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[1/3] Donna Heinel (L), former associate athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) facing charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme, leaves the federal courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., March 25, 2019. Donna Heinel, the school's former senior associate athletic director, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston for helping get about two dozen students admitted as fake athletic recruits in exchange for money. Prosecutors said Heinel also personally pocketed $160,000 after she and Singer entered into "sham" consulting agreement. She has agreed to forfeit that money, though defense lawyer Nina Marino said, adding Heinel did not view it as a bribe at the time. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ulloa had been discussing ways to work with Latino Media Network's owners Stephanie Valencia and Jess Morales Rocketto, Castro said. Valencia and Morales Rocketto called Ulloa "a true trailblazer in Latino media." "He saw the value and promise of the Latino media industry before many others did. He's got that kind of money and he's very committed to the community,'" Castro said. “I am heartbroken by the sudden passing of my friend, Walter Ulloa, a trailblazer who has helped transform Spanish-language media,” Ruiz, the outgoing chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a tweet Tuesday.

☆ Rick Singer, Mastermind of College-Admissions Cheating Scandal, Faces Sentencing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

William ‘Rick’ Singer was the head of a scheme that prosecutors say brought in $25 million and corrupted an admissions process that was intended to be based on merit. BOSTON—William “Rick” Singer, the mastermind behind a nationwide college-admissions cheating scheme that ensnared top universities, business executives and Hollywood celebrities, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court here Wednesday. Mr. Singer pleaded guilty in March 2019 to four felonies, admitting to running a complex operation that arranged for parents to fraudulently boost their teens’ ACT and SAT scores and to bribe college coaches to flag the clients as recruited athletes, all but guaranteeing their admission to schools including Georgetown University and the University of Southern California. Payments were often funneled through Mr. Singer’s sham charity, allowing parents to take tax write-offs for the bribes.

BOSTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The architect of the largest U.S. college admissions fraud scheme ever uncovered will be sentenced on Wednesday for helping wealthy parents secure the admission of their children to elite universities through cheating and bribery. The former college admissions consultant played a key role as a cooperating witness in the "Operation Varsity Blues" investigation. Singer admitted in 2019 to facilitating cheating on college entrance exams and funneling money from wealthy parents to corrupt university coaches to secure the admission of their children as fake athletic recruits. The years-long investigation into the scheme resulted in the conviction of more than 50 people, including actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, two of the many wealthy parents Singer had as clients. Singer took in more than $25 million from his clients while running a California-based college admissions counseling service called The Key and a related charity.

☆ The University of California invested $4 billion with Blackstone to buy up rental apartments and student housing, which they see as the bright spots in the real estate market this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The University of California is investing $4 billion with Blackstone to acquire rentals and student housing. The investment comes at a crucial time for Blackstone's Real Estate Income Trust Inc. fund — also known as BREIT— a $68 billion property investment vehicle. "We consider BREIT to be one of the best positioned, large-scale real estate portfolios in the US, managed by one of the world's top real estate investors," said Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the University of California's chief investment officer. The University of California's investment could become a model for other universities with large endowment funds — typically in the billions of dollars — that want to invest in real estate investment trusts or commercial real estate assets. BREIT's portfolio includes assets in popular college towns such as Fort Collins, Colorado, where Colorado State University is located, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is home to Louisiana State University, according to the fund's website.

Rapid tests have always been second to polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, assays when it comes to accuracy. Home-test kits have expiration datesAt-home COVID-19 test kits are one of the more convenient inventions to come out of the pandemic. Over-the-counter test kits typically have a sticker on the box indicating an expiration date and manufacturing date. One study found that false positives showed up when unexpected substances were directly applied to test kits. That is if you use the rapid test correctly and wait at least three-to-five days since a COVID-19 exposure to swab yourself.

☆ AG charges former officer in Floyd protest beating
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Attorney General Keith Ellison charged a former Minneapolis police officer Wednesday with beating a man during protests over George Floyd’s death. Justin Stetson, 34, faces one felony count of third-degree assault in connection with the May 30, 2020, beating of Jaleel Stallings. According to the criminal complaint, Stetson was among a group of officers enforcing a city-wide curfew that night when his group spotted four people in a parking lot. The city of Minneapolis paid Stallings $1.5 million this past May to settle his federal lawsuit. He alleged Stetson and other officers violated his constitutional rights.

BOSTON, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to sentence the mastermind of the largest U.S. college admissions fraud scheme ever uncovered to six years in prison after he helped them secure the convictions of dozens of wealthy parents including Hollywood celebrities. Prosecutors made the recommendation a week before William "Rick" Singer, the college admissions consultant at the center of the "Operation Varsity Blues" investigation, goes before a judge for sentencing after pleading guilty in 2019. Prosecutors said Singer, operating through his California-based college admissions counseling service The Key and a related charity, took in more than $25 million from his clients. They said he paid out more than $7 million to bribe coaches and administrators at schools including Georgetown University, the University of Southern California, Yale University and Stanford University. Singer, who now lives in a Florida trailer park, in his own filing wrote that he lost everything by "ignoring what was morally, ethically, and legally right in favor of winning what I perceived was the college admissions 'game.'"

☆ Prevent burnout by spotting these red and green flags before taking the job
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Natalie Tham | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Burnout is a "very common" workplace mental health issue caused by chronic and unmanaged stress, said Dr. Oliver Suendermann, clinical director of Intellect, a Singapore-based mental health support startup. With a slew of trickle-down effects that could harm your mental and physical health, burnout is a slippery slope that should be avoided. CNBC Make It spoke with experts and coaches who shared some red flags that should ring alarm bells, and green flags that can indicate a lower burnout risk. This can include providing managers with training on mental health, he added. Suendermann, who works for Intellect which offers a mental health support app, said some companies also help connect employees with professional coaches.

☆ We live in the era of salary transparency. But finding out what a job really pays is harder than ever.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Salary-transparency laws are increasingly common, but finding out what a job really pays is hard. New York, Nevada, Colorado, and Connecticut already have laws that require organizations to advertise a pay range for open positions up-front. So, how can jobseekers uncover what organizations pay? Could you please share the salary range offered for this position?" Academy of ManagementResearch shows that hiring managers are less likely to hire candidates who ask about salary and perks during job interviews.

Here are 12 of the weirdest and most fascinating animal behaviors scientists spotted in 2022. Here are 12 bizarre and amazing things animals were spotted doing, some of which had never been seen before. It turned out that at least 12 species of primates had been reported doing so, a review published in the Journal of Zoology in October found. A dolphin swallowed 8 venomous sea snakesA sea snake (indicated with pink arrow), moments before it is captured and eaten by a Navy dolphin. Though animals have often been spotted using tools, these usually are used to give the animal a clear survival advantage.

☆ Asking about pay in a job interview makes you less likely to get hired
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Research has found managers are less likely to hire people who ask about pay in job interviews. Asking about pay can make managers think you care more about the rewards than the actual job. The upshot for job seekers: Be patient. But research suggests that that's exactly how hiring managers will perceive you if you ask about pay and perks. The upshot for job seekers is that patience and restraint are key.

☆ Ehlers-Danlos syndrome affects millions. Why isn't the medical profession paying more attention?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Sarah Lazarus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

“Have you heard of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome?” the podiatrist asked me. There are 13 types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), according to research and advocacy organization The Ehlers-Danlos Society. Drag queen Yvie Oddly, who has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, crab walks down the pink carpet at RuPaul's DragCon LA in 2019. Bluestein says that for many years it was thought that one in 5,000 people had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. But despite her career choice, Bluestein only received her hEDS diagnosis when she was 47 – more than 30 years later.

☆ University of Southern California Sued Over Education-School Rankings Claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A legal advocacy group for students is suing the University of Southern California and 2U Inc., alleging that the school and the company that runs its online graduate programs in education defrauded students by using misleading U.S. News & World Report rankings to promote the courses. According to the suit, filed in Los Angeles County Court, USC’s Rossier School of Education used rankings that covered their in-person programs to highlight the strength of the online offerings, even though they had different selection criteria and student populations. The suit also says those rankings, even if they had been relevant to the online programs, were based on inaccurate information the school used to improperly boost the school’s score.

How Bots Pushing Adult Content Drowned Out Chinese Protest TweetsTwitter and its new owner, Elon Musk, have recently vowed to crack down on bots. When contacted, two businesses that appeared in spam tweets said that they had purchased the tweets using advertising services. The bots posting content during the protest did not focus on related hashtags; instead they included broader terms like the names of Chinese cities alongside adult content. BOT n BOT BOT BOT Searching for “北京” A search on Twitter for “Beijing” in simplified Chinese brought up tweet after tweet of spam ... BOT BOT BOT BOT Searching for “Beijing” ... but searching for “Beijing” in English showed no bot or spam activity among the top tweets. Bot advertising on Twitter A company listed on some spam tweets confirmed it ran an advertising business using bots.

☆ Gen Z is re-thinking college and career plans in post-Roe America: ‘I want to leave the country’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

There is an endless list of factors students consider while choosing a college: size, cost, campus life, proximity to home. In post-Roe America, location has never been more important to prospective and current college students deciding where to pursue a degree or build their career. The 21-year-old, now a junior studying political science at the University of South Dakota, is the president of USD Students for Reproductive Rights. Lexi McKee-Hemenway and Kyshea Koehler at an event hosted by USD Students for Reproductive Rights. Harvard University freshmen rally in Harvard Yard on May 4, 2022 to defend abortion rights.

Experts recommend isolating first, then taking at least two rapid tests, spaced a day or two apart. But if you don't use rapid tests in the right way at the right time, they won't provide accurate results. According to early studies from the UK and the US Food and Drug Administration, rapid tests still work. If you're planning to mingle, take a rapid test just as you arrive, not hours beforeA rapid COVID-19 test, the Abbott BinaxNow, administered by a health department in Livingston, Montana. 'One layer of reducing risk'A 4-year-old gets a rapid COVID-19 test in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on August 24.

☆ U.S. labor board region sides with USC athletes seeking 'employee' designation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) director of the agency's Region 31 office issued a finding of merit in an unfair labor practice charge brought by the student athletes against USC, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 athletic conference. The parties to the case were informed of the decision on Thursday, according to NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado. read moreA separate case filed by college athletes in Indianapolis against the NCAA and others has been held in abeyance pending the outcome of the USC case. The judge's ruling could then be appealed to the full NLRB, which would render a decision as to whether USC, NCAA and Pac-12 are employers under labor law, and could order its own remedies. The National College Players Association, which brought the charges on behalf of 113 USC athletes, also could not be reached for comment.

☆ NLRB opens door for union for college athletes with finding on unfair labor practice complaint
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Are college athletes employees? This could open the door to previously unsuccessful efforts to form the first union of college athletes. The complaint had been filed by the National College Players Association (NCPA), an advocacy group. It filed an unfair labor practice complaint on behalf of the athletes. The matter of whether college athletes are professionals, and thus employees, has been hotly debated for decades.

☆ Fiji national election a tight race in early provisional counting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Voters queue at a polling station to vote during the Fijian general election in Suva, Fiji, December 14, 2022. Bainimarama is in a tight race against another former coup leader and one-time prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, whose People's Alliance Party has formed a coalition with Fiji's oldest political party, the National Federation Party. The election office said result updates were put "temporarily on hold" shortly before 11 p.m., and later said its election results app, used by the public, had errors. Bainimarama's Fiji First supporters campaigned on stability and progress, while the opposition said national debt was too high and questioned the state of democracy, he said. A multinational observer group led by Australia, India and Indonesia includes 90 election observers who are also monitoring the national vote counting centre.

☆ Astronauts explain why nobody has visited the moon in 50 years — and the reasons are depressing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Dave Mosher | Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The last time a person visited the moon was in December 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 mission. But those stays during the Apollo program didn't establish a lasting human presence on the moon. Researchers and entrepreneurs have long pushed for the creation of a crewed base on the moon — a lunar space station. But many astronauts and other experts suggest the biggest impediments to making new crewed moon missions a reality are banal and somewhat depressing. During NASA's Apollo program, 12 people landed on the moon.

More than 40 million borrowers like Morales-Bartlett were eligible to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt under President Joe Biden’s one-time student loan forgiveness plan. Meanwhile, the pandemic-era federal student loan repayment pause has been extended while the government awaits the court’s decision. The average federal student loan debt nears $30,000. Brown’s son still has about $50,000 in student debt despite being one of the thousands of North Carolinians who received some student loan relief as part of a multistate settlement with Navient, one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, over allegations of unfair and deceptive student loan servicing and predatory lending practices, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Stein's office. He also applied to the currently blocked student loan forgiveness program and is waiting to hear back.

☆ USC quarterback Caleb Williams wins the 2022 Heisman Trophy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jacob Lev | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —University of Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams was named the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Saturday night. Williams beat out Texas Christian University Horned Frogs quarterback Max Duggan, Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback C.J. The Heisman award caps off a season in which USC ended up just short of the College Football Playoff. Williams is the seventh Trojan to win the award and the first since quarterback Matt Leinart in 2004. Williams suffered a hamstring injury in the Trojans’ loss to the University of Utah in the Pac-12 championship game last week.

This week's spill of 14,000 barrels in Kansas is sure to raise alarms over future pipeline development, as U.S. regulators had already increased scrutiny of pipeline construction due to previous Keystone spills in 2017 and 2019. The pipeline suffered few incidents in its early years, but since 2017, the number of spills increased after TC Energy received a special permit from the U.S. "I think a lot of scrutiny is going to be placed on the special permit," said Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Alliance, an advocacy group that fought Keystone XL. John Stoody, vice-president of government relations at the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association said special permits come with numerous different operating conditions. "If anything there are complaints from industry about how lengthy the special permit process is.

☆ Kanye West's Yeezy Apparel fashion company owes $600,000 in unpaid tax to California with notices dating back two years, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The state of California has issued multiple tax notices to Yeezy Apparel, according to NBC News. Yeezy Apparel previously paid the LA district attorney a $950,000 settlement for false advertising. Over the last two years, the state has issued multiple tax liens – legal claims for unpaid debts – against Yeezy Apparel, NBC reported. Yeezy Apparel is a fashion design and merchandising business which started in 2017, according to public business records. But tax-law experts told NBC that the tax notices indicate big problems at Yeezy Apparel.

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