wind farms can apply for a 30 percent tax credit on the costs of their facilities. Senior administration officials told reporters on Thursday that they were trying to take a balanced approach, one that leaned toward forcing supply chains to return to the United States. But China’s dominance of the global solar industry has created a tricky calculus for the Biden administration, which wants to promote U.S. manufacturing of solar products but also ensure a plentiful supply of low-cost solar panels to reduce carbon emissions.

☆ You can now request a Lyft as soon as you land at the airport instead of waiting for your bags
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Lyft says riders can now pre-order a ride as soon as they land at an airport. The new feature comes as the ride-hailing app is trying to up its game to compete with Uber. For travelers that dread waiting and waiting to get picked up from the airport, Lyft says it has an answer: a new feature that lets travelers request a ride as soon as their flight lands. Other changes the company has made include discontinuing its pooled ride feature, which it pioneered ahead of competitor Uber, according to Bloomberg. The company has also been scrambling to compete Uber, to which it ceded market share during the pandemic after being slow to introduce driver-friendly features and bonuses, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

☆ Private equity is being squeezed from all sides
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Edward Chancellor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

But this time around there’s a lot more private equity money chasing a limited number of opportunities. So private equity funds could face the prospect of a prolonged period of higher borrowing costs, lower valuations, and depressed investment returns. The birth of private equity coincided with the Reagan administration’s policy of relaxing regulations and tax cuts. Recent high profile corporate bankruptcies owned by private equity include car-rental firm Hertz and retailer Toys R Us. The private equity industry could soon find itself caught in a pincer, between tighter financing on the one hand and tighter regulation on the other.

☆ Companies are betting on a demand rebound in second half of year, DHL says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

That marks the second consecutive month that U.S. imports increased and are higher than 2019 levels, according to data provided to CNBC from Descartes Datamyne, a global trade data platform. The combination of a slow ramp up from "Zero Covid" in China and the reopening of manufacturing plants in the country delayed exports. The top Vietnamese imports in the latest data are wrought iron fencing and plant stands, imported for companies including Home Depot. Black jewelry bags for Zales and men's and boy's t-shirts for Nike rounded out the list of U.S. imports data from China, Vietnam, Thailand, and India reviewed by CNBC. In April, the trade data shows that vitamins and containers of pencils were bound from India to Walmart , and zip polos and t-shirts for Guess .

☆ Opinion | We Could Easily Make Risky Virological Research Safer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The 2007 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain was traced to a faulty drainage pipe at a research facility. In 2015 the Department of Defense discovered that a germ-warfare program in Utah had mistakenly mailed almost 200 samples of live anthrax over 12 years. Lab accidents happen, and they aren’t especially rare. In January the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity issued a series of draft recommendations for tightening regulation and oversight. And many of those who see the Covid pandemic as merely the sort of pathogenic disaster that lab accidents might cause agree that greater safety is needed.

☆ Texas tragedy: One weekend spotlights two distinctly American political fissures
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —The national season of violence deepened with a weekend of tragedy in Texas that hit two of the rawest political divides, guns and immigration. It was the latest in a string of mass shootings in Texas and across the country that have killed many innocent people but have brought no action to end the cycle of loss. Then, on Sunday, a driver slammed into a group of migrants waiting at a bus stop outside a shelter in the Texas border town of Brownsville. But as in the case of mass shootings, there is little chance that the nation’s polarized politics will ease in order to offer the space for meaningful resolution. The latest mass shooting in Texas came after a spree of such killings in schools, supermarkets, at community parades, a bank and places of worship nationwide.

☆ What the End of a Pandemic-Era Health Order Will Mean for the Southern Border
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Two months ago, the Biden administration said that on May 11, the public health crisis designation would end. In effect, officials said, this meant that the use of Title 42 would come to an end, too. (The Biden administration sought to end the use of the public health order in the past year, but was stopped twice by the courts. Since it has been in place, Title 42 was used about a third of the time. Under Title 42, people could also cross as many times as they wanted without facing steeper penalties.

☆ Greg Abbott's gun law avoidance strategy in the aftermath of the Texas mall shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“I hear our governor talking about mental health issues,” Spainhouer said of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a Monday appearance on “CNN This Morning.”“We’re always going to have mental health issues. “Until we take some definite actions, we’re changing the narrative about it being just a mental health issue and start doing something about the guns,” he added. Texas ranks last on mental health accessIt was a major understatement for Abbott to say that Texas merely lags on mental health. A report from the nonprofit Mental Health America places the state at or near the bottom of multiple metrics for mental health care.

[1/2] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters during a rally ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Izmir, Turkey April 29, 2023. As he seeks to shore up his appeal among conservative voters, Erdogan has also spoken against homosexuality, describing LGBT rights as a "deviant" concept he would fight. 'BUILDING TURKEY TOGETHER'Polls suggest voting could go to a second round and some show Erdogan trailing. "I swear, Erdogan can solve it with a flick of his wrist," she said at a market in central Istanbul. The interventions won few allies, however, and faced with a struggling economy the countdown to the election, Erdogan sought rapprochement with rivals across the region.

☆ A 'disgruntled' JetBlue passenger called in a bomb threat after missing his flight from Las Vegas to LA, authorities say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A JetBlue passenger missed his flight from Las Vegas to LA, with his bag onboard the plane. Airport officials said the "disgruntled" passenger then called in a bomb threat, per KABC-TV. A passenger who was angry that he missed his JetBlue flight from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Los Angeles, California, called in a bomb threat on Thursday, authorities said. The passenger who missed his flight was taken into custody by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, with KVVU reporting that police took "enforcement action against the subject." Las Vegas Police, JetBlue, and the LAX Police Department did not respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ ProPublica: GOP megadonor paid private school tuition for grandnephew of Justice Clarence Thomas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A Texas billionaire and GOP megadonor paid boarding school tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew, and the justice did not report the financial assistance for the child he helped raised on his annual disclosures, according to a new ProPublica report – the latest revelation raising ethical questions around the high court. The ProPublica report on Thursday revealed that the billionaire Harlan Crow paid tuition for Mark Martin, who lived with Thomas’ family as a child and for whom the justice became a legal guardian. ProPublica cited a 2009 bank statement and an interview with a former administrator at the Georgia boarding school Martin attended. The former administrator at the school, Hidden Lake Academy, told ProPublica that Crow paid for Martin’s tuition for the year or so Martin was at the boarding school. The administrator said, according to ProPublica, that he had been told by Crow that Crow also paid for Martin’s tuition at another school, the Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia, which is Crow’s alma mater.

The membership of the panel at Musk’s company, Neuralink, raises questions about potential violations of conflict-of-interest regulations aimed at protecting research integrity, a dozen animal-research and bioethics experts told Reuters. Autumn Sorrells has chaired an oversight board approving animal experiments by Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup, Neuralink, and also run the company’s animal care program. Reuters couldn’t determine the compensation terms of the Neuralink IACUC members who are also company employees. The independence of such boards, Nicolelis said, is critical to protecting the integrity of animal research that could impact humans in future clinical trials. These institutions generally prohibit people with direct financial interests from serving on IACUCs or voting on animal experiments.

☆ Stocks making the biggest premarket moves: Uber, Pfizer, Chegg, Dell & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Chegg — Chegg shares tumbled 42% in premarket trading after CEO Dan Rosensweig said he expects artificial intelligence is "having an impact on our new customer growth rate." However, its adjusted earnings per share and revenue for the first quarter beat estimates, per Refinitiv. NXP Semiconductors — Shares of the chip maker jumped about 5% after the company beat analysts' expectations for first-quarter revenue and operating income. However, its first-quarter revenue beat analysts' expectations, according to Refinitiv. The company is also planning an up to $2 billion share buyback after its annual general meeting.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Ford, Starbucks, Clorox and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Ford Motor — Ford topped analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines, according to Refinitiv. However, the firm reiterated its prior full-year guidance of adjusted earnings between $9 billion and $11 billion, as well as about $6 billion in adjusted free cash flow. Clorox — Clorox gained 1% after topping analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines. Caesars Entertainment — Caesars Entertainment slid about 0.2% after missing analysts' first-quarter earnings expectations. Otherwise, it reported revenue of $2.83 billion, beating the $2.76 billion forecast.

☆ American Airlines pilots vote to authorize strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 1 (Reuters) - A union representing American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) pilots said on Monday its members had approved a strike mandate ahead of the busy summer travel season, although the chances of an actual labor disruption remain slim. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, held a strike authorization vote in April to put pressure on the Texas-based carrier for higher salary and better working conditions, even as the two sides closed in on an agreement in principle. More than 96% of the APA membership participated in the vote and over 99% voted in favor of authorizing a strike, the union said in a statement. The finish line is in sight," American Airlines said in a statement. The airline's pilots received their last pay increase in 2019.

☆ US Fed points finger at Trump-era rollback for SVB demise
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Douglas Gillison | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

According to the Fed, SVB's management bore significant blame and bank examiners also made grave missteps. Randal Quarles, who was appointed to the Fed by President Donald Trump in 2017, oversaw the Fed's bank supervision until his resignation in 2021. Patrick McHenry, the Republican chair of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, blasted the Fed report as a "thinly veiled attempt" to justify positions like those of Warren. According to the report, the 2018 law caused the Fed to raise the supervisory threshold for large banks, i.e. those smaller than the "global systemically important banks," to $100 billion in assets from $50 billion -- delaying stricter oversight of SVB "by at least three years."

Depositors had pulled $100 billion from accounts at the bank in the panic triggered by the SVB and Signature failures, imperiling its survival. Both SVB and Signature failed last month. Both SVB and Signature grew quickly in recent years, outpacing the ability of regulators to keep up, especially with shrinking resources. Regulators closed Signature two days after SVB was shuttered. Signature lost 20% of its total deposits in a matter of hours on the day that SVB failed, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg has said.

Both SVB and Signature failed last month. Regulators shut SVB on March 10, a day after customers withdrew $42 billion and queued requests for another $100 billion the following morning. Both SVB and Signature grew quickly in recent years, outpacing the ability of regulators to keep up, especially with shrinking resources. Regulators closed Signature two days after SVB was shuttered. Signature lost 20% of its total deposits in a matter of hours on the day that SVB failed, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg has said.

☆ Factbox: Highlights from US regulators' reviews of SVB, Signature failures
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Below are key details from the government's post-mortems, which underscore management failings at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and too-slow, too-soft responses from regulators. * In 2022, SVB failed to test its capacity to borrow at the discount window and did not have appropriate collateral and operational arrangements in place to obtain contingency funding, the U.S. central bank said. The New York-based bank's board of directors and management pursued "rapid, unrestrained growth" without adequate risk management. * The Fed's judgments of SVB were "not always appropriate" given that bank's weaknesses. A single examiner was responsible for reviewing the bank's interest-rate risk and investment portfolio, and in some cases, would also review liquidity and model risk management during a two-to-three-week timeframe.

☆ Fed calls for rules revamp in 'unflinching' review of SVB oversight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr called the review "unflinching," describing the U.S. central bank's oversight of the Santa Clara, California-based bank inadequate and regulatory standards too low. * Silicon Valley Bank was "acutely exposed" to risks from rising interest rates and slowing activity in the technology sector in ways that senior leaders and its board of directors did not appreciate. * In 2022, SVB failed to test its capacity to borrow at the discount window and did not have appropriate collateral and operational arrangements in place to obtain contingency funding. * Fed supervisors discussed conducting an interest-rate risk review of SVB during 2022 but decided to prioritize other exams and defer it to the third quarter of 2023. * The level of Fed resources dedicated to its regional bank oversight "proved insufficient."

☆ Highlights from the Fed review of SVB oversight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

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