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XLF Weekly: Balance Above Key Support Following Last Week's Relief Rally High




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Douglas Dynamics, Inc. (PLOW) CEO Robert McCormick on Q1 2020 Results - Earnings Call Transcript




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Court allows Kanu to sell Naivasha land

Money from the sale of properties will be used to is to settle debts and run the party.






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Public action needed to slow rising seas, experts say

Reducing carbon emissions could mean difference between 1 and over 4 feet of sea level rise




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Hotspotting pinpoints low-income areas that need health care the most

Developers are leading effort in Oakland, California, with a blood pressure clinic in low-income housing




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Call to allow final year students to conduct research

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Development Foundation has asked the government to allow the students of final semesters in BS and masters programme to return to the universities.Muhammad Bilal Sethi, the...

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Neighbourhood markets have to follow SOPs to reopen tomorrow

Small neighbourhood markets and shops across Karachi have to follow standard operating procedures to reopen on Monday , when the current COVID-19 lockdown in Sindh will be eased off in accordance with the decisions of the National Coordination Committee .Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed...




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U.S. to allow states to distribute Gilead's remdesivir to fight COVID-19

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Saturday it would allow state health departments to distribute Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir drug to fight COVID-19, and the United States would receive about 40% of the drug maker's global donation.




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UK wants to 'slowly and cautiously' ease lockdown to restart economy: minister

The British government wants to slowly and cautiously restart the economy, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Sunday ahead of a televised address from the prime minister to set out plans to begin easing the coronavirus lockdown measures.




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U.S. to allow states to distribute Gilead's remdesivir to fight COVID-19

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Saturday it would allow state health departments to distribute Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir drug to fight COVID-19, and the United States would receive about 40% of the drug maker's global donation.




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May's Flower Moon: How to see the last supermoon of 2020

The name of this month's full moon comes from the blooms that appear in North America around this time of year.





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Brother of Lori Vallow died of natural causes, medical examiner says

Lori Vallow, the Idaho mother jailed in connection to the disappearance of her two missing children, is also under investigation with her current husband in the death of his former wife.




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Georgia reports lowest number of COVID patients in a month

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Saturday that the state had the lowest number of hospitalized coronavirus patients it has seen in just over a month.



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  • Nick Givas

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Trump Is Waiving His Own Ethics Rules to Allow Lobbyists to Make Policy

It seems clear now why the Trump administration fought so hard to avoid making public the details of the waivers it granted to White House staffers who might otherwise have been in violation of the president's self-imposed ethics rules. They show that President Donald Trump, who made "drain the swamp" a campaign battle cry, has enlisted numerous swamp-dwellers—former lobbyists, consultants, corporate executives—to staff key positions in his White House and has granted them broad exemptions to work on issues directly related to their former jobs and clients.

After repeatedly slamming DC lobbyists during the campaign, Trump used one of his first executive orders to lay out ethics rules for his new administration. The January 28 order barred Trump officials from working on issues related to their former employers for at least two years, and these rules applied not only to lobbyists, but to anyone who worked for a business or organization potentially affected by federal policy decisions. The prohibitions were not absolute: Waivers would be available in certain cases.

The Trump administration initially balked when the Office of Government Ethics demanded the White House hand over the waivers it had granted. But after a standoff the administration relented late Wednesday and released about 14 waivers covering White House staffers. They make clear that Trump's ethics rules are remarkably flexible and that his top staffers don't need to worry too much about staying on the right side of them. On paper, Trump's rules are similar to those imposed by President Barack Obama, but it appears that Trump is far more willing to hand out exemptions. At this point in the Obama administration, just three White House staffers had been granted ethics waivers. So far, Trump has granted 14, including several that apply to multiple people.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and adviser Kellyanne Conway were both granted waivers to deal with issues involving their previous employers. In the case of Priebus, this narrowly applies to the Republican National Committee. But Conway is now free to work on issues involving her ex-clients from her previous life as an operative and pollster—clients that included political campaigns, nonprofit activist groups, and corporations.

Conway's relationships with these clients were murky to begin with; she was never required to disclose who she worked for. We do know that she repped virulently anti-immigration and anti-Muslim groups. The names of some of her corporate clients also have trickled out, including Major League Baseball, Hasbro, American Express, and Boeing. The waiver may have been granted to help smooth the way for Conway after evidence emerged that she continued to operate own her polling and consulting company even after she'd gone to work in the White House—a possible violation of conflict-of-interest laws that drew the attention of congressional Democrats who have begun probing her relationship with the company.

Conway's waiver was not retroactive, but there is another that specifically allows White House employees to communicate freely with former employers and coworkers at media organizations—and applies back to January 20. Trump's executive order didn't simply prohibit any of his hires from working on matters relating to a former employer—it specifically covered "any meeting or communication relating to the performance of one's official duties." This means at least two of Trump's top aides, former Breitbart News chairman Steve Bannon and his assistant Julia Hahn, would be prohibited from chatting with their former colleagues at Breitbart about anything work-related—a rule that Bannon appears not to have followed. While not named, it seems likely that protecting the Breitbart alums from ethics complaints was the aim.

Another takeaway from Trump's waivers is that they appear to be far less restrictive than Obama administration waivers. Many Obama waivers (there were only 10 total granted to White House employees during his administration) were very narrowly tailored. For example, James Jones, Obama's national security adviser, was granted a waiver to allow him to introduce Bill Clinton at an event for the Atlantic Council, even though Jones had previously worked for the group. John Brennan, at the time one of Obama's deputy national security advisers, had previously worked for The Analysis Company, and he was granted a waiver to use the company's data while investigating the so-called "Underwear Bomber" incident. Brennan was not cleared to talk to any of the company's employees, however.

Trump's waivers, on the other hand, are broad.

For instance, Trump granted a waiver to Michael Catanzaro, who is the president's most senior energy policy aide, allowing him to work freely on "broad policy matters and particular matters of general applicability relating to the Clean Power Plan, the WOTUS [Waters of the United States] rule, and methane regulations." Catanzaro worked as a registered lobbyist for several oil and gas companies as recently as January, which made the waiver necessary. On his most recent lobbying disclosure form—filed on behalf of one of his clients, natural gas company Noble Energy—Catanzaro wrote that he was working on "EPA and BLM's proposed and final regulations covering methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas facilities." Nearly identical language appears in his most recent lobbying disclosure on behalf of another natural gas company, Encana. In other words, Catanzaro is now making policy on the very issues he was paid by corporations to lobby on. There are no restrictions in Catanzaro's waiver relating to his previous clients.

Another lobbyist turned Trump aide is Shahira Knight, who was previously employed as vice president of public policy for mutual fund giant Fidelity and now serves as Trump's special assistant for tax and retirement policy. Her waiver grants her permission to work on "matters of general applicability relating to tax, retirement and financial services issues." Fidelity's most recent lobbying report—filed while Knight ran its lobbying shop—lists the main issue areas targeted by the company's lobbyists: finance, retirement, banking, and taxes.

While the Obama administration reluctantly granted waivers for narrow sets of circumstances, the Trump waivers appear to be written to carefully exempt the previous lobbying work done by White House aides.

And this is just the beginning. The administration released only the waivers granted to White House employees—the release does not include waivers granted to administration officials who work for federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the Treasury Department. The White House will turn those waivers over to the Office of Government Ethics on Thursday, but it's not clear when they will be made public.




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UK wants to 'slowly and cautiously' ease lockdown to restart economy - minister




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U.S. to allow states to distribute Gilead's remdesivir to fight COVID-19

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Saturday it would allow state health departments to distribute Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir drug to fight COVID-19, and the United States would receive about 40% of the drug maker's global donation.




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Restaurants, hotels ask state govts to allow them to sell liquor stock




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BET Moving Ahead With Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records Miniseries Following His Death

A miniseries about the rise of the late Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records is still in the works and moving ahead at BET following the veteran music executive’s death. But with production throughout the television business shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, no premiere date or timetable for the start of shooting has been set. […]




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These 31 Rooms Will Blow Your Mind. A One Way Ticket To Any Of These, Please?

This takes 'dream home' to an all new level. Wow.




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The Search Is Over. This Boyfriend And Girlfriend Had The Best Halloween Costumes Of The Year.

Of all the Halloween costumes out there, this guy and his girlfriend blew everyone away.




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Ontario sees lowest daily COVID-19 case increase in weeks as Canada inches towards 68K cases

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned against any early reopening of economies, noting Canada is still in the emergency phase.




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Polar vortex unleashes rare May snow, shatters historic low temperature records

The popular saying "April showers bring May flowers" might not be the case this year. The northeastern United States is experiencing an unusual Mother's Day weekend as most restaurants remain closed amid coronavirus concerns and a historic polar vortex packing snow shatters temperature records. Freeze watches and warnings along with frost advisories were put into effect Friday night for many places across parts of the Midwest, down into the Southeast and into the Northeast.





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Flowers via a stranger: Chileans compromise on Mother`s Day cemetery visits

Every year for the past 20, Rosa Maria Fuenzalida has visited her mother's grave on Mother's Day without fail in the central Chilean city of Curico.




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UK wants to 'slowly and cautiously' ease lockdown to restart economy: minister

The British government wants to slowly and cautiously restart the economy, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Sunday ahead of a televised address from the prime minister to set out plans to begin easing the coronavirus lockdown measures.




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Hot-Jupiter Exoplanet WASP-79b Has Yellow Skies

Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, and Magellan II Telescope at Las Campanas Observator in Chile, astronomers have found that the atmosphere of the inflated hot Jupiter WASP-79b is almost transparent to blue light, leaving it with a yellow-tinged sky. “We’re really not sure what’s going on here,” said [...]




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Canadians who work on two cruise ships are being allowed off in U.S. ports

Canadians working aboard two cruise ships who weren't allowed to come to shore because of concerns about COVID-19 are finally able to return home. Princess Cruises said in an emailed statement that 19 Canadians on the Koningsdam disembarked in Los Angeles on Friday, and that they would be flown




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Polar vortex brings rare May snow, low temps to US East

Mother’s Day weekend got off to an unseasonably snowy start in the Northeast on Saturday thanks to the polar vortex bringing cold air down from the north. John Cannon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, said parts of northern New England saw as much as 10 inches of snow and even coastal areas of Maine and New Hampshire got a dusting.





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Do not allow 'biased' election watchdog power to prosecute, say MPs

The election watchdog has revealed that it is pressing ahead with plans to hand itself powers to prosecute campaigners and political parties, putting itself on a collision course with ministers. The Electoral Commission is planning to publish a consultation setting out proposals to hand itself a "prosecutions capability", despite senior Tories insisting that the body is "not trusted to be impartial". The disclosure comes after the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it had ended investigations into Darren Grimes and Alan Halsall, two pro-Brexit campaign figures, two years after a referral by the commission for alleged breaches of spending rules. The move prompted calls for the commission to be "overhauled", with Mr Grimes describing the body as a "kangaroo court" that was not "fit for purpose". Separately, the National Crime Agency found no evidence that any criminal offences were committed by Arron Banks, another prominent Brexiteer, after another referral by the watchdog. Last night Matthew Elliott, who was chief executive of the official Vote Leave campaign, claimed that the commission's record showed that if it acquired the new powers, "there will be countless travesties of justice, and democracy will be undermined.” Sir Bernard Jenkin, the former chairman of the Commons public administration committee, said: "These proposals appear to be doubling down on a failed system. Parliament should change it." Another Conservative MP said: "I can't think of any public body that is less deserving of prosecuting powers than the Electoral Commission, who have shown themselves to be biased and, frankly, vindictive." Last year Jacob Rees-Mogg, now the leader of the Commons, and Brandon Lewis, who has also been appointed to Boris Johnson's cabinet, both expressed alarm at the watchdog's plans to hand itself powers currently exercised by the police and Crown Prosecution Service - after the move was revealed by this newspaper. The watchdog has faced repeated accusations of bias against bodies that campaigned for Brexit in 2016, which it strongly denies. The commission claims it could hand itself the powers without ministers bringing forward legislation, by altering its enforcement policy following a public consultation - due to open in the coming weeks. But MPs warned that some groups could be unfairly targeted. Speaking last year, while Tory chairman, Mr Lewis pointed out that one senior figure at the commission - the same official spearheading the proposals - had previously said that she would "not want to live under a Tory government". He suggested the body was not seen as a "fair" arbiter. As a backbencher, Mr Rees-Mogg called for the Conservatives to formally oppose the move, saying: "The Electoral Commission is not trusted to be impartial and a number of its leading figures have said very prejudicial things about Brexit." The commission's corporate plan for the period from 2020 to 2025 states: "To deter people from committing offences, and to make sure we can respond proportionally if they do, we will continue to build the capacity to prosecute suspected offences. We will consult on the way we approach the use of prosecutions." An Electoral Commission spokesman said: “Later this year we will be consulting with political parties, the police and the CPS on changes to our enforcement policy, which includes a prosecutions capability, and will bring our regulatory work in line with a wide range of other regulators. “Extending our work in this direction would enable us to bring lower order offences before the courts in a way which is swift and proportionate, freeing up the resources of the police and prosecutors and delivering more effective regulation of political finance to support public confidence.” Mr Elliott said: “The Electoral Commission’s track record at conducting investigations is woeful. "In the case of Leave campaigners ... they assumed that we were guilty until proven innocent ... Thankfully, the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service looked at the evidence thoroughly, and saw through the conspiracy theories that the Electoral Commission had believed without question." The commission insisted it was "right that potential electoral offences are properly investigated by the appropriate authority". A spokesman said there was "no substance to allegations that the Commission is biased", saying the organisation had investigated campaigners and parties across the political spectrum.






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Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson Are Officially ''Moving On'' Following Their Recent Split

Ashley Benson and Cara Delevingne don't seem to have plans for reconciliation. After almost two years since the two began dating and one year since they went public with their...





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Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson Are Officially ''Moving On'' Following Their Recent Split

Ashley Benson and Cara Delevingne don't seem to have plans for reconciliation. After almost two years since the two began dating and one year since they went public with their...




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Nottinghamshire Police: Cops catch suspect after fart blows cover

UK cops caught a suspect this week after an ill-timed fart revealed his hiding place.The bizarre arrest happened on Thursday in Harworth in England's East Midlands as Nottinghamshire Police went to an address on Brookside Walk with...




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New coronavirus tier system could allow localised response to Covid-19 outbreaks

The new system will be numbered from one to five, with level five being the most serious.




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Eagles’ premiership hopes may be in tatters if WA Government don’t allow FIFO model

West Coast’s premiership chances could take a major hit if the club is unable to fly in and out of the state when the AFL restarts.




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WA Premier Mark McGowan announces further easing of the state's coronavirus restrictions, including allowing gatherings of up to 20 people.

WA Premier Mark McGowan announces further easing of the state's coronavirus restrictions, including allowing gatherings of up to 20 people.



  • Health
  • Government and Politics

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Political donations dropped to new low in March as COVID-19 spread

An analysis of fundraising data suggests March 2020 was one of Canada's worst political fundraising months on record.




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Simi Valley Store Signage Says No Masks Allowed Inside, Hugs Welcome

Here's proof we're living in the 'Twilight Zone' now -- a construction joint in SoCal won't let people inside while wearing face masks, but on physical contact ... all good by them! Check out this photo that was taken recently of a store in Simi…




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The wages of fear: the pandemic and the future of low-paid 'essential' work

When the pandemic crisis ends, Canadians are going to have to reckon with the fact that the 'essential' workers who got them through it are some of the lowest-paid people among us.




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Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson Are Officially ''Moving On'' Following Their Recent Split

Ashley Benson and Cara Delevingne don't seem to have plans for reconciliation. After almost two years since the two began dating and one year since they went public with their...




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U.S. to allow states to distribute Gilead's remdesivir to fight COVID-19

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Saturday it would allow state health departments to distribute Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir drug to fight COVID-19, and the United States would receive about 40% of the drug maker's global donation.




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New York to expand coronavirus testing for minority and low-income communities

As states across the nation continue to reopen despite coronavirus cases climbing, the impact on minority and low-income groups become more apparent.




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Justin Gaethje prevails at UFC 249 in what could be beginning of sports' slow return

Justin Gaethje pummels interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, while bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo tops Dominick Cruz and then retires at 33.




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Create Halloween images and learn SAS basics

Learn how to take simple x/y coordinates, and create map polygons shaped like holiday images, that can be plotted using SAS/Graph's PROC GMAP.