House passes bill limiting energy efficiency mandates on home laundry machinesWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February. Trump, making the announcement on his Truth Social account, said, “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence , was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned. People are also reading... As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations. The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more before Biden leaves office in less than two months. The U.S. has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv. Trump has criticized the billions the Biden administration has spent in supporting Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is designed to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared. Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” Trump's proposed national security adviser , U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.” Kellogg featured in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens. The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times. On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory. He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.” Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. Be the first to knowMotta satisfied with point as 'compact' Juventus draw at Villa
Police deny sitting on evidence as Netflix doc brings renewed attention to JonBenet Ramsey’s killingCelebrating good deeds and 'mad science' in Chicago on ThanksgivingEach holiday season, the Winnipeg Jets hosts its Challenge Cup — a grassroots minor tournament held at the Hockey For All Centre. 180 teams from all over Canada, with some coming from as far away as Ranken Inlet, Nunavut, have come to face off on the ice and see how far their team can go. “It’s exciting,” said Maxwell Paseska, who captains Winnipeg’s St. James Canucks U11 team. “I want to go score a goal. I want to go get a goal with the team.” Teamwork is what the young players have been focusing on all season, so when they were able to meet Jets players Mark Scheifele, Dylan Demelo and Morgan Barron before their game, it was the push they needed to get onto the ice and do their best to play together to win. “They’re always being a team player, they’re not like, hogging the puck. They’re not trying to do it themselves. They’re always passing, they’re always talking,” said Paseska. The team also delighted in getting autographs from the Jets. “I got them to sign my water bottle and then my old Canucks jersey,” said Brody Ferenc, who plays left and right wing for the team, as he showed off his items to CityNews. Jason Paseska, who coaches the young players, said it was exciting but also important for them to meet Winnipeg’s NHL players. “They’re looking ahead in life and saying like, maybe I want to do that later in life. So it’s really good for them to see them in here and see what kind of they do to get ready for a game and practice and stuff,” he said. Dean Court, the director of amateur development and programming at the centre, said the tournament serves as inspiration for youth to ese how far they can go in the sport. “It gives kids an opportunity to see that, if I work hard maybe there might be an opportunity for me to be like them someday,” said Court. There’s a real chance these dreams can become a reality, as the Challenge Cup has seen its players eventually move into the NHL, like St. Adolphe’s Owen Pickering and Winnipeg’s Denton Mateychuk. “Everyone who normally wouldn’t get a chance to play in a tournament have a tournament right here locally,” said Court. The tournament runs through to January 2.
AP Business SummaryBrief at 3:14 p.m. ESTDALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic is returning to the Dallas lineup Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers after missing the Mavericks’ two previous games with a left heel contusion. Doncic won last season’s scoring title with a career-best 33.9 points per game and is fifth in the NBA this season averaging 28.9, and seventh in assists, averaging 8.2. He had triple-doubles in three of his last four games, including his most recent appearance last Sunday with 45 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in a 143-133 win at Golden State. The defending Western Conference champions are 18-10, fourth in the West, and have won 13 of their last 16 games following their only losing streak of the season, a four-game skid from Nov. 8-14. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba The Associated Press
Omer Riza: Everyone is talking about Cardiff City job audition and it's 'like a pressure cooker ready to explode'TINLEY PARK — When Cerelia Hampton began work as an English department supervisor at Bremen High School District 228 two years ago, the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT had just begun making waves in education. “I happened to be in the teacher workspace, and (teachers) were all talking about this,” Hampton said. “A couple people turned to me and said, ‘Cerelia, what are we going to do? All of the kids are going to cheat on their papers.'” District 228 teachers were not alone in their immediate skepticism of a free-to-use online AI chatbot that spits out responses to user-generated prompts almost instantaneously. According to a Pew Research Center survey from fall 2023, a quarter of kindergarten through high school teachers say AI tools result in more harm than good for K-12 education. Only 6% said they believe the reverse. However, since Hampton began digging into ChatGPT and other AI tools with classroom applications, she and other District 228 leaders have become more enthusiastic about the inclusion of such tools in teaching and learning. “When the Internet first came around, we thought that was going to change education and ruin it,” said Jim Broswell, director of operations and technology for the district. “It did change it, but it didn’t ruin it, it just put it in a different place. I think the same things are happening with AI.” Broswell said he understands AI can create fear among teachers as students find new ways to cheat or plagiarize, and said some districts have looked to curtail the technology’s use in schools. But Bremen 228 has taken the opposite approach, embracing the potential of AI to not only help students in their research and studying, but also for teachers to detect potential issues with turned in work. “I think the thing that we’re doing that’s working really well is that we don’t have hard and fast policies,” Broswell said. “We’ve created a culture where people are trying AI, and they’re finding out the good and the bad, and then as we go we’re taking that feedback and shaping what it’s going to look like here in our district.” The district has involved educators in developing their open minded approach, Broswell said, by forming a technology committee of 30 teachers from departments across the district’s four high schools: Tinley Park, Oak Forest, Hillcrest in Country Club Hills and Bremen in Midlothian. The committee was tasked with research surrounding AI and education, even taking part in a full-day workshop given by an AI expert with the Illinois Learning Technology Center. Teachers learned that more successful than banning students from using AI is providing them guidelines of ethical versus unethical applications. Hampton said one example is allowing 11th grade students writing essays on college and career readiness to use ChatGPT to search ideas for topics to write about, but not to conduct research or draft. “I witnessed a teacher utilize ChatGPT with her class just to generate interview questions for someone they wanted to interview about their career,” Hampton said. “That was very cool to see, because it’s not writing the actual paper, it’s just getting the ideas going.” Hampton and Broswell said outside of making students aware of when AI use is permitted, teachers have learned to craft assessments that make cheating with AI more difficult. Broswell said useful approaches teachers learned include straying from simple wording of prompts on assessments in favor of more complex “AI proof questions” as well as requiring students complete more of their work in the classroom, without access to devices. He’s also found AI tools can help teachers with this work in such ways as creating different versions of tests so students in different class periods can’t share answers. “The things that teachers are using (AI) for are nothing but positive,” Broswell said. “I think it’s been a force multiplier — teachers have been asked to do more and more over the years ... Time is a concern, but now we have these supercharged tools that are allowing us to do what we want more frequently at better quality.” The Illinois Flag Commission selected its Top 10 finalists for the state flag redesign contest with public voting slated to begin in January. Members of the commission could select up to 10 of their favorite designs – from the nearly 5,000 submissions – prior to their December 9 meeting where they narrowed their choices to 10 overall. “Having received nearly 5,000 entries, I appreciate the creativity and passion reflected in all the submissions,” said Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, whose office convened the Flag Commission meetings. Starting in January, the public will have the opportunity to vote online at www.ilsos.gov/stateflag for one of the new designs, or one of three former flag designs, including the current state flag, the 1918 Centennial Flag and the 1968 Sesquicentennial Flag. After the public voting period, the commission will report its findings and recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly by April 1, 2025, whose members will vote on whether to adopt a new flag, return to a previous iteration of the flag or retain the current flag. Senate Bill 1818, sponsored by State Senator Doris Turner (48th District—Springfield) and State Representative Kam Buckner (26th District—Chicago), was signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker in 2023, creating the commission to gauge public desire for a new flag. The flag designs eligible for public voting in January can be viewed at www.ilsos.gov/stateflag . Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!