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CVS Health books strong 3Q but the health care giant preaches caution on next year

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

CVS Health beat third-quarter forecasts thanks partially to its growing pharmacy benefits management side, but the health care giant is cautious about next year.Interim Chief Financial Officer Tom Cowhey told analysts Wednesday that it would be “prudent for investors to ground their expectations” for adjusted earnings at the low end of a range of $8.50 to $8.70 per share. That’s also what the company expects for full-year earnings this year.CVS Health operates one of the nation’s largest drugstore chains with more than 9,000 locations. It runs prescription drug plans for big clients like insurers and employers through a large pharmacy benefit management business.It also provides health insurance for more than 25 million people through its Aetna arm.Company leaders often give some initial thoughts on what they expect in the next year during third-quarter earnings calls. Cowhey said CVS Health should see growth from its core business in 2024 and reap savings from a previously an...

UK summit tackles the risks from cutting-edge AI. Kamala Harris says more must be done right now

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

BLETCHLEY PARK, England (AP) — Delegates from 28 nations, including the U.S. and China, agreed Wednesday to work together to contain the potentially “catastrophic” risks posed by galloping advances in artificial intelligence.The first international AI Safety Summit, held at a former codebreaking spy base near London, focused on cutting-edge “frontier” AI that some scientists warn could pose a risk to humanity’s very existence.British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the declaration was “a landmark achievement that sees the world’s greatest AI powers agree on the urgency behind understanding the risks of AI – helping ensure the long-term future of our children and grandchildren.”But Vice President Kamala Harris urged Britain and other countries to go further and faster, in a speech stressing the transformations AI is already bringing and the need to hold tech companies accountable — including through legislation.In a speech at the U.S. Embassy, Harris said we need to start actin...

Schools are snatching up transfers in college hoops. That means fewer freshmen on D-I rosters, too

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Elliot Cadeau graduated early from high school to jump into college at No. 19 North Carolina. The five-star point guard is the latest addition to a blueblood program that has long snagged top-flight recruits.He’s also on a team stocked with new transfers, part of a freshman class that has shrunk dramatically amid college basketball’s free-agency rush through the transfer portal.Teams have changed recruiting approaches to favor talent and experience initially developed elsewhere to fill holes. Some have won big. But that has also meant freshmen facing more competition for roster spots against older and developed players, including those sticking around with an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA during the pandemic.“I definitely think so, especially now that there’s more people in the transfer portal than ever,” Cadeau said. “And coaches would rather get experienced guys than freshmen.”According to data from the NCAA, the number of incoming fr...

National Western Stock Show hiring over 400 seasonal workers

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- More than 400 seasonal positions are now open for applications at the National Western Stock Show.The positions start at $18.30 per hour and are for a range of work, including event operations, parking, guest relations and the ticket office. Most positions require outdoor work, regardless of weather, and shifts vary in duration from 4-12 hours per day. Liquor store owner shot during robbery The National Western Stock Show has operated since 1906 and is held over 16 days every January. The upcoming event is scheduled from Jan. 6-21, 2024. There will be cattle, hog and horse shows throughout the event, along with rodeos, a western trade show, education events and a performance from the winner of the annual National Anthem contest. In January this year, the show opened with record-setting attendance."We hire folks from all walks of life, and our team especially enjoys connecting with our local community members to involve them in our iconic event," said Mikayla Morr...

Tyreek Hill voted the No. 1 wide receiver in AP’s NFL Top 5 rankings

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

Tyreek Hill hasn’t looked back since leaving Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s still leaving cornerbacks in the dust in Miami.The four-time All-Pro was voted No. 1 wide receiver at the midpoint of the season by The Associated Press.A panel of nine AP Pro Football Writers ranked the top five players at wide receiver, making their selections based on current status through Week 8. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.Hill, who finished third behind Justin Jefferson and Davante Adams in the preseason poll, received six first-place votes. Jefferson got two first-place votes and Cooper Kupp got one.Twelve receivers got votes, including rookie Puka Nacua, D.J. Moore, Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, Brandon Aiyuk, Mike Evans and Adams.Hill has 1,014 yards receiving yards this season, becoming the first player in 62 years and fourth player in NFL history with more than 1,000 yards in his team’s first eight games....

Former Hialeah Officer convicted of kidnaping homeless man appears in court for sentencing trial

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

A former Hialeah Police officer who was found guilty of kidnapping a homeless man appeared in court for his sentencing trial.The wife of Rafael Otano was called to the stand during his trial, Wednesday morning. In Spanish, she said that her husband is loving and respectful. Aside from Otano’s wife, a family friend, Placido Rodriguez, also took the stand. “Day one, since I’ve met him, when he met his wife, I was there during the relationship when he first met, and from day one, he’s just been an incredible kid, he’s just something else,” Rodriguez said. “To sit here and find myself in his position, in going through this for the past year, is just incredible. It’s a hard feeling to see him go through this.”Otano was accused of kidnapping and beating Jose Ortega Gutierrez along with former officer Lorenzo Orfila, on Dec. 17, 2022. The two drove Gutierrez miles away from a strip mall where he was first apprehended and took him to a r...

Inter Miami’s trip to China for a pair of exhibition games called off

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi evidently won’t be playing in China this month after all.Inter Miami announced Wednesday that its planned trip to China for a pair of exhibition matches has been called off. The team announced the trip last month, with a pair of games originally scheduled for Nov. 5 and Nov. 8.It would have been at least the eighth time that Messi — the World Cup champion for Argentina and now an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, after receiving the annual award yet again earlier this week — played in China, and the total attendance for the two planned matches could have exceeded 100,000.Inter Miami said the reason was “unforeseen circumstances.” The tour promoter, NSN, said the decision to cancel was out of respect to Chinese officials following the death last week of the country’s former second-ranking leader, Li Keqiang. He was China’s top economic official for a decade.TyC Sports, a network in Argentina, reported Monday ...

Ukraine ‘fatigue’ prevalent in Europe, Meloni tells Russian prank callers

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

European leaders are “tired” of the war in Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told two Russian pranksters in a call — thinking she was speaking with officials with the African Union.Meloni informed the pair that “fatigue” with the war was coming to a head.“I see that there is a lot of fatigue, I have to say the truth, from all the sides,” she said. “We [are] near the moment in which everybody understands that we need a way out.”Audio of the call, which took place in September, was released online on Wednesday by Russian comedy duo, Vovan and Lexus, whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov. They have been accused of acting as a “pro-Kremlin tool of information warfare” by targeting high-profile westerners who have spoken out against Moscow since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Meloni’s office said in a statement it “regretted” she was “deceived by an impostor” who passed himself off as the head of the executive of the African Union, a 55-member bloc...

The woman accused of killing Vermont pro cyclist Mo Wilson tracked her on a fitness app, prosecutors say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The murder trial of a woman accused of gunning down rising pro cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson and fleeing the country began Wednesday with Texas prosecutors telling jurors they would hear Wilson’s final screams and the shots that killed her.Kaitlin Armstrong, 35, has pleaded not guilty to murder and faces up to 99 years in prison in the May 2022 slaying of Wilson, a competitive gravel and mountain bike racer. Wilson had been shot several times when she was found at a friend’s home before a race that she was among the favorites to win.“The last thing Mo did on this earth was scream in terror,” Travis County prosecutor Rickey Jones told jurors in opening statements.He said nearby surveillance equipment captured the screams.“Those screams are followed by ‘Pop! Pop!’” Jones said, punching his fist into his hand for emphasis. “You won’t hear any more screams after that.”Seconds after those shots, Jones said, “Kaitlin Armstrong stood ...

Cats have 276 different facial expressions, study finds

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:25:45 GMT

(CNN) — Ears flattened, constricted pupils, a lick of the lips. If you’ve ever wondered if your feline friends’ furry faces were saying something whenever they got together, chances are they were.In a study published in the journal Behavioural Processes last month, two US scientists counted 276 different facial expressions when domesticated cats interacted with one another.“Our study demonstrates that cat communication is more complex than previously assumed,” study co-author Brittany Florkiewicz, an evolutionary psychologist at Lyon College in Arkansas, told CNN Wednesday, adding that their findings suggest that domestication has a significant impact on the development of facial signaling.Florkiewicz explained that domesticated cats are typically more socially tolerant than their wildcat counterparts because of the way they live in proximity to humans, so the researchers were expecting to see expression in both positive and negative contexts—but t...