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LAUSD decision ushers in new source of funding for arts education

File: Los Angeles Unified 6th-grader Jack Spiewak performs as Macbeth at Eagle Rock Elementary School. District schools can now use a major source of federal funds to incorporate the arts into academics.; Credit: Maya Sugarman/KPCC

Mary Plummer

Los Angeles Unified School District officials have cleared the way for principals to tap into a major source of funding for arts programs targeting low-income students starting this fall.

Although state and federal officials previously said national Title I dollars, allocated to help disadvantaged students improve in academics, could be used for the arts instruction, some district officials had been reluctant to move ahead. The latest decision reverses the district's long-standing practice and opens the door for Title I-funded arts instruction that helps students improve their academic performance. 

"This has been a long time coming and this really is a day of rejoicing, quite frankly, in LAUSD," said Rory Pullens, the district's executive director of arts education. 

RELATED: For Pasadena school, arts plus math is really adding up

A two-page memo issued Thursday from Pullens, Deputy Superintendent Ruth Perez and Karen Ryback, executive director of Federal and State Education Programs, confirms the arts as a core subject and allows schools with high percentages of low-income students to use Title I funds for the arts.

Those schools "may utilize arts as an integration strategy to improve academic achievement," the directive reads. However, Title I funds are not allowed "to fund programs whose primary objective is arts education," according to the memo. As an example, the funds could be tapped to help students learn a character's point of view in a lesson that requires acting out a skit. 

Title I funding, developed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, has been used historically to increase students success in reading and math. The funds have paid for efforts like reading coaches or math tutors, supplemental software programs and professional development for teachers to improve low-performing students' test scores.

At $14 billion a year, the Title I funds make up the federal government's largest expenditure for grades K-12. The majority of LAUSD schools receive Title I dollars.

Arts advocates have long sought to get the second-largest district in the country to shift its stance on Title I arts funding, arguing that the arts have been shown in research to boost student academic performance. 

LAUSD joins just a handful of districts around the state that have committed to a district-wide Title I plan including the arts. San Diego Unified, Sacramento City Unified and Chula Vista Elementary School District are among them, according to Joe Landon, executive director of the California Alliance for Arts Education. 

Landon says beyond these districts, the decision to use Title I for the arts is largely playing out on a school-by-school basis. Some principals are using Title I funds for the arts, but they're doing so largely under the radar, some fearing that state monitors will say the funds were used incorrectly. 

"At each level, there are people that are afraid," Landon said. The reason: schools are accountable for how Title I dollars are spent and misuse could cause schools to lose a valuable funding source. Despite the state and federal directives on Title I allowing arts instruction in academics, school officials have been hesitant to make changes because Title I spending is monitored so closely. 

Landon explained that a decision to use Title I funds for the arts is momentous for schools.

"When districts begin to move," he said, "that really changes it."

Attention turns to principals, funding gatekeepers

When Los Angeles Unified brought on Pullens, attracting him from a well-known arts school in Washington, D.C., he took on the task of securing Title I funding in his early months on the job. He said budgeting would be a huge challenge in increasing access to the arts for more of the district's students. 

The deed now done, Pullens said: "This was clearly a very high priority of what we wanted to accomplish and we are just so thrilled that this has finally come to pass."

It'll now be up to school principals to decide how much of their Title I funding to allocate for arts instruction. Pullens said plans to train principals on the benefits of arts integration are underway.

While the Title I arts spending is not mandatory, he expects the new directive to free up significant funding for the district's arts efforts. He didn't have exact estimates, but pointed out that schools' Title I funds range anywhere from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per school. 

As KPCC reported in July, only about 70 of the district's more than 500 elementary schools were on track to provide all four art forms (dance, visual arts, music and theater) for the 2014-2015 school year — a legal requirement under the California education code. 

Cheryl Sattler, senior partner with the Florida-based consulting firm Ethica, has worked closely with about 100 school districts nationwide and estimates only two have used Title I funding for the arts.

“The urgency is to try to get kids to read," she said, "and if you have kids, for example, in the 10th grade who are reading at a 3rd or 4th-grade level, it’s really hard to think past that, because that’s the emergency.” The arts are often left out of the conversation, according to Sattler, which means they're left out of funding.

“I think the issue is that largely principals, and school improvement committees, and other folks who are worried about academic performance don’t always look to the arts and they don’t always know the research about how powerful arts can be,” she said. 

The LAUSD directive described examples of arts integration activities that schools might consider:

  • Invite community members to demonstrate or share their talents with students as a prompt for a writing assignment.
  • Have students create models that display mathematical data pertaining to each planet of the solar system: distance from the sun, length of day and night, length of year, and day and night surface temperatures.
  • Ask students to create a small piece of dance/movement that models their understanding of geometric concepts.
  • Encourage students to explore the science of sound by utilizing rubber bands, oatmeal containers, coffee cans, balloons, etc. to construct one or more of the four families of musical instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion.
  • Have students write and perform a short skit to illustrate a literary character’s point of view.
  • Provide a lesson on utilizing a software program to create an animated film that highlights key historical events that occurred during the Civil War (In this instance, the cost of the software program would be an appropriate Title I expenditure). 

Supporting Title I Schoolwide Program 2-19-2015

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.




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Explorer's Focus Is on Finding the Source of High-Grade Gold Zone

Source: Streetwise Reports   05/05/2020

Aben Resources has identified multiple targets at the Forrest Kerr Gold Project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

For the last several summer drill seasons, most of Aben Resources Ltd.'s (ABN:TSX.V; ABNAF:OTCQB) attention has centered on its 23,000-hectare Forrest Kerr Gold Project, located in northern British Columbia, in the heart of the Golden Triangle.

Some of Canada's greatest mines, such as Premier, Snip and Eskay Creek, have been found on the Golden Triangle, located just inland from the Alaska Panhandle. Other significant and well-known deposits located within the Triangle include Brucejack, Galore Creek, Copper Canyon, Schaft Creek, KSM, Granduc and Red Chris.

In recent years, the Golden Triangle area has attracted lots of new exploration as infrastructure improvements, such as roads and power lines, have made access easier.

Aben's drills at Forrest Kerr at the end of the 2017 season discovered the North Boundary Zone, where values as high as 21.5 g/t gold, 28.5 g/t silver and 3.1% copper over 6 meters were unearthed. The following year drilling uncovered multiple high-grade gold zones at shallow depths in the zone, including an interval of 62.4 g/t Au over 6.0m starting at 114 meters downhole, establishing the continuity of the North Boundary Zone. Drilling also found the South Boundary Zone, located 1.5 kilometers from the North Boundary Zone, where assays showed "broad horizons of low-grade gold mineralization punctuated by intermittent intercepts of moderate to high-grade gold-silver-copper-zinc values."

For the 2019 exploration season, in nearly 10,000 meters of drilling that wrapped up on October-November 2019, Aben focused on the area south of the North Boundary Zone. "We were trying to find, not just continuity, but a structural source to it. We were drilling and testing a lot of these anomalies that showed up in the mag survey that we did at the beginning of last year before the season started. That was giving us good targets to work with," Aben CEO Jim Pettit told Streetwise Reports.

"As we headed south, much like the South Boundary Zone that we drilled back in 2018, we came up with these good intersections of gold and silver, but there were also lead-zinc and broader intersections of lower grade. So we had obviously come out of that zone that was high grade into a different type of mineralization," Pettit explained.

Pettit is hopeful that Aben will be able to explore Forrest Kerr this year. "Mining is deemed an essential activity in British Columbia, but, because of the coronavirus, we are concerned about the safety of our workers. We will be discussing this with the Tahltan Central Government to develop the proper protocols and make sure that the safeguards are in place for safely operating a camp."

The company has spent the winter analyzing its data in preparation for exploration this year. "We've gone through and detailed meter by meter all the drilling we've done. We've got some pretty good looking concepts to work with where we could be looking for possibly the feeder zone for the high-grade system and continuity," Pettit stated.

"Because of what we did last year on the west side of the Creek Fault, we've encountered another fault system that seems to be controlling a lot of the lower-grade mineralization as we headed south.," Pettit said. "If we follow that back up north toward the high-grade North Boundary Zone, there is a very large blind anomaly there that was not tested because it was covered in scree. This could give us some tremendous targets to work with.” "

In November, Aben reported that its drilling satisfied the expenditure requirements set out in the 2016 option agreement on the Forrest claim block, resulting in the company's 100% ownership of the Forrest Kerr property.

In addition to exploring Forrest Kerr, "Aben is always on the lookout for new projects to extend its exploration potential throughout the year," Pettit said.

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Disclosure:
1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following company mentioned in this article is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports: Aben Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.
3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Aben Resources, a company mentioned in this article.

( Companies Mentioned: ABN:TSX.V; ABNAF:OTCQB, )




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California Biotech Partners for Manufacture of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Source: Streetwise Reports   05/06/2020

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings' arrangement is explained and commented on in an H.C. Wainwright & Co. report.

In a May 4 research note, H.C. Wainwright & Co. analyst Ed Arce reported that Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (ARCT:NASDAQ) formed a partnership with Catalent Inc. (CTLT:NYSE), which "raises the profile of LUNAR-COV19 as a leading vaccine candidate."

Arce reviewed Catalent's contribution to the partnership. The global contract development and manufacturing organization is to manufacture Arcturus' messenger RNA (mRNA) LUNAR-COV19 for protection against SARS-CoV-2 to be used first for human clinical trials and potentially, eventually commercially.

As for timing, Arce noted, San Diego, Calif.-based Arcturus intends to transfer its vaccine technology to Catalent this month and expects Catalent to manufacture the first batches of LUNAR-COV19 by June 2020. "Critically, Arcturus continues to anticipate initiation of Phase 1 testing of LUNAR-COV19 in the summer of 2020," Arce highlighted.

Catalent is to produce the vaccine at its biomanufacturing facility in Madison, Wisc. "This facility utilizes Catalent's flex-suite, a current good manufacturing practice manufacturing suite, that can produce batches at multiple scales and support Arcturus' proprietary mRNA manufacturing process," explained Arce.

Obtaining the vaccine from one facility domestically versus multiple entities worldwide should result in several benefits, Arce continued. They include easy development and production, accelerated delivery and improved costs. Arcturus believes Catalent can produce millions of doses of LUNAR-COV19 mRNA in 2020 and, if need be, hundreds of millions of doses each year subsequently for use globally.

Arce pointed out that LUNAR-COV19 differentiates itself from other similar vaccine candidates in that the technology and delivery platform behind it deliver an "extraordinarily low dose (perhaps 2 micrograms)" in "a potential single shot."

H.C. Wainwright has a Buy rating and a $62 per share price target on Arcturus, the stock of which is currently trading at about $42.12 per share.

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Disclosure:
1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.
3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.
6) This article does not constitute medical advice. Officers, employees and contributors to Streetwise Reports are not licensed medical professionals. Readers should always contact their healthcare professionals for medical advice.

Disclosures from H.C. Wainwright & Co., Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., First Take, May 4, 2020

Investment Banking Services include, but are not limited to, acting as a manager/co-manager in the underwriting or placement of securities, acting as financial advisor, and/or providing corporate finance or capital markets-related services to a company or one of its affiliates or subsidiaries within the past 12 months.

I, Ed Arce, certify that 1) all of the views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about any and all subject securities or issuers discussed; and 2) no part of my compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendation or views expressed in this research report; and 3) neither myself nor any members of my household is an officer, director or advisory board member of these companies.

None of the research analysts or the research analyst's household has a financial interest in the securities of Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (including, without limitation, any option, right, warrant, future, long or short position).

As of April 30, 2020 neither the Firm nor its affiliates beneficially own 1% or more of any class of common equity securities of Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc.

Neither the research analyst nor the Firm has any material conflict of interest in of which the research analyst knows or has reason to know at the time of publication of this research report.

The research analyst principally responsible for preparation of the report does not receive compensation that is based upon any specific investment banking services or transaction but is compensated based on factors including total revenue and profitability of the Firm, a substantial portion of which is derived from investment banking services.

The firm or its affiliates received compensation from Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. for non-investment banking services in the previous 12 months.

The Firm or its affiliates did receive compensation from Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. for investment banking services within twelve months before, and will seek compensation from the companies mentioned in this report for investment banking services within three months following publication of the research report.

H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC managed or co-managed a public offering of securities for Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. during the past 12 months.

The Firm does not make a market in Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. as of the date of this research report.

H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC and its affiliates, officers, directors, and employees, excluding its analysts, will from time to time have long or short positions in, act as principal in, and buy or sell, the securities or derivatives (including options and warrants) thereof of covered companies referred to in this research report.

( Companies Mentioned: ARCT:NASDAQ, )




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Frank Holmes: Finding Winners in the Wreckage of the Economic Downturn

Source: Streetwise Reports   05/07/2020

While the broader markets have seen sharp declines, Frank Holmes, CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors, homes in on gold, gold stocks and bitcoin, and gives his prognosis for the airlines.

Streetwise Reports: Let's start with gold, which has seen an impressive rise in the last few months as the broader markets have declined on the back of the coronavirus pandemic. What do you think is ahead for the metal?

Frank Holmes: There is a short-term view and a long-term view. What's really hard for so many investors and asset allocators to recognize is that gold bullion since 2000 has far outperformed the S&P 500. In fact, of the last 20 years, in 16 of those years gold has been positive. So if we look at the numbers, it's double what the S&P 500 has done for the past 20 years.

With gold, there's the fear trade and the love trade. The love trade is 60% of the demand and it is long-term demand. The fear trade is short-term demand, and it's about 40%. Right now, we're living with fear that's really dominating the markets. The two factors that go with that are negative real interest rates and the amount of debt being printed by the government. So whenever you have the combination of a rising Fed balance sheet with Quantitative Easing 1, 2 and 3, buying junk bonds, whatever they're doing in the stock markets to try and provide liquidity, as that flows dramatically so does the price of gold.

Typically and most significant, in every country in the world we have found that when you have negative real interest rates, gold goes up in that country's currency. Take the yield on 10-year government bonds and subtract the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) number; if it's a positive return, gold is not attractive as an asset class. But if it's a negative real rate of return, gold appreciates in that country's currency.

When gold went to $1,900 in September of 2011, the 10-year government bond had a negative real rate of return of -300 basis points. Then five years later, the price of gold went down to $1,100 and real interest rates were +2% over the CPI number. So you had a variant swing from -3 to +2, which is 500 basis, and that's why gold corrected. Since then, we've had these periods now, and particularly in the past year, of negative real interest rates in America. That's how gold started staging a rally, which started about this time last year, peaked in August, sold off and now it's coming back again.

The Federal Reserve said recently it's going to keep rates basically at 0. The CPI is still running more than 1%. In fact, we could get big food inflation, the way it looks, for beef, chicken, etc. Inflation could have a big impact on negative real interest rates, and gold is moving higher.

So short term, it's all about real negative interest rates. As long as they stay negative, then we're going to see gold go up in the U.S. dollar. It could go up against the euro, against any country's currency.

I mentioned earlier that 60% of gold demand is love, and it predominantly comes from China and India. China and India are 40% of the world's population, and if you throw in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, we're now talking about 50% of the world's population. They give gold for weddings and for birthdays, and there's a strong correlation of rising gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in those countries for the past 20 years, and rising gold consumption.

China and India comprise approximately 50% of the world's gold demand GDP per capita. Indian women wear six times the amount of gold on their bodies than what is in Fort Knox, and they predominantly wear 24 karat, minimum 22 karat, gold jewelry. It's protected them from bad governments and bad government policies.

SR: What do you see happening with silver?

FH: Silver has more industrial applications than gold, so silver is like a warrant on gold. If a stock takes off and there's an option or a warrant in the money, it explodes and goes up much more percentage-wise. It has greater volatility. Every 10% move in gold usually translates to a 15% move in silver, up or down. And with this fear that's been taking place with negative interest rates and the calamity of money printing around the world, what we see now is that silver didn't move at first. Silver has always lagged.

SR: Do you recommend that the individual investor hold gold bullion?

FH: Yes. I think the easiest way is the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). Or if you want to buy the physical gold insured, go to a reliable site like Kitco, and you can take physical delivery.

There is a company called Mene Inc. (MENE:TSX.V; MENEF:OTCMKTS) at mene.com. It sells 24-karat gold jewelry with only a 10% markup. And it will buy back your gold jewelry at a 10% discount to the price of gold if you ever want to sell it back. That's the business model. It will deliver throughout the U.S., I think using Brinks for delivery of simple gold jewelry.

SR: Let's talk about bitcoin for a moment and how that fits into a portfolio.

FH: I am the chairman of HIVE Blockchain, which became the first real cryptomining company. We are mining using green energy, surplus energy in Iceland, Sweden and now Quebec, which sells electricity to New York state. Quebec has a surplus of it. So we started mining these coins.

What I found is that the Bitcoin is very different than Ethereum. Bitcoin is going to become, to me, like Andy Warhol's art. If you look at the original paintings of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley, when he came out with his prints in different colors, they came out at $1,000, went up to $10,000, fell, went up to $50,000, fell, went up to $100,000 and went to $125,000—because there are just more people, widened GDP, over time, and then they become art collectors. I think that if you have an original Bitcoin that's never been traded, it's going to be in that space.

The other part is that cryptocurrency is very new, and digital money is going to only grow. Blockchain technology is a superior piece of technology. What we saw was that Bitcoin bottomed a little over a year ago. Then it rallied, it went up to $14,000. All the central banks got worried. They knocked it down, and it's making a comeback.

Bitcoin, in mid-May, is going to halve production. There's a limited number of Bitcoins allowed to be ever created. The methodology when you mine them is you get new Bitcoins. They're called genesis or virgin coins. The number of coins you get every time you mine is going to halve. So the supply is going to shrink dramatically. A thought process with that is that Bitcoin will trade higher, probably above $10,000. Bitcoin is very speculative, just like buying Andy Warhol's art early.

I think that anyone who looks at Bitcoin or Ethereum must recognize that the daily volatility is four times the S&P 500 and gold. Thirty percent of the time gold or the S&P can go up or down 1%. For Bitcoin and Ethereum, it's 4–5%. Cryptocurrency is a huge secular trend, but it's going to be volatile.

SR: How do you feel about gold stocks? Are you looking at seniors or juniors or both? What should investors be looking at?

FH: For the first time in a long time, I'm becoming very bullish on gold stocks. I've been very negative on gold mining companies for over a decade now, for raising capital and actually destroying value per share. But over the decade, new boards of directors and new chief executive officers have come on, and there's become a greater discipline on cash flow returns rather than on cash flow, revenue per share growth, cash flow per share growth, rising dividends, all the normal things you buy a Starbucks or any great company for. It's the capacity to have revenue growth. Mining companies did a lot of silly mergers and acquisitions work, with which they destroyed capital, but that has changed.

During this past decade I've been a big advocate of royalty companies, such as Franco-Nevada Corp. (FNV:TSX; FNV:NYSE), Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM:TSX; WPM:NYSE), Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD:NASDAQ; RGL:TSX). These three had the highest revenue per employee in the world.

Franco-Nevada has a royalty on Newmont Goldcorp Corp. (NEM:NYSE) and Barrick Gold Corp.'s (ABX:TSX; GOLD:NYSE) joint venture assets in Nevada. The revenue per employee at Franco-Nevada is over $20 million. For Barrick or Newmont, it's $500,000 of revenue per employee. Goldman Sachs has $1 million of revenue per employee. So these royalty firms are very efficient companies. If you look at the past decade, Franco-Nevada has far outperformed Berkshire Hathaway. It has far outperformed any gold stock. It's because it's showing revenue per share growth, cash flow per share growth, over the rolling one year over three years on a consistent basis.

What's now happening is we have new management for these other gold stocks. The big move in gold stocks occurs when the generalists start to buy the sector. They've not been owning the underweight gold stocks because of the bad discipline by management and boards or silly acquisitions. Now what we're seeing, for the past three years, through the end of March, we're going to see the one year revenue growth over two years strong. Now you get 36 months of a strong growth in revenue and cash flow from the industry, and all of a sudden, generalists show up. When you start seeing more and more of the stocks in that industry showing free cash flow, the generalists start to show up.

The coronavirus this past quarter hurt the S&P 1500 stocks because the majority of them had free cash flow yields of about 4%, and they got evaporated, obliterated, because of this global shutdown. But the gold stocks didn't. They actually have rising free cash flow. They're going to show this quarter the price of gold is up, some of them had shut-ins for very temporary periods of time but their revenue, their cash flow, as a whole is going to truly outshine the overall industry. And when the quants and the fundamentalists start looking at where their growth is, these stocks are going to show up.

I did an analysis of only looking at free cash flow and picked the 10 gold stocks every quarter that had the highest free cash flow yield. And I sold them and bought them every quarter. I far outperformed any gold index. So that discipline shows up as a key metric to attract the quant fund or the generalist. When I look at my data—the two-year number is so important—I'm becoming very bullish on gold stocks.

When we talk about the names, my bias is U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (GOAU). I launched this several years ago as a smart quant approach to picking gold stocks. It has three royalty companies that we talked about, Franco-Nevada, Wheaton Precious and Royal Gold. They're 30% of that ETF. They rebalance every quarter.

Then all the other names, they go down to a $200 million market cap but they have to be able to show the highest cash flow returns on invested capital. Once they do something silly or stupid, they're thrown out. Back testing, that model has outperformed the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) and the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) just on a basket of 60 gold stocks. This only has 28 names. Since I launched it, it's far outperformed on a rolling 12-month basis. It's smart data, and it dynamically recalibrates every quarter.

If you want to buy the individual names, then I would focus on those three big royalty companies. Thereafter, I would focus on those companies that have this metric I talk about, free cash flow yields. Out of the 100 gold stocks in the world that we follow, there are only about 14 of them that really have attractive free cash flow yields. What's interesting is that Barrick and Newmont—and Newmont's part of the S&P 500—does have a free cash flow yield that is positive, so you're seeing it has really done exceptionally well this past quarter because it has an attractive free cash flow yield and has not been hurt by the coronavirus.

SR: Let's switch gears for a moment. U.S. Global Funds runs the Jets ETF, an airline ETF. Obviously, the airlines have been battered. Do you see them coming back? Do you see bankruptcies?

FH: I think that the government agencies and the politicians have learned a lot from two big corrections: the 9/11 correction and 2008–2009. When you look at this industry, the Federal Aviation Administration says that 1 in 15 people is associated with the airline industry. That's huge. When you look at the multiplying effect of the airline industry, it's massive, just as housing is. One dollar for housing is worth $16 approximately. So when it comes to airlines, we're talking a double digit number of multiplying effect.

What's happened is that the government has been very smart this time to say we must make sure that we don't unwind this industry as we've done in previous times. So I think there's going to be a faster turnaround from the bailout policies.

What's happened with the airlines is they have ancillary revenue that has been very significant in the past five years. Some $20 billion of revenue then went to $100 billion of revenue, which covers a lot of costs. It aggravates you and me when we fly: change fees, baggage fees, but all these fees have let the airlines not be victimized by the price of oil because every time the price of oil went up, airline stocks fell. Every time oil went down, airlines went up. It was this inverse relationship that took place. Oil has represented less and less of ancillary fees. Now what's happened on this correction is not only the ancillary fees and everything have fallen, but oil has crashed. So airlines' biggest cost is way, way down. That means when they turn, and they come out of this correction, they have huge upside. Not only do they have the support of the government, they have the ability to start adding on these fees.

Because of the bailouts, airlines are not going to be able to buy back their stocks and they're not going to be increasing their dividends in this process. But that doesn't matter. Their revenue capacity per share is explosive. So I think that that's a very big difference.

SR: Anything else that you would like to talk to our readers about in this period of extreme volatility and uncertainty?

FH: Yes, bad news is good news. There's the optimism of trying to find who's going to be the solution to the problem. Had the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used Google and Amazon technology, they probably could've adapted faster to this coronavirus. Amazon hired 100,000 people. It's amazing that in all that negative news, it adapted the fastest. It's trying to understand how capital markets morph. There are certain industry leaders. I love Clorox. I don't think that stock is going to be given away. I think it's one of those just steady dividend payer and growing dividend stocks. So it's in the negative news where you can find opportunities besides airlines, besides gold. You can turn around and find these other pockets.

SR: Thank you, Frank. I appreciate your time today.

Frank Holmes is CEO and chief investment officer at U.S. Global Investors, which manages a diversified family of funds specializing in natural resources, emerging markets and gold and precious metals. In 2016, Holmes and portfolio manager Ralph Aldis received the award for Best Americas Based Fund Manager from the Mining Journal. In 2011 Holmes was named a U.S. Metals and Mining "TopGun" by Brendan Wood International, and in 2006, he was selected mining fund manager of the year by the Mining Journal. He is also the co-author of The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing. More than 30,000 subscribers follow his weekly commentary in the award-winning Investor Alert newsletter, which is read in over 180 countries. Holmes is a much sought-after keynote speaker at national and international investment conferences. He is also a regular commentator on the financial television networks CNBC, Bloomberg, BNN and Fox Business, and has been profiled by Fortune, Barron's, The Financial Times and other publications.

Disclosure:
1) Patrice Fusillo conducted this interview for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She owns, or members of her immediate household or family own, shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: None. She is, or members of her immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this interview are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
3) Frank Holmes: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: N/A. I, or members of my immediate household or family, are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: HIVE Blockchain Technologies. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this interview: N/A. Funds controlled by U.S. Global Investors hold securities of the following companies mentioned in this article: Mene Inc., Franco-Nevada Corp., Royal Gold Inc., Wheaton Precious Metals, Newmont Mining, Barrick Gold Corp. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. I had the opportunity to review the interview for accuracy as of the date of the interview and am responsible for the content of the interview.
4) The interview does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this interview, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Franco-Nevada and Newmont Goldcorp, companies mentioned in this article.

( Companies Mentioned: FNV:TSX; FNV:NYSE, MENE:TSX.V; MENEF:OTCMKTS, RGLD:NASDAQ; RGL:TSX, WPM:TSX; WPM:NYSE, )




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Permanent Supportive Housing Holds Potential for Improving Health of People Experiencing Homelessness, but Further Research on Effectiveness Is Needed, Including Studies On ‘Housing Sensitive’ Health Conditions

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Supreme Court Considers Anti-Prostitution Pledge In HIV/AIDS Funding Case

The Supreme Court's second day of arguments by phone was devoted to a new version of a case it decided seven years ago involving federal money to fight AIDS around the world.; Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP

Nina Totenberg | NPR

The Supreme Court kicked off a second day of telephone arguments Tuesday with a case that mingles sex, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and free speech.

At issue is whether the government can require private nonprofits to denounce prostitution in order to qualify for U.S foreign aid grants aimed at fighting the worldwide AIDS epidemic. This is the second time the court has faced this issue, but this time it comes with a twist.

In 2003, Congress, at the urging of President George W. Bush, enacted a major foreign aid program to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic and prevent new infections worldwide. In appropriating the money, Congress included a provision requiring any private organization that received funding through the program to adopt an explicit policy denouncing prostitution and sex trafficking.

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down that provision, declaring it unconstitutional because it compelled U.S. nonprofits to adopt an explicit policy as a condition for receiving grant money. By a 6-2 vote, the high court said such a requirement interfered with the free speech rights of private U.S. organizations engaged in the fight against AIDS.

The case was back Tuesday, but this time, the question was whether foreign organizations closely affiliated with those same U.S. nonprofits can be required to adopt the policy denouncing prostitution.

Defending the provision was Assistant to the Solicitor General Christopher Michel. He argued that foreign affiliates of U.S. organizations like Save The Children, CARE and WorldVision are separate legal entities from their parent U.S. organizations, and that as foreign entities, they have no rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the 2013 decision, seemed unpersuaded.

"Is it reasonable to insist on formal corporate ties in this context?" he asked. "It's undisputed that to be effective in many of the foreign countries involved here, you have to operate through a foreign entity."

Michel responded that if the U.S. nonprofits "make the choice to operate through a foreign entity because they decide that is more convenient or more effective, they have to accept the bitter with the sweet."

Roberts still seemed doubtful, noting that the U.S. nonprofits and their foreign affiliates "have the same name, the same logo, the same brand. And I wonder if it makes more sense to think of the foreign entity as simply another channel for the domestic entity's speech."

Representing the nonprofits was lawyer David Bowker. He maintained that for all practical purposes, there is no difference between the U.S. nonprofits and their foreign affiliates, so making the affiliate adopt an anti-prostitution message effectively puts words in the mouth of the U.S. nonprofit.

Questioned by Justice Clarence Thomas, Bowker said that the harm suffered by the U.S. nongovernmental organizations is that their foreign affiliates must either lose their funding by refusing to comply with the anti-prostitution policy or undermine their mission by denouncing the very people they need to work with — namely prostitutes. And if the foreign affiliates make the pledge needed to get funding, he said, the U.S. parent organizations have to disavow their own affiliates' anti-prostitution pledge, thus harming the entire anti-AIDS fight.

"It's a Catch-22 for these U.S. organizations," said Bowker.

Justice Stephen Breyer followed up: "So why don't you simply write a grant to get all the money yourself and then you give it to CARE India? Why doesn't that work?"

Because, replied Bowker, under the statute, CARE USA, in subcontracting a grant to CARE India, would be required to impose the anti-prostitution pledge on its own affiliate on behalf of the government.

Justice Samuel Alito, who signed on to the court's 2013 decision, said he had more concerns in this case — mainly "that it will force Congress to either withhold foreign aid entirely or allow foreign aid to be used in ways that are contrary to the interests of the people of this country."

Justice Brett Kavanaugh followed up: "Suppose the U.S. government wants to fund foreign NGOs that support peace in the Middle East but only if the NGOs explicitly recognize Israel as a legitimate state. Are you saying the U.S. can't impose that kind of speech restriction on foreign NGOs that are affiliated with U.S. organizations?"

Bowker said that kind of a restriction would likely be acceptable because the aid in that case would be tied to the U.S. relationship with Israel.

Kavanaugh moved on to another question, noting, "The government says your position would unleash foreign affiliates of U.S. corporations to pump money" into U.S. election campaigns, something that is explicitly barred under current law.

Bowker replied that U.S. campaign laws, as ruled on by the Supreme Court in prior cases, allow the ban on foreign contributions because they do not come from U.S. entities at all.

A decision in the case is expected some time this summer. While the court usually concludes its work by the end of June, it is expected that this term will extend into July because the arguments in this and nine other cases were postponed for more than a month because of the coronavirus.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.




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Sandi Gibbons on journalism, working for the DA, and why she's retiring

Robert F. Kennedy's speech at the Ambassador Hotel. Sandi Gibbons the woman in the white dress on the bottom right.

Patt Morrison

She’s spent her life on both sides of the microphone.

For half of her career she was a reporter, finding herself in places like the Ambassador Hotel ballroom on the night Robert F. Kennedy was shot, and in the courthouse covering Charles Manson.

For the other half of her professional life, she spent a lot more time in L.A.’s courthouses as the spokeswoman for the L.A. County District Attorney’s office. She served three DAs, and now she’s hanging it up. Her retirement lunch was attended by three past and present DAs, with a fond message from a fourth, and as many of her reporter and DA friends could fit in the restaurant.

RELATED: Veteran reporter, DA spokesperson Sandi Gibbons is retiring

Sandi Gibbons has tales to tell, and here she recounts a few funny, moving and plain old perplexing ones from her life in court. And I can tell you from knowing her, she is one great dame.

 

Correction: Original headline spelled Sandi Gibbons' name "Sandy"

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.




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